November 17, 2014

I wuv Mondays.

Mondays are kind of awesome in my book. They are a chance to start again, to start a new week with fresh vigor and enthusiasm. OK OK, sometimes they suck and I wish for the weekend when I don't have to unload the dishwasher in the morning (shout out awesome husband XO muwah) but Mondays really are the bomb.

I try make Mondays count by having my planning (school, life, menu, calendar) done on Sunday so that way we can jump right in without having to scramble. Because there is nothing worse than scrambling at the start of something. I'm not perfect at it and sometimes I'm doing it all at 6:30am before the kids get up.

Speaking of, I have also found a morning routine that has rocked my world. In a freaking awesome way. By nature of having a newborn, I wake up early to feed her. I set my alarm for 5:30am, and she's usually done nursing and back to bed by 5:45/6am. Then I have a WHOLE HOUR all to myself to start the day. (Even if the kids wake up early they know they will experience the wrath of a mama with no coffee if they get outta bed before SEVEN AM on the dot.)

So what do I do to start the day? Pretty much this, in this order.

1. Drink two glasses of cold water with 2 probiotics
2. Pour a big huge cup of coffee
3. Fire up the computer and open the Gospel reading of the day
DRINK COFFEE
4. Read the Gospel/read Jesus Calling for the day/ pray for husband, kids, PATIENCE, and wisdom and anything else on my heart.
DRINK COFFEE
5. Emails (and Facebook, duh - although I take care of that during the nursing sesh)
6. Throw a load of laundry in
7. Get ready: make-up, hair, get dressed (no sweats) and make bed
DRINK MORE COFFEE
8. Start breakfast

I can pretty much get all this done in an hour. The kids usually come down around 7:00 and watch a show until breakfast is ready. By 8am we've eaten, gotten dressed (if they didn't before they came down - sometimes we set out clothes the night before), and I have the dishwasher unloaded and kitchen cleaned up. Lola is usually up by 8/8:30 and the kids play until 9:00 when we start the day with school/chores/other stuff.

I went a little longer than my morning hour here, but by being super efficient and recognizing the must-do things I need to get done in order to have a great day I can start off the day in a way that sets everything else up for success. I used to sleep in until the last possible second and then I would be so grumpy when the kids got up because I had no coffee, no prayers, I was in my PJs (and felt gross), and then everything listed above would take me until 10-11am when the day is half over. Not anymore, wahooo. Sometimes life gets in the way and I don't get the laundry in or something but all in all this had been HUGE in my daily living.

Aaaannnnyyyywaaayyy....I hope you love Mondays. And if you don't just think of them as a major pre-funk to Friday. Because we all love Fridays (aka: movie night and I don't have to cook dinner).


TGIM.









2 comments:

Jenny said...

This is really uplifting. I've just started getting up to pray/caffinate before my child army, and it is definitely making a difference. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to profess affinity for Mondays though...

Unknown said...

Yay, I'm glad you found it to be helpful! And you just wait...you'll start singing Monday's praises someday LOL