Home Improvement Week 1: Establishing A Rhythm

Here are some adjectives I would use to describe myself: joyful, good-natured, curious, talkative, goofy, excitable, spontaneous, creative, free-spirited, scattered. These traits, I think, add a lot of color and fun to our family life. And although they sometimes get me into trouble, I am happy to be the way I am. They do not, however, lend themselves well to routine.

After much contemplation, I feel that developing a routine, or rhythm, is crucial to enriching our home life, but will also be my biggest challenge. This past week I have been mulling over how I can find a balance between structure and my free-spiritedness. How can I provide an environment that my children can grow, learn, and explore in comfort and security that doesn't leave me stagnate, bored, and unfulfilled (read: grumpy).

I realize developing a rhythm that we all feel comfortable with will be a process of trial and error and may never actually come to fruition. In any case, I have tried to combine some of the very little bit of routine we already have going with some new ideas to create the foundation of what will inevitably be an ever-evolving structure.

Mommy/ DaddyTime (6:00 or 6:30)
Mommy: exercise, read, have coffee, get ready, etc
Daddy: walk/ run with Mingo, have coffee, check email, read news, budget
Breakfast (7:00)
Make and eat breakfast together
Getting Ready (7:00-7:45)
Get dressed, groom, say bye to Daddy, straighten up
School (7:45 or 8:00)
Pack up and head out
Mommy and Evie Time (8:30)
Walk, grocery shop, play with babies, go to story time, snuggle and rest, do some chores
Exploration Time (12:00-2:00 or 3:00)
Play with friends, have lunch with Daddy, visit parks, playgrounds, trails, and pools, work in the garden, play in the yard, cook, free play inside.
Siesta (2:00 or 3:00)
(This is word we use for quiet time/ nap/ rest because Aiden has no negative connotations associated with it.)
Aiden plays quietly in his room or on the floor in Mommy's room or lies down by himself or with Mommy and Evie. Mommy and Evie lie down (hopefully Evie will rest by herself sometimes if not eventually all the time). We listen to music. Mommy works around the house.
The Home Stretch (4:00)
Prepare dinner, straighten up, set table (or get cleaned up to go out), have independent free play or help Mommy, sit down together, talk about our day, draw pictures or write about it, go outside.
Family Time (5:30 or 6:00)
Dinner, family walk, bath
I straighten up and have some time to myself to garden, exercise, read, rest, get on the computer, or whatever I'd like.
Bedtime (7:30 0r 8:00)
Aiden: stories, songs, snuggles
Evie: nursing, rocking, snuggling, or walking in Ergo.
Mommy/ Daddy Time
Daddy goes for walk or run with Mingo, final straighten up.

We have tried working with this routine the past two days and so far so good. I'll update next week on how  it's going and what, if any, changes seem necessary as well as introduce my focus for the following week.