Question for those with 2 FT working parents

I go back to work next week. I should get home at 6pm with DD, DH gets home at 7:30pm.

Was just wondering how to spend time with DD, get dinner cooked. eat, play, bathe and feed DD. She has an 8pm bedtime.

How do you do it all and still feel like you have time with DC?

Please share your night routine

I'm getting so depressed

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

Hang in there. The first couple of weeks are hard...and it still bugs me out that i get so little time with them, but i keep reminding myself that i go to work so we can have money and benefits for them.

I usually get home around 6ish (as does my husband). We feed them right when we get home (and make ourselves a little something too), then we give them a bottle at 7 and then bedtime. It sucks, we only get about 1/2 hour a day with them when we work these days....but you gotta do what you got to do.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

My DD goes to bed pretty late right now.. so normally when I get home around 6.45 DH is already home- I hold the baby and think about what to make for dinner- DD takes a bottle around 7.30 or so- so DH will feed her while I cook dinner- she might take a quick cat nap- or just hang out while we eat - and then DH cleans up while I get ready for bed- I put DD down & i go to sleep too- around 9.30-10.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

It is hard but you do what you got to do. This week DH and I have been on the same schedule which helps. We are usually home with her at 6. She is starving so one of us will feed her while the other prepares something super quick for us to eat. We try and have her sit with us while we eat - we eat fast otherwise she wouldnt sit. We then have one of us bathe her and the other clean up. Then we play with her or read with her for about 30-40 minutes before she goes to bed.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

I get home at 5:30, the boys just wake up from thier nap at that time, even when they were realy young.

When they didn't eat food, I would come home change them and feed them and then play the rest of the nigt until they went to bed. I would eat dinner mainly after I put them down at 8:00. Now that they eat food I come home give them a small snack, make dinner we all eat and then we play and sometimes take baths right before bedtime. It is not alot of time that we get together but I make the time quality time.

DH gets home at 1:00 so this makes it easier, but the boys mainly would nap in the afternoon.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

We are still trying to get back in the swing of things since this is only my 3rd day back.

But, I don't do anything but take care of DS when I get home. Everything else can wait. Including dinner. DH helps me with DS and he was doing dinner while I feed DS. Then we eat while we play with DS and then it's ready for the bed time routine.

You'll find what works for you pretty quickly.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

So my day starts at 5 am, I shower, get ready for work. I wake DD up at 6 am, dress and feed her. We leave the house between 6:30 and 6:45 to drop her off at daycare. DH and I work at the same place so we are able to leave together. We pick her up from daycare btw 4:30 and 4:45, home around 5pm. Depending when her last bottle was I will give her a small one (3oz). She plays on the floor, crawls all over while I make dinner. So we eat around 6pm or 6:30pm and she sits at the table with us. After dinner we play with her a bit and then around 7:15 to 7:30 I take her up for her bath. Then I read a quick story and DH gives her the last bottle of the day. Sometime our schedule gets thrown off and she goes to bed later, we just go with the flow. Just one suggestion, get everything ready for daycare the night before, bottles, food, spoons, bibs, etc. whatever you need to bring. That helps out a lot in the morning when you are rushing out of the house. You and DH will find a routine that works for all of you. It is tough but gets easier.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

Of course we don't feel there is enough time, but we normally get home at around 5.45 ish, Noah gets dinner pretty much immediately (I usually take something out of the freezer for him in the morning or I cook something easy and fresh for him, eggs or pasta...) then he eats until around 6.15, then we clean the little bugger up, go into the living room and play until either 6.45 or 7 (if he can make it until 7) then we go upstairs, have a bath, play crazy Mr Blue Shirt games in his bedroom, he has his milk, gets into his sleeping bag and goes to sleep by around 7.30. Then my man and I eat dinner at around 8ish!

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

Depending on when his last nap was at daycare, and/or whether he napped in the car on the way home, we'll either feed him right away and rush him to bed, or if he's rested we'll feed him and play a while (we get home at 5:45) then clean him up, put on his PJs and play some more until bedtime (usually around 7). It's only about an hour but it's all about him the whole time. We eat afterward, about 7:30. I want him to start eating with us but with his erratic naps I don't know when that will happen.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

I leave for work at around 7:15 and drop off Jackson on the way. I leave work at 4:00 to go pick him up.

DH gets home at around 6:00, so I'll play with Jackson a little, bathe him and feed him, then when DH gets home, he watches Jackson while I get dinner ready. Jackson goes to bed at around 6 or 7 (daycare wipes him out ).

It's not easy, and a lot of times I cry because I hate that I have to work and get to spend so little time with him. But we make up for it on the weekends.

Message edited 2/28/2007 12:51:44 PM.

Re: Question for those with 2 FT working parents

Thanks ladies

This has to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do!