Our Nightly Routine

This picture sums up our chaotic evenings pretty well! 

Bed time around here isn't exactly an easy task! I have struggled for quite some time with having all the kids in bed (asleep) at a decent hour and leaving myself even twenty minutes to do what I need or regain my sanity.

The twins were perfect sleepers up until the day they climbed out of their crib. Then after Deacon was born they not only had to switch rooms, they moved upstairs. It was always the intention to have the upstairs be there bedroom/playroom... just much later, so the transition was hard on them and myself.

We usually have dinner around 5:00pm and right after is when the shenanigans began! Trying to clean up, get things put away and the kids in the bath and a million other things all at the same time - still makes my head spin. I've come to terms with being out numbered. So now instead of picking up right after dinner, I leave it so I can get all the kids cleaned up and in the bath. In the back of my mind it may drive me a little crazy knowing there is a mess in the other room (OCD) but I have managed to get over it.

Since we finally have a routine that's working fairly well I decided to share it. Hopefully this helps anyone else that may be struggling with the same thing. Especially twin mamas because any mother with multiplies is or will be familiar with (twin-engery) and their possibility of pulling all nighters if you let them! Here are some of our nightly rituals:

^^ Princeton is not a fan of baths, but always wants to be where the babes are.

I turn on pandora to "sleep little baby radio" and play it softly in the background during bath time. Like I've mentioned before, I use a tiny amount of Aveda's Stress-fix bath salts. It softens their skin and helps us all de-stress. After bath, I do a quick calming massage on each of them applying Babyganics moisturizer, then they get into their jammies.

I allow the girls to have a small sugar free snack in the evenings - sea salt popcorn usually is the snack of choice and Deacon has his milk right before bed. I find they all sleep much better with full tummies.  Then we all brush our teeth.

Around 7:30pm I put Deacon down. We snuggle up in his room and I rock or nurse him to sleep. I usually let the twins play in their room or watch a short movie on the iPad during this time. I'm not too fond of tv late at night since it can over stimulate them but it helps keep their attention while I'm in the bedroom with Deacon.

I seriously could stay like this forever. I miss the twins being babies. It flew by and with my attention always having to be split between the two of them it made it hard to just snuggle and soak it all in. So needless to say I'm milking every second of it this time around and so is Deacon, literally speaking. Haha Sometimes the girls come barreling in right when he's dosing off for the night no matter how many times I tell them not to. OR I hear a cat fight over some toy, bad enough I have to go break it up.

 It's still slightly a challenge juggling a baby with the girls just being toddlers, its hard to leave them in another room for very long with no adult supervision. -Thing One, Thing Two. Enough said.

Once Deacon is asleep, the girls and I snuggle up for story time in their bedroom. They both get to pick out a few books that we read together. I love this time with just us three and it helps them wind down for the night. We say our prayers and kiss and hug and its time for bed. (Although they still request a zillion more kisses, hugs, drinks of water, etc.) They also usually need to find about 10 different stuffed animals they just can't fall asleep without!

It's all been a work in progress. I separate the girls, with one on their couch and the other in bed and they get to switch every other night.  They still have their melt downs most nights about going to bed and if I don't separate them they simply will NOT go to sleep. I stay upstairs to make sure they stay in bed. This is when I usually make time to blog, answer emails, pay bills etc. waiting for them to fall asleep. Even with my best efforts, most nights they just end up right back in bed together.

I finally make it back downstairs to clean up any messes and the trails of toys through out the house, wash my face, then it's off to dreamland. For us all. My best advice for anyone else struggling to get their littles down at night is pick a routine that works best for you and just be consistent.

xo
-Holly