We have a routine ... it's the only way I get through (and I am by no means the best SAHM either!)

I find school holidays hard because lots of our activities stop but we have days for everything.

Our routine is basically:

Breakfast - the kids help tidy up after breakfast and I do a general clean-up of the kitchen and the dining room afterwards. Not perfect but enough to make it look presentable.

Kids have playtime after breakfast while I make morning tea and lunch and put it in the fridge. We have a playroom with a door which is very handy so I open the playroom at this time. I also slowly get them dressed in this time and dress myself. I pack the nappy bag for the day if I need to and DH leaves for work around now too. He usually helps get some of our jobs done in the morning, like dressing the kids, making morning tea and lunch and packing the nappy bag.

If it is an 'outing day' (like playtime on Tuesday, mother's group on Thursdays or a playdate or special visit to somewhere - we try to do one other outing a week besides mother's group and playtime) we head out around 8.30. If DH is still around, he helps me load the car If we are not going out we either do cooking or craft (sometimes craft is colouring in - sometimes more - depending on what I think I can cope with).

On an at home day we watch Playschool at 9.30 (and I have some BB time ) and then morning tea at 10am - TV gets turned off. I usually have a cup of coffee with the kids while they eat morning tea. If we are out, we have morning tea out and usually get home around 11.30. The kids just play from when we get home or after morning tea depending what we are doing. Usually DD2 is tired, but I try to keep her awake until lunch time so they all go down together so I do reading, singing etc during this time. This is also when I do washing if I need to.

At 12pm we have lunch. While the kids eat lunch, I get their milk ready for their naps (since they eat faster than me and sometimes are too tired to eat all their lunch, I don't bother trying to have lunch with them). As they finish (usually at different times), I help them tidy up their lunch, do a nappy change or check that they have been to the toilet, find dummies, get their milks and tuck them into bed. Usually, this is pretty intense part of my day because I am running from one child to another but it only lasts for about 15 mins and then they go to sleep.

After the kids are asleep, I sweep the dining room and kitchen and do another general tidy up and wipe down benches in the kitchen. DH loads the dishwasher when he gets home from work in the afternoon so I just make sure it is all stacked up neatly and everything is rinsed and food scraps have been put away.

While the kids sleep, I eat lunch, have some BB time or a nap, or watch some TV. I love this time of the day. It is usually an hour and a half I get to myself - no interruptions. It is how I cope with the rest of the day. I turn my phone off during this time and don't answer the door. Friends and family know not to visit during this time.

Usually DD1 wakes up first - around 2 - 2.30pm. I usually get her to do something quiet - colouring in or even a little bit of TV until the others wake up (usually around 3pm).

At 3pm, they watch playschool while I make afternoon tea.

At 3.30pm - we have afternoon tea and I have another coffee (Love my Delonghi coffee machine - it really does make a difference having good coffee).

DH finishes at 4pm so I usually get enough time to tidy up quickly from afternoon tea and then he is home. Sometimes I wait and have a coffee with him when he gets home. He usually gets changed out of his work clothes, has a rest for 15 mins, stacks the dishwasher and then takes the kids outside to play while I organise dinner. It is too hot here to do outside play before about 4.30 so it works well for us. It also means I am not fighting kids out of the kitchen while I am cooking.

We do general house cleaning on the weekends together (or more lately DH does it on his own because I am too tired to move). We sometimes head out for a walk after dinner (it's cool enough to do it then) and I find getting outside in the fresh air makes so much difference. The kids also settle to sleep more easily too on nights we go walking.


I am not really really strict about my routine and of course, thing change a bit when we have a newborn in the house because they don't do routine. Everybody else just works around the baby - I keep the kids up until the baby is ready to have a nap. Nap time is sacred. Some days one of my kids won't sleep but they still lie in their beds with a book for an hour to an hour and a half. They don't seem to mind and the down time means they are much happier in the afternoon too.

DD1 is about to start kindy this year for 5 days a fortnight and so she is gone between 9am and 2.30pm. I am going to have to fit in drop off and pick up times in our daily routine starting in 3 weeks time which should be interesting especially considering our new baby is due a couple of weeks after that.

I know what you mean about boring day in day out stuff ... I try to break it up a bit by going out and seeing people/things. When my kids are a bit older, I will probably go out more often than I do now but I find my days easier when we are at home and we do have some routine. DD2 really doesn't do well if we are not at home because she won't sleep anywhere but her own bed. When DH is around (like on weekends) we don't stick to the routine as much because it is easier to manage with 2 adults around but when I am on my own, it is my coping mechanism.

Don't know if that helped much. I hope you find something that works for you.