As I’ve mentioned, numerous times before, we’re a routine kind of family. We follow a schedule 90% of the time, with the other 10% being reserved for travel or special occasions. And while schedules don’t always work for every family, for ours it helps things to run much smoother. When we all know what to expect, chaos is kept to a minimum. One area in which we’ve been particularly firm on is our evening routine…. and the things we do to prep Camille + Harper for a good night’s sleep. So today I thought I’d share our evening routine… the rituals and all… that we do nightly in case you’re looking to start one too…..

6pm: We all sit down together for dinner. I say we all “sit down” loosely since Harper usually pops up and down throughout dinner… but you get the drift. I find eating together is a great way for everyone to spend some quality time together after a very busy day. We typically have some sort of toddler music playing in the background… and since Camille is now eating solids, she joins us as well. One of us, TJ or myself, feeds her while simultaneously eating (we usually alternate days for this one).  We try to be done with dinner around 6:45pm.

6:45/50pm: Both girls take a bath at the same time. This is something TJ routinely does with them. Camille loves the bath (thankfully) and Harper can usually get her laughing and giggling throughout… so it’s actually a relatively pleasant experience for both of them (thankfully!). Since the temperatures have been pretty cool at night, the back of our house cools down significantly. Camille is really sensitive to temperature so we’ve started dressing both of the girls in heavier pajamas. These fleece pajamas are adorable, especially for the upcoming holidays.

7:15pm: Camille gets a bottle (these are the bottles we use + love) by one of us (depends who Harper wants to have put her to bed).  We feed her with dim lighting to begin the winding down process. After she is finished with her bottle, we sing her a few songs, place her in a sleeper sack, turn on white noise (we have the volume at a medium level), and place her in the crib. Once we’ve laid her down, we rub her belly and sing her a few more songs, give her the pacifier, and leave. She typically sings herself to bed….

We just started using these little star organic bedsheets from Walmart for Camille (Harper loves the soft quilt)… they’re pure organic (which means incredibly soft), baby friendly (chemical free + won’t irritate her skin), eco friendly (fair trade + a transparent supply chain), and ethically produced (GOTS + OEKO TEX certified). I love that they can easily mix and match with the other baby linens we have, and that Harper can use the quilt at night. The bedding is a 3 piece set (two crib sheets + a quilt) but there are also changing pad covers, burp cloths, and much more within the collection (all equally soft to the touch… so important with babies’ gentle skin). I also appreciate that there are gender neutral colors, as well as prints + patterns perfect for either a little boy or girl (the hearts are adorable).

For Harper, she picks out a few stories which we read to her. Then we sing her a few songs, say prayers, and turn on her white noise (she prefers the sound of ocean waves #bougie). Whoever put Camille down will then go in and say goodnight to Harper and sing her a few songs as well. Our evening routine with Harper has stayed the same, but we’re currently figuring out her daytime nap schedule so sometimes she stalls majorly and sometimes she goes right to bed (bless those evenings!).

We also ensure that both girls have dark enough rooms (well, Harper prefers a nigh-light…). We have black out filters on all of our bedroom blinds to ensure that when the morning light starts peering in, the room remains dark enough for them to stay asleep.

7:30pm: This is our target time for both girls to be in bed…. and then we take a huge deep breathe. We made it through the day.

Of course, it doesn’t always run this seamlessly…. but we go through all the steps, every night, regardless. Some evenings just look a little messier than others!

Thank you to Walmart for sponsoring this post.