Routines

When I first started staying at home, a few weeks before my daughter was born, I wasn't sure how to do it. All this "free" time to fill up. Somehow I had to motivate myself to clean and cook, which was all I did at that time. We shared many of the other duties and I couldn't do laundry because of my big stomach. Once my daughter was born the role changed. We moved five weeks after she was born and again a few weeks later. My husband had a new job and began working long hours each day. In addition he was commuting making our days really long. I took on role of household manager and struggled to figure it out. My daughter as an infant (and even now as a toddler) took unpredictable naps. I might get from 9 to 9:30 a.m. on day and from 8 to 9 a.m. the next day to work on something. It was very hard to figure out when to do everything. For the first six months I did laundry every day, and nursed every two hours. Then I realized that saving the grocery shopping and other shopping for the weekend pretty much ate up the weekend, which wasn't much fun. So I started taking my LO with me during the week. Trying to do that within her unperdictable schedule was a struggle, but we made it work.

I can happily say that two years later, I have found much more of routine in our days. I do laundry twice a week (maybe I'll do an extra load of toddler clothes during the week), we grocery shop early in the week in the morning, and I now have found time to make lots of fun and new meals or baked goods. I even allot two or three days a week for doing something "special" with my daughter. By special I mean more than just our daily walk or playing in the backyard. We usually hit the library once a week for storytime if that is going on and then I'll take her to the zoo, a splash park, the fair, a different park (she likes to look at the Capitol), a conservatory, etc. I found that giving her those special moments has enriched her language and gives her lots to talk about.

So the beginning was tough to get into routine. Now, while there seems to be little breaks in between, the time we spend seems routine with fun peppered into the mix. There is no rule book to follow and you have to do what works for you. Once in a while I even get a morning, such as today, where I can balance the checkbook, pay bills and even post a blog entry before she gets up. It's amazing how much you can get down without interruptions.