Last Things Last {Rituals and Routines}

I always find the routines and rituals of other people completely fascinating. Do you? Yesterday Tanya took you through her “firsts” of each day. Today I’m taking you through my “lasts” …

Last Things Last {Rituals and Routines}

Before my husband gets home from work … I do any dinner prep work that needs to be done, finish up any chore that I’d started that day, and play with my son.

After my husband gets home from work and before I serve dinner … Kiss for the husband and then he plays with our son while I finish up dinner. Sometimes I take a little time to read or jump on the computer if there’s not much work involved in getting dinner on the table. On Tuesdays, I teach dance and my husband comes home early so I can get to class on time. I leave dinner instructions for him to take care of.

After cleaning up dinner … I hang out with the family in the living room. We put on a show (typically a British murdery/mystery from the library) or we just play with our son. I might sneak in some reading as well. Around 6:30 I put on my pajamas, brush my teeth, and wash my makeup off. I like to be comfy as early in the evening as possible, what can I say?

Putting my son to bed … Is a process. He takes a bath- with bubbles- after dinner. We play some more and then we spend an hour attempting to get him in his pajamas. (He gets very hyper at night despite our efforts to keep things calm.) We read five or six books cuddled on our bed with him and then turn out the lights. He whines and sometimes cries a bit and crawls around the bed trying to get comfy before finally passing out. I exaggerate but really, when is putting a toddler to bed ever easy?

Before I go to bed … I re-situate our toddler and cover him in a blanket. I get up and walk around the house checking that all the lights are off, the cats are fed, and all the doors are locked. I get a glass of water to drink and check the thermostat.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays … These are my ‘grad school nights.’ After teaching dance on Tuesdays I head to the library or a local coffee shop and work on school stuff. I try to fit in some blogging after I’m finished as well. Thursdays are the same minus teaching dance. I come home around 9:30. My husband is usually listening to an audio book or playing on his phone in bed. I pretty much drop my backpack, heat a quick dinner, and head straight to bed.

Once I get in bed … I mess around on my phone a bit checking social media or reading blogs. I listen to my audio book until I can no longer stay focused on it. I find these tips for the most important things you can do at the end of each day to be really helpful even if I don’t always follow them perfectly.

Last thing I do before sleeping … Tell my Fitbit that I’m ‘sleeping’, plug my phone in and make sure that it’s on silent, move the two or three cats that have since taken over my side of the bed and pull the covers up as high as I can get them.

What’s the last thing you do before bed each night?

(photo credit: Gabriel Santiago)