The New Routine

School has started, hooray! Everyone is happy about it. Mostly. We're sad that Daddy is gone all day again now, but it gives us some structure to our days which is always a good thing with little kids. Since Sutton is in afternoon preschool, we still have our mornings at home together which makes the transition easier, I think.

This year, I am trying to go it alone with no daycare. Each year since Sutton was born, I have dwindled my daycare down and down to now finally nothing. That first year, Sutton went to a babysitter two full days per week. Last year, Ren hung out with Grandma Janet for a couple of hours two mornings a week.

Our days are pretty similar during the week. Ren gets me up around 6:30, and he and I have some alone time and eat breakfast together. Daddy usually gets up around 7, gets ready, and heads to work. I wake Sutton up around 7:45 and we quickly get dressed and get him some breakfast before heading to the Y to work out. Both boys love the Y. Sutton always has, Ren took some convincing, but now he's excited to play when we get there.

After the Y, we come home and Ren goes down for his morning nap. We are at a transition point with naps, so I have started waking him up after an hour so that he will still take a good afternoon nap. During that hour that he naps, Sutton brushes his teeth, makes his bed, reads a couple of books, and then has play/iPad/free time. I use that time to work - answer emails, edit photos, etc.

When Ren is up, it's lunch time! We eat together and then get Sutton ready for school. We leave the house around 11:50am to pick up one of Sutton's classmates and I drive them to school and drop them off.

Then Ren and I head out for errands, a little park time, or sometimes straight back home. I have really been enjoying this one-on-one time with my little guy. Sometimes I try to sneak in some work while he is still awake. Then this happens:

He's just so helpful. :) Don't mind the messy desk. With taking care of two kids full time while running a business, my housework and cleaning are last priority unfortunately!

I have had a lot of babies born in the last few weeks, so I've been having newborn sessions in the studio after Sutton is at school and having either Grandma Janet or a babysitter come hang out with Ren during that time.

Ren goes down for his afternoon nap around 2pm and sleeps anywhere from an hour to 2.5 hours. If I'm not shooting in the studio, I use this time to get a lot of my editing done in my office. Sutton gets picked up by another mom and taken to Adam's school, which is just 2 blocks away from Sutton's school. Sutton hangs out with Daddy for about 20 minutes until Daddy's school is out, then they come home together. Sutton usually falls asleep on the way home.

When Ren wakes up, we have chill time watching a movie or having a snack or playing outside until Daddy and Sutton get home. If it's a free evening, we make dinner and take a walk or a bike ride, or play outside. A lot of times I have shoots though, so the boys have time with Daddy while I work.

Ren goes to bed at 8 and Sutton around 9 and then I get more work in til 11 or midnight usually. Then off to bed and do it all again the next day.

I wanted to document a normal day for us at this point in our life, and I had a few photos to go along with it. So there you go. We will end with a little video of Ren trying to put Diesel's ThunderShirt on him. :)