Wednesday, May 18, 2011

early to rise

want some more words of wisdom from 'that book' I've been reading?? it's gonna be hard for me to not just write this ENTIRE chapter because I loved it so much. And I love it so much more because of the last few days I've had.
"Become an Early Riser.
So many people wake up, rush to get ready, and charge out the door for work. After working all day, they return home, tired. The same is usually true for men and women who stay at home with their children; They get up just in time to start doing things for the kids. There is virtually no time for anything else. Whether you work, raise a family, or both, for the most part you are too tired to enjoy any time left for you. Surely there must be more to life than work, children, and sleep! Contrary to popular logic, a little less sleep and a little more time for you might be just what you need to combat your sense of fatigue. An hour or two that is reserved just for you-- before your day begins-- is an incredible way to improve your life."

AMEN. On and off since I've had kids, I will change my routine in order to get up before them. And after I had Veda, I had decided that after she was waking up at a semi-consistant time in the morning, and sleeping in her room, that I would begin that again. Veda has been in her crib for almost a week-- and also sleeping until at least 6:30 in the morning. And now that I am FINALLY starting to feel better from my never-ending flu/cold/ear infection, I've started getting up early. IT IS AWESOME. I can't even begin to explain how much better my day goes. Dave and I are on the last 4 weeks of Insanity, so the workouts are longer (and crazy harder). So I've been getting up at 5 and working out for an hour, plus getting my shower and hair done before the kids wake up. It makes me so happy. Today I even had another half hour before Veda woke up, so I was able to get breakfast done and cleaned up before starting Veda's day. My kitchen is already clean- instead of at 3 in the afternoon. My morning usually revolved around when I can take a shower. I am NOT a mom that can wait until later to shower. Even 8 am seems late for me to jump in the shower. I know that this is only the 3rd day of me doing this, but hopefully I can keep it up. It makes my day so much better. Me and the kids were all DRESSED by 8 am. awesome.

The book is called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson. Don't laugh... it's good :)

And a picture of Hendrix so this post isn't picture-less. This was last summer on Jason and Christy's boat.

4 comments:

Jenifer Koyle said...

lol I am laughing as im reading this because I wait until Kirsten comes into the room and wakes me up. (dont worry we close all the doors upstairs so the only place she can go is to our room) But Dustin works nights again so he doesnt get up until around 11. It makes it that much harder to get up when your husband is sleeping. Ive noticed that if I take a nice relaxing bath at night it helps my getting ready cuz im already clean and I dont have to worry about waking up Dustin or showering in the spare shower. The post sounds like a great idea... but my husband would kill me haha

cc said...

I don't know, I think some people are just morning people Amber :) I've tried many times to adjust my sleeping schedule, but it never works for me to go to bed before Brian, and if I did, we'd never spend any time together. I do wish I could shift everything by a couple hours, but I need more sleep than he does so it feels like a losing battle. And Elliott is really resisting sleeping on his own in the mornings - I think it will be better once we fix that.

Emily said...

Amber,
Let me tell you- it rocks! I get more craft projects done at 6:00 AM, more cleaning done than you can imagine and tons of laundry started before anyone wakes up. I get my blogging fix early in the morning and enjoy the quiet for a LONG time. it keeps me sain. Although 4:45 (and lots of 3:45 AM's lately) is kinda early, I look forward to time just for me before the 7:00 AM rush begins. Hope you can keep it up!

I was painting my fireplace at 6:00 AM this morning and was laughing at myself- but it was great, the paint got to dry before little hands messed it all up!

Mom said...

I will NEVER get up at 4:00 am for this on days I work but I may try harder to get my shower, make-up, hair and exercise done earlier on my days off. I do think "me" time does rejuvenate the soul when life gets too busy. I already do 'early to rise' since I have to get up so early on days I work and don't want to get too far off schedule. Good luck all you young moms.... it gets easier eventually.