Sharing morning routines

We did a post about this last year, and it was really helpful to me to see how people do things in the morning. I thought we could do it again, now that school's started.

I'll start:

Parameters: NYC. Two kids, one in public all-day school and one in preschool afternoons a few days a week. No car. Mom with full-time job. Cats not at all helpful with morning routine.

* Alarm goes off at 7 am, but I've almost always been awakened before then by one or both of the kids and/or one or both of the cats. Sometimes all four are on top of me, fighting for covers.

* Get up, lay out clothes for both boys. Get their breakfast (cereal with milk or toast or eggs or frozen waffles by request). Feed cats and change their water.

* Take a shower, brush hair (wet--I know, not good), get dressed.

* Make lunch for older son (pull sandwich and baggie of tomatoes or carrots out of fridge, pop in cookies, refill water bottle, zip up Yankees lunchbag).

* Mediate some disagreements. Stuff younger child into his clothes and talk to older while he puts on his own clothes.

* Last-minute annoyance du jour--meter reader arriving, changing garbage, changing cat litter. Grab both razor scooters, my bag, older's backpack, and leave at 8:10.

* Walk/scoot four blocks to subway. Take subway four stops, then switch to another line. Take that one stop, then walk/scoot a few blocks to older's school.

* Drop off older around 8:46 for bell of 8:50. Meet babysitter in front of school and hand off younger.

* Walk back to subway. Take subway four stops. Walk five blocks to office. Done with morning schlep! Time to scrounge for breakfast at the office and coffee.

This is all predicated on having finished all the homework the night before and having it back in the backpack, having dishes washed and laundry done and folded and put away. (I try to do a load every night if I can--we have a machine on our floor, and it's $2 to wash and $2 to dry.) I also make the lunch sandwich and bag the veggies the night before, and have a vague idea of what I'm going to wear.

My goal is to get us all to a place of having clothes for M-F all chosen by Sunday night and stacked up or on hangers so we can just grab and go in the morning.

Your turn.

Comments

[flea]

Location: Athens GA. Family: 2 adults who work normal business hours, Casper in K, Dillo in daycare at mr. flea's work. Everyone leaves together in the car.

-Adults wake up ca. 6:30. Groom selves, make coffee, make own and Casper's lunch.
-Start waking children by 6:45. Dillo is often already up; Casper is invariably sleeping like the dead. Turn on light, visit her every 5 minutes until 7am, rubbing back and encouraging wakeup.
-Clothe Dillo while he starts thinking about eating toast.
-7am, drag Casper out of bed. Sometimes she complains about being cold, so I dress her in bed. On a good day she is at the table and dressed by 7:10 and there has been neither kicking nor screaming. We have good days approximately 2 times a week.
-Gulp coffee, inquire of mr. flea why it takes him approximately 15 minutes to brush his teeth, encourage children to actually eat something, defuse squabbles over toast. If screaming has occurred, spend 5 minutes on internet to avoid screaming back.
-7:30, shepherd all 3 children into the car. We are always STILL EATING TOAST at this point, and I am not done with my 2nd cup of coffee.
-7:38, drop Casper off at school.
-7:45, drop me off at work.
-8am, mr. flea and Dillo arrive at work/daycare.

My daughter is NOT A MORNING PERSON. If I could get her to fall asleep before 9pm, mornings would be so much better.

[enu]

"you're gonna miss this/ You're gonna want this back/ you're gonna wish these days/ hadn't gone by so fast/ these are some good times/so take a good look around/ you may not know it now/ but you're gonna miss this..."

Well...... NOT this part. I am very much enjoying having a self sufficient high school senior (and another daughter off at college) in terms of morning routine. I used to be soooo efficient about it all for so many years, but it was suckily stressful.

[Shandra]

Fun! My parameters: My son is 3, goes to Montessori 8:30 - 5 and they supply lunch; we do snack day on Thursdays.

My morning usually goes:

5:30 alarm
5:30-5:45 snuggle time, reading time
5:45 - 6 stagger around in the bathroom, answer the morning questions like "Do crocodiles poo?" or on some mornings rush to kitchen to throw everything in the crockpot if I have not done this the night before. Or pull things out of the freezer to defrost in fridge.
6 - make breakfast (usually oatmeal, sometimes eggs, cold cereal, pb&j toast), have coffee, wake spouse AGAIN. Lately, deal with 3 yr old issues (no not that bowl! No I DO IT!"
6:15 - shower, throw laundry in after shower. rush about getting dressed. Answer more questions. Find play necklace for son so he stops crying about mine. Put wet hair in clips. Dispense kisses.
6:45 - walk out the door and my husband handles everything else.
15 minute drive to subway
45 min subway ride (two trains) to work
Undo clips and get cracking around 8, 8:10.

On Thursdays I often skip the shower so my son and I can make muffins for his school snack.

His routine is helped by the uniform for school as there is no question what's getting worn.

Can we do evening routines sometime?

[michelle]

I have 2 that are at the same daycare/preschool for the time being. We need to be in the car by 7:30 a.m. for our commute, etc.

In addition to getting the kids' lunches/bottles ready the night before, the most helpful things are:

-actually lay out all my clothes (even earrings) the night before. I am the weak link in the morning if I am trying to find something to wear.

-pack my bag (keys? ID? all that stuff that should just stay in my bag but somehow ends up lost/under the bed/hidden by elves) and put near the door

-our morning goes a lot better if I focus on getting our 4 year old TOTALLY ready first and then let her watch 15 or 20 minutes of TV while I do everything else.

-since we drive, I have 2 or 3 breakfast items that can be eaten by my kids on the go, in the car. The latest fave is Kashi frozen (blueberry) waffles.

[Shannon]

Chicago suburbs: one child (18 months) who goes to daycare, husband who doesn't have to be at work in the morning and thus sleeps through everything, incessantly meowing cat.

Up at 6:45. Get kid dressed and give sippy cup, park in front of TV while I take a shower. 10-minute getting dressed, putting on makeup. Hair still wet (I guess it will just freeze in the winter), microwave Jimmy Dean D-Lites sandwich (5 points and delicious) to take on the road. Grab AD medication and put in pocket. Daycare drop-off. (She feeds them breakfast, that saintly woman.) Drive to train station parking lot, run to commuter train, inevitably miss it and go to Starbucks. (The upshot was this morning I got into a conversation with a man whose hobby was watching trains, which is fun because he now has something in common with my 18-month-old!) Catch later train, eat cold, congealing breakfast and swallow down meds.

Get downtown to work eventually and feel like I've been up for hours.

(BTW my cat does not get fed in the morning because the vet told me she has to lose weight. Because I have the energy to put my cat on a diet.)

[Slim]

Up at 5:15, out the door at 5:45 to take Metro to work. Husband does morning routine with kids. Highly recommend.

Yes, when we do evening routines, my story will not be so pretty.

Also, although I an a morning person, 5:15 is really awfully early, especially if you're up until the wee hours brooding about a child's kindergarten sitch. (Although thanks to the collective wisdom of the Moxites, the process of dealing with it is nicely on track, even if the results aren't there yet.)

[violingirl]

My parameters: My husband works ridiculously long hours (temporarily) and goes to school at night, I work from home, I have a 1-year-old and 3-year-old.

My husband is up at 5:30, I am up by 6.
I make a lunch for my husbanad then get a shower quickly before the baby wakes up at 6:30, like clockwork. My husband leaves at 6:30 (45 minute commute). I do breakfast for myself (COFFEE!) and for the baby and while he plays I try to get laundry started and empty the dishwasher.

I get myself all the way dressed at some point, dress the baby, pack a bag for their trip to the sitter. My 3 year old gets up around 7:30, and he's not in a good mood when he wakes up. So it's tears about going potty, eating breakfast, getting dressed, etc.

We leave the house by 8:30, get to the sitter, drop them off and I have to get home by 9:30 to start working at 10.

I am so not a morning person, so the whole thing exhausts me.

I'm trying to work on laying clothes out at least the night before for the kids.

[Suki]

Downtown Toronto: Husband, 20 month old in daycare 9-5, 2 dogs, work from home.

Mornings: Alarm goes off at 7am. DH gets DS up, dressed, gives sippy cup & prepares his breakfast, which DS eats at his leisure off the coffee table while playing/looking at books. I shower while DH does above, then sit with DS having coffee & breakfast while DH showers. DH leaves for work at 8am. I walk two dogs & DS to park, then daycare drop off for 8:45, then home and at the computer for work by 9am.

Only because I work from home and we only have 1 child, I don't find mornings stressful. I find our evenings a lot more hectic. I'm with a poster above, can we do evening routines some time?

[Marguerite]

this is fun!
We have 3 boys, one 3yo and two 14mo and we live in Berlin, Germany. All kids got to the same daycare, I work in an office and my husband works from home.
We are usually woken up by one of the three boys around 6:45. One of us goes to change the diapers/or dress the babies while the other one makes breakfast (tea / cocoa and bread w/butter and jam) and prepares the school snacks for the kids (yoghurt / portable cheese and a pbj) and the lunches for us (leftovers or sandwiches). We all sit down around 7ish to have breakfast together.
7:30 / 7:45 One of us showers / get dressed while the other one cleans the kitchen.
8 ish the other one dresess the 3 yo during the 2nd shower, cleans up a bit and deals with some laundry.
Invariably, we feel like we still have a lot of time and end up wasting it playing around / interneting and therefore scrambling to get everyone's shoes on and us out of the door shortly after 8:30
We drive to the daycare which is relatively close, but with the twins not walking/biking it's too stressful any other way than by car. However, after dropping the kids of around 8:45,
we both ride our bikes to be at work at 9am.
When I see our routine written out like that, I see that we are pretty slow in the morning and we could be much more time efficient, but it alos makes me realise that I am really glad that we can afford the luxury of breakfast together. Even if we are all more or less awake/grumpy etc, we still get to begin each day together.
I would love to read about the evening routine to!

[Stephanie]

San Juan, Puerto Rico. My daughter, E, is 3 and son, F, is 7 months. They go tot he same pre-school/daycare. My husband leaves in the morning before we are even awake so it is all me.

5:30 - wake up. Hopefully children are still sleeping. Let dogs out, brush my teeth, maybe get some stuff (bottles, my lunch) ready for the day.

5:45 - E usually wakes up. Spend some time cuddling with her until F wakes up; talk to them both a bit. Out of bed by 6.

6:00 - get F dressed first as he is easy. Then get E dressed, usually while discussing whatever random thing is on her mind. Go brush her hair and her teeth.

6:15 - my turn. If I'm going running, I just put on running clothes. If I'm headed straight to work, I shower while talking to F who hangs out in a bouncy seat. Hopefully E is not destroying anything or torturing the dogs.

6:30 - pick out my clothes and get dressed. Get frustrated with hair.

6:40 - if going running, must leave now. If not, head downstairs holding baby, phone, computer, bag of clothes, and so on. Also probably a few toys.

6:45 - Let E watch some movie on the computer while I to a last minute assembly of everything needed (breast pump, clothes to change into, diaper bag, bag for milk/lunch, computer bag, purse, and keys.) Maybe eat something for myself.

7:00 - in car headed to pre-school

7:30 - drop off - E first, then F.

7:35 - on my way to work or running.

E and F both get breakfast at school/daycare so that is one nice thing I do not have to worry about. The main thing for us is that breakfast is served at 7:30 and E is out of sorts if she is late.

[Johanna]

Fun!!

On my work-from-the-office days, it's like this (2 working adults, one 8.5 month baby in daycare from 7:30-3:15):

Cell alarm at 5:15, snooze in five-minute intervals (why not 10????) until 5:45 (this used to be 5:30, but it's drifting, as I'm the first one in the office so there's not the pressure to show up *exactly* at 7am).

5:45 out of bed, brushing teeth. I've started showering at night and this helps tremendously.

5:55 start water for instant oatmeal, start coffee, listen for signs of the baby waking.

6:00 eat oatmeal (or dry cereal), down 1-2 glasses of water - I wake up SO thirsty - why?

6:00 - 6:15 zone out to the internet. This is such a waste of time.

6:20 wake baby if she's not already up, nurse her on our bed while husband gets up brushes his teeth, showers.

6:35 hand baby over to husband as I'm now in a mad dash to wet hair that is standing straight up from being slept on wet, dry hair, get dressed, put on makeup, pack/grab lunch from fridge, assemble necessary breast pump items, pack endless snacks for myself for the day, move everything important from diaper bag to purse (working from home and the office causes a lot of confusion in this area), kiss baby and husband goodbye... (husband changes baby's clothes/diaper, sunscreens her, preps bottles and food, leaves the house at 7:15, drops baby at daycare at 7:30, arrives at work at 8:15)

6:50 - 6:55 leave the house with vague hope of arriving in my office at 7. Often can't resist the Starbucks on the way, ensuring that I will arrive in the office at 7:05-7:10. I recognize how lucky I am that I can leave my front door *and* get coffee and make it to my desk chair in 15 minutes.

[Nutmeg]

Parameters: 21 mo. old in full day daycare. I work usually flexible full-time hours, husband works 150-200% of full-time hours, inherently inflexible job as physician. Daycare provides breakfast and lunch (albeit not what I would pick). Live in town/suburb.

Night before: Stuff diapers and put them in wetbag for daycare, if it isn't diaper laundry day. If it's the first of the week also put cot sheet and water bottle in bag. Make sure there are clothes for the nugget to wear the next day. I shower at night.

5:30-6:30 Woken up by child. Try to steal an extra 15 minutes of sleep while he dismantles the bedrooms and empties trashcans and cabinets all over the floor while husband showers.

By 7:00: Dress myself, grab clothes for the nugget and go downstairs. Give nugget his "bucket" of cereal to snack on while I start coffee, brush my teeth, wet my hair into submission. Remove nugget's clothes and allow him to run around all Nudie for a while to keep him happy.

If husband can spare the time, he dresses the nug while I get my various things ready for my day (field research, teaching classes, whatever is on tap) and pack the car. Sometimes I do this the night before, but often that isn't possible.

Otherwise, I dress him, and put everything on the porch while we are in the house, dog is outside or segregated so I can not devote constant attention to keeping her and the nugget away from eachother. So I can put him in the car and THEN pack the car without being out of sight of the car. (This didn't work yesterday as I let him sit on the stairs while I grabbed some stuff for my field work and he fell down the front steps. Oops.)

Drive to daycare 15 minutes and arrive before 8:00 almost without exception. Daycare is on the way to work (another 35/40 minutes for me.)

Whole shebang from waking up to out the door can take less than 1 hour if necessary.

[Celeste]

NYC, two kids, one 5 months in daycare, one 4 years in preschool/daycare (different ones), mom with non-demanding full-time job, dad with very demanding last year of medical residency. When he's around, he participates in the following:

Ideal morning:
6:30: get up with 5-month-old
nurse him
take off diaper
airtime for him
10-15 min yoga for me
get dressed

7: dress baby
baby in bouncy seat
pour juice for 4-year-old
prep formula and bottles for baby's daycare
4-year-old wakes up
toilet for her
juice for her
story for her

7:30: 4-year-old and I eat breakfast, usually cereal

7:45: 4-year-old still eating or avoiding eating
dishes in sink for dad
sometimes make lunch for 4-year-old and me
make up for me
get 4-year-old dressed, combed, teeth brushed, toileted
jacket and stroller for baby

8:10: all head out the door
20 minute walk to preschool (includes jumping off stoops, conversation, together time--it's a 10-minute walk for an adult)

8:30: 4-year-old to school, toilet again if needed, some discussion with teachers, principal

8:40: baby and me to bus

9:10: arrive at daycare
nurse baby
drop off baby
talk to teachers
drop off bottles
fold stroller

9:25: to work, usually buying supplementary second breakfast for me (juice and fruit) on the way

9:45: at work

collapse to surf internet until I can face the rest of the day

A non-ideal morning involves an earlier wakeup, grumpier participants, and an even later arrival at the office.

[Coley]

Specs: Location: Oakland. One 9-month old in all day daycare 3 days a wee (the other two weekdays dad is home with kiddo), 3 neurotic cats, mom works normal 5-days a week office job with an "early" schedule 7:30am - 3:30pm, dad works totally abnormal 5am - 4pm 4 days a week schedule. Dad's out of the house by 4:30 am, mom and baby have to leave by 6:30.

Our family is of the "everything is ready the night before" mindset. As soon as we all walk in the door each day, we put our own clothes together for the next day, and get lunches, coffee, breakfasts, diaper bags, purses gym bags etc together before bed. I even try to plan for dinner the next night so everything is defrosted and together when I'm ready to cook. Most lunches consist of dinner leftovers.

(We do have the added bonus of my 18-year-old Brother in law living with us, so he's around to pick up some slack if I forget to do something, like feed the cats, or defrost the chicken).

4 am dad's alarm goes off, he tries to get ready, make a pitcher of smoothie for the adults' breakfast and sneak out of the house without waking anyone else up. Usually, this is a bust and kid wakes up. Mom nurses him back to sleep, (except for those days he will not sleep and we have to juggle a baby whilst getting ready).

5 am mom's alarm goes off, try to shower, do hair wet (thank you wash, scrunch and go haircut!) pump, coffee, deal with cat food and water possibly urine or vomit on the bathmat, finish folding diapers before the kid wakes up.

6:10 go wake up the kid, try to have a little snuggle time. Get the diaper changed, kid washed up, and clothes on by 6:25.

Gives me five minutes to load everything into the car,put my own clothes on (last thing I do, since spit up and drool really ruin a good ensemble) and strap the kid into car seat.
Drive 15 blocks to daycare, unload kid and kid-supplies, give Daycare Lady the rundown, and get out the door hopefully before the kid starts the sobbing routine.
Get on the freeway by 6:50 am. Then drive 35 miles to job.

Some days it's like clockwork. Some days it's like being punched in the face repeatedly. The only reason this works at all is I'm an obsessive organizer, and can't sleep until I know everything is together for the morning. Which is nice since you can be completely on auto-pilot all morning and have lots of buffer time for unexpected occurrences.

[michaela]

Portland, ME. 2.25-year-old daughter, neurotic shih tzu, hubby who teaches high school and I work from home.

5:30: Awaken to calls of "Mommy! I'm awaaaaaake." Send husband in.

5:31: Crying. "I want Mommy."

5:32: Daughter and special blankie deposited on top of me. Try to pretend I am still sleeping for another 20 minutes while being nudged in the crotch, elbowed in the boobs and bonked with a very hard toddler head.

5:50-ish: Hubby gets up to shower, thus ending his participation in the morning routine. We slowly get out of bed, put the neurotic shih tzu down and feed her breakfast.

6:00: Give daughter a "meena" (banana). Unload dishwasher if she's in a good mood; sit at kitchen island with her on my lap if not.

6:10: Head to the couch for some Sesame Street on DVD. Watch one or two segments approximately 3x/each according to daughter's demands.

6:45: Heed repeated requests: "Play with me, Mommy! You sit here next to Bear! No, don't squish Monster. No, sit next to Bear! etc."

6:50: Husband heads to work. Daughter refuses to kiss him or even say goodbye.

7:00: Take fast shower, potentially getting out in the middle to rescue toddler who has fallen into the toilet or otherwise mediate dispute between toddler and imaginary Monster friend.

7:10: Head upstairs, usually with toddler in tow, to find clothes for us both. Get dressed while she pulls all the shades down in her room and turns on the sound machine "'puz Bear is asweep." Find her clothes in the dark. Head back downstairs and dry hair (unless it's warm out, which all of the sudden it ain't). Ignore complaints about how loud the hair dryer is.

7:30: Pop her in the jog stroller for the 5-minute walk to daycare. Stop to chat w/ various neighbors along the way. Attempt to detach her from my neck at dropoff, until she remembers how much she loves it there and runs down the hall without so much as a "Bye, Mama."

7:50: Walk back home, trying desperately to avoid stopping at the amazing bakery for a bagel and coffee. Sometimes succeed.

8:00: Eat oatmeal, cold cereal or that bagel at the computer. Listen to coffee perking. Surf Internets.

8:30: Start work.

[AmyInAustin]

Our morning routine has recently changed, so we are still in the shakedown mode. But here it is: Two working adults, one kid in daycare, one in daycare at our house.
5:45-6 SOMEONE (and by someone I mean The Boy) wakes us up by either crying from his bed (bad dreams?) or standing at the foot of ours asking if Baby Sister is awake yet? Papa gets up and hustles him out of our room so that she won't be. I get up and put all the pillows around her so she won't log roll off the bed (this will hafta change soon since I know that all that log rolling is really about (!yipes not ready!) CRAWLING) and take a shower. If I'm stinky and/or not running late.

6:10 I'm out of the shower and dithering over clothes. Papa and The Boy are a)happily watching PBS; b) making frozen waffles/yogurt/coffee/quesadillas; or c) engaging in a question/answer session (or if Reading Rainbow is on, a doing-stuff-that-is-not-allowed/yelling session. They both hate that show.)

6:30 Papa and I are putting together lunches for us and The Boy and I am organizing bottles for the sitter. Usually around this point Baby Sister wakes up and needs her diaper changed. Everyone has to pile on the bed to welcome her to a new day and The Boy has to be reminded about 20 times to be GENTLE.

6:45 I am still running around packing my bag for the day, labeling diaper for The Boy, getting the cloth diapers ready for the sitter, etc., only now I am occasionally blurting out things like, "We hafta go SOON," "Do you have your shoes on?" "Where is the sharpie?" "Do you want me to put that in a baggie for the trip to school?" etc. Papa is doing the same.

7:00-7:10 We are almost out the door, although there is usually a little last-minute snafu that sometimes resolves itself with a kiss goodbye, and sometimes requires a phone call later.
The Boy and I leave, get to his daycare at 7:30, and I get to work by 8. Dad cleans the house. (Sometimes it sux having someone come over to your house. Everything has to be tidy and junk.) And waits for the sitter to show.

Somedays Papa takes the Boy to school. But that ends up being harder on all of us as he wants to get a shower in before I leave and I want to make sure the house is clean, because I know that he will be too busy caring for both of them.

So far it's working pretty well. Easy, in fact compared to what some of you are doing. I can't imagine the stress of doing this in a big city with long stairwells and multiple trains. Hats off to all you urban dwellers!

[Cathy]

Config: 3 kids, 3 schools. 1 infant, 1 kindergarten, 1 high school freshman. Suburban Orlando. 2 WOH parents.

Night Before: Wash/fill bottles, fill out labels, defrost baby food, label it, fill out most of the baby's status report. (except wake and last feed times). If kindergartener or I are bringing lunch, pack that.

Morning:

5:30 am, alarm goes off, check for light under the door to indicate that high schooler is up and moving. Snooze. If, at 5:50, he is still not up, go rouse him. Otherwise check at 6 to be sure he's moving in the right direction, remind him to feed the dog, brush his teeth, eat breakfast.

6 am - walk 2 laps of the neighborhood (20-25 min).

6:20 - HS kid goes to bus stop for a 6:35 bus.

6:30 Shower, dress, etc.

6:45-7 Put baby's "lunch" into the insulated bag, find clothes for the girls. Take over care of baby so DH can bathe.

Sometime between 5:30 and 6, the baby probably got a bottle - husband takes care of it.

7 - 7:15 - wake kindergartener, get her bathroomed, breakfasted, and dressed to leave by 7:45. During this time, make sure the baby doesn't do anything real dangerous, feed her some dry cereal finger food. Get her dressed. She's feeling like sleeves are a tool of the man, with the express purpose of keeping her down. She's getting good at pulling the shirt back over her head before you can get her arms in. And twirling around to crawl awawy before you can get pants on her. Keeps things interesting. Hot breakfast choices for the kindergartener include sausage pancake on a stick (in your frozen foods section, breakfast of champions), frozen waffles/pancakes, sometimes frozen egg sandwiches, instant oatmeal. Cold choices include cereal w/milk, many varieties.

During this time too, DH will make coffee, he or I will put some into a travel mug for me, the Kindy will want to watch a show (depends on the time), I might have a bowl of cereal (or else I'll get a drive-through bagel on the way to work).

7:30 - 7:40 get everyone buckled, drop the baby off at daycare, double back, drop the kindergartener off (8:15ish, she still has me walk in with her, but it's getting briefer and briefer), then drive to work, arrive around 9.

[enu]

Today's posts should be required reading for high schoolers ;-)

Would sure beat the s*x ed classes I took for drilling in the message!

[lolismum]

Cast: 2 working parents, one with cancer, 2 kids 1.5 and 4 yrs old and nanny and 2 smelly cats. 4 yr old goes to PK 5 days, 2 full, 3 half days.

5:10: Wake up
5:30-6:30 am: Exercise
Kids wake up sometime between 6:15 and 6:45, dad gives them milk.
6:40: Extremely quick shower
6:50: Take over from dad who falls back asleep.
6:50-8:00:Change at least 1 poopy diaper, prepare and feed kids breakfast, make coffee and tea, dress kids, empty dishwasher, write message/note to nanny, clean kitchen after breakfast.
8:00 nanny comes up driveway, stuff both kids into her car, off they go to drop 4yr old at PK.
8-8:30: Frantically run around the house, emptying trash, making beds, feeding fish and cats, putting a load of laundry, deliver a tea/coffee to hubby.
8:30: Leave for work, I walk to work, takes only 15 min.
8:45: At work, with another cup of coffee.

Dad? Well, he probably gets to work around 9:30. He is not a slacker, he has cancer and very little energy.

[Jac]

Vancouver, B.C., 1 year old in nanny share, 2 WOH parents both with long but somewhat flexible hours.

6:30 I wakeup, shower, makeup, dry hair, partially dress (avoiding anything I don't want spit up on), prepare baby bottle, make lunch for myself, pack purse and diaper bag.

7:00 Hubby gets up and showers. I get DS up (he usually wakes around 6:45 but is happy to chill in crib), bottle him, diaper him, dress him (extra cuddles and a book if he's particularly snuggly and will tolerate my lap for a bit longer).

7:15 Hubby ready and takes DS. I make DS toast-to-go, Hubby deposits DS in stroller. They are out the door by 7:20 for Hubby's morning walk and trip to coffee shop.

7:20 Finish dressing, write notes to the nanny and put in diaper bag. Am out the door by 7:30. Arrive at work between 7:45 and 8.

8:15 Hubby back to house with DS and the Nanny picks DS up to take to Nanny share.

All in all, it's pretty smooth. I agree that evenings are my struggle. I'm usually pretty prepared in the mornings (i.e. lay clothes out, toaster out on counter, bottle out ready to be filled).

[meggiemoo]

God, ya'll are wayyy more organized that we are.

Maryland: One 2-1/2 year old boy in full-time daycare, 3 cats (generally don't figure into my thoughts at all in the morning), one sleepy DH.

6:30 - alarm goes off. Hit snooze several times

7:30 - struggle out of bed. This could be a combo of me and DS, or DH and DS. Rarely, myself and DH. Wake up hard-to-wake DS and DH.

DH showers (I shower at night).

7:31 - DS and I go downstairs (I bring clothes and diaper to dress downstairs).

7:35 - DS watches Curious George while I make lunches and breakfast (frozen waffles, fruit and/or eggs when I'm feeling ambitious)

8:15 - Struggle to get both guys out the door. Sometimes with crying as a result (by DS, not DH). DH walks DS to daycare in stroller while I meet them with the car. (It's a ritual.)

8:17 - Meet at daycare, drop off DS, load up stroller, drive 20 minutes to DH's work, drop him off. Drive to metro. Park car, walk to metro.

9:30 - Walk from metro 6 blocks to work.

9:45 - Arrive at work.

[Matilda]

I'm not looking forward to packing lunches!

Location: Central New Jersey. Both parents work full-time, closest relatives are a 1h drive away. But we're lucky enough to live within walking distance of both offices, and technically to the daycare, but my office is in the opposite direction to daycare from house, so to make our lives a bit more efficient, we take the car. Also luckily, the daycare is a university-affiliated one that provides all food. (Whew!)

6:40am: first stirrings of 19 month-old boy. DH goes to pat him back to sleep, at least for 20 more minutes. DH and I doze for 20 more minutes.

7am: DH goes downstairs to start breakfast, read email.

7:20am: I change DS's diaper and bring him downstairs.

7:30am: breakfast for DS and DH while I shower and get ready.

8am: I drink my coffee, get breakfast and pack my bag. DS usually has um, a movement, so I take him upstairs, deal, get him dressed for the day. I tidy up breakfast dishes.

8:35am: We put on shoes, get into the car. I get dropped off a few blocks away from work. I sometimes take this time in the car to trim DS's nails, wash his face, put on sunblock, or to give pep talk about napping.

8:50am: I arrive at work.

[snickollet]

Single mom, work out of the house. 26mo twins in full-time (9:00-4:30) daycare.

6:00: kids awake and chatting, but contained in cribs.
6:30: I get up, shower, make myself a latte, pack daycare lunches and diapers, and schlep crap out to the car.
7:00-8:00: get kids up, give them a snack (cheerios or dried fruit), let them choose their clothes, dress them, goof off in the playroom
8:00: real breakfast (oatmeal, eggs, toast, more fruit, whatever)
8:20-8:40: brush teeth, I put on makeup, all put on shoes/jackets/sunscreen/whatever we need
8:45: leave house

[Matilda]

Wow. Reading other responses. Life is a lot more hectic with 2 kids and I know that I get really stressed when it's just me and the boy in the morning--I skip the shower, don't have coffee, pep talk myself into driving, and am frequently late to work. I salute you all.

[Cloud]

Parameters: 2 adults and 1 17 month old living in San Diego, CA. Pumpkin is in day care, both adults work outside the home at jobs with sort of flexible schedules.

sometime between 6 and 6:30 - Pumpkin wakes up. I get up and nurse her, unless she was up and nursing at 5, in which case Hubby gets up and entertains Pumpkin until 6:30.

6:30 - Hubby gets up and showers, sometimes changing Pumpkin's wet diaper first.

6:45ish - breakfast for Pumpkin and me. If I'm lucky, I also pack my lunch during this time. Pumpkin's lunch was packed last night.

7:15 - I shower.

7:30 - I get dressed and pile my still wet hair into a bun. I'll braid it at work.

7:35 - I hurriedly pack my lunch, if not already done while Pumpkin was eating breakfast.

7:40 - Two adults and a TV try to distract Pumpkin well enough to allow us to get sunscreen on her face. One adult (me) is muttering about being late to work.

7:45ish - One of the adults gets Pumpkin dressed while the other finishes getting ready.

7:50-8 - I leave for work, late, as usual. Pumpkin and Hubby wave bye bye enthusiastically.

8-8:15 - Hubby and Pumpkin leave for day care. I am arriving at work to a mountain of emails, which I ignore to post my morning schedule on Ask Moxie.

[paola]

2 kids: 3.5 year old, 20 month old. SAHM.

7.00-7.30: 20 month old wakes for the day

7.30: Alarm goes off. Get out of bed if not up already. Go to wake 3.5 year old.

7.30-8.30: Breakfast/get dressed/play. 3.5 year old chooses clothes for the day, goes to toilet. Wheatabix and milk for breakfast for both. Dress little one, brush teeth/wash face of both kids.

8.00 - 8.30: shower for me(or sometimes earlier if the kids aren't up yet),get dressed. Have breakfast.

8.30- 8.45: take 20 month old down to MIL. Walk 10 minutes to kindergarten.

9.05. pick up little one from MIL:

[ramy]

y'all seem to get a lot more showering in than I do. My excuse is that I have a 5 week old. or maybe its because we've been in a drought. which excuse sounds better?

I'm only teaching one class this term and its a one day a week late afternoon class so our mornings are far more laid back than they will be starting in January. But I"m starting to feel inspired to get more accomplished in the morning. right now, I'm just thankful for PBS Kids. Unlike my daughter, I am not a morning person. Blasted daddy genes.

[Carmen]

Routine? What routine?

We have a way of doing things that works/doesn't work depending upon the day. I wouldn't necessarily call that a routine.

Amazingly, I was always (and I mean always) running late to work BEFORE Buster... now I'm so sure that something WILL happen to screw up our morning that I allow gobs of time to get ready and sometimes (gasp!) actually leave EARLY!

Of course it helps that he gets up between 4:45 and 6am EVERY FUCKING DAY regardless of how late he goes to bed...

Holy hell. Who knew having child to manage would make me more punctual.

[Cloud]

@ramy, @Carmen- when Pumpkin was 9 months old and younger, she was up by 5:30 on a good day, 4:45 on a bad day. I am not a morning person, either, and cursed my (still sleeping) Hubby's stupid morning person genes many times.

So, it does get better. Sometime around 10 months, Pumpkin decided to start sleeping until 6 or 6:30. I celebrated, but no longer easily arrive to work at 8 a.m.

[WaltzInExile]

So, I'm sensing that "Stumble, feed, ask, repeat, yell, stuff, pack, sign, wipe, dress, brush, brush, tie, zip, herd, drive, drop off" isn't as organized as it could be....

[Tranq]

Parameters: 6th grader, pre-schooler, wife, myself, assorted household animals; Suburban New Castle Co., Delaware.

5:30 6th grader's clock radio goes off - at max volume. She sleeps on.

5:45 Wife's alarm goes off, gets 'snoozed.'

6:00 Wife points out that it's 6am, gets up, followed by myself.

6:05 I take the dog out, wife wakes 6th grader for the first time.

6:15 I wake the 6th grader a second time. Loudly. Wife & I catch up on the news.

6:25 Wife takes shower. I finally roust the 6th grader out of bed, and make lunches.

6:30 6th grader stumbles downstairs, more-or-less dressed, collects books, brushes hair, gets shoes, eats, and generally makes ready for the day.

6:45 Wife heads upstairs to get dressed, 6th grader heads out to the bus stop.

6:50 I finish making lunches for wife and myself, leash the dog, and take her for a walk down to the bus stop, watch kids onto the bus, finish the dog's walk.

7:00 Wife wakes the youngster, sets to getting him dressed.

7:10 I feed the dog and cats.

7:15 I start my shower

7:35 Emerge from the shower, get dressed.

7:40 Take over getting the youngster dressed while wife finally manages to get her boots on.

7:50 Crate the dog, collect lunches & other work stuff, everyone heads out the door.

No, this wasn't a deliberate plan - it evolved. ;-)

[Alisha]

Carmen, thank god for your post, because I was starting to feel like the only one with a child who rises at ungodly hours. 11 months old and she's up between 4:30 and 5:45 every day. Same deal-- no matter when I put her down at night, no matter how long or short the daytime naps will end. Thanks for sharing--I feel less alone. It will pass eventually, right?

[ramy]

@Cloud--my daughter wakes up with the sun at the very latest. so in the summer that is really really early. I'd have more hope that she'd start sleeping later--or at least give me the satisfaction of waking as cranky as I do--except that her father gets up as early or earlier on the weekends (weekday alarm for him is 5:15am) and his mother is also always up by 5am. its just wrong.

I have high hopes that baby boy will take after me!

[Charisse]

Configuration: San Francisco, 2 adults who work tech company hours (i.e. late starts, and late hours for Mr. C), 1 4-year-old in Montessori starting at 9AM

7:10AM: wake up, shower, etc.

7:30: pack lunch for kiddo (has to be picnickable as they have a daily field trip and eat outdoors)

7:50: grab 10 minutes to check email from East Coast clients

8-8:15: coax Mouse from bed, make sure Mr. C is going to get up

8:15-8:30: Mr. C makes breakfast, I hang out with Mouse while she gets dressed (it sooooo does not work for me to choose her clothes)

8:30: get dressed while they start breakfast

8:35: join them

8:48: encourage Mouse to the potty & teethbrushing

8:55: grab stuff, walk Mouse 2 blocks to school

9:10: meet Mr. C at trainstop to go downtown

Mouse really takes after her father in just running late on both bedtime and wakeup time (when he has no constraints my hubster sleeps 2AM-10AM, as does his mom). Many of the public schools in our area start Kindergarten at 7:50, and I just don't see how we can deal with that, as the reality is it will be beyond coaxing, it will be dragging the 2 of them out of bed every. single. day. for six years. We'll see what happens, but oy.

[Lorraine]

I was just thinking, I should write to Moxie and ask for tips on my morning routine, because it is just barely working.

Setup - although there are 2 working adults in the house, DH has to be at work at 7:30, has an hour's commute, and tries to hit the gym, so he's usually out of the house by 5am. Our 16-month goes to daycare, and I WOH as well.

2am - by now Little Guy is done with his crib and we are all co-sleeping.

5am - DH leaves, leaving behind DS's bag o'daycare stuff packed - cloth diapers, etc.

6:30-ish - Serious, fretful nursing commences. Kid seems determined to wring me dry. I realize if we don't get out of bed soon, we're going to be rushing again.

7am - And then we actually get out of bed.

7:05 - 7:20 - I try to take my AD's and vitamins one-handed while tempting Kid with cheerios and milk. Unless we are actively turning lights on and off, there is crying. Attempts to put him down result in crying and knee-level tackles.

7:20 - Diaper change. Full body contact sport.

7:30 - Turn on Sesame Street, put Kid in pack-n-play, leave him to cry/get distracted while I shower and dress.

8am - I'm dressed. Time for the second diaper change (if we leave him in his overnight diaper too long, he gets rashy. but the next diaper is soaked in 20 minutes). Usually I do this one while still only in my bra, to avoid tears/drool/peestains on my shirt. Stuff kid in clothes while attempting to communicate. Am met with screaming and trying to knock over the lamp. I am always happy when it's cloudy and we don't have to do sunblock.

8:30 - if all goes well, I can now drop the Kid's prepacked lunch in his bag and drive him to daycare.

8:50am - Daycare dropoff. More tears.

9am - Yes please I WOULD like a giant coffee, Starbucks! Thank you! and a muffin? OK.

9:30 - at work. Only then do I notice the bitemarks on my skirt.

[Lorraine]

I was just thinking, I should write to Moxie and ask for tips on my morning routine, because it is just barely working.

Setup - although there are 2 working adults in the house, DH has to be at work at 7:30, has an hour's commute, and tries to hit the gym, so he's usually out of the house by 5am. Our 16-month goes to daycare, and I WOH as well.

2am - by now Little Guy is done with his crib and we are all co-sleeping.

5am - DH leaves, leaving behind DS's bag o'daycare stuff packed - cloth diapers, etc.

6:30-ish - Serious, fretful nursing commences. Kid seems determined to wring me dry. I realize if we don't get out of bed soon, we're going to be rushing again.

7am - And then we actually get out of bed.

7:05 - 7:20 - I try to take my AD's and vitamins one-handed while tempting Kid with cheerios and milk. Unless we are actively turning lights on and off, there is crying. Attempts to put him down result in crying and knee-level tackles.

7:20 - Diaper change. Full body contact sport.

7:30 - Turn on Sesame Street, put Kid in pack-n-play, leave him to cry/get distracted while I shower and dress.

8am - I'm dressed. Time for the second diaper change (if we leave him in his overnight diaper too long, he gets rashy. but the next diaper is soaked in 20 minutes). Usually I do this one while still only in my bra, to avoid tears/drool/peestains on my shirt. Stuff kid in clothes while attempting to communicate. Am met with screaming and trying to knock over the lamp. I am always happy when it's cloudy and we don't have to do sunblock.

8:30 - if all goes well, I can now drop the Kid's prepacked lunch in his bag and drive him to daycare.

8:50am - Daycare dropoff. More tears.

9am - Yes please I WOULD like a giant coffee, Starbucks! Thank you! and a muffin? OK.

9:30 - at work. Only then do I notice the bitemarks on my skirt.

[Lorraine]

Oops sorry about the double post!

[Katie]

Northwest Ohio, college town, husband teaches high school 30 minutes away, I work at university, 5 year old kindergarten, 3 year old morning preschool, baby 3 months sitter.

-Alarm is set for 6am but we are usually up before because of kids.
-Baby is working out a new night schedule but normally I feed him at 6am, tell the other two to get selves dressed and go to the bathroom. 3 year old whines about not being able to do it even though he has never tried. On Sunday the 5 year old sets clothes (uniforms!) for the week in cubbie in closet. I put 3 year old's clothes on the floor. Check news and weather while nursing baby. Husband is in the shower and getting himself ready to leave at 6:30.
-Change baby and place in bouncer seat.
-Help older two finish getting dressed
-Dress self (with an audience) in clothes I laid out the night before or at least an idea of what I'm going to wear. Showering at night has made a huge different in morning schedule. Comb hair, spray, if needed wet down and style with blow drier, if not use curing iron at desk.
-Start breakfast which was laid out the night before. While breakfast cooking get lunches from fridge (made night before) and put into bags. Put thawed breastmilk bottles in cooler for sitters.
-Tell kids to do their dog jobs of feeding and letting her out/in in the yard. 5 year old puts water and snack in bookbag.
-Get ice pack in pump bag and most bags in the van.
-Dish up breakfast (oatmeal, eggs english muffins, French toast, if really late then grab leftover frozen waffles from weekend and toast).
-Baby still happy to watch us race around from bouncy seat, 3 year old whines about something again.
-Eat breakfast in half the time it takes the kids. Run around starting laundry, vacuuming, washing dishes (no dish washer).
-When the older two are done eating we do teeth face hands hair. Listen to 3 year whine again about something trivial.
-7:20 Grab baby from bouncy seat and he smiles at me. Put him in car seat carrier, take rest of bags to van, load up the kids.
-Sit at the end of the drive way waiting for some kind soul to let me out in traffic and the line up of kids turning in to high school around the corner.
-Drive 20 mph past high school to get to sitters.
-7:30 Get to sitters and pray their is room in the driveway to park so I can leave the older two in van while I take the baby in. If we park on the street then all three come in.
-Back in van and take 5 year old to kindergarten school extended day about 7:45. Unload her and 3 year old, sign her in and buckle 3 year old back in car seat for 3 time already.
-Take three year old to work with me.
-8:00 Get to work, turn on PBS for 3 year old, pump and check email at desk.
-At 8:20 leave office with 3 year old and walk very slowing (HE IS SO SLOW) across campus to preschool.
-8:40 back at office and sigh that it is all over.

-Leave at 11:20 to get 3 year old from school and take to sitter with little brother.

-My husband does the pick up and is home with dinner started when I get home at 5:15.

[caramama]

Ohh, I love these! I'll read everyone's over the weekend, but here is mine for now.

Parameters: House in suburbs. Hubby, toddler, dog, cat and me. Both hubby and I work out of the house full time. Babysitter comes to our house at 8:00 (ish) in the morning (this is very convenient!). My work is flexible about when I get in, as long as it is before 9:30.

Variables: Child may or may not sleep through the night. Child may or may not play for a while in her own crib when she does wake. Hubby occassionally goes in late or works from home.

Morning Schedule if Toddler sleeps through the night (HURRAY!!):
6:00 ish - Hubby gets out of bed, gets ready for the day, takes care of dog, and leaves for work.
6:30-7:00 - I get out of bed and go wash up and get ready.
7:00-8:00 - When child wakes up and is done playing in her crib (on the miracle mornings THAT happens), I stop getting ready and warm up a bottle. While it's warming, I do dishes, straighten up living room, or maybe do some laundry. Get child, change her diaper, give her the bottle (cuddle and read my book while she drinks), and then pick out and put on her clothes. If I'm not done getting, I bring her to my room where she plays while I finish.
8:00-8:30 - Babysitter arrives. I make breakfast for the child. I fix a breakfast and lunch for me to go. I show babysitter what is for child's lunch (I put it together night before from that night's dinner). Kiss child and dog and drive to work.

Morning Schedule if Toddler needed to cosleep:
6:00 - If hubby co-slept with child, I wake him up and slip into the bed with child while he gets ready, takes care of dog and leaves.
??:?? - The same things have to happen if I cosleep with her, but there is no telling about the timing since I get up when she does.
8:00 - Babysitter arrives. Usually I hand off child, finish getting ready, cook her breakfast and hurry out the door.

I can't wait until she is ALWAYS sleeping through the night/on her own. I know it will happen... someday...

[Sky]

My husband is going to get the best s*x ever this weekend, now I've read all these posts, as he enables me to be a stay at home mum. Oops, forgot the details: Dublin, Ireland, one 11 month old plus pregnant with no: 2, SAHM. Our morning routine seems incredibly relaxed compared to everyone else's. DH is up at 7 and out of the house by 8. My 11 month old and I snuggle in bed until 7 on a bad day, 8.30 on a good day. Then it's breakfast for both of us, as I try not to throw up with morning sickness, followed by washing and dressing. I fit in my occasional freelance work on the evenings or weekends. Like others, I'll be very interested in the evening routines - our routines have all gone to pot in the last week.

[MrsHaley]

Parameters: SAHM, 20 month old, 9 months preg., husband leaves for work at the dawn of crack (tm: 2.5 y/o nephew):

7-7:15am - DD wakes up, I fetch her from her room & we have snuggles in my bed for a while

7:30-8am -- I shower & dress while she 'reads' in the pack & play outside the bathroom, then we change & dress her

8-9am -- breakfast for both and out the door somewhere between 9 & 9:30. Morning is her best time, so that's when I try to schedule playdates, errands, etc.

Return by 11:30 or 12 for lunch and nap.

I know you are all laughing becuase you know this routine is going to hell in t-minus 6 days, when #2 is due to arrive. I'm trying to enjoy it while I can.

PS, @enu -- Gah, that song! Makes me cry every time!!

[Jessica]

Parameters: House in small town outside of major city. Two cars. Husband works rediculously long/early hours outside of home. I work 8:30-4pmish in an office in our home. Two children, one in full-day dacare/preschool and one in fullday kindergarten.

Schedule is all based on the ideals that clothes are laid out the night before, basics of all lunches for the week are assembled on Sunday afternoons, all homework done right after school, back-pack are packed before bed and kitchen cleaned before bed.

Schedule
6am-ish (sometimes earlier) Husband wakes me up (and sometimes small children) as he rushes to get out the door. If I haven't showered the night before I get up and do it then. If I have, I try and go back to sleep till 7am. All children that may have been distrbed by Daddy's inability to quietly get ready are put in our bed and lulled with PBS.

7am--Everyone up and TV off.
7-7:30--Beds made, children and mom dress, hair is done, teeth are brushed, bathroom swish and swiped a la fly lady.
7:30-7:45--Children eat breakfast while I put in a load of laundry, unload dishwasher, put lunches into backpacks, check the calendar and deal with any crises.
7:50-8am--In car to daycare.
8:00-8:10--Drop off little one.
8:10-8:20--Drive home
8:20ish--Head to bus stop on our corner and wait for bus with older one.
8:30ish--Walk home, make tea and grab breakfast, settle into homeoffice for work.

We've been keeping this back-to-school schedule for exactly one week. No major snafus so far, so hopefully we can keep it up! :)

[SarcastiCarrie]

Location: Chicago suburbs/NW Indiana
People: Two adults who work in heavy industry, which means the hours are more like 7 to 4 or 7 to 5; however, I somehow just put my foot down in it and said I couldn't make it in before 7:45 with any regularity and it's working. One 3-year old about whom the whywhywhywhyohwhywhywhy song was written.

Preface: Everyone showers before bed.

5:something early Husband up and grooming/eating
5:45 child up and goes potty himself and wanders into bed with mom or downstairs to do something with cars
6:00 mom up and peeing despite fact that pregnant mom just peed 2 hours ago.
6:05 mom gets self breakfast and dry cereal for kid (he will eat breakfast at 7:30 at day care). Breakfast eaten in front of news/traffic/weather TV.
6:15 husband leaves, child must waive out window and must hug and kiss and on especially bad days, daddy has been called to return home from the corner if kisses were missed.
6:15 mom does minimum of self-grooming and dressing from clothes already laid out. Accessories are not involved and I wear the exact same pair of black loafers to work every single day.
6:30 mom's lunch is thrown in bag from stuff that has hopefully already been bagged and washed
6:37 mom dresses child. this can drag on and on and on. Sometimes a distraction book. Note: child's teeth are not brushed in the morning and his hair is a short buzz cut so no grooming there.
6:50 shoes, gather things, coats
6:57 leave house, get buckled in car, and drive 1.6 miles to day care.
7:05 arrive at day care, hang up coat, tuck blankie into cubbie, talk to teacher about neurotic mom worry of the day
7:20 go to window to look at cars and do hugs&kisses and waive to mommy
7:28 pull out of parking lot
7:55 arrive at work, if I have not been stopped by any trains.

[ada]

I'm afraid I'm going to jinx myself. Things are really easy for us right now. I expect things will either get more complicated as DS gets older and/or we have another baby. But here goes:

Stats: Live in the city. I work downtown, husband works in the burbs so his commute is much longer than mine. 1 yr old son just started full-time daycare this week.

5:30 Hubby's alarm goes off. He gets up and showers, dresses. I *TRY* to sleep through all the noise. I wish I wasn't such a light sleeper.

6:00 My alarm goes off. Get up shower, get dressed, blow dry hair, etc. Goal is to have all of this done before my husband leaves.

6:30 Hubby leaves for work. He does pickup at daycare, so needs to get to work early in order to leave early

6:30-7:00 - Baby wakes up. This week its been getting closer & closer to 7am. Daycare is so exciting and new its just wearing him out and he sleeps like a rock from 7:30pm -6:30/7:00 am. Don't hate me.

7:00 - change diaper, get dressed, stand in front of mirror & giggle at that baby who's staring back.

7:10 - heat up milk, then snuggle in chair while son drinks.

7:15 - 7:30 Get breakfast ready & eat together. Son gets breakfast at daycare. But he still wants a little something to snack on. And lately its been a Boca sausage link. He likes to be able to hold it and munch on it.

7:30-7:40 - last minute things. get bottle ready for daycare, put shoes on, play with cat.

7:40 leave for daycare. he goes to an in-home daycare a few miles south of our home.

7:50 drop off at daycare. Chat with daycare mom for updates, etc.

7:55-8:05 drive to bus stop.

8:05 catch bus downtown

8:25-8:30 in the office.

We have been so blessed with the daycare we found. She provides breakfast, lunch, & 2 snacks PLUS diapers, milk & formula (if we still needed it). She is so warm & caring and engaged. She runs a preschool component, plus takes the older ones to t-ball, soccer, music class, swimming lessons and tumbling!!! This is my son's first week and the transition has just been wonderful. he eats, he sleeps well, he plays hard. He still cries when I leave, but only for a few minutes. its been such a relief!!

[enu]

@MrsHaley: Yabbut - he's the same dude that brought us "Honky Tonk Badankadonk"

[Mrs. Moose]

Parameters: 2 adults, 6 month old baby girl, C and 2 dogs. Suburban area of FL. Mr. Moose works ull time, regular business hours and I work M/W/F 7am-1pm with C in tow.

M/W/F my alarm goes off at 5:45. I get up, stumble around the bathroom and take a shower/get dressed. I usually have most if not all of my clothes laid out the night before and in the bathroom so I don't have to go back to the bedroom and wake Mr. Moose. C has been waking between 6 and 6:15 lately on her own. I do as much of my get dressed/hair/make-up before she wakes as possible, often getting done before she wakes. Get her up, change diaper/let dogs into backyard/ nurse until aprox 6:30 when I get Mr. Moose up to play with C while I finish getting dressed/packing supplies/loading car. In car by 6:45/6:50. At work (hopefully) by 7. She gets her baby cereal and play/snuggle time in the first hours of work when my job is slow.
T/Th we get up when the baby does, unless I had to feed her during the night. If she already ate, I get a little more sleep while he gets up with her. He does his thing while she and I do ours. He leaves by 8am. Only problems we have are the rare occasions when she sleeps in and we don't have our usual alarm going off. :) But my internal clock typically wakes me up with enough time for him to get to work, even if he doesn't get much quality time w/ C.

[hedra]

parameters: almost-11 yr old 5th grader, almost-7 yr old 1st grader, almost-4 yr old twin preschoolers, DH (works outside home), me (also works), three cats, smallish mid-atlantic college town.

between 2 and 3 AM right now - I wake up, realize I'm still in one of the kids' beds having settled down with them the night before, and decide if I'm going to try to drag myself to our room or stay there. If I go, I expect to be awakened in 45 minutes by a small body climbing into bed with us (over ep).

4:00 AM sunlight alarm starts to brighten. Biggest hairiest cat sits on ep and bites him periodically to ask for food (I hear vague threats of 'you know I could eat your fingers before you woke up, right? RIGHT?').

4:30 AM, alarm. Snooze 1-2x/depending on conditions, and whether the cat is into full 'I eat your fingers' mode.

4:30-4:45 someone gets up and goes down to start coffee, dishes, and morning chores (usually ep first, but we changed this recently so I get up first, and go shower). Someone feeds the cats, almost always ep.

By 5, I should be showered. By 5:30, ep should be showered. Once dressed, ep starts packing lunches, making breakfast, and finishes cleaning kitchen/dishes.

6:AM wake G. 6:05 AM wake G again. G dresses himself and goes downstairs to get food and finish homework from night before (The homework issues are mind-melding right now - he's taking an HOUR to write the answer to one question, because he's writing it in his head perfectly before he puts pencil to paper. AHHHH!).

6:10 or so, wake other three kids. Start trying figure out clothes for today. Pray it doesn't require checking the weather channel, since this will immediately convert the kids into media addicts who MUST watch tv RIGHT NOW, and prying them off the DVR remote results in them crying and fighting - with each other, because they're all sure it was one of the other kids' fault they can't watch tv.

By 6:30, everyone downstairs with clothes selections (note - not wearing said selections).

6:35, answer bathroom distress call, to discover if it is a) M peed on the floor, b) R didn't poop but wants me to think she did (she thinks this is funny funny at this hour), B did poop but is certain it proves he's been cheating on the diet restrictions, or G has been in the bathroom for 20 minutes and someone else needs to get in...

6:45, check on G and his homework. Try not to melt any brain wiring when he says he 'just has one more question on this, and then that other worksheet, and oh, forgot to do keyboarding practice, and can you please log on to the computer so I can play that map test game again?' Warn him that he has 15 minutes to finish everything and get out the door.

Meanwhile, try to convince at least one other child to get dressed.
And console the child who didn't get enough bacon for their insane bacon craving needs that we'll buy more. (Thank heavens LOW cholesterol runs in the family...)
And try to remember to take my supplements.
And eat my own breakfast (mmmm, oatmeal with coconut milk and dried cranberries...mmmm).
And hope ep managed to eat his already, too.

7AM - ep wrangles G and his backpack out the door to the bus stop (fortunately across from our house). Meanwhile, I work on getting another kid dressed and check in to see if people are eating their breakfasts. Solve 57 million miniature sibling squabbles.

7:15 AM, begin clothes wrangling with R. She's sensory sensitive on clothing, so this is a fight every day.

7:45 AM, tell B to get into the car to get to the bus stop.

8 AM, actually get into the car with B (having reminded him to get shoes and backpack). Go back to house for lunch box he didn't snag on the way out. Drive to the other bus stop. Meanwhile, ep takes over clothes wrangling with R, who is almost always still *not* dressed, and also has not chosen what she's willing to wear, or has chosen and then rejected the choice a dozen times. This week, it has been the same dress four days running. Clever me bought two of them. Unclever me did not buy five.

8:10 AM or so - ep (having negotiated some form of clothing truce) waves as he drives past the bus stop with the girls on the way to dropping them off at preschool.

8:15-8:20 AM - bus arrives, stand dutifully on sidewalk blowing kisses and waving (specifically requested) until bus is a block away. Drive to work.

***

I'm with enu on the really liking the 'once up, dresses self and gets own breakfast' thing. One down, three to go...

[ramy]

me again. Just got home from an emergency gas run as Ike hits (not that I live anywhere near there but the gas prices have gone up 20-30cents a gallon since this morning), and realized that our a.m. routine seriously needs some work.

Despite making DD an allergy friendly sandwich last night to substitute for the daycare's lunch-its still in the fridge. sigh. I forgot how long the utterly braindead period lasts after having a baby...

[Maria]

Parameters: 2 adults, 1 two year old, 1 attention-deprived kitty. Husband works fulltime, I work part-time. Mio goes daycare on my office days. We try to shower in the evening.

7.15 Usually Mio has been awake for about 15 minutes and now starts calling out. Husband quickly dresses while I fetch sippy cup with milk from downstairs. Husband takes milk and goes into Mio's room to chat/play while I dress.

7.25 We switch sides. I dress Mio while husband sets breakfast table while stumbling over omnipresent kitty. Kitty maybe gets fed.

7.40 Either husband makes himself a quick breakfast and leaves, or we all have breakfast and leave together. Either way, breakfast for Mio involves building trains, dropping various and sundry items on the floor, playing on the floor and, if we're lucky, eating some bread.

8.10 Clean table, floor and child. Put on coats and shoes. Negotiate the need to take only ONE item to daycare. If kitty is not fed yet, wonder what the heck is wrong with the crazy animal. Feed kitty.

8.20 Leave house. Negotiate the need to take mama's bike, not Mio's bike. Bike 5 minutes to daycare. 5-10 minute drop off. No crying anymore, yay!

8.35 Bike to work, or park bike at train station and take train to work.

At work at 9.15.

Everyday I wonder why it takes us half an hour to have breakfast.

[zimbabweanjen]

@Sky, whew, it must be something about living in Ireland! I was freaking out at all these poor Americans leaving home before 7 am! I was wondering was it only me, but then I read your post!

My husband has to drive an hour and a half to Dublin nearly every morning, yet we still only get up at 7 and he leaves just before 8. I am a SAHM as well with one boy of 2 but somehow that extra time in the morning seems to allow hubby and I to trade off things so we aren't constantly doing the same thing. Oh and rock on Peppa Pig who generously entertains his highness while I take a shower!

You guys who manage to do all that and get on the road to work before 8 are superheroes. Mucho Admiration.