Sleep routine? what do you do?

[moogie]

Now i know since we're all AP we don't really have a routine as such but then again we do.  Like me, I predict that if c wakes up at 6am, then she will probably want a nap at about 9am, etc. so i guess its more sleep habits and our predictions.  I thought it would be helpful to share our habits as i'm trying to fit charlies toothbrushing into the mix.

So heres how we do bed times.
If Charlie has had an afetrnoon nap then i predict that she wont want sleep till after 9pm.  If she jsut has the morning nap then she's usually ready around 7.30.
So at 5ish we head to the beach, this is when Tristan finishes his first work shift, thn he'll start back to work at about 7ish.  So when we get home around 6ish i make dinner in a mad rush while trisan usually feeds charlie some of the PIL's dinner. 
We eat and then depending on Charlies level of sleepiness i'll either make her bottle straight away or do dishes or read her some books. 
Then its Charlies first attempt at sleep which is usually successful.  We assemble her night nappy and i give her the bottle(in arms) and then she goes on her mattress next to our mattress.
If she doesn't go to sleep then we will just go to sleep when Tristan and I are tired and she will usually get the hint.

Bed time is a major drama.  She is a little grumps and she rejects getting her nappy on etc and is hysterical if she sees the bottle before she can have it (as in she needs to have her night nappy on before she can have it and we need to climb the stairs before she can have it.)

We don't go to the beach everyday now, but it still seems to be the same sought of routine, its sending me a little nutty the last few weeks.  I think i'm going to try to do dinner earlier now, but this means charlie and i skipping the beach, or Tristan shortening his work day. 

Anyone else want to share?

[kokonutmama]

OK, since my mother stole my baby I have a few minutes...

I had been getting Kody his dinner between 5 and 5:30, but now that it's light later that's been shifting to between 5:30 and 6, which matches up with my parents' dinner better anyway.  ( I start cooking at like three, by the way, I hate the stress of dealing with him and trying to get things done, I'll often cut up veggies during his nap at like noon, just so I don't have to struggle to do it all with one hand.  All I have to do come dinnertime is take things out of the oven, or throw together a stir fry, or if it's more complicated, mom's home by 5 and she can play with his highnie-ness while I fuss.  TMI, I know, but it took me a while to get it figured out, I'm a little proud.)
When he's done dinner, if he's tired he'll sign "bath" or "milk" and we'll go up and take a bath and have a boob.  Like i mentioned before, separate baths are in our near future, but I'm a little sad to see that together time go.  If he's not tired he runs around and plays with his toys while I finish eating in rare solitary luxury and clear our plates, etc.  Then we go up. 
If he doesn't fall asleep in the bath we get dried off and read books either together or seperately.  Sometimes if he's really not sleepy he wants to go downstairs and watch game shows with the parents, which is not really ideal to me, mostly because then I know it's going to be a later night and sometimes, it's hard to tell if he's tired and he gets overtired and hard to put down if he's watching TV.  He gets all into it, though, I have to admit it's cute to watch him clap and cheer.
So, after bath, or books, or TV or some combination thereof, we go off to bed where I'll take his jammies off and nurse him to sleep, then sneak out of the room.  The sneaking out can be anywhere from 6 to 9:30 but is usually between 6:30 and 7:30.  Then I make a hot drink, check the bulletin boards and get to work from 8-10 (or 8:30-10:30 depending on how many posts I write before I buckle down.)
We're up between 6 and 7, and he naps once between 11 and 1.  Well, usually in that range, can be early as 9 or late as 3 or 4.  a really late nap can push bedtime back, but only a little and pretty rarely.
Allrght, they're back, and mom needs to get ready for work.

[skeettafic]

We do a fairly consistent bedtime routine as little Miss Josie Posie has pretty reliable sleep patterns.  Wake time is anywhere from 6 to 7, most often right around 6:30.  She takes a nap right after lunch which is anywhere from 11 to 12 depending on when she had breakfast so she'll nap about 2 hours at that point.  She is typically ready to settle down for the night 5 to 5.5 hours after she wakes from her nap so bedtime is generally between 7 and 7:30 but sometimes as early as 6:30 (more rare recently) or as late as 9 if she had a really late/long nap (I hate these nights because she can be a real bear to get to sleep).

Dinner used to be at 5:30 but our babysitter moved so it takes a little longer for us to get her home so now its more like 6.  After dinner its into the bath most nights.  After her bath we'll either get a cup of milk and go into her room or we'll play in the living room for a little bit.  Once in her room we sit in her rocking chair and read some books.  After that we turn off her light and turn on her music while she finishes her milk and then we sit in her chair and snuggle for a few minutes.  When she's ready she'll point to her crib and I'll put her in and pat her back a little as she falls asleep. 

Like I said, we're pretty predictable but we've found that she really needs this little routine to settle down at night.

[ShannonandDel]

Delaney wakes up at about six and we hang out in bed talking for about ten minutes. Then we get up and play until about eight when I have to leave for work. She ususally takes a nap with Daddy right after I leave. She takes another nap at about one. When I get home from work at five I throw something together for dinner, then I used to give her a bath around six, but lately she is afraid of the bathtub unless I am in with her, so sometimes we take a bath together and sometimes we take a shower. Then we play a little more and read. She usually starts yawning around six fifty or seven and I bring her to bed and nurse her to sleep. Sometimes this takes five minutes and sometimes this takes an hour (like last night). On the weekends when she is with me all day she doesn't take that early morning nap. She usually takes one nap at about eleven and that is it for the day. I think I keep her a lot busier than Scott does. She doesn't seem any the worse for it though.

[jnezmama02]

Well, WHEN we follow a routine, it goes something like this:

--6:30-7pm: eat dinner (used to be around 5:30pm, but DH has specific times he's eating on his new strict diet)
--7-7:45pm:  play w/ toys, watch tv, play with DH, etc while I do dishes and finish any chores
--7:45pm: Pick up toys in the family room & get sippy cups w/ water for the night
--8pm: Go upstairs for beginning of bedtime
--8-9pm: Bathtime Routine
       --Pick out PJs for the night for all 3 of us
       --Give the kids toothbrushes while I wash my face & brush my teeth; go over Jessie's and Emi's teeth to make sure they're clean
       --Get the kids in the bath; wash Emily; help Jessie wash; scoot kids to the back and I take a shower.
       --I get out to dry myself off while the kids play w/ their toys while the water drains out; dry the toys off as they hand them to me; get Emily out and dry her off; help Jessie out and dry her off; sometimes Jessie uses the potty if she has to pee
      --Get everyone into diapers & PJs; comb everyone's hair
      --Dry Jessie's hair w/ hairdryer while nursing Emily; dry my own hair if they're still really awake.
--9pm: Get into bed and read to kids; nurse Emily to sleep; snuggle Jessie to sleep; HOPE that getting them to sleep doesn't take more than 1/2hr. Can take up to 2hrs, depending on moods and naps. uggh!

Wake up on this schedule is anywhere from 7:45am-9:15am, depending on what time they actually really got to sleep and how long their nap the day before was (which affects how long they sleep at night).

[moogie]

Charlie has strated to have earlier bed times now since she has gone to one nap.  Its a lot easier on us all, except for when she wakes at 5am that is.