Routine Details AM

 Here are the details of our morning routine. I have three kids 3 years old and under so my motto is "Keep it Simple"! 

Breakfast

It's the most important meal of the day, or so the experts say. I've never been one to get up hours before my kids so breakfast at our house used to be a bit chaotic. That was before I learned that we all have a more enjoyable morning when breakfast is prepped and on the table for our boys before they come downstairs. So this is what usually happens, I hear the first peep come out of a waking child's mouth and I run downstairs and start the breakfast prep. By the time I'm done they've had some time to play in their room and I tell my hubbs that I'm ready. He rolls out of bed and retrieves our children and we get on with the morning without weeping and gnashing of teeth (usually anyways).

Now onto our menu, I like to have 2 or 3 easy go-to meals for breakfast and lunch-- things that don't take a whole lot of effort. When we get tired of eating these things I just pick something else to put in the rotation. Right now eggs are a HUGE staple in our house. We eat eggs almost every morning (unless you're my husband, in which case all you eat is coffee). I usually just scramble them in some butter with salt and pepper, cut up a piece of fruit, maybe throw a piece of toast in there. If we're not eating eggs I usually fix baked oatmeal. There's a great recipe over at Stacy Makes Cents. The only trick with the oatmeal is that I have to get up in time to pop it in the oven before the boys wake up...so we usually eat eggs.

Prayer

I just like to sit my boys down on my lap and start the day with a prayer. Its nothing fancy or long. I just thank God for the day, pray for each of them, for Daddy, and for my own strength, wisdom, and endurance (you know I need it!).

Reading

Since my boys are already seated around me I use this time to read books. We start out with the bible story of the week and move on to our library books and any other books that they request. Some days we get through five books, some days they can only sit through one or two stories.

Room Time

I got this idea from On Becoming Babywise: Book II (Parenting Your Pretoddler Five to Twelve Months). This is 30-45 minutes where my kids play independently. It's supposed to be really good for them because it helps them to develop their creativity and learn to entertain themselves. They love it and so do I!

My two older boys share a room so one of them spends his room time in our guest bedroom. I play music and lay out a few toys for them and they play happily until I come and get them. While they are playing, I get to take a shower or get work done around the house. Yeah!

We started this process when they were 5 or 6 months old. We started with five or ten minutes and gradually week by week worked our way up. I put them in their crib or our pack-n-play and let them go to town. When our kids are between 18 months old and two years old they usually graduate to room time ( in a baby-proofed room with a baby gate).  If you think you'd like to try room time and your kids are older, I'd still start out with 5 or 10 minutes: maybe add a timer and tell them that you'll be back when the timer goes off. At first it may be tough. They may cry through the whole 5 minutes because they think you're abandoning them, but by the end of the week they'll realize you're coming back in 5 minutes and be freed up to play.

AM Snack

I usually give my boys a small apple or cut up a large one for them to share. The thing I've realized about snacks is that if they're too big my boys won't eat their meals. Also, if I get one really well eaten meal in each of them everyday I'm doing well. They just don't eat tons.

Morning Activity

Most days we just take a walk around the neighborhood and go to the playground. Back when I only had one baby, this was my workout time, but now my boys like to walk instead of ride in the stroller--so we move at a snail's pace. On rainy days we paint, play in the rain, cook, or have cleaning parties. If I need to run out to the grocery store this is when we jump in the car and go.

There you have it! This is our morning routine in a nutshell. If you have questions or even suggestions, feel free to comment or contact me. I'll be posting the details of our afternoon routine shortly, so keep an eye out for it!