So what is life really like with four children under four years old? Well, I don't quite know yet. Currently our oldest is 3.5 years old, our middle is 2 and our youngest is 1. I am 28 weeks pregnant with our fourth who is due a month or so before our oldest turns four. In other words, I'm exhausted from pregnancy but not nearly as tired as I'll be with a newborn nursling!
Our days probably look a lot like any family with young children; our children just happen to be very close in age! We haven't had more than a handful of nights, in the last 3.5 years, where there isn't somebody needing something in the middle of the night. Whether it's a bad dream, a wet bed, or an illness there seems to always be someone needing Mama or Daddy. We have been blessed with children who don't fight us too much at bed time, although I do contribute that partly to our bedtime routines which you can find here.
Our days start early with our oldest rising shortly after the sun! He is a morning bird who doesn't waste a moment of his time sleeping. We typically hurry him out of his bedroom so he doesn't wake his younger brother who does enjoy sleeping and needs a lot of it! Anywhere between 1.5 - 2 hours later our 2 and 1 year olds wake up.
After diaper and outfit changes we launch into breakfast, which is admittedly typically served in the living room. Our breakfasts range from apples and banana's to egg bakes or sometimes donuts. Whatever is easy and as healthy as possible is what's served!
Following breakfast we do whatever we can to get outside! Life is just so much easier if we've been outside to run off energy and soak up some Vitamin D! If it's raining we pull out our list of 10 ways to boredom proof rainy days.
Getting outside typically means just around to our backyard but we are blessed with a great park, that nobody seems to know about, only a mile away that we sometimes walk to. Before the third trimester of this pregnancy we would walk to the park 4-5 days each week…now, I'm just too tired and it's too hot! Our backyard is fairly well stocked with three kiddie pools, a large in-ground sandbox, mini roller coaster and of course, a big swing set with slide!
After the kids are sufficiently tired out, normally about 2 hours, we head back inside for a homemade popsicle or smoothie. Diaper's usually need changed at this point from being muddy, wet or just full. Lego's, animal's or trains typically ensue while I start making lunch.
Lunch is pre-planned for the week on Sunday's to avoid last minute panicking because we don't have anything in the house that's healthy. I follow our 10 ways to feed children healthy as a guide for what we all eat.
Naptime, my favorite time of the day, is next up! After lunch we change diapers, and typically clothes as part of our nap routine. Again, they are warned that after lunch is nap and they tend to go down fairly well! Naps last between 2 and 3 hours, depending on our earlier activities.
Post nap means more diaper changes, a lite snack and then outside, if it's not too hot, or a movie/free play, again depending on the day.
I make dinner and we have baths and bed time.
We love getting out of the house on days that Daddy has off! We head to the MN Zoo, Como Zoo, Underwater Adventures, or random Parks that we find. We visit the MN Zoo and Underwater Adventures often enough, I'm talking about once a week, so we purchase annual passes to both locations. We figure we save hundreds of dollars throughout the year so if you go to any zoo's or park's that offer passes do the math! If you go even two or three times a year you're probably saving money if you buy the annual pass!
As you can see, our day is really not much different than any family…we just might have more diaper changes mixed in!
Does your day look anything like ours?
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