Finding Our Routine

I LOVE routines.  I love conquering the world and thoroughly enjoy the days when I feel like I did just that.  But, I feel like I cannot do that without a routine.  And for some reason, Samantha had made finding one really difficult.

Last week, I was determined to find it.  One that worked for her and one that I could work with.  It involved a whole week of basically staying home during the day to make sure I was following her cues and paying attention to her.  Let me tell you, after 2 days, we found it, we perfected it and she's happier and I'm happier.  And our house is spotless.  I love that.

7:30 Dusty leaves for work and I get in the shower
7:45 I wake Kaitlyn up and get her ready for school
8:30 I wake Samantha up, give her a cup of milk
8:40 Take Kaitlyn to School
9:00 Get home, give Samantha breakfast
9:25 Play time!  Make sure diaper is clean and she is having fun
10:00 Sesame Street comes on, we cuddle for the first 15 minutes of it, then she plays
11:00 Nap Time!
2:15 Nap Time is traded in for lunch time
2:45 Samantha gets dressed for the day and we play some more
3:15 We leave to get Kaitlyn
3:35 Kaitlyn is done with school and we head to the store for dinner if necessary
4:15 We're home, it's snack time and then playing, Kaitlyn does her homework in 25 minutes
5:00 I start dinner
5:15 Dusty is home
5:30 I put Samantha in the high chair to color until dinner is ready
6:00 Dinner is ready
6:30 I clean up dinner, Kaitlyn and Samantha play
7:00 Samantha bath time
7:30 Kaitlyn bath time
8:00 More playing
8:30 Kaitlyn bed time
9:00 Samantha bed time
10:30 My bed time

The only days the schedule has some tweaking is Tuesdays and Wednesdays because Tuesdays we go to Dusty's parents for dinner and Wednesdays are late start days for Kaitlyn. 

I work on a 10 minute cleaning cycle.  I do 10 minutes of as much cleaning as I can without interruption in one room, then I take a 10 minute break to catch up on facebook, texts, words with friends or eat something.  I vary the days, every other day is laundry and the days inbetween are for dusting.  Our baseboards and toilets have never been cleaner and typically (as long as I stay on it every day) I can be done in less than 2 hours.  Which then leaves me time to sew, design or whatever I feel like.

Now, all I can hope is that she likes this schedule for a while, I could totally get used to 3 hour naps...