Ticking time bomb

These past few days have been all about attempting to put Serene on a predictable routine in terms of her feeding and nap times (and even play times). She's had a consistent bedtime routine since she was 12 weeks old, but no daytime one thus far. I've been apprehensive that because she has three different caretakers during the work week, she hasn't much consistency to rely on. I'm a pretty organized person, and I'm hoping that knowing when to expect Serene to eat, sleep, and play now that she is already four months old would not only help with her own contentment, but also uphold the sanity of her baby sitters. Some might call it scheduling, but we've been trying to figure out when she already organically tends to eat, nap, and play.  I've been taking note of her feeding and sleeping patterns for the past three days, which have been rather consistent. Now we are trying to adhere to it, and so far, it appears to be working out pretty well. She seems even jollier than usual during the times she's awake, and is sleeping longer stretches throughout the night. We know quite a few friendly folks who put their sweet babes down to sleep by 7pm or so, but with our evening activity-packed lifestyle, we probably won't be one of those parents who are able to do so at this season in our lives. Perhaps one day we'll reach the point where she sleeps by 7pm. However, she's been napping well in the late afternoon to early evening before she knocks out for the night around the time Alex and I sleep, so for now, it is working for us.

Did you or do you schedule your kiddos? I'd love to learn what y'all have learned from it! We've only been doing it for a few days, but because we now can predict when she'll feed and nap, running errands, going out, or having chummies over is much easier to schedule. This past weekend, we bought groceries while Serene took her afternoon nap in her car seat, and squeezed in a quick lunch (and photos!) at a local pizzeria when she woke up. Alex calls Serene a ticking time bomb when we're out and about, because we always have but a small window of time before she feeds or naps again. Therefore, whenever we make it out of the house since she's been born, we tend not to brush our hair, throw on whatever clothes we can grab at arm's reach, and scarf our food down like we're competing for a contest while dining out. Such is new parenthood, and because we've a ticking time bomb in our hands, we're relishing all the time we're blessed to have with her. Because I'm pretty confident that one day, I'm going to be dumbfounded at how the time passed so quickly!