Cameron is all tuckered out and needs a little cat nap.
I'm going to go ahead and put on my judgemental hat and ask, "How the heck can parents not put their kids to bed early?" I know parents who keep their babies up until 9 PM and even later. I shudder to think about the havoc that would wreck on Cameron's sweet disposition.Of course with a very early bedtime for Cameron that means I am squeezing a lot into an evening. I am usually home around 5 PM and have to:
- Start dinner (or DH does - he cooks more than me these days!)
- Feed Cameron
- Wash bottles
- Wash pumping gear
- Prepare bottles for the next day
- Make my lunch
- Prepare my outfit for the next day (I have been doing this for 2 years and I highly recommend it!)
- Put Cameron to bed
- Wash dishes (whoever doesn't cook does this)
- Relax
- Pump before bed
That's a lot to get done by 9 PM! I completely understand the "juggle" that so many people complain about. I'm living it! Why 9 PM? Well, that's when I go to bed. Yes, that's right. I go to bed at 9 PM, read and am usually fast asleep by 9:30 PM. I hate people who are totally fine on 6 hours of sleep. I need 8-9 or am much less effective at work.
How about the rest of you? What do your evening juggles look like? What do other parents do to make things easier in the evenings?
5 comments:
Aahh, the working mom. I get holden home at 5-5:30, he takes a cat nap for about 30-45 minutes, has a bottle, bath, plays for a bit while I make dinner and is ready for bed at 7:30 usually right when we want to eat. Clean up dinner, check emails, wash diapers, etc. But I don't go to bed until 10 at the earliest. and back up at 6:30. I am adjusting to the shorter night sleep but have to admit that I sometimes fall asleep at a red light on my way home from work.
Not sure how many pumping parts you have, but I have 4 sets and I have to say, its makes life a lot easier. Also, I don't wash them after every use - I just give it a quick rinse and keep it in the fridge. Since there is just milk on it and milk is fine in the fridge for at least a day, the parts can follow the same rule. Saves a lot of handwashing parts throughout the day. And with extras, you could always just throw the dirty ones in the dishwasher and use a clean set.
At least you don't have to work after the kids go to bed. I do! That's if I manage to get home for bedtime.
We didn't eat dinner with the boys until they were almost 2 years old. We simply couldn't find time to fit in making dinner with two babies, and I definitely did not do it on my own with the boys when Jon was traveling.
My singleton friends were all blah blah blah importance of family dinner but I never found it relaxing to cook dinner with two crying clinging toddlers! I really needed that time after the boys went to bed to veg and eat dinner in peace.
It felt like this huge rush of freedom when the boys could go to bed at 7:30 instead of 7, right around the spring time change before they turned 2. That extra 30 min meant we could eat together! And now it means we get plenty of pool time!
But we are going through a fussy week as Nate transitions to the 3s room. He loves it there but all the new people, new things means he is overdoing it and he is cranky!
(Hate me, I am one of those people who regularly gets 5-7 hours of sleep!)
You get to go to bed by 9 pm??? You get out of work early enough to make it home by 5 pm??? I am lucky to make it home before 6 pm and even luckier if I am able to get everything done and in bed by 11 pm. Yesterday it was 11:30 by the time I got to bed. I think I'm jealous!
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