Go with the flow

So, overall, we have a fairly well-adjusted two year old. Certainly, he has his share of toddler moments but overall he's a pretty happy little guy. Folks ask us all the time how he got to be such a happy guy. Other than the grace of God himself, we're convinced it's due to our strict adherence to a routine.



Every day, regardless of daycare or not, we go through this fairly typical cycle (with ranges as life tends to step in and throw off the best laid plans):
6:00 am - Alarm clock goes off and we groan about our lack of sleep. Don't worry, our dog is already curled up in her crate waiting on breakfast. Coffee and showers quickly follow after the grumbling.

6:30 - 7:30 am - Noah wakes up. On a good day, he wakes up laughing and jumping in his crib. On bad days...look out.

7:30 - 8:00 am - We get Noah off to daycare and the dog out for a walk. If we time the rest of the morning right this hits when both mommy and daddy have had showers and are ready to go for the day. Other days begin with a frantic rush out the door and one or more of us finishing up our morning routine after Noah gets to daycare.

8:00 - 8:45 am - Off to work for us! It's a cruel joke that parents have full time jobs raising their kids with lots of sleep deprivation and then they have to go off to paying jobs all day where they have to be career-focused, dynamic professionals. Of course, all we typically want to do is take a nap.

9:00 am - 3:00 pm (until 5:00 pm for Josh) - Work, work, work all the live long day. Lyndsie's office closes at 3 pm so, on a good day, she gets off of work and proceeds to get a few house chores done in preparation for Noah's impending arrival.

3:00 - 5:00 pm - Lyndsie pops over to daycare to pick up the little guy. He is normally tired, dirty, and happy as can be.

5:00 - 5:30 pm - Sometime in here daddy gets home from work. This is a rough estimate of the start to the evening as daddy's work is never the same day in and day out.

5:30 - 6:30 pm - Dinner time! If food isn't on the table by 5:30, the little guy begins melting down. That being said, he'll only sit at the table for only 10 minutes. Let me tell you, that is one of the best 10 minutes of the whole day. We have our prayer ("thank you, Jesus, amen") and get to catch up about our days. After 10 minutes of eating and talking as a family, Noah begins the chorus of, "all done" and it's off to the races again. We may convince him to get back to the table for another couple of minutes of dinner but it is more likely that he will want to sit on our laps.

6:30 - 7:00 pm - Sometime in here our dog becomes obnoxious about wanting a walk. We finally cave and go for a family walk! Now when you see us strolling around the avenues with our dog and baby in a stroller, you likely see a happy family. We are a happy family, of course, but some of the happiness during this public stroll is based all around bribing our son with Goldfish crackers or Horizon Snack Grahams. Not ashamed and they are delicious.

7:00 - 8:00 pm - Play time! By play time, I mean that we spend the next hour distracting Noah from his continuous attempts at watching Frozen by bringing out every toy possible. That kid is obsessed and does the cutest cover of Let It Go, like, ever.

8:00 - 8:30 pm - Bubbles! It's bath time. We alternate who gets to do bath time because neither one of us enjoys bath time it is such a blessing to spend time with our son that way. While one of us is taking care of bath time, the other is running all over the house cleaning up, beginning the diaper wash cycle, and doing dishes. This is a critical time in the success of the evening as the chores have to get done before we go to sleep and this saves precious time later.

8:30 - 9:00 pm - Bedtime routine! When Noah was younger, this would be the time Lyndsie would feed Noah one last time. It was such a special time for the two of them and I didn't get to participate often. Now, Noah is no longer breastfeeding so the bedtime routine has become much more inclusive. We read two books that Noah picks out and then proceed to the piggy back ride portion of the night. After this, it's goodnight kisses and off to sleep for the little guy.

9:00 - 11:00 pm - If all has gone well earlier in the night, chores get done quickly and there may be time for the Mrs. and I to sit down to watch a tv show or two. By the time we crash into bed at the end of the night, we are exhausted. It's a good thing we'll have a full night's sleep ahead of us...until Noah or the dog decides to wake us up for a late night/early morning event.