Morning Rush

Mornings around here are rough. Because whether you want to recognize it or not, I am personally unaware of any doctor who is in their home after the hour of 7:00 am. In our house, probably because he is a resident, he leaves for pre-rounds at 5:45 am. Guess who isn't up at 5:45 am and who sometimes isn't up at 7:00 am?

Today that person wasn't up until 7:50 am. I have been feeling awful lately. It's this persistent cold. It has me feeling beat up and the baby isn't doing well either. She can't clear her throat the way I can. She can't blow her nose the way I can. She sounds awful, so she and I slept together last night, which means there wasn't much sleeping going on. At one point in the night my husband asked me to move over. I wanted to  smack him and say go sleep on the couch. But I didn't. I suppose I could have but I can't very well sleep on a couch with a baby. I did that for one night on my trip out of state. It wasn't comfortable.

I should add, the only reason I was up at 7:50 am is that I heard my children running, literally running, around the living room, which is right outside my bedroom door and squealing. We have some basic rules in our house that my children continue to disregard. The first, and perhaps the most important is that when you wake up please get dressed. This is really important for my 1st grader who needs to be at the bus at 8:00 am. Regardless of how important it is to me, he fails to keep it. When I staggered out of my room prepared to get him breakfast I shouldn't have been surprised that he was still in his pajamas. I shouldn't have been surprised that he blamed his sisters for his disobedience. He expects me to believe that his 3 and 5 year old sisters are bullying him? I don't buy it and he knows it isn't true.

I am concerned with his lack of respect for our rules and for his refusal to accept responsibility for his actions. These are the kind of morning battles that make me wish I had a second person in the ring with me. For starters that person would probably be up before me and could get things started. Instead, I wake up to the sounds of a party outside my bedroom door, still tired, and ready to pounce. Then I see small people who, not for a lack of time, thought it unnecessary to do the one thing I ask of them every morning. Our mornings always start off rough. I wish they didn't.

I know I could help things out by going to bed earlier, and I try - but that is the only time I get to spend with the DrH. I could wake up earlier, but that would require going to bed earlier. I just wish they would listen. Or I wish that DrH had the kind of job that allowed him to be here in the morning so he could deal with them. In reality, I wouldn't want him here every morning, just some mornings. Some days I just don't have it in me.

Today we learned about consequences (again). You don't get breakfast until you are dressed. By the time he got dressed it was time to go to the bus. No breakfast at the table. Lucky for him I made muffins last night so he had something to take with him to the bus. He is really lucky that I didn't go crazy with consequences. While he was getting dressed I made him lunch. I should have made him eat the hot lunch at school (shells and cheese) that would have been the ultimate consequence and one he probably would  have remembered for a long time. He does not eat mac n cheese - ever!

One morning I would like to wake up a nice mom, and not mean mom. I guess it's a good thing the DrH isn't here to see it.