Tell me a bit about yourself and you family…
Welcome to a look at my routine family life, we live in Menorca, a little balearic island off spain, where we have lived for the past 10 years! Me, nikki I’m 39 (ouch) a stay at home mummy, I work part time in the summer season, cleaning villas for holiday makers. My boyfriend, shane who works all year round building and our little girl Skye Kelly whos 3 in june. My eldest daughter, Niamh is 22 and in her last year at university in the uk. Niamh comes home to menorca as much as she can! We live in a little apartment in a beautiful town which is busy in the summer, shops, resturants, bars and a stunning beach. Winter months are more calmer, empty beaches and very few people. Skye attends a little spanish nursery in our neighbour town Alaior, which she loves and thrives from. Both my girls speak the local language catalin, (little one is still learning along side english, at times she mixes the both), which is spoken in the education here, spanish is also spoken as a 2nd language in educaton. I speak spanish but have lots to learn, where as children are like sponges it amazes me. We have as much family time as we can, usually weekends, and love the spanish family way of life. Spanish love babies and children.
Describe your routine…
5am – 6am Skye wakes up, our little alarm clock. Skyes not a very good sleeper. She very rarely sleeps through and wakes so early no matter what time she goes to bed! She comes in with us for a cuddle then I drag myself out of bed and start our day. Skyes at her best at this time and plays with all her toys and reads her books. She watches some tv and has a big bottle of milk. I use this time to potter about whilst drinking coffee and on my iphone .
7am– We have breakfast together and start getting ready for nursery. She goes mon-fri 8,30am-1pm. The nursery is a 15 minute drive away. At the weekend we are more laid back and stay in our pjs as long as possible
8.15am– we leave for nursery and shane leaves for work.
1pm– Pick skye up from nursery. Our afternons differ everyday. We go to the beach, shops, visit friends, walk our dog, go to the park. If Skye’s tired we stay at home and watch tv, playdoh, read or make cakes/biscuits.
4pm– Skye has her tea, she eats at nursery and snacks after, I find at this time she is ready to eat a meal. Shes a good eater and I love cooking for her and our family, I often use Annabel Karmel, I love her books. Shane also gets home from work any time after 4pm, but often works later so the time varies.
5pm -Skye has a bath. She loves a bath and if we have been to the beach she is normally covered in sand. We snuggle up in pjs with milk, read a story then she lays down and goes to bed. If daddys home he likes to read her a story as he doesn’t see her much in the day. She has soft baby music playing and falls stright to sleep. She dosnt nap in the day so by this time shes so tired, it means she wakes early but we find with skye no mater what time she is put to bed she wakes early. So early bed works for us for now.
weekends – Skye spends time with her grandparents, over night, and adores spending time with them, so routines change. 3 months in the summer we have a lot of family/friends visit. Niamh comes home for as long as she can so the girls share a bedroom and lots of sibling time together. So we have lots of late nights and long beach days so our routines change even more so then. But for nursery days I like Skye to have a good 12 hours sleep if I can so she is refreshed for nursery and not having meltdowns which she tends to have when shes tired. Shane and I both work longer hours in the summer so I’m lucky to have my mum and dad round the corner who have a little room for her. A second home. So she’s well looked after when we are working.
Describe your day in 3 words…
warm, fun, busy
What is the highlight of your day?
I love the drive to nursery. It’s just me and Skye and we talk about what we can see. We pass fields and fields of cows and sheep, it’s a beautiful drive. We pass the airport so often see low flying aircrafts and Skye likes to point them out .
Thank you Nikki for sharing with us your routine. It’s so interesting to read how life can differ in different countries. Having the beach and warm days must be heaven. I sympathise with Skye’s early wake up calls, My Baby L is exactly the same. Very much into his early mornings. If you would like to catch up.
Thanks for reading