I'm going to share how I do it, or attempt to anyway. I'm hoping this will be a series of posts, with other moms (or dad's) letting readers know where they succeed and how their routines can improve. So, here goes.
Weekday
Usually, either my or MacBaby's internal clock goes off promptly at 7 a.m. Since I'm still nursing and MacBaby is still sleeping in the bed with us, he attaches himself to me. Around ten minutes later I detach. If MacDad is home, I leave the two to cuddle and gently remind the elder male to get the boy dressed. If MacDad is travelling, I take the boy into the bathroom and put him in the Pack 'n Play while I shower. Lately, I do so without any screaming involved.
When shower is over I take the boy out of the Pack 'n Play and plop him on the bed so he can watch Curious George/Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, depending on how late we're running. If MacDad is at home, I yell at him to get the boy dressed. Otherwise, I get myself ready, then go into the boy's room, get his clothes and come back into our room to get him dressed. This whole routine seems to take an enormous amount of time and I'm always running behind. Every day. Even when I skip washing my hair.
Once we're dressed, we go downstairs, where I surreptitiously sneak a banana into my bag. If MacBaby sees it, he'll want one too. We put on the necessary accouterments for the weather (shoes, jacket and hat) and walk to the car. Most of the time, he does not try to run away.
Drop MacBaby off at my parents house. Take him inside so he can see his eggs cooking. This is a very exciting development in his day. Whether or not he eats the eggs, he's very excited to see them and talk about them. Go to work. A few hours later go to my parents house to have lunch with MacBaby. Usually, he's very excited to see me. It's wonderful. Then, back to work.
Nighttime choose your own adventure style: When MacDad is in town, I pick up MacBaby after work and we head home for a well balanced meal (usually) and ice cream (sometimes). We used to eat out all the time before MacBaby, but now we never eat out during the week. When MacDad is home all week, we try to do all of our grocery shopping on the weekend and plan our meals, ideally with us rotating nights cooking. While one is cooking, the other is playing with MacBaby. Or, we watch him cook on his play kitchen, stirring spices and water in his pots. This can get gross.
After dinner, MacDad and MacBaby play for a while and then I give him a bath while MacDad cleans up the kitchen. No exceptions to this part of the night. I am always in charge of the bath. I think it's because I somehow always leave the big pots in the sink, which annoys MacDad, so he figures he may as well get the washing out of the way. After the bath, I put MacBaby in his pjs and MacDad comes up for book reading. Depending on how tired MacBaby is, there are one to many books read. Then, I nurse him till he falls asleep.
When MacDad is out of town, MacBaby and I have dinner at my parents house. Mostly because I'm lazy about cooking, plus he's already there. After dinner a family member will usually come over to help me with the above routine, plus the weekly taking out the trash and the nightly feeding of the dogs. Sometimes my sister will sleep over to assist with the morning duties as well.
Regardless of who's in town or sleeping where, my routine after MacBaby falls asleep never fails. I watch tv for an hour. If MacDad is out of town, we chat on the phone. Sometimes by the end of the week I fall asleep somewhere around 9:30, but usually I make it to 10, then call it a night. Usually MacBaby will wake me up a few times in the night requesting a drink of water, then he'll go back to sleep a few minutes later.
There you have a full 24 hours in the life of the MacFamily unit during the week. I'll save our weekend activities for another post. Any suggested ways we can cut down on the chaos and find more down time to enjoy?
