I have a pretty strict routine at night...
4:30pm I am getting the kids dinner ready.
5pm the kids eat dinner..including DD now. I do the dishes while they eat. They are usually finished by 5:30pm, so they either play or watch the giggle and hoot night hour until it's time for a bath, they like the giggle and hoot goodnight song
6pm bath, all three of them in together, they are usually out by 6:15, so they go and play for a little while.
6:30pm DD goes to bed after a BF
6:45pm stories for DS2 then in bed by 7pm (he no longer has a sleep during the day)
7:00pm story or school book for DS1 and in bed by 7:30pm
We tend to have our dinner either when the kids are in bed or while they are playing after a bath. This is simply due to DH not being home until 7ish most nights. Usually by the time he gets home dinner has either been cooked through the day or everything is chopped and ready to go.
This routine still worked well when DD was a newborn, I think it helped her establish a good night routine as well. If it came to be that she needed feeding while still very little and the boys were having dinner, I would do it in the kitchen sitting on stool while they ate and chatted away to me about their day.
I also have a rule for me...I do not do any housework of any kind (including folding washing) after the kids are in bed. DH and either chat, have a glass of wine, watch TV together or I go to bed early and read a book. Or of course I play on BB
I start the evening routine around 4:30 when I start putting dinner on. It takes me a while some days due to feeding/watching DS so I like to start early. If I get a few minutes during the day I'll chop the veggies or whatever, just makes it easier in the mad rush of an evening. If I do a slow cooker dinner, I do it in the morning around 9am. DH gets home at 6pm and we all sit down to eat dinner then. That's me, DH and DS. DD has her dinner somewhere between 4 and 5pm.
After dinner, DH then gives both kids a bath at 6:30pm while I clean up after dinner, wash the dishes, etc. At 7pm we all sit on the couch while I feed DD. DH reads a book to DS while he has a cup of milk. At 7:30pm, it's bedtime. DH puts DS to bed and I put DD to bed (she feeds to sleep).
Currently I pretty well do the evening routine by myself because by the time I get home from work DH is "over" it (which I can fully understand!). DH will be home full time (studying by correspondence) so there will be no need to keep the boys up to spend time with a parent (as there is now). Keep it coming!!
dh leaves at about 4.45 so i start getting dinner ready, we eat around 530.. then have bath about 6-630 ish (my kids will play for ages in the bath) then jammies and books then DS waits in his room while i put DD down with a few songs.. then its DS 's turn. unually they are quiet in bed at 7
If you have trouble re-setting bed time you may have to get them up earlier in the morning or a few days. I am thinking of doing this because our night time routine is getting too late. Ideally I like the girls in bed by 7.30pm and lights out by 8pm, but lately it has been lights out at 8.30/9pm. I also have to be more strict with not pandering to every little request iykwim.
I try and cook dinner any time from lunch time to 3pm. Or I at least prep it.
In the late afternoon I take the girls outside to have a run around
We generally eat by 5.30pm
Bath around 6.00pm
Older girls are usually playing till 7.15ish. Whilst I clean up dinner
Then I do story time, tuck in, sing songs etc. I usually have a lights out rule by 8pm (this is when i start to get all the requests)
By this time I am ready to get Eva down and some times she will not go down till 9pm or later!!
I feed mine by 5.30 - they can't wait any longer and get horribly raggy otherwise. That gives us 90 mins to get the rest of it sorted and in bed by 7, 7.30.......and hopefully asleep shortly after.
I WAY get what you mean Bath, those are the hardest parts of the days. It was the thing I wasn't looking forward to the most after I moved because I don't get any respite at bedtime anymore. I bit the bullet in preparation and now I have it running so smoothly that someone coming home in the middle of it stuffs things up. I don't even answer the phone until the kids are asleep.
I have alot of problems getting Beth down, so the way I see it - even if she is going to jack in the box for a while, the earlier I get them to bed the earlier she will eventually stop popping up at a reasonable hour. (work in progress )
I'm also a bit of a routine freak but i feel in control that way and feel somewhat equipt to handle anything the day may throw at me. For the most part
I have a 3.5 year old and a 17 month old.
If we go out we generally go out in the early part of the day because my evening routine starts with organising dinner around 3ish. If i have to go out in the afternoon i do my best to have dinner prepared even earlier. The evening routine is pretty much me with the boys DH doesn't get home till about 6ish.
DS1 won't have a day sleep anymore but DS2 does and he's generally in bed from 2-4ish. I use this time to prepare/make dinner.
When he wakes we have a bit of a play and if they need a bath (i bath every second night) they are in the bath about 4:30ish.
I then put pj's on and start serving up dinner, they eat anywhere between 5-6 and DH usually walks in the door as i'm finishing up giving them their dinner.
After dinner i clean up while DH has a play with the boys and then we do teeth, bed and stories. Depending on the day and how tired they are, they are in bed anywhere between 6:30-7:30pm. DH and I usually wait until the boys are in bed to eat our dinner peacefully
DS2 is usually in bed just before DS1 and then i lay in bed and read to DS1. With a new bub on the way the boys are going to share a room soon so the bed/reading may take some getting used to with the two of them together but i'm hoping DS2 will be happy to quietly lay down and listen to a story soon too.
Hi Chica,
I'm a bit of a routine nazi.
I usually put Jordy down for a nap around 10:00, but if he's still singing and cooing by 11:00 I get him up, give him lunch and he's back down by 12:00. Depending what time he wakes from that he's usually down again by 2:00 (he sleeps around 3hours per day, sometimes broken up sometimes all in one hit), and he never sleeps past 4:00
I cook dinner from 4:00 ish, we eat at 5:00, if they had baths at night I would probably give them that at 6:00 (they currently have showers with us in the mornings), bottle at 6:30, teeth and story by 7:00 and lights out by 7:15 at the latest.
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