Revisiting Our Schedule

Allyson said:   I'm always curious about other stay-at-home mom's schedules. For example, do you clean the house, do laundry, run errands, etc. on set days? Also, what routines as far as morning, school time, afternoon, dinner, etc. work for your family?

Last year I wrote a long post about our schedule and the ins and outs of our daily routine. Because I am a overly structured person who resists change, life is similar to what it was then, only we have five kids in the mix instead of four.  I still do laundry every day and keep a general cleaning schedule (sheets every other Monday, upstairs vacuuming on Tuesday, bathroom on Thursday, etc.).  We still do school in the morning and attempt to have a quiet afternoon.  A few things have changed, though, and that is what I will share here.  

First of all, Alaine is the first baby I've had who has given me the luxury of having a flexible schedule.  My other babies napped best in my arms or with me by their sides, but Alaine thrives on being put to bed in her own bed.  She frequently takes two to three hour naps (though we are going through a resistant spell) so if we have errands to run in the morning or something disrupts our schedule, we have a chunk of time in the afternoon to fall back on. 

Because of this, our mornings are not so "powerful."  My goal in years past was to pack everything  (school, laundry, a small cleaning project, beginning dinner preparations) into the morning hours so that the afternoon was free for rest and holding napping babies.  Now, I am able to save a few things for the afternoon.  Sometimes I miss the respite of an empty afternoon, but I do love that my mornings aren't quite so full.  I am especially thankful  for this flexibility on mornings when we have to be out of the house.  With our old routine, this was mentally taxing because all I could think of while we were out was how I was going to get my morning work done when I wasn't there to do it.  

We are also toying with the idea of changing our children's bedtime routine slightly.  The older two children (ages 8 and 6) are outgrowing their eight o'clock bedtime, but the little ones still need it.  In fact, often they need to go to sleep even earlier, but since all except Alaine share a bedroom, it is not convenient to have two separate  bedtimes.  (Any suggestions?)    

As always, many days I feel like I am floundering.  Brian went back to work last Monday after thirteen weeks (!) off and I am readjusting my mind to this new-ish routine of handing it all alone during the day.  Super mom, I am not, but with His strength, we live and breathe.