Shall I repeat the statement I made at the beginning of the year? Life is messy. Sometimes the only thing holding our family together is God and the fact that we have solidified our routines so that we no longer have to think about them, they just happen.

I know I said we were going to jump into diet soda and sugar free substitutes this week, and we will get there, I promise.  But to be honest, I am TIRED.  So Tired.  For the last two, almost three weeks my whole family has been battling what seems to be the never-ending sinus virus.  It started with the Wild One having a mild fever, sinus congestion and cough. Quickly followed by little Row catching it, and then my husband ended up with a combo sinus infection, fever, chills, sickness. 

The Wild One quickly got past the fever and still has this ongoing running nose/cough while maintaining 110% toddler energy.  Little Row keeps on smiling through it all, but he is super congested and keeps having coughing fits where he can’t seem to catch his breath.  This makes it hard for him to nurse and keeps him from getting the good deep sleep he needs to beat it.  

Luckily, my body had a feeling that something was about to hit our house. The day before everyone started coming down with this sickness I told my husband that I was going to bed at 8:00 and I slept a good 10 hours.  I took some extra cod liver oil and elderberry syrup too… then Bam.  My perfect little guy went from sleeping from 7 PM – 7 AM to waking up every two hours to nurse and get his nose cleaned out.  And let me tell you guys, if the lack of sleep doesn’t make you tired, and a sick toddler full of energy doesn’t make you tired, then the added worry of having a less than 4-month old go into coughing fits will.  Nothing stresses a mama out more than when her babies are sick.  Luckily, I have been able to fend off any sickness.  I contribute that and Waylon’s fever/aches going away so fast to the Cod Liver Oil and Elderberry Syrup that we began taking right away. 

(Link to the Cod Liver Oil we use here and we had a friend make homemade Elderberry for us this year using Wellness Mama’s Recipe found here.  I have also bought this brand of Elderberry Syrup in the past and found it works well)  

So instead of doing a blog on added sugars today, we are going to start a four part series on Routines as apart of our  Efficiency in the Family Focus for the year.  My husband and I have big goals and are the type of people that always like our plates just a little too full.  In our “annual meeting” we discussed picking a word to guide us in 2020.  With all of the transitions that we knew we would be going through, and knowing that time is one of our most precious assets, we picked “Efficiency” for 2020.   

There are a few key things we do in our house to help aid efficiency, and some new practices we picked up in light of the new year. I’m not going to go in-depth on all of them today, but here is a short list for you to get some ideas:

• Kids Bedtime, Nap-time, and wake-up Routines (Routines for Family Success Part 1)

• Family Command Center – (Routines for Family Success Part 2)

• Morning Routine Chart & Evening Routine Chart (Routines for Family Success Part 3)

• Weekly & Monthly Responsibility/Chore List   (Routines for Family Success Part 4)

Basically, we are insane with the routines, I know… I know…, but the amount of time and stress we save ourselves by having these implemented was well worth the time and stress it took to formulate them, practice them, and make them habitual.   

The one I am going to focus on today, that has kept me sane with the whole house being sick, is our Kid’s Bedtime , Naptime and Wake-up Routines.   

To be clear, we have a bedtime routine too, but on occasion we let ours slip, were we very rarely let our kid’s slip.  I also want to start with a note.  Parenting kids is hard.  Each of us has our own style and I am sure if you are reading this you are a GREAT PARENT and you love your kids.  If you don’t do everything on this list, that’s your choice and that is ok, but here is what we do and why we do it.  

Bedtime routine is pretty sacred for us.  We don’t rush through it and it is considered family time.  Surprisingly, it doesn’t consist of bath-time either.  The boys don’t get baths every night, and we actually usually save time by just having them shower with us when they need a bath.  It also tends to get the Wild One going more than relax him.  

Bedtime Routine starts at 7:00 PM every night (minus Wednesday nights as we have Church).  It starts with The Wild One getting into his Pajamas and Brushing his teeth with his Dad, while I get Row into his Pajamas and start feeding him.  Then we all go into Row’s room and we read from a chapter book.  (We are currently on our second round of James and the Giant Peach) The Wild One tends to move around the room and play with stuffed animals during this time and that’s ok.  Then we sing Row three songs, we lay him in bed, sleepy, but still awake, by 7:15PM and sing him Jesus Loves Me before walking out of the room.  

After that it’s Waylon’s turn.  Waylon gets three books every night.  We pick out two, the first is his letter book of the week, the second is his phonics book of the week and he gets to pick out the third.  We read his first two books, then we take him to the potty.  We get back in his bed and read his last book. 

Then we turn out the lights at 7:45PM and sing a series of five songs in the same order every night.  (The first four we sing to Row as well) We have been singing the first four to him, in order since he was born.

1. Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star

2. Itsy Bitsy Spider

3. ABC’s

4. Jesus Loves Me  

The newly added song is “The Waylon on the Tractor” Sang to the tune “The Wheels on the Bus” Every night Waylon goes on a new adventure either on his Tractor, Bulldozer, Excavator, or Dirt Bike and it is his favorite part of the night.  

Then we say a prayer, tuck him in and kiss him good night. By 8:00PM Kurtis and I are both downstairs starting on our evening chores.  

So the items we hit every night are:

• Pajamas

• Brush Teeth 

• Read

• Potty

• Sing Songs 

• Prayer

• Kiss/Tuck in/ Say good Night  

I should note, we also black out his room, add a white noise maker and have a cool air humidifier going.  

This may seem intense to some people, and yes, we know it is, but it works for us.  It gives us dedicated family time every night, it winds the Wild One down and its actually scientifically proven to improve sleep along with: working memory, inhibition and attention, cognitive flexibility, readiness for school and as a bonus dental health.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5861615/  
Bedtime routines child wellbeing & development George Kitsaras, Michaela Goodwin, [...], and Iain A. Pretty  

We do have a shortened version for Wednesday nights and follow the same routine for every naptime, condensed into about 30 minutes for the Wild One instead of an hour, and 10 Minutes for little Row.   I will say there is a noticeable difference in how well Waylon sleeps, and his attitude the next day, if we do not follow the routine and get him down within 30 minutes of his 8:00 Bedtime.  

Our wake-up routine because its pretty simple - 6:45 AM Wake up for the Wild One, 7:15 AM Wake-up for Row. They usually both wake up on their own now at that time, but if they don’t we go into their rooms and gently wake them by singing “Good Morning to you, to you, to you.” Having a consistent wake time helps us stay on track for the whole day. After we wake up we Go Potty/ change Row’s diaper and then come down stairs and EAT/ Nurse! No one wants to see the WildOne if his eggs and blueberries aren’t waiting for him on that table when he gets down stairs, its not pretty.

Where does the efficiency of this come in?  The efficiency here is not having to think about Bed-time or Nap-Time.  We know when the boys are going to go to bed, we know how they are going to bed and we know what has to be done for them to go to bed – so I don’t have to waste a single ounce of energy on thinking about it, it just happens and it is enjoyable even when I am exhausted.  In addition, the routine works even if one of us is out of commission.  Because we have solidified it so well, if say I am working late on Monday nights, my husband can do the whole routine by himself and not miss a beat, and when he was sick last week, I can manage the whole thing by myself flawlessly - Stress free.  

So that’s our Kid’s bedtime, naptime and wake-up routine.  Not only do we benefit from the low stress in the evenings and having well-rested children, we also benefit from knowing we get a little bit of “Us” time every evening after they go to bed. In addition, we are creating positive associations to reading in Waylon and we calculated that just between bedtime routine and nap-time routine Waylon will have read over 2,100 books this year alone! That’s over 10,000 books before he even starts school.  

Next week I will post the blog on Added Sugars.  In addition, over the next quarter I will dig a little bit deeper into some of our other “efficiency routines” including how we made our Family Command Center and how it sets us up to be successful and fit each week!

By Anna Morris

About the Author
Anna Morris is a CTNC, Personal Trainer, has a BBA in Sales and Marketing and is the founder and owner of Morris Success and Fitness, LLC. Her life revolves around God, her Husband Kurtis and her two Boys, Waylon and Rowan. In addition to God, family and friends, her passions include: nutrition, cooking, developing routines, mobility training, soccer, running, and camping, Her mission is to spread the knowledge that God has given her to help 2,000 individuals define and achieve their personal vision for success and fitness in the next decade.