Our Routine

Since I enjoy reading other posts about daily routines, I thought I’d throw together one of my own. Please know this routine is incredibly loose and changes daily, but you’ll get the general idea. I’m not even going to bother putting times because, other than dinner at 6:30 (when Daddy gets home), we have a basic order, but that’s about it.

Wake up, talk to animals, wake Mommy up by playing GloWorm repeatedly. Snuggle, diaper change, and play in Mommy’s room for a bit while Mommy gets dressed, makes her bed, etc. Occasionally, Hannah will watch about 10 minutes (two stories worth) of “Maisy” on Qubo if the timing lines up right.

Downstairs for breakfast, which always consists of milk, one or two fruits, and some form of cereal, either dry or oatmeal-esque. We play for a while after breakfast and usually end up reading books on the couch together. She has also just gotten interested in coloring and she’ll color for a few minutes after breakfast sometimes.

This is when we go out if we have play dates or errands that day. We might hit Target, the grocery store, Goodwill (for deal-hunting!), or the park if we don’t have plans with friends. On Tuesdays, we usually go to the library for Rhyme Time. If we don’t have anywhere to go, we will play around the house and Hannah will assist me with chores ; her two faves right now are unloading the dishwasher and ‘folding’ laundry. Sometimes I’ll call my mom and chat during this time, keeping her up to date on Hannah’s latest and greatest info.

Back home for lunch. Lunch is either leftovers or a random combo of whatever I can find in the fridge. She eats fruit every day and then I will add in other things like PB sandwich, yogurt, crackers and cheese, chicken chunks, etc. I try to throw in a veggie now and then but it’s just kinda hard at lunchtime.

Here is a super-balanced (ha) lunch of raisins, chicken, and cheese.

We’ll play a bit more after lunch, but she’s usually ready for a nap fairly soon after eating. Her naps last between 2 and 3½ hours. This is the time when I usually eat my lunch, get LOTS (haha, this a goal) of housework done, work on my coupons, and play on the internet (hehe). I also try to use nap time to prep as much as possible for dinnertime, like chopping veggies, putting stuff in the crock pot, setting the table, etc.

After nap time, we play and read more until it is time to cook dinner. This is when Hannah is typically pretty mad about life in general; she does not like me “ignoring” her while I cook, even if I’m talking and interacting with her the entire time, which I try to do. Such is life; I know she’ll survive, so I just do it anyways, but it’s not super pleasant. Dinner prep obviously takes varying lengths of time, so some days are easier than others.

So, finally Daddy gets home and all is right with the world. I attempt to have dinner ready at that time; it doesn’t always work out that way, but I’m pretty consistent about it since we are all pretty hungry by that point! Hannah eats what we eat 99% of the time at dinner, so that’s nice and easy :).

After dinner, its Daddy time! She plays with Daddy and then goes to bed somewhere between 7:45 and 8:30, depending on her mood/behavior. Every once in a while we’ll let her stay up later if she’s super awake and super pleasant. It doesn’t seem to adversely affect her sleep at all.