I only have 1 kid but I pick him up about 5.15, home by 5.30. He watches TV while I make dinner and we eat together about 6.15. Then bath around 7, pj's on and a little play in his room then about 10 minutes of stories and lights out at 8.
I only have 1 kid but I pick him up about 5.15, home by 5.30. He watches TV while I make dinner and we eat together about 6.15. Then bath around 7, pj's on and a little play in his room then about 10 minutes of stories and lights out at 8.
What time does he wake up in the morning? And does he still nap?
I only have 1 kid but I pick him up about 5.15, home by 5.30. He watches TV while I make dinner and we eat together about 6.15. Then bath around 7, pj's on and a little play in his room then about 10 minutes of stories and lights out at 8.
What time does he wake up in the morning? And does he still nap?
Wakes around 6.45-7 and he naps 2 hours at daycare and about 2.5 hours at home on the weekend
scout251 I've been back to work with 2 almost 3 months and I found maternity leave to allow me time to get everything done when I just had the baby so I could focus on DS1 after school. I've been back to work for 3 months now and i still don't have a routine down. The baby wants to be held/ nursed all evening since he hasn't been with me all day and DS1 is wanting to play and be crazy and eat a snack. H gets home a little later than me - like 5:30 so once he's here I leave him with both kids and fix dinner. We eat around 6:30 and I used to be able to put DS2 down at 7 and we could bathe/ play wth DS2 solo until 8. Now the baby is wanting to go to bed at 8 so H and I are splitting up and doing one each. I usually wash bottles and get stuff ready for the next day while I'm cooking dinner. We spend so time Saturday and Sunday getting laundry done and we hired a house cleaner. I get groceries at lunch.
becole I am starting to feel like I just want to give up on actually trying to make dinners. Anything that requires too much chopping or too many steps is just so stressful and it turns into a shit show. My mom got us 2 weeks of Blue Apron but it's actually not helpful at all because the recipes involve too much prep work. I really try to make healthy meals and make sure we eat together but I think that will require a personal chef when I go back to work.
becole I am starting to feel like I just want to give up on actually trying to make dinners. Anything that requires too much chopping or too many steps is just so stressful and it turns into a shit show. My mom got us 2 weeks of Blue Apron but it's actually not helpful at all because the recipes involve too much prep work. I really try to make healthy meals and make sure we eat together but I think that will require a personal chef when I go back to work.
I use dream dinners. See if they are in your area. It's kinda like blue apron but they're basically freshly prepared freezer meals with all the Ingredients already there and chopped and in bags. I love it and it's made my life much better and I don't spend anymore in groceries because it's everything I need and I don't buy extra food.
ETA: I also buy and freeze Costco ready made meals like alfredo, quesadillas, pot pies, and their organic soups. I keep things to make grilled cheese, bagged salad, a veggie tray that's literally already washed and cut up. Fruit is the same way- I buy a $10 huge thing of cup up fruit at costco. I do nothing. I just can't right now.
becole I am starting to feel like I just want to give up on actually trying to make dinners. Anything that requires too much chopping or too many steps is just so stressful and it turns into a shit show. My mom got us 2 weeks of Blue Apron but it's actually not helpful at all because the recipes involve too much prep work. I really try to make healthy meals and make sure we eat together but I think that will require a personal chef when I go back to work.
I use dream dinners. See if they are in your area. It's kinda like blue apron but they're basically freshly prepared freezer meals with all the Ingredients already there and chopped and in bags. I love it and it's made my life much better and I don't spend anymore in groceries because it's everything I need and I don't buy extra food.
I obviously don't have a routine for 2 yet. But before we pulled Clara out of daycare for the summer we would have dinner 5-5:30. Crockpot and left overs are big for us. Also, sometimes MH would get Clara early so he would start to cook or cook when I get home at 4:30 or if I was home before them I would cook. We would then play until 6 or so and the shower, pjs, books and in bed by 7 (I would read to her and then sing a song and MH would do the dishes). She talks to herself and then passes out by 7:30. It would depend on the day but she is up by 6-6:30 and naps still (well sometimes she didn't at daycare). We still do this for the summer but her summer bedtime is 8. I have no idea how I am going to do this with two. Split up probably until I can bathe them together and have Clara "help" put T to bed before she goes to bed.
I won't be much help cause we only have one as well. Dh and J will play outside around 4 while I make dinner. Sometimes play time is followed by a bath. Dinner anytime between 5-6. More play time 7-8. Then it's quiet down time at 8, anything can happen here as long as he keeps calm and quiet to get ready for bed. Bedtime is 8:30. He wakes up around 7-7:30 and he still naps at 1. His naps vary in length lately but they can be an hour to 3 hours.
One of us picks up DS from DC and are home by 6. DS doesn't eat at a set time - anytime between 6 and 7. He eats things that are easy to prepare so that doesn't take too long. Besides eating, he plays until about 7:30 and then we get him ready, sometimes sit with him for a bit and are done around 7:45. Some nights he hangs out in his crib for awhile. We eat dinner after he goes to bed and usually prepare meals on the weekends so all we have to do is heat it up. On the weekends, we usually let DS watch TV and if it's bath night, we do that around 7.
becole the closest Dream Dinners to me is still too far but it sounds great! I found another option called Terra's Kitchen that is similar to Blue Apron but pre-chops veggies and stuff for you. It seems a bit pricey though and the purchase options are either 2 servings or 4 so I'd be stuck with nothing for DD to eat or paying for extra food. Sigh...this extra kid really puts a kink in the system.
One kid here. I get DD from D.C. Around 5:30-5:45 then home by 6. I usually start dinner right away and depending on what we're having we eat between 6:30 and 7. I try my best to be done with dinner by 7 but sometimes it's a little later. Then she gets pjs on, brush teeth/hair, read two stories, rock for 3 minutes then lights are out and she's in bed. Sleeping by 8 or 8:30 then up between 6:30 and 7 most days and still naps although sometimes only for and hour. I usually get DD watch Doc or MMCH while I make dinner. If she asks I'll put it on but if she doesn't I leave the tv off.
Post by activebaby on Apr 12, 2017 20:11:43 GMT -5
The kids get up at 630-40 so I can be out of the door before 7. I should really be out of the house before 650 if I'm going to daycare, but I'm always struggling. I leave work 530ish, make it to day care 6-615, pick up the boys and am back in the car by 615-630. Baby always falls asleep in the car and big tells me he is tired. We get home 630-645. Dinner is by 730, showers around 8. Bedtime by 9. Clearly we should be getting a 9 month old and 2 year old to bed sooner, but we don't/can't. So I guess I'm saying don't feel bad about your routine...sounds better than ours.
The kids get up at 630-40 so I can be out of the door before 7. I should really be out of the house before 650 if I'm going to daycare, but I'm always struggling. I leave work 530ish, make it to day care 6-615, pick up the boys and am back in the car by 615-630. Baby always falls asleep in the car and big tells me he is tired. We get home 630-645. Dinner is by 730, showers around 8. Bedtime by 9. Clearly we should be getting a 9 month old and 2 year old to bed sooner, but we don't/can't. So I guess I'm saying don't feel bad about your routine...sounds better than ours.
I'm sorry, that's rough. I wasn't trying to make anyone else feel bad about their routine, I was just trying to see if I was missing something that might make this easier. Basically, since I have no money, this is probably a no.
My schedule is different. I usually work 10-6 except for Saturdays which are 9-5. We get up at 6 and shower and I blow dry my hair. We eat, let the dog out, feed the dog, then I try to hang out with her while I have a coffee since after work is kind of a no-go. I do my make up and we brush teeth and get dressed and then time to leave for daycare.
I get out of work around 6:20 or 6:30, get to daycare and then home just before 7:00. We eat (usually something from the crock pot and then leftovers), or like tonight she had toast since she refused anything else 🙄
She can watch some TV or the last couple of nights she played outside while I did some clean up of the yard. Bath if she didn't have a shower with me. Brush teeth, story and then in bed usually around 8:10 or later lately if she was fooling around.
Between work and some chores I don't feel like we really have a chance to have any fun. It sucks.
I'm still only giving DD a shower after swim lessons on Saturday's. She has eczema so her skin is dry as is and her hair doesn't look oily. I'll probably have to switch to more once it gets warmer and they're outside playing more. If I do need to do a bath I try to do it on a weekend so I'm not trying to fit it in before bed.
Like all things with a new baby, it will get better. I remember clearly the afternoon/evening shitshow of needing to make dinner while the baby who always needed to be held needed to nap. He's now dropped that 3rd nap and his afternoon nap usually lines up at least partially with dd's.
Disclaimer: Since I sah I have more control over the schedule and I'm lucky Dh is often home by 5. There are times he's later though and times he travels and I get the pleasure of doing it all, but it's all much better as ds gets older.
Meal planning has helped a lot in that I know what prep needs to happen and I do it the night before or during nap time. Ds will often play independently now so I have more flexibility, but I can't always count on being able to wield a knife while he's awake. Single sheet pan dinners that can just go in the oven and be left alone for 30 mins, or meals in the instant pot mean I can play with kids while the food cooks.
We're often eating around 5:30. After dinner we play outside or in the basement - mostly Dh plays with Dd and I keep the baby content. I start the baby's bedtime around 6:30 - diaper, jammies, sister says goodnight, nurse, just starting to not hold him to sleep so I put him down by 7 and yells for half an hour. Dh starts negotiating bedtime with Dd around 6:30 also. Once he gets her upstairs they play, diaper, jammies, brush teeth, read and play. Then I read and snuggle with Dd and put her to bed - the goal is 7:30 for her.
Post by rainbowsockmonkey on Apr 12, 2017 22:01:17 GMT -5
I SAH as well, but heres our routine.
Dinner is between 5:30-6pm. after dinner the girls get to play or sometimes watch Disney Jr or watch a movie, just depends on how the day has gone and how much sanity I have left. On bath nights we do bath right after dinner, and if it's just me doing it, it takes about an hour. If no bath, pjs and diaper changes at 7:40, and we start going upstairs at 7:50. I put Dd2 in her crib with her animals and blanket while Dd1 turns on her fan and nightlight and gets into bed. I tuck her in, and then I'm free. The girls wake up between 7-7:30am, and nap time starts at 1pm and goes until 3pm at the earliest, but lately they have both been sleeping till past 4pm.
Post by Susan0utLoud on Apr 12, 2017 22:44:14 GMT -5
I will start by saying that it gets better as the baby gets older. It really does.
You've gotten plenty of examples of timelines and routines. Ours isn't anything out of the ordinary, similar to most here. I will share a few things that have worked for us in easing the weeknight shitshow. Full disclosure: we must eat together as a family for James's food therapy, so I do take some shortcuts with dinners.
I don't have the money to do the Dream Dinners or the meal kits. If cooking on a weeknight, I stick to quick meals - my go to's are one sheet pan recipes where the veg and meat all cook together, skinnytaste quick meals (this is my new fav) , or grab and go like a rotisserie chicken. My sidesa are always simple - veggies in a micro steam bags, frozen garlic bread in the toaster oven, microwave quinoa and kale bags from Sam's/Costco, etc.
I cook a couple of things or prep them on the weekend and cook only once maybe twice during the week. This week I made stuffed peppers and meatloaf on Sunday. Both keep well and we eat them for lunches and dinner throughout the week. I cooked the pork chops last night and we'll have fish and chips on Friday since it's Good Friday.
I always keep a frozen something on hand for nights that don't go as planned or the schedule is wonky due to therapy or something. Bertoli pasta meals are what we usually have for this.
We divide and conquer with the kids after dinner. Bedtimes are still staggered and they're sharing a room, so that really adds a whole new layer of complicated. We always spend 5 minutes tidying up the house before bed (run the stick vac around, put things away, etc.), it's amazing what you can do in 5 minutes!
scout251 you will also ask yourself why you thought one kid was hard. Many many times. It's not double the work. It's like 4 times the work. Somehow. I don't get it.
Our routine is similar to what others have said. And I agree with easy meals. We do sheet pan meals or crock pot meals. It is so much harder with 2 kids, but as DS2 gets older it's slowly getting better. DH also does DS1s bath and bedtime so I can focus on DS2. But he started that well before DS2 was born so there wasn't much of a fight about it. It's all about divide and conquer! I don't know how people do it with more than 2 kids.
I'm still only giving DD a shower after swim lessons on Saturday's. She has eczema so her skin is dry as is and her hair doesn't look oily. I'll probably have to switch to more once it gets warmer and they're outside playing more. If I do need to do a bath I try to do it on a weekend so I'm not trying to fit it in before bed.
Same with DS so we have only been doing baths on Sunday nights but I'm going to give him a bath tonight because it's been a warm week so he's come home sweaty. So we'll have to start 2x week (at least) as well soon.
Kids are 4.5 and 3, nights we have activities are different obviously but this is the jist... I pick them up from DC around 515 and head home. Make and serve dinner. Try to get them to eat quickly, but it's usually 6:30-6:45 before we are done with dinner. Then if it's bath night we start that. If it's not we will go outside if it's warm or we play a game or something. Around 7:20-7:30 we have our bedtime snack. When that's done we brush our teeth. Then together we set the timer for 5 minutes so they know when it goes off it's time to get in bed. I tuck DD1 in first and sometimes I let Eliza sit for 2 minutes on my lap and then we go to bed. Specifically for Eliza, she turns on her sound machine and 2 projectors and then we hug and kiss. She exclaims that she doesn't want to go to bed, so she has lots of dolls, play phones, and a book in her bed. I tell her she can play but needs to be quiet.
I'll be honest, Eliza is my little turd when it comes to bedtime and it's only gotten worse with taking away her paci. And she doesn't nap so you'd think she'd be tired, as well as she wakes up at 6-615. I let her fuss for a bit or she delays by getting up several times. There are several nights per week where she's not asleep before 9, but not for lack of trying. I wish she would shape up as I'd like to have them share the bunk bed and have one big room for a play room. But she's not reliable yet for going to bed.
becole I am starting to feel like I just want to give up on actually trying to make dinners. Anything that requires too much chopping or too many steps is just so stressful and it turns into a shit show. My mom got us 2 weeks of Blue Apron but it's actually not helpful at all because the recipes involve too much prep work. I really try to make healthy meals and make sure we eat together but I think that will require a personal chef when I go back to work.
For a long time and still some weeks here, we eat pizza several times a week and also make fast meals like hot dogs or cheese croissants. I also sometimes just don't feel like cooking for 30-60 minutes each night after working so it's nice to have those quick meals. And the kids are just fine and sometimes prefer those fast meals. We also eat out at a minimum of 1x of week but it's usually more than that.
If you can, maybe try to use the weekends to prep some of the more time consuming things. Like browning hamburger. That's been helpful for me too.
Give yourself some slack when you do go back. You don't have to be making gourmet meals and the kids will be just fine. They are fed!
I'm jealous of those that still nap. I think Eliza has dropped hers and fights it every day.
Also, Babywearing was big for me in those first 12 months. I would wear Eliza while cooking or doing things with DD1 because she NEEDED me. Eliza was way more attached then DD1 and evenings she had to be held or comforted. A sling or Tula were my best friend. Summers are going to be way different with more evening activities, but I'm also going to be more laxed with bedtime and maybe not start it until 8. I try to get them outside as often as we can for the fresh air and to wear them out!!!
Oh also with the cooking, since it was nice out this weekend DH grilled up a bunch of chicken on Sunday, we put honey mustard on some and just salt/pepper on the rest. This way had meat already cooked up and just had to worry about sides. Easy way to make leftovers not seem like leftovers.
We did zoodles one night with a little balsamic, basil, and Mozzarella threw the grilled chicken on top and it was quick easy and tasty.
It's been a learning process though to see what meals work and what meals are too much of a pain in the ass.
Oh also with the cooking, since it was nice out this weekend DH grilled up a bunch of chicken on Sunday, we put honey mustard on some and just salt/pepper on the rest. This way had meat already cooked up and just had to worry about sides. Easy way to make leftovers not seem like leftovers.
We did zoodles one night with a little balsamic, basil, and Mozzarella threw the grilled chicken on top and it was quick easy and tasty.
It's been a learning process though to see what meals work and what meals are too much of a pain in the ass.
We like to do this too, or if I make pulled pork or shredded chicken in the crockpot/insta I make extra and freeze half. Then it's easy to make nachos, tacos, add a sauce and veg, whatever at a later date.
I SAH but when DH gets done with work he usually takes the kids outside for a bit so I can catch up on things. Then one of us starts dinner around 5 while the other entertains the kids. We eat at 6. Then the kids either play for a bit while I clean up or get a bath from DH. I feed DS2 and lay him down while DH does diaper and pjs with DS1. I read to DS1 downstairs and then we tip toe into the room they share so that DS2 doesn't wake up. DS1 thinks it's funny to sneak in there and it keeps him from making noise or getting out of bed.
We meal plan and most dinners take about an hour to make. Without DH to help with the kids I would not be able to cook that much. We raise our own chickens, so I cook a whole chicken in the crockpot early in the week and then cook the leftover meat and broth into other meals that week.
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