Our Routine

Ok, so here's an update on the skin thing. The dermatologist did say we could go down to ONE bath a day per boy. So that helps a little! But at the moment, our day is pretty full. Here's our schedule for the moment...I'll try not to get too attached to it since it could change again at any time. (Oh, and it's dependent on when they wake in the morning, so the times can shift by a half hour or so. I'll assume on a "typical" day they wake at 8 am.)

4:00 am - Holden wakes and wants to eat (most days), I wake Henry and feed him, too. Both boys go back down to sleep.

8:00 am - Up for the day. Change both diapers and bring them into the living room. Feed both boys and spend some time playing on the floor. Mommy gets her toast and coffee. Move boys to jumperoo/exersaucer to play the rest of the time before nap.

9:00-9:30 - Move to boys' room to put on skin creams/change diapers if needed before nap time. Play on the floor in their room until nap time, typically 90 minutes after they wake up in the morning.

9:30-10:30 - Boys (attempt) nap, Mommy relaxes for a few minutes and showers. Sometimes one of the boys wakes up early, and I try to leave him in the crib for the whole hour. But if one of them is really going nuts, I'll go get him and he gets to sit in the Bumbo chair in the bathroom while I dry my hair. :)

10:45-11:30 - Get boys up and in the highchairs, get their breakfast ready (banana and oatmeal or pears and rice cereal so far.) They will sit happily in the chairs while I do this. They seem to have figured out that the high chairs and bibs mean food is coming! :) After cleaning up from solid food, both boys breastfeed again.

11:30 - More play time, or a possible attempt to leave the house. Sometimes this is a good time for a walk, or we'll go to a friend's house. They're typically in a pretty good mood if they napped well. I usually have some help around lunchtime, so they're happy to have someone else hold them or talk to them for a bit. Mommy tries to figure out her own lunch plan.

12:30-1:30 - They should be going down for another nap within this window. If we're at home, this will go smoothly, if we're out, it depends. Sometimes they will sleep in the car seats, but if I wait too long, they get cranky and have a hard time going to sleep. The afternoon nap is getting more consistent, which means I have a little time to pick up around the house or throw in a load of laundry!

2:00-2:30 - Someone wakes first and gets some solo time with Mommy, by 2:30 it's time to eat again. I try to not let them get too far apart with wake times, but I will let one boy sleep longer if only one wakes up. But after I feed one, I go wake the other and feed him.

3:00 - More playtime, Daddy gets home by 3:30. Sometimes Mommy has violin lessons to teach, or sometimes we go for a walk.

4:30-5:30 - Should be an afternoon nap. They still really need this third nap to get through the long hours til bedtime. And Mommy and Daddy need it for the upcoming marathon evening...

5:30-6:00 - Solid foods, they love avocado and sweet potato, peas are not so hot. We usually have to give them at least a half hour to eat, since sometimes they're sleepy or distracted. Some days they surprise us and gobble it up! Clean up the mess and try to figure out what Mom and Dad will eat for dinner.

6:30-7:30 - Start the first bath, which is 10 minutes in the tub. Then go put on both skin creams, diaper and jammies while baby is wiggling around on changing table. Second boy's bath and cream (while grabbing at and trying to eat diapers on changing table), prepare/heat night bottles. When baths are done, convince both boys to drink 6 oz. from a bottle when sometimes they're half asleep or sometimes they just want to play with the bottle.

7:30 - Hopefully in the boys' room and putting them in their sleep sacks. Read a story together and put them in their cribs. Turn on mobile, sound machine, and humidifier, offer their bulldog "lovies" and turn out the light. Night, boys! 

8:00 Mom and Dad on couch, exhausted. Boys hopefully quiet until at least 4 am!!

*Notes: Having somewhat of a schedule is great. However, I feel very chained to the house right now. This particular schedule doesn't leave much time for getting out of the house! Our evenings are so crazy, I don't even see how we could leave to go to dinner or anything right now (unless we have a babysitter.)

Also, the only thing that got us here was time. Two months ago, I was going crazy, one month ago we were moving towards a consistent schedule, and now we're here, even though it's not perfect. I'm sure naps will change again soon, and who knows how feeding will go. But this is just for my memory, and for anyone who's curious how crazy it is at our house! :)