The Schedule

I've finally found a few minutes to update you all on our daily goings-on at home.  Things have been very hectic, but manageable.  It took a couple of weeks to settle down and get into a routine, and there are times of the day which are absolutely horrible, but overall it's not too bad.  Luckily, I can be very anal, and I do love schedules and flowcharts.  I'm very big on making spreadsheets and charts for just about everything.  I love to plan.  Not that everything always works according to said schedule, but it does help.  I've had to up everything to a whole new level, however.  I never used actual times of the day in which to slot everything in, we just had basic routines that we followed.  But, now I'm a scheduling master, and everything has it's time slot.  It had to be done.  I was forgetting really important things like bills, medicine refills, gettting Adam hooked up to his pump in time for his first dose, etc.  So I wanted to share with you what our typical day looks like at the McArthur household!

6:00am - Mummy wakes up and tries to fit in 30 minutes of exercise, often with at least one child underfoot
7:00am - Disconnect Daddy from pump (while Daddy is still asleep!)
7:15am - Lay out breakfast and supplements
7:30am - Kids and Mummy eat breakfast
7:45am - Mummy makes Daddy's breakfast
8:00am - Wash dishes, give Ali medicines, dress children and Mummy makes herself look human
8:30am - Draw blood (Daddy should be awake and fed by now) and prep medicine bags
9:00am - Program pump and reconnect Daddy in time for first infusion at 9:30am, filter water
9:30-10:30am - Take blood to lab, or tackle To-Do list (laundry, bills, phone calls, make veggie juice, etc.)
10:30-11:30am - Do something with kids (park, library, Lego, puzzles, etc.)
11:30am - Prepare lunch
12:00pm - Eat lunch
12:30pm - Wash dishes, give Ali medicines
1:00-3:00pm - Finlay naps, and Calum and Ali homeschool
3:00pm - Wake up Finlay, prepare snack for kids, give Daddy enzymes
3:30-4:00pm - Free time!  Mummy lies unconscious on sofa while kids watch TV or play on computer
4:00pm - Make protein shake for Daddy, give Ali medicines, prepare dinner
5:30pm - Eat dinner
6:30pm - Wash dishes (or Jatta does it if she's here)
7:00pm - Disconnect Daddy from pump, give Ali medicines
7:30pm - Kids bath, ready for bed
8:00pm - Lights out for kids, Mummy showers or Daddy has bath (we alternate nights)
8:15pm - Mummy checks emails, makes soups/soaks beans, preps medicine bags, filters water
9:00pm - Reconnect Daddy to pump
9:30pm - Enzymes for Daddy, Mummy does a bit of stretching/yoga to wind down
10:00pm - Mummy and Daddy go to bed

Meanwhile, Adam tries to work as much as he can, complete with twice-hourly potty breaks and through crippling fatigue.  He takes breaks throughout the day and tries to nap here and there on the sofa.  At first, the kids were spending a lot of time on the Wii and in front of the computer, but that has died down a lot.  I'm glad to see Calum spending more time sketching Pokemon characters, and Ali playing Legos.  Finlay just wanders around destroying everything, and occasionally plays with toys.  Needless to say, the house is a bit of a disaster.  I know that I'm supposed to be vacumming the carpeting, and regularly changing the sheets on the beds, but I'm going to have to wait until Adam is finished with the treatment before I'll be able to do any of those sorts of things again.

Well, my 3:30-4:00pm opening is over, so I've got to go make Adam's protein shake.  I skipped my nap for this!