I have been tagged by my friend Sara. She wants me to describe my usual daily routine.
This was extremely difficult for me to do and is even more difficult for me to share. It’s not a pretty routine, people! And it’s not what I wish I could tell you I do. However, I am willing to share it and I would love to see other people’s routines as well.
I want to learn from other women. I want to see how you manage your time and how you organize your life. I think it takes some courage for anyone to truly tell how they spend their time, but I found it to be a really good---difficult, yes, but good---experience. I also want to say that I do sometimes do “better” things than what I’ve listed here. Some days, I’m cooking new things, doing art projects, and getting up to exercise before the sun’s up. But, unfortunately, right now, those are not part of my daily, habitual routine. What follows, actually is.
Now, I tag the following people to share their routines, if they so choose!
Janelle, Tristan, Kiersta, Heather, Pam, DesMama, Erin S., Erin A, Bethany A., Bethany B..…and anyone else who wants to share.
Okay, I’m going to do this for a day I don’t work and when I’m not in the middle of moving! A typical day might go something like this.
7:00 Kids wake up. *Get baby’s diaper changed and get him in the high chair with some
“do it yourself food” like Kix.
*Help older kids get their pull-ups off (cause at least one of them is drenched with pee) and underwear on. Jammies stay on during breakfast.
*Get them breakfast. Usually waffles or cereal. Sometimes eggs.
*Start a load of laundry.
*Get baby down from high chair, cleaned up, and dressed. He starts playing.
*After breakfast, get older two dressed and ready for the day. They start playing.
*Start dishwasher, clean up from breakfast. General pick-up.
9:00 Baby goes down for nap.
*Get a dvd in for the kids and Mommy takes a shower and gets ready for the day.
*Make phone calls, pay bills, switch laundry, do something with the kids that is almost impossible to do when baby is up (read, color, play a game). Sadly, I do not do this everyday. More often than not, I’m running around with wet hair, on the phone, or doing something for work, church, or their preschool.
10:30 or so…Baby wakes up. Everyone has a snack.
*If the weather is nice, this is our “go out” time. We do a play date, go to the park, or run errands. I do not grocery shop any more, as William has totally taken that over. Those Costco runs with the three of them made me want to jump off the nearest bridge. Anyway, they are getting much better at errands, though, and we do manage to get a lot done during this time.
12:30 or thereabouts Lunch. (twice a week the kids have preschool for 2 hours here)
1:00 Baby goes down for nap.
If they are at preschool, this is my email/blog/maybe even snooze time. At other times, it is do something for work, church, or their preschool time. I may put away laundry or clean the bathrooms.
3:00 Baby wakes up (twice a week, get kids from school) Snack
If weather is nice, play outside. Baby is high maintenance at this age, so I basically follow him around and hope he doesn’t put bad stuff in his mouth! Sometimes he’ll sit and play with the toys, which is wonderful, but most often he is just exploring away! Vacuum, other housework
4:30 Start dinner.
This is a shame point for me. These days, I don’t make nice meals for my family on a daily basis. I just don’t. I’m sorry to say that I usually give the kids dino-nuggets, mac n’ cheese, or easy pasta/grilled cheese, etc. I’m not proud of this, but it’s the truth! (If William is home, there is a wonderful meal, which we all eat together)
5:00 *Bath Time.
All 3 kids get in the tub together and have a blast. Baby’s bath is quick and then I get him out and ready for bed. I put him to bed while the other 2 are still in the tub.
5:30 *Reading/FlashcardsWe’ve tried to have a bit of learning time before bed. It’s not cemented into routine yet, but we’re really working on it. The kids say words in Chinese and English or they might spell a few words. Other times, I read to them or tell them a story. If it’s a week-end, William does this.
6:00 *Bed time. They don’t always stay in bed. They don’t always quiet down right away, but if they are tired (and if we’ve gone outside that day, they usually are) they do fall asleep within the hour. It took me a LONG time and lots of tears (for all of us) to get this to be our routine. I’m sure with daylight savings it will change but this is what we do most nights, for now.
6:00-7:00 I’m upstairs resting and making sure they’re not getting too crazy. I turn all lights off , keep things quiet, and wait for them to settle down. Once in awhile I’m still in bed by the time William gets home, but usually I come downstairs when I know they’re really going to sleep.
7:00 Begin preparing dinner for William and I. Lately, though, I just start the rice, defrost some meat, and he cooks when he gets home. I also read blogs or update mine, read something on the computer, and do email at this time. I also clean ---fold clothes, general pick-up, etc.
7:30 or so William comes home. We cook, eat dinner, and clean up. Then it depends. I am always just so very tired at this point of the day.
8:30 If we’ve got a lesson at church coming up or if we have something for work, we do that. Sometimes we’ll watch a movie and do little tasks for preschool/fold clothes. Often he’ll read and I’ll go take a bath. That is “my time”. Sometimes other stuff is going on. Sometimes I’m working and the babysitter is there when he gets home.
10:00 Go to Bed.
I’ll be honest. I don’t like looking at this routine. I wish there were many different
things on it. I wish I had formal daily scripture study, journal time, time set aside for working on my writing
class, exercise, teaching the kids, serving others…There are a lot of things missing from
here and there are things here (dinner) that I wished looked differently than they do. I
sometimes do certain things (exercise, make a great meal, read great books) but I can’t
put it in my “routine” unless I do it more often than not, right? So, what you see here is
a realistic view of how I spend most days.
I don’t know where all my time goes. We haven’t watched television in over a year. None!
One of the reasons we made that choice is so that we wouldn’t allow it to suck away our
precious time. But I haven’t watched tv at all and I’m still not accomplishing my goals!
Hmm…
Anyway, it sounds like I’m being sort of down on myself, but really I still think I’m
hanging in okay. The older kids are basically potty-trained now and that alone has made
2008 so incredibly beautiful thus far! My work schedule is less chaotic this term, too.
And as the baby sleeps better and I sleep better, I’m hoping that some of those other goals
will find their way into my daily routine. I think moving will help too for a number of
reasons. More room for them to run, more safe freedom for the baby.
And I guess I have to ask myself what role laziness plays in my life. Maybe I just need
more discipline. Maybe I need to train myself to feel good with less sleep. I do think
looking at my nutritional habits will help with my energy levels as well.
Being a Mom of small kids is WONDERFUL but it’s also extremely busy. Looking
at my routine shows me that. It’s MUCH, much, much better than last year when there
was no sleep routine, 2 kids were pooping and peeing everywhere except on the potty all
day every day, and a certain sweet newborn was colicky and screamed endlessly. That
was exhausting. Compared to that, this routine is heaven!
So, what do you think? How do you view your routines?
"We've got each other...now let's go see what life holds for us!"
(Ignore the date on this--it was at a suprise birthday party for William in 2002)
