Friday, June 5, 2009

A day at home

This is what we do on a typical day when we don't have anywhere to go.

5:00 - 5:40 am - babies usually wake up for a diaper change (1) and then go back to sleep

6:10 - 6:40 am - wake up time varies each day - they drink 3-4 oz of formula

6:40 - 7:30 - inside playtime, get a diaper (2) and clothes change, Mommy and Daddy eat breakfast and sometimes shower (I often shower at night)

7:30 - 8 - babies eat yogurt and a couple cheerios for breakfast. They eat yogurt everyday, just the flavors vary. If Mommy is alone, I usually put on the songs DVD and feed them one at a time because they eat better. It's like Ryan has a time limit, and every bite you give Alyna is one less bite he'll eat.

8 - 8:30 - continue to watch DVD or play inside while Mommy cleans up breakfast, washes bottles, starts laundry, etc. When Daddy is not working, this is a special time when he lays on the floor and lets them crawl all over him. diaper change (3)

8:30 - 9 - as long as it's nice, and it usually is, we put the playpen and exer-saucer on the back porch and the babies play while Mommy and Daddy read

9 am - morning nap for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, diaper change (4),

10 - 10:30 - wake up from nap and play inside, diaper change (5)

10:30 - snack time. We've officially transitioned from having lots of bottles to having snack times. They get a sippy cup with a couple ounces of formula or watered down apple juice, and lots of cheerios.

11:00 - Mommy and Daddy eat lunch, while they play

11:45 - 12 - twins eat lunch, baby food fruit and cheerios. They are fed separately if Mommy is alone, so something is done to entertain the other one. diaper change (6)

12 - 1 - play time inside or outside if it's not too hot.

1 - afternoon nap. diaper change (7). Anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes. Alyna likes to take long afternoon naps as long as Ryan doesn't wake her up when he does at the 1 hour point. If he seems fussy when he wakes up, I'll put him in the swing for about 20 minutes, but he rarely goes back to sleep.

2 - 3 - wake up from nap and go play, diaper change (8), have afternoon snack - few oz of formula and cheerios or a teething buscuit

3 - 4 - playtime inside or outside

4 - 4:20 - twins dinnertime - baby food and cheerios, diaper change (9)

5 - 6 - cat nap or at least some quiet time in the crib; diaper change (10), Mommy and Daddy quickly try to eat dinner. Ryan usually falls asleep, and Alyna just plays with the mobile and pulls up on the sides until we decide to let her come play in the living room again. Some of this depends on how long their afternoon nap was. Alyna is okay staying up from nap till bedtime if she got a 2 hour nap.

6 - 7 - playtime inside or outside, diaper change (11)

6:15 - 6:45 - if the wind isn't too bad, we go for a walk in the stroller. The length just depends on how we feel. When Daddy is available, we take Henrey with us.

6:45 - 7:15 - bedtime bottle, 3-5 oz of formula, it depends on how much they ate at dinner. This is also bathtime about 3 times a week.

7:15 - 7:30 - diaper change (12), put on pajamas, read bedtime books, and go to bed

7:30 - 7:50 - Mommy washes bottles, and gets things ready for tomorrow while going in and out of babies room to get them to sleep.

8 - 10 - Mommy and Daddy have some free time, watch TV, shower, read, and sometimes go to sleep early

10 - 10:30 - nighttime bottle feeding. Alyna usually drinks 5 - 7 oz, and Ryan drinks 4 -6 oz. This gets them through until morning. diaper change (13)

10:30 pm - 5 am - deep sleep, Sometimes they wake up once or twice and need to be coaxed to sleep, but most nights they sleep through now.


That's 13 diaper changes X2... and usually there's an extra one thrown in somewhere. The parent's choice box has 104 diapers for about $14. One box lasts about 4 days at about $3.50 a day. (Imagine if we used Huggies or Pampers. They are more expensive even with the coupons I get.)

The parent's choice formula can is $12 and lasts about 4 days, $3 a day. We go through 2 containers of yogurt, $.56 each, and 2 packages baby food, $.94 each at WalMart ($1 at Albertsons), a day. A box of cheerios will last a few weeks at $3. So that's about $6.15 a day to feed the two of them.

We do use the Pampers unscented wipes because they don't irritate Alyna's bottom, and we don't like the way the Parent's Choice wipes are stacked. They are about $11 for a box of refills that lasts us 10 - 13 days depending on how messy things get. So about $1 a day. (not including travel wipes packs we use when we're out)

Diaper Genie Elite refills are about $6 and last us about 12 days.

$3.50 + $6.15 + $1 + $.50 = $11.15 a day

4 comments:

Delores Lee said...

Wait 'til they get older and even trips to McDonalds will cost you that to feed them one meal. You're getting by cheaply now :)

Nicole said...

Sam's, my friend, Sam's. That's were I get wipes and we loved their diapers. Great deals on cheerios and formula as well. I can' vouch for the formula, though.

Kara said...

Unfortunately we have to drive 1 1/2 to Midland for a Sam's Club.

MommyBrainReports said...

Congrats on your twins!! Things are quite expensive while they're babies! We used Parent's Choice with our twin girls. I could not breast feed and had no other choice. We used the samples from the hospital, but soon found that we were going through formula faster than we could buy it. We took a look at the store brand labels and compared them to the name brand. They were exactly the same. A lot of people don't know that store brand formulas are required to meet the exact same nutrition guidelines set by the FDA as the name brand formulas. Store brand formulas are an excellent way to save money and NOT sacrifice your baby's nutrition!