A Day In the Life Of

I want to start this post with

G O T E X A S R A N G E R S!!!!!

My “back up” MLB team is the Astros (raised in burbs of Houston) and it’s always fun with interstate rivals, and this series is late in the season making it an important one and we OWNED it!

I digress. A fellow twin mama asked me recently about the Nugs’ schedule back when they were 12 months old. It was a challenge to think back a YEAR ago and recall. I thought maybe I had a blog post on it but lo and behold, I did not.

I’ve done well to document the boys’ growth and progression but only randomly have I done a routine/schedule type post. I can assume it was because I worked all day long M-F and the nanny spent all that time with them. I provided her a nap and eating schedule but all the in between time was up to her. Not anymore!

So a day in the life of The Nuggets looks like:

6:30/7:00 a. Wake up. Luckily, the boys are both still sleeping really well. We have an occasional 4 am wake up, but they’ll just talk a little while and go back to sleep. On those mornings they usually sleep even later (and its amazing when it falls on a Sat/Sun). We change diapers, get dressed and head out for milk and breakfast.

7:30/8:00 a. Boys will usually drink a cup of milk and play while I am getting breakfast ready. We load up into high hairs to eat. Breakfast (this morning) consists of scrambled eggs w/cheese, toast and pineapples. Breakfasts include a protein (yogurt, nut butters, eggs, etc) whole grain carbs (cereal, toast, granola, waffle, oatmeal, etc) and a fruit (any/all of them). If there is one meal they consistently eat well, it’s breakfast. If they won’t eat breakfast, there is usually something wrong.

8:30/9:00 a. If I have any errands to run, this is when we load up and get out of the house. Or head to the park for a run and playground time. If we aren’t leaving the house, they’ll play inside and/or outside depending on the weather. Thank the Lord the 100°+ days are over for this summer.

10:00-10:30 a. Snack time. Depending on their moods and if we’re home, this is also when we will watch about 20-30 minutes of Baby First TV or Sprout. Snack today was water, plus raisins and Gorilla crunch. Snack can consist of Larabars, Annie’s crackers, Fig bars, Pirates booty, fresh fruit, cheese stick, raisin box, etc. I really try to keep them to whole wheat and/or whole food snacks but we’ve been known to eat graham crackers too and if Daddy is in charge, they’re probably eating Fritos and bean dip.

10:30-11:30 a. Play time. Free play is usually over for the morning. They both need to be interacted with for this play time. We will color, play with dominos, practice shapes and colors, work on a craft (this is new now that they’ve stopped trying to eat everything) or just chase each other around the house.

11:30-11:45 a. Get lunch ready. This is usually a challenging time because they want my attention and they’re getting tired. I’m trying to prepare lunch with two crazy nuggets at my feet. This is when fights break out and a lot of whining happens. I’ll put them on the counter to watch if it’s safe enough or I turned the TV back on for a few minutes when it’s really bad.

11:45-12:15 p. Lunch. Who knows if they’ll eat. I never know. Lunch today was half a cup of milk with a jelly and almond butter sandwich, 1/2 mini baby bell cheese, wheat thins and sliced peaches. I’ve been working on trying to get their nap pushed back to 1:00 but we haven’t been too successful. Some days they barely make noon and how tired they are really effects how they eat.

12:15-12:30 p. Change diapers, snuggle a minute (to try to keep them awake) and down for a nap. They usually fall asleep in about 5-10 minutes.

12:30-2/3:00 p. Nap!! It varies from 1.5-3 hours and usually depends on their level of activity that morning and how they slept the night before. Rarely is it any less though. I think all moms are totally different on the subject of sleeping but a degree of sleep training/CIO was used with the Nuggets and I truly believe they are better sleepers (and happier/healthier) tots because of it. It’s what worked for us!

2:45 p. Wake up (today), change diapers.

3:00 p. Snack. Pretty much the type of menu as the AM snack. In the afternoon though they are more tolerable to the blender, so we do smoothies too (any fruit combo with spinach and Greek yogurt).

3:00-5:00 p. Anything goes. Not really but kinda. They are always in a great mood immediately after nap. Unless the Amazon delivery rings the doorbell (I might have an online shopping problem…) I digress, this timeframe also seems like they want more individual play time. This is super important. I find the only way they do it well, is in separate rooms or that’s kind of how they migrate. That’s hard because I cannot see both of them at the same time, so I find myself going back and forth to each room. This, in turn eventually, leads to one of them following me to the other and ending the solo play.

We always love outside time too.

Depending on the meal, I start cooking dinner around 3:30. Sounds crazy but with 84736 interruptions, I figured out if I didn’t start uber early, I wasn’t ready anywhere near 5ish.

5/5:30-6:00 p. Dinner. Dinner is ALWAYS a challenge. They must hate this meal. Most of the time I attempt to give them whatever we are having for dinner. Last night was ham, turkey and cheese pinwheels and they devoured them. Tonight, I made a sundried tomato, spinach and sausage pasta and that was a resounding no go. Since they don’t eat most pasta (gah), I offered them baked mini meatballs instead. Corbin ate all of his and I thought Weston had until I got him down and found about 5 of them hidden behind his back. They also had Dr. Prayers Spinach bites and a veggie cookie for dessert.

I try to offer a vegetable at dinner as well but, unless it’s carrots, it must be hidden. I still blend up green beans and frozen mixed veggies and hide it in applesauce. I’m not above trying anything to get some green stuff in their diets. I’ve “hidden” broccoli under the cheese of their pizzas too. I try really hard not to get frustrated but I’ll admit, its super difficult.

5/6:00 p. Daddy arrives home from work!

6:00-7:00/7:30 p. Play time with Daddy. Inside or out, the boys eat up their time with Daddy. Depending on what time the The Hubs arrived home, this is also the time when we will try and sit down and eat. We try to make it the same time the Nugs are eating if traffic treats him well.

7/7:30-8:00 p. Bath time and bed time routine. We try to watch their cues and consider what time they were up from nap, will drive their bedtime, it is rarely ever past 8 pm. The routine every night is; bath tub, brush teeth, get dressed, read stories, prayers, kisses and then lights out. They will usually talk to each other for a bit, roll around trying to get comfy and then fall asleep. This process is anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes.

We battled with that for a little while and we started putting them to bed later and later but they still took their time before falling asleep, even with the much later bedtime. They would also wake less rested. They do not cry but just need sometime to wind down.

The Hubs and I will then work on our kitchen remodel….oh wait, that’s wishful thinking. We will eat if we didn’t get a chance to earlier or watch baseball or catch up on bills/blogs/chores/etc. Bed time for either of us is around 10-11ish. Then we wake up and do it all over again and love every minute of it.

So that’s what our schedule looks like at 23 months.

Xoxo