Mommy Monday: Baby & Toddler Routine (Blogmas Day 1)

Happy December! :)

I've decided that I will do Blogmas again this year so it is back by popular demand! I'm not going to be doing daily outfits this month (thank goodness, because I think I've run out...) but I will be featuring a few and hope to mix up different topics each week to keep things interesting. Hopefully you guys will enjoy!

Recently I've been getting asked quite a lot to do a post on our updated sleeping/feeding/daily routine so here it is (finally): 

7am: Wake up & feed Eduardo milk (I'm still breastfeeding for those asking!)

7:30am: I jump in the shower & start getting ready for the day while Emilia & Eduardo play in our bed or watch cartoons

8:30am: We go downstairs and I start making breakfast. For Eduardo this usually consists of some fruit (lately it's been mandarins but other times it's been bananas, apples or blueberries) and Ready Brek. He has this with whole milk (from a cow, not me!) and half a mashed banana. Sometimes I throw in a few blueberries or if I don't have any fresh fruit handy I will squeeze in half a pouch of fruit purée. (I usually give him 2.5 tablespoons of Ready Brek mixed with 100ml milk.) Emilia will either have a Nutri Grain with some fruit or Alpha Bites & a fruit smoothie along with her orange juice. 

9-10am: This time usually consists of me scrambling to clean everything up after breakfast, at which point I will plonk Eduardo down on his playmat where he sits & plays with his toys/Emilia before she eventually loses interest and wanders upstairs to her daddy's office. Then we follow her up and I dress the children.

10/10:30am: Eduardo has his morning nap. After he's dressed and out of his pyjamas I will take him into his bedroom, close the curtains and feed him his milk in our rocking chair. Then I burp him and put him down in his cot where he sleeps for about 30-45 mins. 

11am: Eduardo wakes up and we try to do some sort of activity with both children before lunch. 

12:30/1pm: Lunch time! Lately it's been mini bagels with cream cheese/tuna & sweetcorn and some veggies like tomatoes, cucumber and cheese. Most of Eduardo's usually ends up on the floor so I sometimes give him a half portion of veggie & meat purée as well as the finger food. For dessert they both have fruit (grapes & apples are current favourites) and yoghurt. Emilia likes the sucky ones in pouches and Eduardo normally has his with some fruit purée mixed in. 

2-4pm: This is our GOLDEN time...synchronised naptime. And this is precisely why our routine with two children has become like clockwork as Jonathan and I both rely hugely on this 2 hour window of productivity! It is a wonderful period of calm after lunch where I can just sit down with a cup of coffee and get all of my blogging/editing work done, catch up on emails, etc. etc. We look forward to it everyday! So after I clean Eduardo up from lunch I basically do the exact same thing as with the morning nap - bring him up to his bedroom, change his nappy, close the curtains and feed him his milk before settling him down to sleep in his bed. Emilia naps in her own room or has "quiet-time" where she reads books or watches Kinder Egg unboxing videos on the iPad (no, really...she's obsessed!). She doesn't always do the full 2 hours of sleeping now that she's older but she stays in her room and normally drops off eventually so may sleep for an hour. 

4-5pm: When they wake from their nap, I usually give them something small to eat like a fruit snack or puffits. I give Eduardo water from a sippy cup and Emilia drinks her milk.

6pm: Dinner time. Eduardo normally eats a full portion of a veggie/meat purée or I give him a small portion of what we're having (if it's mashable!). Emilia is so fussy with food at the moment but her favourites are pasta or any rice dish. Even though she is picky and it drives me absolutely bonkers sometimes, I still insist on making a variety of different meals because I think it's important not to give in...even if it means she won't eat it. For example I know I could make pasta every single night and she would happily eat it but that's not realistic for the rest of the family so I won't do it. So dinner can sometimes be a challenging time of the day...but I'm hoping this is just a phase and that Emilia won't be this fussy for long!

7:30pm:  Bath-time. Emilia & Eduardo both go up to bed after a bit of playtime downstairs. We are now bathing them together since Eduardo is able to sit up on his own and it is so much easier (and enjoyable for both!). They get a bath every night but we only wash their hair once every 2-3 nights. We usually let them play for a bit and tire themselves out before bed which they love! Then they both go up to Eduardo's room for pyjamas, lotion and a book. I kiss Emilia goodnight and she gets read 2 books by her daddy in her room before going to sleep. Meanwhile I feed Eduardo his last milk feed of the day in his room on the rocking chair and he usually falls asleep on the boob. Then I burp him and put him into his cot (he sleeps on his back), turn on his Angelcare monitor and that's it!

8pm: All going to plan, both kids should be asleep in their beds by 8 o'clock. This is our goal and it means that Jonathan & I have some free time to ourselves to watch TV & just relax. Then the next day we do it all over again!

I hope some of you found this helpful! Obviously we don't stick rigidly to this exact routine everytime we're travelling or out of the house etc. but we do try to stick with it when we are at home as I think both children thrive on knowing exactly what to expect and when.

xoxo

Anna