Our 3-month routine!

My baby reaches a significant milestone this week: the big 1/4 of a year old. Our precious 3 months have been so wonderful! Like any good relationship, we've had our up and downs. Happily I can say more good than bad. I will admit I did have a day when I spent probably a full hour on the phone with my fiance at work, ugly crying about being overwhelmed. Since that fateful day, I've had one large driving thought. 

WE MUST HAVE A ROUTINE, WE MUST, WE MUST.

 I read up on all the milestones she should achieve around the three month mark and decided which ones were most important to me. Out of these I decided which ones we were going to be apart of our daily routine, and also decided what was important for me. For me I decided I needed at least two hours a day to work on school and I wanted to be able to run three days a week (mostly so I didn't have an ugly cry moment again). As a mother, you can pick anything of importance to you that you NEED to be able to do to maintain sanity. This may include things like cooking dinner each night, having 30 minutes of "you time" in the evening, or even as simple as showering each day before 4 o'clock in the afternoon (which is sadly harder than it should be some days).  From here we started small. Since my baby was around 5 weeks old when I started this routine, I didn't want anything complicated. I also moulded it around what we were basically already doing. Now that she is awake a little longer it has changed some. 

 Our daily routine TYPICALLY (we do have days that are completely off course, and that's okay) looks something like this: 

8:30 I get out of bed!

Since we are now trying to move Avah's bedtime earlier this tends to happen around 7:45. Avah normally wakes up quite happy. She babbles and lets me know she's awake. I get up and unravel her from her swaddle. I open the blinds and make it day time in her room. I typically turn her mobile on to extend some time out of her. She coo's and kicks while I get dress, and do some minor grooming. I also start the coffee pot (KEY STEP!), and let my dogs outside to pee.  

8:45 We start our day!

Avah will either cry to let me know she's ready or I pick her up. I change her bum, change her out of her jammies and feed her. I typically will try to sneak my breakfast in at this point. I find it easiest if she is really enjoying kicking around watching her mobile, I just keep winding it while I eat and we talk. 

9:00 She plays!

We come out to the living room. This is probably when Avah is the happiest during the day. I lay her on her play mat and she kicks and coo's and yell's and smiles at herself in the mirror, all while I do small household tasks like starting laundry, paying bills, responding to emails, or tidying my counters. 

10:00 She naps!

Avah plays on her mat independently until she is ready for some snuggles. She tends to play for about 30-40 minutes just hammering away on her little piano with her feet. She lets me knows she wants to snuggle by fussing but not quite crying (if i ignore her a little to long it tends to escalate quickly to a small meltdown). We sit and snuggle for a bit then start her nap routine (Check back for my post on our nap/bedtime routine!). She is normally down between 9:30 10:00 depending on when we get out of bed. 

12:00 She gets up! 

When Avah gets up she always gets her diaper changed and she typically eats. If it's during the week my fiance gets home and he spends time with her while we eat. On weekends this time does vary more. 

12:30 We play!

My fiance generally goes back to work during this time. I like to vary what we are doing during this time day to day. Sometimes we sit and talk on the couch and talk, other times we focus on tummy time and practicing rolling over on the floor in her room. 

2:00 She naps!

Our afternoon nap is the nap we have struggled with for  most of the time. It can start anywhere between 1:00 and 3:30 and she can sleep anywhere from 40 minutes to 3 hours (I wake her up at the three hour mark to save our bedtime routine). But generally once she does go down for her nap this is when I work on my school work. 

4:00 She gets up!

Avah gets up. We diaper and feed. then she is really ready to rock. We typically play quite a bit. We dance and talk and do tummy time. Or we watch a movie and sit focusing on different thing. Daddy gets home at 4:30ish. Once he gets home he takes over and I go for a run if I want. I am blessed that we share most of the responsibilities in our home so I don't always feel obligated to make dinner or be doing specific things. 

6:30 Supper!

Typically we eat dinner around this time. Earlier if we are going out for groceries on a Friday or later if it's a lazy day. We might go out for a visit or do running around. We also may be found with both of us working on school work after dinner. 

**5:00-6:00 Possible Nap.**

Depending on our day Avah may or may not have a 20-45 minute nap. It all depends on our day. If she does nap it tends to be in her chair or swing, while we make/eat supper. 

8:00 Bathtime!

Bath time is a favorite of Avah's. She just loves to kick around in the warm water. And this is the start of our bed time routine. As I said before we are trying to adjust Avah to our ideal bedtime of 8:00. More and more often she is going down about 8:30-9:00. But it can be anywhere between 8:30 and 11:00 depending on how awake and ready to play she is. 

9:00 Bedtime for Avah!

Avah gets an extended version of our nap routine but it's always the same. She will fight sleeping but not usually very long. 

11:00 Bedtime for Mommy!

If Avah went down at 9:00 I generally wake her up for a dream feed before I go to bed. I try to stir her minimally, keep her as warm as possible, and feed her till she is either done or falls back asleep. After she goes down she is down for the night. I know right?? I'm super lucky for that, but I do attribute most of my success to not only having a pretty chill baby but also we had a game plan from the start.

If Avah goes down late..er. but not really late She will be up around 6:30. I typically change her and feed her and snuggle her back into bed like we did over night before. If she does get up around six we generally have a later start to the day since we sleep in a little. 

This routine works great for us. I feel like Avah likes it too. She very rarely cries because once she fusses I can just anticipate her needs better. There are some days when this goes out the door, but we still have an okay day.