I have a confession. I’m not an organized person. In the comment section of my elementary school report cards, without fail, my teachers would write that I was an excellent student, but my lack of organizational skills was hindering my performance. As best as I can remember about my elementary school days, this was a vast understatement. Imagine Pigpen, the cartoon character in Peanuts. I was like that, with a cloud of papers, old lunch bags, and various odds and ends fluttering all around me.
Since my early school days, I’ve worked on my organizational skills. Adding daycare to the morning routine just about set me over the edge, contemplating whether I was ever going to show up for work on time again. I’ve been a frequent rider on the morning struggle bus ever since Baby T’s first day of daycare three weeks ago. Getting Baby T to daycare with his requisite gear early enough to still get myself to work on time dressed in something that ever so slightly resembles a professional person ranks as a major accomplishment by my standards. I give myself bonus points for arriving to work free of baby spit-up, smeared food, or the random bit of baby poo.
For other organizationally-impaired mom’s out there, here are five tips that have really helped me:
1. Do Everything You Can the Night Before – The night before a work/daycare day, I take time to lay out Baby T’s clothes for the day as well as my own. I also fill his bottles with water so all I have to do is spoon in formula powder the next morning, prep the blender with all the ingredients for a healthy morning smoothie for me, prepare the coffee to be ready when I wake up, pack the car with spare clothes for Baby T and any other necessary daycare supplies, pack my own gym bag so I can work out during lunch break, and take a shower.
2. Treat the Morning of Like Game Time – Gone are the days of pressing snooze on the alarm clock. Now I set my alarm for 15 minutes before Baby T usually wakes up so I can grab a cup of coffee, get dressed and apply make-up before he even wakes up. Once he’s up, it is diaper time, breakfast, changing Baby T into clothes for the day and loading him in the car. With any luck, we’re out of the house in under an hour.
3. Be Prepared with Commute Toys and Snacks – Baby T doesn’t care much for the car. Before daycare, he had the luxury of rarely riding in one. Now we commute 30 minutes each way to daycare. Starting the day to the sounds of his pitiful whimpers and pouts was putting a damper on my morning, so I learned to stock the car to keep us both happy. I keep some of his favorite toys in the backseat and give him two after he’s buckled into his car seat. I’ve also learned to keep a supply of snacks he can eat, just in case he’s a little hungry on the way home from daycare.
4. Use Weekends Strategically to Prepare for Busy Weeks – The weekend is the only realistic time I have to buy supplies for the week, from frozen Kashi lunch meals for me to diapers and wipes for Baby T. I also make sure to do all the laundry, and tackle any upcoming daycare projects (his daycare is always asking for a new photo or item to share). I also use a black sharpie to label all of his diapers, wipes, bottles, clothes, blanket and other items he’ll need for daycare.
5. Invest Time Finding Back Up Babysitters Before Baby Gets Sick – On the second day of daycare I received a call at 10 a.m. that Baby T was in the front office with a temperature of 103 degrees and needed to be picked up. The daycare policy is that a child cannot return to daycare until he or she has been without a fever for at least one full day. This meant that I took three precious vacation days to take care of Baby T, one of which he was feeling perfectly fine and didn’t have a fever. Lesson learned – cultivate a back-up plan for others who might watch Baby T when he can’t go to daycare but isn’t sick.
What tricks do you use to get you and your baby out of the door? What back-up-plans do you have for when daycare is closed or your baby is sick?
Daycare part 4 of 8
1. The Pros and Cons of Nannies vs. Daycare by Mrs. Bee2. The Financial Cost of a Nanny vs. Daycare by Mrs. Bee
3. Preparing for Daycare by Checklists
4. The Daycare Juggle: Five Tips for Getting into a Good Groove by Ms. Fairy Wings
5. the best back-to-school books by Mrs. Cowgirl
6. Best Toddler Backpacks by Guides
7. The Well-Packed Daycare Bag by Mrs. Stroller
8. Why We Decided to Send Charlie to Daycare at 18 Months by Mrs. Bee
pomegranate / 3225 posts
Thank you! I’m also organizationally challenged, and I can barely get myself to work on time. I’m just not sure how I’m going to manage once LO arrives!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Ugggh. I’m dealing with this now. This is M’s first week at daycare and that first day was a disaster. I got to work 15 minutes late. Now I’m trying to get everything ready in the evening after she goes to bed. I set up a station on the kitchen table with her daycare bag, my pump bag and my lunch bag/purse. I defrost her frozen milk and put it in bottles. I then empty the dishwasher (which we are running right after dinner) and put my bottles and parts in my pump bag. I’ll put most of my lunch in my lunch bag other than the refrigerated items which I grab in the morning with her bottles. That has helped me.
The hardest part is getting all the bags in the car, getting the dogs in their crates and then getting baby in the car and on our way. She doesn’t like the car much either and starting Nov. 5, we’ll be driving 30 minutes together, as well. GAH. I feel your pain.
squash / 13199 posts
I shower last thing at night, so I dont have to shower first thing in the morning. Its one less thing to do in the mornings. Thanks for this post I sometimes wonder if I am the only one struggling with doing everything each morning
kiwi / 511 posts
My DH and I do much of this, however he has the morning drop off duties so I am not sure what all he does after I leave for work, we have a 2 year old and a 4 month. But we do make lunches (for all of us) the night before and do as much prep work ahead of time. Sunday night we pre load his car with the kids sheets and blankets for daycare as well as any diapers or wipes that we need.
I do similar things since I have pick up and need to have dinner on the table relatively quickly before A melts down, he needs to start eating no later then 5:30. Which can be a challenge (1) with a quick turn around we generally get home around 4:45 and (2) he can be very clingy which is not conducive to cooking even when I have him help and (3) J may also be melting for other reasons which can in turn make his older brother melt even more because I am paying attention to the little.
So I prep dinner, casseroles have become my friend, I generally prep them the night before so all I have to do is shove them in the oven and make a veggie (depending on the casserole, some are veg heavy so I don’t feel an additional one is needed). Also breakfast as dinner happens once a week because it is easy and everyone loves it and it can be a good well balanced meal.
My biggest struggle is to get the two from daycare into my car and then out of the car into the house. Fortunately the older is getting better about climbing into his seat and I just have to buckle him. And if he is melting our drive home is 5 minutes tops, so the screams while deafening have a short life. I have also learned to leave the radio to the classical station, he likes to hear the piano so I ask if there is a piano in the particular song, he is very good at picking it out.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
Great tips, I never thought about looking for in a pinch babysitters before hand. thanks!
nectarine / 2192 posts
Good ideas!