Was wondering..

Hi all SAHM's!

If you have the time, please share with me what your average day / week looks like?

Do you mainly stay at home or do you go out with the twins?

If you manage to get out the door, where do you go?

How do you keep your twins busy / active throughout the day?

What do you do in your spare time (if you have any)?

Thanks!!

Appreciate your replies...

 

Denise,

I'm not a SAHM, but here's what an average week looks like for my 13 month old girls:

Mondays is a rest day after the excitement of the weekend. No trips out during the day; they play in the family room and usually at the water and sand tables outside on the patio with the nanny.

Tuesday they go to the park for an hour or so in the middle of the day with the nanny.

Wednesday is story time at the library with the nanny.

Thursdays is another field trip - a park, the aquarium, etc. This is usually both me and the nanny.

Fridays is a stay at home day of playing inside and outside with the nanny.

Saturdays we run errands or go to the park. This is DH and me or just me if DH can't stand the idea of running errands.

Sundays we go to a friends house or go out to lunch. This is DH and me.

We also run errands in the late afternoon (after I get home from work) two or three days a week - the grocery store or Target. So all told, they leave the house usually once a day and sometimes twice if they go to the park with their nanny and then running errands with me in the evening. Going out and seeing different things seems to be the key for my girls. Without trips out they get bored really easily. Going out breaks up the day nicely and they're eager to see their toys again in the afternoon.

To keep the girls entertained, we bring out different toys at different times. In the morning it might be block time. Then after their morning nap we do climbing if we don't go out. In the afternoons we'll play with balls or go in our little kiddie pool. During naps we clean up the family room so that the girls get to pull out new toys each time. This seems to keep them entertained a lot longer than letting all of the toys clutter up the floor.

I don't have a ton of free time but since the girls go to sleep around 7 I have the evenings free to cook dinner, watch movies, chat, etc. I try to go out to dinner with friends at least once a month and out with my DH one evening as well.

ETA info about keeping them entertained.

 

My boys are up between 6 and 7 in the morning. We do diapers then downstairs to play and have breakfast. They usually have pancakes, waffles, toast, or shreddies to eat, with fresh fruit and a sippy of milk.

They get dressed by 9 and I hop in the shower while they "read" in their cribs. Then we go out for a walk around the neighbourhood and I pick up any small items at the grocery store nearby. They'll sometimes have a snack in their stroller. When we get home (usually around 10:30) they play in the backyard or living room for a while. They have a sand box out back and they love that.

They eat lunch around 11ish, then we go upstairs to get ready for their nap. We do diapers, then it's sleep sacs and stories with their soothers in a dim room (on the bed in my room, actually). At noon they go down to sleep. Evan sleeps in a pack and play in my room, James sleep in his crib in the nursery.

They get up from their nap between 1:30 and 2:30.

They have a snack after their nap and then we take another walk or play in the back or living room. Once a week or so we meet up with friends who have twin boys - we take turns at each other's houses.

I give the boys dinner around 5 or 5:30. We don't do family dinners most nights because my husband doesn't get home until 5:40 and the boys go to bed pretty early since they went down to one nap.

They have a bath at 6ish and they're in their pajamas and listening to stories in their sleep sacs by 6:30ish.

I aim to have them in their beds by 6:45. On a good night, they're sleeping by 7.

I live near a few parks but none that are safe to take 2 toddlers by myself, unless we JUST do the swings. Walks around the neighbourhood are our main form of excitment, and hanging out in the yard. I struggle to get the cleaning done because my boys aren't very independent at all (they're 15 months) and sometimes even getting food ready is a struggle! I try to make good use of my evenings (after the boys are asleep) - prepping food, cleaning, sometimes meeting a friend, etc. but often I am so tired from caring for the boys that I just flake out on the sofa! I imagined myself doing a lot more activities with my kids, but with two active toddlers it's just not safe/possible to do as much as I'd like to do. My mum comes over once a week and I like to escape to take care of medical appointments, etc. for an hour or two.

 

Thanks Tricia!!

Your twins truly have a full week! Great that you can have a nanny! What a blessing..

Now that it's summer here in Houston going outside with the twins is a mission!

You've given me a couple of tips...thank you!

Denise

 

QUOTE(CHJH @ Jun 11 2008, 02:59 PM) [snapback]821910[/snapback]
My boys are up between 6 and 7 in the morning. We do diapers then downstairs to play and have breakfast. They usually have pancakes, waffles, toast, or shreddies to eat, with fresh fruit and a sippy of milk.

They get dressed by 9 and I hop in the shower while they "read" in their cribs. Then we go out for a walk around the neighbourhood and I pick up any small items at the grocery store nearby. They'll sometimes have a snack in their stroller. When we get home (usually around 10:30) they play in the backyard or living room for a while. They have a sand box out back and they love that.

They eat lunch around 11ish, then we go upstairs to get ready for their nap. We do diapers, then it's sleep sacs and stories with their soothers in a dim room (on the bed in my room, actually). At noon they go down to sleep. Evan sleeps in a pack and play in my room, James sleep in his crib in the nursery.

They get up from their nap between 1:30 and 2:30.

They have a snack after their nap and then we take another walk or play in the back or living room. Once a week or so we meet up with friends who have twin boys - we take turns at each other's houses.

I give the boys dinner around 5 or 5:30. We don't do family dinners most nights because my husband doesn't get home until 5:40 and the boys go to bed pretty early since they went down to one nap.

They have a bath at 6ish and they're in their pajamas and listening to stories in their sleep sacs by 6:30ish.

I aim to have them in their beds by 6:45. On a good night, they're sleeping by 7.

I live near a few parks but none that are safe to take 2 toddlers by myself, unless we JUST do the swings. Walks around the neighbourhood are our main form of excitment, and hanging out in the yard. I struggle to get the cleaning done because my boys aren't very independent at all (they're 15 months) and sometimes even getting food ready is a struggle! I try to make good use of my evenings (after the boys are asleep) - prepping food, cleaning, sometimes meeting a friend, etc. but often I am so tired from caring for the boys that I just flake out on the sofa! I imagined myself doing a lot more activities with my kids, but with two active toddlers it's just not safe/possible to do as much as I'd like to do. My mum comes over once a week and I like to escape to take care of medical appointments, etc. for an hour or two.


Your day sounds a bit like mine!

Although this week the twins have been waking up in the early morning again & then sleep in till after 8am or on 9am. This has thrown our entire schedule off. Now that it's summer I try to get out with them to the shops..but once again, this week so far the twins are being a little 'difficult'.

Thanks for replying!

 

Now that summer's here I'm finding it a lot easier to fill our days. Generally the boys wake up around 6:30, we play upstairs for an hour or so then come downstairs for breakfast. After they eat (or throw their food around the kitchen), they play in the living room with their Dad while I sneak in a shower. Most days we drive dh to work so we can keep the car for the day - it's just a 5 minute drive each way, so that doesn't take long.

In the morning we usually make one excursion - either we walk to the grocery store to buy a few things, or we go to storytime at the library, or we have a playdate. I can't manage my two runners in an unfenced playground by myself, so when we go to the park we go to a big one with a mini-zoo - the boys are content to sit in their stroller to see the animals. On rainy days we take the car out to the mall or somewhere else we can hang out indoors while I run errands. I recently bought a membership to my local children's museum which has a wonderful, gated toddler area with lots of interactive toys. I find if I don't get out and do something in the morning they're stir-crazy by naptime. Depending what time we get back from our outing, we'll spend an hour or so in the backyard playing then the boys will have lunch at 12.

Naptime is at 12:30, and they normally sleep for 2.5 hours until I wake them up. We play upstairs for a little bit, usually I can manage to fold some laundry or something like that while they run around. I have an old laptop I occasionally fire up so they can play on the Sesame Street website. After that we go downstairs for a snack and about 15-30 minutes of Elmo's World until it's time to pick their Dad up from work (usually around 4:30 or so). When we get home we all head out to the backyard to play until suppertime - I often sneak in at some point to get supper ready. We eat at 6, go upstairs for bath and lots of stories at 6:30, and are in bed (and asleep) by 7:30.

 

Hi, i am not a SAHM, but the twins' nanny...but i can still give u an idea of our day. i am there from 7a-6pm

7:30 say bye to mom and eat breakfast.
then they play while i clean up and do any dishes (bottles) from the night before. I play w/ them for a few minutes and then either give them a bath or get dressed and then down for nap around 9.

9-11 they are sleeping and i do laundry/get packed for wherever we are going and then just go online/watch tv.
11-12 they wake up, have some milk, play =read books or just play w/ toys, teaching animal sounds, body parts, fun stuff like that.
12-1230 lunch and then out (this is if we are just running errands) target, old navy, library..whatever we are doing. we go out just about every day. we do library story time, or just play at the library, now that its hot we are at the beach, pool, etc, at friends house playing or at their pool, park, picnic, walks, do every day errands hmm i guess that is about it...

sometime between 2-3 if we are home this is naptime, if we are out we usually leave wherever we are around this time and they will sleep in the car. (OH we are also part of a SAHM meetup.com group that has events almost everyday so sometimes we do that and i might wake them up from their morning nap to go to an 'event' and we may eat lunch at the park or at friends house and maybe come home and play)

between 4-5 wake up from nap-depending on when they went down..trying to shorten this nap. after nap they have some milk and we play more or go outside.
dinner is at 5-530ish, and then maybe a bath if they have not had one yet (they r so sweaty lately!!! that and swimming requires a daily bath. play, pjs, bed around 730.
in my spare time i do their laundry, dishes, load/unload dishwasher if i am really bored, read a book, watch tv. but again im not the 'mom' so i dont have mom household things to do so i may get bored easier than most of u (sorry ;-) ) and plus now that its summer i just want to be outside all the time and dont really mind that much if their naps are shorter bc we have a lot more we can do. :banana: