Bedtime Rituals

I have always been a big believer in keeping up a schedul, so ever since Kaia was born, we've had a very set bedtime ritual. The time has varied a little bit on occasion, and as each child comes, we are juggling more, but these days it generally goes as follows:

7:00 pm - usher the kids up the stairs (this frequently resembles herding cats)

7:05 - Kaia goes potty, Kienna changes into her pajamas and brushes her teeth, Saryn gets her diaper changed and a nightie on and dances around...Mom reminds everyone what they're doing and does everything including jumping up and down and standing on her head to encourage them to do this in less than half an hour.

7:15 - Switch!! Kienna goes potty, Kaia brushes her teeth and changes into her pajamas and Saryn switches on to her 2nd or 3rd nightie of the evening and continues dancing (even while Mom is trying to brush her teeth and hold the baby at the same time).

7:25 - Mom checks/goes over/flosses everybody's teeth as well as checks hand washing. Then the kids are ushered into their room for prayers (personal and family) as well as stories (getting them into their room doesn't take very long, but getting them to stay there is nigh unto impossible - in fact, I don't think it's ever happened). While reading stories Saryn escapes into Moms room and gets into her miscellaneous drawer. She continues to empty this out while the baby feeds because Saryn knows that Mom can't come and stop her while the baby is eating.

7:40 - Mom makes the rounds to each child tucking them in and giving them kisses. This has recently been extended to about 5 minutes because each child has to hug and kiss (and hopefully snuggle) Jaymeson. Saryn will say, "I wanna snuggle Buddy" and how do you say no to that? So all the girls (except for the one on the top bunk) get to snuggle with him.

7:45 - Lights out (for the first time). Kaia and Kienna stay in bed and wait patiently/fall asleep while Saryn gets in and out of bed, turns on the lights, empties the bookshelf, opens and shuts the closet, climbs on the head of her bed to lift up the curtains and look out her window - well, you get the general idea - for the next half hour. Once she does something that makes a noise, Mom comes in and puts her back to bed (trying very hard not to give her any of the attention she so obviously wants). This happens over and over again over the period of a half hour. After half an hour Mom thinks (foolishly) that Saryn is going to settle down, so she'll go downstairs to deal with the rest of the house. Saryn takes this opportunity to go back into Mom's room and go through that top miscellaneous drawer again. This is where creams, clocks, notes, bracelets, tums, patriarchal blessings, cards, and any other things you would want close to your bed is held. Saryn goes through and empties this out and always finds the worst possible thing she could and squirts it or squishes it or ruins it somehow. Once Mom's bedroom is sufficiently destroyed, Mom hears a sound and goes back to put Saryn in her bed....and stands at the door so that if Saryn makes so much of a peep, she'll be put back to bed.

8:45-9:00 - Saryn finally drifts off to sleep with her sisters. Sigh. Mom is so exhausted, she collapses and somehow has to get back to the rest of the responsibilities of the house so that she doesn't start too far behind on the following morning.

10:00-11:00ish - Mom heads to bed when the baby finally falls asleep, peeks in on her little girls and sees how totally sweet and innocent they look and falls in love with them all over again....just enough to last for one more day!!

Here are some pictures of our new part of the ritual.....snuggling with the baby.

The baby sleeping silently once his sisters are settled.