This type of blog has been on my to-write list for a while.  Maybe no one is interested, but I know I am sure interested to see how other people pack it all in to a day and still manage to sit back and enjoy this roller coaster of life! So here’s a little sneak peak into our routine, which has sure changed now that R is teaching.  Unfortunately mine doesn’t come with photos this time around.  Here goes nothing . . .

5am – R’s alarm goes off.  I do not allow any snooze button pushing.  I love love love that I am not the first one to get up anymore.  I thought I’d be annoyed every time his alarm went off, but it’s so nice to roll over and not be the one getting out of bed (sorry, dear).  R takes care of feeding the dog, releasing the cat from her nighttime jail that is the laundry room, and lets the dog out to pee.

5:30am – R gets out of the shower and wakes me up.  I hop right up and into the shower because I am still kind of awake from the alarm.  When I get out of the shower, I clean up the bathroom, make the bed, etc.

5:50am – I eat a quick breakfast, usually cereal, before Miss M gets up (sometimes she gets up when she hears Ryan, around 5:15am – 5:30am, in which case she comes and snuggles with me).

6am – Usually around this time M wakes up.  She often wakes up screaming to get out of her crib.  There is no cooing and playing in the crib in the morning anymore.  If she sleeps in a little, I start unloading the dry dishes from the night before and prepping her breakfast, or picking out what I will wear that day.

6:10 – 6:20am – Once she wakes up, I change her diaper, get her greased up with sunscreen, and get her dressed (she hates putting on sunscreen).

6:20 – 6:45am – M hangs in her highchair and usually eats fruit (banana, mango, peach, pear), applesauce and baby cereal (I spoon feed her this), and/or half of a small pancake.  She doesn’t eat much and usually ends up throwing most of her food over the side or against the wall.  She also has milk from her sippy cup – no more bottles for this big girl!  During this time I am getting dressed, brushing hair and teeth, cleaning up kitchen, getting lunches together (packed night before).

6:45 – 7:15am – M and I take Miss Izzie for a nice walk.  If it’s a good day, we go around the two long blocks.  If we’re running late, she just gets to go around the block.

7:30am – Daycare drop off.  It makes me feel good that she’s not usually the first kid there.

8am – I arrive at work.

3pm – Technically I am off the clock, but usually I don’t leave before 3:30pm and I usually run some sort of baby-free errand after work – target, grocery store, haircut.  I bought a year gym membership and had planned to go after work before picking M up, but that hasn’t happened!

4 – 4:30pm – Daycare pickup.  Again, she’s not the last one there, which is always a nice feeling.

4:30pm – 6pm – During this time, we usually go for another walk, a little bit longer than the morning walk.  We play, clean up our lunch dishes, do dinner prep, put away dry dishes from breakfast, get laundry started, start on lunches for tomorrow.  Daddy usually gets home during this time.

6pm – Daddy cooks us all dinner.  For the most part, M eats what we eat now, but some nights we don’t eat until after she goes to bed.  We try hard to eat before she goes to bed.

6:30pm – Watch NBC Nightly News and play with M.

7:00 – 7:30pm – If I have been doing laundry, I put it in the dryer before we start bedtime routine, so it will be ready to fold when I’m done.  We have bath time,  read a book, and go to bed (no milk at bedtime anymore).  Sometimes she goes right to bed, sometimes we have to go in a few times to sooth her, but she’s usually asleep around 8pm or so.

Then, I clean up from dinner (R does the cooking) and do lunch dishes, pack lunches (if I haven’t already), clean up the bathroom from bath time, put away the toys strewn about the house, fold the laundry, clean up the kitchen, do any other chores – scoop litter box, take trash out, pull trash cans around, etc.

9pm or so – Usually I am done with clean up routine around 9pm or so, and I grab a cup of tea and read for half hour or less and fall asleep.  It’s nice now that R has to get up early, because he usually goes to bed at the same time I do.  We always try to be in bed with the light off by 10pm.