Starting the day off right

I am a functional morning person. Meaning I don't jump out of bed smiling saying, "hello world", but I am usually able to get up and moving fairly easily. I have noticed lately that how the day starts sets the tone for the rest of the day. It is hard to recover from a frustrating morning.

About half the time Nolan wakes up before we do and he is grumpy. The best we can figure is he really isn't done sleeping, but wakes up because he is hungry. (what else this is Nolan we are talking about!) He is just impossible. He wants everything in the kitchen but isn't satisfied with it. You give him a bowl of cereal; he wants more milk in it. You give him a cup of milk; he wants juice. You give him a bannana; he takes one bite and wants mandarin oranges. And of course these wants are not expressed quietly they are stated with kicking and screaming. Fortunetly, for me, Tim deals with most of these early morning fits, but it does wake me up and I listen to the whole thing. Occaisonaly, I have to go out to "relieve" Tim as he also likes his quiet morning time and has lost all patience with Nolan. This is not starting off the day right!

I found there are two keys for me to start the day off right. First, I have to get up before the kids. (even on Nolans good days!) If Kellen gets up first it isn't too bad. He can get his own breakfast and will sit and read until I force him to get moving, but the other three "NEED" me. I need 1/2 an hour to be alone. There is no set thing I want to do then, sometimes read, check emails, make coffee, pray, start laundry, or whatever. I just want a bit of time to wake up and do what I want or need to do to get the day started.

The other thing I need is to have the house be decent. Now I have pretty low standards for what that means. I don't think our whole house has been clean since we moved. It has been company clean! :) Which means presentable except for our bedroom/bath, somehow I never quite get to that when getting ready for company. But to start the morning off right I need to be able to walk through the house without tripping on toys. The dishes need to be done. There is nothing more depressing to me than starting the day off with a counter of dishes to do! Having the kitchen floor swept is pretty high up there too, but if that doesn't happen slippers help!

Sounds like a simple plan to start the day off right. It rarely happens, especially the getting up first part. But today was one of those days and it has been a great day. I was up before all the kids. Not because I got up early mind you, but because they slept late. The house was decent. I was able to unload the dishwasher, start laundry and check email before any kids were up! Nolan woke up happy and cuddly. Vivian slept until 9:30. (probably b/c Nolan didn't go in there and bug her.) School went easily, we all spent time outside and Vivian was the most content she has been in weeks! No, it wasn't a perfect day as always there was bickering, mouthing, spills, yelling, prodding and the usual stuff, but it was not as frustrating as it sometimes is. Now how do I get the kids to sleep in tomorrow?!