Routine

I am definitely a person who thrives when things are very orderly and organized. I love schedules and routine very much and I think Claire likes them too (she kind of has to). When Claire was very little she was extremely unpredictable and it made it very hard for me because I could never establish a routine and therefore felt my life was complete and utter chaos. Now that Claire is getting a bit older she is getting to be much more predictable and this has helped me to establish a daily routine. My routine goes something like this:
6:15am - Wake up to my husbands' alarm and listen to him push snooze.
6:20am - Wake up to my husbands' alarm again and hope he doesn't push snooze again... he does
6:30am - Wake up to my husband finally getting out of bed and rustling through his drawers for his work clothes.
6:31am - Roll over and fall back to sleep.
7:45am - Wake up and listen for Claire
7:50am - Hear Claire stirring but leave her for a bit while I make my bed and brush my teeth, just in case she is not quite awake yet.
8:00am - Go in and get Claire (one of my most favourite parts of the day because I get to give Claire a great big hug and kiss because even through I've been sleeping for most of the time we've been apart I've still somehow missed her).
8:01am - Go and open the blinds) this is another one of my favourite parts of the day because as I open the blinds she is shocked by how bright it is and burrows into my shoulder! It doesn't matter if she means to cuddle with me or not, I love it!)
8:02am - Change Claire's diaper, feed her and give her a bath.
8:30am - Clean up Claire's bath (which is a whale of a tub! Best baby bath ever!) and go downstairs.
8:31am - Put Claire in her highchair and get her solid foods breakfast ready (this is also when I may run around the house and do one or two other things that I remembered I forgot to do while I was falling asleep the night before, like unloading the forgotten laundry from the dryer or quickly cleaning my cat Sophie's litter box).
8:35am - Feed Claire.

8:45am - Clean up after feeding Claire and put her in her jolly jumper.

8:48am - Put in my Zumba DVD and try to work up a sweat as fast as I can before Claire wants to come out of her jolly jumper. 

9:05am (or whenever Claire gets sick of jumping) - Get Claire out of her jolly jumper and play with her until she starts yawning and rubbing her eyes.

10:00am (or whenever Claire starts yawning and rubbing her eyes) - Read Claire a story, sing her a song and put her down for her nap.

10:05am - Get ready for the day (this may or may not include having a shower depending on how much of a sweat I worked up in the afore mentioned Zumba workout and also the state of my hair).

10:30am - Go downstairs, make a cup of tea and putter until Claire wakes up.

12:00pm - Hear Claire waking up.

12:01pm - Go get Claire and ask her if she had a good nap (I always do this. I'm not sure why because she never answers but I still always want to know.)

12:02pm - Feed and change Claire and then load her up in her car seat and go out somewhere fun (or not so fun, but mostly somewhere fun).

2:00pm - Come home, read Claire a story, sing her a song and put her down for her next nap.

2:05pm - Putter.

3:00pm - Hear Claire waking up.

3:01pm - Go get Claire and ask her if she had a good nap (again).

3:02pm - Feed and change Claire and then entertain her until Matt gets home.

4:30pm - Matt comes home! (Claire and I are equally excited by this because I get a break and she gets to play with one of her most favourite people!)

4:31pm - I kiss Matt (because isn't that what good wives do?) and start to make supper (another things good wives do. Wow I must be a great wife!)

5:00pm - Matt puts Claire down for her last nap of the day (Matt's songs are the best and are usually either made up or Christmas songs because they are the only ones he knows the lyrics to. If the monitor is on I will usually listen in because it is just that awesome!) and we eat supper.

5:30pm - Clean up supper and wait for Claire to wake up so that we can do whatever it is we have planned for that evening.

6:00pm - Hear Claire waking up.

6:01pm - Go get Claire and ask her if she had a good nap. 

6:02pm - Feed and change Claire (this time usually Matt does the changing part).

6:15pm - Go and do whatever we have planned.

8:00pm - Come home, Matt puts Claire in her PJs and I close the blinds and get ready to feed her.

8:02pm - Feed Claire (sometimes Claire will still fall asleep while I'm feeding her and won't wake up even when I'm burping her. If this happens I will take this time to cuddle with her and pretend she is still just a really little baby. She's just growing up so fast!)

8:20pm - Put on Claire's sleep sack, read her I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak and put her in her crib.

8:30pm - Relax with Matt.

10:00pm - Go to bed (or lie awake thinking about all the things that I forgot to do that I should do the next morning when Claire is waiting in her highchair for breakfast).