I finally got my act together to share a blog post about our ‘typical’ day in the life.  I put typical in quotes because some days look a little different, but for the most part we stick to a pretty normal routine that works well for us! after documenting our day in photos I realized that we’re pretty boring 🙂 hopefully I can offer some insight to how we make it work right now for us!

4:30AM

about 4 days a week my morning starts at 4:30am. I get up and workout for 60 minutes at a bootcamp (camp gladiator) I’ve been going to for the last 4 years or so. getting up early works very well for me because thats when Jordan is home to be with the kids (sleeping). I dont have to worry about child care and I can go by myself and get it done before the rest of my day starts. I’ve never been one to workout in the evenings, so getting up early like this I for sure get it done and out of the way. on the mornings Jordan goes to the fire station he leaves about 6:10am so I can still go to my 5am bootcamp an be home in time for him to leave for work. on the mornings he gets off (he works 24 hours at a time) I take those as my “off day” because he’s not home for me to go. hopefully that all makes sense!  I don’t eat a meal before I go- I drink a bottle of water and scarf my Verb energy bar and hit the door! I live about 8 minutes away from the bootcamp location.. so I always leave by 4:50am. 

6:10AM

I’m home by 6:10am and the first thing I do is make my coffee. I think about this first cup throughout my entire workout- ha! I’m such a mom.  on mornings I workout I make lunches when I get home. I wake the girls up for school around 6:20a, so I have a few minutes to throw together a lunch really quick before I get them up. they take their lunch 3-4 times a week and I give the option to buy lunch twice a week if they want. Fridays the girls always buy lunch because thats when the school offers ice cream 🙂

as for their homemade lunches, I usually stick to turkey and cheese sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls or chicken meatballs, fruit/veg, baked chips or veggie straws, cheese stick or yogurt drink, and a treat of some kind. my kids love the hostess cupcakes, cookie, fruit roll-ups, fruit snacks ect. their bento boxes and lunch cooler is from stuck on you! for reference, they have the large bento box.  you can use my code :: SOY-masseya

6:20AM

the morning line up. all four of the big kids drink milk first thing in the morning.. kind of like their morning coffee:) I started the twins on Carnation Instant Breakfast when they were about 14 months old as a recommendation from their pediatrician to help get a little more protein/calories in their diet..and it just kind of stuck with us. Baker and Parker call it “package” and I mix it with skim milk; Brady and Jolie drink the 1% chocolate milk. I make their milk and head to the girls’ room to wake them for school.from about 6:20am to 7:05a we are moving and grooving to get out the door on time to make it to the school by 7:20a. we are ready by 6:45a and I can get Baylor up and fed before we leave the house while the girls watch a show. if not, I wake him up an stick him right in the car seat and he does okay until we get home from drop off around 7:30am. there are also occasions when he is up right when I get home from bootcamp and I feed him right away!

7:30am

we’re home by 7:30a, I feed Baylor, drink a second cup of coffee, and get Baker and Brady situated with whatever they are interested in doing that morning. sometimes its something on Disney or Nick Jr, sometimes its puzzles and books, etc. 

while they play I make my breakfast (finally). I always have the same thing.. peanut butter toast + sliced bananas or a protein shake. I was out of bananas this morning so I made myself a shake:: frozen organic fruit and veggie blend (Costco!), a spoonful of almond butter, 2 scoops of vegan protein powder (I’m dairy free for nursing), oat milk, and not pictured : electrolyte powder.

8:00-8:30am

its time for Baylor to take his morning nap.. and its always a team effort in getting him down for the morning 🙂 he naps from about 8:30am to 11:30am every morning. I’ll be sharing more on his sleep schedule and what has worked for us next week, but for the most part he’s taking three naps a day for 2.5 to 3 hours.

you can find Baylor’s nursery details HERE

9:00am

time to get myself ready! 99% of the time Baker and Brady take a shower with me while I’m getting myself ready. I do not wash my hair everyday, so “getting ready” takes about 30 minutes.. and I refresh my hair by blow drying out any dampness left from workout that morning and using dry shampoo 🙂 dont mind the bags of clothes.. this picture reminds me to finally take them for donation- they’ve been sitting there for a week! showered and clean.. and back into my pajamas. if we aren’t leaving the house I usually don’t get dressed or put on makeup. 

9:30AM

Baker and Brady didn’t get in the shower on this morning, so after I finished up, I helped them get dressed for the day.

you can find the girl’s share room details HERE these two don’t eat an official breakfast until much later in the morning- because they drink the chocolate milk first thing, it fills them up enough until about 9:30am or 10am.peanut butter toast or oatmeal is our go to and finish it off with a yogurt drink. 

10:00AM

always always always spend some time outside on the swing set if the weather is nice. it has been raining here off and on for a few weeks, so any chance we get we’ve been outside! while they play I usually answer emails and plan my calendar for the week. 

11:00am

Brady is usually down for his only nap by 11-11:30am. he takes about a 2.5 hour nap, so in order to let him get a full nap + snack before we pick up the twins from school I try my best to keep him on that schedule.  Baker naps about 2-3 x a week, just depending on how well she slept the night before. if she doesn’t take a nap we usually plan for more playtime outside, kiwi crates, or sensory bins. she is really good about independent play and will also play with her barbies or floor puzzles. this let them be little box kept her occupied for over a hour!  while she plays, I tackle some laundry. I would love to say that I do laundry every day, but no.. I definitely do not! I hate laundry so much, mostly because I feel like I can never ever get ahead of it. I guess with seven people in the house, thats how it goes.

I work on social media content, blogging, emails for an hour or two during this time as well.  Baylor is usually up by 11:30am- time for him to eat and play for a bit! on a normal day he would go back down for his second nap by 1pm but we decided to have lunch with daddy on this day while he was at work! Baylor is wearing modern burlap pajamas and we use and love the Nested Bean swaddle! you can use code Amber15 for a discount on single swaddle and sleep sacs!  swung through McDonald’s to get chicken nugs for Baker and Brady and they were serving tacos at the hospital cafeteria, so Jordan and I ate chicken tacos.  the CHEESE is real with this little one. swung through Starbucks for an afternoon pick-me-up! I usually make a stop before or after I pick up the twins from school, just depending on how much time I have (if I’m home I let Baylor/Brady nap as long as possible before waking them up to pick up Parker and Jolie) 

2:30pm

if Baker doesn’t get a nap, she ALWAYS falls asleep in carline. Baker will get about a half hour cat nap in the car, which will carry her through to the bedtime pretty well. she is my most laid back child (always has been) and can easily make it through the day without a nap and still stay in good spirits. she’s a handful in the personality department, but truly so much fun!

while we are parked waiting for the twins to get out of school I will feed Baylor in the car. if we were home and he’s still napping I feed him right after we get home!

3:15pm

home from school!! first thing’s first: reading practice. the twins do not have homework in Kindergarten but they do practice reading every afternoon and I sign off on it in their school folder. Jolie reads her practice books sent home by the teacher and Parker usually sticks to the Homer app on the iPad that works on phonics, spelling, and reading.  we do this anywhere from 15-30 minutes a day.

3:30pm

in the meantime, Baylor is down for his afternoon catnap. he will nap from about 3:30-4pm until 5:30pm. 

4:00pm

SNACK time for everyone around 4pm! I found these bars at Costco.. and they are a little expensive, but I appreciate that they are dairy free and an easy snack to eat quickly! the kids will usually have peanut butter crackers,  granola bar, yogurt, cheese stick and saltines, roasted almonds, or sun chips when Brady was a busy crawler and into everything I cleaned out one side of my lower cabinets to store some of his toys. he can get into “his” cabinet and demolish the kitchen floor in about 4 minutes but it keeps him busy while I prep dinner but can still keep an eye on him!   somewhere between coming home from school and dinner time I always get back into my comfies. I dont mind getting dressed to be out of the house, but being comfortable at home is important! especially when it comes to sitting on the floor to play or cuddling up on the couch! 

5:30pm

the half-hour before dinner we clean up. I don’t worry about dishes or pick up messes throughout the day.. mostly because I find myself picking up toys and putting things away ALL day long! we have a loosely followed rule to put away toys before pulling out something new, but Brady doesn’t understand/follow that rule yet, so I don’t enforce it too strictly as long as they all work together to get the playroom picked up before dinner. while they pick up, I unload/load the dishwasher, fold laundry, and finish dinner.

6:00pm

depending on the night, dinner is usually at 6pm. on Monday’s and Tuesday’s we have softball, so dinner is usually a little later or a little earlier, depending on what time their game is. dinner is often something quick and easy- I love my crock pot and instant pot to make chicken or fish (my kids love salmon and tilapia)! we also have nurture life meals on hand and will pull them out about once a week (usually on a softball night). I also make home chef meals once or twice a week. the other meals are usually chicken or fish, veg or fruit or both, and some kind of grain or pasta. on this night it was BBQ chicken (bbq seasoned chicken breasts baked at 375 for 25 minutes, drizzled with bbq sauce and sprinkled with crispy onions), Annie’s Cheesy Shells, and strawberries.

while the big kids eat, I’ll feed Baylor close by to be able to regulate dinner time play/eating and help Brady as he needs it! 

6:45pm

rock and roll through the evening hustle. I keep them on the same routine, for the most part, every evening to keep my sanity and their own! we always take showers- the girls get one every evening during the week. if its a weekend night we will occasionally skip a shower, just depends on what we’ve done that day! after the girls take a shower, I get every one in their pajamas, hair brushed, and they have the choice to read or watch one show on the television. I help the twins pick out their clothes for the next morning (picking out clothes together the night before helps to make the early morning on a time crunch go much quicker and resolves the “I dont want to wear that!” most of the time)

some days we have the tv on ALL day and other days we don’t turn it on at all until its time to wind down for bed.

7:15pm

I get Baylor going for his evening routine. I usually just have him sitting in his bouncy seat while we eat dinner and take showers. sink bath, pajamas, and bed by 7:30pm and the other kids are watching tv or reading.. or helping me with Baylor. I always have lots of hands to help!    *this is an old photo, but perfectly depicts how they are set up every evening while I lay Baylor down for bed! Baylor is sleep trained, so it takes very little time to get him down (more on that later this week!) and the television or books (or puzzles lately for Brady) keep them occupied until its time for bed. 

7:30pm-7:45pm

we use the Hatch Baby Rest in every room- we have a few programs set up, including one for bedtime. the sound machine comes on at 7:30pm and that is the girls’ cue to start getting ready for bed: brushing teeth, potty, and getting their last sips of water before getting tucked in for the night. this is REALLY helpful when I’m by myself! I put Brady down first and then tuck the girls in. they are VERY good about getting into bed while I put Brady down. we reward them with special treats at the end of the week if they give me little grief when it comes to bedtime 🙂  kitchen is clean and laundry is never folded. every single night after the kids are down I sweep the kitchen and wipe the counters down. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a house keeper that comes every other week. she has been cleaning our home since I was pregnant and on bedrest with the twins. she is VERY helpful and I am so thankful for her help in the heavy lifting when it comes to the deep cleaning the house- I couldn’t do it without her! 

8:00pm

I take the time after the kids are asleep to answer more emails, work on content for the week, blog, etc.   I usually have Grey’s Anatomy or Gilmore Girls on in the background while I work.

9:30pm

BEDTIME. I am usually in bed before 10pm on the nights I know I’m going to wake up for bootcamp. tomorrow is a new day, but probably will look pretty similar 🙂