Our Daily Schedule -- Two Under Three

It has taken me just about six months to write this blog post, and that’s because it has taken this long for us to finally get into a routine I’m comfortable sharing, and that doesn’t make me feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off.

Before kids, I was a big routine and schedule person. It keeps me calm and controlled, and overall happier. This has not changed much with kids — a routine keeps us all happier, especially with a toddler! Toddlers LOVE routine and schedule, and knowing what to expect.

As with any newborn phase, the first three months with Margot were just straight survival mode. We co-slept at night, and would bring Harry into bed in the morning around 7am when he woke up — and would watch some tv in bed before getting us all up, dressed, and ready for the day. Even during those early days, we never came downstairs unless we were all dressed and all beds made. It was my one sort of stable sanity during this fourth trimester phase. This meant that most mornings we weren’t downstairs before 8:30/9AM. This made the morning go by super quick, and was tough to navigate. Luckily, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, so not like we had anywhere to go..! These first three months Margot ate mostly on demand, so any sort of schedule for her was non-existent — but Harry’s always stayed the same! Awake at 7, lunch at 11, nap 12-2, dinner at 5:30, bed at 7.

Around four months, we started to implement more of a schedule with Margot, since she was forming her own little daily routine by that time anyways. And now, at six months I think we’re finally in the swing of things (for the time being at least! If you have kids, you know just as you get comfortable in one stage, another one hits…!) that I feel comfortable sharing for those of you looking for a resource! Each day changes slightly, but I try to keep it consistent with timing to keep us all sane. This schedule would be what it is with or without the pandemic — but instead of indoor/outdoor play we would be at the library/playground/class/museum. Wow, I miss all of those things so much.

5:30AM I wake up*, get myself dressed, ready and organized for the day. Make my coffee and do some blog/IG planning.

*I literally started doing this today haha but I feel like a different person so definitely going to keep it up. Before this, I would wake up at the same time as the kids, make the beds, get us all dressed and ready at the same time and it always felt so late and chaotic and also so hard to keep eyes on both while getting myself together.

6:30/7AM Harry and Margot wake up, get them both dressed, we make Harry’s bed and my bed since Nick is in the shower by this point and about to head into the office or his home office.

7:30AM Downstairs — Breakfast/Margot’s 1st bottle followed by play

9AM Margot’s first nap — most usually outside in her basinette stroller while Harry and I play outside

11AM Lunchtime/Margot’s 2nd bottle

12PM Naptime for Harry and Margot — I clean up from the morning for my own sanity. Put all toys away, wash and put away dishes, do a load or two of laundry — and usually vacuum. This is also when I try to get in a daily yoga or movement — I’m obsessed with Melissa Wood — even if it’s just 10-20 minutes (usually all I have time for..) I feel drastically better.

2PM-ish Both kids wake up, Margot takes her 3rd bottle, Harry has a snack and we usually head outside again.

3:30/4PM Margot’s 3rd nap either in her crib or her basinette stroller if we’re outside

5:30/6PM Dinner/Margot 4th bottle

6:30PM Bathtime

7PM Bed

On days Nick’s working from home we all eat together, otherwise Nick and I eat once both kids are asleep for the night. Also, we’re still trying to get Margot to gain a bit more weight, so when she wakes up during the night (usually once) I’ll give her a bottle and she goes right back down.

I know navigating the household with two kids can be challenging, especially the first couple months. While I know it’s so hard, and filled with unknowns, whether you’re a first time mom or mom of 3, just know this phase is so short. It’s a blip of time that passes before you even realize it. So soak in the newborn-ness, your routine and schedule will be there when you’re ready.

Moving Harry Into His Own Room + Sleep Training

Our sleep training story started off like so many other new parents. We were SO tired. It came out of nowhere. Harry was the best sleeper for his first 3.5 months of life, even starting to sleep through the night around 6 weeks. At 3.5 months he simply stopped. He was putting up fights against naps, bedtime, and started waking every 1-2 hours throughout the night and was almost impossible to get back to sleep. It was really rough. He started rolling over during this time, and didn't want to stay asleep on his back, but would also roll onto his stomach to sleep and then wouldn't want to be there. 

Last week we made the decision to call in some reinforcements. We started working with Arielle Driscoll from Expect To Sleep Again, who worked with us to on a sleep training method, as well as re-working Harrison's schedule, and understand what was going array and how to fix it ASAP....!

These are the key areas that have gotten Harrison sleeping through the night in under a week.

1. We moved him into his own room

One of the main issues Arielle pointed out was that Harrison was still sleeping in our room. He was originally in a basinette next to our bed, and once he grew out of that we actually moved his crib into our room. Yet, lately we noticed that every night as we came upstairs to get ready for bed, even if Harry had been sleeping soundly for hours, he would wake up like "so glad you guys are here, let's play!".

As most new moms know, the American Pediatric Association recommends your baby sleeps in the same room as you the first 6 months, and ideally first year. They say this could potentially reduce the risk of SIDS, so naturally no one is going to take that chance. While this is the statistic, there are also many studies that say after 4 months it is perfectly safe for a baby to sleep in their own (safe sleep) environment. 

I personally think it's a family decision. Many co-sleep for the first year, and it works perfectly fine, others for the first 3 weeks. We decided to test the waters, and spent a few nights in our guest room, while Harry took our master suite (must be nice). He slept so much more soundly, so that weekend we made the decision to move him into his own room.

2. We adjusted his schedule

One thing Arielle noticed right away was Harry's wake/sleep schedule was off, and he was taking his naps way too early in the day, which created too long of a wake time right before bed, making him overtired and therefore too restless to go to bed when he needed to. Harry now has 3 naps, the first around 8:30/9AM, the second around 12:30/1PM, and then his third catnap around 3:30/4PM. If this gets skipped, bedtime is pushed up to 5PM, otherwise bedtime is 6PM!

3. We created a bedtime routine

1. Bath

2. Pajamas

3. Milk

4. Read a book + sing a lullabye

5. Down in crib

4. We followed the Ferber sleep training method

This seemed to be the sleep training method that would work best for Harrison and us. Basically, you wait in intervals to go back into the room to soothe (not pick up, not talk to, just soothe by rubbing his back or head), and the intervals get longer each night. Harrison has responded well to this method and happy rested baby means happy rested parents.

A Day In The Life

A very common, and very annoying, question I receive a lot is -- "Aren't you bored? But what do you DO all day?" 

I have literally never been LESS bored in my entire life.

Here's a little glimpse into our everyday. We try to keep more of a routine rather than a schedule, because no two days are EVER the same and things fluctuate daily with appointments and groups, etc so we're flexible on timing but try to keep the activity routine pretty consistent!

Anytime between 6AM - 7AM Harrison will wake for the day + have his morning feed.

7:30AM - 8:30AM Awake + play time, usually starting in bed with me with books and toys and then moving downstairs (so I can make a very needed cup of coffee) and Harry can enjoy his little play area in our living room.

8:30AM - 10:30AM(ish) Morning nap -- my time to have coffee/breakfast, let Hildie outside, put laundry on, empty the dishwasher from the night before, etc.

10:30AM Harry wakes + has his mid-morning feed + first solids fruit or vegetable "meal" of the day

10:30AM - 12:30PM Awake time -- usually when we try to go grocery shopping, run errands, have a play date, attend a moms group, head to the library for storytime -- and just get out of the house for a bit!

12:30AM -2:30PM(ish) Afternoon feed + nap -- Once Harry is down, I eat lunch, clean up the house, put groceries away, pay any bills/house management tasks and start to prep dinner because the afternoons are always so busy.

2:30PM Around this time, Harry wakes + has his afternoon milk and his second solid "meal" of the day.

2:45PM - 3:30PM Free/play time. We either go for a nice long walk with Hildie, run some errands or have a play date. Harrison will take another catnap around 3/4PM -- but this one is usually always "on the go" (in his stroller, carseat, carrier, etc.) This catnap really helps to stretch out the time til his bedtime. 

4PM Late afternoon milk and his fruit/vegetable of the day followed by playtime.

5:30PM Bedtime routine begins! We do a bath everynight, but only with soap every 2-3 days so his skin doesn't get dried out. We then do his final feed of the day + storytime and put down for bed, usually by 6:30PM

Nick and I always have dinner together, alone, around 7:30PM/8PM. It's super important to us to have this time to talk about our days, Harrison, and things we have coming up. I remember in the first weeks of Harrison being with us and not really on a sleep schedule yet, aka up with us all the time -- I cried to Nick saying "WILL WE EVER EAT DINNER TOGETHER EVER AGAIN?!" We did.