Taking back my mornings

Everyone is different, but for me one of the things that keeps me from going bananas is being able to wake up before my children. I love having some time to wake up before them and start getting ready for the day before they wake up. Other people love to sleep in and have a different schedule, but for me, if my kids are the ones to wake me up, it's usually a rough morning.

For me, getting ready means: making my bed, making breakfast, making Ryan's lunch, and emptying the clean dishwasher. If I don't get to these tasks before the girls wake up, I have to scramble to get breakfast ready and then I have no place to put the dirty breakfast dishes because the dishwasher is still full of clean dishes. Everything just seems to pile up and then I don't feel like doing it, or it's difficult to do it because I'm helping the children (or mainly just holding June because she loves to be held).

June, bless her heart, has not been a good sleeper - as I seem to continually write on this blog. She is mostly sleeping through the night, or at least I'm not getting her if she does wake up. But, she consistently wakes up between 5:00 and 5:30 am. Ryan and I get up around then, but I'm used to having about an hour to myself before Willa gets up around 6:30. With June waking up, I felt like I never had any time. I would lay in bed and just wish her back to sleep and it never worked. I'd just stare at the baby monitor and she'd fuss in there. The real problem is that she still needs about one more sleep cycle at this point, but she can't put herself back to sleep. So, if I get her up, she's a grumpy baby, or if I leave her there to fuss, she's grumpy. She doesn't go back to sleep, though, no matter how long I leave her. I've tried an earlier bedtime, and a few times a later bedtime, but nothing seems to make a difference.

To make matters worse, Willa has started hearing June. Normally, she waits in her room until one of us comes to get her, but for the first time in her life, she has started getting out of bed when she wakes up! So, then I'd have two cranky kids up at 5 a.m. It's bad enough when they're up that early and worse when they're also cranky. I just couldn't handle it.

The last week or two I decided to take back my mornings. Instead of laying in bed staring at the monitor, I get up as usual and went to the kitchen to start the routine. Instead of fretting that she was already awake, I just ignore her and set about my tasks. And guess what, from the kitchen it's pretty hard to hear her :). Then, when I am finished and everything is prepped and the kitchen is clean again (after making breakfasts and lunch), THEN, I go to get her. When Willa was getting up really early, we started marching her back to her room. Now, if she wanders down to the kitchen while I'm puttering, I allow it since I'm already up and moving.

It has really made me feel a lot more in control! June's not getting any more sleep and usually she goes down for a long morning nap around 7:45 am, but at least I can cope. It was just the worst holding a tired, fussy baby while trying to do all the kitcheny stuff that needs to be done in the morning. So there you have it. Nothing especially interesting, but I'm one step further from the loony bin.