My Homemaker's Morning Routine with Small Children

Hello, and welcome back to the blog!

Some of us are morning people and some of us...aren't. ☺ I'm a morning person. My one-year-old is also a morning person. My two-year-old is a night owl, and both girls are likely as not to wake up during the night at least once.

Busy gal? Pin this and come back later!

This means I have a morning routine that doesn't involve getting up before my kids. I wake up when the baby wakes up because I was up late with my oldest and up in the middle of the night multiple times with assorted children. 6am is early enough, thank you very much!

Today I want to share this morning routine with you in hopes that it'll inspire you to peace and productivity, even if you're running on little sleep and have kiddos clinging to your skirt from the moment you get dressed.

Get Ready

The first thing I do when I get up in the mornings is get ready for the day. I pick out my clothes and jewelry the night before, so all I need to do in the morning is put on what's already laid out. I leave hair and makeup for later in the morning, but I find that putting on a pretty-yet-comfortable dress and brushing my teeth makes me feel like a woman ready to tackle the day!

Whatever children are also awake will play in the closet while I get ready. If they're particularly clingy, I break out the baby wrap or carrier and hold them as soon as I change out of pajamas.

Morning Chores

I have a few quick chores I start as soon as I leave the bedroom. This gets the day going, takes care of my family's immediate needs, and leaves space for me to have a quiet minute later in this routine.

I grab any laundry in the house that I can grab without waking my family up and start a load of wash. I'll fill the dogs' water bowl on the back porch and carry my ancient small dogs outside to start their day. If I don't carry them, they wake up and don't make it outside before they start their day, if you know what I mean.

I run the dishwasher after dinner every night and unload the clean dishes after my girls' bath time. Every piece of advice I've ever seen says to run the dishwasher at night and unload it in the morning, but I find that to be a more chaotic setup in our home.

My husband is a night owl and usually doesn't start eating meals for the day until he gets home for dinner. He'll eat dinner with our family and usually have another meal after we've all gone to bed. This sometimes means I wake up to dirty dishes in the sink, and I like to be able to load those into the dishwasher first thing without having to unload clean dishes. (I also start cooking soon, and the kitchen just flows better on this dishwasher schedule!)

Caring for Kids

So far I'll have taken about 15 minutes to get dressed and do my morning chores. Whatever kids are awake are in baby wraps and carriers while we get chores done, and now I'm able to shift my focus to getting them ready for the day.

Whoever is awake gets dressed, gets a drink, and, if they're hungry, gets breakfast. Breakfast is usually something quick, like a yogurt-fruit-granola bowl or a banana. 

Bible Study

It's the quiet moment I've been pushing toward! I'm finally able to sit for a moment with my coffee, Bible, and prayer journal and take a moment to really start my day with the Lord. I read what I can, a couple of paragraphs or a couple of chapters, and write down my prayers for the morning.

My prayer journal is also where I note any devotionals I might be interested in writing and where I keep track of exciting life events. Kids' milestones, family engagements, hardships, you name it, I've noted it down somewhere on a prayer page. 

Dinner Prep

I make dinner after breakfast, and I'm not sorry!

I tried stopping my day around 4:30pm every afternoon and cooking a hot dinner for our family. It didn't work. I would be run down from the day, the baby would be hungry, I would be juggling too many balls, and dinner either wouldn't get done or wouldn't be edible. AND I'd be miserable.

I heard someone on a podcast suggest taking care of dinner after breakfast, and I've never looked back. I'm able to cook low-and-slow all day if need be, or get a quick meat and veggie dish done so we can move on.

This means everyone eats reheated dinners, but it also means we eat far more healthy, home-cooked meals. It's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.

"Daddy's Coffee"

I may or may not be done with dinner prep by the time I need to make sure my husband is up for work. When he travels, he sets alarms. When he's home, I make his coffee, take it to him, and make sure he's awake.

My oldest daughter caught on to this around her second birthday, and no matter how early she wakes up she immediately asks to "bring Daddy's coffee?!?!?!?" Very cute, and also sometimes it's 6:30am and I have to tell her to wait a bit! 

At 8am we take Daddy his coffee. Our oldest crawls into bed with him and gets some cuddle time, and then they both get up and Daddy can have coffee and get ready for work. 

If I'm not done with dinner prep, I'll go back to cooking. If dinner is done, I'll move on to...

Assorted Chores

I have a list of chores I want to tackle every week. I don't have a weekly cleaning routine or schedule! I play it by feel and clean as I go. If I notice something that needs taken care of and it'll take longer than five minutes, I'll add it to my running list and tackle it later.

This part of the morning is usually when I take care of one of the assorted chores from that running list. Big jobs tend to get broken into multi-day projects, but everything gets done eventually!

Preparing for Events and Adventures

The part of our day after my husband leaves for work is what I think of as the "Events and Adventures" portion of the day. 

We might go to the library, visit grandparents, or take a trip to the park. Whatever we're doing, I'll start gathering whatever we need to have when we leave the house. Library books, sunscreen, whatever it is, I'm laying it out on the kitchen counter so we won't forget it at home on our way out the door.

I also like to pick up the house any time we leave. I want us to come home to relative peace and tidiness, so I try to make sure all the toys are put away, dirty dishes are in the dishwasher, the laundry has been moved from the washer to the dryer, beds are made, and ancient dogs are let outside one last time before we leave.

Events and Adventures

Also known as the end of the morning routine! This is usually about 10am, and we're ready to have a bit of fun. Everyone feels better with an occasional change of scenery, so I try to get us out of the house at least three out of five days during the work week. 

That's all for today! Let me know in the comments below what your mornings look like.

All the love,

Emily

Please feel free to contact me at admin@tulipsandbasil.com!