Your morning routine as a WOHM - Page 2

[JL83]

Our schedule changes depending on the day.

But, I can't imagine getting out of bed "early" just to help DH. He's perfectly competent to get DD up and dressed on days I work from home and he takes her to daycare. I'm not going to get out of bed to "help" him. And he would never ask. That would just be ridiculous.

Some days, he's up and out of the house before DD and I wake up, and then I'm the one who has to get up her up and out of the house all by myself.

OP, I'm really not sure what you're upset about. If he doesn't need to be up, why would he get up? I don't understand that. Maybe it's that our 3yo still wakes multiple times during the night many nights, but we covet our sleep around here. If one of us can catch an extra 30 minutes, that's gold.

[GuildJenn]

Right now ours is something like -

5:45 am - I get up (alarm), shower, get dressed
6:15-6:30 - somewhere in there my son gets up and he and I cuddle and read and hang out and make breakfast
7 am - by this time my husband is up
7-7:15 - we have breakfast together
7:25 - I walk out the door leaving behind dishes, a pyjama-clad son, and my DH, and he takes over from there

Sometimes, esp when nighttimes are crazy, we all get up at 6:30 for a longer meal together.

[NYCVeg]

Dh and I both work outside the home; we both have jobs with some general flexibility, but also a lot of scheduled meetings and so on. Our individual schedules vary a lot from week to week.

We generally get up at around 6:30. I shower first. Dh puts a video on for dd (she gets to watch 30 mins a day of TV, and she usually chooses to have it in the morning when we're getting ready) and does the dishes from the night before.

He showers while I dress and dry my hair. By this point, dd is done with her video. I get dd dressed and pack her lunch, while dh gets himself dressed and cooks breakfast.

If there's time left before we have to go, we play with dd or straighten up. Most days, we drop dd off at school together, and then dh walks from her school to the train while I drive to work. If I have an afternoon meeting or something (usually once or twice a week), dh will drop me at work first, then dd at school, and then pick her up in the afternoon so I can stay late.

[JessieBird]

The only way it works for us is for DH to have his very specific tasks every day. We spelled it all out and practiced for a few weeks before I went back to work. I orchestrated it this way because, if our roles weren't so clearly defined, I know everything would land primarily on me and I'd have to ask for help on an as-needed basis and this would drive me out of my mind. I am just awful in the morning and trying to get myself and baby out of the house is so stressful to me so this is how we've worked it out:

5:45 I get up, make coffee/breakfast, feed the animals, shower, blowdry, get dressed
6:30 I wake DH up so that he can shower and get dressed, I climb back in bed (in my work clothes) to snuggle and nurse DS
7:00 I'm out the door and DH takes over getting DS ready for the day
7:45 DH and DS leave for day care

I leave work at 3:30, pick DS up and we're home by 4:30. DH rarely gets home before 6:30 so I handle most evening duties on my own which is fine with me. It's best that I do the cooking.

I'm surprised to see how many women here leave early and let their partners be in charge of morning duty. We're unique among our IRL friends but it works really well for us.

[NaturalMindedMomma]

I'm a single mom and currently interviewing. I am so not looking forward to a crazy morning routine again. Expecially since I have bitty one (5 months old) who hates bottles and only mama will do. Daycare is going to be a ROUGH transition for her especially. I just keep telling myself it will all work out...

Just reading your routines

[sweetest]

5:30 DH & I get up. I get in the shower, he feeds the animals (non-human) and makes coffee

5:45 - 6:15 I get my clothes on while dh showers

6:30 I get dd up and dh gets dressed and then makes breakfast for him and dd while I pack lunches and suck down coffee. I make sure there is something out for dinner.

7:00 Dh leaves for work, I do my hair & makeup . Dd walks the dog and takes care of her guinea pig, then brushes her teeth & combs her hair

7:20 put shoes on, put pets away, make beds, gather bags for school & work

7:45 get in the car


Our morning routine just fell into place. It is much easier now that dd can dress herself. She comes into my room as I finish dressing and we have some "girl time" to talk in the morning.

[Teenytoona]

I wish it felt less hectic, but here's our routine:

DH wakes up (alarm clock free) somewhere between 3:30 and 5, showers and then starts some work in his office.

I wake up somewhere between that time (no later than 5) and either workout or get a few things done (if I get out of bed closer to 3:30), or just get into the shower (at five). After the shower, I will usually do some chores (like putting laundry away) that I don't have any other time to do.

By 6 I wake up the big kids (ages 7 and 10) and have them start getting ready. Sometime between 6 and 6:30 DD will wake up. Or I wake her up purposefully by 6:15 so she can have her morning "latte" because she cannot wake up without nursing. This is usually her longest nursing session of the day and it takes time. Sometime around then, DH will finish up in his office and join in the assistance of readying baby. (I nurse her, he dresses her).

The big kids start breakfast on their own, or sometimes DH or I will get down there early and start cooking something. We have the kids buy their lunch at school to cut down on the morning madness.

We get downstairs between 6:30 and 7 (it varies that much), to pack lunches for DH and I and somehow we all eat breakfast. We need to be out the door at 7 - 7:10 but sometimes it's way later. DH drops off the kids at the babysitter's house, because his commute is shorter. Once we get some serious snow, that's going to be a difficult matter to work around.

Some mornings it feels like just enough time, other mornings I swear we need like 3 more hours.

Then when we get home, nighttime is another similar run-around. Sometimes seeming leisurely and other times feeling like there's no time.

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

I work a blend of shifts so there are only 3 days that we both work a traditional workday. On those days, he is out the door by 6:30 or 7:00 and I have my alarm set for 7:00. I get up and take a bath. If the kids haven't gotten out of bed by the time I get out, I wake them up. DH usually leaves an outfit out for them and they are old enough to get ready on their own. If it's a day I'm packing lunch or snack, I do it while I'm packing my own. Both kids have chores, too - DS takes dogs out and brings them back in and DD packs her diabetes bag and does her morning pokey. We leave at 8:00 for drop-off at 8:15 and I head to work for my 9:00 shift.

The only issue we have is the kids actually getting ready. My son, being a perfectly typical 7 year old boy can dawdle like nobody's business. He, in turn, slows down my daughter because his playing is more fun than her getting ready. New rule is no TV and no computer until you are completely ready, including socks on, hair combed and teeth brushed. Since it's winter, shoes or boots don't have to be on but they have to be found and put by the door - in the non salt and ice and sludge days, they had to have them on. I give a 5 minute warning 8 minutes before I leave. Anyone not ready in 5 is TV-free for the day. Son is now ready on time every day, as is daughter.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

I cannot imagine doing the morning routine without help. On the rare occassions when DH is travelling or had to be super early to something, the mornings are much much harder. We have, over the years, developed a routine where we both have our tasks in the morning and it generally works pretty well. While DH would never choose to wake up as early as we do (and doesn't on Saturday which is fine), here is what we have settled on:

5:45 -- Alarm
6 -- DH out of bed and into shower. Me out of bed and downstairs to make lunches.
6:15 -- DH downstairs to make coffee and empty dishwasher and put out breakfast, me upstairs to shower
6:30 -- Wake up kids
6:45 -- Family breakfast
7 or 7:10 -- All upstairs to get dressed
7;30 -- Everyone out the door, me to work, DH drops kids at school then goes to his office

For that to work, several things happen the night before:
* Kids check/pack backpacks -- any special items/needs packed & ready
* Clothing is selected, ironed, put out (kids wear uniforms but all parts must be put out night before so there are no last minute searches)
* Lunch boxes emptied and cleaned

When the kids were littler DH did more while I nursed or fed a baby.