Mommy Reward Time

I was so interested in all of your comments on the bedtime post I wrote yesterday, thank you for commenting! Every family has a routine that works for them, but the common thread is that all of our kids get enough rest and we find some time for ourselves, whether it's after they go to bed at night or before they get up in the morning. Pats on the back for all of us!

My mother-in-law told me that when my husband and sister-in-law were little they stayed up until they fell asleep on the family room floor, usually sometime between 10:00 and midnight. My father-in-law got home from work so late that it was the only time they got to spend with him. She was a stay-at-home mom and her kids would, according to her, sleep until noon every day. It's what worked for them.

In our family, my husband leaves for work around 6:30 a.m. and usually gets home from work by 3:30. I would consider him "getting home late" if he came through the door after 4:00. We're fortunate that his schedule allows the kids plenty of time to spend with him. Little Man goes down at 7:00 gets up around 6:30 a.m. regardless of when he goes down. PBug's lights go out at 7:30 and she's (hopefully!) up by 7:00 a.m.

Last night after the marathon of cleaning up dinner/giving the kids a bath/doing the bedtime routine/lights out at 7:30, Spud and I made chocolate chip cookies, ate them, I laughed at his subsequent sneezing because I used dark chocolate in the cookies and he's allergic but can't resist a chocolate chip cookie, watched a little t.v., I solicited a shoulder massage (thanks for the suggestion, Teresa!), and we were in bed by ten. And I loved every minute of my reward time.