I have received more than
a few messages, emails, and texts recently from ladies asking me what my daily
routine looks like, what Ruy's routine is like, what my favorite Trim Healthy Mama foods are,
and how I keep up with my house cleaning/organization. Rather than try to email everyone back separately,
I decided just to start doing some blog posts about all of those things. Today I'll be talking about My Daily Routine.
Please understand that my routine will not
work for every family. Every family is
unique and should adapt a routine that works best for their own family. Also, when Ruy was in K-5 our routine was
much different. His school only took
about an 1-1.5 hours back then which made our days go somewhat differently than
they do now. I also only had 2 children
at that time. If you don't home school
at all, but just have children 4 and under at home, your routine will probably
be very different from mine as well.
Last year after I had Alanna, our days were not very routine, and it was
very difficult to home-school and keep up with the housework. Since I started having a routine, meal
planning, and sticking with a laundry/cleaning schedule things have been going
SO much better. The past 8 months or so
have gone pretty smooth and we have enjoyed home-schooling this year very
much.
Another thing I wanted to
say is that a routine shouldn't make your life more stressful...it shouldn't
make you go around the house like a Drill Sergeant snapping at your kids to do
this or that, or getting upset with them if you are behind schedule 2 minutes. There are days when we are 30 minutes off but
that's ok. We just keep moving forward
with our day. Life happens, kids have
tempers, potty breaks take longer than expected, boo-boos need kissed, diapers
need changed, runny noses need wiped, kids need extra attention sometimes,
drinks get spilled, school lessons take longer than expected, siblings
fight, toys get thrown into the toilet
(yes...that happened to me today! Alanna
threw a pen in my toilet and then played in the water...Ew GROSS!).... but
that's ok. A routine is there to just
help guide your day so that you don't wander around aimlessly feeling like no
one is getting anything accomplished. Be
flexible and enjoy being Mommy!
So here it is...
6:15- Wake up. (If Alanna
has slept well, I will get up and work out but the past few weeks she has been
sleeping very bad so I haven't been able to work out like I want to. So if Alanna has a bad night, I will usually
sleep until 7 when the boys get up.
6:30-7- Workout
7- Make Nathan's protein
shake (if he is working at the fire station that morning) Snuggle with kids for
a few minutes after they wake up.
7:20- Get in the shower,
get dressed, put on make-up, make bed, straighten up room & bathroom, put
load of laundry in the washer.
8:00- Breakfast
8:30- Clean up breakfast
9:00- Get Liam &
Alanna dressed, , dry my hair if needed. (I have started washing my hair every
other night. I found that washing my
hair in the mornings was causing me to take too long to get ready for the
day. I realized our days went much
better if I didn't have to spend so much time in the shower in the morning or
dry my hair. So now I take a shower
every night, and then take a quick 3-5 minute shower in the morning.)
9:30- Set Ruy & Liam
up with books on the couch, put Alanna down for a nap.
9:45- My devotions
10- Start school (We do
Bible, Phonics, History, Science, Math Flashcards & if we have time Reading
during our morning school time.)
10:15- Snack for me &
the kids (If I don't have a morning snack...I tend to get very cranky :)
11:30- Set Ruy up in his
room with his Math lesson, Alanna gets up from her nap, put load of laundry in
the dryer, start making lunch
12:00- 5 minute pick up
before lunch, Lunch
12:30- Clean up lunch
1:00- Fold load of
laundry, play with the kids. During this
time we will go outside when it's warm enough, play on the playground, take a
walk, play a game, build blocks, make blanket forts :) etc. or I will do our chapter book reading during
this time. Basically I just try to spend
an hour just "being" with the kids and not focusing on work, school,
or chores.
2:00- Ruy & Liam go
to their room for quiet time. Ruy does
his seatwork, cursive, and spelling.
When he is done with his school he plays.
2:10-2:30- I put Alanna
down for her second nap.
2:30: Balance checkbook, check emails, do my daily
chore/chores, blog etc. During this time
I just try to regroup and get as much done as I can. I usually have a cup of coffee and a THM
dessert during this time :)
3:30- I get the boys out
of quiet time, get them a snack and turn on a show or movie for them. They are allowed to watch between 30-60
minutes of TV during this time.
4:00-4:30- Alanna gets up
from her nap. I start getting dinner
ready. (I try to do crock pot meals as much as possible to make things as less
stressful as possible. If I do a crock
pot meal, I start it around 9AM.) 5
minute pick up, put load of laundry away if I didn't have time at 2:30PM,
5:30: Dinner
6:00- Dinner clean up
& pack Nathan's meals for the next day if needed *(My husband is a fire
fighter and works 24 hour shifts. He
follows the THM plan with me and since he started doing that back in September
2014, I make his breakfast for him before he leaves and then pack him 2 snacks,
lunch, and dinner.)
6:30- Tues, Thurs, & Sat. are bath days. Bathe kids, get kids ready for bed, play time
with kids. We read books, wrestle, play
board games etc.
7:30- Put Liam to bed.
7:35- Put Alanna to bed
7:50-8:30 Read books or
play a game with Ruy. (Nathan, Ruy, and I love to play games...this has become a special time for us to just be alone with Ruy.)
8:15-8:30- Put Ruy to bed
8:30-10:30- 5 minute pick
up, prepare anything needed for breakfast next morning, get ready for bed, blog
and/or work ( Lauren Zeigler Photography).
(Nathan works several nights a week at the station, so some nights I
don't do photography work at all so that we can spend time together, some
nights I work the entire 2 hours, some nights I just do 1 hour. It kind of just depends on the night.)
10:30- Bedtime
A few notes...
1. Every other Tuesday from 2PM-7PM and every
other Friday afternoon to Sunday evening Ruy goes to his Dad & Step Mom's
house. On those days our school routine
is a little different. We don't take as
long of an afternoon break so that we have time to get all of his school done
before he needs to leave.
2. Wednesday nights Ruy has Awanas from
6:30PM-8PM so our nightly routine is different that night.
3. I try to leave the house as little as
possible during the week (unless it is for a field trip or other school related
thing) so that our school and housework doesn't get behind. We usually go to the library once every 2-4
weeks, and we usually do a field trip once a week or every other week. It just depends on how the weather is
really. I do my grocery shopping on
Friday afternoons after we have finished school. There are obviously occasions that arise
where we have to go out (doctor's appointments, etc.) but I don't just get up
and run to Target in the morning just for the fun of it. Those type of trips will throw off our whole
day so I save that kind of thing for Saturdays.
4. Our Saturdays and Sunday aren't as structured
as Monday-Friday. They sometimes flow
very similar just because that is what we are used to but Saturdays are usually
really laid back and we just try to do something fun even if we stay home the
whole day. Sundays we have church in the
morning and small group in the evenings.
5. There are days where our routine is totally off. Not every day goes perfectly as planned. We are human and have bad days just like everyone else. Those are the days where I usually call/text my sister and get reassurance that everything is going to be ok! :)
And that is it! If you have any questions, please feel free
to leave a comment or email me privately.
And just because every post needs a picture...
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