I’m a morning person — not necessarily because I’m one of those genetic freak shows that functions better in the early hours, fueled only by the bliss of a rising son, Goji tea and Mother Gaia’s soothing embrace.
Please.
I’m a morning person because if I don’t wake up a good hour before the rest of the house to prepare for the day, the morning rush usually becomes the kind of frenetic blur that leaves me feeling on edge all day, as if I can never catch up.
Before my wife and daughter wake up, I need to consume a metric hogshead of caffeine, read the newspaper, check my email, make a lunch, make family breakfast, gather school supplies and check off the first 1/8 of that day’s to-do list.
In order to begin all this, I first need to sneak out of bed.
This used to be problematic with a spring mattress that always wiggled and cried when I tried to sneak out, forcing my wife to flail and grumble.
“Wha?! What are you doing?!”
As I mentioned earlier, we got a free Serta iComfort mattress and I have to say, aside from the actual sleeping bits, one of the greatest benefits is the ability for me to sneak quietly out of bed in the early morning. This is especially important right now, in the fall, when the clock says it’s time to get up and do stuff, but the morning darkness says there’s still plenty of time for dream-induced drooling.
With the mattress, when I move, my wife’s side of the bed doesn’t jiggle. When her side doesn’t jiggle, she doesn’t also wake up early and then spend the rest of the morning shooting me daggers. She remains blissfully unaware of my morning stealth, while I get to stagger downstairs to fumble at the coffee machine and then slowly start the nine billion things that will get us all moving and ready to start the day.
Win win. Win win win.
How on earth do you deal with the morning rush?
Sponsored post: Thanks again to Serta for the mattress, which I’d shiv you for if it ever came to that. (It probably won’t, but let’s not find out, OK?)
oh Lord, the morning rush. It comes closer to pushing me to the actual edge of sanity than almost anything else. Charlotte takes 25 minutes on the loo on random days, Elisabeth inexplicably “forgets” what time it is and isn’t dressed 4 minutes before it is time to go. Like you, I try to wake up first. I am terrible at it and each week I vow that the next week is THE WEEK that I do it routinely. I do 85% of the lunch packing the night before. And, what has proved the most helpful is a reward (aka bribery) system. They each have tasks and magnets that list those tasks. If they move all of their magnets from “to do” to “done” and get out the door without making me crazy (this crucial last piece was implemented two weeks ago), they get a star. Five stars = one marble. 10 marbles = “special treat of their choosing” which to date has always been lunch and a movie with our neighbors.
They lose marbles for failing to get a star, and they also lose marbles for bad behavior. Crimes against your sister causes you to lose a marble and your sister to gain a marble.
Anyway, mornings are really tough for me (mostly for my sanity). The marble/star system has worked. What works best, though, is getting my rear end out of bed early and to bootcamp before anyone wakes up. Does that serta mattress come with an eject feature?
Ha! Here I thought our mornings were rough, but I’ve never had to factor in “crimes against your sister.” I love it. Probably wouldn’t so much enjoy living it. But it’s fun to read about …
Yes, the morning rush. I wish the whole house had an eject button. But I’ll see if Serta can’t work on the mattress first.
I am in no way a morning person. In fact my morning routine is either a brilliant scheme for instilling my daughters with self-sufficiency and independence or blatant negligence, depending upon who you ask.
The alarm goes off in the ungodly hours before dawn and I kick my husband out into the world and fume bitterly about the fact that I can hear the alarm when he can not for a few minutes. Then I go back to sleep for 2 or 3 hours until 8am. Hit the snooze button once. Get downstairs by 8:15 where I hope to find my 5 and 9 year-olds dressed and finishing the breakfast that they prepare for themselves. Make school lunches and yell at everyone to get their shoes, backpacks and jackets on to be out the door by 8:35.
What?! 815? That would kill me. Just kill me.
I get up three hours before I have to go to work. Why??? I have to make coffee, put the dog out and let him back in, change the baby and give him a bottle, make my husband’s lunch and my own lunch, feed the baby his breakfast of yogurt and Cheerios, pack the baby’s bag for daycare, get the baby bathed and dressed, get myself bathed and dressed, put the dog out and back in again, turn off all the lights, TVs, radios, coffee pots, lock the doors, drive for a half hour, take the baby into daycare, and then, finally, drag myself in to work. A parent’s work never seems to end!!
I am now never complaining again. At least Emme can feed herself at this point … I’ll think of you while sipping coffee tomorrow morning.