Our Routine

Ever wonder what a normal day looks like at my house?

Let me tell you

{mostly because I'd like to remember this years down the road :)}

7:00 AM My Olive alarm clock goes off and I make her a bottle.  I go into her room to find a smiling, standing Olive waving hello to me.  Kevin talks to us a little in the morning and he heads to work by 7:45.  She eats, snuggles and I rock her back to sleep.  She goes in her crib with her bunny, blanket and paci.  I usually head back to bed, too.  Ahhhh, the perks of having one kid :)

9:00-9:30 AM Olive wakes up for good and we both get up for the day.  We watch some PBS kids while Olive plays with her toys and I grab a bite to eat.  She's started looking at my breakfast with hawk eyes lately.  She's so interested in all food, so much to her satisfaction, I inevitably give her a bite or two.

10:00AM I make oatmeal for Olive and put her in her high chair to eat.  I try to spice it up a bit and mix fruits into her breakfast.  I'll do bananas, berries, peaches, etc.  She loves oatmeal and takes advantage of this time to give herself  an oatmeal facial and hair treatment.  I have to thoroughly hose her off when she decides she's done with breakfast.

11:00AM Olive crawls all over the house.  She loves her toys but finds particular pleasure in finding things to play with that aren't hers.  She'll pull on computer cords, can spot a phone charger from a mile away and is anxious to get to my pantry and play with soup cans or boxes of rice.  I keep bathroom and bedroom doors closed to help contain her and we just purchased our first baby gate to section things off a bit.  If she's playing well and fully occupied in one spot, I'll read a few favorite blogs, link up and check my email.

12:30 PM  Olive will take another bottle and usually fall asleep for a cat nap.  She's consistently been a 45 minute napper her whole life.  Well all 10 months of her life so far :)  She has taken less than ten 2 hour naps and it's glorious when it happens.  It's pretty unpredictable so I always plan for a short one.  I shower, get ready and do some things on the computer or make phone calls.  Sometimes I'll sneak in a little Grey's Anatomy, a quick workout or something on my to do list :)  The cats pretty much sleep the days away.

1:30 PM Olive wakes up and we make beds, tidy up the place and start thinking about dinner.  I write out a menu for each week and my husband likes to pick what we have for dinner or we'll agree together.  Some days we run errands to get out of the house for a bit.  Olive is a great traveler and seems to attract a lot of attention wherever we go.  She's started waving at people, flashing smiles at strangers and just enjoys the change of scenery.

2:30-5 PM More playing, reading, crawling and babbling.  If the weather is nice, we'll go for a long walk around the neighborhood being sure to say hello to any neighbors or dogs that cross our path.  Snacks for baby, bottle and lots of time together playing on the floor.  I usually text Kevin pictures of Olive during the day and we talk once during a break in his schedule.  If I forget to send a picture, he'll text asking for one.

5:00 PM Kevin gets home from work and Olive is thrilled that her incessant requests for Da-Da all day long have finally come true.  We have a snack together, watch the 5:00 news and talk about our days.  I'll show Kevin any new tricks Olive has mastered and he'll debrief about his day at work.  He always asks Olive, "Were you a good baby for Mommy today?"  She'll smile at the question and then I tell him about her day.

5:30-6:30PM Time for dinner prep and play time for Olive which usually includes some rough housing with her dad.  He rolls around on the floor, chases her in slow motion, plays peek-a-boo and their play time is LOUD.  Dads sure do play differently than moms.  I find myself smiling listening to them play and I appreciate the extra set of hands.  It's nice to focus on dinner and know that Olive is completely entertained.  Olive usually takes another short nap around this time.

7:00-8PM We sit down for dinner.  Olive wakes up sometime during this hour and either plays or sits in her high chair to eat while we eat.  We are introducing more and more solids into her diet.  Her main source of food is still formula but she's having fun figuring out her likes and dislikes of solid food.  We talk about our days, what we want to do that evening and enjoy a meal together.  We'll watch the news or favorite TV shows.  I do the dishes while Kevin entertains Olive.  Then we just spending the evening together.

8:30-9:30PM Things start winding down for Olive.  We do baths, read books, and let her get any last wiggles out for the day.  She starts rubbing her eyes to let us know she's tired and I rock her to sleep.  She takes her last bottle of the day and usually goes right to sleep.

10-11:30PM The cats come out and want some attention after they know Olive is in bed for the night.  They are usually purrrrrrrrring in our faces and can't get enough of us.  We catch up on our favorite TV shows, watch sports or something on Netflix.  We'll also talk about anything important going on, make plans or talk about anything we've got in the works.  Kevin will sometimes have work to work on and I'll read blogs, check emails and work on my blog.

11:30-1:30 AM Kevin heads to bed and I stay up late to get a little alone time.  I will tidy up the whole house putting away toys and making sure everything is in its place.  I work on my blog, watch some TV and try to get some things done that didn't get done during the day.  I feel guilty multi-tasking when Olive is awake so late night work sessions are the IDEAL time for me to get things done.  My bed time is varied depending on what I have to do but I always enjoy being up late.  The last thing I do for the day is to sneak into Olive's room and give her a kiss goodnight.

We are thrilled to get to spend our days together!