Something that I've always been big on when it comes to the kids is strict schedules. As a mom of multiple young children we need that structure and it has truly been a life saver. People always ask what it's like around our house because they assume it's a mad house constantly. They've even made comments on how we need our own reality series which I think is comical because our life isn't really that different than anyone else's. Yes, it's busy and can get a bit like a circus between the little people and the pets but you're about to get a good idea of what a day in our life is actually like. This blog post will be a detailed look into life with the Lane's. It's for anyone who is simply curious or for fellow moms/expecting women who wonder what kind of schedule works best for us. It'll be a blend of yesterday's actual activities and what our normal routine is. Each day changes a bit and things don't always pan out down to the minute but this is definitely a clear look into average life for us.
Our Summer Schedule when we are home:
7 am- Brian and I get up and take our showers.
7:30 am- Brian leaves for work after having his coffee. He's not big on eating breakfast but he has to have his morning dose of caffeine ha. Eilee gets up to nurse. We spend this time cuddled up in bed and simply cherishing our 'us' time.
8:30 am- I rock Eilee back to sleep, put her in her bed or swing, make breakfast, then get the older kids up. Breakfast for us ranges from cereal/oatmeal and fresh fruit with toast to eggs, pancakes, and sausage to frozen jimmy dean breaskfast sandwiches depending on how lazy I feel that morning. Just keeping it real there.
10 am- The kids do their chores while I clean the kitchen up from breakfast
10:30- If she's not woken up yet on her own I wake up the baby and nurse her. After she's done eating the kids have their 'Eilee Lou' time. We all either pile up in my bed or in the living room and they take turns holding the baby.
11:30- Eilee goes down for a nap while the older kids get dressed and I make their lunch. Lunch ranges from sandwiches, chips, and veggies to chicken nuggets, Mac and cheese, and fruit to left overs from dinner the night before. I always make sure to include fruit and/or veggies with our meals and with snack time. Let's face it, pizza pockets and fish sticks aren't the healthiest but they sure are easy to make on those crazier than normal days.
12 pm- The bigs and I eat lunch together
**On days when I have a lot to get done I put all of the kids down at the same time to sleep and just adjust our one on one time at some other point in the day but usually I stagger nap times. I occasionally have to nurse the baby during one on one time but that doesn't take long. It'll go back to true one on one time when she goes longer between feedings.
12:30 pm- Two of the bigs get laid down in their beds for a nap time and one of them stays up. I alternate which one stays up first just to keep things 'fair'. I get alone time every day with each of them but of course kids are all about life not being fair so who gets the first turn changes every day. Today it was Andlee's turn so Hudson and Charlee went to their rooms and Andee stayed up. During alone time what we do varies from day to day and from kid to kid. Andlee loves helping me. She seriously enjoys being like momma so sometimes we fold clothes or clean the kitchen during our special time. Sometimes she wants to watch 'her shows' so we will do that. I always let the kids pick what we do. It is their special time of the day after all. Today she wanted to bake some cookies so that's what we did.
1:30- Andlee went down for a nap and I woke Charlee up. Today Charlee wanted to work on writing the alphabet so we spent most of our time doing that. She's also big into reading and learning new words but if we aren't 'having school', we are painting her nails or doing her hair during our alone time.
2:05- Hudson woke up. My time wasn't up with Char which usually happens with whoever goes 2nd during nap time. I turn the TV on to a show of that kids choice (today it was Hudson and he picked Paw Patrols). He watched cartoons while Charlee and I spent more time together.
2:30- Andlee woke up and Eilee got up to nurse again. While I nursed her the bigs ate their snacks. Snack time ranges from fresh fruit to veggie sticks with dip to cookies. Sometimes it's a random mix of things depending on if it's nearing grocery shopping day.
3 pm- I put the baby into her swing while the kids and I went out back to play. We have a sliding door with a screen to the back yard that I keep open and the baby's swing is in the living room so I can hear anything that she does. Plus there's a monitor on her. When she's older I will take her outside too but right now I worry about the heat and her being a newborn. We never stay out long on hot days.
4 pm- We came inside and I finished up the household cleaning that needed done while the kids played.
4:30-5 pm- I start dinner. The kids normally help me. It can be messy but they love it and I like to include them in preparing meals. I think that it's a great learning experience for them.
5:30 pm- Brian gets home from work. He plays with the kids while I finish cooking/preparing everyone's plates.
6 pm- Eilee nurses while the rest of us eat dinner. Yes, I nurse and eat at the same time ha. You gotta do what you gotta do.
6:30 pm- Brian takes Eilee and spends time with her and the 2 bigs that got alone time with me already. Today that was the girls. I take the 3rd big for our 'us' time. Today it was Hudson and he wanted to do crafts so we made crafts for basically everyone in our family. He usually wants to build Legos or go outside and play ball. Sometimes he asks to play with the chickens or the dogs.
7:30 pm- We all spend time together until it's bath time. Sometimes we eat ice cream and watch TV, sometimes we go outside to play or go fishing, sometimes we play board games, whatever it is that we do we do it together.
8:30- Brian gives the kids their baths while I feed the baby.
9:00- Bed time stories and tuck in time. Brian and I do this together. The kids all sleep in Hudson's room at night. It's the room right beside ours and we just like having them all close plus they like being together at night. It makes bed time a million times better for everyone. We wouldn't be able to sleep at night with the girls at the other end of the house.
9:30 pm- Brian and I always spend alone time together now. We typically watch a movie in our bed and catch eachother up on how our days went. At some point from 9:30 pm until 11:30 pm Brian goes to sleep so I clean the kitchen and catch up on my shows.
11:30 pm- I feed Eilee then try to get some rest myself.
The rest of the night Eilee wakes up to nurse every 2-3 hours
Of course, if we are out and about the schedule is adjusted but if we are home this is what a weekday with us looks like.
During our outside play time we go to my parents to swim several times a week.
On Saturday's we usually are gone all day. We go to my parents or on a family outing. Brian alternates taking the older kids with him to the tire shop for a few hours on Saturday so he also gets alone time with the kids regularly. On Sunday's we spend the morning together as a family then Brian takes the bigs to his parents for lunch so I spend the afternoon deep cleaning. Dusting, mopping, washing bedding, ect. Occasionally I take a nap with the baby when I'm done cleaning while the house is still empty. Sometimes I go to my in laws with Brian. It just depends on how bad my house needs deep cleaned ha.
Once school starts things will change. Our school schedule will probably look a lot like this:
7 am- Brian and I will get up. He will shower while I get the bigs up. They'll get dressed and ready for school.
7:30-7:45am- Eilee gets up to eat. We will do our 'bye' kisses and Brian will take the big kids to school. The girls were adamant that they want to eat breakfast at school so we will do that again unless they change their minds.
8 am- Eilee and I will cuddle and have us time.
9 am- I'll put her to sleep so that I can clean the house. This will be a perk of only having one kiddo at home. Cleaning will be much easier and get done way faster.
10:30 am- Baby will probably get up to eat if she's still eating so often. When she is a little older we will work on tummy time and motor skills after this feeding.
12:00 pm- Eilee will go back down for a nap. I'm sure I'll rock her to sleep then hold her for awhile. I might even nap while she does. I'm excited to have this time alone with her while she's a baby. That will be new for me since I had the bigs were so close in age. I had 3 babies at once basically. It was awesome to experience them growing together and part of me wants that again with Eilee but I also haven't gotten to have just one infant at a time without either being pregnant or having other babies so I am happy to get to experience something new. Anyways, I'll work more on the laundry, bill paying, blogging, catching up on my shows, ect during this time as well.
1:30 pm- Baby will get up to nurse I'm sure.
2:45 pm- Go pick up the bigs from school.
3:15 pm- Get home and make snacks. After snacks we will all play outside (weather permitting). Eilee will eat and I'll put her down for a nap at some point during this time frame.
5 pm- Feed Eils then Start dinner
5:30 pm- Brian gets home. We will all 6 eat dinner.
6 pm- Brian will take baby and 2 bigs so I can start my alone time with big #1. Sadly when they are gone all day at school getting my alone time and us all 6 getting a lot of family time each day together will be harder but we will make it work.
7 pm- Alone time with big #2
8 pm- Alone time with big #3
9 pm- Brian will give the older kids a bath while I feed the babe if she hasn't already gotten up to eat.
9:30 pm- Bed time stories and tuck in.
10 pm- Brian and I's alone time
11:30 pm- I'll lay out the kids clothes for the next day and get their back packs all packed.
12 am-7 am- Feed the baby every 2-3 hours
7 am- Start all over again ha.
****I totally meant to take pictures of our entire day but let's face it when you have 4 kids shit slips your mind. I will repost our detailed school schedule with pictures after school starts because this was just a guess on how it'd go. It might change. I know that 2 days a week from 5:30-6:30 we have cheer practice and 1 night a week we have church so that will be added in along with whatever else changes.
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