Stay at Home Mom Schedule

Routines. Very important for a stay at home mom schedule.

I have an almost 3 year old and a 6 month old, so our nighttime routine is a little chaotic, especially when I’m doing it by myself. My husband works night shift so 4 out of 7 nights he is not home for bedtime. This means I have to feed, bathe, get jammies on, read stories, cuddle, and put two kiddos to bed by myself! This is my stay at home mom schedule.

Now this is no easy task and some nights are worse than others. Some nights there are more tears (from all of us!), some nights there is yelling, and other nights there are smiles and hugs all around and no one screams.

Although, if I am being 100% honest, it’s usually more screams and tears during bedtime.

First off, my husband leaves for work in the early afternoons, usually right before nap time, so I get a small window of a break (if both kids corporate and nap together at the same time).

This is where I sit by myself and gather myself for the night time routine.

My toddler wakes up around 2:30-3:30pm from her nap and by then my 6 month old is already awake or just about to go to sleep depending on the day!

So my toddler wakes up and we play and dance to her favorite Bounce Patrol baby shark song or the finger family song (anyone else dread this song?!).

We play and hang out until she gets hungry which is usually around 4-5ish. So I make her something to eat, lately it has been either PB&J, noodles, hot dogs/sausage, or turkey and pretzels.

I get her situated with food and then sit down to give my baby her bottle or baby food (depending on the day).

Once they are done eating, its bath time. They get their baths around 5:30/6pm because my baby goes down early.

They get bathed together ever since I got my Summer Infant baby bath seat (review on that here). Getting them bathed together has made my routine so much easier (and saves water since I’m not running 2 baths).

I get them both bathed and dressed in jammies, its usually time for the baby to have her last bottle of the night. I get my toddler her “dessert” which is a small cookie and she sits on the floor while I feed the baby her bottle on the couch.

We watch a 30 min show and just relax before bedtime. I get the baby swaddled and placed in her DockATot (review on that here), while my toddler and I usually read a book or play with a quiet toy, like her babydoll (she likes to mimic me and pretend she’s a mama too).

Before I put either girls in the bedroom, I make sure the humidifier has water, as well as the diffuser. I add a few drops of whatever essential oils I choose that particular night (lately it’s been Young Livings Raven blend to help with congestion) to the diffuser so all I have to do is turn both machines on when they go to bed!

By then its around 6:30-7pm. I transfer the baby from the dockatot to her crib and she’s out for the night.

I turn on all the machines I have going in there: humidifier, essential oil diffuser, and 2 noise machines (plus their window AC unit that is always on).

Then my toddler and me get some one-on-one time. So we keep playing or reading or watching a show for 30 min and she gets put to bed around 7:30-8pm.

Now her routine for bed in itself is a whole production because she needs her stuffed animals, her water, hugs, kisses, then she messes up her blanket and I have to fix it. Then I close the door.

About 10 minutes later my toddler is screaming because she has “messed up” her blanket and “cant fix it”, so I have to go in there and tell her to stop messing with it and threaten that I’m not going to come in again to fix it.

This may sound harsh to some, but it has been 2 months of her pulling this crap. She wants me to come in and she wants the attention so she does this, so I am working on not going back in there and letting her cry/scream it out.

Although that is hard because my girls share a room so I usually go back in there when she’s screaming to tell her to stop because she will wake up her sister. Thankfully the baby is used to her sister screaming and she sleeps right through it all.

So about 30 minutes later both girls are asleep and I can enjoy the rest of my night in peace!

Here is a time-stamp version of our night:

• 2:30-3:30pm: kiddos up from naptime
• 3:30-4:30pm: play time
• 4:30-5:30pm: dinner
• 5:30-6pm: bath time & jammies
• 6pm: feed baby her bottle while toddler watches show
• 6:30pm: baby gets swaddled and bedtime
• 7pm: toddler & me time
• 7:30pm: toddler bedtime
• 8pm: kids are finally quiet and asleep
• 8:30pm: mama can relax