Morning Routine

It is quite an experience getting ready in the morning. We have certainly needed to learn how to get more organized in order to get out of the house on time. A typical morning Monday through Friday looks like the following: Sometime between 6:30 and 7 I start to hear Sophia making noise. Usually she starts to babble, talking to her butterflies floating above her crib. This goes on for a while and she can usually entertain herself before she becomes impatient and starts to cry. I usually get out of bed as soon as I hear her and start the coffee (first things first!) then prepare her bottle. Now some mornings I may be feeling particularly ambitious and may already get up and prepare these things before I hear her (sometimes a shower even!). But most mornings I am arriving in the kitchen, one eye open, coffee started and bottle warming. By the time I get to Sophia's room I find her now standing in her crib with her eyes peeking over the top. I can tell she is smiling, even though I cannot see her mouth behind the top rail, because her eyes squint up when she smiles. This is one of the best parts of my day. As tired as I may be I smile back as I pick her up and kiss her good morning. Off we go to get her bottle and sit down in the living room. I turn on the Today Show and watch the morning weather while I feed Sophia. These days she has no interest in being held like a baby while I am feeding her. She usually sits straight up in my lap and holds her arm against me, making sure I don't try to cradle her. She never wants to miss out on a thing! By this point I usually hear Jason's alarm clock going off and he stumbles out of bed. He'll come out and say good morning to us before getting ready for work. When Sophia is done with her bottle she is anxious to get down and start playing. I get up and fix myself a cup of coffee while watching her climb onto her toys and start taking things out of her toy bin. After Jason is done getting ready we 'tag team' and he takes over watching and playing with her while I jump in the shower. I get dressed and if I'm lucky, try to fix my hair a bit. Jason comes back to the bathroom and asks me if I am ready to take over because he needs to leave for work. Sure, I say. I find a bottle of something to give Sophia to keep her occupied while I turn to do my 3 minute makeup routine. It is amazing how one can become so efficient at tasks that used to take 15 minutes or more! When I finish I pull Sophia out of the closet and she has found some of my heels to chew on (gross). With her in one arm I finish packing her bag for the day (most of the time Jason has this prepared for me while I am in the shower). I try to put her down to pick up some things but she clings to me clearly not prepared for separation yet. I fix a bowl of baby cereal and fruit for her with one arm while she is still in the other arm. She trieds to pull the bowl of cereal out of my hand when I put it down on the table and I have to move fast to avoid a massive spill. I set her in the high chair and buckle her in. I finish my coffee while feeding her cereal. Thankfully Sophia is a great eater so we don't have any struggles with her refusing to eat. Toward the end of her breakfast sometimes she tries to blow raspberries which results in food spit out. I tell her no, and sometimes she cries, but lately she stops before I have to scold her. I dump our dishes in the sink and try to wipe her down the best I can but she pulls her hands and face away. I pick her up and found where I missed my cleaning when she wipes her booger nose right on the lapel of my suit. Ahh, great...well, that is why I have shout wipes in my desk at work and thankfully most of my clients have been parents themselves and understand the stains of boogers and pureed peaches.
Believe it or not, the morning routine is much better since Sophia got tubes in her ears. When she would have ear infections the additional to do's included a dose of oral antibiotics, followed by a dose of liquid steroids. Sometimes if she wasn't feeling the best we would also have to give her a dose of tylenol. Sometimes she took the medicine well, but sometimes she didn't. After that we would have to lay her on her side and put antibiotic drops in her ears. This was her least favorite and she would squirm and scream. This usually had to be done before Jason left for work so the two of us could hold her. Thank god for the ear tubes, she is so much happier and feels better now.
Anyway, back to the normal morning routine, after realizing I have added boogers and food to my accessories I put her in her play seat to keep her contained and occupied while I make sure I run the last items like her bag and my purse in the car. When I come back in to get her I make one last check through the house, to see if I have forgotten something. I head to the back door and just as I am ready to open the door I see Payton standing there, panting and crying. Ughh! I forgot to let her out. We hussle to the porch door and I let her out, encouraging her to hurry up and do her thing, all while holding Sophia. Payton finally makes her way back in and I grab a treat to tempt her to the kitchen so I can put the baby gate up (otherwise I come home and find her sleeping on the couch). I feel the muscles in my thighs and butt as I am up and down, squatting again while holding Sophia and I wonder with all of this why my butt has not gotten smaller yet? I head out the door and buckle Sophia in the car. I'll have to worry about weight loss another day.
While I pull the car out of the driveway I realize I have not packed myself a lunch yet. No time to worry about that now. I guess it will be canned soup and whatever else I find in the vending machine in the office. When I drop Sophia off at daycare, the ladies there are excited to see her. While 'pop goes the weasel' plays on the CD player, one of the ladies takes Sophia from me and kisses her hello. Sophia is happy to see her, but she looks back at me like she wishes I could stay and play. I quickly say goodbye and kiss her on the face while smiling but turn to leave before I start to cry. I am happy to go to work but it is so hard to leave her sometimes. When I get in the car I remind myself to buy a lotto ticket on the way home. And then I count down the days until Saturday morning where the routine is much better!