Schedules

One thing I've learned in the past 17 months is the importance of a predictable routine (or schedule) for kids.  It wasn't that big of a deal at first, because newborns sleep all the time and can sleep through anything.  They just wake up every few hours to eat.  After a while, though, they start spending more time awake and start needing to figure out how to get themselves down and stay down for longer periods of time.

Someone told me that the "magical hour" to put kids down for bed seems to be around 8:00.  When Carmen was younger (4 or 5 months?) she seemed to be able and willing to stay up until 10:00 watching Castle with us.  We couldn't convince her to go down any earlier than that, which was fine with me.  I figured that was the reason why she was able to sleep until 8:00 in the morning before wanting to get out of bed and play.

By the way, she still got up a few times in the night to eat.  She didn't really start sleeping through the night regularly until she was almost a year old ... but I was glad that she never wanted to *stay up* and *play* in the middle of the night!  That was good enough for me!  Plus, I never really slept well anyway so I was always waking up a few times in the middle of the night ANYWAY.  Blargh!

Sure enough, as Carmen settled into a more human-like schedule, she naturally started getting tired and going to bed around 8:00 on the dot.


I had a hard time figuring out her nap schedule, though.  Younger babies usually take about two naps during the day, then around a year they usually drop one of the naps.  It seemed like most of my friends' kids took their naps in the afternoons, and I was SO JEALOUS because it seemed like every morning, Carmen would wake up with us (not too early, thank goodness!) and then be ready to go back to bed an hour or two later.  We barely had time to eat breakfast and I couldn't go ANYWHERE because she would get so amazingly cranky.

Now that I'm watching my neighbor's kindergartner in the mornings, I've finally convinced Carmen to take a nap AFTER lunch.  It's wonderful.  By that time, I'm tired enough that I sometimes take a nap, too. :D  I think she can stay up so long because she's entertained by more people than just me.  Mom alone?  I'm boring!  Mom + 5-year-old?  Entertainment galore!

So here's how our schedule generally works during the week:
Some time between 6 and 7:30 - wake up, family snuggle time, one parent plays with Carmen while the other showers, then we all have breakfast

7:30-8:00 - Mark leaves for work.  He works 1.1 miles from our house, so he can walk or bike or I can give him a ride if he's running late.  That's why we chose to live here.  Carmen hates it if he doesn't say goodbye, and lately I've started going to work with him.  Sometimes I can visit for a while, other times I have to be back in time for the kindergartner to get here.

8:30-8:45 - Sadie, the kindergartner, arrives.  We leave for school around 12:15, so I try to think of what we can do for the next 3.5 hours or so.

Usually, it goes something like this:
~Run errands or do chores around the house until 11:00.  Sadie unintentionally keeps Carmen distracted and plays with the cats.  (Those cats are probably the best thing that's happened lately.  Kids think they are so stinkin' funny.)

I also use this time to get ready for the day and put my makeup on.  Carmen comes upstairs and either sits on the counter next to me and brushes her teeth or chases the cats around our room.

11:00 - lunch time.  Carmen likes to feed herself so she's busy for a good 30 or 45 minutes.  I get her food started before Sadie's because Sadie eats faster.  After lunch, sometimes I give Sadie a Popsicle and let her play outside until I can get Carmen cleaned up and we can come outside too.  We have a little playground and pavilion behind our townhome.  It's awesome - another reason we chose this place.

12:05ish - let the kids know it's about time to pack up and leave.  This gives me enough time to check Carmen's diaper before we take Sadie to school.

12:38 - Sadie's school starts (Mondays it starts at 12:13).  I shoot to get there 5 or 10 minutes early in case traffic is backed up at the stop signs or something.  The school she goes to is 5 miles away, up past the Mount Timpanogos temple.

After we get home, I put Carmen down for a nap.  She's so exhausted by then; sometimes she falls asleep in the car.  I take this opportunity to do whatever I want/need to do - read, clean, nap, play video games, cross-stitch ...

Mark's work schedule is pretty flexible, so he comes home anywhere between 4 and 5:30, depending on our moods.  We have dinner at 5:30 (because Carmen is STAAAARRRVVVVIIINNGGGG even though she's been snacking on saltines and bananas and cheese all day.)

Dinner is usually done around 6, Carmen is usually done eating by 6:30 (gotta love kids who want to feed themselves!) and we have about an hour to play around and do whatever before it's bath time.

7:30 - bath time.  I sit in the bathroom and read a book or play games while Carmen splashes around.  She still fits in a little baby tub.  I'm planning on using that tub and conserving water as long as I can. ;)

After bath time, I dress Carmen in her pajamas and we brush teeth and stuff.  Sometimes we try to read books, other times we skip straight to prayers and nursing and then she's out.  I take advantage of some snuggle time, then lay her in her crib and give her her blanket and a sippy cup of water.

It's a pretty good routine for us.  On the weekends, we start shifting her nap a little earlier because we have church at 1:00 on Sundays.  On those days, we wake her up around noon so we have enough time to eat lunch and get ready to go to church.



Wow, that was long.  The only reason I'm writing this is because the batteries in my camera are dead so I couldn't take pictures of Carmen's funny faces at work this morning.  Or the fact that there's a tree growing right in front of the speed limit sign in our neighborhood so you can't see it.