My Evening Routine

Yesterday, I shared with all of you the routines of some of my closest friends. Today I am sharing my evening routine. I’ve always tried to avoid routines and have rebelled against them. Unfortunately, I need them and so do my kids.

My Routine

AGE: early THIRTIES 
KIDS: 1 kindergartener, 2 toddlers (twins)
OCCUPATION: systems administrator

I work in the evenings so that means I’m often eating dinner at my desk and my husband is doing the evening cooking, cleaning, and bedtime routines with our kids. On my off nights, I take over the cleaning and bedtime with the kids. Sometimes I make dinner, but I’m not as skilled as my husband in that area. 

On a typical weekend evening, I will get the twins’ teeth brushed, and have them sit on the potty (which is often missed/forgotten due to tantrums and chaos). They have now transitioned to showers as opposed to baths which were becoming more of an acrobatic occasion and lacked that calming feature we were hoping to instill. Then we put their jammies on them and read to them in their rooms. We like to start their routine around 6:30 PM and have them in their beds around 7:00 PM. With our first son, we did three books a night. With the twins, we stick to one or two due to their lack of focus. Since there are two of them they are very excited to be together and if we don’t move swiftly through the routine we’ve noticed all that calming work we’ve done ends in fits of laughter. 

After they have been put to bed we tend to spend some quality time with our older son. His bedtime is 8:00 PM. We are very excited about the fact that he can now shower on his own so around 7:30 – 7:45 we send him downstairs to shower, brush his teeth, and put on his PJs. During that time my husband and I usually chat about the day and what show we might watch together to close out the night. We don’t spend a lot of time together during the week so on the weekends it’s nice to snuggle and relax. We have a TV in our room right now so we end up watching something to end the day. We tend to open a bottle of wine around this time.

When our kindergartener is done with his routine one of us pops down to check on him and we choose a book together. He’s down to just one book a night due to how long the bedtime routine has become with three kids. Around 8:00 PM we are tucking him in and reading his book. After that, we say our goodnights and whoever took care of his bedtime then pops back upstairs to relax for the evening. 

 

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small commission. I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.

I have an evening product lineup that I like to use and unfortunately it’s hit or miss lately as to whether that actually takes place. Between work and family I often just want to crash after work. Weekends tend to be more successful when it comes to my product routine. 

I start with my cleanser. Following the instructions for the cleanser, I apply it using my hands without wetting them or my face, which I love by the way. It feels like I’m skipping a step which is always a win for me. Shorter is better. If I’ve not worn makeup that day or I’m feeling lazy I swipe off the day using micellar water with a cotton round instead of my cleanser. The next step is Thayer’s Facial Toner which I am obsessed with. I’ve tried their rose version but I keep coming back to the cucumber I love the cooling feeling. I used to apply this with a cotton round but I’ve since started using my bare hands to ensure more of it gets absorbed into my skin. I’ve recently added a new friend to my lineup which is the Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask. This is intense though so I only use it 1-2 times per week and I’m very careful to ensure I’m using sunscreen the next day as without that my eye area feels very sensitive. So far though I’m loving this product. I apply a pea-sized dollop to my finger and split that before applying it to each eye area. I surround my whole eye when I do this. Undereye, crow’s feet, and eyelid. Lastly, I drip 3-4 drops of the granactive retinoid and the hyaluronic acid to my palm rub it between my hands and smooth it onto my face while avoiding getting too close to my eye or the area that I’ve applied the avocado mask. I’ve also been eyeing up the EUK antioxidant from The Ordinary as well.

Current Product Lineup

1. Squalene Cleanser
2. Micellar Water (not pictured- currently using the Vitamin C version)
3. Thayer’s Cucumber Toner
4. Avocado Retinol Eye Mask
5. Granactive Retinoid 2% in Squalene (1% in Squalene // 2% in Emulsion)
6. Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5

After all that I settle into my bed with a little snack, which is a habit I’m trying to untangle… Sip my wine and enjoy an episode of something with my husband. If there’s nothing on that we are interested in I let him choose whichever rerun we watch and I half-watch half Pinterest until about 10:30 PM to 11:00 PM. That’s when we finally tuck in for the night and its lights out. 

So there you have it! The evening routine and products of a mother of 1 + twins. What does your routine look like? Has it changed since having a child or another child?