I try to do all my housework before nap time so that I can have down time while DD sleeps. So how much down time I get depends on how well/long DD naps.
Currently going through our second deployment. Can't wait for Zoe to meet her daddy!
Very little. - I have one no napper and Chase naps for usually 2 hours. Sometimes I can get her 'rest time' and nap to overlap- but that is pretty rare-
Usually- only after they go to bed- and before I start sorting through work stuff and focusing on that stuff.
It depends on the day. Today I am being rather unproductive and hanging out online when I should be cleaning or working! LOL
Normally, not much though. I clean/organize from about 8-10am and then we go out for errands or DD's activities usually until lunch and then nap. I work from home during DD's nap. Then I do a pick-up before DH gets home at night and its dinner, clean-up, bathtime. After she goes to bed I work for another 1-2 hours.
most of mine is after 9pm till i go to bed. ds is 5 and dd is 6 m/o so during the day i have a little bit but mostly when both kids are down for the night.
I don't think any of us can claim no down time, given the sheer volume of our bumping!
It's like when people post about how they don't have time to shower --- if you can bump about it, that probably isn't the case.
lol...this is true for me!
Really, it's been depending on my kids ages. For a while, both my boys were sleeping about 14 hours a day (11 at night with a 3 hour nap). I slept about 7. So, I spent maybe 2 hours cleaning and cooking, which left me with 5 hours to myself. Now, it is much less, and sometimes it seems like zero...but amy is right. It is not, actually, zero.
I was just curious, sometimes I wonder if I have too much down time in the evenings... like I should be cleaning more. I probably should but I am so tired by the end of the day!
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Usually however long DS naps. 1-2 hours maybe. I will check out the bump sometimes if he is playing by himself also. He usually helps in some way when I am doing any cleaning or I do anything big before he wakes up in the morning. I am always really tired in the evening too and just try to relax with DH then.
In the morning when Maddie is in her high chair eating breakfast and Liam is in his swing, I will get online and check FB, TB, etc. I will also do that occasionally during the day for a minute here or there if Liam is content doing something and so is Maddie.
Now, as far as time when both kids are asleep or dh is caring for them and I can actually do something without a concern about what they're doing? Literally maybe 10 minutes a day.
BUT, I have an exclusive breast feeder and I don't pump. So , as you can imagine, he's attached to the boob a good chunk of the day.
Basically just his nap, which varies between 45 minutes to 2 hours (he's been sick a lot). Yesterday he napped for 3 very unexpected hours! But I am usually doing something still.
There will be times when I sit and play with my phone etc. for a few minutes while he's not grabbing at me and is playing by himself, but that is really only 10 minutes tops and doesn't happen every day. Some days I can't even load the dishwasher or dust at all if he's awake. But I just started staying home again, so we'll get in a better rhythm soon. It wouldn't matter though. DH can have DS in another room and I'm supposed to "rest" or have "me time" and I swear I can't turn off the mom hyper alert thing if he's in the same building as me. DH and others (like my mom etc.) I totally trust with him and yet I wouldn't really consider it "down" time because I'm always at least half preoccupied with him.
A lot. DS goes to bed at 6 and since DH leaves for work around 3 or 4, I have a ton of time to myself. I save a lot of chores for after he goes to bed but even then I usually have a good 2-3 hours to myself. I go to bed between 10 and 11.
He takes a good 2-3 hour nap everyday so that's when DH and I have time together so I don't usually do much during his nap. He's getting really good at independent play so I've gotten good at working in 15 minute increments so that most of my work is done by bedtime. 15 minutes of play and then I will vaccum, then 15 minutes of play and then empty the dishwasher, etc.
In between breakfast and lunch I feel like I'm always trying to get something done. I'll sit for a few minutes at a time and play with DS, and I'm talking to him throughout my efforts to unload/reload the dishwasher, get a load of laundry in, put clothes away etc. When he naps, I will usually nap, too, so that would be down time. I should be getting stuff done during that time too but I can't resist a good nap.
After he goes to bed (by 8), I will sometimes sit and bum around until we go to bed (11:30ish), or I will sometimes spend the majority of that time cleaning/organizing/decluttering. We are moving in a couple months and I am trying to pack as much as I can before I start getting bigger and more uncomfortable. I am taking a break from packing dishes as I write this.
DS (7 years old) from FET in 2010 DD (5 years old) from IUI in 2012 TTC 3rd and final!: IUI #1 in progress!
Pretty much non during the day. DS rests at the same time as DD, but "needs" stuff non-stop at that time. My kids do go to bed super early (7ish) so I get a lot of down time in the evening. And I am more than wiped out, so I don't do much.
Right now I'm still trying to figure everything out. DD just started teething and now she's really off her typical routine. Right now for a few minutes is my down time. I wish I had more but I know that comes with time.
Right now I'd say however much I make. There are days it's hard to make any time---DS refuses to nap, is crabby, etc. There are days when he naps and plays well, but I just don't have energy to do anything else--so there's lots of downtime.
Saying this though I'm pretty new to the SAHM thing and haven't worked out a good cleaning schedule. So I probably have been making too much down time.
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Good ?. I take an hour to myself in the morning to go to the gym. At night kids are asleep at 730pm, and I use to have the nights to my self as DH works in the evenings but I now work at night, so I try to be done by 10pm, so I can unwind for an hour before i go to sleep. Coffe is my bff abotu 630pm!
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They have quiet time for 2 hours every day, even if they don't nap or only nap a bit. I eat lunch here.
Also, after they go to bed at 8 pm, I don't go till 12 or 1 am. I work for my city doing on-call work, which means that I take calls about every half hour from 4-11 pm, but each call only lasts for like 10 seconds each so it's not a lot of cumulative time.
In total, about 6 hours a day is me on the couch watching tv/eating/relaxing.
ETA: DH does like 90% of the housework / cooking, which is great. Esp with being pregnant, my body hurts alllllll the time.
I get about half an hour every morning but that is because I purposefully get up at 6:30 just to have a few minutes to sort out my thoughts for the day. I have recently started taking DD's rest time in the aftenoon to rest more. I used to run around and clean or prep dinner or answer emails but the farther along I get in this pregnancy the more I find myself resting for that hour of quiet. At night DD goes to bed by 7:30 and I am usually able to have either "me time" or spend one-on-one time with DH from 8:30 - 10:00 when I go to bed.
It really does depend on the day. Yesterday was an almost no down time day. We were up and running first thing in the morning. Once we got home it was time to make lunch. About an hour after lunch the girls wanted to swim and I started cleaning the pool deck. Their birthday party is this Saturday and I have so much cleaning to get done before the party. The pool deck is still a mess from Tropical Storm Debby. Same with the yard, but DH gets home this evening and I am leaving the yard mess for him. Today is going to be another no down time day as well I think since I will be cleaning most of the day, then getting DH at the train station at 5, dinner after that and then fireworks at 9.
My girls don't nap anymore, they haven't since 2 1/2. So if they are having a quiet time kind of afternoon I have about 90 min. of down time before they want to swim or run outside and I start cleaning again.
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During naps. Usually a total full hour or so a day.
DS has gotten on a schedule of 1hr naps in morning and 1hr nap in afternoons. One of the naps I have to get housework done and the like. The other hour I usually bump, surf the net, fb, read, scrapbook or unfortunately for the time being...packing to move. YUCK.
Re: How much down time do you have per day?
Currently going through our second deployment. Can't wait for Zoe to meet her daddy!
It really depends on the day.
If both the kids overlap naps and play together well, a whole lot.
If there's no overlapping naps and I'm spending a good chunk of my day refereeing their death matches over the toy train, none.
Very little. - I have one no napper and Chase naps for usually 2 hours. Sometimes I can get her 'rest time' and nap to overlap- but that is pretty rare-
Usually- only after they go to bed- and before I start sorting through work stuff and focusing on that stuff.
It depends on the day. Today I am being rather unproductive and hanging out online when I should be cleaning or working! LOL
Normally, not much though. I clean/organize from about 8-10am and then we go out for errands or DD's activities usually until lunch and then nap. I work from home during DD's nap. Then I do a pick-up before DH gets home at night and its dinner, clean-up, bathtime. After she goes to bed I work for another 1-2 hours.
DD2: Lucia (Lucy) 07/13
lol...this is true for me!
Really, it's been depending on my kids ages. For a while, both my boys were sleeping about 14 hours a day (11 at night with a 3 hour nap). I slept about 7. So, I spent maybe 2 hours cleaning and cooking, which left me with 5 hours to myself. Now, it is much less, and sometimes it seems like zero...but amy is right. It is not, actually, zero.
W : 01.11.13
#3 : due 11.02.15
Well, that's hard to say.
In the morning when Maddie is in her high chair eating breakfast and Liam is in his swing, I will get online and check FB, TB, etc. I will also do that occasionally during the day for a minute here or there if Liam is content doing something and so is Maddie.
Now, as far as time when both kids are asleep or dh is caring for them and I can actually do something without a concern about what they're doing? Literally maybe 10 minutes a day.
BUT, I have an exclusive breast feeder and I don't pump. So , as you can imagine, he's attached to the boob a good chunk of the day.
Basically just his nap, which varies between 45 minutes to 2 hours (he's been sick a lot). Yesterday he napped for 3 very unexpected hours! But I am usually doing something still.
There will be times when I sit and play with my phone etc. for a few minutes while he's not grabbing at me and is playing by himself, but that is really only 10 minutes tops and doesn't happen every day. Some days I can't even load the dishwasher or dust at all if he's awake. But I just started staying home again, so we'll get in a better rhythm soon. It wouldn't matter though. DH can have DS in another room and I'm supposed to "rest" or have "me time" and I swear I can't turn off the mom hyper alert thing if he's in the same building as me. DH and others (like my mom etc.) I totally trust with him and yet I wouldn't really consider it "down" time because I'm always at least half preoccupied with him.
A lot. DS goes to bed at 6 and since DH leaves for work around 3 or 4, I have a ton of time to myself. I save a lot of chores for after he goes to bed but even then I usually have a good 2-3 hours to myself. I go to bed between 10 and 11.
He takes a good 2-3 hour nap everyday so that's when DH and I have time together so I don't usually do much during his nap. He's getting really good at independent play so I've gotten good at working in 15 minute increments so that most of my work is done by bedtime. 15 minutes of play and then I will vaccum, then 15 minutes of play and then empty the dishwasher, etc.
In between breakfast and lunch I feel like I'm always trying to get something done. I'll sit for a few minutes at a time and play with DS, and I'm talking to him throughout my efforts to unload/reload the dishwasher, get a load of laundry in, put clothes away etc. When he naps, I will usually nap, too, so that would be down time. I should be getting stuff done during that time too but I can't resist a good nap.
After he goes to bed (by 8), I will sometimes sit and bum around until we go to bed (11:30ish), or I will sometimes spend the majority of that time cleaning/organizing/decluttering. We are moving in a couple months and I am trying to pack as much as I can before I start getting bigger and more uncomfortable. I am taking a break from packing dishes as I write this.
DD (5 years old) from IUI in 2012
TTC 3rd and final!: IUI #1 in progress!
Down time? What is this that you speak of?
Right now I'm still trying to figure everything out. DD just started teething and now she's really off her typical routine. Right now for a few minutes is my down time. I wish I had more but I know that comes with time.
I nap for two hours everyday while DD and DS take their nap. I call that leisure time. And I do mean every.single.day.
Right now I'd say however much I make. There are days it's hard to make any time---DS refuses to nap, is crabby, etc. There are days when he naps and plays well, but I just don't have energy to do anything else--so there's lots of downtime.
Saying this though I'm pretty new to the SAHM thing and haven't worked out a good cleaning schedule. So I probably have been making too much down time.
They have quiet time for 2 hours every day, even if they don't nap or only nap a bit. I eat lunch here.
Also, after they go to bed at 8 pm, I don't go till 12 or 1 am. I work for my city doing on-call work, which means that I take calls about every half hour from 4-11 pm, but each call only lasts for like 10 seconds each so it's not a lot of cumulative time.
In total, about 6 hours a day is me on the couch watching tv/eating/relaxing.
ETA: DH does like 90% of the housework / cooking, which is great. Esp with being pregnant, my body hurts alllllll the time.
I am confused. Define down time for me. I am pretty sure that I don't have any.
I get about half an hour every morning but that is because I purposefully get up at 6:30 just to have a few minutes to sort out my thoughts for the day. I have recently started taking DD's rest time in the aftenoon to rest more. I used to run around and clean or prep dinner or answer emails but the farther along I get in this pregnancy the more I find myself resting for that hour of quiet. At night DD goes to bed by 7:30 and I am usually able to have either "me time" or spend one-on-one time with DH from 8:30 - 10:00 when I go to bed.
m/c at 13 weeks - March 23, 2011
It really does depend on the day. Yesterday was an almost no down time day. We were up and running first thing in the morning. Once we got home it was time to make lunch. About an hour after lunch the girls wanted to swim and I started cleaning the pool deck. Their birthday party is this Saturday and I have so much cleaning to get done before the party. The pool deck is still a mess from Tropical Storm Debby. Same with the yard, but DH gets home this evening and I am leaving the yard mess for him. Today is going to be another no down time day as well I think since I will be cleaning most of the day, then getting DH at the train station at 5, dinner after that and then fireworks at 9.
My girls don't nap anymore, they haven't since 2 1/2. So if they are having a quiet time kind of afternoon I have about 90 min. of down time before they want to swim or run outside and I start cleaning again.
During naps. Usually a total full hour or so a day.
DS has gotten on a schedule of 1hr naps in morning and 1hr nap in afternoons. One of the naps I have to get housework done and the like. The other hour I usually bump, surf the net, fb, read, scrapbook or unfortunately for the time being...packing to move. YUCK.