the Survival Zone!

[Alicia Hernon]

We had lots of great conversation about the Survival Zone on the Zoom call and there is so much more to say!  I think that there were some couples who had great ideas and insights for getting through this time.  Could you post some of your ideas here?  How do you make time for each other?  How do you manage so many young littles?  How do you keep your house organized and sane?  How do you take care of yourself?

We have ideas, but most of you have heard them on our podcasts 🙂  we will jump in, but I would love to hear your ideas first!  If you want to keep track of responses, I highly recommend clicking the “subscribe” button on the upper right of the page!

[Julia Wright]

I don’t know if we have it all figured out, and our life is definitely a work in progress. We tend to change our approach as the season of our family changes.  However, one thing that we have kept consistent since our oldest was just a baby is that we use nap times on Saturday as our time.  It’s our own mini date time at home.  We put the nappers down and those who are old enough to avoid nap time find a quiet activity.  Then, Rob and I sit on the couch or porch and we just spend time with each other.  Saturday afternoons are our time to dream and reconnect.  16 years in and that is still really important and one of our favorite times.

[Eric & Marie Wietlisbach]

Great idea Julia!  We don’t have nappers right now…but soon we will once again.  Even a family quiet time can be a good thing….again, that  doesn’t happen on the weekends for us right now unless I sneak away for a nap.

For us, we move a lot.  So, I try and find a sitter from a Catholic family ASAP.  And then once a month at least (once every two weeks is best I think), we get our sitter on the books for a Friday night, early dinner.  We still like to tuck our kids in….but I don’t want to deal with dinner and bath time routines.  We did not always make it a priority (i wish we would have)….but since the kids are older now and stay up later, we make it a priority now!  When baby number 5 comes in Nov, it will be interesting to see how we juggle it all with the nursing etc.  But we know to make it a priority now! 🙂  I will say Eric and I look forward to Saturday morning coffee/breakfast together after he makes pancakes/bacon for everyone and they run off to play their coveted once a week Minecraft video game time together.  A type of quiet time, hahaha.

Our first date after moving to NJ is this Friday!  WOOT WOOT!  God totally provided the sitter.  It was really neat how it all came together.

Enjoy those Saturday afternoons 🙂

[Claire Zugec]

Julia, that’s great you have kept such a great track record with the nap date times! That’s a great idea! We still attempt at-home-date nights, but are often too tired for it to last long or for us to be at our best selves. We’ll have to try out a different time of the day!

Marie, I agree it makes such a difference having some regular sitters (and therefore regular dates)! We just navigated some of that over the past year with having a few consistent sitters…though now trying to figure that out while still being in the midst of Covid-19 and still having limited contact with others. Congrats on #5 as well!! 😊

Just as an overall question for anyone who would like to chime in, how have any of you implemented quiet time once kiddos are no longer napping? Ours are all still nappers, but I know it will be really important for me to still have a little time in the afternoons so that I continue to survive as a Mom lol! Just curious what has worked for others.
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[Marisa]

That’s beautiful! Definitely a food for thought to make sure that time does not pass by without feeding your tank of love!

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