Finding A New Routine

Holy, holy, holy crap.ย  How do any of you with little people who cannot do for themselves actuallyย  manage to get anything DONE in the mornings and get out the door somewhere resembling on time?ย  Tell me the secret!ย  I need to know!

We got up at 5 this morning with Daisy to potty.ย  Then there was breakfast and PT, then hubby trying to get his usual routine ready (somehow making a smoothie took 10 minutes–I suspect he fell asleep standing at the fridge because we were SO TIRED).ย  Then post breakfast potty.ย  I managed to get 15 minutes of boxing in and that was IT, next to trying to pick up the house some (because invariably, since it is the WORST possible time, someone will want to see the house).

I have no idea when I’ll get back to running.ย  For now, it’s going to be squeezing in those really short 15 minute workouts throughout the day wherever I can.ย  Daisy herself will take the place of my weights routine (because let me tell you, 50 pounds is a lotta dog to lift repeatedly through the day).ย  By the time she’s walking again, I oughtta have killer quads and biceps.

This whole thing is God’s way of preparing us for a baby.ย  Has to be.ย  Because it is a well known fact that we’ll do ANYTHING for our dogs.ย  We’re already in the taking turns phase and dealing with pee and poop and feedings and medicine…ย  It’s good practice.

I haven’t written since…Thursday?ย  Obviously, I’ve got to sort THAT out as well this week.ย  I figure by the end of this week, we ought to have sorted out a routine, figured out when she needs to do what and what time we need to allow for all that.ย  But…yeah.ย  I’m totally wiped out and it’s only 10 o’clock.ย  Gonna be a LONG WEEK!

22 thoughts on “Finding A New Routine

  1. Children are the ultimate destroyer of schedules. I have three running around. One incredibly hyperactive 5 year old, a three year old with autism and an 18 month old daughter with a real princess / diva attitude. Getting stuff done at times can be impossible. The trick I have found is to increase coffee intake, decrease sleep and accept the fact that housework, while still being done will never actually be visible. Unless you can surgically attach a vacuum cleaner to your rear end. When I vacuumed yesterday, I finished the living room, turned around and actually had to question myself as to whether I had done it already or not.

    Glad to hear Daisy is making such good progress, you must be so relieved.

  2. I remember having to deal with two kids and working. And my husband was on a different shift, so there wasn’t always help in the mornings. But you know what? I miss them being little sometimes. It really is all about routines. This routine is different for you because it’s new. You aren’t used to having to take care of Daisy like this. You’ll figure it out. It gets easier.

    50 lbs. is definitely a lot of dog to lift! What muscles you will have!

  3. Probably by the time I have it all figured out they will be able to get themselves ready on their own.
    Give yourself a little bit of a break here (Daisy’s home!!) and then flex your time management muscles- I know you have plenty of those

  4. From a parent of four – yes, Daisy is totally preparing you for children. An organized routine is one major key, but learning to function just beyond the threshold of fatigue is the other one and the two do not the synergy of Reece’s make. Tip of experience: Learn to do EVERYTHING in 15 minute bursts (thus the organization – and you hit it perfectly with the boxing) and build a healthy love for some form of caffeine (which gives an edge over fatigue fog – whatever suits your tastes and doesn’t screw up your body) – the rest is training everyone, including Daisy, to a routine that can be lived with. Which takes time. Truly, all the best to you and your hubs, Kait ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. While never having had children have kept my neices and nephews when they were small and it was an eye opening experience because I am an only child and was around adults my whole life except during school hours.
    Time passes fast either taking care of an ill pet or managing several children of various ages, and just about the time one task is done it is time for the next!
    Glad you guys are trading off and more importantly glad you are able to do so because even though it is glorious that your “girl” is home it is too much work for one person to deal with mentally or physically.

  6. It will definitely take on a rhythm as you and Daisy figure out how to accommodate each other… I know when one of our girls developed diabetes, I (a complete needle-phobe!) had no problem giving her twice-daily insulin shots. Our furbabies are there to help us grow, so I’m sure you’ll master this issue as you have others. Good luck! ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Shots wouldn’t bother me. I gave myself allergy shots for years and I did all the puppy shots for our various dogs. I have high hopes that we’ll have struck a routine by the end of this week.

  7. Aw, hang in there! It’s tough now, but it’ll get better, I promise. Even in stressful times, we adapt and manage to find a pattern (sounds like you’re doing it, so go Kait!)

    Angela

  8. Kait, I laughed. I’m sorry, I had to. My hubby and I had this exact conversation about a week after we brought the baby home.

    “How can such a little being take up so much time!!! By the time I’ve changed a diaper, fed her (which started out 20-30 minutes per side), swaddled her and laid her down, I’m too exhausted to eat! And she’s gonna want to do it all again in a few hours!!! How am I gonna make enough $^*%ing milk on no sleep??”

    Gene’s exactly right. You learn to have 5 hands and you start stashing food and books everywhere. I started carrying my phone in my boobs and wearing a headset ALL the time. Eventually, you accept that it takes you an hour longer to get anywhere and right about then, the routine smooths out.

    But at the beginning? You are crying for 10 more hours in the day and some sleep.

  9. Glad to hear Daisy is doing better. I can empathize. When you bring home an 8-week-old Great Dane puppy you’re always told (at least my breeder always says) that it’s like having a baby because for the first few weeks you’ll be up every two hours, cleaning up accidents everywhere, and having to watch them constantly. Good training!

  10. I hate to break this to you, but pets do NOT prepare your for parenthood. It’s NOT EVEN CLOSE. haha!! OMG — The endless (ENDLESS!!!) questions, the constant spills, the MESSES (I haven’t seen my daughter’s floor in a month), the homework checking, the making three or four meals a day in five different ways, the LAUNDRY, HOLY CRAP THE FREAKING LAUNDRY. And the dishes. I haven’t mentioned the dishes!! THE DISHES!! THE FREAKING ENDLESS DISHES!!!! OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

    Enjoy your time as an autonomous adult! No one crawls in your bed at night and proceeds to steal all of the blankets, your Kindle Fire is yours alone, no one uses your big computer and screws it all up daily, little fingers don’t take the last of the tape/the only scissors/your favorite notebook, you can still watch movies with bad words in them (we can’t watch THE GOONIES, for pete’s sake! BAD WORDS!), you can go anywhere you want anytime you want without trying to figure out when/if someone can babysit (the doctor? writing conferences? THERAPY?), you can stop by Starbucks and get a coffee without also buying three kid hot chocolates, scones AND making YET ANOTHER bathroom break… *PANT, PANT*

    But of course the trade-offs can’t be measured. Except for that whole “down time” thing. My only time I’m truly alone and can think about what I want to think about is after 9 p.m. Yikes. And even then, my son sleepwalks every third night or so, my 7yo daughter has nightmares and/or wakes up several times before midnight, and when all three of the kids go down, the five cats come looking for attention. Oi!!!! haha ๐Ÿ™‚

    So I go to bed at 1 or 2 and I’m up at 7 to start it all over again.
    *off to make more coffee*
    Hugs to you and Daisy!!!! You will be fine! It will become a routine, I promise! ๐Ÿ™‚

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