the afternoon and evening at our place-daily rhythms and routines

As a continuation from this morning's post, I thought I would finish up with what an afternoon at our house looks like.

After lunch I clean up the dishes and the kitchen while Noah plays a little bit. We then try to settle down by listening to some quiet music or by reading or sometimes by watching a video (yes, I said it, we sometimes watch videos). Then Noah falls asleep on me or beside me on the sofa and takes a good long nap. During nap time I'll sometimes do a bit of house work (dishes, picking up toys, cleaning the bathroom) or I will do a bit of my artwork. I also take the time to catch up on emails or other online stuff. Also during nap I get started on dinner prep (like cutting or peeling veggies or getting something going inthe crock pot) and sometime I might bake something like muffins. As you can probably tell, nap timeis my busy time when I get a chance to do important house work that doesn't get done when Noah is awake.

When Noah wakes up from his nap we often go out for a bi

t to break up the afternoon. Sometimes we go to the park or for a walk or to a friend's house. Sometimes we may run an errand or do some grocery shopping. And we always check the mail after lunch because you never know what may be waiting in the mailbox!

We try our best to get home for 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. When we get in, I usually get Noah set up at the high chair with a cup of milk and a small healthy snack. He likes fruit, dry cereal, crackers and cream cheese. I like to give him something

small to tie him over until dinner. During this time I'll usually make myself a cup of tea and work on dinner. I like to have dinner ready fro 5:30 so that Noah can eat at a good time and not be hungry and cranky. Sometimes while I am preparing dinner Noah can get bored but we have discovered the perfect way to engage Noah in the kitchen and that would be..."helping mama cook", in other words, playing with pots and pans.

So dinner is at 5:30 but sometimes 6. If Winslow is at work we don't wait for him (because in his field of work on any given day he can have to work overtime). Sometimes it is kind of lonely to eat dinner all alone with Noah. After a 12 hours day without seeing Winslow, sitting at a quiet dinner table can feel lonely...but that's just part of our daily routine. Still even though Daddy isn't always at the table, I make it a rule that no matter what we always sit down at a properly placed table and that we say a prayer of thanksgiving before our meal. I usually put on the radio to CBC Radio 2 as background music and that is what keeps us company while we eat our meal. On this particular evening we had turkey shepherd's pie and green beans with almond slivers on the side. It was quite tasty and Winslow enjoyed it when he got home from work later that evening.

After dinner it is bath time for Noah (at around 6:30 or 7:00). I try to let him stay in the bath as long as he likes and I just sit in the bathroom and flip through a magazine or just talk to him. I have to say that I quite enjoy bath time because it seems to be the one moment where Noah stays still for a period of time and where I get to pause and take a break. I take the time to play little games with him like: where is your nose?, where is your hair?, how do you sign "more", how do you sign "milk" and stuff like that.

After bath time comes pj's, snuggles and quiet time. Depending on how the day has gone, sometimes Noah gets tired and wants to go to bed at 7:30. But if he has had lots of rest during the day, then sometimes he is still full of energy and wants to play more. If that's the case and he isn't ready for bed, then he'll come back upstair and play while I (or Winslow) clean up the dishes and kitchen. When he is finally ready for bed we go down stairs and cuddle in bed until he falls asleep. Once he is asleep I then get myself ready for bed and settle in for the evening with my laptop (my entertainment we don't have cable tv), a magazine or sometimes I will go and work some more on my art. More recently I have been trying to go to bed early, like 10pm or so, but that doesn't always happen. But at the end of the day, I really enjoy getting into our large bed and settling in for the night with my sweet babe next to me (we co-sleep).

And that is my friends is how we spend the day at our place. I'd love to hear if from you if you are interested in doing a similar post.

Don't forget to check in tomorrow to read a new post by one of my guest bloggers. This particular blogger lives in the far North (even further North than me!) and has quite the interesting story on how she does her grocery shopping- you'll definitely want to tune in!

Hope all is well with you and yours

xox