April 26: Workday Mornings

They just aren't my favorite. At all.

Workday mornings come with the added hustle and bustle of getting myself ready for work (both physically and mentally) plus getting all three children ready for either Lori's or school. Nate is home on these morning to help crack the proverbial whip but for some reason, I feel like my whip is cracking hardest on everyone on those Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. (Read: psycho mom). I mean, my workday mornings are when I find myself becoming a giant nag, especially when I have to light a fire under Truman's butt to get moving: 'Please eat your breakfast. Take another bite. Keep eating, stop playing, we are going to be late to school. Please keep eating!!!!!' Throw in a tantrum or five by Cecelia, a hungry/fussy baby that is ready to nap before we get out the door, a possible ill-timed diaper blow out, a minor injury to any child after not listening and running/falling down, the constant whining/just waking up for the day mentality and the need for me to be professional and presentable? Yep, you have a recipe for YELLING and I hate hate hate starting our day off on the wrong foot. We have both good and bad workday mornings of course, but the bad ones really stick with you---you know?

So yes, Nate is also home to help me on MWF before work---he adjusted his schedule this way on purpose when I returned to work after Porter. He is usually the one who walks Truman over to school and he then does the daycare drop off after that (usually, unless it makes more sense for me to drive that way, if my first patient is near Lori). Nate is truly awesome and on the rare occasion I have to do a workday morning alone, I want to cry into my (very cold) coffee. Not really, but it's much harder to do without Nate and I'm glad to have my teammate present for three mornings per week. I still think I'd trade the help in the a.m. instead of having him home earlier in the p.m. but I don't know...the evenings are a different post entirely. But that is our trade off: I have him home for three mornings to help but I fly solo almost every single weekday evening instead. We are looking very much forward to Nate's new summer hours that begin in a few weeks. He might even be able to eat dinner with us more than one time on a weekday!

But I wanted to write out a bit of the tasks that need to be checked off each workday morning, since I did a weekend day for my DiTL this quarter. I never want to forget the craziness of working outside the home and also using childcare outside the home, with two separate drop offs for our three kids (school and Lori's). Organization is *key* for these kind of mornings and it's definitely been a work in progress since adding a third child to the mix. I think we are hitting our stride but sometimes the yelling happens and I vow to do better the next day. 

Also, if we had a nanny life would be so much easier in the mornings. Or if I didn't work outside of the home.* OR BOTH:)

A typical workday morning:

I wake up at 6:15 and head downstairs where I make the coffee (8 cups usually, freaking best part of every morning--I start looking forward to coffee before I go to bed at night), let Henry outside, open the blinds on the lower level of the house, and clean up a few dishes/unload the dishwasher if needed. Then I start setting out the big kids' breakfasts: whole milk, vitamins, apples OR a Gogurt, and sometimes half of a frozen waffle with peanut butter (and Nutella if I'm feeling extra fun). Nate is in the shower at this point and Porter might be waking up around 6:30-ish. Sometimes Nate will bring Porter down with him after the shower or sometimes I will go and get the babe.

Porter's routine is that he needs a 6 oz bottle STAT and we usually let him lay in his Breeze playard  in the sunroom for this 'Mr. Independent' bottle boy. He also needs a diaper change, to get dressed for the day, and after that he is happy to rotate between playing with toys on the floor and sitting in his highchair to throw food at Henry. So the bottle, diaper/clothes, then play and some high chair time makes up the entirety of Porter's morning from about 6:30 or 6:45 when he wakes until 8:40 when Nate takes him to Lori's.

Back to my routine: once the big kids' breakfasts are ready to be consumed (although they are still sleeping upstairs) I move on to making my lunch for the day. This was something I always used to do the night before a workday but for some reason I just don't have the energy to prep in the evenings. Note to self: try to make it happen to cut down on morning time stress. Usually I just make a PBJ, bring an apple, some chips, and two gigantic bottles of water for my day in and out of the car. And once Porter is done with his bottle in the other room, I'll usually jump back and forth from the kitchen to the sunroom to get him dressed, set him up to play, or else I'll just sit him in the high chair in the kitchen with me so I can keep going with my check list. 

After my lunch is made, I will make and eat my own breakfast. Lately this always consists of a ham/egg/cheese sandwich on an English muffin. Usually I eat standing up in the kitchen while I tend to Porter/the dishes. Nate comes downstairs around 6:45 and the big kids come down at 7:00. Their tasks for the morning include eating breakfast, getting dressed, and brushing their teeth. One would think this could take maybe 10 minutes TOPS but hahahahaha, it's usually a struggle to condense this routine to 1 hour for Truman (walks to school around 8:10) and 1.5 hours for Cecelia (out the door to Lori's around 8:40 or so). 

Once all three of the children are happily/peacefully/JOYFULLY eating their breakfasts without any fighting or whining (sarcasm), I head upstairs to take my shower around 7:15. Many times CC comes with me and will bring her breakfast with her into the bathroom---the opposite of appetizing, if you ask me. I take my shower, get dressed, do my hair and makeup, brush my teeth and head back downstairs around 8:00. If Cecelia stays downstairs and isn't my big 'helper', I can usually get myself ready faster than this. 

Nate and Truman walk to school around 8:10 and CC usually tags along. I get a few minutes with just mister Porter and adore that quiet time together. Then Nate and CC come back from school, we all get various bags ready for the day (Lori bag, work bag, lunch bag, etc) and I help load the offspring into Nate's car by 8:40. This is when I will say that forgoing giant winter boots, snowsuits, big winter coats, hats and gloves is the best thing ever. We still have to layer outerwear but someday, my friends, we will be able to walk directly out the door without any bundling. And it shall be glorious.

I might check my work phone quickly once everyone is gone, then load my haul into the van (work bag, lunch bag, two ginormous water bottles). Do NOT miss my pump bag on mornings like this! Again, sometimes I will take CC and Porter to Lori's before my first patient but not so much lately. Either way, as I pull out of the garage, I already feel like I've run a marathon most of the time. But it's also a big accomplishment to make it out of the morning alive, so (fist pound) to everyone on a time schedule with small children. Ain't no joke, man.

A picture to summarize our mornings: I am ready to wear my PT face but the lighting makes it look like I have a bit of a lazy eye or something. And Cecelia and Porter both needed to be on my lap for breakfast and they are not expressive at all. But hey, Friday morning!

*{disclaimer: I don't think staying at home is easy, by any means. More on my 'days at home' schedule and the separate kind of stress in another post, coming soon to a blog near you.}