Today I began my new life as a morning person instead of the night owl that I naturally am, due in part I am sure to the wonderful invention of electricity and late night television not to mention “free time” without kids. Looking at Early Morning Seminary beginning at 5:45 a.m. square in the eye instead of just on the horizon and knowing that this is going to be a permanent fixture in life for the next 16 years, no break, is driving me to an early bedtime and I must make peace with it. That is a long time! So don’t call me at 10 p.m. anymore unless in’s a true emergency or a baby was born… I can’t talk!
I woke my youngest 2 up at 7 a.m. to get dressed. I’d been up for hours!!! By 8:30 this morning I even had the loaves of yeast bread for dinner baked! (This is because of my driving schedule this afternoon and we don’t want to eat at 9 p.m.) I had done laundry, dishes, lunches, reading, changed two beds, made “energy bars” from scratch for everyone to have with their yogurt and fruit juice before school and I was on our way out the door with my youngest two for a morning at the park, a two mile walk and a picnic made for the trip as well. I just shifted my work load, distributing it differently. Not only that but I heard the August night crickets singing out my window in the early morning hours and at 6:30 a.m. I finally watched the sky turn that deep early morning purple. Amazing! We’ll see if I can really pull this off. We’ll see if Rick can pull this off! Today is also his first 12 hour+ work day of many. So far so good! But I’m only 1 day into 16 years
So 7 people, one bathroom and a crazy hectic schedule. How to get everyone ready and where they need to be on time? Rick and I are chart people and this morning chart posted on our fridge helps ensure that everyone gets what they need and where they need to go on time and reduces craziness. And as I said, I need stuff written down that early or I can’t think of what to do with myself. Once others get up I just have to be on alert and direct traffic every 15 minutes for people who haven’t moved on to the next thing or help younger ones know what they need to do next. Our evening bathroom schedule changes nightly depending on who has what chore and when different family members will be home so I write it up on a dry erase. The bathroom schedule typically runs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. to make sure everyone who needs a bath/shower gets their 25 minutes in the bathroom. There are a few “open” slots where you can get in there during a 15 minute period to brush teeth or whatever. There is also a break for dinner and on Mondays for FHE. On Tuesdays I’ve taken to double booking the bathroom since more than half the family gets home just before 9 p.m.! We use the fact that the shower curtain gives enough privacy so others can come in and brush teeth during a shower/bath and we can still all be through the bathroom by 9:45 p.m. 10 p.m. looks to be about the earliest I can get to bed and if I can do that then I can live with getting up early.
The other thing that Haley entering High School changes permanently for us is the driving. She now starts school earlier and so Rick is unable to drive Fairview kids to school in the morning, unless we have an orchestra member who then can be dropped off by him at 8 a.m. two days a week. So between those extra miles and the extra miles in the early morning we now are driving about 500 additional miles per month, which is something to think about both with the wallet at the pump and the 16 year old car!!!
But all these changes were changes we knew were coming. And they may not be the easiest changes but they are necessary and good. Our kids are growing up and changing… and so must we I guess.
Everything is connected and it’s all in your attitude
Oh! I'm tired just thinking about your schedule! Won't it be fun to re-read this post in 16 years?
ReplyDeletexoxo aunt Bsrb
Go Heather!
ReplyDeleteRob and I have started going to bed and waking up earlier, too. He's up at 5:30, I'm up at 7:15 (which is way early for me). We exercise first thing in the morning, and it makes the whole day WAY better. I don't know why we haven't been doing this all along! (Well, that's not true. I do know why. Staying up late is fun, and I'm too lazy to get up in the morning without a reason.)