good day, bad day

I'd love to get into a routine.  It seems like having a routine would make every day a little bit smoother, and life would be a bit easier.  For example:

**Ideal Start of a Day:
Not so long ago, I woke up early at 7:30am with Kris' alarm.  I felt refreshed, and the kids weren't up yet, so I went and got myself a cup of hot coffee, and sat down and started watching The Bachelor episode I had missed the day before.  (I know, a frivolous way to spend a free morning, but really, there's nothing like a good cat fight and drama to indulge in sometimes.)  I was more than half way through the episode and was done with the coffee (while it was still hot!  ZOMG!) before Alaise started stirring.  It was an awesome way to start a morning, just a bit of time to myself.

However, it's rare that I wake up at 7:30am refreshed, especially since Kai almost always wakes up between around 7:00am to nurse.  I usually crawl back into bed after he's done and try to doze another hour or so, if I'm lucky.  So I would like to compromise with a good day.  For example:

**Good Day:
Yesterday was the first day I felt good since we caught the stomach bug.  I woke up feeling much better, and Alaise and I had breakfast.  (It's helpful for Kai to sleep a bit longer, it gives me time to change & feed Lacey.)  Kai woke up about 30 minutes after that.  They were both in a really good mood - so I started on some chores that was backed up from being sick.  They both went down for a nap at the same time (which happens when Lacey wakes up earlier), and slept for 2 hours at the same time.  (YESSS.)

After lunch, I had enough energy, so I cleaned the kitchen & Kai sat in the car seat watching me & Alaise followed me around, playing with kitchen utensils in the kitchen.  Around 3:30pm, I gave Kai a bath (I usually give kiddos baths at night, but he stunk like puke all morning and I couldn't stand it any longer.) and put both of them to nap.  Again, (!) they napped together, although Kai slept a lot longer.

Dinner & Bedtime and then mommy & daddy time.  A good day.

Now, I thought that once I had two kids, my days would look pretty similar.  Not so.  For example:

**Bad Day:
Today, I woke up really really tired, even though I got out of bed at 9:30am.  I couldn't fall asleep till 1:30am for some reason...  Then Alaise was up at 4am and would not go back to sleep for an hour.  And as I crawled back into bed at 5am, Kai woke up hungry.  He again woke up around 7:30am, and both of the woke up at 9:30am.  I could hardly crawl out of bed, as I felt like I was up all night long.  Since they Lacey woke up so late, she did not want her morning nap when I laid her down.  Kai napped only an hour at a time.  (mommy's plan to nap while they napped = epic fail) 

Lacey was fussy all through lunch because she was tired, and as she started her nap, Kai woke up from his.  Sometimes, he goes to nap again after about an hour of being awake, so I laid him down again, thinking that Lacey would stay asleep for about an hour since she didn't take her morning nap.  Mommy lays down to nap, and 10 minutes later, she's awake.

Seriously frustrating day, when the bad night's sleep starts off the day & their naps alternate.  I have no energy to get anything done, and when I do have some time, I don't want to clean the house - all I want to do is sit and browse the web.  And inevitably, on days like this, Kai only naps for an hour at a time, and both kids are very whiny all day long, and my patience runs very thin.
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One of the problems with setting a routine for me is that I have SUCH a hard time going to bed early.  After getting the kids to sleep between 8:30-9:00pm, all I want to do is spend time with Kris, doing adult activities.  (did that sound naughty?)  Watching our missed shows, playing games (gotta keep those StarCraft senses sharp), having adult conversations without kiddos.  The last thing I want to do is to cut this time short and go to bed.  It doesn't help that both Kris and I are night people - we have so much more energy at nights.

I tend to think that if I go to bed early, it will help me wake up early, allowing me an ideal start to the day, and get the kids up at the same time every morning, and set a good routine.  But it's so hard to do.  And on days like today, (a bad day) it's so tempting to be in bed by 10...  (Oh wait.  It's past midnight and I'm still up writing this blog.  Sigh.  Another failed attempt.)