Early to bed and early to rise, is the way to be healthy, wealthy and wise. -English Proverb
I sometimes feel that the best possible time to clean my house is late at night. The girls are safely tucked in bed. Greg is busy. I have the time to do it and do it well.
But I never do.
Because that is when I check email or facebook and maybe stay up for Craig Ferguson (whom I adore). I often read a book into the wee hours.
But I have decided that I simply cannot persist in staying up so late. I fear it is detrimental to our entire household, as groggy, cranky mommies are generally useless and unproductive. I am therefore resolving to go to bed earlier each night in order to rise earlier each lovely morn.
I will become an efficient and cheerful housekeeping queen.
Yes. Right.
Starting tomorrow.
Strange things have been happening around here. Like the fact that my "up with sunshine" firstborn has been sleeping in to a staggering 10:30 am.
Shocking!
(Incidentally, I do not recommend painting an eastern facing nursery a spring green, as the vivid rising sun will literally cause the room to glow with supernatural fervor, rendering it impossible to lull a toddler back to sleep).
Until the last month or so, I have been accustomed to hauling my sluggish self out of bed no later than 7:30, when I can no longer ignore a plastic sippy cups repeated blows to my noggin.
But now BOTH girls are sleeping late. And I am afraid I have allowed myself the luxury of joining them.
Yes, even as dishes sit unwashed in the sink or laundry unfolded in the basket, I slumber.
I always imagined that if someday I was blessed with two late risers, I would be up enjoying the peace and quiet of the morning with my coffee and my laptop, maybe watch the news. I thought I might fit in a Bible study or devotional. I would sit in a rocking chair. I would cuddle up in a fluffy robe. I would have a cat purring in my lap.
But we don't have a cat and I don't own a bathrobe. What I do have is a very dysfunctional relationship with my alarm clock. Each morning I beat it into silence and continue to sleep until Sophie's high pitched gibberish is broadcast over the monitor.
I always request that Greg make sure I am up before he leaves for work. His reply is always the same.
"No."
He says he would prefer that his wife not yell at him each morning before he goes to work. Apparently, I am a bit difficult to rouse from sleep.
And also irritable. Very irritable.
This is something I must work on.
And so my questions to the busy stay home mamas are as follows: Are you an early riser or a night owl? How do you manage to get yourself up when you don't technically have to be anywhere specific? When do you fit in your "me" time? Please share! I love a discussion.
5 comments:
We stay up pretty late, but I sleep as late as Jack will let me. Sometimes that is 7, sometimes it is 9. Spencer naturally sleeps until about 10 everyday.
I say sleep and enjoy it! I always do the super-fast-pick-up-before-the-husband-gets-home no matter what time I got up. Life is too short for me to slave over the house for hours a day.
Of course, this means that no one can come over unannounced either (except one friend I have who is the same way; both our houses are constant disasters). ;-)
You are so funny, I love your writting!
Unfortunately, I cannot overcome my old habits, I still like to stay up late, sleep late, drag into work at 10ish.
And the same here, Ron would not wake me up when the kids were little, and still will not wake me up now, when I should be getting up and going to work at a decent time.
Boys in bed by 8pm, more relaxed about that this summer, but about to be strict this week. Im pretty laid back about some parenting stuff, but I truely believe well-rested kids are healthier, happier and theres actually research that they are smarter...simply bc their brains can process more when they get routine appropriate amounts of sleep. My boys cut out naps a little earlier than "normal," so bedtime is a big deal around here. Im so weird-I still count how many hours of sleep they get almost every day! I think it all stems from Jackson being a newborn and he averaged 6 hours of sleep a day. So I went kinda overboard in the opposite direction once I learned how to teach my kids to sleep! Now ask me about appropriate TV/video game time...and Im sure I fail miserably.
Anyway, Brad and I usually go to bed at midnight or I go to bed around 11:30 and read until midnight. Then the boys are up around 7:30am and I slowly get up as they start coming in and requesting "chocolate milk and break-apart waffles." I'de say Im consistantly up and starting my coffee bt 8-9am. Then I let the boys watch cartoons until I finish my coffee (Im a slow riser). Then around 10am, we start our day...TV/video games go off, we go somewhere; or if we are staying home, I'll tell the boys its costume/toy time and I'll start on some task that I have that day. Usually I only have one goal for the day-like "today Im going to put away all the laundry" Then around 5pm I do a quick clean up and start dinner at 6pm while the boys watch Garfield. We try to read HP around 7:45, then lights out for the boys.
Of course this is all going to change on Thursday! After the first day, I just plan on dropping J off in my PJ's, coming home and chilling with Tuck while I have my coffee.
What I WOULD LIKE to do....is wake up at 6am, go walk/jog and be awake when everyone else wakes up. Oh and also, I'de love to have some sort of creative time (I call it "table" time)for the boys-but they have no interest and it just usually ends in a fight. If the day is a LONG day, then they have to have table time (I bribe them with yogurt to do it) but otherwise they just run around and do whatever they want all day.
Oh and another thing, I did for "me" time. Up until about 6 months ago when naps disappeared, I would not turn my laptop on until 1pm...I had to set limits with myself, period. And then it made my computer time much more enjoyable bc the boys were napping (so no mommy guilt) and I'de have a ton of emails or blog stuff to read for fun. Now that there is no nap, sometimes I'll turn it on in the morning and check it throughout the day..which is probably not good.
I am also pretty strict about bedtime, as Rylie is not a napper. It is around 9 these days, but will go back to 8 soon. It seems funny that we have switched to a "summer vacation" schedule though they are not in school yet.
I think I need to be as strict about my own bedtime as I am about theirs, so that I can get up at respectable hour. I just want that time to myself in the morning when they are not yet awake. Then I feel like I will be ready to get the day started when they do get up, and the morning will flow a bit smoother.
Paula, I like your laptop time limit. I totally need to do that for myself. But I so enjoy my morning coffee and email/facebook check.
Also in the back of my mind is the possibility that I could use early morning time to work out...which I am sure I need but do not want to incorporate at any time of day.
Well, I think we all know how I feel about sleep:) It is a priceless commodity...sleep while you can! This morning we are all up...and it is 5:45am! This reminds me why I sleep late when they do! Oh, and I recommend black out shades or even a blanket hung over a window to keep that room a little darker.
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