Our Scheduled Lives

I've always delighted in being a little go-by-the-seat-of-my-pants in how I plan my days.  When I can, I like to let inspiration and serendipity take the reins in general.  However, I'm finding that with parenthood, I am super structured and regimented. 

7:10am Alma gets out of bed (because it's bunny wake up time), uses the bathroom, gets dressed and then wakes and hangs out with Joshua and me for a bit
7:30 James is wake and done playing with the books and toys I hide in his crib activity holder; we all go down for breakfast as a family
8:15 Alma and Joshua leave for school and work; I nurse James while I write a list of things to get done for work and then he plays while I clean up from breakfast
9:30 James goes down for his nap, I put the necessary ingredients in the bread maker for a loaf of honey whole wheat, do laundry (usually the cloth diapers), empty the cat litter, take out the recycling, run the dishwasher, take a shower
10:15 I sit down at the computer to read the news, blogs and email
10:30 Begin my Penn work
11:25 James wakes up from his nap and we leave the house to pick up Alma from school
11:55 James and I pick up Alma from school
12:30pm arrive home and eat lunch
1:30 go up for Alma's naptime; nurse James
2:00 leave Alma's room; James and I play
2:45 put James down for his afternoon nap
3:00 start dinner (usually put rice in the rice maker, put some beans on the stove and cut up veggies) and finish up the housework started in the morning (empty dishwasher, move laundry, etc.)
3:30 Alma comes down from her nap and we cuddle, chat and read a book together
4:00 James wakes from his nap; we get bundled up and head out for a walk
5:00 come home from our walk; the kids play while I finish prepping dinner
5:30 Joshua comes home and we eat dinner
6:15 the kids dance and act out The Nutcracker or some Disney record or CD (i.e. Cinderella, Snow White)
6:30 head upstairs for bath time andpajamas
6:50 play in James room on the futon mattress that is on the floor (Alma's favorite: wrestling)
7:00 I put James to bed while Joshua reads to Alma; I hop on the computer to work
7:30 Alma goes to sleep; Joshua hops on his laptop to do a little work and watch a movie through Netflix
8:30 I head to the gym or up to my attic sewing room
9:30 Joshua and I watch something on Netflix together (recently: old Workaholics episodes)
10:00 I head to bed to read before falling asleep; Joshua goes out to the garage to work out
11:30pm Joshua heads to bed
4:30am James wakes up and I nurse him back to sleep

Of course, this schedule deviates slightly: Joshua's work schedule often includes night meetings, James has swimming on Tuesday mornings (he naps in the car outside of Alma's school), I play racquetball at 8pm on Thursdays, some nights Joshua and I just sit around talking after the kids go to bed, etc....  However, meals and naptimes are non-negotiable and the kids seem to love the structure.  I know I do because I can count on that time to tend to the house and work.

It will be interesting to see how this schedule evolves.  It will be fun to show this to Alma and James when they are older, especially if they become parents themselves.