Creatures of Routine and Habit

A high school teacher of mine once said that humans are creatures of routine and habit. Humans would rather follow the same routine day after day then mix it up. For instance, even when assigned seating is not used in a class room, students tend to sit in the same seat day after day because of habit and routine.

Well the Smith Household is settling into a routine since Lori's return to work. We are all pretty much adjusted to the changes in life style of taking Ty to the baby sitters and picking him up in the evenings. We are adjusted to cramming most of our chores into weekends. We are adjusted to putting Ty to bed and using the hour to hour and a half for catching up on TV shows, paying bills or just relaxing.

For me, as dad, life has not changed too much. I was used to the routine in the evenings of coming home and getting all of Ty's things ready for bath time and bed time. The biggest change for me has been picking Ty up at night from his Aunt Patty and Uncle John's house or from my mom's. After a long day of work and office politics, the best thing is to see my little smile at daddy when picking him up from the sitters! :-)

Lori has adjusted well to juggling motherhood and work. Like I said before, sleep and relaxation has become more important to her when she has to get up and get herself ready at 5:30 AM. She gets to take Ty to the baby sitters in the mornings and she seems to be doing well. She said that if she had to do this after only six weeks off it would have been harder.

Ty has adjusted pretty well too. He really seems to enjoy Nan's and Aunt Patty and Uncle John's during the work day. In nearly three weeks, I believe he has only had one bad day of fussing and such. Otherwise, I believe he has been doing quite well. The only problem is, he likes his schedule a little too much and on the weekends and insists mommy and daddy get up around 7 AM. I think that is because 7 is the latest he sleeps through the work week before is taken to the sitters.

We hope this finds everyone doing well. We have some friends in Shippensburg that just got over the stomach flu that is going around, so hopefully no one is fighting that one right now.

We recently bought Ty a Bumbo chair and at this point, he only sits in it for about 5 to 10 minutes at a time, but I think he will like it soon! Of course, I could not get him to smile... but he is just so stinkin' cute! :-)

Mom is Back to Work

Lori returned to work this week so things have been a bit hectic around the Smith House.

We spent the weekend preparing baby sitter boxes with formula, diapers, bottles and other miscellanous stuff along with getting food prepared for the week and clothes ready to wear. Nan Smith is keeping Ty on Mondays and Lori's Aunt Patty is baby sitting Tuesday through Fridays.

We have to say that everything is going better than expected. Ty is doing well in the mornings and during the day with his baby sitters. Although evenings spent with Ty are extremely short because of his bed time around 7:30, we try to use every minute possible to entertain the little guy.

Lori is getting adjusted to her new sleeping schedule. No more sleeping in to 8 or 8:30... nope, it is 5:30 AM now. 5:30 AM comes awful early to those used to sleeping in the past 4 months! :-) I have to say she is doing well so far, but Friday is approaching and I am sure she will be beat!

To give her a bit of a break, I have taken over baby duty at night so she can at least stay in bed. She naturally awakes when Ty does, but I get up with him to change his diaper and feed him his bottle. I enjoy doing it and it is only 20 minutes. The problem for me is getting back to sleep. I tend to start thinking about work and daily tasks that need to be done...

So we are taking it day by day, but I am sure within a week or two, we will be pretty much adjusted and in a normal routine.

On a side note, the ice storm we had made for some beautiful scenery. I captured this picture, facing McConnellsburg, from the mountain top along Route 30 between Chambersburg and McConnellsburg on my iPhone. I travel past this place everyday and have never stopped by. Yesterday's show from Mother Nature was too hard to pass up! I wish I would have had my good camera because this picture does not give the scene justice.

We Are..... Penn State!

Let's Go State... Beat USC!