Monday Morning

I just read this blog about this guy's zen morning routine. Here's what he does:

Sit (on a small pillow for half an hour)

Read (for half an hour to an hour)

Write (for another half an hour to an hour)

He said later that he exercises later in the day, that he eats breakfast later because he's compressing his eating window and that he plays with the kids when the sun is shining.

I didn't figure out until the end of the post that it was actually a male author, and it was at that point that all of my questions, like about who is feeding and/or corralling the children, emptying the dishwasher and making the bed, were answered.

Now that I've been getting up MUCH earlier than I used to, things are calmer, but there are still things to do. And now I'm interested in what other people do (and don't do) in the mornings. Our schedule looks like this (MWF)

5-6 I go down the hill to the gym and come back to a still and quiet house. SO NICE. Put the water on for coffee and get my sweaty self in the shower before the kettle whistle goes off (I use and am in total love with my French press)

6-6:30 get out of the shower and fix the coffee, empty the dishwasher while coffee brews trying to be REALLY QUIET so I don't wake anyone up. Pack Carly's lunch, make breakfast.

~6:45 serve breakfast (usually a 6-egg veggie frittata, cut up fruit and/or cereal for the girls) and run to dry my hair while Paul is eating breakfast with the chickies

~7:15-7:35 Perform a very delicate balancing act between moving my s-l-o-w child along and not rushing her so much that she flips out and shuts down. Pack up the kids and drive the twenty-five yards to Sophia's house for carpool.

~7:35-7:50 Keeping it real. I'm supposed to be at Soph's at 7:40 but, um, we've made it on time twice. =)

~7:40-8:15 Drop off the big girls and head back home again!

So that's what we do! The zennest moment of my day is the one where I walk back in the front door with one of my most important, and easiest to neglect, to-do's to-done. After that it's just chaos with Paul in and out of the kitchen making his own lunch and stepping on my toes with his big boots, Bree being a two year old exploring (ie messing up) everything within her reach and Carly being hilarious with her knock knock jokes and ten thousand ways to not do what she needs to be doing.

Maybe one day I'll have a three-item morning routine, and not three hours of madness, but for now I actually kind of love it.

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