Mornings are the bane of my existence

My whole life, my mom always worked.

It wasn’t until I was a little bit older that I started to realize some moms didn’t. That was foreign to me. I always knew I would work when I grew up. I didn’t know as what, just knew I would. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with staying home; I just knew I couldn’t do it. I love my children greatly, but I’m a better version of myself as a mom because I work. Being a mom that works outside the home, though, adds complication to our lives without question. Mornings are nothing short of a three-ring circus. My husband has to go to work quite early, so I’m essentially on my own. Luckily, living in a multi-generational household, my mom can usually come down and at least sit with the kids while I put make-up on, so they’re not completely alone. Having a 6 year old and a 2 year old, though, just means that nothing ever goes as planned. Ever.

I would think after 2 ½ years of getting them both ready every morning that we’d have a rhythm, but no. They like to change it up on me just to keep it interesting. The usual problems are that my 6 year old daughter may not like some or all of her outfit; my 2 year old son may just not want to get dressed at all, preferring to continue playing with his trucks; they may decide as we’re walking out the door that they do in fact want to eat the breakfast that was prepared for them; they may make me drag them out the door kicking and screaming, literally, along with the other number of things that have to get out the door with us daily. It’s unusual to not have at least 3 of those things happen every morning in addition to others that I just can’t think of right now!

Then, if we can make it through the 45 or so minutes of turmoil that is getting the kids ready to go, we MIGHT make the bus.

This begins a whole new set of problems. We live in the country, so the bus doesn’t stop at our house. It stops at the end of the road. Getting the kids in and buckled is never easy. Often, recently, I’ve had to carry my 2 year old out to the car with all of our stuff (because I REFUSE to make 2 trips) and then fight to get him into his car seat. In the midst of getting him out of the house, his pacifier and lovey (a plush puppy) have been shoved into his backpack so we don’t leave them behind. Which, of course, would create a whole other set of problems. Because they’re in his bag, though, he wants them NOW. I can’t buckle him in until they’re in his hands. Does he need them? No. I’d better give them to him if I want to avoid a 2-year-old tantrum, though.

The puppy that is the cause of so much turmoil in my life, but so much comfort in my son’s.

In the meantime, it’s entirely possible I’ve seen the bus stop at the house in the clearing across the way. There may or may not be one more stop before they get to our stop. It depends on if the family in between the first stop and ours has had a better morning than us.

Now I get in and I back out of the driveway. We should be good to go, right? Sometimes. Sometimes we make the bus and the other drop off and my commute go rather well. Not always, though. We’ll get up to the end of the road and the bus has gotten most of the kids onto the bus and despite us being there most mornings, the bus driver still doesn’t recognize us getting out of the vehicle and drives away.   This throws my daughter into a tailspin, which gets my son all amped up. There are two other places we can catch the bus (my son’s daycare and a place where 2 buses meet to swap kids), but it comes much later in those 2 locations. If we miss the bus, I know I’m going to get to work later than I like to and I hate that.

A good morning, we caught the bus!

I am resigned, by then though, because I know there’s nothing left I can do. My son is going through this phase where he doesn’t want to be dropped off at daycare. He’s fine within seconds of my leaving, but it still makes it hard and it makes me sad. Once I leave, depending on how late we are, we can either wait for the bus at the end of the daycare provider’s road, or we can drive to the place where the 2 buses meet to catch her correct bus.

Every morning when I wake up, it’s anybody’s guess as to how it’s going to go. And even once you get a taste of how things are starting, don’t assume that’s how they’ll stay because the kids can change it on you in a moment’s notice.

I’m glad I work, I know it’s best for me and my kids, but I do hope one day I figure out how to make mornings a little more routine. It’s likely a pipe dream.

Do my mornings sound like ones you’ve experienced? What challenges do you stay at home moms have when it comes to mornings?