I remember writing a similar post to this last year. (Anyone interested can read it HERE) Kenzie had been in school for about a month and we were all settling into our normal, everyday routine after adjusting to such a big change (even though it was only 2 days a week.) This year, it has been an even bigger adjustment but we are finally at a point that we are settled and back into our "routine" on school days. I wanted to write a similar post detailing what our days are like mainly so I can see how things have changed in the last year.
This year, Kenzie is in school 4 days a week. So, she is at school more days than she isn't and our daily routine has been altered quite a bit. Not only because of school, but also because of the wants and needs of our family at the stage we are at now.
School days are Tuesday through Friday now. On those days, we all get up at our normal times. Our kids are early risers and they always have been. We learned long ago that regardless of what time they are put in bed, they will wake up with the sun most days. Late bedtimes just make for cranky days usually so we adhere to an early bedtime most of the time. Anyway, both kids are usually up and raring to go by about 7am. Sometimes one (or both) of them wake up earlier. At this point, I will pull Will out of bed if he wakes up anytime after 6 but before 7 because he calls my name over and over again and we worry it might wake Kenzie. Any earlier than 6 and we usually ignore him. He stops and goes back to sleep eventually on those days. Anyway, on school days we want Kenzie to get the most sleep possible. If Kenzie wakes up prior to 7, most of the time she stays in her room until her alarm clock changes from yellow to green. Unless she can hear us all moving around in the house. Then she opens her door and asks to come out. She never comes out without either asking or her clock changing to green though.... Thankful for small things. Steven leaves right before 7 most days so while we hate having her come out early often, I think he secretly likes that on those days he gets to say goodbye to her. The same goes for Will waking up early.
Our first order of business (by demand) is usually milk and TV. We let the kids watch some TV while they have their morning milk and finish waking up. One of their favorites right now in the morning is Little Einsteins if it is on. Otherwise, we stick to whatever is on Disney Jr. most days (which is usually Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at that time in the morning.) Then, it is on to breakfast. Sometimes (depending on the mood of the house and what I have going on in the morning) they eat breakfast while watching TV, as well. Side note: They both really love Curious George too. I can't figure out how or why. It has no music and seems like a fairly boring show but they will both sit enamored with it for quite some time if it is on. Kenzie liked it at Will's age too. So weird. Will's favorite animals are monkeys and lions right now so him watching a monkey do silly things probably isn't that crazy. I don't know. Anyway, if it is on, it gives us another option. Speaking of which, I need to let Will try Dinosaur Train one of these days. Kenzie loved that one at his age, too. Again, a slightly boring one for a toddler I would think...
At 8:00, we start getting ready. Well, really, I start getting them ready. I've been ready for a while at that point (hence the morning TV time). Kenzie can dress herself so I help her pick out clothes and then head off to dress Will for the day. We all convene in the bathroom to do Kenzie's hair, brush teeth, and go potty before we pack it up and head out of the house by 8:30. For some reason, we were having a really hard time with this time block up until about a week ago and then it all clicked. We were always out of the house on time, but I felt rushed. We didn't change anything that I can recall, but it works now. Maybe I just got used to it. Our newest issue is that Kenzie can be super picky in the mornings with her clothes and hair now. If I try to encourage her to wear something she doesn't want or request to do her hair in a way that she doesn't want, she argues. A lot. It can cut into our time, but we always end up on time. I think I just have enough extra time built in or something.
School starts at 9 but depending on traffic, it can be a bit of a drive. Sometimes it takes us 15 minutes... sometimes it takes all 30 that I allot and we pull in right at 9. You never know what you might get. If we make it to school early, the kids like to wait out front until they open the doors. Kenzie will usually run and play with her friends. Typically, Will is right in there with them. He thinks he is one of the big boys and runs right up to them, tries to strike up a conversation, and follows them around. There are some that seem to have taken him under their wings at times and make sure to let him be able to keep up to a point when they all start running. I think this is one of Kenzie's favorite times of day. We have had 2 spills already this year, one of which required a bandaid before school even started, but even after falling, she is right back in there the next day running again. Right at 9 usually, they open the doors and we walk Kenzie in. After signing her in, Will and I usually head out to run some errands. Since we are already out and about, this is the best time to do them.
We do have some "scheduled" types of mornings as we all know I thrive on routine. On Wednesdays we go to the library for story time. On Thursdays we go to Publix for our weekly shopping. I'm hoping to get into going to a park or something on Fridays as it seems to be getting slightly cooler in the mornings lately. After we get home from running any errands we have, we will play in the playroom or Will's room. Typically, we do not play much in either kids' room because we have the playroom but Will isn't at the point yet that he plays for a substantial amount of time far away from us so he likes to spend time in there with us whenever he can since those are different toys that are entirely "his". He will go in his room and play sometimes on his own and I am noticing that he does it for longer and longer periods now (much like Kenzie did at about this age) so I know that point is coming. We usually have lunch around 11:30 so that we can have enough time to finish and prep to head out to pick up Kenzie.
Unlike last year when school ended at 1:30, school is over at 12:45 for her this year so it took a while for us to get it together with a slightly shorter day. We had some trial and error over the first few weeks while we figured out a system and schedule, but we have it down now. We are usually a little early to pick her up and I know that Kenzie eats lunch slowly so I like to give her the full time to finish eating. If we are early, Will and I will play around in front of the school while we wait. He likes to run around the tables like he does in the mornings. Lately we have been early enough to walk all the way around the building. He seems to like that, too. We try to be inside right at 12:45. Usually she is finishing up lunch or ends up bringing some of her food home with her. She always manages to finish her sandwich and fruit as we had a talk about how that is the most important thing in her lunch but she sometimes hasn't finished her treat or cheez-its (or goldfish) so she brings those home with her.
Sometimes on the ride home, Will falls asleep. Thankfully, he is the easy one when it comes to transitioning. I can put him in bed and he stays asleep for another couple of hours usually. If he isn't asleep, then when we get home, he goes down for a nap and Kenzie goes to her room for "rest time." Being that Kenzie hasn't napped in well over a year and a half at this point, we let her stay in her room for a while to "rest" and play by herself. This also lets me get some things done. I keep a "cleaning schedule". Yeah, you heard me. I actually have a daily schedule for what I clean each day. I have to. I would never do some things if I didn't have a schedule. I would just continually overlook them and pretend like they don't need to be done more than likely. Like, dusting. I despise dusting... but is has to be done. Here's my schedule:
Monday - Sheets (on all beds)
Tuesday - Bathrooms
Wednesday - Vacuum (sometimes mop too depending on timing)
Thursday - Dust/Glass
Friday - Vacuum/Mop
Now... while I have a schedule, that doesn't mean some things get done more often. For instance, I vacuum at least 3-4 times a week usually (if not daily depending on the room). There are also daily things like cleaning the kitchen and laundry. But I like my schedule and it works for me. I do some of the cleaning during nap/rest time. Except vacuuming. Will actually sleeps through it most of the time, but I hate to risk it ruining his nap just in case.
Kenzie typically wants to come out of her room after about 45 minutes to an hour. I let her and then we often do puzzles together, crafts, her homework if she has any that day, or whatever else she wants to do. Most of the time Will takes a 2-3 hour nap.
When he wakes up, it is finally (almost) cool enough to consider going outside and that is often what we do. We try to go outside every day that it isn't raining. I'm hoping to add back in some parks soon as it continues to get cooler. I like to stick around the house more at this point because it is so hot and sometimes the kids have had enough and need to go in sooner than expected or because Florida finally decided to act like it is summer (even tough it is fall), it rains almost every afternoon for at least a few minutes. Kenzie and Will love to play in the rain, but I don't want to get soaked so I would rather be home so I can let them play but stay dry in the garage. Sometimes our neighbors come over to play if they are home, which the kids love. We typically spend 1-2 hours outside in the afternoon until it is time to come in and start dinner. It depends on how late Will slept and whether or not the neighbors come over as we usually spend longer outside if they come to play.
After coming inside and before starting dinner, we now do bath time. This is a newer development for us. We started moving up bath to this time when I realized that after playing outside and getting that sweaty, it was good to not only put on fresh clothes (which is what we used to do) but actually bathing. Plus, Steven tends to be home later and we liked having his time home be more about time spent together rather than needing to focus on baths. Depending on what time I need to start dinner, the kids will play together for a while (with me jumping in when I am not working on dinner prep) or watch a bit of TV if they have been good and didn't watch too much in the morning. Usually they end up with some TV though. It is easier with the two of them to keep them occupied by something that involves less chance or arguing while I am cooking. Lately, they have gotten back into messing around in my cabinets. Apparently Hide and Seek - Kitchen Edition is a popular game.
Steven is usually home by 6 or 6:30 so my plan is to have dinner ready at those times. I have almost an hour from the time he tells me that he is leaving work until he is home so I can usually accommodate that. We eat dinner together most nights unless he is super late. After dinner we sometimes take a walk if we have time. We like to get out together and try to get a walk in for Jack, as well. If we don't have time for a walk, we play together. Sometimes we play board games or card games. Sometimes we read books. Other times we just have dance parties or play in the playroom.
Then, it is bed time. We just change the kids into pjs, brush teeth and hair and start our bedtime routine. We always read a book (most of the time together but every now and then the kids have separate books), say our prayers, and sing our songs. Both kids are usually in bed by 7:30 or 8. Sometimes (if Kenzie has done all her "jobs" aka chores and earned all her "badges" for the day) she can have iPad time for 10 minutes or choose a board game or card game to play with Steven and myself. Usually, if we do that then she does the bedtime routine with us first, then has her reward time, and then heads straight to bed.
Then, it is finally time to decompress. Steven and I alternate nights we run (sometimes... sometimes we are both just too exhausted) then we usually watch some TV together, make lunches for the next day, and head to bed. Just to start all over again the next day.
Like I said, it took us a while to get into this routine but we are doing it. Next year with elementary school and Will in 2 days of preschool will be an even bigger adjustment, but just like this year, we will take it a day at a time. I must admit, I'm looking forward to some quiet time to run errands and get cleaning done around the house. Plus work, which I do periodically. =) It just amazes me how different our life is now compared to 1 year ago. I still often feel like I am running full speed in different directions as a mom, wife, and person but I'm getting the hang of it. Being a stay-at-home mom will never be "easy" but I wouldn't want to do anything else right now.
This year, Kenzie is in school 4 days a week. So, she is at school more days than she isn't and our daily routine has been altered quite a bit. Not only because of school, but also because of the wants and needs of our family at the stage we are at now.
School days are Tuesday through Friday now. On those days, we all get up at our normal times. Our kids are early risers and they always have been. We learned long ago that regardless of what time they are put in bed, they will wake up with the sun most days. Late bedtimes just make for cranky days usually so we adhere to an early bedtime most of the time. Anyway, both kids are usually up and raring to go by about 7am. Sometimes one (or both) of them wake up earlier. At this point, I will pull Will out of bed if he wakes up anytime after 6 but before 7 because he calls my name over and over again and we worry it might wake Kenzie. Any earlier than 6 and we usually ignore him. He stops and goes back to sleep eventually on those days. Anyway, on school days we want Kenzie to get the most sleep possible. If Kenzie wakes up prior to 7, most of the time she stays in her room until her alarm clock changes from yellow to green. Unless she can hear us all moving around in the house. Then she opens her door and asks to come out. She never comes out without either asking or her clock changing to green though.... Thankful for small things. Steven leaves right before 7 most days so while we hate having her come out early often, I think he secretly likes that on those days he gets to say goodbye to her. The same goes for Will waking up early.
Our first order of business (by demand) is usually milk and TV. We let the kids watch some TV while they have their morning milk and finish waking up. One of their favorites right now in the morning is Little Einsteins if it is on. Otherwise, we stick to whatever is on Disney Jr. most days (which is usually Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at that time in the morning.) Then, it is on to breakfast. Sometimes (depending on the mood of the house and what I have going on in the morning) they eat breakfast while watching TV, as well. Side note: They both really love Curious George too. I can't figure out how or why. It has no music and seems like a fairly boring show but they will both sit enamored with it for quite some time if it is on. Kenzie liked it at Will's age too. So weird. Will's favorite animals are monkeys and lions right now so him watching a monkey do silly things probably isn't that crazy. I don't know. Anyway, if it is on, it gives us another option. Speaking of which, I need to let Will try Dinosaur Train one of these days. Kenzie loved that one at his age, too. Again, a slightly boring one for a toddler I would think...
At 8:00, we start getting ready. Well, really, I start getting them ready. I've been ready for a while at that point (hence the morning TV time). Kenzie can dress herself so I help her pick out clothes and then head off to dress Will for the day. We all convene in the bathroom to do Kenzie's hair, brush teeth, and go potty before we pack it up and head out of the house by 8:30. For some reason, we were having a really hard time with this time block up until about a week ago and then it all clicked. We were always out of the house on time, but I felt rushed. We didn't change anything that I can recall, but it works now. Maybe I just got used to it. Our newest issue is that Kenzie can be super picky in the mornings with her clothes and hair now. If I try to encourage her to wear something she doesn't want or request to do her hair in a way that she doesn't want, she argues. A lot. It can cut into our time, but we always end up on time. I think I just have enough extra time built in or something.
School starts at 9 but depending on traffic, it can be a bit of a drive. Sometimes it takes us 15 minutes... sometimes it takes all 30 that I allot and we pull in right at 9. You never know what you might get. If we make it to school early, the kids like to wait out front until they open the doors. Kenzie will usually run and play with her friends. Typically, Will is right in there with them. He thinks he is one of the big boys and runs right up to them, tries to strike up a conversation, and follows them around. There are some that seem to have taken him under their wings at times and make sure to let him be able to keep up to a point when they all start running. I think this is one of Kenzie's favorite times of day. We have had 2 spills already this year, one of which required a bandaid before school even started, but even after falling, she is right back in there the next day running again. Right at 9 usually, they open the doors and we walk Kenzie in. After signing her in, Will and I usually head out to run some errands. Since we are already out and about, this is the best time to do them.
We do have some "scheduled" types of mornings as we all know I thrive on routine. On Wednesdays we go to the library for story time. On Thursdays we go to Publix for our weekly shopping. I'm hoping to get into going to a park or something on Fridays as it seems to be getting slightly cooler in the mornings lately. After we get home from running any errands we have, we will play in the playroom or Will's room. Typically, we do not play much in either kids' room because we have the playroom but Will isn't at the point yet that he plays for a substantial amount of time far away from us so he likes to spend time in there with us whenever he can since those are different toys that are entirely "his". He will go in his room and play sometimes on his own and I am noticing that he does it for longer and longer periods now (much like Kenzie did at about this age) so I know that point is coming. We usually have lunch around 11:30 so that we can have enough time to finish and prep to head out to pick up Kenzie.
Unlike last year when school ended at 1:30, school is over at 12:45 for her this year so it took a while for us to get it together with a slightly shorter day. We had some trial and error over the first few weeks while we figured out a system and schedule, but we have it down now. We are usually a little early to pick her up and I know that Kenzie eats lunch slowly so I like to give her the full time to finish eating. If we are early, Will and I will play around in front of the school while we wait. He likes to run around the tables like he does in the mornings. Lately we have been early enough to walk all the way around the building. He seems to like that, too. We try to be inside right at 12:45. Usually she is finishing up lunch or ends up bringing some of her food home with her. She always manages to finish her sandwich and fruit as we had a talk about how that is the most important thing in her lunch but she sometimes hasn't finished her treat or cheez-its (or goldfish) so she brings those home with her.
Sometimes on the ride home, Will falls asleep. Thankfully, he is the easy one when it comes to transitioning. I can put him in bed and he stays asleep for another couple of hours usually. If he isn't asleep, then when we get home, he goes down for a nap and Kenzie goes to her room for "rest time." Being that Kenzie hasn't napped in well over a year and a half at this point, we let her stay in her room for a while to "rest" and play by herself. This also lets me get some things done. I keep a "cleaning schedule". Yeah, you heard me. I actually have a daily schedule for what I clean each day. I have to. I would never do some things if I didn't have a schedule. I would just continually overlook them and pretend like they don't need to be done more than likely. Like, dusting. I despise dusting... but is has to be done. Here's my schedule:
Monday - Sheets (on all beds)
Tuesday - Bathrooms
Wednesday - Vacuum (sometimes mop too depending on timing)
Thursday - Dust/Glass
Friday - Vacuum/Mop
Now... while I have a schedule, that doesn't mean some things get done more often. For instance, I vacuum at least 3-4 times a week usually (if not daily depending on the room). There are also daily things like cleaning the kitchen and laundry. But I like my schedule and it works for me. I do some of the cleaning during nap/rest time. Except vacuuming. Will actually sleeps through it most of the time, but I hate to risk it ruining his nap just in case.
Kenzie typically wants to come out of her room after about 45 minutes to an hour. I let her and then we often do puzzles together, crafts, her homework if she has any that day, or whatever else she wants to do. Most of the time Will takes a 2-3 hour nap.
When he wakes up, it is finally (almost) cool enough to consider going outside and that is often what we do. We try to go outside every day that it isn't raining. I'm hoping to add back in some parks soon as it continues to get cooler. I like to stick around the house more at this point because it is so hot and sometimes the kids have had enough and need to go in sooner than expected or because Florida finally decided to act like it is summer (even tough it is fall), it rains almost every afternoon for at least a few minutes. Kenzie and Will love to play in the rain, but I don't want to get soaked so I would rather be home so I can let them play but stay dry in the garage. Sometimes our neighbors come over to play if they are home, which the kids love. We typically spend 1-2 hours outside in the afternoon until it is time to come in and start dinner. It depends on how late Will slept and whether or not the neighbors come over as we usually spend longer outside if they come to play.
After coming inside and before starting dinner, we now do bath time. This is a newer development for us. We started moving up bath to this time when I realized that after playing outside and getting that sweaty, it was good to not only put on fresh clothes (which is what we used to do) but actually bathing. Plus, Steven tends to be home later and we liked having his time home be more about time spent together rather than needing to focus on baths. Depending on what time I need to start dinner, the kids will play together for a while (with me jumping in when I am not working on dinner prep) or watch a bit of TV if they have been good and didn't watch too much in the morning. Usually they end up with some TV though. It is easier with the two of them to keep them occupied by something that involves less chance or arguing while I am cooking. Lately, they have gotten back into messing around in my cabinets. Apparently Hide and Seek - Kitchen Edition is a popular game.
Steven is usually home by 6 or 6:30 so my plan is to have dinner ready at those times. I have almost an hour from the time he tells me that he is leaving work until he is home so I can usually accommodate that. We eat dinner together most nights unless he is super late. After dinner we sometimes take a walk if we have time. We like to get out together and try to get a walk in for Jack, as well. If we don't have time for a walk, we play together. Sometimes we play board games or card games. Sometimes we read books. Other times we just have dance parties or play in the playroom.
Then, it is bed time. We just change the kids into pjs, brush teeth and hair and start our bedtime routine. We always read a book (most of the time together but every now and then the kids have separate books), say our prayers, and sing our songs. Both kids are usually in bed by 7:30 or 8. Sometimes (if Kenzie has done all her "jobs" aka chores and earned all her "badges" for the day) she can have iPad time for 10 minutes or choose a board game or card game to play with Steven and myself. Usually, if we do that then she does the bedtime routine with us first, then has her reward time, and then heads straight to bed.
Then, it is finally time to decompress. Steven and I alternate nights we run (sometimes... sometimes we are both just too exhausted) then we usually watch some TV together, make lunches for the next day, and head to bed. Just to start all over again the next day.
Like I said, it took us a while to get into this routine but we are doing it. Next year with elementary school and Will in 2 days of preschool will be an even bigger adjustment, but just like this year, we will take it a day at a time. I must admit, I'm looking forward to some quiet time to run errands and get cleaning done around the house. Plus work, which I do periodically. =) It just amazes me how different our life is now compared to 1 year ago. I still often feel like I am running full speed in different directions as a mom, wife, and person but I'm getting the hang of it. Being a stay-at-home mom will never be "easy" but I wouldn't want to do anything else right now.
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