Change is just around the bend for us Moorhouses. After some time of searching for a better job opportunity, my husband, Jeremy, has secured a new full-time job that he will be starting next week. There are so many benefits to this job I cannot even name them all. One BIG benefit is for the first time in his life, he will be working an 8-5 job. He has always worked a 4-12 midnight kind of schedule, and boy are we excited to change that!
His new job means big changes for our family too. I am working four mornings a week over the summer, which means Ivelina will need childcare. Starting next week, she will be staying with a friend/neighbor who has four little girls. It's the perfect place for her, but I am still nervous about the transition. All these upcoming changes are good changes, but I have known for a while that one area of my life really needs to benefit from some good change too.
For a long time, I have been frustrated by my mornings. On mornings when I do go to work, I have to drag myself out of bed only to find Ivelina is already awake. My hubby has usually slept longer because his schedule has always made him get home at midnight or 1 a.m. I'm usually running around for an hour trying to get Ivie ready, breakfast ready, and the dog cared for before I head out the door. It's frantic. It's stressful at times. Sometimes it make me grumpy. And, I'm already tired by the time I leave my house. Plus, I am always 5-10 minutes late for work...eek!
On the days when I'm off, getting ready to start the home school day isn't any better. Because it is my day off, I feel like I "owe it to myself" to sleep in a little. So, I wake up later, and by the time we eat breakfast and get everyone ready, it's 10 a.m.! I know home school is flexible and all, but in my heart, I want us to be starting before 10! It makes the whole morning feel rushed, and I feel lazy & guilty for wasting away those precious morning hours.
All this being said, I know as our family transitions into this new routine and new schedule, I want to make some changes to our times together to make them less stressful and more meaningful. I discovered a sale the other day for an online course called Makeover Your Mornings, and my first thought was, "I need that!" The course only cost me $7. It came with a downloadable workbook and video links for each of the 14 lessons. I have only completed 3 lessons, but it is totally transforming the way I think about my time.
Below is a recap of my thoughts for the first three lessons.
Lesson One: Today's lesson was an introduction. I told my husband about my plans to commit to this course. He agreed that with his new schedule change, he would love for us to all be on the same page, eating breakfast and dinner together, and getting up a little earlier so we do not feel so rushed out the door each morning. He added that more structure and routine is a good thing for our daughter too. He supported my idea to make over our morning routine! I'm excited to get things started!
Lessons Two: Today, I learned that I need to set a bedtime for myself. I've been really guilty of waiting up for my husband to get home from work even on nights when I have to be at work early the next morning! I also need to establish a nighttime routine for myself. I have always been pretty consistent about packing my lunch and choosing my outfit the night before, but with the upcoming changes of getting all three of out the door by 7:15 each morning, there are definitely more things I could be doing at night to help the morning run smoother. I have written down my nighttime routine, and I can't wait to try it! I am a little skeptical about getting up earlier because I have always had such a hard time with that; however, I believe the reason why I have always had a hard time getting up earlier is because I don't go to bed early enough. For right now, I have set my bedtime to 9:30. We'll see how it goes!
Lesson Three: So...last night I did much better and did go to bed at 9:30. I thought I would just lay there for two hours trying to fall asleep, but that did not happen. This morning, I cheated a little. My ideal getting up time that I have set for myself is 5:30a.m. I know that sounds crazy, right? When my alarm went off, it was so dark I reset it for 5:50a.m. It will take me a while to adjust to waking when it's still dark. On the positive side, though, I had time to do devotions, exercise, and shower before the little one was up! That made me feel really accomplished! Pushing snooze for twenty minutes snuck up to bite me, though, when the last 15 minutes before heading out the door was a bit of a frenzy. I had to eat the breakfast I had prepared and still needed to throw my hair up, do make-up, and brush my teeth. One funny note: I decided for my exercise today to do a little walk/jog around my neighborhood. I thought surely I would be the only one out that early, but as soon as I got on the road I encountered three different neighbors who wished me good morning and asked what I was doing up so early. Ha! So there are other people crazy enough to be out and about at dawn. That fact made me feel better. I hope that after the two week course, my body will adjust to this new schedule, and I will be able to figure out my best rhythm.
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