Sunday, May 15, 2011

Our Schedule

I've been wanting to do a "schedule post" for a while. It sparked a few months ago when I saw a friend I hadn't seen in a while. She mentioned our van and said she was glad to see what kind of car we drove, because she was wondering. (Kia Sedona in case you also want to know.)

So, I thought that even some friends and family don't know how things function and go on here. This, the house of triple babies. The casa de tres leches at breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, how about a run through of our day?

7:30 - awake! We start to hear the babbling and talking. Sometimes Chris stays to help with diaper changes. But most days he's out the door, to make the bucks, to keep the diapers coming. I change diapers and keep babies in their cribs until all are changed. We then head to the kitchen all together for breakfast. (Think mama duck and her ducklings waddling around her.)

8:00 - breakfast. The kids (like most) are ravenous when they wake up. So the moments before they are actually served substance of any kind are a little tense. I fill 3 sippy cups of milk. We say a quick blessing over breakfast and three heads tip back to guzzle their morning milk. Then, I either make eggs and toast, waffles, pancakes or french toast. I usually load up on the butter with any of these options. Two of the three barely made the growth charts last check up (1 percentile) so we are still calorie packing where we can. They love breakfast. Mom always includes some kind of fruit. Their favorite.

Good morning mommy!

8:30-9:30 - clean faces, get dressed, play. I'm going to leave this sentence short. Although the actual events are full of chasing, wrangling, sweating, and STINKY bums. I call them their morning bombs. Whew. Stay away from our house during this hour.


Just a little morning playtime while waiting their turn to get dressed.

9:30-11:30 - nap. My babies are so good at going down. It's a tender mercy I'm grateful for. During their morning nap, there is plenty for me to do. I clean up breakfast and get their seats, trays and cups ready for lunch. Then, depending on the day, I will either, run a quick 3 miles downstairs on the treadmill if I didn't do it before they woke up, get ready, laundry, (THERE'S ALWAYS LAUNDRY!) pick an area of the house that has not been cleaned in a while and do my best to make it look like I care. Or I might watch a DVR'd Parks and Recreation. Or read an overdue library book. Or, on a glorious day, I might even sneak in a nap with them. I have to be honest, I wish this was a more regular occurrence. There is some stupid mechanism inside me that can't really fall asleep if my regular morning stuff isn't done . Maybe I can get it surgically removed.

11:30 - awake! Diaper changes and play time.

12:00 - lunch. Our lunches are pretty standard and usually the same from day to day. We rotate between a black bean quesadilla, mac and cheese, sandwiches or if they liked a dinner from the night before, we'll have that again. Then some kind of vegetable. Carrots, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes, yams, something.

12:30 - clean up faces and play. I usually let the babies play in the play room with their gate up while I clean up lunch. Then we'll play together until nap time.

1:30 or 2:00 - second nap of the day. This nap time is a little more lax for me. Especially if I was a super good girl and did the majority of my domestic duties during their morning nap. For example, I'm typing this blog post during an afternoon nap.

3:30 - awake! Diaper changes, snack time and walk. Now that the weather is warming up, we like to take a walk during this block of the day. But I'm sure as the summer gets going, we will switch it up and take our walk in the morning. (Aren't you just loving all these boring details?)

Out for a stroll. We love our new triple wide.

5:00 - I start dinner while babies play around me. They get into a drawer they think they shouldn't and play with laundry I haven't folded yet. Gabe loves to listen to a special cd of songs, over and over again.

5:30 - quiet time in their room. This has been a lifesaver for me. I put all the babies in their crib with the blinds up. I give everyone a stuffed toy and 3-4 board books. During the next 30 min, I finish up dinner, give the house a quick straighten and see if I can make myself somewhat presentable to my handsome husband.

6:00 - Daddy's home! Hooray! We ALL do a little dance and clap. Chris helps me get babies into their seats, pours their milk and sets the table. We eat dinner together and tell dad about our day. The babies either throw their dinner on the floor or gobble it up. They are fickle critics at dinnertime.

6:30-7:30 - baths, pajamas, play with dad, more milk before bed, chaos, stories, family prayer, brush teeth, sing a song, bedtime prayers, kisses, blown kisses at the door and lights out.

7:30 - 8:00 - clean up dinner, dishes, straighten toy room and bathroom.

8:00 - mom and dad time. Sighs, snuggling and none of your business. Dreyers real fruit bars have been a favorite of late. We love to sneak in a post-bedtime treat.

So there is a rough outline. Of course not everyday goes exactly like this. This post took me two days to write because one little monkey decided he wasn't going to take an afternoon nap. Some nights one or two might decide they are NOT going to bed and stay up. And the weekends are a bit crazy. Anything goes on the weekends. We try to stick to a nap and play schedule, but when you have a mom happily letting dad take over on a Saturday and 3 hours of church starting at 11:00 am on Sunday, our weekends get a bits nutso.

Common scene on a Sunday morning. We all love our daddy time.

There is our day! Don't you feel informed? It's fun to peep via blogs, huh?

Questions? Am I still leaving out details you would like to know about our schedule and daily logistics? Just ask! I'll answer. I'd be curious.

(If you're shy about not wanting fellow readers to know who asked the question, my email is to the right. )

7 comments:

Lorflor said...

Love it. I'm feeling like I need sone Kara time. Maybe during one of their nap times one of these days! Miss you and love you!!

Carrie said...

this was such an awesome post! i love it! you are definitely more efficient/faster with three kids than i am with my one. you just put us all to shame, kara.

oh, and i don't know that i have any specific questions so much as just a request for PICTURES of how things work. pictures of how you fit three carseats in the car. pictures of a nursery for three kids. want to do a tour of your house and narrate it for us? that'd be MY dream come true!

Steve Galley said...

I was going to comment here but I'm too tired now...

Lydia said...

I am pretty sure I would be pulling my hair out by 2....LOVE the schedule!!

Elise said...

Sounds amazing kara! You are the bomb, you seem so on top of things and relaxed. I know it probablly is hard sometimes but you really are amazing, way to go. Loved the schedule, glad i've seen your van :)

Shane said...

Kara you are the best mom ever! I have witnessed this schedule and I am eternally amazed at your ability to do this everyday :)

Stephanie said...

Maybe if I had three kids instead of one I, too, could be this organized. I do have one question: what percentile is Christian? Just curious. And where did you decide to move to?