I am so excited to be joining up with the Real Talk / Real Moms series alongside an inspiring group of entrepreneur and creative moms to talk honestly about what it is to be balancing life with a little(s) and a career. I followed this series since having Hayes and I felt so much calm and ease because of the honest conversations from all of the ladies involved. In fact, I made a few decisions in terms of childcare and our routines because of the honesty these women shared. Needless to say, it is a real honor to join this crew of inspiring ladies and moms.
This week we are talking about morning routine in the Real Talk / Real Moms series (find all the other posts from the other moms at the bottom of the post). This is a topic I love because since becoming a mom, I have learned to love mornings in a way I never did before. I find mornings to be a precious thing in our daily lives. The snuggles when your little one first wakes up and their bedheads. It is such a precious things, but I didn’t always feel that way. Thus, why I am excited to share how we have gone from night-owl workers to early birds since becoming parents.
When Hayes was still working on becoming a great sleeper, we struggled a lot. It felt each morning was a mad dash. We would wake in a blur to a screaming baby and in a half awake stupor be changing a dirty diaper while he tried to twist off the changing table. It was far from an ideal morning. By the time we got downstairs and made coffee Mike and I were grumpy with one another and that feeling led the rest of the day. We knew we needed a strategy to avoid waking up that way as much as we possibly could.
At about 10 months Hayes got on a wonderful regular schedule (the bliss in parenting a baby). He started sleeping through the night from 8pm – 8am. This was when we realized we needed to start waking up before him. So now, Mike and I make a point to choose when we start our day instead of letting Hayes dictate when we do. Granted, somedays that isn’t always the case if he is sick or something else comes about for him, but for the most part we are now nearly 95% of the time ahead of him.
Lately, he is waking at about 7 AM after he recently had a cold so our time alone in the morning is shorter right now, but since we wake up at 6 AM we at least get in a cup of coffee. Even that extra hour makes a huge difference. If we are lucky we can get in some quick emailing, talk schedule for the day, and game plan before he is ready to leap out of his bed. I mention this because this is the biggest key to our morning routine. I have never been a morning person, but I have learned to love waking that early even if it means being a little sleepy. I know when we do that all else is more likely going to go smoothly through the day. It does mean early bedtimes and less social life, but we enjoy the stillness of the morning more than nights out these days anyways.
So let me give you the breakdown of the first 7 hours of our day in our home on average.
6 AM – Alarm goes off and we get out of bed. We don’t linger. We jump out and go groggy or not.
6:15 AM – Mike makes coffee and I do our daily email for the blog. I sometimes hop in the shower at this point.
6:30 AM – Coffee in hand and our dogs have been fed and let out.
7 AM – Eating breakfast and going over our schedule for the day.
7-8 AM – Somewhere in there Hayes wakes up, till then we work on any small tasks that can be easily interrupted.
8/8:30 AM – Hayes is eating breakfast. Typically he has eggs, banana, yogurt, and some of my smoothie.
8:30 AM – While Hayes eats, Mike and I get work done as well. We finish talking about ideas or just discuss things on our minds while we have coffee and Hayes chatters away.
9 AM – Mike and I workout while Hayes plays after finishing his breakfast. This is typically strength training MWF and yoga Tu and Th. Some mornings we will walk to the beach if it is warm and sunny too.
9:30 AM – Mike gets showered and heads to the studio above our garage to start work. He is on a consulting job currently so he works a more regular schedule in order to be present with his team. So I take Hayes duty at this time.
10:00 AM – Hayes and I play and clean the house in the morning. Since I have eliminated the pressing tasks first thing in the morning I am able to spend time doing some house work. We will do laundry and dishes, and pick up the house. He loves cleaning so it is a great way to get something done while he burns off energy. Sometimes we will go outside and play now that it is getting warmer.
10:30/11 AM – Hayes takes his first nap. He is still a two-naps-a-day-kid and I am holding on to it as long as I can, but I know we are fast approaching a shift since he will be 15 months next month.
11 – 12/12:30 – Hayes wakes up and we have lunch which is typically carrots and peas, applesauce, spinach, beans, and anything else we are eating for lunch.
1: 30 PM – Our sitter comes and relieves me so Mike and I can do some work together or I can work solitary. Right now I sometimes use this time to run errands for the house as well. This is when I get the majority of my work done since she comes every day at that time other than on Wednesdays and the weekend.
On the weekends, we don’t wake up early typically. Sometimes I will since this is a time I typically can squeeze in more work since Mike doesn’t have to be available to work with his team on the weekends. Most of the time we do the most shooting on the weekends though.
This routine has been working well for us. It sounds so regimented, but we love it because it takes all the guess work out of our life. It puts us all on track each morning for a great day ahead. Mike and I have learned that routines aren’t bad. In fact, they leave more space for life to happen because we have a plan to make the day happen in a rhythm. It takes the guess work out so we can move through the day with ease. We know when things happen so we know when things must be done. Having a kid has made routines not only possible but necessary, and it is one of the things I have loved about becoming a parent. I have always craved routine and now here we are. The best part of our morning routine is that Mike gets great morning time with Hayes before he heads to the studio to start calls and designing. Most of the time he is the one that gets him in the morning while I finish up some emails or things for the blog in the morning.
I know our time with this routine is about to end since soon our hours with our sitter will change and Hayes’s nap schedule will most likely shift again. What I have found though is with each stage you learn something new, you become better at adapting, and you know better what works for everyone because of what you learned from the previous stages. So, I have no doubt we will find our footing fairly quickly with a new routine when the time comes.
My biggest advice for any mom that works from home and does the weekday time with her little one, is to find a way to be ahead of the day. Finding my calm before he wakes up brings the ease to my day I need in order to feel like I am my best for him, for Mike, and for myself. I hated the idea of getting up in the mornings, but now I am sad when I don’t. I have a feeling even far past the early years of motherhood I will be waking earlier than my kids and I never anticipated to say that. Motherhood changes us, but I have learned it more often than not is for our own good. I feel thankful this is a change I have made in myself because of becoming a mother.
So what does your morning look like in your home?! I would love to hear. I find routines of other people very interesting. I always learn something. Speaking of which! Don’t forget to check out all the other awesome moms in the Real Talk / Real Moms series who shared their morning routines today. Find all of them below:
The Effortless Chic
Heymama Co
Freutcake
A Daily Something
Design Addict Mom
Oh Lovely Day
The Life Styled
Ave Styles
Parker Etc