My first day back at work was yesterday. I never thought it would be harder on Charlie than on me, but I think it was! He’s home with my husband for two weeks before he starts daycare and he spent his first day without me crying and trying to nurse to no avail. When I arrived back at home, he spotted me and gave me the widest brightest smile I’ve ever seen on his little face. I must admit that his grin sort of made it worth leaving!
Yesterday was also my first day of trying to streamline my “getting ready” schedule in the morning, and the “cooking dinner and packing up for the next day” process at night. I bought an extra set of makeup to bring to the office. I figure the world can endure a makeup-less face until I get into work in order to shave 10 minutes off my morning routine. I’ve also started laying out my clothes and showering at night so that my only bathroom time in the AM is to put in contacts and fix my hair. I also try my best to make breakfast and lunch the night before so that I can just throw the ice packs into my breast milk cooler, grab my food, and head out the door. Once Charlie starts daycare, I hope to have his bag pre-packed each night and ready to go the next morning, too.
My big snag yesterday was dinner. When I came home, Charlie was snoozing, so I took the opportunity to get to work in the kitchen. I unpacked and washed pump parts and food containers, then made food for the next day and pre-packed my bag. By the time that was done, Charlie was up and happily ready to nurse, but once I sat down with him I didn’t want to get back up! Dinner was going to be Otsu, an easy-to-throw-together asian dish that we eat every time we get CSA cucumbers or cabbage, but I just couldn’t do it. I gave in to ordering chinese, but tried to make up for it by pre-making the sauce for the Otsu so that I could throw the dish together tonight. Lesson learned: make dinner first, hang out with child, and wait until the kiddo has settled down for the evening to pre-pack for the next day.
So to all my readers who work outside the home, or have kids who go off to daycare/school each day, or who just have busy busy lives: how do you streamline? What sorts of things to do you do to make getting out the door easier and to maximize time spent with your little ones?
Aimee
June 28, 2011Slow cooker. Makes enough for leftovers and then some to freeze. Definitely pack diaper bag and you own bag the night before. Also make breakfast sandwiches you can freeze. Same goes for pancakes.
Sarah H.
June 28, 2011Laura, this is a great post. You are doing a great job! One idea – when I was pumping, I bought multiple sets of pump parts so that I always had clean ones available – I’d put each day’s parts in the dishwasher at night and just grab clean ones to bring to work the next day. I’m not sure if all would agree with washing them in the dishwasher, but it worked for me and saved me from what become a dreaded chore each night.
Sarah, this is a fantastic idea and I will probably implement it!! Thanks!
Monica
June 28, 2011Laura, sounds as if you have a great routine going so far, great job! It’s so much to juggle, I love Sarah’s suggestion above, that really will save some time. This is a simple one, and doesn’t really seem like it would save time, but for me somehow it really does. I put as much “stuff” in my car as I possibly can the night before. Especially if you are the one dropping Charlie at daycare, that can be a lifesaver to only have to grab the actual baby and purse and head out the door::)
Thanks, Monica! I wish we could throw stuff out in the car overnight, but we live in Philadelphia and it would be gone in a heartbeat. My husband’s car has a trunk so it’s a little easier to conceal stuff but my car is an SUV so you can see everything inside. People have gone into our cars just to steal phone chargers and loose change! We won’t be here forever, though…as soon as we have a house with a driveway and (maybe) a garage, I will be implementing this idea for sure!
Lisa
July 1, 2011Sorry, I put this comment on a different post by accident so re-posting here… Get extras of things like pump parts, bottles/sippy cups, baby food containers (if you’re making your own), etc. too. I can’t tell you how much time I spent washing things while on maternity leave, and how great it is that we now have a nanny who takes care of washing our son’s bottles/sippys every night and making his evening and next morning bottles before she goes. On the days we do back-up daycare, I try to pack the diaper bag the night before, and leave a list on top before I go to bed of what needs to be thrown in in the AM. Also, on Sundays, I cook something we can eat Sunday and Tuesday, and if I have time, I try to cook other things over the weekend, too, so that on 2-3 weeknights we can just defrost something. And I plan out my son’s schedule and menu for the week (activities, clothes, food, etc.) on Sunday nights also, writing all of the pertinent info for each day on a daily log sheet we leave for the nanny. It’s so much easier to get out of the house when I know that I’ve already planned out what he’s doing and eating — and again, when our nanny calls out sick, much easier to get Nolan to back-up care with everything he needs.