Evening Routines and insect infestations

One of the things I've learned from my time log is that we have a pretty set evening routine at the moment.  Here's a snapshot.

• 5:30 Eat dinner
• 6:00 Kids Upstairs & baths if needed
• 6:25 Kids into pyjamas, I read them a story
• 6:30 Andy gives Audrey Bottle
• 6:40 Andy swaps to finish kid bedtime, I feed Nora.  Andy puts Audrey to bed
• 6:55 I put Nora in Bed
• 7:05 Andy and I tidy up dinner and do a quick house pick-up
• 7:35 Plug in phone downstairs and finish screens for the day
• 7:40 Upstairs for yoga (new addition!)
• 8:15 Meditate
• 8:30 Finish upstairs, brush teeth and get in bed. 
• 8:35 Read
• 9:00 Sleep

I do like an early bedtime but this fees stiflingly early.  I miss my weekly evening writing buddy.  I miss evening walks.  It's still light at 9pm!  However,  I've realised that right now sleep after 4am is just not a guarantee. Even if babies don't need feeding they sometimes gripe and sometimes need nappies and often they will be doing random baby stuff for up to an hour from 4/4:30 on which then brings the morning so close to kid wake up that I can't get back to bed.

I complained to Andy that I feel like we are still in baby survival mode, because I feel the pressure to get to bed starting around 4pm.  Andy noted that baby survival mode meant that we were going to bed at 7pm having not eaten a home cooked meal or done yoga or meditated (or probably brushed teeth).

Also, this yoga and meditation thing is new since starting Peloton App, but I love it.  I have never gotten into meditation before (after trying headspace a few times) but I think that Peloton meditation works for me because I do it in my office (A space I love) and in the evenings.  It turns out meditation is just breathing, and I really like breathing!  I'm not sure it's making me a better human, but I don't think it's making me a worse one.  

I am also hoping an evening Yoga routine might make my morning back pain better.  But probably what would make my morning back pain better is not manoeuvring a 20lb and 17lb baby all the time.

Im the spirit of "there are no normal days" here's what the routines have included for the last few nights.

Monday: Andy found a wasps nest in the shed.  After some googling and some youtube he decided to use a vacuum to remove it.  I thought this was ridiculous so got a quote from a pest person - £88 to remove a wasp nest!  On Monday evening I heard the hoover going during my yoga.  7 minutes into my 10 minute meditation Andy asked if I wanted to see a queen wasp.  He had accidentally knocked the whole hive off (once empty) and it was pretty cool, and the queen was still alive, and there were gross baby bees, and the whole thing was 90% gross/creepy and 10% interesting.  I definitely wasn't as relaxed and chilled and ready for bed after looking at a Wasps nest though.

For the kids, wasps were 100% interesting and 0% gross, so we had a lesson in hive building the next morning.  Wasps are actually cool and interesting and I am happy for them to exist not in my shed.  I am also lucky to have a very handy husband who can clear a wasps nest! Here's Isaac checking out the queen bee in the morning (she did not survive the night):

Tuesday: Isaac had beens scratching his head a lot and so I decided to run the lice comb through it at bath time. Then I did Lilah's hair.  I am still not sure if either of them had lice, although I think Isaac may have had a nit or two?  I assumed there would be either lots or none, so I'm not sure "two nits" is a thing. Another reason I am so ready for summer holidays - school is gross.  I need to get Lilah's hair cut soon, or cut her hair myself, because she has long curly hair (which has been trimmed once in her life) and pulling a nit comb through it was hard.  Andy nit combed my hair just in case (I mean, that's love right?  wasps then nits?) and hopefully we have avoided any potential problems.

Wednesday: Andy went biking in the evening and it was 27c/80f.  The kids did *not* want to sleep. I finished Yoga/Meditation at 8:30 and then continued reading Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.  I pulled this recommendation from Kyria's blog and I could not put it down.  So I ended up finishing it at 10pm, which is a late night for me.

Today: I am meeting friends for dinner at a restaurant.  I am excited to see my friends but already worried about not being in bed by 9. I guess I can always be in bed by 8 on Friday.  Or maybe the babies will sleep until 5am tomorrow? Or later??

What's your evening routine like?  What's your ideal bedtime and your ideal wake up?