Today I’m excited to announce a continuation of my partnership with Allstate, an insurance company dedicated to keeping families in good hands. Last year, Allstate made it possible for me to continue my Monday Morning series, documenting moms across the country to show their unique morning routines. We met Anna in LA, Shaneka in Chicago, Diane in DC and Kristen in Houston among many others.
Now, we’re taking it to the evenings! Wednesday Evenings is a brand new series that aims to show the beauty in every family’s evening routine. From dinnertime to bedtime, we’ll capture a typical night for 12 featured families.
The goal of Monday Mornings was always to show that no matter how chaotic or stressful your mornings feel, there is beauty to be found as well. I’m betting the same holds true for Wednesday Evenings.
This is the time when most parents come home from work, have dinner, play and then put the kids to bed. Right in the middle of the week when no one is still adjusting from the weekend or looking forward to the next one.
Just a regular night with the kids.
As different as everyone’s morning was last year, I think evenings have the potential for even more variation. Bedtime is open-ended. Instead of seeing people head out the door by a pre-determined time, evenings give opportunity to see different bedtime routines and parenting styles.
We are looking for parents who put their kids to bed early, parents who put their kids to bed late, parents who work an evening shift, parents who stagger bedtimes, parents who deal with tons of homework, parents who make sure their family all sits down for dinner together, parents who let their kids fend for themselves, moms who do it alone, dads who do it alone, etc.
Before I tell you how to enter, I’d like to show you a bit of my Wednesday Evening, documented as always by lifestyle photographer Raquel Langworthy. When the shoot was originally planned, I wanted to capture Mike and I both coming home from work, because the kids run to greet us with kisses and hugs and it’s always one of my favorite moments of the day. I also wanted to show our nanny Ruth who I always felt was missing from my family’s Monday Morning shoot. Unfortunately, Ruth got sick in the middle of the day, meaning I had to come home unexpectedly to watch Harlow.
Mike picked up Mazzy from school and because of the change in schedule, he decided to take her for a slice of pizza. Pizza is the NYC version of fast food, after all. He brought back a slice for Harlow as well.
By the time Raquel arrived, the kids were already home and fed. Not exactly a typical evening. Such is life.
Mazzy and Harlow spent the first twenty minutes of the shoot running around the house doing Mazzy and Harlow things— like putting on jewelry, playing musical instruments and jumping on the couch.
The plan was to take the girls for ice cream as we often do if they have had a good dinner. But then we learned the elevator was broken, which put a kink in our plan. We live on the 12th floor.
Mazzy did not take the news well.
I guess you can’t introduce an ice cream trip and then take it away.
We took the stairs.
Then we had an ice cream shop debate which I lost. I like Davey’s which has real ice cream homemade in the back, but Mazzy wanted 16 Handles which has pink spoons and a toppings bar.
I’m glad Mike is “keeping it real” and looking at his phone during our family moment.
Here he is trying to negotiate a spoonful.
Also true to form was Harlow putting on a show outside the yogurt shop. I should just set up a cup for money and maybe she could pay her own way through college.
Then we headed home.
Harlow dropped her ice cream on the way back. Obviously, I had to snap a picture. I’m sure you’ll see it on @insta2yearold one day soon.
Harlow handled it remarkably well. I was proud.
Then we headed back up twelve long flights of stairs. There was no whining which was a nice change.
When we got back, it was time for PJs and tooth brushing. Even with ice cream in their bellies, this never goes over well.
Mazzy is fully capable of putting on her pajamas herself, but unless I want her to go to bed at midnight, I usually give her a hand.
Harlow is the tougher of the two because she’s quick and squirmy.
“Where’s Mike this whole time?” you might be wondering. He’s making dinner for the two of us to eat after the kids are in bed.
This is something he does to be helpful and also because he prefers it to wrangling the children.
Notice Harlow’s half-eaten banana on the table. Not a night goes by where she doesn’t request one right before bed.
Once the girls ate their last minute snacks, they went to the bathroom to brush their teeth.
Where’s Mazzy? Oh, still in the living room, deciding what jewelry she wants to wear to bed.
MAZZY!!!!!!!!!
Then they picked books for bed time stories, while I checked something on my computer. It wouldn’t be a real portrayal of our evening if I wasn’t standing by my laptop at least once.
Mazzy picked the Official Guide to Frozen, which is the longest book ever written and definitely a present from one of the Grandmas.
Harlow picked “Iggy Peck Architect” because she likes to scream “GET OFF MY LAWN!!!” when the neighbor is standing there in his underwear, even though it does not say that in the book. I think Mike must have taught her that.
Mazzy asked to sleep in Harlow’s bed which I will sometimes allow. I told her “okay” but if they weren’t asleep in 15 minutes, she would have to move to the top bunk.
Then I hugged and kissed everyone goodnight. Their new request is “as tightly as possible”.
After I left the room, I quickly posted a photo to Instagram (because that’s what I do).
And then Mike and I sat down to dinner, just the two of us.
Except it wasn’t really just the two of us. Not quite yet.
I wish I could say that was the end of our evening, but Harlow got up and out of bed about 15 more times after Raquel left. That will be the subject of a future post, I am sure.
If you’d like to be featured in Wednesday Evenings, please leave a comment below starting with your city and the ages of your kids. Then give me a brief description of your evening with any details you think might set you apart from everybody else— even if that detail is feeding the kids frozen fish sticks 365 days a year.
We’ll be scouring the comments to find 12 families from four different cities, so if you know anyone in your town who might want to participate too, it will definitely up your chances to have them enter!
A HUGE thanks to Allstate for coming back for round two. I can’t tell you how much continuing this series means to me. You are in good hands, I promise!
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This post was sponsored by Allstate, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Photos by Raquel Langworthy.
My name is Lyndsey, sahm to Austin, 6, and Grant, 3.5 yo. We live in Sylvania, Oh. Our Wed evenings are pretty laid back in the summer. My husband doesn’t get home from work until almost 7, so we spend most of our time playing outside until I either make dinner for everyone or talk my husband into bringing home dinner. We love going to Mayberry square for ice cream since it’s one of the few nights we have no sports and my husband is home before 9:30. Or we’ll do s’mores in the backyard. Anything to take advantage of the summer evenings. We split bedtime, I read to the youngest, he reads to the oldest. I love our Wed evenings!
Napa California, Olivia who is 3.5 years old.
Mu husband and I are both winemakers working in Napa and Sonoma. Our typical Wednesday starts with me picking up Olivia and heading home to let the puppy (9 month old Doberman) out of his kennel to throw the ball while Olivia gets to watch the Kindle for a little bit. I then change my clothes and Olivia and I head out to exercise. When we get home Simon is making dinner, the dog is usually jumping on the window, the TV is on, and Olivia is running in to tell daddy all about her day. We then sit down to dinner together and FaceTime my parents EVERY night. Olivia usually will eat what we are having… but last night she didn’t want salmon aka pink fish, so she had chicken nuggets and fries. We then say good night, and start the bath/shower, she gets to choose, and we put on PJ’s, brush teeth, and read 2-3 stories depending on how “good” she was… aka how late it is. We then say prayers, give good night kisses, and lights out! She lays in there and plays for a while. I then head out the door to take the dog for a walk while my husband does the dishes… (sometimes we switch), We then finally get to relax for a little bit… or fall asleep on the couch before we all head to bed at 10.
Oh man, I would love to be able to do this, but probably won’t get picked because my good friend that lives the next town over was featured on the Monday Morning shoot. LOL.
Conroe, TX
2 children, ages 1 and 3
Both kids are in bed before 8 and I don’t get home from work until almost 6. The evenings are a mess of trying to get dinner made/eaten/cleaned up, kids bathed, getting lunches packed for the next day, and attempting to get some real interaction with my kids.
My kids are Dylan 6 and Harper, 2. We currently live in Knoxville, TN but will be moving to Omaha/Council Bluffs, IA in July.
Do you know when the shoot will be happening yet?
My husband doesn’t get home until 6:30pm at the earliest and I usually get home with the kids about 5:15. Dylan, my son, usually runs outside to go find friends to play with in our neighborhood while Harper and I play. Sometimes we will all go for a walk around the neighborhood. I’ll get dinner ready around 6pm or so for the kids, sometimes Dylan will eat then or other times he will eat later with my husband and I. He always has to eat something right before bed too, a banana, grapes, etc. Harper goes to bed at 7:30 and Dylan about 8:30.
Hello! I live in the Denver Suburbs and our Wednesday nights include: dinner as a family (hopefully all eating the same thing), garden time/dog walking/flower picking/worm hunting, bathtubs with “super awesome bubble storm” – the bubble gun from the zoo (we curse the zoo people everytime we have to use it for the tub), pj’s (which include using a TUB of Vasoline for my son’s eczema), bedtime and cookies for mom and dad without the kids on the couch before our bedtime.
With a new job starting soon, I’m hoping this won’t change, but – you never know!
I hope you choose us!
I’m actually very happy your shoot didn’t go as planned. I think the fact that you had to go home early and Mike had to pick up Mazzy makes this 100% more real. If you had gone home and met the kids as “scheduled” it almost feels fake- real life is changing plans last minute and learning to go with the flow. So thank you, for using a “normal” day instead of changing plans to get the shoot you originally thought you were getting. 🙂
St. Augustine, FL
Connor – 2 yrs old
I stay at home with my son, so we do a lot of things in and around the house. I do some crafts for a bit then we 2atch some Thomas the train until daddy comes home. Once he’s settled from coming home, I start dinner. Meanwhile dad and connor play with his train set, demolish it and then rebuild (over and over). Other times they play in the backyard with his pirate ship playtable.
then we eat and pray connor eats SOMETHING (picky eaters club over here.) Then we play some more before bath time. I do bath, husband does the dishes. Then he gets connor ready for bed. We take turns with story time and then it’s good night! After my husband and I relax over netflix and dessert!
Oh I love this even more than the Monday mornings! I call 5pm crazy hour. It’s like they know it’s five without even looking at the clock. It’s when everyone breaks down and NEEDS me right his very minute or they will surely not survive. I am the mother of three. Aidan (5) Grace (2.5) and Charlotte (“Charlie” 7m). I am new to the SAHM game and not quite sure how I feel about it if I’m being honest. My husband is the director of sales and travels pretty consistently. On those days where he is traveling the only thing that keeps me afloat is the hope that bedtime is near and soon they will be dreaming Angels and I will get a much needed drink! I am lucky that my parents live about a mile away and if I really can’t balance the crazy and cooking we just crash their dinner… They always cook too much anyway. I see it as helping them not be wasteful. On the days he doesn’t travel we bounce between sitting down to eat as a family or grabbing a quick bite and heading to tee ball or I feed the kids at 530 (before nick gets home at 6) because I couldn’t handle he crazy any more. Those days it’s a toss up if I even eat dinner. My husband does not cook. He’s Italian. That’s what his mom was for. And frankly sometimes sleep sounds way better than food. Speaking of sleep we have two versions of bed time. Both involving staggering as Charlie goes to bed between 7-8 and is usually the first down. Grace is starting to give up naps and is usually down around 8 and Aidan is the wild card. Some days he’s out by 730. Last night he was up until 930. He’s like a box of chocolates…. Charlie nurses to sleep and hopefully stays that way as I set her as carefully as I can on her crib mattress. She wakes up and it throws everything for a loop. We try to take bath, brush teeth, read books and lights out…. But then there’s option 2- everyone piled in mom and dads bed watching the voice/dancing with the stars/modern family until one of two things happens 1)you pass out and dad carries you to bed or 2) you become so annoying to the peopl trying to relax that you are forcefully taken to bed. These nights I’m just to exhausted to battle children who may or may not be tired. It’s probably not the best bedtime routine but sometimes I throw myself a bone and let it happen. You can find me passed out, drool hanging out my mouth by 10pm most nights.
Oh by the way we live right outside Chicago in suburbia (Clarendon hills)
Evenings are our crazy time too!!! It’s actually gotten to the point in our house where I dread nighttime… I love my monsters, don’t get me wrong, but I bloody hate evenings!
I feel like my life is boring after reading yours! lol
Wednesdays we usually go to piano lessons at 5pm. Since we only have one truck this would involve either myself or my husband taking our son (if my hubby is nice enough to go and let me have some quiet time!). His lessons are only 30 mins long. Whoever takes him sits in the car and waits till his lesson is over.
After we get home, we either cook dinner or depending on our mood, walk downstairs to the mall and grab something to eat.
Once dinner is over, we either watch TV, walk around the mall, or… no wait that is about it.
I try to keep all my blogging for the daytime when my husband is not home, but sometimes when I have a review due I might stay up and do it after they both go to bed.
We only have the one kid, so he usually goes to bed when we do ( as long as his mood allows!). He has never had a set bedtime schedule. Usually about 9:30 we tell him to go get pjs on, have that one last snack and/or drink, and then brush his teeth.
Once it is bedtime ( like when we are all ready to crash finally), Hubby and I will go lay in the bed and he will sometimes read ( depending on how hard his work day was) and I will usually play solitare on my phone. If our son is in his bed we allow him to watch a short movie on his ipad. If he is in our bed ( which he tries most nights!) then we curl up and go to bed.
Seems pretty boring… but we are just a family of 3.
We live in Garland, TX which is about 30 mins East of Dallas. It is just me, hubby and our son who is 8 years old.
We don’t have homework to worry about as we homeschool. So his school work is done during the day. 🙂 With summer coming ( finally!) we may have to start going swimming though in the evenings!
Naperville, IL! We have an 18 month old – my husband and I work full-time and the evening routine (dinner/bath/bed) is usually my responsibility b/c my husband gets home late. We don’t have much time b/c our son goes to bed around 7 or 7:30pm.
We live in Westchester, NY and my daughter is almost 2.5 years old. Our nightly routine is a bit divided, but beautiful because we each get our own special time with our daughter. We pick her up from daycare together around 4/4:30 and head home. I usually prep her dinner and my husband’s, then get ready to go to the gym. While I’m at the gym, my husband and daughter play (at the park across the street or in our house), might watch tv (or Frozen. ALWAYS Frozen.), then have dinner. When I get home, around 6:45pm, I take a bath with our daughter and do the bedtime routine – washing, brushing teeth, picking out pjs, painting her nails (a nightly ritual), reading books, etc. My husband leaves for the gym around this time and I get some quiet time at home to eat dinner and relax.
My daughter is 6 months old. My husband, daughter, 2 dogs and I live in a townhome in Germantown, MD. My husband is a golf course superintendent, so the summer is his busy season. He get’s home when the weather tells him he can come home! LOL So he might be gone until 6pm, or he might get to come home at 4pm. I am a SAHM. Our evenings are pretty scheduled since Caroline is so young still. Depending on the length of her two naps of the day, she may take a catnap around 4/430. She then gets up and I prep her dinner of solid foods. She is just transitioning to bite sized food, however, so we are trying to move to her eating with us. We try to have dinner at around 5/530. If my husband isn’t home yet, I have to eat without him, because at 630 I nurse Caroline and start her bedtime routine. After nursing her, we read her a story, hold her for some quiet cuddles, change her into her bedtime clothes and lay her down in her crib for bedtime. Bedtime is no later than 7:15. She usually puts herself to sleep in a few minutes. Sometimes stays up looking around, and others cries because she doesn’t want to be left alone for bed yet. 90% of the time, luckily, she just goes to sleep 🙂 My husband and I then relax and maybe watch an episode of our new favorite show- Parenthood. We also sneak back downstairs for some oreos and milk many days. We try to also be in bed by 8, though…because my husband gets up at 3am! So it makes for short evenings together, but they are so wonderful and sweet.
Las Vegas, NV Mia, 4 years and Lucy, 6 months. Our evening starts with me picking the girls up from daycare around 5.30, home to cook dinner while entertaining the girls and waiting for my husband to get home around 6.30. We always sit down to eat dinner together and play for about 30 minutes before our “timer” goes off to signal bedtime. My husband takes Mia to brush her teeth, while I change Lucy’s, then I get Mia dressed for bed. They get a story, then Mia gets into bed. I nurse Lucy in our bedroom, and my husband goes down to do dishes and lunches.
I have a (almost) 5 year old boy and 2 year old girl. We live in Knoxville, TN. My husband and I both work full time, so we don’t get home until around 6 and it’s a mad dash to get dinner ready, try to spend some quality time together with the kids, do baths, and bedtime by 9 pm. We love to have outside time after work – riding bikes, playing baseball, bubbles, etc. Our son is autistic and while verbal, has a hard time expressing his wants and has a very limited diet, so meal times are usually a struggle for him. I would love to bring awareness for autism on your blog as it’s such a huge part of our lives. Meanwhile, my 2 year old will eat about anything in the house and talks up a storm. My favorite time of the day is when all 4 of us are snuggled up in our bed watching Special Agent Oso before bed. I can assure you there’s not a dull moment in our house on Wednesday nights.
Danvers, ma & S@HM of 3 1/2 yo twin girls. I would love to capture our rowdy nighttime routine. We start with trying to get everyone to actually sit at the table for family time (if we call it dinner they don’t want to eat). After dinner if it’s nice out daddy takes them out while I clean up then we play for a little bit before brushing teeth, getting on pj’s & having story time. It takes 2.5-3 hours to get from dinner to bed.
I am in the Syracuse, NY area and have fraternal twins, age 10. My typical Wednesday night, right now, consists of working through lunch to leave work at 4. The kids have already arrived home from school and should be doing their homework and practicing their instruments . Once I arrive home, I help with any homework while trying to throw together a very quick dinner, which usually consists of something on the grill before heading off to the current practice of the season. Right now it is lacrosse. We need to be there at 5:15, which leaves me approximately 35 minutes to cook, eat, change and get out the door with water and the appropriate sporting gear. After practice it is back home, I hit the treadmill for a few miles and the kids chill out and watch t.v., play minecraft, etc. Bedtime comes between 8:30 and 9:00. The kids get ready and then read until I make them put their books down sometime between 9:15 and 9:30. I then do dishes, watch a little t.v., get things ready for the next day and head to bed.
My 2 year old daughter & I live in Santa Clara, CA. Going through a bad divorce so, it’s just us now. We look forward to Wednesday evenings because of her music class. My brother flies out (from Santa Clara) to Seattle on Wednesday evenings so, we drop him off at the airport sometimes.
Typical day – hurry back from work, take her to class, walk back, feed her dinner, coloring, playing, dancing, singing, books & then bed. Maybe a little TV if our dinner times are different.
Past 6 months have been an emotional roller coaster so, I hope & pray everyday that she is not effected by the divorce. Add to it the feeling that I might not be doing much for her (mommy guilt). I try to provide as much support & structure for her as possible…a fixed routine because she has to deal with a major change.
But, we have each other so, that amounts to a lot!
We spend Wednesday nights with our…ahem… “Spirited” 4 year old. That’s my nice way of saying, he bounces off the furniture in a spider man costume while I make dinner and my husband tends to our 2 month old. We live in Chesterton, IN which is 40 minutes out of Chicago.
I live outside of Milwaukee, WI and have two kids – Karina, 5, and Wyatt, 3. My husband and I both work, so our Wednesday evenings are the typical crazy night of picking kids up from daycare/summer camp/school and trying to get some food in them before the inevitable bedtime breakdown (we either eat with them or after they go to bed, depending on timing). In the summer we like to play outside for a while before dinner, although this makes it harder to get them to bed. We try to have the kids in bed around 7 after two stories, so then we fight with my son for an hour to keep him down.
We live just north of Milwaukee in a rural town named Cedar Grove, Wisconsin. My husband and I both work full time, and have two little girls — Cameron, age 3, and Dallas, age 2 (as of tomorrow, 5/28….insert crying from mama).
Our nights are pretty adventurous. We recently moved to the country, so the minute we get home from day care, we are outside — that is if our Wisconsin weather cooperates. We spend our nights on the swings, on four-wheeler and lawn mower rides, picking up pine cones, playing with our pets, etc. When dinner rolls around, it is important for me to have us sit down together as a family. My husband works late hours in the summer, so it’s usually just me and the girls at this time. Their plates stay on the table, because when Daddy gets home later, they generally eat Round 2 with him. We generally head back outside for a bit, and then bribe them to get into the tub to rinse off. Bedtime is always a circus event. We try to get the girls to bed around the same time, but often stagger so that Cameron can stay up a little later, and Dallas goes down first. They both want me to put them to bed, so my nights get pretty long. However, I’m glad they want me there to snuggle them because one day they won’t!
Good luck with your selections! I cannot wait to see this. I loved the Monday Morning series, and I’m sure this will be just as amazing.
Hi! I live in Dallas with my husband and our 1.5 year old son. We are both working. Our typical evening consists of my husband handling our daycare pickup. Once I get home shortly after 5:00, he hops on his computer to work for a few more hours and I take over the child-wrangling. This consists of determining the healthiest carbs I can get him to eat for dinner, a possible bike ride to look for rabbits, followed by a bath and some playtime. All of this is crammed in under 2 hours because our son goes to bed at 7:00 on the dot most nights. Once he is in his crib, then I prep dinner and also consume the necessary glass of wine (or two)!
I can’t wait to see the routines of other families. It is nice to be able to see what others do, so we can adjust our routine if we need to!
My Wednesday evenings are spent with my husband Chris and my almost 2 year old Jackson. Our “routine” is about to change drastically as I am due with baby #2 on July 1st. I imagine that Wednesday evenings are going to be anything but typical for awhile. We live in Kansas City, MO. My husband is a teacher so he typically picks up Jackson from daycare (AKA Grandma’s house) in the afternoon. They play for awhile with our dog and then we start thinking about dinner as a family when I get home. We are currently living in an apartment as we are building a house so after dinner we typically take a family walk around the shopping area or maybe head down to the pool. Bedtime for Jackson is around 7:30-8. Then the adults try and stay up for as long as possible to watch a baseball game or a show before crashing. A very exciting life we lead 🙂
Hello! My name is Jennifer, full-time working mom to Silas (2) and Cameron (9 months) and wife to Adam. We live in Cleveland and on Wednesdays, the husband works from home (kids go to daycare), so he usually had dinner done (or close to) when I get home with the kids, opening us up for some outside playtime, a walk to the park to meet a friend or just some home playtime in the playroom (aka, carpeted basement, lol). Bedtime is an epic process involving me nursing baby and putting him down while dad gets the toddler dressed and his teeth brushed. I meet up with them when the baby goes down and that begins the long process of “no bed!” “water!” “no, two waters!” (he demands 2 separate glasses of water). “No book!” “Yes book!” Kicking dad out of the room so he can sing with mommy (no idea why dad can’t be in the room for “Row Row Row Your Boat”). Finally ending with daddy tucking him in and mommy being kicked to the curb. And then sometimes, a few extra tuck ins after the toddler decides it is playtime after mommy and daddy leave him in his bed…
We are a family of 5 in Twin Falls, Idaho. We have 3 kids, ages 4, 5 and 7. Plus 2 dogs. Our routine varies a bit depending on which sports or activities we have in the evenings. Then dinner as a family unless the husband has to work late. Then book reading and then bed time.
I’m Tressely, my family and I live in Valparaiso, IN (NW Indiana, close to Chicago). As of Wednesday, I am a stay at home mom to Nolan, 20 months, and have a baby girl due in a few weeks. My husband is a traveling nurse. He is currently under contract with a hospital only 30 minutes away but he works nights so he leaves the house at 6:10pm which means dinner had to be made and eaten before then. His current contract ends July 4. At that point he could either stay at that hospital or possibly travel to somewhere else in Illinois or Indiana. If he travels somewhere else he will be gone three nights a week for work. Our current evening routine is: my husband wakes up at 5pm, showers and gets ready for work. We work together there to wrangle our toddler while I’m making dinner and he is getting ready. We try to sit down to eat by 5:30/5:45 then he makes his coffee while I pack his lunch and clean up from dinner. He is out of the door by 6:10 and I take Nolan in for a bath. It’s always a fight to get him out of the tub because he would stay in there forever if I let him but he has a strict 7pm bedtime so long baths aren’t an option. He brushes his teeth and we read a few stories then lights out at 7. We started potty training on Monday so our evenings got a little more challenging with that. For instance, last night he took a shower with my husband then ran into the kitchen, peed on the floor and slipped and fell in it all while I was folding laundry for 5 minutes. I’m sure the evenings will only get crazier once baby girl arrives! We also have two dogs that need fed and let out right around bath time. Our evenings are just and unconventional but we wouldn’t have it any other way and most nights they go off without a hitch. Thanks for the opportunity!
We have one little girl, Lucy who is 4 and another little kiddo due in October. We are in the midst of transition, before the new baby even gets, here as my husband just finished up a 21 month MBA program which pretty much look him out of child care duties most nights while we both worked full time jobs as well. Now we are working on adjusting our 4 year old back into having Daddy help with bedtime routine, which isn’t going so smoothly. Hopefully this works itself out before October when I expect a lot more the of responsibility of older child wrangling to fall on Daddy for a while. One positive change we have already noticed is how much more play time Lucy gets with Daddy since I am usually wrapped up in making dinner as soon as we get home (as long as it doesn’t involve him actually being a part of the bedtime routine, then watch out)! Sometimes it makes me sad to realize we really only have 2 hours or so with Lucy in the evening before she has to go to bed and within that two hours, any after school activities, dinner making and eating, bath time, toothbrush torture and books all have to happen. Its a whirlwind night as many can relate I’m sure!
oh, and I forgot! We are in Fernandina Beach, Florida!
Raleigh, NC
Layla, 4
Eli, 2
I work three days a week as an attorney, and one of those days is Wednesday. I rush to pick up the kids from preschool by 5, and my son is starving and my daughter is usually demanding candy or a treat or a present or a playdate with one of her friends. At home, I quickly throw something together for them for dinner…usually mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, or sandwiches. What follows varies, but usually involves some TV for both, or iPad for Layla, my son throwing the cushions off of the couch repeatedly and laughing hysterically, or dumping out all of his toys, and me pouring wine. I corral the kids upstairs around 6:30 and if they are lucky, they take a bath together. We brush teeth, and then I read to Eli, who is currently obsessed with “peekaboo” lift-the-flap books and demands that the same four books be read at least five times. At this point, dad comes home from work, and roughhousing begins. He tosses the kids in the air, does tickles, and sometimes squeezes in a few situps or pushups with a kid as a weight. We put Eli in his crib, and begin Layla’s bedtime shenanigans. Like Mazzy, she selects jewelry, gets read a book, sings a song, does a dance, does my hair, drinks some water, and demands a series of hugs. Eventually we pull the plug and say goodnight. Most nights we can do this by 7:30. I go downstairs and begin dinner for my husband and me, and I pour more wine. We eat after the kids are in bed, usually on the couch, after I’ve put all the cushions back in place.
Salam! We are an American family living in the UAE. My husband is an art teacher at a technology school here in town. We have 2 kids, 2.5 and 5 months. Wednesday nights are typically exciting because we are so stoked that Thursday is the last day of the work week! Our weekends are fri, sat!!
Wednesday night is one of our more hectic nights. We live in Virginia, just outside of DC. Hubby and I both work and our two kids (daughter is almost 7, son is 2) are in school/ day care. My daughter has a 5:30 ice skating lesson Wednesday nights, so I leave work early to pick her up to take her to the rink. On this day, my husband picks my son up from day care – usually I get both kids. Hubby then goes home and gets dinner started and usually starts feeding our son. My daughter and I get home a little after 6 and we all sit down for dinner. We try to have family meals as much as we can. Our son usually finishes first and almost always requests TV time at the little TV/DVD we have upstairs. The kids have a short playtime if they eat fast enough, then it’s off to bath, which the kids do together if my daughter gets ready quick enough. Hubby and I each get one kid – we usually pick by whoever is the most tired, has to go to the bathroom, has other stuff to do, etc. My son’s bedtime is earlier, so he finishes up and we get him ready for bed – he gets a little warm milk, 2 books, and cuddle time then it’s into bed. Not that he actually goes to sleep for another 30-60 minutes most nights. He’s still in a crib, but we’ll be transitioning him sometime this year. Meanwhile, his sister is usually playing in the tub or shower and finishes up when we’re done with my son and tell her to hurry up. She loves board games, so we usually play a quick game or two with her, (occasionally we watch TV or have a “youtube night”) then she goes to bed at 8. She reads a book and gets cuddle time, then it’s lights out for her. Hubby and I finally get to relax and eat dessert (my daughter is allergic to peanuts, so we usually save our desserts for after she’s in bed so we can have stuff that’s not safe for her if we want) and veg in front of the TV. Somehow it all works out. Mostly.
Jeffrey, almost 5, Ethan 3.5, baby 3, 34 weeks in the belly. My husband is an engineer and I’m a doctor. I honestly doubt that anything makes us special or unique but since I’ve always left for work before the boys wake up so the Monday Morning series didn’t apply to us. We sit down for dinner as a family every night and we work together to make bedtime happen by 8pm. I would love pictures of our every day before we move next summer!
We live right outside Louisville, KY. We have a two-year-old son and expecting a baby girl next week! Our typical Wednesday is about to get flipped all around with the new addition and my husband, who’s a teacher, about to be off for the summer.
I’m Heather, single parent to 2yo son Harrison. We live in Pflugerville (a suburb of Austin, TX). Our routine is unique because we live in a 1 bedroom apartment, so when it’s bedtime, there’s a lot of ninja moves and awkward hiding involved.
I’m Jess in Arlington, TX- Dallas/Ft Worth suburb; I’m a SAHM to an almost 2 year old. My husband commutes about an hour everyday to and from work, so he gets home later than most dads. I generally play with my daughter while scrambling to get dinner ready for all of us. We sometimes end up getting ice cream at a local shop or running to the grocery store for something to eat instead. 🙂 My husband, Jon, gets home around 7:30 and he’ll entertain Lo while I scramble to finish cooking and meet them in the family room. We don’t have a specific routine, so it varies, but we’ll often watch Lo sing and dance or Jon will play the piano with her. Lately, I’m crafting and sewing for her party, so I’ll pull that out to work on too. Jon puts her in bed around 9:30/10 and I sit on the couch and relax until he comes out. We’ll eat dinner and talk for a bit, watch a show and go to bed around midnight.
Other nights, we’ll hang out at the park or library and have Jon meet us there since they’re both down the street from home. If the day has been really crazy, we’ll wait for him and go to Barnes and Noble, grab Starbucks and look for a new book…and watch Lo dance and run on the children’s stage. Not too exciting, but still fun. 🙂
Hello! We are a family of four living about 30 minutes west of Baltimore, MD. Our son is 6 in Kindergarten and our daughter just turned 4 and goes to a full-time preschool. I work in the Space industry working in Mission Operations (our satellite gets to Pluto in 2 months!) so some times I work some crazy shifts. But it also means I get to come talk to my son’s class about space and hand out stickers and answer a billion questions.
Evenings usually involve a haphazard dinner, and my two playing with their toys (usually telling them they are in trouble, they like to pretend they are teachers). No one EVER wants to brush their teeth, and my daughter gets tired AS SOON as it’s time to clean up, and then asks to watch a movie in our bed at 9p. Which sometimes works, cause mommy and daddy are tired and need to catch up on the Tivo. Also, we live in a 2 bedroom house so the kids share a room. Yea for crazy!
My name is Katrina, mommy to Avelin, 4 (5 in July), and Carys, 2.5, in Mount Royal, NJ, just outside of Philly. Wednesday nights are toughest for us because it usually includes one of Avelin’s activities — either soccer or acro — while Carys is wrangled to sit through said activity after requiring Wendy’s for dinner. Somehow, my husband most often goes to DC for work on Wednesdays. Imagine that. So, if he’s home, we split bedtime where Avelin is starting Harry Potter #3 and Carys is currently obsessed with my 1989 Sleeping Beauty book. We are semi-potty-training and Avelin is sort of in charge of teeth brushing. If Pat isn’t home, there’s often Facetiming and goodnight kisses that way while he has dinner with their cousins who live in DC.
I’m from Montreal (Quebec) and I have 2 girls (3 and 4). I finish work at 4 p.m. every day. I rush into the subway to be at the daycare before 5. It takes me usualy 40 to 45 minutes, when there are no trouble with the subway (which happen very often in Montreal!). The girls and I walk from the daycare to home. In the summer, we go to the park or we play outside in our small backyard. In the winter, we play in the snow or we get in. We play for 30 minutes and then the girls help me to cook dinner (or the watch cartoons). My husband arrives around 6, and we eat all togerther. We play, bath, read books and the girls go to bed around 8 p.m. Adele, who is 2, will ask her father a legs massage ad Simone, 4, is always requesting a suggestion for her dreams. Very often, on Wednesday, I go for a run, 30-45 minutes, take a shower and snuggle with my husband in front of the tv. Then, my “third” shift begins: folding laundry, ironing, paying bills… We go to bed around 10 p.m.
Oh and life just got a *teeny* tiny bit less crazy because I just finished my Master’s degree.
My son asked me the other day if I could play a game with him because “now your project is over Mommy”. Guilt. Everywhere. 🙂
My family and I live in Washington, DC with our 3 kids (4 year old twins and a 2 year). My twins were born extremly premature. After 3 months in the NICU their team of doctors recommended we keep them out of daycare if at all possible. Since we can’t afford a nanny my husband and I decided to shift parent. I work a 9-5 job and my husband works nights. Meaning on a normal night I get home at 5:45pm and my husband leaves no later then 6pm. At least 2 times a week he actually brings the kids to my office around 5pm because he has to be to work at 5:30 across town. The two of us do a lot of solo parenting which is tough but we’ve made it work.
My name is Carlota, I have a 5yo son and a 4yo daughter and we live in Houston. I loved the monday mornings series but actually I prefer this evening series because evenings for us is the actual time to be alltogether home. I am a sahm, I write a blog http://www.criandoando.com and also write for baby center in spanish, so my day consists in handling my kids school and activities while finding time to write and develop my blog and other projects. My husband works in a bank and comes home a little late, so usually I shower and help them putting pjs before my husband gets home. And then once he comes home we try to have dinner all together, but since night time is the time for him to be with the kids the minute he enters the house its a party, a fiesta and a series of games, jokes and craziness. I love it and hate it all the same because my kids recharge during this time and its so much harder to calm them down, but I like the bond they have and how special they consider this time and look forward for daddy to get home everyday.
We eat together and then its time to brush teeth, story time and got to bed. Usually if i have something to finish, my husband put the kids to bed and instead of reading them a book, which is what i do, he makes up the best stories at the time that my children loove.
I live in the suburbs of Rochester, NY. I have two boys – just turned 1 & almost 3. I JUST potty trained my almost 3 yr old, so that’s been a fun addition to the mix.
I work part time, MTW & get home around 6. My husband picks up the boys from daycare & they get home around 6 too. Once we get home, it’s a dash for one of us to make dinner while the other parent keeps the kids from killing each other/themselves/breaking things & using the potty/maintaining a clean diaper. All while rushing madly to make dinner before they melt into a puddle of tears at exactly 6:30 because they’re hungry.
We all eat dinner together – songs included – and then it’s off for bath. One parent bathes, the other does dishes. We play man-on-man, each getting one kid into pjs & diaper and brushing teeth before bed. the goal is to get both kids in bed & settled down by 8. It’s a mad dash, but we’ve gotten pretty good at it in the last year.
Rocky Mount, NC. We have 2 girls, 1 & 3. Daddy attends school Mondays and Tuesday nights so Wednesdays are more chaotic with his reintroduction to our routine. We try to eat a meal together but we split bathing and lunch packing duties to have some alone time after the girls are in bed. Our 3yo is a master of stalling and goes crazy if she loses her music videos before bed. Our 1 yo is in the middle of defiance and fighting, hold me don’t hold me and screams for sleep. Their bedtimes are often about 30 mins apart but they share a room – when they’re both awake, there’s lots of yelling and noise and at least an hour of needed sleep time goes out the window.
I’d like to add that we’re vegan which can be a hard lifestyle while living in a small southern town. My 3yo prefers punk rock and alternative music and almost always chooses something along the lines of the Misfits, Iggy Pop, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins as her music video choices before bed. Both my husband and I work full time, Daddy drives a forklilft while I am an RN.
I am a stay at home mom with three boys, aged 6, 4, and 2. Nothing says crazy like having three boys during the witching hour. I am starting a photography business which is this exact type of photography so I would love to be able to participate in something in which I am passionate about! Plus, as you an imagine, this momma is NEVER in the photos! Our Wed nights are like most others- trying to keep kids entertained before dinner while trying to cook said dinner, playing after dinner to take us to baths, books, and bed.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Daughter, Onica, Age 1
Our evenings: Both my husband and I are employed full time. I work in Columbus, IN (40 min from our home) so I don’t typically get home until 5-6pm. My husband picks our daughter up from Daycare and they are usually home by the time I get there. Previously our evenings were pretty set: Get home, snack, watch an episode of tv while Onica plays, eat dinner, play with Onica and our Doberman Ham, put Onica to bed at 8 and then go to bed at 9. However, we recently had a house fire that put our world into chaos. Now, we live in my husband’s grandma’s vacant house (she has Alzheimers and lives with his uncle). The house had not been touched in quite a while…. We live with her things in her house. We are trying to get all of our things repurchased so there are constantly boxes and packages lying all around. Our daughter is now old enough to actually walk so she is getting into and on everything (but its hard to know whats where because it isn’t our home). I started cooking when my daughter was old enough to eat solids but now we only do microwave meals. We eat off paper plates with plastic utensils because we don’t want to wash his grandmas plates and silverware. This will be our life for the next 3-4 months while they fix our house. It is crazy being dropped into someone else’s world but there is beauty in this as no one was hurt in the fire, we have a place to live on our own, we don’t have to borrow things since the house is furnished, and insurance is covering everything.
I live in Charlotte, NC with my 4 year old. I am recently separated and we are beginning to adjust to our evenings just her and I. I really try to cultivate a feeling of family even though its just us. It is hard–I am usually tempted to breeze through our routine because I want alone time so badly. I teach middle school and have a very early start so bedtime is usually by 7:30. I pick her up around 4, try to squeeze in something fun for us (riding her bike or a craft), dinner, playtime for the puppy we got over Christmas, gym time for me and bath time for her. It doesnt always all get done but I try! 🙂
We live in Forest Hills (Queens), NY and have one son, Eli, who is 2 (turning 3 in August). My husband picks up Eli from daycare around 5:30 and does dinner (and if I’m lucky, pajamas and brushing teeth); I get home at 7 and Eli goes to bed at 7:30, so basically when I walk in the two of them are gallavanting around the apartment and I have to be Mean Mommy who’s all “Get to bed this instant!” Except bedtime is really one of the best parts of our day because Eli and I get to snuggle and read books together, and now that he’s older he demands, “Talk to me about my day!” and I get the scoop on the gossip from school (Yuval was chasing me down the big slide, Jordan was in time out, etc). My husband is definitely the fun parent but he gets adamantly chased out of Eli’s room at bedtime, so it’s the one part of the day that’s really just for the two of us and I get to feel special.
I live in is a small town outside of Harrisburg, PA. On Wednesdays you can find us entrenched in soccer. I have 9 year old twin girls who play in the town’s club league and a 7 year old girl who plays in the intramural league. I work full time in a small town 25 mins away as a recruiter and my husband works as a Landscape Architect. We are extremely busy during the school year. Wednesday dinner consist of leftovers of the mass cooking I did on Sunday to get us through the week. We try to sit down as a family at least 5 nights a week. But we have homework, baths, animals (dog, cat, rabbit and 3 chickens) to tend to. I also coach the soccer team. Our end goal is that the children are in by by 8:30. It runs like organized chaos, one thing out of place and the entire system falls apart!
My husband and I live right outside of Pittsburgh, PA. We have an almost 3 year old daughter, Mila, and will have a newborn baby boy this July. So of course our Wednesday evenings may be a bit different by then. I work full time and Mila goes to “school” in my building. We get home between 5 and 530pm. My husband works a lot of nights and we love eating dinner as a family – so the next hour has to be perfectly orchestrated to accomplish any quality family time together…. which is difficult and of course does not happen ever like we plan. My husband makes dinner so it’s almost ready for when we walk in the door. We eat on our back patio if the weather is nice. He goes to work. Mila and I then spend the evening deciding whether our neighbor (a two year old little girl – Mila’s best friend) is coming to our house, she is going to their house, or if we are all going to the playground together and then what playground (the black and yellow or the blue playground) and sometimes we get ice cream -mostly because I want it and picking out toppings with her is always fun. If we are lucky and my husband had the evening off he joins us – and the whole evening moves at a slower pace and is much nicer. We get a bath and put pj’s on. She gets to decide whether we are going to watch one episode of something on TV (usually Sofia the First) or read a whole slew of books. She loves both and it’s a hard decision for her – she chooses both equally and every night is different. We brush teeth and try to be in bed by 9pm. I snuggle with her for about 10 minutes or so-One of my favorite things in the world. I love our Wednesday evenings and every evening for that matter – even when things do not go perfectly, which happens more often than not.
Detroit, MI (suburbs actually)
1 Husband
1 Kid (2.3 years old)
1 annoying orange cat
On a typical Wednesday, my daughter goes over to my mother’s while my husband and I work during the day. After work we all gather at my parents house to have a weekly family dinner. This includes my siblings and spouses and occasionally a few extra guests as well. It’s a tradition my mother started a couple years ago in an effort to keep us all connected as we started families of our own. Real adorable Midwest mentality that I will forever be grateful for. One less meal i have to worry about during the week! Just kidding just kidding. Anyway after time with family we bring our little one home and tuck her in and one of us will go work out or work in our home office (my husband in school and I have an additional side business) or sit in silence staring at our phones until we finally end up in bed to read a book/discuss our day.
Our family is from Covina, California with 3 rambunctious boys ages 3, 5 and 7 and one baby girl that is almost 2. Our Wednesday evenings are crazy, just getting back from Karate, eating dinner, getting ready for bed (brushing teeth, pajamas on) and prepping for the next day (clothes out, lunches made, etc.). My mom comes over to help with bedtime (reading and prayers) and then she helps me fold laundry once they are in bed because my husband is in school and usually needs to study in the evenings. We live in a small home, so it is chaotic and feels like we are all on top of each other. I try to embrace the chaos and have rough house with the boys and sing some songs with my daughter before bed. I like having a few minutes to connect with them and it helps them to calm down for bedtime (especially my 3rd boy who has sensory processing disorder, which can make him VERY energetic).
My name is Katy and I live in San Antonio, Texas. We have a 3 year old son and identical twin daughters who will be 2 in July. My husband and I both work (I work a flexible schedule), so evenings are spent managing the chaos of picking up our son from school, making dinner, holding a twin and then the other twin, trying to keep everyone from either destroying the house or each other and trying to find 5 minutes of downtime together. We have a steady rotation of hot dogs and chicken nuggets for dinner and I actually made homemade fish sticks once and they were a hit, but who has time for that?! My kids are finally over the squeeze pouch phase and their nutrition has probably taken a hit because of it. Both our girls have eye issues that require patching, so if the patching didn’t work during the day, on it goes at night. That requires an extra round of “don’t pull off your patch,” “don’t pull off your sister’s patch” and “don’t use duct tape as a pretend patch” all phrases that come out of my mouth on a regular basis. We call our son the WMD or weapon of mass destruction because he is the mastermind behind making sure our house is a mess all the time. I envy those with play rooms and I dream one day of having a grown-up house. For now, I will settle for little people snuggles and chocolate milk stains in my bed.
Typical Wednesday in our house? Our house is me mom or as my oldest calls me Ms. Mommigan. Can you tell someone abhors chores? Besides me there is Baba (Grandma), Pappy (Grandpa), Shayla (11), Ashley (7 1/2), Ella (5) and Finnegan (4 year old aussiedoodle). Poor Grandpa lives with 5 girls. I get off work at 430 and then my oldest 2 play tennis with my boss. We don’t get home till 6. Pappy and Baba usually have dinner ready and we sit down to eat together. Then if its bath night we have to squabble for 15 minutes before anyone will take their shower or bath. After that we get homework done by then its a little after 7. Usually Ella has no homework so she goes to bed with her Kindle reading app while I help one kid with homework and Baba helps another. Ella usually passes out with kindle before I can do bedtime story and prayer. Then we do staggered bedtime for older two. It is always a loveable zoo
My name is Sara and I live in St. Peter’s MO (just across the river from St. Louis) Two boys, 5 1/2 and 2 1/2. Summer evenings are pretty calm and fun. Boys playing in the front yard until we have to drag them in for dinner, showers and bedtime. Our night is similar to yours, my husband and I both get home fairly early so we always have time for playing and cooking. Dinners all together and then we’re teaching our oldest to ride a bike so we let him ride up to the ice cream shop once a week for a treat. My youngest is only two weeks younger than Harlow and I think he might be just like her! Center of attention naturally and always making us laugh. We’re going to be moving him into a big bed soon, so that would be something to have documented on camera. 🙂
Hello! I am Merry from Walpole, Ma. About 20 minutes out of Boston. We have a family of 3. 🙂 I am 29, Tommy, husband is 29 and our baby girl is 6 months old.
I run a hole daycare where I take care of another little girl who is also 6 months old. She gets scooped up at 5:30. Tommy works in Watertown, Ma as a project manager for a mechanical contracting firm. Sometimes he is home to help before the other peanut gets picked up and sometimes he’s not. After pick up we have to figure out what our plans are! Does grace need a last nap? Should we fight her in the crib or just take her for a walk. She’s now eating solids. What can I whip up? What/when will we eat for dinner?? There’s is lots of kissing and laughing and singing in the evenings. Grace has a bath and we play with the water, splashing and pouring. This is the best part of our day because it’s the time we are all together. Tommy can’t wait to get home to us and we can’t wait to see him. I can’t really even describe how wonderful the moments are. Being new parents and having these experiences together. Some nights knowing exactly what to do, other nights we wing it because you never know what can come up!
I am a stay at home mom of 2 boys, ages 3.5 and almost 2. I will be moving to Chico, CA in the next month or so from Los Gatos, ca. Our nights are dinner at 6, bath at 6:30, one cartoon at 7ish (while I do the dishes) then pick up toys, brush teeth at 7:30ish, stories, hugs and kisses, and lights out around 7:50. I usually rock my youngest in the chair and sing a couple of songs, put him in his crib, and then my 3.5 year old wants to cuddle, so he gets the same. I leave the room between 8 and 8:15pm. If my husband is home for the night (some weeks he is, others he’s not off until late and just stops in for dinner) then things are a little different. Not crazy hectic, but our own crazy.
I grew up in Los Gatos!
My name is Sarah and I live in Ardmore, Oklahoma. My son, Larkin, is 4 (and a half!, he would add); he is an only child. I have been a single mother for most of his life – his father is not in the picture. It has always been just the two of us, until recently. We moved to this small town just a few months ago in order to be closer to my long-term (previously long distance) partner. He is a police officer who has worked nights until just the last week. Our evenings are now about learning how to work together as a new family unit. I am a writer, and work full time out of the home, so evenings are always a little crazy with daycare pick up, frantic grocery shopping, and debating who is cooking dinner. Our evenings aren’t complete without the boys playing “ninjas” – Larkin very much wants to grow up to be a police officer like John, so they have developed a bond in nightly roughhousing and wrestling. Our evenings are messy, loud, and crazy, but full of a lot of love and newness as we learn how to be a family of three.
We live in North Salt Lake, Utah and have two boys, ages 4 and 1. I am SAHM and my husband is a nuclear pharmacist and Wednesdays just happen to be the most interesting evening for us. My husband works a second job at a methadone clinic on Wednesdays so he works early at his normal job (3-11 am) comes home, tries to nap and then heads off to his second job around 1. Sometimes he works early the next morning, so he eats at work and then comes home between 6&8 and takes an ambient to go to sleep. Sometimes he doesn’t work late but is on call as soon as he leaves his second job, so he could get home and get called out to his first job. Sometimes he goes the whole day without seeing our younger son: nap time is when dad gets home, dad is gone when he wakes up, already off to bed before dad is home for the night. I try to keep our routine the same no matter if dad is home or not, but dinner is a little hectic when you have one kid who is a slow and picky eater and the baby who wants to eat all the food all the time, so you can never let his food running out or he screams for more. Baby in bed by 7:30 or else it’s too late, older son in bed before 8:30 and it’s time to relax. Maybe.
I live in the NW suburbs of Chicago with my husband, 2.5 yo son, and 6 mo old daughter. Wednesday is my day off from work and the only day I get to (have to?) help with bedtime. The rest of the week I’m home late and miss dinner and bedtime. My husband is finishing up his residency and finally home more often so we actually get dinner together and get to tag-team bedtime on Wednesdays. We are moving to Central America in August so, if there’s time, I would love to be a part of this series as a way to remember and cherish this stage of life before everything changes!
Sophie, 2, and Trooper (the dog), almost 4 – Bergen County, NJ
Wednesdays are tough as I usually work late in NYC. So, my husband picks up my daughter from daycare and the babysitter comes over around 6 pm. Then, around 7:15 pm, my husband re-appears to put my daughter to bed. ….and let’s the dog out…and let’s the dog in…and then falls asleep in my daughter’s room.
I would love for my family to be featured in a Wednesday Evening shoot as my husband and babysitter make sure our engine keeps running. My husband rarely gets recognized for all of the work he does….and Wednesdays are truly a special bonding night for my husband and daughter.
Of course, there are the few Wednesdays when I come home to a wild two year old and a very messy home! 🙂
Florence, KY family with 5 children (17, 12, 10, 6 and 5), a stay at home mom and a working father. Our Wednesday evenings are the children’s favorite because it’s Wacky Wednesday! That means everyone makes their own dinner; I don’t care what it is as long as I don’t have to prepare it, clean it up, or supervise. Ice cream for dinner? Sure, as long as you can scoop it yourself. You want cookies? Absolutely, as long as you can reach them in the pantry. Momma (me) usually has a liquid dinner wink emoticon and dad makes leftovers or a salad for himself. No baths on Wednesday’s either. Younger girls go to bed about 8:00 after we’ve read Dr. Seuss’ Wacky Wednesday, of course, and because they share a room there are hi jinx aplenty but as long as they don’t come out of their room, we usually let them be; 10 year old in bed at 8:30 and reads until 9:00; 12 year old in bed at 9:00 and reads or has something super important to share with us until 9:30; parents in bed at 9:30, 17 year old stays awake until ??????. This is our summer schedule.
Summerville, South Carolina (basically Charleston). My daughter, Charlee, is 2.5 and I am due with a baby boy on September 4.
I am a stay at home mom and my husband has a long commute, so our evenings start well before daddy gets home. Charlee usually wakes up from her nap around 5-5:30. I give her a light snack and let her play independently while I clean the kitchen and get dinner started. Often times my mother, who lives in Florida, will call to FaceTime with Charlee. Which usually ends up being me chasing her around the living room with my phone while she squeals and tries to hide. My husband gets home aroun 7-7:30 and we always sit down as a family for our meal. I give Charlee whatever we’re eating, but unless it’s breakfast I usually end up making her chicken nuggets and fruit salad because she won’t eat what I give her. After dinner my husband takes her into the living room to play. He’s a little more wild than I am with her and she often uses him as a pony. I clean the kitchen, so the dishes, and make his lunch during that time. Then I take Charlee upstairs to bed. She gets her teeth brushed, a bath, 2 stories, and then prayers. She’s becoming more independent and wants to do things on her own, so things can get a little wild up there at night, lol. After she is in bed I come downstairs and finishing cleaning before I can finally settle in for the night.
Hey, I’m one of those “old” moms, pushing 45 and looking every drop of it. We are in Wilmington, NC and my kids are CJ (2), Gracie (4), Ashley (13). My eldest, Sarah, is a college grad and on her on – WOO! Baby Daddy is an otr truck driver and he is home only 4-6 days out of the month, so a LOT of our routine requires us to call and discuss things with Daddy on the phone. My house is a hot mess but we have lots and lots of toys to play with. Most of our nights consist of picking up the same junk for the seventy sixth time, choosing two shows to watch on Hulu (we don’t have cable), and doing stuff like painting toenails, playing abcmouse, until time for bed. CJ always goes first and his noise machine must be set JUST so, his blankets JUST so. Gracie wants to be in my face every second and Ashley hides in her room, shouting “GO AWAY!” if one of the toddlers dares to crack open her door. Yeah, fun times. I dream of going to bed at 9 pm and drifting off to sleep, but somehow I wind up playing Riddle Stones as soon as there is quiet in the house 🙂
My family and I just moved from Hawaii to Chula Vista, California. My oldest is 20 and an active duty Marine (just like Dad). My youngest is 17 and an aspiring musician. We also have two crazy Boston Terriers, Daisy and Violet (who happen to be mother and daughter). Wednesday nights usually involve my husband and me cooking dinner together, arguing over who gets to cook! Then my husband helps our daughter with algebra (so glad this is the last year for that!). Afterward we all watch sitcoms until it’s time to walk the dogs. Our daughter retreats to her room to do whatever teens do and my husband and I call it an early night since he has to get up early every morning. It’s not the most exciting evening, but it’s a nice little bit of downtime now that our kids are older.
Emily has 2 hours of dance every wednesday night — fitting in homework, dinner, shower, taking care of 2 puppies, 2 cats and family time after we both work all day and her double dose of dance – and my own homework in the mix – makes me feel like I’m screaming my head off from 5pm to whenever she falls asleep …. especially when we consider the household chores that need to be done.
We live in Farmington, NH
Meet the Mattinglys. Heith the crop farmer. Liz the advertising copywriter. (Sounds like the makings of a good realty show, huh?) And then there’s London, the white-haired almost three-year-old wild child. Given Heith’s involvement in the family farm, we live in a rural community outside of Rochester/Buffalo, NY. I work in “the city” which is an hour commute each day. We have two lives. Harvest season and not harvest season. The latter is our reality May-Nov and makes for interesting Wednesdays (and Mondays, and Tuesdays, and Thursdays.)
Here’s how a current Wednesday night looks for us.
Heith is working (and looking mighty fine in plaid might I add). When he will be finished for the night no one knows. Will a tractor tire fall off and need to be fixed before tomorrow? Maybe. Will an out-of-state truck not show up on time? Probably. Will it rain? I hope! Point being, there’s nothing predictable about farming life and therefore, during harvest season, it’s a little bit like I’m a single mom.
I work an hour from our home. For an advertising agency no less (you feel me, sister?). So, having to leave at 4:30 sharp to get to daycare on time (GOD I HOPE THERE’S NO TRAFFIC) is a daily stress. I pick up our little Londy Loo by 5:30 on a good Wednesday. After she hugs the plastic “slow down there’s children” turtle sign out front at least three times, we are on our way. I suck at preparing meals ahead of time (moms that do that freezer meal prep shit are amazing), so I usually try to pull together something containing a few food groups as quickly as possible. Heith cooks in the winter months, so I feel pretty shitty if he gets home after a 14-hour day and has to eat Chips Ahoy. Plus, my kid, she likes to eat too. We have a table, but somehow always find ourselves sitting at the breakfast bar for dinner. It works. We also have two large dogs who want to eat and pee and be petted. You know, all the things you liked to do with them before you had kids. So as we eat, that happens too.
Is Heith home yet? Maybe.
A lot of nights we try to see dad in the field if he’s working late. When you’re three and your dad has a tractor for an office, it’s pretty much the coolest thing ever. If he’s accessible, London will ride along for a bit.
After that, it’s “me-me” time. No, not her grandmother – the iPad. I want to make macaroni crafts and build sand castles since these are my precious hours with her, but after an entire day doing educational things and playing hard at school, London just wants to veg for a few and I’ve come to accept she needs that time.
Then it’s bath time. We have a special game we like to play. It consists of taking all the bath toys to the “waterpark”. Basically we throw said toys at the shower walls and watch them splash into the tub and laugh until our bellies hurt. It’s the best.
Is Heith home yet? Maybe.
Now for the jams. No, you can’t wear your gymnastics leotard to bed. Yes, you have to wear underwear. No, you can’t wear that Mickey Mouse shirt I hate for the ninth night in a row.
[twenty minutes later]
After a handful of books we’re off to bed in our dreamy little yellow Jenny Lind bed. TIME FOR THE BACHELORETTE! Oh wait, it’s Wednesday.
Is Heith home yet? Maybe.
[Side note 1: You can get more of a glimpse of our life on instagram: LizMattingly]
[Side note: 2: I can totally get some other fun families in the area to participate if you decide to come out this way. Wink wink.]
There are two hours between coming home from work/school/daycare and bedtime. In those two hours, SO MUCH happens. My husband works late and on occasion makes it home for dinner, so I’m usually on my own to battle, I mean care for my two kids – my daughter – 6 1/2 and my son – 2 1/2 years old. At the end of the day, everyone is tired and it usually shows. I attempt to make dinner while trying to either tame a tantrum, keep the peace, or stop the dogs from eating the kids snacks. Yes, I feed them snacks right before dinner. Not ideal, but it bides me some time to whip something up for dinner. It usually looks like this – pick up dog poop (yep, no glamour here); make dinner, while the kids have a snack and watch TV; eat together as a family and hopefully until everyone is done, but sometimes the younger one doesn’t get this concept; brush teeth, bath, pj’s, book and into bed. Every once in a while, we throw in a dance party or 5 minute exercise time. Once the kids are in a bed, there are check-in’s and making lunch/snacks for the next day and then it’s time for me to do some work! HA!
Oh, I live in Santa Monica, CA. 🙂
We live in the Chicago Suburbs and I am single mom to a 10 year girl and a 7 year old boy. I pick my kids up from my ma’s around 6 (depending on traffic) and our nights are determined by several things 1- if we are in sport season because then the evening could hold practice or a game 2- if their father has parenting time or not that day. If the kids are with me we head home for dinner that is usually cooking in the crock pot while we are away. We have dinner as a family, then we do homework and then I workout some times the kids join me otherwise that have 30 minutes to themselves after the workout we catch up on our day, do laundry or other chores and maybe watch something on tv together. They go to bed 9 ish and I work on homework. I am studying for my MBA.
I’m Ashley from Boston, MA, with one son (Kellan, age 14 months) and one dog (Charlie, age 6.5 years). My husband and I stagger our schedules to accommodate childcare, which is provided by my in-laws, who actually sold their house and moved from St. Louis to Boston when Kellan was born so they could watch him! The staggered schedule allows us to minimize the time that the grandparents have to watch Kellan, but it also means that my husband handles morning getting-ready alone and I do night times solo. My typical weekday night involves commuting home, grabbing the dog & walking to my in-laws apartment to pick up my son then walking back home to our apartment (killing 2 birds with one stone for the dog walk!), a bit of playtime, dinner and bath before bedtime. All of this between 5-7pm! I hate having to work and being away from Kellan, so I really cherish the 2 hours a day that I get with him. After bedtime I do chores & make dinner so that my husband and I can eat when he gets home around 8. Night times always seem too short and jam-packed, but it’s our routine for now!
Los Angeles, CA (really the Valley). My son is three. My husband and I both work full-time; I get home around 4:45 and he arrives by 6:00. When I get home, we watch some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I get dinner going – my son often “helps” me cook, or asks to “cook” himself by pouring sugar into bowls (and generally all over the floor). We always eat dinner as a family, and then play upstairs in my son’s room before his bath. Then it is jammies, some milk and books before we say goodnight to him and all of his stuffed animals (around 8:00). Then my husband and I break out dessert and spend the evening together.
I’ve got two boys, aged 6 and 2, and live in Austin, Texas with my husband. We both work full time. Most evenings my husband picks up the oldest from his after school program and races home to cook dinner for all four of us while I grab the youngest from day care. The youngest and I usually arrive home right when dinner is ready (sometimes fifteen minutes later). We all eat together and then trade off doing bath with the youngest or homework with the oldest. Play time is after bath and homework. Then the youngest heads to bed by 7 and the oldest gets what he deems “three time” – time with just Mom and Dad. Wednesdays are different, though, since it’s my work from home day. Our youngest is doing OT and PT for developmental delays on Wednesdays so I work from home so that I can get him to those appointments. Then we pick up the oldest from school and have a much more relaxed pace afternoon/evening. It’s the one day of the week that I cook dinner and the day that we get more family play time than usual since homework is done before my husband gets home.
We live in Palm Beach County, FL and have 21 month old twin girls.
My husband and I both work full time, so one of us typically picks the girls up from daycare around 5:45 and then we meet up at home. One of the girls will usually demand that we take our French Bulldog for a walk around the neighborhood IMMEDIATELY upon arriving at home. So, we load the girls up in their Radio Flyer wagon and do our nightly walk around the neighborhood.
Once we get home, my husband typically starts dinner while I distract the girls from the imminent hunger meltdowns with things like having pretend picnics, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, or trying to encourage them NOT to jump on the couch. One of the girls must have her “lovey” named “Bubby” with her at all times, including dinner. She often tries feeding Bubby part of her meal, and then feeds our dog the other part before declaring “ALL DONE” and throwing everything on the floor. Usually around that time we Skype or FaceTime one of their grandparents to catch up and say hi.
After FaceTime we usually have a Dance Party in the living room (soundtrack provided by our record player or my husband and his guitar), followed by a bubble bath, chasing after two naked toddlers and begging them to put on a diaper, and then a bedtime story. After the girls’ bedtime story, we have to say “night night” to each Elmo doll in their room by covering them up and reading the Elmo dolls a bedtime story…. THEN we can finally sing “Row Row Row Your Boat” and put the girls to sleep. After all of that, my husband and I clean up the kitchen and living room before snuggling up on the couch with our dog and watching TV.
I’m Katie, from Castle Rock, Colorado. I have one son, Oliver, who turned 2 yesterday. We also have two adorable corgis, Maisie and Banjo.
Wednesday is one of the two days that I work outside of the home, so my husband picks my son up from his parents’ house in Littleton, CO and brings him home while I cook dinner. (I also often start my evening with a little Wine Wednesday action with my coworkers… one of my favorite times of the week). Dinner is usually a pretty fast occasion because we both work about an hour from home.
We try SUPER hard not to use the TV to occupy Oliver’s time, and we almost always have a super fun evening of bathtime and lots of playing before bed. I’m also still nursing, so Oliver’s night always ends with a super fun/hilarious nursing session.
I also use a lot of late nights to work on my crafts (which I sell) and projects that I do for friends and family. I’m often up until after 2:00 a.m. working on projects!
I would LOVE to be featured!!!!
Hi! I’m Michelle and live in the SF Bay Area. I live on the peninsula (think: Facebook & Google) and we have “climate best by government test” look it up, it’s a thing.
Anywho, I have 2 kids 2.5 & 7. Wednesday evenings involve ice skating classes for my 7 year old dead center of dinner time which means I have to either prep dinner before (by 5) or sometimes we eat at the rink or sometimes we grab something on the way home. It really depends on how the day goes. My kids play a bit and then usually are in bed by 7:30 but Wednesday’s are always so unpredictable because of ice. We always try to have dinner together though. The summer time has been rough because light still shines through our ‘blackout’ curtains and try to get them to STFU and just go.to.sleep.
Love this project like many of the others, hope you pick us!
Hello! I have 2 1/2 year old triplets. They’ll be 3 yrs in October–2 boys +a girl! We live in Atlanta, GA and I stay home with the kids while my husband works. Currently it’s the kids and I alllll day until he is home but come August, they’re starting preschool 2 days a week.
In the evenings I feed the kids dinner between 5 and 6 pm (my husband isn’t home until after 6:30 so he +I eat later after the kids are in bed). Usually I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to fill (the reasonable) demands for syrup or whatever else. After dinner they play as I clean up. Bath (if it’s a bath night) starts close to 7, as my husband is getting home. It’s nice to have help wrangling these 3. After, it is PJ’s and 20ish minutes of “shows” along with a cup of milk before they run around in a circle pretending to be dragons (really), and hop into their cribs. By this time it’s close to 8… We clean up +eventually eat while dealing with anyone trying to avoid sleep.
I love this series. It’d be amazing to be part of it!
Arlington Tx
Izzy 8, Ethan 7, Gray 3, Charleigh 2 and 2 puppies
Wednesday night is the craziest night of the week for our family. It’s bible class night. Amongst our normal routine of school pick up, home work, baths and dinner, we need to leave our house at 7 for a mid week bible study. That means getting home at 8:45 or so and getting all 4 in bed quickly. We are normally a 7:30 bedtime family, so this always puts things in a bit of a tizzy.
My name is Amy and my husband (Derek) and I live in Kansas City, MO with our kids: Jack- 6, Isabelle- 4, & Caroline- 8 months.
I am an adolescent mental health therapist and I work 3 evenings a week, including Wednesdays so my husband is on dinner, baseball, and bedtime duty. Sometimes I’ll get home in time to sneak in a quick hug and kiss after the kids are in bed. Other times, it’s later and I sneak in a hug and kiss after they are asleep.
I think it’d be a great representation for all of the Dads who do kid duty as part of the regular routine. My husband works in IT and is also in the army national guard. He feels that sometimes he doesn’t relate well to children because they operate on completely different levels than how he thinks and/or has been trained. I know that he’s a great father who is involved and shows love. I’d LOVE to see the photos of how he manages the house while I’m working. He does a great job. Even though our house is upside down and a mess because we do a lot of switching kid duty all week long!!!
Albuquerque, NM (which might disqualify us instantly as we are the 5th lowest pop. state) With Jack, age 18 months and Zane (24 weeks in my belly ATM) And our life is about to radically change. I stay at home and my husband just graduated college and is about to start work at a REAL job that is 9-5, no super crazy commute, (last job had him on the road 6 hours a day, and college was an hour away one way) We have never ever spent more than an hour together, weekends have been homework time. Before kids our work and school schedules were on the opposite times of the day. Bedtime routine has always been my husband’s time with Jack, bath time, during which my husband plays his trumpet, then story and bed, That won’t change, but everything else will be over the next few weeks! I usually check emails etc for my business while this happens .
Cleveland, OH. 6, 4, 3 (almost), and 6 months. I loved reading about everyone’s routines in these comments! It makes our hectic life feel so normal.
Our routine is fairly typical for a family with small kids – play, dinner, play, bath (maybe), books, bed. The thing that would set us apart, I suppose, is that we’re Orthodox Jews.
Sometimes my husband is around to help, sometimes not. I like to get them into bed before 8, but that’s not always possible on these long summer days, depending on how much fun is being had and how tired I am. 🙂
Looking forward to this series!
My name is Laura and we are from North Little Rock, Arkansas. My husband and I both work full time and right now he is in school so Wednesday is our busiest night of the week. When I get off work I head straight home to clean up from the morning mess and make my husband something for dinner. My husband picks up our 3 year old, Mia, and is home a few minutes later. Then it is off to Boot Camp for me and a few minutes later, off to Biochemistry for my husband. (he is studying to be a nurse) On his way he drops Mia off at my Mother-in-laws down the street. (my dad, his dad, and his mom all live in our neighborhood) I pick her up after Boot Camp and catch up with the in-laws. Then its home to make dinner for us. We normally play/watch cartoons/rest until my husband gets home. He normally gets home around 8:30 then its trash night, and the night he turns in his time and receipts for work which takes about 20 minutes or so. After that it is time to start wrangling Mia up for bed. We normally have to chase her for p.j time and then she demands to “floss” all by herself. This uses about half of the container of floss. She goes to bed later than most kids (9:00) so we try to get her in there quickly and read a book to her on the nights that go well. Hopefully, she is in her toddler bed (which is conveniently located right next to our bed in our bedroom) by at least 9:30 on Wednesdays! Whether she falls asleep by then in is a whole ‘nother story! Meanwhile my husband and I are cleaning up from the night etc. Wednesday nights= CHAOS
I have 2 kids, 3.5 year old daughter and a 18 mo old son. We live in the DFW metroplex (Mansfield TX) about 20 min south of Dallas. My husband travels for work or works in Dallas most days 8-7pm. I am a stay at home mom and neither of my kids are in a mdo or preschool at the moment. Our typical evening starts around 5:30/6 pm – the kids play by them selves or just roam around the house while I fix dinner for them ( I usually prepare meals halfway during the day) after fixing dinner – it’s bath time both take a bath together and it’s always a fight to get them out and into their pjs (my daughter only wears night gowns).. Then it’s dinner time which includes watching some show on the iPad for both of them while I shove dinner in their mouths.. They probably get a few more minutes of playing while I prepare milk for both then it’s brushing teeth (and flooding the bathroom) by the time we are ready to read story daddy is home and takes over reading (then i feed the baby his milk bottle and give him his blanket and he’s in the crib.. While sissy gets another story and I have to rock her to sleep then put her in her crib — around 7:45 both are asleep!! Mostly for the night. And then my husband and I hangout in the kitchen while I prepare our dinner..
My family of four lives about 25 minutes north of Dallas, TX (in the suburbs). While my husband is at spends his days working as an executive manager, I stay at home at wrangle my 2 and 3 year olds kids. They are 100% pure crazy but so much fun! My husband travels often for work so many nights it’s just me putting the kids to bed. While I feel like our evenings are completely chaotic, I’d be over the moon happy to have some pictures of our evenings!
I’m Meagan from Memphis, TN. I’m 26 years old, my husband is 30 and we have a daughter who will be 2 in August. I’m usually home on Wednesdays (I work about 3 days a week from my home office) and my girl keeps me running from sun-up to sun-down! My mother usually stops by for her weekly visit on Wednesdays, and she hangs out for an hour or so while we play outside. 6:30 is dinner time, unless we’ve skipped lunch (which happens more often than I’d like to admit). Husband finishes emails and such while I cook, we eat, he cleans and run dishes. If it’s bath night, we get started on that about 7:30 and then play and wind down until bedtime. We live in the deep South so the sun doesn’t set here until after 8pm, no use in trying to go to bed when it’s still light out–which puts bedtime at around 9pm. Even if the baby isn’t tired, we turn out lights and lock up and go lie in the bed at least. Oh, and did I mention we’re potty training? Yeah, there’s that to consider too. If she goes to sleep at a reasonable time, we might stay up and watch a show on DVR, but more often than not, we’re just as tired as she is! I’d love to be featured as one of your families!
St. Louis MO, almost 3 year old and baby number 2 due in August. My husband is a lawyer that works long hours, I also work. I pick up my son at 4:30 we get home, play, he has dinner, we maybe play some more and then bath, books and bed by 7. I then cook dinner for my husband and I. I usually eat right away and then he eats when he gets home later. I then spend time doing chores before I don’t have any more energy and collapse on the couch.
I am a working mom of two girls, ages 11 and 8. My husband also works full time. Our kids go to an aftercare program at their elementary school, where I pick them up most days around 5:15. On good days, they have done their homoework at aftercare. Depending on the week, our Wednesdays might be free and clear of activies, but sometimes it is a Brownies week for my 8 year old. New this spring/summer for us is swim team! My girls have joined our pool’s team and have practice from 4:30 to 6:30 Monday-Friday, which completely puts a wrench in our schedule. It requires an early departure from work for at least one of us each afternoon to get them there on time, followed by a chaotic night of dinner (sometimes takeout, sometimes made at home but not fancy), checking that homework, showers, and bed. We all collapse around 9 p.m., even us grown ups. And did I mention that my husband is a dedicated Crossfitter? It’s an insane form of exercise that has him at the gym several afternoons and evening a week. So that gets fit into the schedule, too!
Forgot to say that we live in Baltimore, MD.
Hi. We are from NY as well and enjoy reading your blog, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. I have 6 kids ranging from ages 12-infant. Usually hubby comes home from work at ten-eleven pm so weeknights I battle dinner, clean up, bathtime, homework time, and bedtime on my own- all while the preteen needs att and the infant is in the fridge again. How’s that for a fun filming?
My husband and I live in Ontario California (just an hour from Los Angeles) with his 14 year old son and our almost 4 year old and just turned 2 year old boys. We both work full time; my husband works from home two days a week, which gives us the opportunity to eat dinner together, unfortunately it’s not on Wednesday. On Wednesdays I get home at 5:30 pm and have some play time with the kids. Then at 6 pm my stepson helps me wrangle kids to wash hands and he gets them milk while I get their dinner ready. If my husband prepared a meal in crockpot that morning then my stepson and I will have dinner with the little ones, otherwise just the little ones eat and we wait to eat dinner with my husband after kids go to bed. My husband gets home at 7 pm. He does bath time while I get toothbrushes and pjs ready and my stepson cleans up after kids mess in kitchen (total team effort). Then we either read and sing on our bed if enough time or just a shorter story and song in kids room. Usually we get them to bed at 7:30 pm; what time they actually fall asleep is another story! I think what sets us apart from other families is the my 14 years old stepson is mildly autistic but still such a big help and great big brother.
Wednesday nights are crazy. I pick up Katherine (age 7) and Ender (6 months) from their respective daycare sites, run in the door, feed Ender while Katie puts on her ballet gear, stick Ender in his crib with a toy to buy me time to get Katie’s hair into a ballet bun. Then, we have a game time decision: If hubby’s 1 hr commute from Denver is on schedule, he will pick up Katie and take her to ballet on the other end of town while I take care of Ender at home or run errands. If he’s late, I grab he diaper bag and take both kids to ballet. We always eat dinner as a family, and Wednesday night is “P” night; this usually entails picking up dinner at a restaurant that starts with “P.” Tonight is Panda Express. 😉 We all get home, settle onto the couch, and eat dinner together at the coffee table and watch a s
Love this post and a glimpse into a Wednesday evening at your house. I can’t wait for the series since I love the Mondays one so much.
My name is Wesley, WAHM to Evelynne who is two months old. We live in Fort Benning Georgia, about two hours from Atlanta. My husband is active duty Army, so our “evening” can start any time between 3pm and 7pm, whenever he gets home. To be honest, we don’t really have a “routine.” Evie is our first, so this is all brand new to us. I think our evenings probably look rather boring from the outside. If it’s a typical evening, Jimmy comes home around five and grabs a shower. Then he’ll take over snuggling the baby for a bit while I cook dinner. I’ll nurse her a little and then we’ll eat–almost never at the table. We hang out on the couch, playing with our two dogs and the baby, maybe doing a little tummy time and watching TV. This is usually when I get some work done since Jimmy is home to entertain the baby. So my husband can get some extra time with Evelynne, we stay up fairly late for a newborn and go to bed at the same time as him, around ten. He sometimes reads her a book while I nurse her to sleep (and usually fall asleep doing so). It’s very low key and subject to change depending on the night, but it’s what works for us right now. And at this stage, it’s all still about day to day survival for us.
We live in State College, PA (home to Penn State University!) where I am a working mom of one rambunctious (her word choice) 4-year-old. I own and operate a children’s store in the downtown area of our community and serve as the sole breadwinner for our family. My husband has returned to school as a full-time student to pursue a career in the phycology field. Our Wednesday evenings begin with closing the store at 5:30pm, dropping off packaged online orders at the post office and going to pick up my daughter from Mimi’s house. My mother-in-law is a saint and we couldn’t make our life work without her daycare services! We usually end up at home by 6:15. I start dinner, the girl steals my phone to watch PBS shows at full volume and the husband will wrap up his studying for the evening due to ridiculous loudness of “Martha Speaks”, “Curious George” or “Daniel Tiger.” Our white monster dog always insists on trying to eat his dinner from a bowl in front of the stove at the same time I’m trying to cook. It’s very convenient. Our mealtime is usually very casual. Daddy does’t always eat with us but he’ll sit at the table to chat. We have differing food preferences. If our daughter had her way, we’d eat spaghetti and garlic bread every single night of her life. After dinner, we sometimes go outside to play, walk the dog, and water the flowers. Sometimes we stay inside and the girl plays with the millions of small princess figurines that have been carefully collected over time while we lounge on the couch watching a show or perusing Facebook on our phones. Getting-ready-for-bed time is around 8. Jammies must be changed into. Then she can decide if she wants to read a book or watch one more short show. Occasionally there is a plea for more food (“I’m starving!”) or dessert (she gets her sweet tooth from me…). Bedtime is 8:30pm. I ask her to pee one more time and brush her teeth. Princess Projector Nightlight gets plugged in, sound machine gets turned on. She gathers her flashlight and plush toys into her bed. Kisses. Door closed. We continue our lounging/show watching with wine/dessert until we’re also ready for bed. The girl comes out of her room at least 2-3 times after she is tucked in… to go potty again, to get a drink, to find a random toy she NEEDS, to tell us something REALLY important. [Sigh]
I live in Purchase, NY with my 10 month old, husband, and cat. Our evenings are always full, even though we aren’t doing a whole lot. Husband and I both work full time, so it’s a choreographed dance of getting our son from daycare, getting home, getting him fed and then having our evening plans- which involve exercising (me) and accomplishing things around our 1969-era house (husband). Our evenings are a total whirlwind and sometimes I wonder what they actually look like from the outside! I love to cook and pride myself on making meals from scratch multiple nights of the week.
My name is Jessica and I have a 4 month old daughter. We live in Henderson CO, a suburb of Denver.
It is just the two of us, single mom status. I work full time and have a part time job doing mental health therapy for youth. On Wednesday I pick her up and we go home to play, hang out and get ready to do it all again tomorrow. We typically nurse as soon as we get home, as baby girl is a bit of a boobie monster. Once she has eaten I will usually sit with her and play, singing songs or watching her explore as she is learning new things like how to hold my hand or toys. After that I will usually strap her on my chest with either my wrap or my baby carrier so that she can be close to me when I am getting ready for the next day.
As I do the dishes, pack lunch, and generally clean up I talk to her and sing her songs that I randomly make up about her. When I am done with chores it’s bath time. She LOVES her baths and the faucet on the sink. Then I lather her up with coconut oil and get her jammies on. We then will nurse again and I will lay her down to sleep in the pack n play by the kitchen.
Once she is down to sleep I will get out my computer and start working for my second job, eat if I have not been able to fit that in yet and get to any chores that I couldn’t do while wearing her.
Sometimes I will just curl up and lay with her because we aren’t together much. I am not as good at keeping my house up as it sounds, because it is just me trying to keeping her world turning and I would rather read, sing and play with her than load the dishwasher and fold laundry. But alas, being a single mom means wearing all the hats, including good role model for head of household so the laundry gets done with her strapped on for the ride. 🙂
At the end of the day I scoop my sleepy little bear up and we climb into momma’s big bed and stay cuddled up until the next morning when we get up and do it all again.
Thank you for this project and your consideration!!
Hectically trying to throw together dinner while corralling the kids and keeping them from destroying the house, we never know if my husband will be home or not at all on Wednesday’s and when he does make it home it’s usually with whoever he worked with that day, clean up, get guest room OK looking, Tom and Jerry, pjs, call daddy if he isn’t home to say good night, tuck the toddlers in and rock the baby, 7 million trips upstairs to put 2yo back in bed.
3 kids: 4, 2.5, 1
Oh and upstate ny, stay at home mom who’s husband works away all week.
My name is Kristen and we live just outside of Baltimore, Md. I have a 3 year old boy, Gavin and a 2 year old girl, Adalyn. Wednesday nights happen to be the most interesting evenings for us. Both my husband and I work full time at least an hour away from home. So whoever is closest does the pickups from daycare/preschool: first my daughter since her daycare closes at 5:30, then my son. My son then has a gymnastics class that starts at 5:45. We have to make sure to take a granola bar with us or he will flip out hysterically for the rest of the evening. And of course, monkey see monkey do so we need one for my daughter too. They a at their granola bars as we drive them there. Gymnastics lasts till 6:30. Sometimes we will both meet up there to watch him, sometimes one of us will go home to start dinner. We get home about 6:50 and try to quickly get dinner on the table, usually consisting of a frozen pizza or fast food (Wednesdays Only!!). We insist on a family sit down dinner every night. Then my kids go straight upstairs for baths. My husband and I alternate who puts who to bed, which consists of potty training, teeth brushing, book reading and prayers. We get them down about 8:30-9, with us falling asleep with them in their beds. This is the only one on one time we get with them so we drink it up. Whoever wakes up first, wakes the other one up. Then we go downstairs, prepare for the next day and finally settle down about 10pm to watch one tv episode together before we go to bed ourselves.
I forgot to mention that the only way my 2 year old will let us brush her teeth is if she is laying down on a pillow.
My husband, Derek, and I have one daughter, Harper, who is 4 years old. We live in Bradenton, Fl. Our Wed evenings consist of me making one of the 6 foods Harper will eat for dinner around 6:00 & then asking her 1,276 times to take a bit of her dinner until she’s eaten enough that I’m comfortable that she won’t starve. All of this usually happens while she zones out to a show on the tv or iPad. After that it is a bath, getting ready for bed and a dance show. My husband is a tattoo artist and doesn’t get home until close to 9:00, which is actually early for his industry. He doesn’t have to leave for work until 11am, so mornings are his quality time with Harper. I will usually let her stay up to see him when he gets home. Between 8:30 & 9, I start cooking dinner for Derek and I. If I’m still working on it when he gets home, he will finish the goodnight routine, which typically consists of a book or two and kisses. Lately, she’s been able to talk us into laying down with her for a few minutes. After that, we get to eat together. I’d like to say it’s at the table, but often ends up on the couch in front of the TV. There’s a quick glimpse into our Wednesday evenings!
I live in Plano, Texas. I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old boy. Both my husband and I work – but he is not usually home until around 7. My mom or my husband’s parents pick the boys from school and drop them off at my house around 5:30.
Our routine involves me giving them a bath first and putting them in their PJs. It seems to calm everyone down and make them less cranky. Then I make dinner for the kiddos (usually some variation of hot dog and pasta). By the time dinner is wrapping up Daddy comes home. He gets about 45 minutes of play time with the kids before it is bedtime.
At about 7:45 we brush teeth and I take the 2 year old to his room for his story and my husband takes the 5 year old to his room for his story.
There is one final round of kisses as my 2 year old runs into his older brothers room to say night night. Then he goes into his crib and I go and lay down with my husband and 5 year old.
After everyone is asleep – my husband an I figure out dinner for the two of us.
My husband, son (4 months) and I live in Portsmouth, VA along with our 2 dogs Hank (Frenchie) and Fig (Aussie). I am a SAHM, so my day revolves around my son, Lincoln Grant, along with volunteer activities. My husband is in the Navy and is in his final year of residency (only 423 days, 20 hours, and 27 minutes left), so he’s generally at work, studying, or sleeping.
Our typical evening routine is either welcoming dad home or sending him to work, playtime, bath, feeding, medicine, and lullabies completed by 7 pm. Then I pray to the lord above that Lincoln will fall asleep without tears, but it’s usually a few tries before I get him to sleep. If it’s taking awhile I will get my dinner (usually an apple and PB) and eat it while I sit outside his crib in near darkness. Otherwise I run downstairs frantically try to pickup, eat, shower, and get in bed asap because I know he’ll be awake by midnight.
What sets us apart from everyone else is many folks think the lives of doctor’s wives are super glamorous, when in reality it’s a lot of doing things on your own and being by yourself while they are at work caring for other people. Additionally, although my husband is not currently deployed since he is in the Navy, at times he will be gone completely. Lastly, although he is making great strides and appears “normal”, Lincoln is a pediatric stroke survivor, so we diligently give medication every 12 and 8 hours, along with physical therapy.
My name is Katie and I’m from a small town outside of Houston, TX. I have a 5.5 and 4 year old. I arrive home before my husband. The kids usually consume 10 different snacks before he gets home for dinner and therefore hardly actually eat any dinner. My kids help pick up their dishes, we sometimes will watch a show, then we will head up to their rooms to take baths and then have story time. My son is extremely particular about pajamas – he will sometimes take about 15 minutes to pick out his jammies. And my daughter tries to convince us that she NEEDS to wear lipstick to bed.
3 kids: 7 year old boy, 5 year old girl, 1 year old boy. In Frontenac, KS
Our Wednesday evenings vary depending on the time of the year. My husband umpires football, basketball and baseball for junior high and high school and he sometimes has games on Wednesday nights which means I’m a “single mom” on those nights. We are also involved with Shriners and Daughters of the Nile and have meetings on those nights about once a month. We also have church groups most Wednesday nights so sometimes we’re split up between games, meetings and church groups! Bedtimes are staggered a little as the 1 year old is in bed by about 7:00 and the older 2 around 8:00. After that, if both my husband and I are home, then we settle down and have a little tv time. During the summer, we spend most nights at the ball fields. Between our 7 year old and 5 year old playing ball, along with 2 nieces and a nephew, it’s almost a guarantee that one of them will have a game! Bedtimes aren’t set in stone on those nights. Haha
Little Elm, TX (just north of Dallas), one permanent kid (9 years old) a and one bonus kid (14 – step daughter). A typical evening for us starts with picking the youngest up from school which is across the street from where we live. Then it is a mad dash to take care of the two dogs so they don’t eat us because breakfast was 12 hours ago…OMG! After that is the begging for a snack while I am cooking dinner so we have to ration out a slice of cheese or something else small. Hubby gets home in the middle of all of this and adds to the melee.
After dinner has been eaten as a family, we go our various ways for a little bit. Hubby watches some sort of sports or plays on the computer. Youngest takes her scooter up and down the block or jumps in the pool for a swim. Bonus kid plays on her phone or does homework.
After the activity for the day is finished, it is time for the youngest to take her bath. This typically takes 8 requests, has much eye rolling and gnashing of teeth, but a threat of some version of being grounded quickly solves the dilemma.
Bed time is the best/worst part of our day. Best: I get tickle time, have to tell original stories that usually involve animals with a brother and sister and at least one of these has to be naughty (we throw life lessons in here!!!) then it is time for our prayers followed by listening to Adele on CD. Worst: After each song I remind how many songs are left and the begging for more songs starts around the third song. (You can’t check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!)
Meanwhile, bonus daughter goes to bed quietly without saying anything to anyone. She is a stealthy, but self reliant kid.
After all of this activity, the parental units get themselves ready for bed and flop into it like we just run a marathon.
My husband and I have three kids, ages 12yrs, 10yrs and 7 months (!), plus a dog. I work full-time from home in upstate NY and my husband takes care of the baby in the afternoons.
Our Wednesday evenings often involve carting the two older ones to some sort of sports practice – often with other kids – or maybe enjoying some downtime in our backyard pool. Dinner (quality of the meal + ability for us to eat together) largely depends on whether there’s practice or not.
After dinner and any practices on Wednesday nights, we let the older two stay up later than usual to watch a few TV shows as a family. (Wed lineup is our favorite) The baby is passed around and playing with us/his toys on the floor until 9 or so. The dog follows me (specifically me) from room to room, activity to activity. He’s still a little jealous of the baby so will get directly between us whenever possible.
I get the baby in his PJs and nurse him in his room, often with the big kids popping in for “one last hug” with the baby. Eventually they leave and I get a sleepy baby into the crib. He fusses for a few minutes and then is out. (The other night he caught us off guard when he pulled himself to a stand for the first time, and didn’t know what to do)
After Wed night TV, the older two migrate upstairs to their rooms around 9:30 or 10 and get reminded to brush their teeth, etc. The 10 year old recently confessed he sometimes just wets his toothbrush rather than really brush just so we think he did it! There is usually some sort of altercation (or perhaps several over the course of the night) between the two of them, which may or may not require intervention.
Our 12 year old says good night about 1,000 times and reminds us to wake her up at a certain time. “6:30am right? Love you!” (repeat, repeat, repeat). She leaves her phone charging in the hallway since she’s not allowed to have it in her room at night. (Oh I should mention the phone is a permanent fixture in her tweeny hands…we have to forcibly remove it from her for a few hours each night, otherwise she’d be on it all day …texting/checking out instagram, etc etc)
Once all three kids are in bed, there’s usually a mess to clean up in the kitchen and once that’s under control or I decide that I cannot deal with it, I often return to work to catch up on any late day things that might need attention. I *might* get sucked into Facebook or Instagram about this time, too. My husband, meanwhile, has likely fallen asleep on the couch after finding yet another Law & Order SVU on cable somewhere. We drag ourselves upstairs to our room around 11. Whoops, looks like it’s about that time now!
Wednesday nights in our super small town of Columbus, Mississippi are anything but short and sweet. I get up a minimum of 7 times during dinner and that’s a good night. Bedtime seems to last forever and tensions ride high. But man if I don’t fall back in love with those a-holes every night. I liken it to playing golf– most of my shots are horrible and I’m pretty sure I’m the worst golfer ever, and then there is that one beautiful shot that makes me feel like I can actually do this. I feeling same way about parenting. A majority of the time I feel extremely inept and like a failure, and then my 3 year old daughter say ‘but mommy’ one more time and I think my brain is going to explode– only to be quickly followed by ‘did I tell you I love you today?’. Shit. You win, well played. Come join our little family of a mommy, daddy, 3 year old drama queen and 1 year old climbing bruiser for a night that I’m sure will be nothing short of chaos, er, I mean entertaining.