s/o SAHMs...daily routine?

[southerntransplant]

I'm thinking about leaving my job when we have our first but when I try to imagine what that would look like, it's pretty hazy. It sounds nice to me in theory, but I don't know if I'm being at all realistic about it.

If you SAH, what kinds of things do you do all day?

[bunch]

My kid is 9 mos old. Our day goes like this:
630 dd wakes, nurses and then plays while I drink coffee
8ish breakfast
830 nap
930ish up and out. We either go to playgroup, swim lessons, meet up with friends, etc
12 lunch
1230ish nap
230 up. In the afternoons we often go out again to run errands. If not we take the dog on a walk, swim in the pool and / or I do chores around the house while I either wear dd or she plays
5ish nap

Today we had swim lessons in the morning, met a friend at the mall for lunch, picked up a lawn mower part for h and then came home. Dd took a very short nap and is now cruising in her crib. In a few minutes we'll leave for our volunteer gig at a food exchange and will stay until 5. I think that SAHing is what you make it. I cannot handle sitting around at home (and really dd can't either) so we keep busy. Finding a MOMS group with lots of activities has been great. I have hobbies (sewing, etc) that I do while dd naps so thats makes me feel like I still have some sort of life outside dd.

[slug*bug]

Piggybacking on the OP's question: when do you shower? Do you have a routine of getting up and dressed/showered first thing? Take care of it later? (Skip days... )

[bunch]

I generally shower during dd's morning nap. I did not this morning, because we went swimming, so if she doesn't go back to sleep in the next few mins I'm going to bring her bath seat into the shower with me.

[Deleted]

We crunched the numbers, and we would have lost 2/3 of my salary to daycare. Plus I wanted to SAH, so here I am.

For me anyway, the day goes by surprising quickly. Most of the day is taken up by things I have to do every day (nurse, farm chores, walk baby+dog) or every other day (bathe baby, clean something, run an errand). DH gets home around 5ish, and I usually start dinner shortly thereafter while DH does his farm chores. DH works two jobs, a full-time desk job an hour away, plus he does all the "heavy lifting" around our farm. He gets up at 6am, gets home from work at 5, and does farm chores until I call him in for dinner. So I'm on "baby duty" all the time which is super fine with me. I like being at home with DS, but it's certainly not just sitting around nesting all day. A typical day for me looks like this:

6am: Wake up with DH, let out dog and chickens, feed chickens, go back to sleep
8am-ish: Wake up when DS wakes up, nurse
9am: Put DS down for a nap, rush to finish other farm chores
10am: DS wakes up from nap, do either tummy&naked time or give him a bath
12pm: Nurse
1pm: Lunch and nest
2-3pm: Run errands or clean something
4pm: Nurse
5pm: Walk dog w/ baby
6pm: Do dishes, make dinner, clean up from dinner. Sometimes he wants to nurse around 7ish, right in the middle of me making dinner
8pm: Watch some TV with DH
9:30pm: Nurse, then put baby to bed

I make sure to get out of the house often, like having lunch with my Dad (he's retired) or taking DS to the park down the street. If you end up having the same deal with your DH that I do with mine, doing ALL the housework takes up a lot of time. I do all the baby time, cooking, and cleaning. However, I like routine.

[Deleted]

May 22, 2012 12:49:54 GMT -5 slug*bug said:

Piggybacking on the OP's question: when do you shower? Do you have a routine of getting up and dressed/showered first thing? Take care of it later? (Skip days... )

I admit, I have a hard time fitting in a shower. His morning nap is almost never long enough for me to do all my farm chores and shower. He usually naps at some point in the afternoon in his Rock N' Play, but I don't drag that into the bathroom with me as I'm too afraid of him waking up mid-shower. So I skip days, and if it's been too many I ask DH to watch him in the evening while I shower.

[keh2oblue]

I did not start a SAHM until DD was 2, so we're a little different, but I HIGHLY recommend joining some sort of mom's group, MOPS, or other playgroup. SAH can be really isolating and drive you bonkers. It's nice to have friends to hang out with.

Luckily babies up to about a year nap a lot, so you don't have to fill as much time.

[Deleted]

When he was little, I just put him on the floor in the bathroom and showered. He liked the noise and the lights.

Once he got mobile, I started showering during his first nap.

Now that I work, I shower at night when he's sleeping. I just flat iron my hair in the morning (which can be done with him awake).

[Deleted]

I currently SAH with an almost 2 yo and and 4 yo. Today was actually a little unusual for us because DS1 usually goes to my FIL's house on Tues. mornings but he had
something going on today. But this will give you an idea:

7:30-8:30 - Kids wake up and I get them dressed for the day and fed.
8:30-9:00 - Play with their toys on their own while I clean up from breakfast, drink coffee, and play around on the Internet.
9:30-11:30 - Met a friend and her son at the playground and chatted while the kids played.
12:00 - 1:00 - Ate lunch, took the kids on a quick walk around the block with their trikes
1:15-2:30 - DS1's Little Gym class
3:00-4:00 - Set kids up with sidewalk chalk on the back patio while I watched from the kitchen and prepped dinner
4:30 - Early dinner, then I dropped kids off at my in-laws who will take them to DH's softball game. DH will bring them home around 7:30.

So now I am essentially off duty and relaxing I should add that DS1 goes to school M,W,F from 9-12 which makes things considerably easier. I use that time to take DS2 to activities like story hour at the library and his own Little Gym class.

Basically, I've tried to set up our schedule so that the boys each have some activity, whether it be school, a class, or a playdate, in the morning and again in the afternoon. My FIL and a hired babysitter help me juggle their schedules when they conflict.

[GailGoldie]

your daily routine would change as your baby would change... it's never the same - just when you think you have a good routine down- they throw it to hell

I'm in a job share position- so i'm 1/2 SAHM, 1/2 working mom, which is really nice (and really stressful).

I am glad i have a job to go to a few days a week - and glad i have the time home with them. If i had to become a full time sAHM it wouldn't be so easy on me- but wouldn't be horrible either.... I just would miss the adult interaction I get from my job, and using my brain the way i do at my job, etc.

With the kids- it's fun, it's stressful, it's adorable, it's horrible, it's easy, it's hard... all depends on the day.

It's not for everyone - so make sure you really think you are up to it before leaving your job - since getting back into the work force is so hard these days once you leave. Do you have any option to do part time once you have your baby? that way you could ease into it and really know?

[RobotLegs]

6:00/6:30am- wake up
6:30-8:30- nurse, have coffee, breakfast, watch news while H gets ready for work
9-11- nurse, nap, play, clean
11-2- usually out of the house doing something
2-5- more nursing, playing and napping
5-6- start getting ready for dinner or just winding down if needed
6:30- dinner for everyone
7/7:30- put baby to bed

It's all really variable, though. I usually shower at night after L is in bed.

[devonpow]

6 am - I get up, get ready/dressed, prep breakfast, etc. At some point DS2 gets up and I nurse hm, get him dressed, what have you

7 am -DS1 gets up, breakfast for him, get ready or school, pack up.

7:45 - I pack up DS1 and DS2 and we walk to school for drop off

8:30-12 - DS1 is in school. DS2 and I either run errands, go to a mom baby class 1 day a week, meet friends for coffee, or stay hone and clean. In a few weeks he can go to my gym daycare so we will do that. One morning a week we have a sitter for DS1 so I can o whatever.

12:15 - pick up DS1 at school, walk him home

1-3:30 - lunch, and hang out at home time (this was DS1's nap/rest time previously)

3:30-6 - afternoon activity. Soccer, Playgroup, a museum, swim, etc depending on the day

6:30 - dinner, bath, bed. DS1 is in bed at 7:30, DS2 by 9 (hopefully).

Our schedule is all DS1. DS2 just goes along for the ride....

[DarcyLongfellow]

I wake up when DH is getting ready for work, then I make his lunch, and he leaves around 8:30. DD usually wakes up while I'm in the kitchen, so I go get her. Then we putter around the house for an hour or so -- I unload the dishwasher, make the two of us breakfast, maybe throw a load of laundry in. Then I get the two of us ready for the day.

We're out the door by 10 most days. We have music class one cay a week, playgroup one day a week, she goes to Grandma's while I go to a moms club at our church one day a week, then the other two days we usually have activities with my moms club (I highly recommend momsclub.org). Unless one of us is sick, we always leave the house in the morning.

We're usually home for lunch around 1, then DD goes down for a nap around 2 and gets up around 5. That's my time -- I do housework and plan dinner, but I also watch TV, read, and play online.

When DD gets up, I'm usually making dinner. We often go outside to play before dinner too. DH gets home around 6:30, and we eat dinner, then DD plays with DH while I clean the kitchen, then we start the bedtime routine around 8 or so.

This will all have to shift a bit earlier next year because we'll have to leave the house by 8:15 for DD's preschool.

[ilikedonuts]

I have no set schedule. Her naps and bottles are usually around the same time every day, but that can change.

I just wing it. When she's older, I might make a more set schedule for us.

We have Little Gym once a week. Kindermusik once a week. We're probably starting swimming lessons next month as well.

[SusanBAnthony]

7- kids wake up, I sleep as late as they do, dh has left for work by then.

7:30 breakfast, 7:45' get dressed. I rarely shower first thing.

8 ds4 gets on school bus for preschool. Dd and I come back inside and make beds, clean up, etc. Sometimes I shower.

9-11 am, various activities or errands. Oce a week music class, once a week gymnastics, I will go to the gym, or go to target, etc.

Home by 11:30' prep lunch while dd plays, eat at 12 when ds gets home from school.

12:30-2: dd naps, ds has rest time in his room. I nest, read, clean up lunch, make any phone calls I need to take care of, etc.

Often we will go to the park in the afternoon, or walk downtown to the library, or go to a fiends house. Sometimes in the afternoon we just hang out at home, play in the yard.

Try to be home by 5 if not before to start dinner. Dh gets home by 5:30. Dinner by 6, clean up, hang out with the kids. We do bedtime at 7:30-8ish.

[SusanBAnthony]

For showering when they were babies I did it during their first morning nap, or more likely super quick while they were in the bouncy chair.

Now, I have freakish kids who don't marker on the walls the minute I step foot in the shower. Don't count on that, lol. But I can take a shower and leave the door open and dd will just wander in and out and talk to me and play. More often, though, I shower at the y while dd is in the child watch. I shower about every other day.

[Willis Jackson]

I shower in the morning before DH leaves for work. I also run 3x a week before he leaves.

We have an outing every morning after DD's nap- playground, errands, story time, indoor playspace, etc. DS goes to preschool, too, but the school year just ended. I try to make sure that DS gets a good chunk of exercise every day, preferably outdoors.

Then we go home for lunch and naps. After they wake up we go outside again and walk around the neighborhood, play in the backyard, DS rides his bike, etc. Then DH comes home and I go inside to make dinner.

I do most of my chores during DD's morning nap. DS loves to participate in whatever I'm doing so I give him dusting cloths, let him "wash" some dishes, etc. Or he just follows me around with an armful of matchbox cars and we chit chat, stop to read books and color, etc. I try to sit down and chill during the afternoon nap.

[drloretta]

It has evolved over time. When DD was tiny, I'd grab a shower in the morning when she had one of her naps, and would spend a lot of her other nap time doing stuff around the house. Then we got into a routine where she'd sleep on my chest every afternoon while I watched a movie.

We moved to a new area last summer, and things evolved again. When we weren't traveling back and forth in the car, I would take her outside once in the morning and once in the afternoon (pool, playground, etc.). She would take a 2-hour nap midday, and I would use that time to get stuff done around the house. When DH got home, he'd take her out to play while I made dinner. Then we'd take a walk after dinner, maybe get her a bath, and get her into bed. At that point I was showering before she got up, because she would sleep until 9 (I miss those days)

Now that we're settled and she's a full-on toddler, it's essentially:

DD is up around 7-8ish. She watches some PBS shows while I make her breakfast and we hang out. I take a shower while DH watches her most days
At some point we go out. Some days it's a playgroup, or a GTG, or swim class, or another activity I know about in the area. We're home in time for lunch, then we play until she's ready for her nap around 2
Once she's up (usually 4-5), she has a snack, we play outside if it's nice, or around the house if it's not, then wait for Daddy to come home. We have dinner, do her bath, watch her bedtime shows, and get her into bed

I pretty much let her set the schedule for a long time, until she was old enough to participate in toddler activities and I started structuring things so we wouldn't go crazy. She does NOT like to be inside all day any more.

[statlerwaldorf]

Our routine always changes. When she was younger, she would take two naps and when she was a little older we really had to stick to a routine or she would melt down. A normal day goes like this: DD wakes up around 9am and I get us both breakfast. After breakfast I get her dressed and we go to the gym. After the gym, we come home and I let her watch some tv while I take a shower. We have lunch. After lunch, we either play outside or go somewhere (library, children's museum, pool, park, mall, McDonald's playplace, etc.) Late afternoons, I cook dinner and clean the house. Next fall she will be going to preschool from 12-3. She used to take a nap in the afternoon, but she doesn't nap anymore. She went through a phase where she didn't do well without a routine, but now that's not too much of a problem. Sometimes we will take the whole day to travel to the city to do things like go to the zoo.