Curfew

About two weeks ago I got fed up. Fed up with being out late places, whether running errands or visiting or eating out. Fed up with cranky kids after a certain hour. Fed up with no personal time to do anything, whether for me or catching up on a little housework. Thus, I decided upon a curfew-for most of the family. No matter where we are, come 8 p.m., we leave. We go home, get the kids ready for bed and settle in for the night. That is just part of the equation, though. Since we are homeschoolers, I never really worried about getting the kids to bed at a certain hour. They basically plopped when they plopped, and got to sleep in as late as they like. But, when I set up the curfew, the new plan was also that they started going to bed at nine. I would lay Pony Gal down first, reading her a bedtime story or two, then go lay down with Superboy, nursing him to sleep in his bed-yes, his bed. This does several things-affords me a small window of cleanup time from 10-10:45 or so, though it doesn't generally take that long when I am keeping up with things, then husband time until we fall asleep. With Superboy in his bed part of the night, we get some "alone" time and I get some real sleep for just awhile. It varies from night to night how long that is. Some nights I get two hours, some I get 6. When he wakes up, I bring him back into our bedroom to nurse back to sleep until morning. It has only been recently that I have been able to do that part of it, as he has been a heavy night nurser since we brought him home from the hospital. I must say I have really been enjoying my evening time, even getting to knit and sew a little more. I also have been sewing for a certain craft show I will be at in the late fall, and been able to do a lot of that crafting during Dad's later nights out bowling. I also think I have been able to keep the house up better as I keep rearranging and decluttering until EVERYTHING has its place. I have spent a little extra money on shelves, but it is so worth it to have things have permanent homes.