This morning, I timed getting ready to go to my mom's house with both kids. I did not have time to shower, put on makeup, or eat or drink anything. Both kids were cooperative. IT TOOK A FREAKIN' HOUR. Great. Let's review...sleep at 11 p.m., feed baby at 5 a.m., wake at 6:30 a.m. totally NOT refreshed from my five and a half broken hours of sleep, ready for drive at 8 a.m. and work at 8:30 a.m. I'm clearly going to have to change something.
I'll try getting food and clothes prepared the night before and putting things in my car, but, frankly, some of the stuff cannot be done until the morning. Sigh. How do people do this? Do I just like sleep (or eating or bathing) too much? Are my expectations (that I leave the house with a diaper, wipe, and all parts of the breast pump) too high?
Etcetera.
No, I love sleep, eating and bathing also! You are definitely scaring me from wanting another child. I don't know if I'm ready for another routine. I may have an only child...
ReplyDeleteI recommend showering before you go to bed. It's just too hard to do it when the kids are up. And I only had one kid at the time, but when I was commuting, I'd give Nick breakfast to eat in the car and eat my own breakfast after I got to work.
ReplyDeletei've got nothing
ReplyDeleteI remember those days....boy do they suck! It does get better but it just takes time. Now that my kids are older, things go much more smoothly. Hang in there!!!
ReplyDeleteNo, your expectations are not too high - except the part about getting out of the door in under an hour. All that other stuff is important and has to be fit in somehow.
ReplyDeleteIt still takes me an hour to get me and 2 kids out the door. That is with having diaper bag packed the night before. Unexpected things just come up. I have just accepted it as fact and planned for it.
Can you go to bed earlier? Catch a nap during the day? (Keeping in mind that this is only temporary, until the little one is sleeping more and you are getting more uninterrupted sleep, which will make everything seem so much less overwhelming.)
Showering at night is good. Since the kids are going to your mom's, can you keep extra clothes there? That will mean less to carry. The good news is that it does get easier with practice. I had 3 in car seats at the same time. Going anywhere was a huge deal. Hard to believe I sometimes miss those days :).
ReplyDeleteamanda
Ok, your mom has LOTS of extra space..just like mine. I think you need to set up shop at her house and just keep a box of diapers, wipes and tons of extra clothes there. That way you don't even have to worry about the diaper bag being packed. And shower at night unless you have court or something...put on makeup at the office, not at home. Eat breakfast at the office, not at home. Maybe you can look into your dad installing a shower at your office and you can just get dressed there in the mornings :)
ReplyDeleteI think the key may be to see how much less you can do at home and how much more you can do at the office. You should also bring a couple changes of clothes (at least shirts) for YOU at your moms or your office also.
Unless she's like my mom and ships everything home with me, and then fusses because she has no clothes or anything for the kids at her house. Regardless of the fact that there are THREE empty dressers in the house, she still doesn't want to keep clother there. Whatever. She's weird...maybe your mom got the not so weird genes.
Oh, and I have 3 kids that can dress themselves, brush their own teeth and fix themselves something to eat...and it still takes me over an hour to get up and out the house.
The first time I went on an outing by myself with the two kids, it took me over an hour to leave the house and I was so frustrated. Kirsi had to pee, Aidan pooped in his diaper, then Kirsi got her clothes dirty, then Aidan threw up everywhere. Yeah, it was those unexpected happenings that threw me. Now, it's better but I think it's because I'm used to it taking more time.
ReplyDeleteI have everything in my diaper bag (change of clothes for the kids, a toy for Aidan, nursing pads, wallet, burp cloth, nursing cover, change pad, extra diapers, wipes) at all times. Before I leave, I get Kirsi's snack and sippy of water and stick it in. If I have to, I can get out of the house in 15 minutes but that's super rushed. I shower at night now - no way to do it in the morning any more. We eat breakfast early because Kirsi is up at the crack of dawn.