TIP - Routines, Routines, Routines (husband and wife)

Love routines! People ask me how I stay somewhat sane balancing kids, work, and all the other aspects of life - I answer, "Routines, routines, routines!"

Being on auto-pilot and knowing what comes next is a great thing especially when so much that you can't control happens all the time!

Here are some routines that have worked for my husband and I (remember that we have a 5yrs old and 1 year old):

1. Taking turns with kids - My husband and I take turns when it comes to the kids. For example, my husband does the "morning" shift for getting the baby one morning and then I have that shift the next morning. I will put my 5yrs old to bed one night and my husband will do it the next night.

2. Dividing up the house duties - My husband and I split the house duties based on "what we are good at" and "kinda of what we like doing". My husband is an excellent dishwasher loader so he has that duty. I like and do bills well(meaning I don't forget to pay bills on time). My husband folds clean laundry very well, but I am better at putting them away. And so on. It is all known so there is no wondering who is going to "get to it" and then get upset when the other spouse doesn't.

3. Nights after kids are in bed - Call us crazy, but we noticed that many nights could pass and we have not done anything together. With two kids, there are always bills to pay, trash to empty, dirty clothes to put together, school paper to do, emails to check, TV to watch, etc. after the kids are in bed. So my hubby and I have a schedule - one night is "house work" night - we clean, we wash, we do bills, etc. The next night is "together night" - we do something together - watch a TV show, watch the NetFlix DVD (so that we can finally return it and get our next movie in queue that will then sit on our living table for days), talk about something that needs discussing, etc. The next night is "alone night" - we spend time separately - like watching a TV show that the other one does not really like, reading a book/magazine, work catchup, personal emails, writing new posts in blogs(hee hee), etc. And then the rotation of the designated nights start again.

4. Time alone without the kids - We schedule a day off from work one Friday every other month. In the morning, we send the kids off to school/daycare as if we were going into work. We spend the day by ourselves - have a long lunch with adult conversation, go to a movie matinee, etc. We don't have to pay for babysitting and we can always pick up the kids early if we want.

Hey, it all works.