Day 3 Flats and Handwashing Challenge- Our Daily Schedule

It's day 3 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge, and everything has been going pretty smooth the last couple days. I am really starting to see that hand washing is really a great option if you don't have access to a washing machine. I have hung my flats on the line for a while now, and I love it! It usually is mostly sunny here, so they dry in no time!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have been watching 2 other children (on top of my own two kids). So right now I have a 3 year old (my daughter), a 2 1/2 year old little boy, a 1 year old (my son, who is in the cloth diapers), and an 11 month old little boy. That's 4 kids, 3 and under. Now I know a lot of people have this many children all their own, but for me this is much different than taking care of 2 little ones! So to help me keep everything from blowing up during the day, I try to stick to somewhat of a schedule. This has helped tremendously with the challenge. Since today was an open topic, I thought I would fill you in on our daily schedule. (These times are not exact. They are approximate. I don't have a timer that buzzes when its time to transition. I promise I'm not THAT OCD!)

7:00 am

I wake up. My son and daughter wake up anywhere between 7 and 8. I get dressed, make the bed, and then get the kids dressed, and change my son's nighttime diaper. I give them a bowl of cereal to share while I finish getting ready. Sometimes I will throw a load of laundry in the wash, and unload the dishwasher before the other two little ones arrive.

7:45-8:15am

The other two children get dropped off. When they arrive I let all the kids play in the living room and toy room while I make breakfast. That usually consists of either eggs and bacon, pancakes, fruit, or oatmeal. 

9-10am

The kids play in the living room or watch Sesame Street.

10- 11am 'ish

Everyone goes out back to play in the yard. At around 10:15 or 10:30, I put the baby down for his first nap, and go back outside to play with the older kids. 

11/11:30am

We all come back inside and I start making lunch while the kids watch PBS kids (or sometimes something on Netflix). We all eat lunch, then the kids play for a bit longer.

12pm

The 2 1/2 year old goes down for his nap. He will sleep for about 3 hours! (I know, it's AWESOME!)

12:30pm

The baby wakes from his nap between 12 and 12:30, then my son (1 year old) goes down for his nap, which is usually about 2 hours.

My son napping. His cover matched his blanket so I had to take a picture! ;)

This is when I get everything done that I need to do. Feed the baby, write a new blog post, finish laundry and/or dishes, and of  course hand wash the dirty diapers and hang them on the line. My daughter is usually pretty good at amusing herself. Play Dough, coloring books, or cartoons are always good choices to keep her entertained.

2:30-3:00pm

The older boys wake up from their naps. The baby goes down for his second nap. The 2 1/2 year old get picked up around 3pm.

-I fit my 30 minute workout in somewhere between here.-

4pm-5pm

The baby gets picked up anywhere between these times. Then, if it's Monday, I try to make a grocery store run. This last Monday I also had an ICAN meeting. So Mondays can get pretty busy!

5-6pm 'ish (obviously this depends on what other things are going on that day)

I make dinner, the kids play outside.

No pants, just cloth diaper... we ended up with a sandy bum from the sandbox.

8pm

My kids get ready for bed. My son does still nurse but he is usually good about not nursing to sleep. (Thank goodness!!) I put my son in his night time diaper. Which consists of a large muslin receiving blanket flat, kite folded, and one of my pieces of bamboo fleece folded in half (to make it 2 layers), and then his cover. This has worked really well so far. The first night (the night before day 1 of the challenge) I also put a pad folded small cotton flat in there. It was HUGE. A little overkill, but I was worried he would leak (we have had problems lately with him wetting a ton overnight). So, I got rid of the extra pad folded small flat. I also put him in fleece jammy pants over his diaper and cover. (I really should take a picture of this, I'm sure you're all wondering how huge all these layers are! HAHA!)

After the kids go to bed, my husband and I watch something on Netflix and end up going to bed around 9:30 or 10.

This schedule seems to be working for everyone for now. The kids have been behaving really well, too. I guess it's true that they like consistency!