The Routine

As a parent, the "routine" is something I know, with total certainty, I cannot live without. I'm already hanging by the thinnest of threads, teetering on the edge of the proverbial precipice. Without a routine...it would all go to hell in less than a millisecond.

A typical day looks like this:
1. Alarm at 6:33 - snooze hopefully 2x - though that rarely if ever happens.
2. Nurse R while T goes downstairs to sterilize the breast pump parts and make sure R's bottles are ready and B's lunch is made. (how in the world do people do this without a "team" of support?)
3. B wakes up and scours the house looking for Daddy and immediately requests his daily cup of milk and yogurt and breakfast (i.e. cereal bar, cheerios & milk, oatmeal - or as B would say "oatmealk.")
4. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Between The Lions is now heard throughout the house and captivates both of my children. I tend to hear the theme songs in my head at random times throughout the day. Like in meetings or on a conference call.
5. R is brought back to center and re-distracted away from crawling over the entire expanse of the house and digging in the plants like sand on a beach.
6. Nudge and prod B so we can do his daily allergy prevention which consists of Zyrtec, antihistamine eye drops and steroid nasal spray (did I mention he is 3.5?) and give him his chewable vitamin. All the while T is slathering his body with sunscreen in prep for his trek to camp at school.
7. Meanwhile I'm checking both kid's bags to ensure they have clothes, etc. for the day. Blankets, sheets, nappers, loveys...
8. Buckle R in his car seat carrier - not much longer though...the kid is creeping up on 20 pounds...
9. On my way out the door grab: purse, breast pump, work bag, R's bag, R's bottles, B's back pack, B's napper AND B's swim bag if it's a pool day (which is M-W).
10. Put both kids in the car and T and I both trek over to school to drop them off. It's a bear of a time with that much gear for one person...Though, on some days, the kids go over to my Mom's house. Then - T and I split. Me with R to my Mom's, T with B off to school.
11. Off to work.

And that's our morning. Every day. Without fail. And no deviations. Even the slightest hiccup throws the whole ordeal out of whack. What I need to figure out is...where do I take deep breaths? It should happen multiple times within each step. And I just realized that I forgot to include the step where I shower and get dressed. Gee - how insignificant must that be?? Just add that in somewhere between 4 and 5.

Now - for the evenings...I typically try to leave work between 5 and 5:15. Which means I hit my Mom's house about 6pm.
1. Pick up the kids at Mom's house. I thoroughly enjoy the big bright smiles and running-into-my-arms hugs. Or in R's case...crawling-into-my arms. This his a highlight of my day.
2. Grab all said bags and gear that was taken to school that morning and put it in the car while B is picking up his toys.
3. Buckle R in his seat.
4. B opens and holds the door open for me and R as we leave Mom's heading for the car. He does this expertly and then moves swiftly to the car and places his hand on the back fender waiting for me to put R in the car, open his door and help him climb in.
5. Ask B all about his day and sing songs on the way home.
6. If needed, stop at grocery store or get gas. The store gets tricky...and is therefore done sparingly...
7. Arrive at home and take at least 3 trips of getting everyone and everything into the house. B does an excellent job of distraction with R. He makes all kinds of goofy faces and noises and they both crack up laughing. It's quite entertaining. And is my first glimpse into how my boys are going to grow up loving to play with each other. It's going to be awesome.
8. Change into comfy clothes and into my glasses. Ahhh...that's nice.
9. Proceed with making dinner of some kind...some fast, some not so fast, some delivery or take out.
10. Feed R his solids while eating dinner - trading off nights with T.
11. Play for 5-10 minutes before heading up to bath.
12. Bathe both kids in the tub together with R going first.
13. T takes R and slathers him with lotion and puts him in his jammies while I bathe B.
14. Dry off B, help him brush his teeth and bring him into R's room where I trade with T.
15. Nurse R and put him down for the night. This is where we will begin to incorporate stories with R when he is not exhausted. Some days we do now, others he just launches his body sideways ready to nurse and go to sleep. This is one of my few moments of relaxation as I watch Friends episodes while nursing. I started on season 1 when R was born and am now on disc 2 of season 10. Look at me go...
16. Meanwhile - T is slathering B with lotion, doing eye drops and saline nose spray, cortisone on his knees where he has broken out with allergies (DAMN ALLERGIES) and blow drying his hair. Yes - my child has so much hair that without a blow dryer he would look like Kramer every day, all day.
17. Then T is reading stories to B. This used to be me...and I miss it terribly. B just LOVES books and I have a real weakness for getting him new stories. I'm looking forward to when both kids are old enough to read stories together. I hope we can make that happen soon.
18. Lights out for B. This is where we get to snuggle. But not just haphazardly. No way. Per B - T must go first BY HIMSELF. Then me. Always. Every night. No deviations whatsoever. Though I must say it is nice one-on-one time with B. Telling us about his day, doing Eskimo and Butterfly kisses. Telling us that he loves us, loves me two, loves me three...loves me infinity!
19. And then...it's about 9:30...and quiet.
20. Time to head downstairs and once again sterilize pump parts and bottles, make bottles and tomorrow's lunch.
21. At last, I'm off to pump on the days that R passes out before a long feeding due to short naps during the day. Or - on those rare occasions - I may actually be able to sit down for a moment.
22. It's about 10:30 and I am starting to wind down...time to turn out the light for me.

And it'll all start over again at 6:00 am...I'm exhausted already. No wonder the weekends are heavenly...