ROUTINE-ing

Momma's Routine

     I never took any maternity classes... although I always dreamt I would.. but I would always hear all these mommies say that their child was on a routine. They would tell me how their baby since day one was on a routine and that because of this their child was so well-behaved. The first night I came home with Brianna, I remember bouncing around my room at 4:30am with Brianna in my arms singing the ants go marching 1 by 1 and thinking to myself  " HOW THE HECK DO THESE MOMS HAVE SUCH PERFECT BABIES?!!! BABIES ON A ROUTINE?!!!.. BRIANNA WILL NEVER BE ON A ROUTINE!! SHE WAKES UP EVERY 45 MINUTES AND I CANT TELL IF SHES HUNGRY, DIRTY, WANTS TO BE IN ARMS, ETC!!". Seriously, I would think of all these moms that would tell me that their routined trained child slept the night at 2 weeks and that before putting baby to sleep they would read to them, sing two songs, and lay baby down until the next morning. These moms would act like if their 2 week old was already changing their own diaper and burping themselves to sleep.  

     The fact that Brianna would never be a routine baby scared me since I had to go back to work so soon! I didn't know how  I was going to be able to get her semi-routined in time for me to go back to work. But as the weeks went by, I had one of those Einstein aha moments!!!!

BRIANNA DOES NOT NEED TO BE ON A ROUTINE.. I NEED TO BE ON A ROUTINE! BRIANNA WILL FOLLOW

So, here is our daily routine!!

1) When im about 10 minutes from home, I call hubby to see how far he is. This determines in what order my routine goes.

2) I get home and barely turn off the car; I run in and grab baby and give her 2 million kisses and hug her and squeeze her. It doesnt matter if shes sleeping because that 1 hour that she is sleeping is 1 hour less she sleeps at night, which is 1 less hour I sleep at night..SO THE CHILD MUST WAKE!!

3) I lay her back down and finish bringing stuff down from the car.

4) If she has 1 hour left to her next feeding, I quickly season the meat and prepare the salad for dinner.

5) I then take her upstairs to bath. Her bath lasts about 45 minutes. She LOVES the bath. I fill it for her like if it was a jacuzzi and I play with finger bath puppets and sing every song I know. She kicks and splashes in the water and doesnt cry not even when I wash her hair.

6) After bath, she gets a message on her legs and arms, baby oil on her head, and pajamas.

7) She comes downstairs and is usually asleep by the time she comes down. The bath knocks her out. I then go running/walking with hubby while my mother in law watches her ( IM BEYOND LUCKY TO HAVE MY SUEGRA)

8) Since I am out of shape (FAT)  my run/walk takes about 20 minutes.

9) After I make it through the front door and catch my breath,  I begin to cook while hubby does weights in the garage.

10) By the time we sit for dinner, Brianna is usually waking up. We put her on her little bouncer on top of the table and eat dinner while talking to her and making silly faces.

11) Hubby then takes baby and sits on couch with her while I wash dishes and make lunches and prepare bottles to take upstairs.

12) We go upstairs and shower while suegra watches Brianna ( AGAIN I AM SUPER LUCKY) 

13) Brianna usually gets another bottle and then falls asleep

Disclaimer: I am not a perfect mommy with a perfect routine baby. About once a week the routine goes out the window either because I get home too late or I have an event after work, etc.