My entire life as a mom, I have woken up earlier than I wanted or needed to get up. I have two built-in alarm clocks named Mazzy and Harlow who both hate sleep. They fight bedtime at night and then they me wake up before the sun rises in the morning.
When it was just Mazzy waking up super early, we would take her into bed with us where we could get at least another hour of sleep all together. When she got older and couldn’t fall back asleep, we would get her a sippy cup of warm milk and put on a TV show while we dozed beside her. It was nice.
But once Harlow was born, that was all over.
Harlow does not like to come into bed with us in the morning, mainly because we cannot serve her waffles there. She’s hungry when she wakes up and wants breakfast immediately. Even in moments of desperation when I’m like— can you just eat a waffle in bed with us? She looks at me like I’m temporarily insane (which I am) and very clearly states, “I WANT MY WAFFLE IN THE LIVING ROOM.”
So then Mike and I go back and forth debating who will be the one who drags their ass out of bed at 5:45am to make Harlow waffles. This game of chicken goes on until Harlow gets impatient and the person who can’t stand Harlow’s whining more, loses. That’s usually me.
Then I take Harlow into the kitchen, make her waffles (which requires the very complicated task of defrosting them from the freezer). I do this while she sits on the counter because Harlow will not have it any other way. When the waffles are ready, I set her up on the little table next to our couch. She likes her waffles cut in four, served with a side dish of syrup and a cup of water. She wants her blankie draped on top of her so she stays warm. All hell will break loose if she gets syrup on herself so I’ve learned to make sure her chair is all the way pushed in and there are napkins within reach for syrup emergencies.
Then I turn on Paw Patrol or Dora and Friends or Shimmer and Shine or whatever her VERY SPECIFIC TV request is of the day.
With Harlow settled and sucked into the TV, I’m able to lie down on the couch and doze off under a blanket. Or make a cup of coffee and sip it silently next to her. This has been our routine for so long that Harlow gets mad if I try to do anything other than sit down on the couch. She wants me safely curled up next to her waffles where she can see me.
Mazzy usually hears the television and wanders in around 6:30am and snuggles with me under the blanket. At a certain point, Harlow finishes her waffles and joins us too.
All this before 6:45am.
I always thought this was a bad thing. Why do my kids wake up so ridiculously early? Wouldn’t life be so much better if our day started an hour later?
But now I realize there are also benefits to early risers. Since our mornings start early, we are not in any rush. We wake up slowly. Take our time with breakfast. Adjust to the idea of the day ahead. I don’t really start getting anyone ready until 7am. At that point, I’m in charge of Mazzy and Mike is in charge of Harlow. Mainly because Mike can’t do Mazzy’s hair.
Mazzy and I leave for school a little after 8am and Mike takes Harlow to school closer to 9am.
It all worked out just fine.
UNTIL WE GOT ALL SCREWED UP BY WINTER BREAK. Two full weeks without school and a trip to Jamaica in the mix.
When we got back, I had no idea our mornings would turn upside down. I mean, we had gone on vacation before and nothing had changed. My kids don’t even do anything different on the weekends. And I know everyone always complains about daylight savings time, but that never really effects us either. They’ve gotten up before sunrise every day for as long as I can remember.
Last Monday morning, I opened my eyes in bed, saw the light streaming through the windows and a wave of confusion fell over me. Was Mike up getting the kids ready? No. He was still asleep next to me. Were my kids fending for themselves in the living room? No, it was dead silent. WHAT WAS GOING ON???
I picked up my phone from the night stand and realized it was 7:30am. WHAT??? This was the equivalent of sleeping until 1:00pm back in my childless days.
I shot out of bed, totally disoriented and somehow even more exhausted than normal, and ran into Mazzy and Harlow’s room, where I discovered them both fast asleep. I climbed Mazzy’s bunkbed and for the first time since I’ve had children, I tried to nudge my baby awake.
“Mazzy, you have to get up.”
She didn’t move.
“Mazzy, it’s time to get ready for school.”
Nothing. I stroked her hair.
“Mazzy.”
This must be what it is like to have a teenager. I physically tried to turn her over.
“Mazzy, it’s 7:30am. You have to get up.”
“Noooooooooooo. I’m too tired.”
Yep, that’s how I have felt every day for the past six years.
I forced her to wake up and then the really awful part started. Because we couldn’t gradually adjust to the day while cuddled in front of the television drinking “nice and warmy” milk. We had to get dressed, brush teeth, brush hair and run out the door. IMMEDIATELY.
Not only that, but I had to get ready at the same time so I wasn’t there for her to lean on every step of the way. Mazzy was confused and tired and had no idea what the urgency was all about.
And then Harlow woke up, cranky as ever, and Mike started bumbling around half awake making coffee and it was clear— THIS WAS NEW PARENTING TERRITORY.
I found myself hoping that this was just first day back wonkiness and that the next day, our early rising schedule (the same schedule I have cursed for years) would be back to normal. But unfortunately, the same thing happened every day last week.
Mike and I woke up after 7am, had to wake Mazzy and Harlow up and then rush two unwilling participants through our morning routine. There was more crankiness and whining from the kids and more yelling from Mike and me. Mazzy and I missed the bus or almost missed the bus every day.
And now, as I sit here on Sunday night, wondering what is going to happen tomorrow morning, I realize I have to do something I haven’t done in six years.
I have to set an alarm.
i cannot express to you how much i relate to this. we have the same early riser (almost 7 year old) in our house. it only took once or twice of this exact same thing happening (waking after 7) to now have to set an alarm. most days we get the kid alarm before our actual alarm, but it’s always good to have a back up!
I have a few alarms set on my phone, that I mostly snooze and ignore, because I know the toddler will start complaining through the monitor early enough to really get us motivated.
but on the days when he sleeps in, Yes. I am there with you. “Uh, eat your breakfast REAL FAST everyone, because we need to get in the car!”
I hope you guys find a better balance!
I feel you! I wake up at 5:30 for work and most days my alarm doesn’t go off before my 3 year old is already in our room wanting breakfast. Weekends are very early in our house as well which does have major advantages, like getting somewhere, such as the zoo, right when they open and it’s empty!
I can totally relate!!! My early risers are up between 5:30am and 6am every day no matter what time they went to bed. I am a stay at home mom and my oldest has preschool in the afternoon so, on the rare occasion when one sleeps till 7am it doesn’t affect us too much unless we have an Dr. appt or something. We start Kindergarten next year and I am dreading the possibility of rushing through our morning!
This is our morning every morning! But we get the kids up at 5:30 because we both start work at 6:30 am. There is always grumpiness and yelling from someone. Ugh!
Oh I hate the days that they sleep late. Our boy (2 1/2) generally wakes up during us getting ready, not a problem, I stop and cuddle him until daddy is ready and then daddy cuddles him until I am ready and we all head out the door. On days that he does not wake up, it is like trying to wake the dead then all he wants is cuddles. The sleeping later days are becoming more frequent so I am trying to learn a new routine for waking him up and it is NOT fun.
I’m gonna sound like such a rube here, but what do you do if you miss the bus? Do city dwellers have cars? Will another bus come? (Down here, the next bus doesn’t come for like a whole hour) Can you take the train (that’s what you call the subway, right?) or do you just have to take a taxi? Oh my gosh… the logistics of living in a big city are so confounding to me!!! 🙂 We live in a RUUUUUUURAL town, so you’d have to just borrow someone’s horse if yours breaks. (kidding…. sort of)
The bus comes every ten minutes so the goal is to make the early bus at 8:04, which usually means we make the 8:14 bus instead which still gets us to school on time. If we really screw up, we take the 8:24 which gets us there right as the bell rings with no time to spare. If we miss that one, we take a cab.
I do not have kids of my own but my good friends have 7 year old twin daughters. I was watching them for a long weekend. I over slept and didn’t get up until 6:30. The problem with that is the bus comes at 6:50. They do not wake up nicely and it is usually a fight with at least one if not both of them. I have never scrambled so fast and pleaded as much in my life. They had to get on the bus because I had a 8am final just over an hour away! I couldn’t take them to school because it was way to early. They live in the country so their bus route is long. Oh and I also didn’t know what time school started and neither did the kids! I also had to get some sort of clothes on and teeth brushed. I went to school with no shower and wearing sweatpants.
We’re super-lucky in some ways because our kiddo is a hard-core sleeper. He almost never gets up before 7 and since Christmas, has been sleeping in until 8! My husband is a stay-at-home dad, so it makes for a very relaxed morning for both of them. I am a bit worried when preschool comes along though because I have no idea how he’s going to get him out of the house in time!
God, I am finding is soooo hard to sympathise here! My apologies, but I definitely have a severe case of sour grapes. My nearly-7 yr old daughter wakes up just before 5am every day, which means I do too. Once in a blue moon she’ll “sleep in” til 5:30 or 6am. I would kill to have your problem for a wee, blessed while. Just enough time to catch up in my previous ZZZs.
We had the same issue – though all through the break the kids were still up between 6:15 and 7am pretty much – and packed downstairs with croissants and similarly specific TV requests – come back to school day I had to wake all three of them after 7:30am. This makes no sense to me. I am just so incredibly thankful for school uniform because having to cope with a clothing choice drama while rushing crankypantses through the eat, teeth, clothes, shoes routine would have meant late marks for sure. We’re back to a more even keel this week though.
Oh the exact same thing happened to us over the Holiday break!! My boys are 2 and 4, and ever since they were born, they had NEVER woken up after 6, and now it’s 7.30!! Which is so great, right?? Thankfully, they still go to daycare, so I don’t have to set an alarm clock, but i’be been coming to work much later, and next year when my oldest starts Kindergarden, I guess we’ll have to wake him up! Or maybe put them in bed earlier? Earlier bedtime always seems like a good idea!
Our house is on a pretty decent schedule with waking up and getting ready as well, but man those random days where the little guy (and the big guy) dont want to get out of bed on time can REALLY mess me up!!! We can be just 5 minutes off of schedule and I feel like I’m totally screwed! Those moments are precious and I need EVERY ONE OF THEM, DONT THEY KNOW THIS??!!!! Lol. But my family acts like nothing is wrong and they still have as much time as usual…….then of course they are boys so……….enough said I guess.
I am having the same problem but in a different version. My kids are older, 10 and 8. During the break (and weekends), when they wake up (relatively late compared to school time) they prepare their own breakfast and keep themselves entertained while I sleep in a bit.
Being back to school I have to get up earlier to have the breakfast ready for them because we need to catch the school bus. They have their own alarm clock, to wake up.
In addition, since early mornings are my only time to get my workout in, I have to wake up even earlier, which pulls my wake-up time to 5 am. After workout, meditation & shower, by 6am I start to prepare breakfast.
Instead of an alarm clock, I recommend using “sleep cycle”. It is an iPhone app. It tracks your sleep cycle through your movement in bed through the night and based on the time you set to wake up, it gently wakes you up whenever you are closer to being awake, rather than deep asleep. Its ringtones are very gentle. It doesn’t jerk you out of bed.
Hello,
I am catching up on your posts and just read this one. I am anxious to know how things are going this week. Has it gotten better? I am a mom to two girls around the same age as yours and also work so I can relate.
Thanks for sharing your life with us.
I’m anxious to hear too! I always thought a nice 7am wake up (where the kids wake up naturally at 7) would be fantastic. Currently we also have the 6amwake up and I just feel like the morning drags! I can see how your tv is useful in the morning but since I’m at home this year with #3 I am always trying to save the tv for the end of the day (when I’m going crazy!) which makes the super early morning too long. I also find it too hard to get to bed on time in order to get enough sleep before the wake up. Sounds though like we’re all in this together! Last year we got back from Hawaii and the kids slept until 9!!! Then I had to wake them up the next day at 6:15 for day care and it was all over ????
Oh my… your girls “sleep in” compared to my early riser! Ever since turning 3 (2.5 years ago), our little wakes between 4:50am-5:30am!!! A sleep in is 6am, which is rare! I miss the days where he slept until 7am… as I would get up at 6:30am to shower in peace!!!
My little alarm clocks get me up before the sun as well. I beg them to sleep until 7…though I don’t think my one year old even knows what I’m saying. So I am right there with ya! I rarely set an alarm.