I work Monday-Thursday 9-5. Dh gets home around 4:45 (my young kids are picked up from school by family and stay with them until Dh arrives). I get home around 5:30 at the earliest, often closer to 5:45.
Dh usually has dinner started or is starting when I get in. Ds (16) does dishwasher emptying after school and takes out dogs.
I play with the kids while Dh cooks, or I put away some laundry if they're playing nicely without me.
One of us fills dishwasher and cleans up from dinner. No one is really assigned the task, just someone starts doing it.
Dh starts bath while I prepare they're beds/bedroom for bed (blankets in proper place, pjs out etc). Read a story after bath while getting pjs on.
After kids bedtime we just chill really. If anything I'll do a load of laundry or clean the kitchen more thoroughly. I try to do heavier cleaning in weekends.
Since I'm off Friday's we food shop that day or run other types of errands, and go to an indoor play place. This will become the park when the weather improves.
- I pick up DS and get his dinner started -DH arrives a few minutes later (we work the same hours but he works farther away) and starts dinner -we eat dinner together and then play with ds -we give him a bath & I put him down to bed -each night he loads the dishwasher and I clean the counters and one of us makes DSs lunch for the next day -we clean 1-2 rooms per night. I usually dust and DH takes care of floors/toilets.
I do daycare pickup 3 days a week. Grandparents do pickup the other 2 days.
Mom cooks dinner Monday & Wednesday. Msniq cooks Tuesday. The other two nights are either leftovers, takeout, or an easy restaurant. I am trying to squeeze in one weeknight of cooking every other week, but it's hard. I barely cook on weekends right now either.
We share cleaning dishes and baby mess, but msniq probably does more of both. I brush his teeth.
On bath nights (2 weekdays) msniq gets things started while I do a little kitchen/dining cleaning & wait for the milk to warm up, then I join her. At this age we let him splish splash around and give ourselves a little break instead of trying to set a speed record. Msniq dries him off while I empty the baby bathtub, put away toys, etc. After that it's bedtime which we share.
On non-bath nights, Msniq starts bedtime and I stay downstairs to do a little more cleaning/laundry while the milk warms up. We share the rest of bedtime activities, then whoever's not putting him to sleep scoots out early to either start some chore early or drink, depending on how the day went.
We use cloth diapers. I do about 95% of the diaper rinsing, and most of the diaper laundry.
Other misc regular chores are taking out the trash/recycling/yard waste (about even?), cleaning the cat litter boxes (supposed to be mostly me, but I've been falling down on that one).
I keep offering to make two nights each week solo parenting nights. Though I guess to really keep score I should take one night solo every week and she should take one night every other week. Right now she does Tuesday and Saturday morning and solo (well after this weekend it will be every other Saturday).
I definitely am the default parent to do it all since DH is at school 2 nights a week.
But on nights he is home I generally make dinner/clean up and DH will jump right in with playing with the kids, taking them + the dog for a walk. We switch up who does baths just depending on what else we have going on. Then we both help with teeth brushing, pj's and stories.
We do the bath and bed prep together but H feeds her and puts her down on his own when he isn't gone for work. That gives him one on one time with her. I do overnight and morning duty.
I usually pick up DS from daycare. I'll get his dinner ready and usually DH gets home around DS's dinner time. We alternate who actually helps feed DS (he can feed himself but needs help sometimes). If he needs a bath, DH gives the bath. DH usually changes him and gets him in his pjs. I recently stopped nursing at night, so I'll read a book or two then DH takes him from me and puts him down in his crib.
The joint bedtime will change once DD arrives this summer but it's nice that we do it together.
Post by thebreakfastclub on Mar 1, 2015 19:08:16 GMT -5
I do pickup and we get home at similar times. It is mostly divide and conquer for all tasks. DS only wants me to give him a bath right now so I am stuck there. I bail out early 2 nights a week to work out. That is a perk of just one kid.