New Routine

Olivia, Molly & I are developing a daily routine. Things have been awfully unstructured since Molly joined us – and that has worked well to this point, but for everyone’s sanity, the chaos must come to an end. So yesterday we started with one component of our evolving routine. In the hopes of getting my “regular” clothes back on before Christmas, I packed up the girls (including Red) and headed to Brushy Creek Lake Park for some much needed exercise and fresh air. Livy was in the Bob jogging stroller and Molly hung out with me in the Baby Bjorn carrier. It actually worked really well. Livy held Red’s lead and thought that was super fun for all but the last 15 minutes or so. We walked a half hour out on the trail and then came back. I was quite proud of our first time! Next time, we’ll have to get a picture of us all geared up so you can see how we look to passers-by. I’m hoping we can get out three times a week.

A related component to our new routine is meal planning to allow for healthier meals and less stress in meal prepration. This is something JR has been encouraging me to do for awhile and I would pick it up from time to time, but never had the desire to stick with it. However, with two little ones under two, it is not quite as easy to pop over to the grocery store every other day or go out to eat as much as I’d like to. I made myself a meal calendar in Excel and have laid out this week’s suppers and corresponding grocery list. I think we’ll just keep things on hand for breakfasts and lunches – pre-planning all that is a bit more than I can handle at this point. Additionally, Weight Watchers Online is currently running a one week free trial, so we are going to sign up for that and see how we like it. I really like that WW calculates the additional points needed by a nurisng mother (10 daily), so I don’t have to worry about Molly losing any nutrition while I try to trim down. It also makes it easier to stick to the points because it is not quite as drastic of a change as the non-nursing point limit! I’m sure we will quickly learn how many bad habits we’ve developed since the last time I did WW after Livy was born (the nightly ice cream treat is surely the first to go!). I’m thinking I’ll commit to 40 days on WW to kickstart things. I did it for Lent after Livy was born and it seemed to be just right.

So the added physical activity and healthy meal planning is mostly for me, but I do have ideas floating around in my head specific to the girls, too. I want to start doing regular activities for their enjoyment and develolpment like arts & crafts, music, language (including introducing Spanish), outdoor play, etc. We’ve actually been doing okay at eating & sleeping on a fairly regular schedule, but I think having a routine for our activities and playtime will make it more likely that we have some variety and don’t just waste away the day distracted by one thing or another. We’ll start with this basic framework and then see how we want to fill in the gaps:

8:00 Get up, get breakfast, get dressed

10:00 Snack & Activity (3x/week = trail walking)

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Storytime & Nap

3:00 Snack & Playtime (includes arts & crafts, music, just playing)

6:00 Supper

7:00 Family Activity

8:00 Bath & Bedtime

So all you pros out there, let me know if you have any tips – especially fun educational activities for a tiny toddler who’s just learning how to play!