My morning routine:

Both of my munchkins are early risers, and I find it so hard to pull myself together in the morning, when they’re both full of beans. I really struggle just making the breakfast sometimes, let alone hold down a conversation!

So I bought myself one of these clocks that has a sunrise setting on it. You set your alarm to the time you want to wake up and it starts the sunrise setting 30 minutes beforehand, allowing you to wake up gently and naturally. I’ve been using it a while now, however made the crucial mistake of setting it for the time I’d like to wake up, and NOT the time my munchkins actually get me up!

Ideally 6:30am is the latest I’d be able to wake up and still be on time for the school run, it’s also the absolute earliest I’d want to wake up, so naturally I set my alarm for that time. Unfortunately the munchkins have other ideas!

My youngest is usually up from 6am onwards, 6:10 if I’m lucky, so that’s 10 minutes into the sunrise setting and 20 minutes before my alarm actually goes off. After a few weeks I reluctantly adjusted it to 6:15am, to try and get a bit more sunrise!

This morning, however, she excelled all expectations and woke me up at 5am. 5AM!!!

Once she’s up, if my eldest is already up, I’ll lay in bed and scroll through my phone, while she goes into her room and climbs in her cot with her, and they play with their dollies for a while. If it’s really early (like 5am!) I’ll go and get her and either take her downstairs or bring her into my bed so she doesn’t wake up her sister, who needs her sleep for school, although she’s not usually far behind her!

My routine depends on what my husband is working. If he’s on nights I have to be up and showered and out of our room early (we have an en suite) so that he can go to bed as soon as he gets home and I don’t disturb him by coming in and getting ready. I’m also conscious of the girls making a lot of noise upstairs when we’re getting ready for school and he’s trying to sleep. If he’s on days he’s gone by 5am so I’ve got the run of the house and can take my time a bit more

Once I’ve had my shower and got dressed, (usually jeans and a vest top) I go down and start breakfast. The first thing I do is put the radio on. I like having the music on and listening to the presenters talking. I’m on my own with the girls the majority of the time, so that’s about the only adult conversation I have in the mornings until the school run!

I boil the kettle while I get the munchkins breakfast ready. They either have cereal and toast of scrambled egg and toast. Once they’ve got everything they need I do mine and we all sit at the table and eat. When we’ve all finished its upstairs to clean teeth, wash faces and get dressed.

Once both girls are washed and dressed I do my eldest’s hair. They then play while I clean my teeth, do my hair and make-up and put a jumper on. (Depending on time, sometimes I don’t get time to do any of that and end up just putting a tinted moisturiser on and scraping my hair back!) By this time I’m getting anxious about the school run and the parking situation. So I’m beginning to get a bit snappy when the munchkins aren’t listening and getting ready.

We head downstairs to have one last wee before we go, get shoes and coats on and I pack my daughter’s book bag for school. If I’m going shopping or out straight after the school run I get the changing bag ready.

Sometimes I have time to clean up after breakfast, which is putting all the plates and bowls in the dishwasher, washing up the girl’s drinks bottles and re-filling them. Washing down all the worktops and the table. Cleaning the coffee table in the living room, plumping the cushions, and wiping down sticky marks on the sofa and then hoovering through downstairs. If we are running late I do this when I get back from the school run.

I’ve usually got a load of washing to do, hang up, or sort and put away. Again my housework depends on what shifts my husbands is doing. If he’s on days I will clean upstairs daily, make the beds, tidy and hoover the rooms, and keep on top of the bathrooms cleaning wise. When he is on nights I try to avoid being upstairs too much so I don’t disturb him. I make sure the downstairs is clean daily. I tidy the girl’s bedrooms in the mornings, but leave my room as hubby just gets straight into bed more or less as I get out.  Cleaning our en suite will wake him up, so I leave it and give the whole room and en suite a deep clean once he’s finished.

I give munchkin no2 her lunch at around 11:30 and she’s usually in bed having her nap by 12. I make my lunch at the same time as hers, but I eat it when she’s in bed and I can actually enjoy a hot cup of tea! I usually sit for about half an hour and catch up on some TV while having my lunch, then I’ll prepare dinner for the evening, or get some other jobs done, like blog posts, phone calls I need to make, or other admin bits that I can’t do with a toddler around!

So that’s about it, a rough insight to my morning routine. I find the build up to the school run to be the most hectic part of the day, and breathe a sigh of relief when it’s done!

I’m looking forward to reading your routines! X