Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Confessions of a Toddler Mom: I Sleep While My Kids Play

I know there are several moms out there who are always wide-eyed and bushy-tailed every waking moment their children are up during the day. There are moms who get up at the crack of dawn and have breakfast ready when their kids wake at 7am. There are moms who get a shower, have their quiet time, drink their coffee, and eat their own breakfast before their children even break out of dreamland.

I am not one of these moms.

When the sun rises on our house early each morning (especially early in the summer), I am sleeping. I am sleeping because I stay up at night after my family goes to bed and work on my business. Occasionally I'll watch a movie, read, or do something productive like (ugh!) folding laundry...but in general, I'm working at the computer.

When one of my children comes in to tell me "it's pretty outside", I simply roll over, invite them to join me in the bed, and fall back asleep. They usually don't fall back asleep. They read or roll around in my bed. Once both my older kids are up, they play together or watch a movie in my son's room.

My youngest is still in her crib and happens to LOVE being there, so I generally go in to get her sometime after 9am. Up until 8.30 or so, I enjoy resting between bouts of getting up to see what the latest fussing is about with the other two.

I realize this is probably highly irresponsible, but this is a typical morning for me. Thankfully, my children play together very well and generally don't have too many quarrels. At least not this early in the morning. They always stay upstairs and I can hear them very well (even though I'm sleeping - sort of), so this has never caused any problems in our home.

Considering I'm 6 months pregnant right now, sleeping is a main priority of mine so I try to get as much of it as possible. Granted, I don't sleep nearly as much late into the morning when I'm not pregnant, but right now....well, it's just part of my routine.

Now you may chastise me. But please be gentle. :)

And just because I'm going to try to start posting pictures more regularly on this blog, here's my adorable daughter acting unusually cooperative in front of the camera:

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Goodness, how did I get such CUTE kids??

And yes, it's a total coincidence that her outfit just happens to match my newly colored and designed blog.

3 comments:

Amie said...

You are not alone with the sleeping while they play. My boys are up before 7 DAILY. I get them fed & changed & then CRASH on the couch for a while. This pregnancy (19 weeks) has worn me out more than my last 2 combined!

Extraordinary Ordinary Life said...

Let us just say that you are not alone. We fix Isaac a cup of milk the night before and put it in the fridge. Then (and here is the worst part) we tune the TV to a cartoon channel so all he has to do is turn it on in the morning and he will drink his milk and watch TV for a little while. Pretty soon though he comes in and says, "When are you getting up". And Makenna is like Reagan. I leave her in her room until 9 or 9:30 and she is very content and RARELY cries.

Anonymous said...

I do that too, but along with my 3 I have Mindy's daughter Izzy too. She is the fist up and about eating breakfast. I try to get her to come and cuddle with Aunt V and Baby Gabby but that only works half the time. People don't realize that being a mom of multiple toddlers ( mine 3 and under) is not such a cake walk. This week Rachel who had LONG beautiful hair gave herself a mullet and Izzy a not so flattering haircut, and Camden Smashed Izzy's finger. Gabby has had some digestive issues so I've not been as quick as I should be. So I totaly understand!