I thought it would be so much easier this year since everyone had to be up at the same time. I had visions of myself cooking a warm breakfast and everyone sitting around the table. Um . . . ha!
Mark insists on taking a long, warm bath each morning which is fine EXCEPT that he wants me to stay in the bathroom with him the whole time which makes it difficult for me to make sure Henry is up, dressed, and getting breakfast. It also makes it hard for me to make the kids' lunches. And now Mark wants me to make his lunch every day because he doesn't like having to raise his hand and ask for help in the cafeteria (with ketchup packets, milk carton, etc.).
Maybe it will still fall into place. Otherwise I'm going to be a basketcase from 6:45 until 7:45 every single morning.
We haven't started school yet but I am back to work so we've had to get into a routine. To help out, lunches (mine and soon to be Owen's) are made the night before. The boys pick out their clothes for the next day and they are set on their little storage bench in their room. They have been pretty good about getting up and getting dressed. A lot of times they sneak into my bed after Doug leaves for work (6 am) and go back to sleep so I just send them to get dressed after they wake up for real.
They have been REALLY good. We will see how things go after school starts. Gavin is now in charge of feeding the dog in the morning so he does that. He isn't to the point where he does it without a reminder but he is doing it without complaining so that is fine by me.
Baths do not happen in the morning. They watch a show on my bed while I shower and sometimes have a snack. I am SO lucky because I drop them off at my parents at 8 and they feed them breakfast so that is one less thing I have to worry about in the morning.
My kids school starts at 8 so we leave our house between 7:35 and 7:45.
That would be so hard for us! We do have to be at my mom's at 8 so we leave about 7:45. But we don't have to do breakfast here so it is less hectic. I try to do as much prep work as possible the night before so it makes the morning easier.
I get Raven up at 7 and we leave the house at 7:30. She eats breakfast at school so the only thing she needs to do is brush her teeth and get dressed. She takes a shower/bath at night. I get up at 6 and take my shower and eat breakfast and make her lunch.
I volunteer in the lunch room and spend most of my time opening things. That is one of the reasons I make her lunch so she has more time to eat and not wait around for help.
We haven't started yet either-it is going to be interesting. Last year, Kate had to be at school at 8:45, but of course that wasn't everyday. This year, Anna has to be in her classroom by 8:15, and Kate isn't until 9am. School isn't far, but IHNI what to expect in terms of drop off, so we might have to leave significantly earlier. It is going to be rough on them. The elem school does not encourage parents to drive their kids because it gets really backed up apparently, but IDC. I would never in a million years put her on the bus with the kids in this neighborhood. No way, no how.
We are like Juni though-baths are at night, lunches are packed at night, clothes laid out at night. Even I take showers at night. So in the mornings, we are getting up, getting dressed, having breakfast and getting out the door. Tote bags and backpacks are also readied the night before. Mornings need to be mindless or we are a mess. Since they have their clothes out the night before, they just get dressed on their own (sometimes Kate needs help getting out of her pjs though, lol). Often Anna is already dressed when she comes into my room-unless she sleeps in and I have to wake her.
If they are up, I let them watch a show while I get dressed. If not, I get ready in the peaceful quiet and then wake them up. Kate isn't a breakfast eater anyway, so I think I'll let her wait on breakfast until after we drop Anna off. She'll be dressed and ready already, so that will probably work better for her. Anna scarfs her food down, so she shouldn't be a problem.
I should make a batch of waffles or something on the weekends though-that way they can have them in they want. But otherwise, breakfast for them is usually cereal, a granola bar or cereal bar and fruit of some sort. Nothing time consuming.
I am more nervous about us getting there on time though. I mean, Anna will get tardies if I don't get her there!! Preschool was so relaxed-this year is going to be a whole new ballgame!!
Mornings are still a little tricky for us. The kids have to be to school by 7:55..but we like for them to get there earlier to have time on the playground.
That means, a 6:30 wakeup for us. Its ROUGH. But, we all are adjusting pretty well the first week. Jillian is sort of difficult to get up. She really is my twin, lol, and hates mornings. So most of the time from 6:30 to 6:45 I'm dragging her out of bed and she's crying that she's tired. I'm hoping that it will be better in the coming weeks once she gets used to it.
Anyways, I haven't done lunches the night before but I think I need to. That would probably help time wise. But, as of now, we get up, Ryan gets in the shower...Jillian usually hops in the shower w/ DH if she didn't have a bath the night before. While they are showering, I'm getting breakfast out (dude, you know it's nothing big either lol Cereal or fruit or something else easy) packing backpacks and lunches.
It's been quite the adjustment for us all, but I think in a few more weeks we will have it down and it won't be so hard.
TG for Eggos is all I have to say. All 3 of my kids make their own waffles for breakfast. Luckily plain with no syrup. I occasionaly make eggs and toast. MOTY.
This year I've told the boys no computer, video games or TV until they're 100% ready. This has cut down on yelling so much around here.
So far it's only Kyle going to school, Kevin starts next week.
The boys are usually up between 6:30 and 7 and come to wake us up. They get a small snack of dry cereal or a cereal bar and a cup of milk while they watch PBS and Dom or I makes breakfast.
Eat, get dressed, brush teeth, then out the door around 8:30 to walk to school. School starts at 9am so they get some playground time in the morning.
I need to get in the habit of having them pick out clothes the night before and asking them to get dressed first thing when they wake up. They have lunch at school, but on days we pack it I'll do that the night before.
we keep to a similar bedtime schedule all year round. anyways, i am up with cate, bert is up for work, so we breakfast together all year round.
bert up around 6, me around 6:30, the girls at 7 during school days, but anywhere around 7:30ish during summer. tim could sleep for.ev.er lmao - love those teen years.
breakfast is light- cereal, bread with jam or ham/cheese whatever.
bert packs the kids school snack while we eat breakfast.
kristi - you are brave to allow any tv/electronics at all - that would be a disaster in our house!
well, if i'm working (or "waking up in the dark" as c calls it) then i get up at 5. *yawn* i shower & fix my hair the night before. we also set out her clothes and put her bag in the car in the evenings. i suppose now we will add lunch prep to our evenings.
so i get up, bleary eyed, gaze sadly upon my swollen eyes and forehead wrinkles and get her dvd going. i go get her and carry her to the couch and leave her there while i get my makeup on/fuss over my hair. after about 10 minutes i give her a bowl of cereal because, as she will tell you, there is no cooking in the morning. i get dressed while she eats and then after she eats her show is usually over and she gets dressed, i fix her hair and she usually tries to throw in a last minute crisis as we are walking out the door.
i aim to leave at 6 and usually make it out by 6:10. she is def not a morning person and i can not stand to fight with her in the morning. so i get her up early enough to have her time to sit and wake up before she eats and stuff.
if i'm off, then we get up at 6:45 to leave by 7:25.
for us, we have to do most of our "morning" stuff the night before or it will be a very BAD morning for everyone. i will say that setting out her clothes the night before is probably the best sanity saver. also, i usually braid her hair after her bath so in the morning its all cute and crimped and less of a hassle.
we keep to a similar bedtime schedule all year round. anyways, i am up with cate, bert is up for work, so we breakfast together all year round.
bert up around 6, me around 6:30, the girls at 7 during school days, but anywhere around 7:30ish during summer. tim could sleep for.ev.er lmao - love those teen years.
breakfast is light- cereal, bread with jam or ham/cheese whatever.
bert packs the kids school snack while we eat breakfast.
kristi - you are brave to allow any tv/electronics at all - that would be a disaster in our house!
Yeah I would just cut it all out but Jack wakes up at 6 every morning and we don't leave the house until 8:30. It takes him about 10 minutes to get ready. So he stays out of my hair if he's entertained.
I get up at 6, wake them up at 6:30. They get dressed, brush teeth, SG eats breakfast.
Bus picks up Presley between 7:15 & 7:30, she eats breakfast at school. We either drive SG to school or walk her, she has to be in her homeroom at 7:50.
we keep to a similar bedtime schedule all year round. anyways, i am up with cate, bert is up for work, so we breakfast together all year round.
bert up around 6, me around 6:30, the girls at 7 during school days, but anywhere around 7:30ish during summer. tim could sleep for.ev.er lmao - love those teen years.
breakfast is light- cereal, bread with jam or ham/cheese whatever.
bert packs the kids school snack while we eat breakfast.
kristi - you are brave to allow any tv/electronics at all - that would be a disaster in our house!
Yeah I would just cut it all out but Jack wakes up at 6 every morning and we don't leave the house until 8:30. It takes him about 10 minutes to get ready. So he stays out of my hair if he's entertained.
that makes sense in your case. the few times i let clara we had major tantrums all the way to the school.
I get up at 6am, get ready (I shower the night before), have my coffee waiting for me downstairs while I start working on lunches. I wake up the kids at 6:30am, but about 90% of the time they wake up on their own. This is great during the weekdays, NOT so great on Saturdays.
Between 6:30am and 7am they eat breakfast. Usually waffles (frozen), cereal, once in a great great while it will be like a hard-boiled egg & fruit but most of the time, there is no time.
7am they brush their teeth, change all while watching something on TV. 7:15 I start brushing Natalie's hair and at 7:30am we are out (they need to be at school by 7:50am).
They wear uniforms to school which I love because there is no whining about what they want to wear. I lay out all their clothes the night before.
Its a pretty crazy hour and a half of my morning...thank God for COFFEE!
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Alexandra ~ Mommy to David (7 years), Natalie (5 years) and Diego (3 years) ~
