Dear Morning Mama

Dear Morning Mama,

It’s 8:23 in the morning and I’ve already hit the snooze button about 13 times.  I’ve been trying since 6:30am to get up and out of bed, but my kids are still sleeping – so therefore I am too. However, I want to be more like you.  I think it’s so amazing all you can get done when you leap out of bed at 5am before your littles even think about stirring.  If I got up at 5am, I have a feeling my kids would wake up at 5:15am.  There would go all my plans for quiet time, a morning caffeine wake-up drink, a workout and if I’m lucky, a shower.  It’s almost like my alarm can be heard down the hall and in their rooms – so I hesitate before setting it each night.

I do try to be more like you.  I have high hopes each night after I put the kids to bed that I will go to sleep at a respectable hour, set my alarm for bright and early so I can see what all this “morning quiet time” is like.   Well, my chipper friend, my body just doesn’t seem to work like that.  The kids are finally in bed asleep and before I know it, midnight is staring back at me in the blink of an eye. I’m cursed blessed to be a night owl. Waking up when I don’t have a set schedule (and let’s be honest, even when I do) just doesn’t work for me.  My body struggles to get out of bed and clear the fog of the morning.  It’s a major accomplishment to get anywhere even remotely before 9:30am with the kids’ clothes on, teeth brushed and all the potty breaks in between – oh and add myself getting ready too.

I don't like mornings. I'm not fond of being woken up, either.
I don’t like mornings. I’m not fond of being woken up, either.

I honestly would love to get up and see what all I could accomplish for the day.  I might be that much more organized and less rushing out the door at any given point.  I have the urge to want to slow down, spend more quiet time mentally preparing for the day…but is it that I just lack the motivation?

Morning Mama, what is your motivation?  Are you naturally awake at ungodly times of day? Do you have stealth moves in your home so that your children don’t wake? I complain to myself and my friends that there just isn’t enough time in my day.  There could be more time in my day, but I haven’t figured out the trigger to help me get out of sleep mode (and please don’t suggest moving my alarm across the room…because  it’s that much closer to my children’s room.)

Since I do see all your inspiring posts on Instagram (at a much later hour) and hear discussions about how your day starts off that much more sane, I’m willing to give it a shot.  Maybe my world needs to be flipped upside down and re-started so I can get on a better track of being the mom I want to be, to have the time I crave.

Maybe just not at 5am.  Will 7:15 be early enough?  *Groan.*

Respectfully,
The Night Owl Mama

 

 

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Erin Cornell
Erin was Okie born, but was East coast bred from ages 5-18. She returned to Oklahoma City for college at Oklahoma Christian where she and her husband met through friends and were married. Taking her love of connecting people and places to the blogging world, she co-founded Oklahoma City Moms Blog in 2013. She loves being a mom with all of her heart to her daughter and son - who battled and won a fight against Lymphoma in 2016. It changed her outlook on love and life and is so grateful for each and every new day.

10 COMMENTS

  1. Love the picture! I wake up at 7am usually because that is when my 5 year old is programmed to wake up. You are lucky that your kids sleep in. I try to get up and excercise 3 days a week at 5am and I find that on those days I am so productive in the morning but I am ready for a nap by 10am.

  2. Great article
    I am a night owl myself, but my husband & boys are morning people. I just don’t get it either. At least now I know that I am not alone. 🙂

  3. While we morning mamas are completely worthless after 3 pm, you night owl mamas are crazy productive at night. My hat goes off to the moms who can stay up way past their children’s bedtimes! Because I’m toast at 9:30pm.

  4. You took the words right out of my mouth! Everything you said is the same with me. The few times I’ve quietly crept across the house to make coffee before the kids awake they are at my feet before the coffee is done brewing. I over heard a mom at our park today said she gets up at 4am!! I’m sorry I’d be ready for bed at 6pm lol. Being a night owl isn’t so bad. If I get up too early I’m ready for bed when they are. I stay up later to spend time with my husband, have me time and maybe load the dishwasher or fold that last load of laundry.

  5. I just read these tips the other day on how to get up early (God knows I need all the help I can get — I don’t consider myself a night owl OR a morning person, LOL!). Supposedly it’s helpful to plan an exciting breakfast to look forward to, sleep in total darkness (melatonin is produced in the dark), drink a big glass of water before bed, choose the right blanket (best sleep temp is 62-70 degrees F), schedule your most important plans for in the morning (so you’re excited to get to it), turn off your phone and of course put the alarm across the room so you can’t snooze. 😉 You can also buy these cool alarm clock vibrating rings that are designed to wake you up without disturbing those around you. Sounds like an amazing invention to me… Good luck!!

    • Has any company manufactured those rings yet? We NEED them. My husband snoozes his noisy alarm for more than an hour, we are all awake before he finally leaves the bed… >.<

  6. I have been trying for weeks to get up at 5 am to try and get a morning workout routine going (and just in the basement…no driving even). My little guy wakes up at 5:45/6a so it isn’t THAT much earlier but I just can’t do it! Even wear my workout clothes to bed. It’s all mental and I can’t do it just because I know I could sleep that much more.

  7. Do not be so hard on yourself! It is two different kinds of people and one cannot change places with the other. This is like extroverts vs. introverts, you can try as hard as you like but, at the end, your nature is your nature. I always have a good laugh when somebody brag about how early they wake up and end up confessing the go to sleep with their kids. At the end it is the same, we use some of the sleep hours of our kids to get things done!
    By the way:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/night-owl-benefits_n_5877272.html
    Night owls and proud! 😉

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