Our New Schedule {Life with a Toddler & an 11 year old}

If you read my last post {Midweek Confessions} you know that I am trying to give more structure to Maysie's day. {To be honest, I am trying this because she is the WORST sleeper. Hopefully, scheduling her day will help her nap and sleep at night. Fingers crossed!} During most days, I would just tell her to play and she would want to be with me doing whatever I am doing. Most of the time, I let her join in unless it is cooking dinner on the hot stove. Then I let her cry at my feet. 

So in order to give my little one more structure I am coming up with fun things for her to do while I get things done around the house. 

This is what our more structured day looks like ...

7:30 am - I get up as my husband is walking out the door. Drink my one and only cup of coffee {Boo, but since I am still nursing and my supply is getting low I am doing everything in my power to keep my supply up. Hello water. Hello fenugreek. Good bye caffeine.}

8:00 am - Get Jacob up. Some days he takes a shower and some days he just gets dressed and fixes his hair.  He drinks his coffee and takes his ADHD medication. He will usually scramble himself an egg for breakfast. He puts his lunch in his backpack.

8:15 am - Get Maysie up. I change her into clothes and fix her crazy hair. Get her a sippy cup with juice. 

8:30 am - Time to go to school! Load everyone up in the car and get Jacob to school so he can be safety patrol. 

8:45 am - Get home. Grab Maysie a banana or scramble her some eggs. She eats a quick breakfast and then it is time for me to get ready for the day.

9:15 am - Get my butt in the shower. I let Maysie play with all her bath toys while I shower. Typically, she just throws them in the shower with me and then cries for me to give them back to her. 

9:30 am - Put Maysie on my bed and she watches Sesame Street. Right now she loves Elmo!! She will sit still for 15 minutes with her books and Elmo. So I have to put my make up on, dry my hair, and get dressed in 15 minutes. Whew ... it feels like I have been up forever already.

9:45 - 11:00 am - Structured Play Time. I try to plan for a few different activities. {Painting, making salt dough foot and hand prints, making cookies, sorting beans in a muffin tin, color}

11:15 am - Time to make lunch. Maysie typically has one slice of lunch meat, mandarin oranges, and cucumbers with ranch dressing. I have left overs from the night before. If worse comes to worse I will make myself a sandwich. 

11:45 am - Free play. Maysie will play with her tractor or her baby dolls. Or drag 30 balloons around the house scaring the cat. That's just how she rolls.

12:45 pm - Time to take a break or a nap as some people call it. If I say the word nap Maysie cries but if I say it is time to take a break she comes upstairs with me no problem or tears. We get onto my bed, read 3 books {ending with The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear ... her favorite}. We put the books down and close our eyes. {Seriously, just like that and she is sleeping. Sometimes so am I. But she gets so warm it is hard not to cuddle with her!}

1:15 pm - Mommy time. During this time I try to do household chores {clean the kitchen, do laundry, vacuum} and then I give myself a break and read a book. {I just finished reading The Antelope in the Living Room by Melanie Shankle .... loved it!!!}

3:10 pm - Maysie is awake. I change her diaper and get her a sippy cup. It is time to get ready to go get Jacob from school. 

3:30 pm - Wait for Jacob to get in the car. 

3:45 pm - Get home from school and time to get homework done. Jacob has to read for 20 minutes every night, has a math worksheet, and some nights he has spelling homework. During this time I keep Maysie entertained so she doesn't drive Jacob crazy. 

5:00 pm - Jacob plays video games if it is cold outside or plays outside if it is even remotely warm. I start making dinner. 

6:15 pm - Get dinner on the table. Maysie eats the same dinner that we do. I just cut things up in smaller pieces for her. 

6:45 pm - Dinner over. Time to clean up the kitchen. Since my husband works on cars and since we live in Chicago he is really busy at work. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday he works late. If he is home then Maysie plays with him. Otherwise, I pull up a chair and Maysie helps me do the dishes and load the dishwasher. 

7:15 pm - Get the coffee ready for the morning. Make Jacob's lunch. Wipe down the counters. 

7:45 pm - Play with Maysie in the living room and watch some shows that I have DVRed. Jacob will typically hang out with us. 

8:30 pm - Time to give Maysie a bath. {Maysie has super sensative skin. So we use Ology Chamomile & Lavender body wash and lotion. She smells delicious!}

9:00 pm - Get Maysie dressed in her pajamas. Tell Jacob he only has 30 minutes before bed. {OK, my son loves video games. He likes to play them all night long. I typically let him because Maysie is so needy but this needs to change. I miss hanging out with him and video games drive me crazy.}

9:15 pm - Time to take a break or go to bed for Maysie. Maysie grabs her baby and baby Bobby and heads upstairs. We snuggle up on my bed and read our three books. After reading, it is time to close our eyes. Maysie falls asleep. 

9:45 pm - Time for Jacob to go to bed. He changes into his pajamas and comes down stairs to give me a kiss and a hug. 

10:00 pm - My time. Hopefully my husband is home. Sometimes he is and sometimes he isn't. If he is I listen to him share about his day and I tell him about mine. If he isn't I watch tv, blog, read, or mess around on the computer. 

12:00 am - Time for me to go to bed. I don't know what it is but I need to stay up until midnight. It is probably the rebel in me or it is because I like a quiet house. 

Special Notes

* Some days I substitute teach. So then this schedule goes out the window. Maysie goes to my Aunt Patsy's house.

* On Wednesday, Maysie and I go to My Gym from 11:45 to 12:45.

* On Thursdays, Jacob has indoor soccer practice from 7-8 pm.