Jenny asked about my daily routine -- she wanted to know what I do that makes me "me." I am not sure there is any correlation between these two things but I will use today's post to tell you about my "daily routine."
I am terrible at "routines." Really REALLY terrible. It is one of several reasons I shy away from home schooling. I think routines are important for kids. School is great at routines. But that is a different subject.
There are a few things I do routinely everyday almost without fail:
Pray - morning and night and over meals and as a family.
Put in and Take out my contacts - Gotta be able to see.
Brush teeth -- enough said.
Kiss, hug, and love my kids and tell them how much I love them and how wonderful they are.
I know. Short list. But those are the things I am REALLY faithful about doing EVERYDAY. There are more things that I do nearly everyday and I would consider them part of my routine even though there are times when I "fall off the wagon." Here are those:
Read scriptures as a family and personally.
Clean something.
Blog.
Practice Piano with Sabrina and Violin with Ann Marie.
Okay so it is also a short list. Like I said, routines are not my forte. As for a sneak peak in my daily life. Here was today.
Last night I was up till 11 p.m. working on getting Noble into a sound sleep so I could go to bed. I watched the basketball game with Jonathan and some other dumb show that I can't even remember now while rocking/burping/and nursing.
After I laid him down, I got a fresh journal out and planned out my next day and wrote down everything I was going to allow myself to eat today. This is something I just started. It has helped me lose the baby weight before. More on that later maybe.
This morning I woke at 6 and got out of bed to nurse at 6:20. I woke up Sabrina just before 7 am. I got on my contacts and workout clothes. I prayed and read my own scriptures. I read scriptures to the girls, practiced piano with Sabrina and helped get her ready for school.
As soon as she was off I jumped on the treadmill to walk for a bit. Noble woke up 15 minutes into this so I left the working out to take care of him. After feeding/burping etc. I jumped quickly into the shower and then piled everyone in the car to go to violin lessons for Ann Marie.
On our way home we stopped by Trader Joes and did some grocery shopping to buy healthy food. We got home and put the groceries away. Then I got Ann Marie ready to go to school. With her off to school I let the baby cry for a bit so I could get the dishes done. Then I was back on nursing/burping/holding duty. Meanwhile, Lauren was playing with a neighbor friend here at the house.
I then took the friend home and picked up the kids from school and took mine to swim lessons. As soon as we got home we got them showered, I made dinner, did hair and got the kids dressed and we took off across town for Ann Marie's first violin recital. She did great. As soon as we got home I had the kids get in PJs and brush their teeth etc. and I put them to bed.
The next 2 hours were filled with lots of baby rocking/nursing/burping etc. to get Noble to bed. At least I got to watch SYTYCD while I was soothing him. Now I have shut down the house and I am off to get myself ready for bed and plan out tomorrow.
Full day today. But not every day is like this for me. Most days are much more chill.
I am beat. Goodnight for now.
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edited to add: No Tami -- My baby is NOT sleeping 11 - 6. I wish. I just didn't write about the 2-3 times he was up during that period to eat. You are not alone in your middle of the night stupor! I am right there with you!
11 comments:
Geez - Louis! Thank you for responding so quickly to my comment! I don't know where you get your energy, but I am hoping that by reading your blog, some will rub off on to me :O)
Great to hear! I am always so curious about how other mommies run their days. I think the greatest thing about your "schedule" is that you leave plenty of room for interruptions which in turn leaves you open to any important needs that may come up with your children.
And you know what? The most important thing I learned today is to consciously and intentionally love on my bigger children EVERY day. Even though they don't need as much as the baby (or so it may seem...) I know they need lots of hugginn' too!
Thanks for sharing!
Is your baby sleeping 11-6? I am so jealous. I got a 2 1/2 hour stretch last and thought that was great. Noble is darling by the way.
I agree with Julie. I THINK I hug and squeeze my older child and tell her that I love her everyday, but I'm not SURE that I do...so now I'm gonna make sure that I do! Thanks!
hmmm...I wonder what Heavenly Father's blog about his day would look like. What is included in his routine? How is it done?
Great idea on how to lose your baby weight. I have SUCH a hard time with this. Hope you post more details later!!
I'm also not big on routines, but I am, in fact, homeschooling. I found a few books to guide me in the idea that schooling does not have to be "scheduled" and in increments of time to be effective. In fact, there's an argument that says it's even MORE effective when NOT scheduled.
I'm not at all trying to convince you, I'm just saying that if your main reason for not homeschooling is simply scheduling-related, there are definite ways to work with that.
Cool Stephanie! It is always fun and interesting to see someone else's day. As a homeschooling family for the last 8 years, I find that homeschooling helps our family better at scheduling, and prioritizing than I ever imagined. Of course I love the freedoms that come with our choice as well, and there is a lot of unscheduled time (we love to take breaks and play board and card games, walk on nice days and swim!), but really our days are pretty much as routine as other families are. I actually think there is alot of greatness that comes from unscheduled time. I found that out by reading and learning about our founding fathers and their lives. I love how you include loving your kids daily- so very important! Thanks for that reminder.:)
Holy cow, I'm exhausted just from reading your day!!! And I love that you're so honest and down to earth, Stephanie! It's nice to know that not everyone needs to have their family perfectly scheduled to be happy and productive!
Just curious what you do to get your little ones to sleep through the night? Are you a co-sleeper or a let them cry it out once they are "of age"? Just wondering your forte on this subject...
Hollie,
I have done different things for different kids. I DO NOT co sleep. If the baby is anywhere near me I DON"T sleep. I just can't. I am constantly waiting and listening for any cry. So I put my babies in a separate room from me as soon as possible (usually our 2nd day home from the hospital after I try "in room" boarding for a night or two and remember how I can't sleep with baby in the room.)
With Sabrina I let her cry it out at 9 months. With Annie- she was so colicky I really don't remember. With Lauren - she just slept. No training necessary. With Camille - I got up when she cried and fed her. She started sleeping through the night around 4 months. Stopped again during a growth spurt and started again around 10 months. She would only go to sleep if we put her down alone in a dark room in her crib with her soft blanket. She would cry for about 10 seconds and then snuggle up to the blanket and go to sleep.
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