Routines

I'm not the greatest at keeping up with routines. But lately Billy and I have made an honest effort to put some more structure into our home life because it helps calm the chaos. My favorite routine is the bedtime routine. We implemented one with J. when he first came to us, but over the months we became less dedicated to following it.

But now that the babies are older, we've lumped everyone together and made one combined family bedtime routine. I'm happy to say that we've been much better at sticking to it. The key, I think, is that we throw everyone in the tub together for bath time. This gets both parents involved from the beginning, and it's easier to follow the whole routine when both of us are working together. Baby Girl M. usually dominates in the tub, grabbing toys from both J. and D. Of course this is no different from playtime out side of the tub. If she sees something she wants, she takes it. The boys usually just watch helplessly and/or cry.

After the bath, everyone gets powdered and pj'd and J. puts his toys away. Then we do stories, devotion, and prayers. This part gets a little hectic because D. and M. are either grabbing at the books or fussing. But eventually we get it all done. Billy gets J. and D. settled in bed and I take M. out for a final feeding and then rock her to sleep.

What I love most about this bedtime routine is that it's one of the times when the sense that we are a family is the strongest. And I think that's why routines are so important. And that's why we're going to do our best to stay consistent with them.