Mateo's daily routine prior to his baby sister's birth

We thought it might be interesting to write down Mateo's daily routine before the birth of his sister . . . who will undoubtedly shake things up a bit! This is also for Grammy, who will be staying with him while we are at the hospital. Good luck!

5:15- 5:30am: Mateo tries to wake up for the day. One of us goes in and reminds him that it is still night night time. We normally spend thirty seconds in his room and don't pick him up. We all attempt to go back to sleep, and he normally goes back down within five minutes or so.

5:45am or later: Mateo wakes up for real, waking us up with him. He usually has some Mama's milk, goes potty and reads a few books on the potty. Then Mama goes back to bed and he has Mommy time until 6:45am.

6:45am: We all get up and have breakfast. His favorite breakfast these days is cheerios, yogurt, milk and some kind of fruit. He then goes potty again, after eating, and reads a few more books. He loves books!

7:30am: Mommy leaves for work. Mateo and Mama wave bye bye and start their day. Usually Mama has breakfast now and has her customary bagel and hot cocoa and Mateo sneaks some of the bagel. LOL.

8:00am: Mama and Mateo spend time cleaning the house. He "helps" put things away.

9:00am: Some sort of morning activity is usually underway by this point. Some days it's a play date, other days a trip to the park, and other days, out running errands. Some days we get out of the house at 7:30 to babysit or go to Mommy's school.

10:30am: Snack time! He loves fruit bars, crackers and cheese or anything else that strikes his fancy. We usually try to go for something with protein and fat, a fruit or vegetable, and finger food. He then sits on the potty.

11 - 12am: Sometime around here he goes down for a nap. He nurses off to sleep and then Mama gets a little time off. It has been very little recently, because after 20-30 minutes in his crib he wants to sleep on Mama's lap, while she reads a book!

1-2pm: Kiddo is up and sits on the potty. Need we mention that he reads more books? Mommy is usually home by this time and we have lunch together. Lunch is whatever we have in the house, from enchiladas to tamales to sandwiches to nachos to soup.

2-4pm: Mommy takes a third trimester nap. (In previous trimesters she took first trimester and second trimester naps. She needs her naps.) Now that she is on the verge of giving birth and no longer tutoring in the afternoons she has more time to play with Mateo and rest. Mama and Mateo take another outing of some sort: park, zoo, walk, play date, garden etc. They have a snack while out or after getting back.

5pm: Mommy and Mateo play and if he is having a tough day, we might watch some Baby Signing Time. We make dinner.

6pm: Dinner time.

6:45pm: Time to get ready for bed. Sit on the potty, get on jammies, have vitamins, brush teeth, have fluoride, read a book (in this order). Have some Mama's milk and go to sleep.

First wake up of the night: Mateo has some Mama's milk and goes back to sleep. If Mama is not around, he has some bottled milk and then gets put back to sleep after some cuddles.

Second, third and other wake-ups: Someone goes in and reminds Mateo that it is still night night time. We don't pick him up, but do pet him and talk soothingly to him for a few minutes. He usually goes back to sleep in less than 10 minutes. (It can be ten loud minutes.) If he seems overly upset, we go in and cuddle him until he is asleep and put him back down or see if he is in teething pain and needs Motrin.

Ah, the joys of a routine that will soon be gone!