Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

Things are definitely getting into a routine here. Miss Moo has successfully completed the migration from 2 day sleeps to 1,  and is much more predictible with her routine.

So here’s how things currently look:

6:30 - 8:30 Morning Routine (including getting 2 loads of washing out on the line)

8:30 - 9:00 School and/or daycare dropoffs.

9:00 - 11:00 Errands & cleaning with Miss Moo underfoot

11:00 - 2:30 Cleaning/study/work that needs to be done WITHOUT Miss Moo underfoot. Including lunch for Kiki and any other odd things that need doing.

2:30 - 5:30 School/daycare pickup and after school activities. Sometimes in there I can get other things done, like on Monday’s putting the bins out, and Wednesday any specific shopping that can be done without venturing too far from the jazz lessons

5:30 - 7:00 Dinner, cleanup, kids bathed, pyjamad and ready for bed.

7:00 - 8:30 My evening routine, including putting clean clothes away, tidying our bedroom, bathrooms and something nice for me.

8:30 - 10:30 TV or study.

So that’s my rough routine these days.

Now to stick to it….

You know, sometimes life just gets in the way of our good intentions. I had drafted the first part of this on Tuesday night. Here’s what my Wednesday’s *should* look like. Following is what actually happened this week.

Wednesday’s at Kin’s Home is much like Monday’s until lunch time.

12:30pm

Lunch time. Hubby is often home for lunch so it can be quite chaotic for a while. I usually pop Miss Moo down for a nap as soon as we get home and she will now sleep for 3-4 hours. After lunch I load the dishwasher and do any baking planned. The kids help as much as possible before sitting down at the table to do their “school work”. M&M is practicing her writing at the moment, and Kiki is focusing on recognising her numbers. She does lots of dot-to-dots. I also often play uni lectures in the background, especially towards the end of the semester. Then I hang out the swimming washing.

2:00pm

The big kids are sent off to their room for quiet time while I sit down for a rest. I usually make a cuppa or a latte and watch Question Time in Parliament or read outside in the courtyard. If Miss Moo is awake she enjoys watching Question Time - giggles at all the silly politicians. Again I use this time to make notes for uni, browse the readings etc.

3:00pm

Play School! The big girls love it and while they watch I catch up on my friends blogs, comment, check forums, write my blog posts. Miss Moo wakes up around then and I feed her while reading emails and blogs. Once Miss Moo’s finished feeding I bring the washing in fold it and put it away put it away.

4:30pm

Usually once a week one or both of us have a meeting to go to. This week it’s on Wednesday night, so around 4:30 we start the girls on their evening jobs. I potter round preparing for the meeting which usually involves another shower and getting dressed. Sometimes preparing food. The girls are showered or bathed and in their pj’s by 5:30pm. I prepare them something easy for dinner (pasta usually) and they munch on that while waiting for Hubby to get home.

6:00pm

We’re out the door by 6pm, and usually not home til after the girls bedtime, so it’s straight to bed for them, and often a collapse for us. Wednesday night we love watching the ABC, so if we’re home in time we’ll watch that before going to bed at 10:30pm.

Here’s what happened this Wednesday just gone:

6:00am

Wake up to an extra kid in the bed. Kiki is feeling sick so cuddle with her until I hear Miss Moo calling around 7am. Feed her then wake M&M to get ready to go swimming. She looks at me, rolls her eyes then falls back asleep. Pull out the thermometer. Both M&M & Kiki have temps. Damn. No swimming today.

8:00am

Coax kids into breakfast. End up on the couch with them in front of the tv. While they’re in front of the tv I take the opportunity to study. Have an assignment due Friday so work on that during the day while being interrupted cleaning up vomit, various other messes and coaxing kids into food and water.

12:00pm

Check the couch to find both kids asleep. Miss Moo is asleep also. I need bread, milk, a life. Mother-in-law to the rescue with bread, milk and donuts which perk the kids right up. Unfortunately she was gone again too soon. More cleaning up after sick kids, writing assignments. Manage to throw dinner in the over around 2pm. Fall asleep in bed with one of them around 3pm.

5:00pm

Wake up with a start and realise I need to be at a meeting at 6pm. Shower. Feed the baby. Put her back to bed. Throw food in kids and Hubby’s general direction. Head off to the meeting at 6pm.

6:30pm

Receive phone call from Hubby to rescue him from baby. Race home from meeting, get baby, race back. Nearly miss dinner. Father-in-law drank my beer. Then bought me another one. Meeting was long. Got home at 10:30pm. Put baby to bed, and do some more work on my assignment til falling asleep around midnight.

Needless to say Thursday didn’t go as planned either.

5:30 - 6:00am

Miss Moo wakes for her first feed of the day. Hubby’s alarm starts going off at 6am (and 6:09am, 6:18am etc etc). He’s up and showering while I feed the princess. When she’s done I drag myself out of bed and to shower and get dressed.

6:30am

Once everyone’s had showers and dressed (sometimes the big girls shower in the morning if they’ve wet the bed), the big kids have breakfast while I chuck the first load of washing in the machine. This is usually a load of nappies or the bedclothes if someone has wet overnight. I empty the dishwasher, make tea and coffee and sit down with my breakfast to read the news on the net. I also read the US personal finance sites as a lot of them post overnight. I flag things I want to read in depth later and make notes on idea’s for my posts.

7:30am

Hubby leaves for work at 7:30 then I hang out (or get the big girls to hang out) the first load of washing and start the second one. I help the girls work through their morning routines and feed Miss Moo her solids for breakfast and leave her with some finger food (in clear view - usually next to the kitchen bench while I work there). Next I pack up the daycare bags and lunches. Change Miss Moo and make sure everything’s organised for daycare before loading the car. Once the car is loaded I hang out the washing (the clothes line is in the garage and I have airer’s out the back) and pop another one on and off we go!

8:30am

I drop the big girls off at daycare. That can take 5 minutes or 20. It all depends on who’s there and what they’re doing. Tuesday morning is my “errand day” which most often is doctors appointments, accountants, banks, health clinic etc etc etc. I try and arrange all appointments for 9am or 9:30 to get them done early and leave me the rest of the day. I check the mail, do any banking, pay off layby’s stop for a coffee and come home.

10:30am

Miss Moo is usually half asleep when we get home, so I put her down for a nap, hang out the washing and sometimes start another, make myself a drink and a snack and sit down to check out the internet. I spend the next two hours pottering around doing bits of cleaning, ironing and tidying up. Usually I’ll do a bit of tidying in the kids room so it’s easier for them to keep clean during the rest of the week.

12:30pm Lunch time. Miss Moo is up, fed and has her lunch before I get mine. After lunch and loading the dishwasher I look into dinner. Start defrosting meat, chopping veggies and baking.

1:30pm

While Miss Moo plays on the floor or next to me, I get stuck into studying. This is the bulk of my study time. I listen to lectures, do assignments, prepare for tutorials. I clean in the morning so I’m less likely to procrastinate during this time. Of course I procrastinate by writing long rambling blog posts about procrastinating. Miss Moo will go down for a sleep at 2-2:30, allowing me solid, uninterrupted time. I’ve been known to take the phone off the hook during this time as well.

4:30pm

Close the study books (although I will leave a lecture on to listen to while I cook) and cook dinner as much as possible. Hubby calls when he’s finished work and if it’s early enough he’ll go and pick up the girls from daycare, otherwise I stop dinner at a suitable point and go and pick them up. Thankfully it’s a 2 minute drive so I can be there and back in ten minutes if I’m quick.

6:00pm

Dinner Time. After dinner I stack the dishwasher while the kids start on their evening jobs. Once they’re done with their showers or bath I run the dishwasher and potter around the kitchen while the kids do their jobs - often helping out with teeth and making their beds up if they need re-making. Miss Moo is dunked in the bath on bath nights (we alternate bath/showers) then into her Pj’s for her final feed before bed. Once the big girls are ready for bed they can watch Scrapheap Challenge which finishes at 7:20pm. After Scrapheap the TV goes off and the girls can have a drink (water only), toilet then into bed by 7:30pm. There is often a story, then a timer set for 5 minutes, after which time the lights go out. In here I sometimes also do a dirty clothes collection and take it out to the laundry and assess the most important loads to get done the next day. If one is urgent I start that going then.

7:30pm

Finally the house is semi-quiet and Hubby and I get some quiet time, albeit on computers sitting next to each other. I do some uni work, browse the internet, and if necessary hang out the load of washing I’ve done. I also do some tasks which are too hot to do during the day. Mostly I study though and if my back gets bad I’ll retire to the couch and read my text book rather than sit at the desk.

10:30pm

This is the time I aim to get Hubby and myself to bed. Miss Moo will wake up (although I use the term loosely) for a quick feed just as I get settled in bed with a magazine or newspaper. I am usually asleep by 11pm.

5:30 - 6:00am

Miss Moo wakes for her first feed of the day. Hubby’s alarm starts going off at 6am (and 6:09am, 6:18am etc etc). He’s up and showering while I feed the princess. When she’s done I drag myself out of bed and get dressed.

6:30am

Once everyone’s had showers and dressed (sometimes the big girls shower in the morning if they’ve wet the bed), the big kids have breakfast while I chuck the first load of washing in the machine. This is usually a load of nappies or the bedclothes if someone has wet overnight. I empty the dishwasher, make tea and coffee and sit down with my breakfast to read the news on the net. I also read the US personal finance sites as a lot of them post overnight. I flag things I want to read in depth later and make notes on idea’s for my posts.

7:30am

Hubby leaves for work at 7:30 then I hang out (or get the big girls to hang out) the first load of washing and start the second one. I help the girls work through their morning routines and feed Miss Moo her solids for breakfast and leave her with some finger food (in clear view - usually next to the kitchen bench while I work there). Then I check the swimming bag and make sure it’s all packed, pack snacks and water bottles for our swimming. Put the dishes in the dishwasher from breakfast. Change Miss Moo and triple check the swimming bag before loading the car. Once the car is loaded I hang out the washing (the clothes line is in the garage and I have airer’s out the back) and off we go!

8:30am

We head off to swimming. I check the mail on the way, which, while it’s in a different direction to swimming is the most convenient time to check. Then the 20 minute drive to swimming. Once there I set the girls up with their activities or into their swimmers and set their toys up. Pay for lessons, get snacks out, get my swimming gear out and am in the pool ready to start training at 9:15am

10:30am

While we’re supposed to finish at 10:15, it’s more likely 10:30 before we stagger out of the pool. I shower myself and the girls if they’ve been swimming. I have to put special cream in our hair to stop it going icky, moisturise, pack all our swimmers and towels up and all the associated paraphanalia. Then it’s time for a coffee. I actually get to talk with the ladies (and occasional man) I train with. This can last anything from ten minutes to half an hour depending on how many and the type of people staying behind. I also find it a good time to chat with the coach about how the training is going, and what we’re working towards. As the local triathalon is on in three weeks, things are a lot more intense than normal, and discussing it with the coach is good to keep in perspective what we’re trying to achieve (fitness as opposed to speed etc). Miss Moo is usually ready for a feed by this stage, after a bit of a doze in her pram while I’m in the pool.

11:30am

Finally we’re on the way home. If we need bread or milk I’ll stop home on the way, and often that results in a donut or coffee if we run into someone we know. It can be 12:30 or 1:00 before we get home. As I’m walking from the garage into the house I hang out the washing I put on before I left and put on our swimming gear before unloading the car.

12:30pm

Lunch time. Hubby is often home for lunch so it can be quite chaotic for a while. I usually pop Miss Moo down for a nap as soon as we get home and she will now sleep for 3-4 hours. After lunch and loading the dishwasher I look into dinner. Start defrosting meat, chopping veggies and baking. The kids help as much as possible before sitting down at the table to do their “school work”. M&M is practicing her writing at the moment, and Kiki is focusing on recognising her numbers. She does lots of dot-to-dots. I also often play uni lectures in the background, especially towards the end of the semester. Then I hang out the swimming washing.

2:00pm

The big kids are sent off to their room for quiet time while I sit down for a rest. I usually make a cuppa or a latte and watch Question Time in Parliament or read outside in the courtyard. If Miss Moo is awake she enjoys watching Question Time - giggles at all the silly politicians. Again I use this time to make notes for uni, browse the readings etc.

3:00pm

Play School! The big girls love it and while they watch I catch up on my friends blogs, comment, check forums, write my blog posts. Miss Moo wakes up around then and I feed her while reading emails and blogs. Once Miss Moo’s finished feeding I bring the washing in fold it and put it away put it away.

4:30pm

This is when I get the bulk of the “housework” done on swimming days. I potter around clearing tables, benches, dusting as I go, sweeping and spot mopping the floors. I chase the kids into their bedroom to put their toys away and their clothes. Then I get started on dinner. Hubby is home between 5pm and 5:30, he often calls on the way home to see if I need anything from the shops. He regularly walks into chaos with Miss Moo waiting to be fed her dinner and the big kids expending the last of their energy or getting cranky and tired. He is great about pitching in the second he walks in the door, often taking over dinner prep while I feed Miss Moo and deal with the other kids.

6:00pm

I aim to sit down to dinner bang on six o’clock. Sometimes it works, other days, not so much, but definitely by 6:30pm we are sitting at the table having dinner. After dinner I stack the dishwasher while the kids start on their evening jobs. Once they’re done with their showers or bath I run the dishwasher and potter around the kitchen while the kids do their jobs - often helping out with teeth and making their beds up if they need re-making. Miss Moo is dunked in the bath on bath nights (we alternate bath/showers) then into her Pj’s for her final feed before bed. Once the big girls are ready for bed they can watch Scrapheap Challenge which finishes at 7:20pm. After Scrapheap the TV goes off and the girls can have a drink (water only), toilet then into bed by 7:30pm. There is often a story, then a timer set for 5 minutes, after which time the lights go out. In here I sometimes also do a dirty clothes collection and take it out to the laundry and assess the most important loads to get done the next day. If one is urgent I start that going then.

7:30pm

Finally the house is semi-quiet and Hubby and I get some quiet time, albeit on computers sitting next to each other. I do some uni work, browse the internet, and if necessary hang out the load of washing I’ve done. I also do some tasks which are too hot to do during the day. Mostly I study though and if my back gets bad I’ll retire to the couch and read my text book rather than sit at the desk.

10:30pm

This is the time I aim to get Hubby and myself to bed. Miss Moo will wake up (although I use the term loosely) for a quick feed just as I get settled in bed with a magazine or newspaper. I am usually asleep by 11pm.

Last week Planning With Kids wrote a great post about the typical day of a Stay at Home Mum. I thought about doing something similar, but as my days vary greatly depending on what’s on, I instead decided to do a weekly series. So this week Monday through Friday I’m going to post my daily schedule so you can see what I get up to and how I fit everything in. Although it is a close run thing, especially at this time of year.I’ll be posting this along my usual schedule, so you’ll find two posts from me most days this week.  

Now I seem to have my weekly routines a bit more organised, it’s time to focus on the daily routines. I need to be out the door by 8:30am on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and so I’m going to work on getting out of the house by 8:30am every day.

So this is what needs to happen before I walk out the door in the morning:

1. Get dressed
2. Wash face/moisturise
3. Turn the coffee machine on and make a cup (and one for Hubby if I’m feeling nice)
4. Empty the dishwasher & put clean dishes away
5. Start the first load of washing
6. Breakfast
7. Get kids dressed
8. Pack everyone’s bags
9. Cleanup the kitchen from breakfast
10. Hang out one load of washing and start another.

The reason there’s no shower on that list, is that Monday, Wednesday and Friday I shower after swimming either at the pool or when I get home. Thursday is cleaning day, so I’ll sower after most of the work is done and while I clean the shower. Tuesday is the only odd day, and I can shower whenever I like.

The mornings between 8:30am and noon are variously taken with swimming, study and cleaning. From noon to about 4:30pm, I plan on working through this list:

1. Lunch
2. Read & reply to emails
3. Check Internet forums
4. Any extra daily jobs that are needed (tidy bedrooms, make beds for example)
5. Bring the washing in
6. Fold washing & put away
7. Uni work
8. Read blogs
9. Extra tasks - phonecalls etc
10. Reading (newspaper, magazines, books)

From 4:30pm to 7:30pm is major family time. Start & cook dinner, pick up kids, Hubby home, reading mail, eating dinner, showers, baths, bedtime stories, packing lunch boxes, running the dishwasher, cleaning up all sort of run into each other.

There are a few tv progams I like to watch. 4 in total, and only 3 are showing new episodes at the moment, so Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights I lose an hour of after-dinner time to Brothers & Sisters, Good News Week and NCIS. But from 7:30 til 10:30, and around those tv shows, I’d like to again, work through these things:

1. Blog
2. Blogging promotion
3. Read and reply to emails
4. Check Internet forums
5. Wash face
6. Reading
7. Bed

I’m hoping that’s enough time to get everything done. I’m trying this plan this week so I’ll give it a couple of weeks before tweaking things that don’t seem to work. What sort of daily routines do you have?

Ok, so after yesterday’s post, I sat down and worked out my weekly plan. It will be of course subject to change depending on the day I get the girls in for daycare (at this stage it will be either Tuesday or Friday):

Monday: Grocery Shopping and Library Storytime
Tuesday: either daycare or baking day
Wednesday: Playground/swimming (cleaning for me)
Thursday: Spend the morning with Grandma
Friday: either daycare or baking day

That looks much more achievable. I have time for cleaning, 11-12 hours automatically set aside for study, and plenty of things to keep the kiddies amused. Monday morning is a big one for the kids, we’re on the go from 8:30 to 12pm, so they both will sleep/have quiet time in the afternoon.

And now that I’ve done that, I can stop and relax for the rest of the weekend. Ok, well, maybe after I get a pile of ironing done. And the shopping list for tomorrow. And clean up the kitchen. And the bathroom. yeah ok. I’m going.

In my last post on the subject, I discussed the amount of work I’m supposed to be doing each week to keep on top of my uni work. With the return to study a mere 2 weeks away I’m now at the point of tryng to schedule study into my weekly routine. Of course, I’m sure it would help if I had a weekly routine. Just at the moment it seems something like this:

Sunday: menu plan & grocery shop
Monday: washing and cleaning
Tuesday: get out of the house before I go mad
Wednesday: washing and cleaning
Thursday: get out of the house before I go mad
Friday: washing and cleaning
Saturday: ironing and cleaning.

Do we see a pattern here? Yeah, probably not good. The problem is that since we’ve got back from the UK at the end of May, I haven’t been able to get regular daycare for the girls, so am often running around doing things I used to do on my days off with kids in tow taking me twice as long. Of course with the kids growing up it’s harder to contain them in places like the supermarket.

Before I went away my weekly plan looked like this:
Monday: Grocery Shopping, Library storytime, clean out the fridge, empty the bins.
Tuesday: Baking day, Rubbish bin out, kids to playground/visit Grandma or friends
Wednesday: girls in daycare, clean bathrooms, tidy kitchen etc in the morning, to the library to study in the afternoon
Thursday: Rest day, swimming lessons/visit to the lagoon (it was summer then)
Friday:girls in daycare, repeat Wednesday

Yeah, so obvioulsy a bit more structured than now. I’d like to get back to that structure, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon while I have the kids home on a regular baisis. Or more the point, having them not-home on a non-regular basis.

Of the 16 hours I’m supposed to find each week I used to find half of them on the days the kids were at daycare. 8 hours spread over 7 days is much easier to find than over 2 hours a day.

What I did learn last semester doing a take home exam with two sick kids and dealing with morning sickness, was that I CAN study when the children are home, I just need to be creative. If I can set myself up in the dining room, I can read and be there for the kids, they can “help”, and do their own thing, while I do mine. Of course there are night times, but hubby tries to dib at least some of that time for himself.

And then there are weekends. Obviously catch up time wherever necessary. Which is always. So I guess what I’m saying is, a study routine is going to be really hard to implement until I have some sort of weekly plan happening with the kids. Might work on that today I think.

I just wanted to share with you my evening routine. While no particularly profound, and rarely completed in its entirety, any attempt makes me feel better in the morning. I try and start straight after dinner:

Load dishwasher
Dishes
Wipe down Kitchen bench & dining table
Supervise kids (bath, pj’s, clothes for tomorrow, supper, teeth, bed)
Clear a hotspot
Tidy loungeroom
Lay my clothes out
Plan meals and check calendar for tomorrow - make a list!
Clean face & moisturise
Brush teeth

Gosh, I always think my list is so long, but that’s quite short really. There’s no reason I can’t do that every night. I have renewed enthusiasm now.

It’s amazing really, how much smoother the day goes with a good start to the morning. If I could just follow my morning routine, things just click for most of the rest of the day. Equal in importance (in my opinion), to the evening routine. This is what works for me:

1. Make bed
2. Shower
3.Dress to shoes
4. Hair & Makeup
5. Swish & Swipe
6. Start washing
7. Unpack dishwasher
8. Make tea and coffee
9. Kids up and dressed
10. Make kids beds
11. Make Breakfast
12. Breakfast
13. Take vitamins & medication
14. Pack lunches
15. Hang washing out and reboot laundry
16. Check to-do list
17. What’s for dinner?

What it does mean, is that nearly everything is done by 9am that needs to be done that day. If I do nothing else I’ve done a load of washing, the bedrooms at least have beds made, and I don’t feel TOO bad if I do nothing else. That’s particularly true if I do ALL my routines.