Morning rituals, how they have changed!

I've generally always been an early riser most of my adult life. I hate to waste daylight and obviously having kids makes being up early in the morning a steady occurrence. 

Before we got pregnant with our daughter, I found the only available time for me to work out was early in the morning before my son and husband got up because it was me time and it didn't conflict with family time which I deem very important. 

Now it hasn't changed too much with our newborn here, but this morning got me thinking about how my rituals have changed and how I've changed with them. This morning I woke up around 1am to change over baby duties with my husband. We worked on a pattern where I head to bed early, get a few solid hours of sleep while he has the baby. I take the early morning times so that he can get sleep before heading into work. 

Our daughter is pretty consistent with sleeping for 2-2.5 hours at a time so by the time I got her fed and into a sleep on my chest (we are introducing crib sleeping currently but sometimes late at night her and I want snuggle/skin to skin time) it was @ 2:30am. She slept until 4:45am and we woke again to feed. Getting her fed and asleep isn't a problem, it's her filling her tank to stay asleep right now that takes some time. I brought her to her crib at 5:30am and currently that's where she still is, sleeping like the angel she is.

Now I spewed all that because I would say normally it would make sense to crawl back in bed and sleep a bitmore, however, my mindset has changed in being a mom for the last 6+ years that there are things to prepare to make the day successful. So at 6am on my Thursday morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee, let the dogs outside and began pumping to work on our reserve of breast milk. Add in a little dish washing and some general tidying up of the living room, I also began to think about what I needed to do to prep my son for his day ahead at school and thought about packing a lunch for my husband.

I know many moms out there can relate to the cluster thoughts that happen not just in the morning but all day long. No wonder we need mommy free weekends or a little time off sometimes! But I'm not going to complain at all. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I also recognize that I have an amazing partner to be there with me. We communicate and learn from every experience we go through. 7+ years together, 2 kiddos and 5 different addresses, we have built a strong foundation and grow stronger.

Nothing like a morning rambling session and a cup of coffee (and probably a little sleep deprivation) to get someone thinking and talking!