Time for Peace

I keep meaning to post and then don’t because I’m still trying to get over the aftermath of the flu in our household and adjust to a non working schedule. We’ve started implementing something new in the household, that we are hoping will be the salvation of sanity. We are putting the kids on a schedule.
Now, you can’t help but be in a routine when you have kids. Lunches have to be eaten and naps must be taken, but the time in between is just a free for all. We are on our third day of the schedule and so far it’s working better than expected. Connor is getting used to his quiet time in the afternoons and Tristan is getting back on a sleeping schedule that isn’t torturous for us. For a while, he insisted on the morning nap, skipped the afternoon nap and was miserable from 4-7 making everyone else miserable too. If one of the kids starts to get into the fussy cycle, it starts a chain reaction through the household, which causes everything to become difficult to manage. It’s stressful.
As it turns out we have enough stress in our lives right now, which is just gasoline on the fire. So the schedule thing… it’s working.
The kids like to know what’s coming next. I feel like a walking alarm clock, but by the time dinner comes, we don’t have one running through the house screaming, while the other tries to climb the leg of the person making dinner, whining at a decibel level that would send a Nazgul into a jealous rage. But the very best thing about the schedule is that in the afternoon when Tristan naps, it’s quiet time. Which I’ve also explained to Connor is also known as Alone Time, a time that everyone needs a little bit of. And just that little bit during the day, is enough to make me feel like I’m coming closer to the surface.