Early to Bed, Early to Rise...

This week is...interesting. I have an extra babysitting kid this week as his usual babysitter is on vacation. He seems like a great kid; he's in Paige's class, and actually lives somewhat across the road from us. Paige loves having one of her best friends here, and the boys love having another boy to play with. He's a good fit with the kids he's met so far, so the week should go smoothly.

Part of the reason that it's interesting is the fact that he gets here at 6 am...fifteen to thirty minutes earlier than we're used to getting up in the morning! It really isn't too awful bad...it's just most of us aren't morning people. Nate, the one and only morning person in the family, even had trouble this morning. Coffee has been consumed in huge quantities by this momma the past two days!

What really amazes me is how much different my day is because of that extra 30 minutes in the morning. Instead of getting up at 6:15, I'm up at 5:45. Everything else still happens at or around the same time, but it goes much smoother because I'm not rushed.

My mornings are usually crazy. For those of you who think I have it all together and am such a great mom, here's proof that I'm not: I get up and start making Pete's tea and lunch. The kids get up (sometimes with a lot of coaxing by mom), and are demanding breakfast. They get cranky because they have to wait for mommy to finish getting daddy's stuff ready. Then the kids are rushed for breakfast, we all end up getting frustrated with each other, and the kids get on the bus glad to get away from mom, and mom's glad that she's left with only one kid left to deal with. I then rush around before babysitting kids arrive/preschool starts/I leave to run errands, then my day goes downhill from there. There's always something that needs to be done, something that didn't get done, and piles and piles of mess that all needs my attention right now. It is nothing but rush rush rush, and it's exhausting.

But not this week. My house is staying clean. I'm caught up on laundry (with exception of folding it. I hate folding.). The mornings have been argument free. Pete comes home, and I'm not stressed. I am less exhausted now that I was last week, yet more in control and organized than I was last week.

How does that work?!?

I think I may keep the earlier wake up time from here on out. It won't be easy, but I think the benefits outweigh the difficulties hands down. I may end up having to keep the early wake up time as N may become a permanent kid to my roster; his parents are searching for a new babysitter, and he's loving it here so far. I'm not sure if I want to permanently add any kid to the roster right now, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.


What things help your day go smoother? I'm always looking for more tips!