Friday, January 21, 2011

Just Call Me. . .The Scheduler!


I admit it. I'm a huge scheduler. I may even be addicted to schedules. It's an addiction I wish I had discovered earlier in life. I could have been so much more productive. I'm a total believer in the schedule. You would not believe the change it brought over our youngest boy. He is so much happier now. And, now that he sticks to it all by himself, life is wonderful.

Here's how my boys scheduled day goes:

The Twins:

  • 10:00- Wake up and Eat Breakfast
  • 12:30- Snack time (though I'm not always vigilant with that one)
  • Between 1:30 and 2:00- lunch
  • 3:00- Nap Time
  • 6:00- Wake Up and Snack
  • 7:00- Dinner and Dessert
  • 8:00- Bath Time
  • 10:00- Bedtime

The Baby:

  • 10:00- Wake Up and Eat Breakfast
  • 12:30- Nap Time
  • 2:00- Wake Up and Eat Lunch
  • 3:00- Bath Time (he loves baths so if we're having a hard day in the tub he goes)
  • 4:00- Nap Time
  • 6:00- Wake up and Have a Bottle
  • 8:00- Eat Dinner
  • 10:00- Bottle and Bed

Seriously love our boys' schedules. Once I put the baby down at 4:00 I have two hours all to myself. It's wonderful.

Along with the boys schedules I create many other schedules. I give myself a schedule for eating. It helps me stay on my diet. I just give myself certain times when I can have certain snacks. I've also started a work out schedule. I work out on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. So far I can only find time at night so I just do muscle building and stretching. I'd like to squeeze in some form of aerobics eventually.

I have a house cleaning schedule too. On Monday's and Wednesdays I do laundry. On Tuesday's I vacuum the floors upstairs and try to get another upstairs cleaning project done- like dust or clean the bathroom. I usually call it good if I can at least get the vacuuming done. On Thursdays I vacuum downstairs and clean up the play room- it's usually been trashed by the boys all week. Then I try to find a cleaning project to do downstairs as well. Friday is usually my day off, but I also use it as a catch up day. At the end of the month, on top of vacuuming, I try to get all the floors mopped. Though mopping the kitchen floor usually happens daily thanks to my children's messes. Of course, I also have to figure in those daily chores like doing the dishes, making the beds and picking up the boys toys upstairs. If I fall behind on those chores I usually regret it.

I started figuring in time to sit down and teach my kids some things. It's an effort to do many things. Get them to pay for a certain amount of time; teach them to do as I do with dancing or singing; start teaching them shapes, colors and to color- not just eat the crayons; and make sure I read to them regularly. I started it up because I wanted to get them used to how nursery works at church. But it's been good because I'm terrible at reading to them every night and at sitting down to teach them new things. I got the brilliant idea that if I schedule in the time I'd actually do it. So on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's I sit down with the boys for an hour or so and have lessons- I can't think of a better name for it. We usually do it around the baby's first nap time. It has been so fun to watch them grow!

Yes I'm a crazy schedule lady, but scheduling has helped me accomplish so many things. I even started to use scheduling to start saying family prayers and scripture reading. It's amazing how scheduling it in makes mountains look like mole hills for me. I really wish I had discovered this a long time ago. I just need to try and make things orderly and predictable so that life can become less chaotic and more fulfilled.

Just one more thing. With being broke I'm trying to find some ways to earn some money. I can take some nice photos and I also make some pretty cute photo cards. I'm still trying to hammer out some good prices, but I won't charge much. With the photo cards I can totally do long distance too. Just let me know if you're interested or if anyone you know is.



Go here to see some examples

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