A Morning in the Life: Friday, January 25, 2019

1.25.2019


I thought it would be fun for me to document one of our mornings and have it here on the blog for me to look back on later. I know not everyone likes “day in the life” posts, and if I’m being completely honest with you, I actually had to stop reading any such posts from SAHMs because they always bummed me out. I don’t know if that sounds rude or self-pitying, but it’s just the truth so there it is. Anyway, J is 19 months old, and I do feel like I’ve gotten a pretty solid system and rhythm down for our mornings. It’s not always easy, but at the same time a part of me knows that I really am going to miss these days of waking up to their sweet little voices calling “mama."

Obviously not every single morning looks like this. For one thing, my gym schedule is MWF, and on days I don’t go to the gym I set my alarm for 6:15, and you can just skip all the morning shower and gym parts on those days. Sometimes the kids are in a great mood, and everything goes pretty smoothly. Sometimes they are super cranky, and it’s a major struggle. I think this morning was in the middle of those: it wasn’t the easiest, but it could have been worse.

Friday, January 25, 2019

4:40 – my alarm goes off. I lie there for a minute, and then Jordan nudges me, so I get up. I’ve already laid out my workout clothes in the bathroom, so I quickly change, brush my teeth, put my contacts in, and quietly go into the kitchen.

5:00 – For some reason I can never remember to set a hair tie out, so I turn the flashlight on my phone and sneak back into our bedroom to find one. Then I get a drink of water, put on my coat, and head out. I usually waste 5 minutes or so checking my phone before leaving, which I’m always annoyed at myself for but haven’t actually stopped doing.

5:15/5:20 – Arrive at the gym, put my purse, etc. in the locker, and hop on a treadmill. There is one particular machine that I always try to get that is in the middle of 3 channels: ESPN 2 (showing the Golic & Wingo radio live), Fox News, and TBS (showing Everybody Loves Raymond).

You all know I’m a conservative, but I’ll tell you that I find Fox News obnoxious. It’s so clearly biased toward everything Republication and against anything Democratic, and it’s just obvious that news outlets of all sides are feeding us information with a spin. I try to keep that in mind when I read or watch news headlines until I can research the actual story myself. That being said, I like being able to watch some sports, some lighthearted comedy, and stay up to date on the world while on my runs.

6:00 – I’m done on the treadmill. I usually start out at a 5.5 jog for 5 minutes or so to warm up, then do the majority of the run around 6.0-6.5, and then in the last 10 minutes or so, I gradually increase my speed .2 every minute or so, until I’m running faster at 7.5-8.0. Then I walk at 3.5 for five minutes or so to cool down. I’m signed up for the OKC half marathon at the end of April and will need to start getting in some long weekends runs soon. You know, in my spare time ;)

6:00-6:15 – Lift some weights, stretch, and get my stuff out of the locker. I’ve never really been a weights kind of person; generally I just like running. But I try to at least use the pullup machine and do some arm stuff since I’m already at the gym anyway.

6:25 – Back home. Drink some water and find something to eat. Although this morning I drank some Kombucha! They had it at Aldi again for cheap, so I bought a few bottles. I don’t know what exactly the health benefits are supposed to be, but it’s yummy.

6:30 – Hop in the shower. Jordan is up and getting ready. He sets his alarm for 6:15 but then usually snoozes it a bit and is up and out the door by 6:45.

6:40 – Out of the shower, pack up an order from a sale I made on Kidizen the night before, look at my phone again and be annoyed with myself for doing that.

6:50 – R bursts into the bedroom and I hear J crying “mama.” (They both pretty much wake up between 6:50 and 7:10 every day. But depending on when they wake up and who wakes up first, I vary my system of getting them changed and dressed slightly.) I quickly finish getting dressed and go get him. R is lying on our bed with a pillow over her face and telling me that the light is too bright. I bring J into the bedroom, and we lie down on the bed together and snuggle for a few minutes.

7:00 - I take J into the nursery to get changed and dressed. R goes into the bathroom and says she wants to brush her teeth. It used to be such an enormous fight to get her to brush her teeth; I’m talking we would have to sit on her and hold her face while she screamed and flailed around. Thankfully things have improved in that area for the most part.

I change J’s diaper and get him dressed. Then I take clothes into the bathroom for R. I have found this is KEY to my success in the mornings. While I have R “trapped,” so to speak, in the bathroom, we can go potty, brush teeth and hair, and get dressed while I keep both kids in the same area. Although today we didn’t get to the hair portion of the routine, and she went to daycare looking like a bit of a crazy person. Note: I never got around to drying my wet hair, so I look like a bit of a crazy person also.

7:10 – We are all in the kitchen, and the two little people are starting to melt down. They both wake up ravenous, and even though they eat breakfast at daycare, I still have to have something to give them in the mornings or they completely freak out. I swear half of my grocery budget goes toward bananas and blueberries. I also pretty much always have muffins frozen in the freezer. You all know I’m a muffin addict! I open R’s banana, and she sits at the counter.

7:20 – J is losing it. Apparently me offering him a banana was highly insulting, and he immediately threw it across the room and fell on the floor sobbing. I tell him that we don’t throw food and if he wants his banana back, he needs to stop crying and say please. That’s works about as well as you might think. He glares at me and throws himself on the ground again. Meanwhile, R has grabbed the loaf of bread off the counter and is crushing it to her chest asking me to make her a sandwich. I say no, she’s going to eat at daycare.

7:25 – I’m holding J in my lap while he calms down. When he’s stopped crying I tell him that if he wants his banana, he needs to say please. He signs please, and he gets the banana back. I cut up some strawberries for them too.

7:35 – I throw some random leftovers from the fridge into a canvas bag for my lunch. I realized I left my actual lunch bag at work in the fridge yesterday.

7:40 – I open the garage door and start my car to get it warmed up. Then I start putting all the things in my front seat: J’s diaper bag, R’s backpack, my purse, my lunch bag, the Kidizen package, the book I’m going to read during lunch… I race back to their bedroom to grab socks for R and J and myself (I forgot I was wearing my moccasins up to that point). R is reading a book on the coffee table and, BLESS HER, not getting into something she shouldn’t or making a mess somewhere. J is following me around crying for mama and wanting to be picked up. (I don't know what the pink headband is about, but she keeps wanting to wear it like that. Don't ask!)

7:45 – I put J in his carseat and give him a book. He doesn’t have socks or shoes on yet because when I tried to put them on he shouted “NO” and ran away, and I don’t have time for that nonsense.

7:50 – I race around the house turning off all the lights and tell R we are leaving. She starts crying saying she wants socks because “my feet are gonna be cold.” I give her the socks, but she says she doesn’t know how to put them on, which is ridiculous and annoying because she obviously does know how to put socks on. I don’t have time to argue with her, so I put her socks on and carry her to the car while she sings a made-up song about elephants. She requests that I put her scarf around the top of her carseat because her ears are cold.

7:53 – I forgot to give J his morning does of antibiotic for his ear infection, so I race back inside and fill up the syringe and give it to him quickly.

7:55 – We pull out of the driveway! It’s always my goal to be leaving by 8:00.

8:10 – It was a good traffic day, and it takes only 15 minutes to get to daycare. I pull into the parking lot and look back at J. His face is all red, and he’s grunting. I ask him if he’s okay, and he pats his front and says “poo poo.” Excellent.

I unbuckle R, get J out, and grab their bags. I can definitely smell the poop. Please note: he is still not wearing shoes or socks.

I hold R’s hand while carrying J and the bags across the parking lot. When we get to his class, he immediately runs over to his teacher and informs her that he has pooped. She scoops him up and puts him on the changing table. We got to daycare right as breakfast was ending, so the toddlers are wandering around, some are still eating, some are crying, and it’s pretty chaotic. I turn around just as one of them knocks his sippy cup on the ground. The top pops off, and a full glass of milk spills all over the floor. I’m the closest, so I grab the kid by the arm to keep him from stepping in the milk. 

The one teacher is changing J, and the other teacher rushes over and starts looking in the cabinets for a towel while I try to keep the ten toddlers who are now gathered around me from walking through the growing puddle of milk.

She throws a towel down over the milk, so I kiss J and leave with R. She runs down the hall to class, where two tables of 3-year-olds are sitting down eating pancakes and applesauce. She has been awesome at drop-offs lately and just runs inside and doesn’t even look back. Which I’m fine with. FINE. I’m fine. I stand at the window for a minute staring at her like an idiot trying to get her to look at me and wave before giving up.

8:20 – Because of the milk and diaper fiasco, it’s taken me longer than usual to leave the daycare, but I’m finally heading to work.

8:30 – I pull into the parking lot at 8:30 on the nose. It’s not even 9:00 in the morning, and I already feel like I worked enough for one day and want nothing more than to go home and crawl in bed. I make myself a bowl of oatmeal and get something to drink. Is it 5:00 yet? ;)

I hope you enjoyed this peek into our morning! It’s a lot of craziness, but I’m doing my best and somehow manage to get out the door by 8:00 the majority of the mornings. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Unknown said...

Good Lord, girlfriend! I am exhausted for you. Days I take the kids to my mom to have her watch them I feel just like you. Like, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BAGS! It's insane. But, you're a rockstar, and I am so proud of you for getting to the gym!!! Serious question, do you feel better when you have that in even though you got up so early, or the same as any other day? Just wondering :)

Lynnette said...

I'm right there with you, Mama! I like to test how many bags I can carry with a 3 year old plus get my keys out etc. The mornings are a dance in not inducing meltdowns and once he's strapped into the car I can breathe a little. And yes, by the time I sit down with my fridge oatmeal and coffee I'm done for the day too. Some day we will miss this. Some day we will miss this? ;) You're not alone! Thank you for the post.

Amie said...

Although I only have one 3 year old I feel like this is my morning except my 3 year old acts like J not R! I feel the same, the morning either goes smoothly or is complete chaos and there is no rhyme or reason to which you get it seems. Although being a SAHM would be good with me that isn't an option so I look at the bright side of working...after a chaotic morning work is a break! haha

karachris1 said...

Our mornings are usually labeled, good, bad or ugly. I am usually the one who turns ugly. Then the guilt kills me during the day. We have gotten to the point that my alarms go off at 6:00 and we are out the door by 6:50. When they are half asleep they seem to do better. Kara

Michelle said...

4:40?! Good heavens. I don’t know how you do it! I always want to go to the gym before James leaves for work, but that’s about the time I would have to get up, too, and it just horrifies me.

Callie said...

Oh my goodness, I’m amazed at how much you pack in before 8:30! Also, so impressed with your getting up at 4:40 for the gym. You’re amazing. ❤️

Kenzie said...

Just reading about your morning has me exhausted! It is incredibly how much you get done. Definitely encourages me to try to wake up a little earlier than I have been lately. I used to wake up around 5:15, but now I find myself hitting snooze until 6:45 or so. It is such an awful habit!

Mary said...

Your mornings make me feel so much better about the mad crazy rush we go through each day too! I am a SAHM (not sure if I'm considered that as I still work 35 hours a week) I work nights until 6am so attempt the battle on little to no sleep each morning and it is ROUGH! I frequently put Oscar in the car without shoes or socks on, (he's currently going through a phase where he refuses to wear any socks other than his favourite dark blue pair which obviously need washing at some point) and he insists on doing his own car seat up which once took 25 minutes! 😭 You're not alone in the morning battle!

Betsy said...

Oh my goodness, I'm exhausted just reading that! You are a rockstar.

Katie @ Live Half Full said...

This is why I always say like I feel like I've had a day before my work day!

Maria said...

We don't have cable and my biggest motivator to go the gym (back when I did that sort of thing) was always because I could watch shows like Everybody Loves Raymond. Reruns are like a cup of tea for me :)

That being said, you are doing an amazing job with this whole parenting thing. I'm in awe.

Jen said...

Yay for being signed up for a half!!!! You've got this!

Sarah said...

my mornings look pretty similar - but we are out the door by 6:45 most days so it's a little bit of crazytown especially on mornings i run. gah. i'm with you on avoiding the SAHM posts on this. i can't handle them either. :(

Audrey said...

The amount of stuff you get done in the mornings is mind-blowing. I do not get half that much stuff done and I have less than half the amount of people to take care of and get out of the house... I'm impressed and in awe and inspired.

Rach said...

You are amazing. You get two kids and yourself ready and out the door by 8am every day. That, my friend, is an impressive feat. I'm glad early morning gym time is working well for you! It has definitely been the best time for me in this season of life as well.

Lauren said...

You've done more before 830 than I do in an entire day. I'm always awed by people that can a) get up that early, but also b) get that much done BEFORE work!

Rachel said...

That is one EARLY alarm clock! I'm not yet at the point of being able to wake up before Cyrus does although eventually I want to do that...I'm just too sleepy (probably due to the middle of the night wakeups and the fact that he's usually up for the day at about six). Angel leaves for work at 7:30. If I'm teaching all day at school, Cyrus and me leave at 8, if it's just a half day, we leave the house by about 11:30--that's when I get a lot more done at home, haha! Usually I try to get as much of the chores done before 7:30 a.m. because of the extra human in the house to keep an eye on the adventure-boy! Angel really is a lot of help in the morning, usually he gives Cyrus a shower and they eat breakfast together while I chop veggies and do laundry and take a shower and clean bathrooms. I'm a morning person...but not a 4:40 in the morning person. ;P

The Lady Okie said...

Thank you! I'm excited!

The Lady Okie said...

Oh my gosh! That is crazy. I want to let R do things herself, but also she is SO SLOW sometimes and I'm like, look, lady, we have got to goooooo. haha!

The Lady Okie said...

I do feel better! Although by the evening I am noticeable more tired for obvious reasons! :)

The Lady Okie said...

I can totally relate to that guilt, friend. You are not alone!

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