When both of my kids were newborns, I started a very basic evening routine with them. This was way less for their benefit and way more for my own because I like structure and schedules. It helped me get through those long days knowing that at 5 PM, we could start the evening routine and hopefully get an hour or two of quiet once they were finally asleep. This schedule changes a bit as the kids get older and their sleeping schedules change, but for the most part, we stick to the same things every night.

5:00 PM – I get dinner started or finished, depending on when I got home from work and how much prep I did for the meal ahead of time.

5:30 PM – Dinner time. The kids sit in their high chairs and Mr. Cereal and I sit in the living room together.

6:00 PM – After dinner walk or backyard activity. We try to go on a walk every night after dinner with the dogs. LeLe either walks or rides her balance bike, and Little Bug rides in his Cozy Coupe. We each get one dog and one kid.

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6:45 PM – LeLe helps me feed the dogs while Mr. Cereal and Little Bug get the toys picked up.

7:00 PM – I send Mr. Cereal upstairs with LeLe and Little Bug while I tidy up the kitchen, prep food for the next day, and get sippy cups of milk for each kid. The kids usually go into their closet with Mr. Cereal to pick out their PJs for the night.

7:15 PM – Into the shower or bath. I probably do a bath every third night with the kids, but the other nights, I hop into the shower with them and get them all washed. Mr. Cereal grabs one (usually Little Bug) and gets him dried and dressed while I finish and get LeLe out, dried off, and dressed.

7:45 PM – Teeth and hair brushing. Generally, this goes down with my wrangling LeLe and getting her into the bathroom to brush her hair while she brushes her teeth. Little Bug gets his teeth brushed by Mr. Cereal and they get into bed.

8:00 PM – Nurse Little Bug and get him settled with a sippy cup and a book while Mr. Cereal and LeLe watch an episode of Peppa Pig or Little Einsteins on the kindle.

8:20 PM – Little Bug is asleep, so I usually braid LeLe’s hair while Mr. Cereal reads to her.

8:40 PM – LeLe gets into the sidecar crib and either goes to sleep immediately or talks with me until she goes to sleep. This timeline can vary based on how wound up she is from the day. We talk about going to school, or what she did during the day, or who she will see the next day. Some nights she gets to watch a few videos on YouTube, or she can play a game on the Kindle. It really depends on how much energy she has.

9:30 PM – Kids are asleep. Mr. Cereal and I usually watch an episode of something from the DVR. I almost always fall asleep…

10:00 PM – I sleep, Mr. Cereal goes downstairs and watches his shows, reads, etc.