It's All In the Timing

Can I just say that I love, love, love our new daily routine? I mean, seriously, it's great. I never thought I would say that I adore getting up at 6 a.m., especially not while having a two month old baby, but I really do--I love waking up at 6 in the morning. Let me tell you why.

When Ben was working at a law firm, he usually didn't have to be at the office at any set time in the morning. So we never set an alarm, and he usually aimed for leaving our house somewhere around 8:30 or 9. We woke up when Jack did, had a leisurely breakfast together, then got ready for the day at our own pace. Of course, we were always slightly trying to hurry, so my "getting ready" usually consisted of just getting a shower. Ben usually needed to leave before I had time to dry my hair or get dressed, a process that currently involves about 10 costume changes since I have around that many outfits that fit me and I'm not satisfied with how I look in any of them. Jack was also still generally in his pajamas when Ben left for the day. And Graham? Well, for the two weeks of his life that Ben actually went to work at the firm, Graham's wardrobe didn't really consist of pajamas and non-pajamas so much as a general category of clothes that were hopefully not yet spit up upon since the last washing. There was no possibility of the three of us ever getting out of the house before 10.

But now we have a routine that I love firmly in place. We wake up at 6:15, if Graham hasn't already woken us. Graham, the awesome sleeper I deserve after having dealt with Jack's sleep problems for the past 3 years, has been fairly consistently waking up only once a night for the past two weeks! He goes to bed around 9, wakes between 2 and 3, and then goes back to sleep until 5:30 or 6. It's amazing. So we wake up, Ben gets showered and dressed, and I get showered and dressed, fix my hair, and occasionally even get makeup on (which is amazing since for the past six years I've put on nearly all makeup with the aid of a visor mirror) all by 7:30. Jack wakes up sometime around the time Ben's ready, so the two of them are generally done with breakfast by the time I'm ready. Even though the boys aren't dressed by the time Ben leaves around 7:30-7:45, we can still get out the door by 8:30 no problem. It's amazing. I know I just said that a few sentences ago, but it really is amazing.

By being ready so early, our morning is completely freed for us to do lots of fun activities. Just this week we've been to the park twice, the grocery store, Target, music class, and we made a valiant effort to go to the zoo (parking lot was full on a Wednesday? Seriously?). All in the morning. This makes for very sleepy boys, so we come home about noon, have lunch, read a book, and Jack is down for a nap by 1-1:30. He sleeps well and usually doesn't wake up until around 4. Graham generally eats during Jack's story, then pretends to go to sleep for a few minutes, then eats again and is down from 2-5. That leaves me with 2, that's TWO free hours in the middle of the day. Amazing.

But that's not even the best part. Ben gets to leave the office by 6 p.m. At the latest! And he's home by 6:15. At the LATEST! So my afternoon (post little boy wakeup) consists of playing with Jack for an hour, feeding Graham while reading to Jack or watching a video with him, then playing with the boys together. And then I get my husband back. I love my life.