Week One Under My Belt

I’m tired, to say the least. And I don’t even have it terrible as Gracelyn will sleep through the night. But going from a solid 8-9 hours/night to 6ish is ROUGH. When I fall into bed at night and my head hits the pillow, I’m out. Thursday night Lucan woke up crying in the night. I didn’t hear him. Lance was the one who woke up and went to him. I only woke up when Lance went into the bathroom to get him a drink and I was back asleep before he got back into bed.

 

Gracelyn is … adjusting. Not say it hasn’t been hard, but she’s doing okay. Normally chickie boom (my nickname for her) will sleep a good long nap in the morning and some smaller naps in the afternoon. She’s used to quieter rooms and being swaddled which neither is happening at daycare.

 

On Wednesday she slept a total of 30 minutes. I was AGHAST.

 

On the flip side, she’s taking bottles now. I suppose if you’re hungry enough, you’ll eat from whatever is offered to you too.

 

I am beyond thankful that we kept Lucan in the routine of going to daycare while I was home on maternity leave. Lu does not transition the easiest and I’m glad this isn’t something we’ve had to worry about. Getting up and getting out the door every morning is second nature.

 

Below are my solutions for getting everyone where they need to be in the morning:

1.       Meal plan for the entire week. No one needs to be hangry and dealing with “what’s for dinner?”
2.       Meal prep for the entire week. I chopped all my vegetables and did all my meat prep over the weekend.
3.       Utilize your crockpot. We did two crockpot soups, two casseroles and one leftover night. This is not the time to be trying out new recipes or to need to sauté vegetables endlessly. Be smarter, don’t work harder.
4.       Pack everyone’s bags the night before. Bottles and parts for pumping stuff? Check. Lunches? Check. Bottles? Done. Check the calendar for any one-offs? Done.
5.       Make your kids sleep in their clothes for the next day. Gracelyn gets her new clothes at 10 pm the night before. Lucan loves his jammies, so he won’t wear his to bed. But Gracie has no vote! If I could wear my clothes to bed and not wake up wrinkled I would. Thus leading to …
6.       Decide what I’m going to wear the night before. Otherwise I stand in front of my closet staring bleary eyed trying to decide what to wear. I try to implement this in Lance too because I’m too crabby in the morning to answer “what belt do I wear this with?”
7.       Shower at night. I hate showering at night but where I have a 40 minute time investment of breastfeeding and pumping in the morning, this is a must. Season of life folks, season of life.
8.       Refill my water bottle. One of the things I learned is that most people wake up dehydrated in the morning. I make it my goal to down a quick 8 ounces before I scoot out the door.
9.       Plan your breakfast. If I’m having a smoothie (and there’s room in the refrigerator) I try and assemble the night before. And I set out my smoothie cup. If I’m having something else, I try and get everything packaged before bed.
10.   Meeting first thing in the morning? Grab phone numbers and have print offs ready ahead of time.
11.   I can’t remember to take my vitamins in the morning. It’s just one more thing on my list so I’ve moved vitamin intake to just before bed.

Those are my eleven tips for me being somewhat on time to work. You’re welcome.


5:00 PM the first day after daycare. PASSED OUT.

Wednesday night after only sleeping 30 minutes that day. Again, passed out.