Yep, I just used the phrase “morning routine” as a verb. And I’m all about waking up at 5 am.

Did I lose you yet? Is this a blog post of lies and nonsense?

Stay with me! I morning routine so hard and I love it. No, I do not enjoy the process of removing my sleepy head from a warm cozy bed on dark winter days. But I know it’s so worth it, so I do it.  So here’s how it works: Around 4:45 Joe wakes up and starts getting ready for work. Some time between 4;45 and 5, I extract myself from bed and try not to fall down the stairs on my way to the kitchen.

5 am to 6 am

-Make breakfast for Joe and myself

-Brew coffee

-Assemble Joe’s lunch

-Unload the dishwasher

-Put a load of laundry in the washing machine

-Make our bed

It sounds crazy, but often Joe and I usually have a little breakfast date at, like 5:15 in the morning sans kids. We are usually a little loopy since the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet, but this time together is one of my favorite parts of the day.

6 am to 7 am

-Check e-mail, write out plans for the day

-Shower/get dressed

-Work in the office on something blog and/or photography related

Joe departs for work sometime between 5:45 and 6 am. So 6 am to 7 am is kind of my morning happy hour as I am awake in the house while all of the kids are usually still sleeping. I try to be very intentional with this time and not just sit on my phone for an hour. From 6-6:30, I usually will put on some music and make a list of things I want to get done that day (errands, tasks, meals, projects, etc.) Some mornings I’ll use this time to take a shower. If I’m planning on a slow cooker dinner, this is when I’ll chop veggies and get everything cooking. Then usually from 6:30- 7 I take my little blue tooth speaker with my music and coffee to the office. I then use that half hour to do either photography or blog related projects. (Those little chunks of time add up enough for me to put together about one blog post and edit one photo session per week at the moment). It’s definitely a treat to have computer time without anyone climbing on me or banging on the keyboard.

7 am to 8 am

-Get Cece ready for school

I wake Cece up if she’s not already awake at 7. Usually, Ares and Rosie are still sleeping and I just let those little ones sleep away because they need all the rest they can get. I get Cece’s breakfast made. (I’m working on getting her to make it herself though.) After she eats, she goes upstairs to brush her teeth and get dressed. While she’s doing that, I make her lunch if she’s not getting a hot lunch that day.

From about 7:30- 8 we work on her homework. I know it might seem a like not a great idea to do homework and reading in the morning before school, but I’ve found that’s when she’s fresher and more focused, especially when it’s just the two of us. So this is the time I’ll do her spelling, reading, and math with her and then figure out if she needs any extra things for the day.  I try to wake up Rosie around 8 and she says goodbye to Cece before she gets on the bus.

8 am to 9 am

-Feed and change Ares

-Get Rosie breakfast

-Help Rosie get dressed, go potty, and brush teeth

-Get breakfast dishes done

-Move laundry from washer to dryer, start another load if necessary

Usually this is the more chaotic part of the morning as it requires negotiating with Rosie regarding wardrobe (sorry girl, we can’t wear our bathing suit outside in January), food (no, you can’t have just grapes for breakfast), and activity (no, we aren’t going to watch 10 episodes of Shimmer and Shine this morning).

9 am to 11 am

 

-Gym/ errands/ other

Ares currently can’t be awake longer than 2-3 hours without needing a nap (and 3 hours awake is really pushing it), so I need to be pretty efficient with this time and not too pokey. Right now, I try to get to the gym on Monday, Wednesdays, and Friday with Rosie and Ares and be there for about 1-1.5 hours. On Tuesdays is when I like to go out and get groceries and make any other necessary stops. Lately on Thursday I’ve been trying to do a more fun outing (for instance the library or a play date if possible!)

11 am to 12 pm

-Feed and change Ares and lay him down to nap

-Make Rosie and myself lunch

-Do some type of educational/semi-educational activity with Rosie

We usually keep lunch simple around here. Usually I just make us leftovers from last night’s dinner. Pictured above is when Rosie got into eating hearty salads with me. Her specialty is chicken nuggets, cucumbers, raspberries, avocado and lettuce.

Lately, I’ve been trying to get at least one type of educational activity in with Rosie. Sometimes we read or do flashcards or Brain Quest questions. Lately we’ve been tracing letters in our Usborne books. Or we just read. Rosie is really good at playing with Ares and also playing by herself, but I think it’s good to try to occasionally squeeze in some preschool-related activity.

So there is how mornings typically go around here! It’s kind of awesome for me that everyone wakes up in a staggered order because I can spend some individual time with each person, plus have some time to myself. This is usually how life goes from Monday through Thursday.

Joe is off on Fridays and Saturdays and is back to work on Sunday. On the days he’s off, we tend to sleep in and make a big breakfast for everyone. Although we usually still get to the gym on his off days, those days together are less structured, but we seem to always figure out how to tag team some house projects and tasks as well as enjoy his time off work.

Even though not every day is this structured or seamless, I keep this schedule in the back of my mind and it seems to prevent me from getting super sidetracked and it gives the kids an idea of what to expect for the morning which seems to be a good thing.

Thanks for stopping by and reading! If you have any great tips or tricks for getting through mornings with kids, please send them my way!

xoxo,

rachel