Multiples and More is a community of families of twins, triplets, quads, and more. Every week, they post a question for their readers to answer. (This is the place that makes me feel less like a freak when I read that other MoMs, moms of multiples, have the same issues we do!)
It was really funny actually, when I saw what this week's question was. It was only a few minutes after I had instant messaged someone that I couldn't do something because it was right in the middle of nap time. I even wrote to her that "nap time is sacred!" You see, around here things are fairly scheduled and have been from the moment we brought the boys home from the hospital. When you are blessed with more than one child at a time (and I imagine if you have several children of various ages), it is important to have some sort of schedule so that the parental units (i.e. Isaac and myself) can actually do something more than focus on the babies' demands. Well there's that and I am selfish enough to want to pee and eat on a regular basis!
How old are your kids now? Have you always followed a rigid schedule?
The boys are now nearly 28 months old actual (gasp!) and 25 months adjusted. Shawn and Jason were just over three months old when they were released from the hospital, so that meant we started out from day one with the boys on a schedule. I think the schedule is the one thing that made life manageable, especially in the early days.
Do you think that your schedule is conducive to healthy sleep patterns in your kids?
I am going to take this opportunity to brag a little about the boys and how they sleep. Let me just say that they are MASTER sleepers and rarely get up during the night unless there is an illness or something out of the ordinary. I have to believe that this luck is directly related to the schedule they have been on.
Do people give you a lot of flack for being a strict scheduler? How do you respond?
I am not obsessive about the schedule, but I will stick to it for the most part. I will not allow it to prevent us from doing something fun as a family for instance, but I do tend to ensure that the schedule is intact if the outing doesn't involve all of us. (hence me not doing something with my friends because Isaac was going to be gone, too)
No one has really said anything negative about what we do, but I am sure there are a few out there who can't quite understand why it is so important. I am also lucky in that most of my friends are teachers, so they are used to living on schedule on a daily basis, too!
Has your routine become more relaxed as your kids have gotten older?
I would never have dreamed about breaking the schedule when the boys were younger. Ever. OMG, I knew just what was in store for us when we did--and let's just say that we were all happier when we were on schedule.
I am a bit more relaxed about the schedule now. I will allow the boys to tell me when they are tired and ready for a nap, for instance, rather than insist the go down at nap time.
How do your kids react when they are completely off their schedules- and how do you get them back on track?
The boys are really well behaved when we go out now (please, don't let me jinx myself by saying that), so we are fortunate to not have any serious melt downs if we are off schedule. They are so used to things be scheduled that it is really easy to get back on track should we have an off day or two.
So what is our schedule?
Our schedule usually like this: (weekdays)
7:00 - Milk
7:30 - Head to grandma's & I can go to work
7:50 - The boys lay back down for an hour
9:00 -Breakfast
11:30 - Snack and milk/juice
12:00 - Nap
2:30-3:00 - The boys wake up from nap and eat lunch
5:00 - Snack and milk/juice
5:30 - Shawn goes down for a second nap on most days/Jason has quiet time in the living room
7:30- Dinner
8:00 - Baths
9:00 - Bedtime
(On weekends, the boys get out of bed around 9:00, but the schedule is pretty much the same.)
So there you go. Our life in a nutshell
