My Winter 2012 Morning Routine

For almost a year I have been getting too little sleep.  Because my wife is not a morning person it is my role to wake up when little Gallant does.  This is usually between 5:50 am and 6:45 am.

When he was very little I would put him in the ergo, make tea, and go for a walk.  Some mornings I would hold him while I showered.

Colder mornings of Winter happened to correspond to Gallant being old enough to entertain himself with toys (and heavy enough that holding him in the shower was no longer a trivial matter).  So the routine changed.  I put him in his baby corral for twenty minutes while I make tea, eat a banana or some other quick food, and take a shower.  That was my time to myself each day this past Winter.  Then, after twenty minutes, Gallant needs attention.  So I play with him downstairs quietly, including letting him climb on me while I do my back extensions and planks, stretching, and morning praying.

Between 7:30 am and 8:00 am Smiley wakes up.  If it is a Tuesday or Thursday I depart for LCC at 7:45 am, waking up my wife if she is still sleeping.

If it is a Monday/Wednesday/Friday I bring Gallant upstairs and try to keep the boys quiet while making us breakfast.  My wife wakes up between 8:00 am and 8:30 am.  I get Smiley to preschool at 9:00 am.  I either drop my wife off at her work on the same trip, or return home to get her and take her to work.

If possible I try to go to bed at 9:00 pm, shortly after Smiley is in bed.  But this seldom happens.  Until fairly recently Gallant would wake up once or twice (usually twice) between his bedtime at 7:00 pm and midnight, wanting to drink.  While my wife nursed him, I made a bottle (her milk supply is low at the end of the day).  Then I waited a few minutes while she fed him the bottle before helping move him back to his crib.

Happily, more sleep will happen soon.  Gallant has been walking for about a week.  This tires him out enough that he is no longer waking between his bedtime and midnight.  Yay!