It's a Brand New Day

Today was a good day.
The kids weren't angels (they rarely ever are!). But Cavin mostly listened, and Connor mostly behaved, and usually that's all I need to make the day good. Connor enjoyed just sitting with me on the couch for a while, and Cavin was thrilled to play Disney Infinity with me for a little bit. My husband reaffirmed how amazing he is by mowing the lawn at my mom's house while my step-dad is out of commission from a bad hand injury. It was a good day.

The past couple of weeks I have noticed a common theme to a good portion of my grumpy days, and that is bad mornings. I'm always woken up earlier than I'd like by a crying infant or an insanely energetic little boy, and am forced to answer the demands of "but I want the chocolate poptart, not the strawberry one" or "I want milk, not water" or "But I haaate Mickey Mouse!" all while I'm still in a sleepy, foggy haze.
For a while, Cavin would always be the first one to wake up, and Connor wasn't usually awake for another hour or so. It was easy enough to get Cavin settled and get myself woken up a decent amount before Connor joined us. But lately they're up at the same time every morning, and my lack of any type of schedule or routine in the morning has left me feeling completely frazzled by 8am. And so I decided last night that my first step to regaining my overall sanity would be to focus on my mornings. 
It probably doesn't help that I don't like mornings, at all. I never have. In a perfect world, my kids would let me sleep until 9 or 10am, but unfortunately, that doesn't happen! But I've known for a while now that the answers to fixing my crazy mornings would be in just a few key changes (although for a person who doesn't like mornings, they're not as easy as they sound!):

1. Prepping the night before
2. Waking up before the kids do
3. Establishing a morning routine

I began my day by waking up at 6am. I know for some people, 6am is nothing. But for me, it's early! Surprisingly enough though, it wasn't terribly difficult to get out of bed this morning. I think it's because I began the day with intention, with a goal in mind. I knew that I wanted to regain control of my mornings, and that this was the first step to doing that. Getting to start the day on my own time and in my own way goes a long way to shaping my positive mood for the day. And knowing that I would have limited "me" time to prep for the day before one of the kiddos was up was enough to get me going! Since I'm still not used to getting up so early, I did move a little slow. I managed to check in to my home management binder, plan out my day, and complete day 1 of a "Marvelous Mornings" mini series that I'm doing. Today's project for the series was to think of things that you enjoy doing and that you would like to incorporate into your morning routine. For me, these things are journaling, reading, yoga, and drinking a cup of tea or coffee. Going forward, I'm hoping to include all of. or at least a mix of, these things into my daily morning routines.

The lesson in the first day of the mini serious included a quote that I really love, and that basically sums up this current journey of mine: "You have to find a way to meet your own needs so that you can meet the needs of your children". It's not about being selfish, it's about understanding that even though I am a mother, I am still my own person with my own needs that need to be met. When I am able to meet a few of my own basic needs, I am more willing and able to meet the needs of my children with a happy and graceful heart.