Thankful November- day 6

This should have been posted yesterday, but alas, I woke up with Brynn's cold yesterday and I took a nap instead of blogging. =)

I'm thankful today for Brynn's daily routine. I know it will change a bit as she grows, but it helps our days run so much more smoothly because her days are somewhat predictable. When she was about 3-4 months old, I started trying to get her on somewhat of a schedule. Before then it wouldn't have worked since she slept so much of the time. I'm definitely someone that appreciates a predicted routine (probably the teacher in me). I have friends who's kids take naps at different times every day, go to bed at different times each night and snack throughout the day instead of having meals- they are happy and healthy and it works just fine for them. For me, I need to know what time every day I can expect a break to get housework done, and also what time I'm "off-duty" in the evenings. Mark has commented to me many times how much he loves our evenings together. It's almost like "date-night" every night since Brynn goes to bed at 7. We then have time to eat dinner together and watch a show or two, or just talk. Now, of course, there are one or two nights every week when Brynn doesn't go down as easily as usual, or wakes up several times before we even go to bed. But generally, she does great.

I love being able to plan my day around Brynn's naps and when we'll need to be home, rather than hoping she'll nap in the car while we're out and about. We've been on several little vacations since Brynn was born and though she always did great with shorter naps at different times and later bedtimes, she was so happy to get home and back into her schedule. Since she can't talk yet, it helps when she's fussy to be able to at least intelligently guess what she needs based on what time it is.

It helps Mark and anyone else who takes care of Brynn to know what her day usually entails. I typed up a schedule (per Mark's request) and put it on the fridge. It's become very handy when I leave her with someone because I don't have to write out a little note every time someone else watches Brynn. For our family, a routine helps us run smoothly and for that, I am thankful!