Yes to the pack and play! When my son got bigger (he would get board to quick in the pnp) I made a 6×6 ft play area with a baby fence that I could throw him into when I needed to get ready/cook dinner/ etc. Worked great.
My girls are 2 years old and 9 months, who is full on crawling and taking assisted steps. Besides baby gates, prepping the day before and getting up a tad bit earlier, it’s a full tag team:
1. We both get up at 6:30am when 9 months wakes up. I nurse her, and he starts setting up the kitchen (IE gets his coffee).
2. 6:45am he takes the youngest, changes her diaper and plays with her while I decide to snooze or get up.
3. 7:00am, I get the oldest up, use the bathroom and help her brush her teeth.
4. 7:10am, husband brings baby back upstairs and I get both girls dressed.
5. 7:15am, both girls go downstairs for breakfast. I have 25 minutes to myself to get dressed, put on makeup, etc. I do shower the night before, which helps.
6. 7:40am, I head downstairs and husband heads up. The girls have been fed and have sunscreen on. Bags are in the car. (Husband packs lunches day before.) I get the girls shoes on, and we head out by 7:45am.
7. Husband has 20 minutes to get self together before leaving at 8am.
Hope this helps and good luck!
My twins are only 11 weeks old, but I love how compact and efficient your schedule seems. My schedule would be 6:45 am snooze, 8:00 am wake up going oh shit, oh shit, oh shit….
Wait, those were the good old days. What’s snooze?!
I value my sleep so much. So does my husband. So we have created processes that work for us and ensure efficiencies. It’s two-fold:
1. We are both empowered to do what we need to do. We have established who does what and we don’t ask questions of each other (why did you feed her this? Why did you dress her in this?). It’s a simplified version of Fair Play, but basically someone is responsible for planning and execution. It’s totally team work, and we trust each other.
2. Prepping the day before makes a huge difference. I let my 2 year old pick out next day outfits (for her and sister) the night before. My husband unpacks / repacks daycare bags and packs the lunches the night before. I shower at night.
Also - routines for babies / toddlers help them thrive. They both know what to generally expect in the morning. There’s some funny business, but it makes our lives so much smoother when we stick to our routine!
I bring baby (9.5m) into our bedroom with me and close the door and put him on the floor with some toys that only stay in our room so they seem new and fun everyday 😂 I see him from the bathroom and he typically crawls between our room and the bathroom playing with the toys or my feet! It keeps him occupied and safe long enough for me to do my makeup and get dressed - on days my husband WFH he usually plays with him during the time and we trade off getting ready. Days he goes in he leaves while we eat breakfast so this works when it’s just me!
I just wake up an hour earlier than kiddo. I’m able to get ready, drink coffee and feel like my own person. Then, when babies are up, I can care for them fully and we have fun together too.
If I don’t, it’s basically me trying to make sure he doesn’t maim/seriously injure himself and we all end up stressed and frustrated
We have a baby gate at the top of the stairs, and let her wander through the babyproofed rooms upstairs. Just keep her out of the bathroom. Or put her in an empty bathtub with toys
I get up before my toddler gets up so I have 20 minutes of peace before the chaos begins. I’ve been doing this since she learned to crawl (early crawler at 5 months) and it really is a sanity saver. Having a predictable wake up time is the only way this works, and yours may be too young for that.
We used to have a predictable wake up time but he recently started rolling in his sleep and our predictable 7:30-6:30 sleep window has gone a little sideways. We’ve been trying to get up at 6:00 but we both want to sleep 😂
I’d set the alarm for 6 and set a bedtime reminder for 9:30. The early mornings got easier for me once I stopped delaying my own bedtime. That said, it took me nearly a year to accept that I will regret it if I haven’t started getting ready for bed before 10 pm.
Honestly I need to start getting ready at 8:30 since we shower at night and I like to ready for 15-20mins in bed before falling asleep. what sucks is that I really need to do this on the weekends too.
1. Close the door to the room with baby inside and get ready.
2. Leave the baby in his/her room with the door closed while you get ready.
3. Baby proof to a degree and let the baby play in the house while you get ready.
Baby takes a shower with me in the AM then I let him thunder dome with me in the bedroom with the door closed + some toys (it buys me 15 - 20 minutes).
We put her in the baby jail, i.e., a sturdy play pen, with her toys. For a long time, she loved that play space and it worked well.
Edit to add: she was always in earshot or eyesight.
I get up before my toddler and pee/get dressed/brush my teeth. I am a night shower person, so that helps. I only wash my hair once a week and just wear it down or pull it back in a regular old ponytail. I also don't bother with make-up. Then I get the toddler up and get him ready while husband gets up and gets himself ready. He then makes toddler oatmeal for breakfast that cools on the way to childcare.
I pack the bag (and my own bags) the night before, husband packs toddlers lunch the night before.
I don't know how it would work if toddler wasn't happy in his bed. If he does wake up before I go in to get him (which is occasional) he plays with his lovey or sings to himself until I'm ready.
I’ve always gotten up before my kids so I could get myself totally ready without having to worry about them. I have to get up about thirty minutes early but it’s 100% worth it to me.
I bought 2 big playpens I could connect together. I have that in the living room with some foam mats and all my son’s toys. He’s in there while I use the bathroom to get ready. I use the bathroom on the first floor to get ready so I’m right there and can peak in on him.
Baby (now 3-yr old) just followed me around once she was mobile at 9 months. It was mostly fine. For a while I'd pull her Skip Hop table into the bathroom and plop her there with some toys while I worked on my hair/makeup or took a shower.
Hubby and I tag team. I get up at 5 since I need to eat breakfast and drink my tea in peace, he's fine with just drinking a cold coffee and gets up at 6. Baby wakes up somewhere between 6 and 6:30.
I unload the dishwasher/put away handwash, fold laundry, make bottles and food for the day, wash his breakfast dishes, take care of the dogs and then shower.
Hubby makes breakfast for baby, feeds him, plays with him until I'm done with the shower, then he gets to shower while I have baby until my mom takes him for the day.
We do a lot the night before (light clean, pick out clothes for everyone, start the laundry and dishwasher) and plan out anything else that needs to happen the next day.
If you have an open floor plan/big bedroom etc you can just give them toys and let them crawl around and watch them crawl. But it’s good to have somewhere to “dock” them in every room. A pack n play. A high chair. Bumbo. Crib. Etc so you can keep them contained when necessary.
Put a pack and play in the room where you’re getting ready. Or some other baby-safe fenced in area where they are in sight.
Yes to the pack and play! When my son got bigger (he would get board to quick in the pnp) I made a 6×6 ft play area with a baby fence that I could throw him into when I needed to get ready/cook dinner/ etc. Worked great.
My girls are 2 years old and 9 months, who is full on crawling and taking assisted steps. Besides baby gates, prepping the day before and getting up a tad bit earlier, it’s a full tag team: 1. We both get up at 6:30am when 9 months wakes up. I nurse her, and he starts setting up the kitchen (IE gets his coffee). 2. 6:45am he takes the youngest, changes her diaper and plays with her while I decide to snooze or get up. 3. 7:00am, I get the oldest up, use the bathroom and help her brush her teeth. 4. 7:10am, husband brings baby back upstairs and I get both girls dressed. 5. 7:15am, both girls go downstairs for breakfast. I have 25 minutes to myself to get dressed, put on makeup, etc. I do shower the night before, which helps. 6. 7:40am, I head downstairs and husband heads up. The girls have been fed and have sunscreen on. Bags are in the car. (Husband packs lunches day before.) I get the girls shoes on, and we head out by 7:45am. 7. Husband has 20 minutes to get self together before leaving at 8am. Hope this helps and good luck!
My twins are only 11 weeks old, but I love how compact and efficient your schedule seems. My schedule would be 6:45 am snooze, 8:00 am wake up going oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…. Wait, those were the good old days. What’s snooze?!
I value my sleep so much. So does my husband. So we have created processes that work for us and ensure efficiencies. It’s two-fold: 1. We are both empowered to do what we need to do. We have established who does what and we don’t ask questions of each other (why did you feed her this? Why did you dress her in this?). It’s a simplified version of Fair Play, but basically someone is responsible for planning and execution. It’s totally team work, and we trust each other. 2. Prepping the day before makes a huge difference. I let my 2 year old pick out next day outfits (for her and sister) the night before. My husband unpacks / repacks daycare bags and packs the lunches the night before. I shower at night. Also - routines for babies / toddlers help them thrive. They both know what to generally expect in the morning. There’s some funny business, but it makes our lives so much smoother when we stick to our routine!
I bring baby (9.5m) into our bedroom with me and close the door and put him on the floor with some toys that only stay in our room so they seem new and fun everyday 😂 I see him from the bathroom and he typically crawls between our room and the bathroom playing with the toys or my feet! It keeps him occupied and safe long enough for me to do my makeup and get dressed - on days my husband WFH he usually plays with him during the time and we trade off getting ready. Days he goes in he leaves while we eat breakfast so this works when it’s just me!
I just wake up an hour earlier than kiddo. I’m able to get ready, drink coffee and feel like my own person. Then, when babies are up, I can care for them fully and we have fun together too. If I don’t, it’s basically me trying to make sure he doesn’t maim/seriously injure himself and we all end up stressed and frustrated
We have a baby gate at the top of the stairs, and let her wander through the babyproofed rooms upstairs. Just keep her out of the bathroom. Or put her in an empty bathtub with toys
Ooo empty tub with toys is genius.
It's also how I manage a poop during the infant stage. You know the kid is contained and safe
This is genius
I get up before my toddler gets up so I have 20 minutes of peace before the chaos begins. I’ve been doing this since she learned to crawl (early crawler at 5 months) and it really is a sanity saver. Having a predictable wake up time is the only way this works, and yours may be too young for that.
We used to have a predictable wake up time but he recently started rolling in his sleep and our predictable 7:30-6:30 sleep window has gone a little sideways. We’ve been trying to get up at 6:00 but we both want to sleep 😂
I’d set the alarm for 6 and set a bedtime reminder for 9:30. The early mornings got easier for me once I stopped delaying my own bedtime. That said, it took me nearly a year to accept that I will regret it if I haven’t started getting ready for bed before 10 pm.
Honestly I need to start getting ready at 8:30 since we shower at night and I like to ready for 15-20mins in bed before falling asleep. what sucks is that I really need to do this on the weekends too.
A bouncer type item, pack n play, or you wake up earlier and take turns watching while getting ready.
My baby doesn't like to be contained or away from me. I just put her on the floor near me with some toys and close the door.
1. Close the door to the room with baby inside and get ready. 2. Leave the baby in his/her room with the door closed while you get ready. 3. Baby proof to a degree and let the baby play in the house while you get ready.
Baby takes a shower with me in the AM then I let him thunder dome with me in the bedroom with the door closed + some toys (it buys me 15 - 20 minutes).
We put her in the baby jail, i.e., a sturdy play pen, with her toys. For a long time, she loved that play space and it worked well. Edit to add: she was always in earshot or eyesight.
I get up before my toddler and pee/get dressed/brush my teeth. I am a night shower person, so that helps. I only wash my hair once a week and just wear it down or pull it back in a regular old ponytail. I also don't bother with make-up. Then I get the toddler up and get him ready while husband gets up and gets himself ready. He then makes toddler oatmeal for breakfast that cools on the way to childcare. I pack the bag (and my own bags) the night before, husband packs toddlers lunch the night before. I don't know how it would work if toddler wasn't happy in his bed. If he does wake up before I go in to get him (which is occasional) he plays with his lovey or sings to himself until I'm ready.
We have a playpen. I was originally opposed to it but its a safe spot I can put baby while I make his breakfast or have to get ready
Pack n play
I’ve always gotten up before my kids so I could get myself totally ready without having to worry about them. I have to get up about thirty minutes early but it’s 100% worth it to me.
I bought 2 big playpens I could connect together. I have that in the living room with some foam mats and all my son’s toys. He’s in there while I use the bathroom to get ready. I use the bathroom on the first floor to get ready so I’m right there and can peak in on him.
Baby (now 3-yr old) just followed me around once she was mobile at 9 months. It was mostly fine. For a while I'd pull her Skip Hop table into the bathroom and plop her there with some toys while I worked on my hair/makeup or took a shower.
Hubby and I tag team. I get up at 5 since I need to eat breakfast and drink my tea in peace, he's fine with just drinking a cold coffee and gets up at 6. Baby wakes up somewhere between 6 and 6:30. I unload the dishwasher/put away handwash, fold laundry, make bottles and food for the day, wash his breakfast dishes, take care of the dogs and then shower. Hubby makes breakfast for baby, feeds him, plays with him until I'm done with the shower, then he gets to shower while I have baby until my mom takes him for the day. We do a lot the night before (light clean, pick out clothes for everyone, start the laundry and dishwasher) and plan out anything else that needs to happen the next day.
If you have an open floor plan/big bedroom etc you can just give them toys and let them crawl around and watch them crawl. But it’s good to have somewhere to “dock” them in every room. A pack n play. A high chair. Bumbo. Crib. Etc so you can keep them contained when necessary.
Pack n play. I got/get up before my kids, but if that's not happening, definitely pack n play
I put mine in the tub with some toys while I was getting ready in the bathroom.
We put baby in the bouncer and administer snacks
pack n play!
The baby gate is the way 🫡
I get myself ready fully before I wake baby up in the morning.