December 18, 2014

Mornings


With a husband that leaves the house before dawn and a baby that thinks 6AM is sleeping in, mornings start insanely early over here. I remember the days when waking up at 7AM was painful, and now I am routinely out of bed at an hour that starts with a 5... I'm certain this qualifies as some kind of torture for a lifelong night owl. 

I have spent a lot of time bemoaning my forced early start, but in the last few months, and with Little Smith in school several days a week, I am starting to come around. It's one of the few times during the day when we can be home together and everyone is actually in a good mood. We've settled into a (slightly variable) routine, and rising so early makes our pace feel leisurely, even when we need to be out the door by 8:30AM.

Breakfast is the one meal of the day that we do not eat together, and I break all of my rules about not catering separate dishes to suit different tastes. We eat in shifts, often the kids start with some yogurt or toast with honey and nut butter, then follow with eggs for 'second breakfast'. They always seem to eat best in the morning.

We try to fit in a little project, like painting or baking. We do some reading and listen to music or NPR. When it is finally time to get washed and dressed (that part is never fun), I actually feel as though we've had a pretty full day. I appreciate that I don't have to rush, or feel guilty when the afternoon is devoted to errands or we indulge in a movie. 

Don't get me wrong, if our kids suddenly decided to sleep an extra hour or two in the morning, I would gladly follow their lead! But this is my lemonade out of lemons for the winter... finding some special time with two bright eyed little people... even if there are some serious bags under my own tired eyes.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! Your mornings seem a lot less harried than ours. Even though our boys are up by 6am, there is always a half hour before we need to get out the door that consist of constant reminders to get dressed (already!!!), brush teeth and hair, oh wait, why have you not eaten the oatmeal I made for you 20 minutes ago?!! And then with the coats, hats, gloves, lunch boxes, folders for school. It's kind of hilarious, actually, like the Three Stooges bumping into each other and in various states of undress. I imagine it only gets worse when they are teenagers! :)

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    1. I think you are probably describing my future Lauren! Right now W's school is 5 minutes away and he's only there a few hours with snack provided. All I have to do is encourage him to get dressed (which does take forever) because Ruby and I generally do drop off in our jammies with coats and boots thrown on top. It's waaay easier than prepping three little boys for a full day. That, and you'd be surprised at how much difference that hour between 5 and 6 makes... I'd never voluntarily give up that extra sleep though! ;)

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  2. We all have busy mornings now-- teenagers require a lot of prep time before school lol. But I actually get up 30 minutes before everyone just so I can take my time waking up. I'm decidedly not a morning person (a fellow night owl insomniac here), and while I dislike getting up early, I dislike getting up early and having to race around even more!

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