These are a few of my favorite Sanity Savers during this season of life with my 3 thousand babies:

1. I eat lunch by myself. So I will typically feed the babies lunch between 11:00 and 11:30 and then I wait to eat by myself at the beginning of naptime. I sit (sometimes for the first time all morning) and put on a show that I want to watch or grab a book and eat my lunch without anyone asking for a bite or without anyone throwing food.

2. The Shoe Bucket. I have one bucket in the laundry room where I keep all of my children's shoes. ONE bucket. Everyone knows where it is. That's where we keep all of their little shoes. So I don't have to worry about losing them. So I know where they are when we are in a hurry to leave.

**Update, I now have a shoe shelf underneath the hooks for backpacks and jackets in our entryway. Either way has worked great!

3. Toy Buckets. You can just throw in the toys and it looks organized.

4. I stopped folding my children's clothes. You can read about that here.

5. Room Time. Ever since they could sit, we have started "room time." Essentially this is Independent play time in their bed (when they are little bitty) or in their room (after about 18 months). The purpose is to practice time away from mommy (significantly helps with separation anxiety)and for them to learn the skill of independent play. It is a chance for me to get some stuff done other than naptime and usually lasts about 45 minutes, once a day.I wrote a separate post about this topic with more details about what this looks like for our family: Room Time: Independent Playtime.

6. Reading time. Something very important to Kyle and I is creating a good environment to promote a love for reading. We do this in several ways (again, let me know if you want more info about how we do this) but one of the main things we do is give them time to explore books on their own. Even before they can read. So thirty minutes before nap and thirty minutes before bedtime we give them time in their beds with books. It obviously looks a lot different at each age. Fischer plays with books and a few other toys during reading time, Shepherd looks at the pictures in his favorite books, and LK is actually reading chapter books on her own. The reason this is such a sanity saver is that it helps them wind down before sleeping. It creates a great transition to nap or bedtime. Read more about How to Cultivate a Book Loving Home Here.

7. Date Night. We try our best to have a regular date night on Thursdays. Once or twice a month we actually go out but the others we have date night in. The only rule is that we eat just the two of us after the kids have eaten and gone to bed. Sometimes we watch movie, sometimes we read, it depends on the night but that time together is priceless. Read more about How We Do Date Night Here.

These are my big helps during the day....what are some of yours??