If there is any time of day that is the biggest $h!t show of the day around the Lane house, it’s the evening. It feels like constant chaos to get kids (and adults) fed, food put away, clean up the kitchen, bathed, and down for bed.
Which has to explain why I kept forgetting in this whirlwind of our “evening routine” to take any pictures document what we usually do. It’s just survival, folks. Pure survival. And hoping that my children aren’t hangry when they come home from school…which also happens to coincide with my only hangriness…WHILE trying to cook dinner. And waffling between just letting them have the dang snack so they stop whining and wanting them to actually eat the meal I’m making. But I digress…
Here we go…our evening routine, lately…
Aidan takes a catnap around 4:00 – so I like to think of our evening starting then.
I’ve been soaking up my very last days of maternity leave and holding him for his catnap and watching Gilmore Girls. (Forever my favorite show. Ever.)
After catnap, I usually do a quick dinner prep so things are more ready to go when the boys get home from school, then hop in the car and pick up Harrison from after school care…
I told you it’s chaotic. I forgot to take any pictures until we got home…and this was the one picture I took of him. I spend the next three minutes reminding the boys to do their responsibilities, stop touching the baby until they’ve washed their hands, while trying to start cooking dinner.
Dinner went in….and it was eaten. (Or more accurately, declared “I don’t like it” by both children”) And then it was time to move on to baths…
I bathe this little dude while Nathan does the bath/shower for the big boys. Jammies go on, and then I feed Aidan one more time and put him down for bed.
We’re new to the sleep sack world, and everytime I put this ridiculously comfy thing on him, I wish they made one in my size….
Night, night, Aidan.
Then it’s time for Jonathan to go down for bed. Brush teeth, read a story, say a prayer and spend a few minutes just with my Big J.
Then on to Harrison. Same thing as Jonathan, but I get one-on-one time with just Harrison.
He usually tells me he’s not sleepy, has a million and one things to do once I declare it time to go to bed, and then always asks for a big huggy.
After the boys are down, there’s an internal battle of whether I’m going to eat ice cream or not that night…watch a little TV…then head to bed myself around 9:00.
I’ve been spending 10 minutes doing meditation at night before bed…
And then it’s off to bed!
If you’ve missed previous “Let’s Look” posts from this year, I’ve rounded them all up for you here!
Oh yes I remember those survival days well! I hated that hour while I was trying to get dinner ready and it seemed like all 3 wanted my attention at the same time and we were all tired and hungry. It does get so much better as they get older. Now I hardly even know who is home and who isn’t until we sit down to eat!
Tired and hungry. That’s exactly right. It’s a bad combination. 😅
I still feel like I’m in survival mode…just another phase of it 😆 I loved reading about your routine with your guys!