Morning everyone. Are you all ready for the weekend? We are going to meet the Easter bunny at the weekend and then mid week we are off the UK on a ferry. We are so excited. Have you got any nice plans lined for Easter?
Today Collette is featuring on my blog who you can find blogging at Family Life and Me.
First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.
My name is Collette. I am a wife, Mummy of 2 energetic children and part time nurse. I write a family lifestyle blog called “Family Life and Me” where I share my parenting experiences and memories. My main hobbies are reading, taking photographs and eating Nutella straight from the jar.
How many times were you woken last night?
5 times by my son Dylan. He’s not feeling well at the minute. I suspect he’s coming down with Chicken Pox.
Do you co-sleep?
No.
What time do you normally wake up?
Usually 6am when Dylan wakes up.
How much average sleep do you get a night?
This last week (not counting last night) I’ve been getting about 7hrs which is amazing but for the last 16 months I’ve been surviving on around 5.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Get Dylan some milk and flick the kettle on.
Tell me about your typical morning routine.
Wake up usually at 6am. Go downstairs with Dylan and give him a bottle of milk and make myself a cup of tea. When Dylan’s had his milk, I’ll change his nappy and play with him whilst we’re watching a bit of Cbeebies. My husband goes to work at around 6:45am. Katie usually rises at around 7:15am so she will come downstairs and I’ll get her a drink of fresh Apple Juice. We usually have breakfast at 7:45am (Shreddies for the children & porridge for me) then we start to get dressed at 8:15am. All three of us are washed and dressed by 8:30am so the children will play in the living room whilst I quickly tidy the pots up and put a load of washing in the machine. We leave the house at 8:50am to take Katie to Nursery for 9am. Dylan usually falls asleep on the nursery run so after we’ve dropped her off, if I have no plans for the day, I go home and transfer him in to his cot for a morning nap or he sleeps in the car as we meet our friends for a playdate.
When and how often do you prepare the family dinners? Give us a few examples what you would cook.
I generally cook from scratch on my days off from work (tues, wed & thurs) My go-to meals that I know go down a treat with my family are: Spaghetti Bolognaise, Toad in the hole and Cottage pie. I work Mondays and Fridays so we are all usually home a bit later on those days and I don’t have much time to cook so I am trying more and more to use the slow cooker so we have a hot meal to walk in to…it’s a work in progress though as I often forget to prep it the night before. Weekends in our house are a bit slower and more relaxed so either my husband will cook something nice or we will go out for food as a treat.
What’s on the menu for lunch?
Sandwiches. Usually ham or cheese with a bag of crisps and some fruit. Nothing very exciting. Katie has a hot dinner at nursery so it’s just for Dylan and I.
What activities have you got planned for the day for the kids?
Katie goes to nursery Monday – Friday 9am whilst 1pm so whilst she’s there I usually take Dylan to soft play or the music group we attend since the weather is so miserable. In the afternoon Dylan likes a nap so I pick Katie up from Nursery and we usually do crafts in the afternoon whilst he’s asleep or play the games we can’t get out whilst he’s around ha!
Do you generally eat dinner together as a family or get the kids fed first?
We eat as a family every night around the dinner table when my husband gets home from work. It’s very important to me.
What do you do after dinner?
There’s usually around 1 hour from eating tea to bath time so we play games, dance and just generally have a bit of fun. It’s the only time of the day that Daddy get’s to play with the kids.
What is your bedtime routine?
Our bedtime routine starts at 7pm. We have a bath every other night so on those nights we bath the children together then one of us will get Dylan dried and dressed and one will get Katie dried and dressed. Dylan then lays in his cot and has a bottle of milk then we get him in his sleeping bag, kiss him goodnight and he’s usually sound asleep by 7:30pm. Katie has two stories every night which me and my husband read one each we then settle her down and kiss her goodnight. She’s usually asleep for around 7:45pm
Most importantly, when and where do you normally blog in those 24 hours? Do you have a schedule?
I usually blog either once the children have gone to sleep from 8pm onwards or in the morning for an hour whilst Dylan naps. We have an office/study in our house so I usually blog there as I need complete quiet so I can concentrate. I’m easily distracted. I have a blog schedule and use a calendar plugin on my blog to help organise my workload and work out what I’m going to write and when it needs to be published. I only get a small snippet of time everyday to work on my blog so I have to be completely dedicated and focused otherwise it just wouldn’t get done.
Thanks for that Colette. Sounds pretty much the same as our routines.
Everyone loves a follower more. What social media platforms can we find you on?
Facebook: facebook.com/familylifeandme
Twitter: twitter.com/famlifeandme
Instagram: instagram.com/familylifeandme
Pinterest: pinterest.com/familylifeandme
If this is something you might be interested in, why not drop me a quick email to be featured as well and I will get back to you. admin@janineslittleworld.com
Interesting to hear others routines, hope your little one is feeling better
Lovely to get an insight into other people’s lives. I’m amazed how many of us run our blogs after 8pm at night! I have only recently had time free in the day a couple of days a week to work while my youngest is at playgroup, but other than that it’s mostly at night! x
This is a great series. Lovely to get a peek into someone’s every day life. We usually have sarnies for lunch too x
I do love reading about other bloggers and their daily life! Great post. Kaz x
I’m the same with blogging – after 8pm or during nap time!
I like these posts, it’s always great to find out a little bit more about bloggers isn’t it!
I loved this! Such an interesting insight into other bloggers lives xx
Good post, always interesting to hear about other mums’ lives!