The biggest takeaway? Carving out some time for self-care.
Holidays, changing weather, and a baby growing into a toddler caused my morning routine to eventually slip up, but the beauty of a routine is that they are allowed to shift, to evolve, to change completely.
Over time, I've found that there are a few constants to set me up for a productive day. Develop your own morning routine with my tips, or print out my fill-in-the-blank free morning routine checklist at the end of this post.
However, Matt and I decided to set our alarm clocks for 5:45 to see if we can handle that. Matt will get a shower, I open up the First 5 app, an amazing and free resource to help you connect with God's Word during the first five minutes of your day.
Right now, I'm going through the study on Ezra and Nehemiah. I love the format of reading a passage, the in-depth commentary, and then a short prayer related to the reading is provided along with a thought provoking question to help me reflect as I go on with my morning. There's even a link to additional commentary if you have the time.
What You Can Do: If an app isn't your thing, I highly recommend Pressing Pause: 100 Quiet Moments for Moms to Meet with Jesus. Each daily devotional is short, with a sample prayer, and a few questions for you to ponder. My own mother gave it to me for Mother's Day this year and it has been such a wonderful motherhood themed devotional to have in my basket.
What You Can Do: From setting a glass of water by your bedside the night before and drinking it first thing in the morning to taking a shower and brushing your hair, do whatever you need to do to feel refreshed and healthy.
Take-One-For-the-Team Task: Once I'm ready to go downstairs, I do what I call a "take one for team task." I fill up our laundry basket with a load of dirty clothes and take it to the laundry room to start a load of laundry.
Make-Me-Sane Task: I used to unload the dishwasher before I did anything else in the morning, but I've learned to stop stressing about that especially since Anna doesn't need bottles anymore. Don't get me wrong, it still needs to be done every morning to save my sanity for the rest of the day, but now I just do it like a normal person: after breakfast.
What You Can do: Chances are you are "taking one for the team" ALL DAY LONG, but hear me out: when you have a specific one of theses tasks built into your day, knowing it's coming and knowing it will get done sometimes makes it a little less annoying.
For me, it's laundry, but for you it might be making your husband's lunch. Assign a task you do that a family member or the family as a whole benefits from in the morning, ESPECIALLY if it usually gets done at a more stressful time of the day.
Make-Me-Sane tasks are tasks that need to get done to prevent your from losing IT. Usually these are tasks that, if not handled early on, create a domino effect of disastrous proportions later in the day.
For me, it's the freaking dishwasher. For you, it might be the folded laundry that will sit on the sofa all day and get trampled by the toddler and the dog if it doesn't get brought upstairs.
Eating together also allows us to review the day's events and to-dos.
What You Can Do: I understand that not everyone has the ability to eat breakfast as a family in the morning due to work schedules, etc, but if you're all awake and in the house, I would encourage you to eat together. Delegate to other members of the family if possible. Maybe your husband's work schedule doesn't allow for him to cook breakfast or even eat breakfast with you, but can he start the coffee at least? Can he get the toddler in the high chair?
If he's out the door before the kid is awake, can you guys enjoy a cup of coffee together? Just find a way to connect with someone in your family on a personal level.
What You Can Do: If you're interested in what Family Worship Time looks like for us, I wrote about what we do and even created a downloadable guide with a month's worth of Bible verses, songs, and activities you can do with a toddler.
So, I chose to give myself some grace and embrace the new season.
1. Time with God
My spiritual walk is really important to me and I've really let it slip. While I wish I could wake up an hour before Anna, it just doesn't work out. She wakes up between 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning, and I have a hard time getting up before then.However, Matt and I decided to set our alarm clocks for 5:45 to see if we can handle that. Matt will get a shower, I open up the First 5 app, an amazing and free resource to help you connect with God's Word during the first five minutes of your day.
Right now, I'm going through the study on Ezra and Nehemiah. I love the format of reading a passage, the in-depth commentary, and then a short prayer related to the reading is provided along with a thought provoking question to help me reflect as I go on with my morning. There's even a link to additional commentary if you have the time.
What You Can Do: If an app isn't your thing, I highly recommend Pressing Pause: 100 Quiet Moments for Moms to Meet with Jesus. Each daily devotional is short, with a sample prayer, and a few questions for you to ponder. My own mother gave it to me for Mother's Day this year and it has been such a wonderful motherhood themed devotional to have in my basket.
2. Build Self-Care into your Morning Routine
Once my husband is out of the shower, here's how I incorporate self-care into my mornings:- pull up a podcast
- weigh myself
- take a shower
- get dressed
- drink a glass of water
What You Can Do: From setting a glass of water by your bedside the night before and drinking it first thing in the morning to taking a shower and brushing your hair, do whatever you need to do to feel refreshed and healthy.
3. Morning Routine Tasks
Making the bed: This is the best way to get an immediate result of a tidier bedroom, so I try to do this every morning. I also open the curtains to let in natural light and do the same in Anna's room (she's usually awake by this time and downstairs getting breakfast ready with Matt).Take-One-For-the-Team Task: Once I'm ready to go downstairs, I do what I call a "take one for team task." I fill up our laundry basket with a load of dirty clothes and take it to the laundry room to start a load of laundry.
Make-Me-Sane Task: I used to unload the dishwasher before I did anything else in the morning, but I've learned to stop stressing about that especially since Anna doesn't need bottles anymore. Don't get me wrong, it still needs to be done every morning to save my sanity for the rest of the day, but now I just do it like a normal person: after breakfast.
What You Can do: Chances are you are "taking one for the team" ALL DAY LONG, but hear me out: when you have a specific one of theses tasks built into your day, knowing it's coming and knowing it will get done sometimes makes it a little less annoying.
For me, it's laundry, but for you it might be making your husband's lunch. Assign a task you do that a family member or the family as a whole benefits from in the morning, ESPECIALLY if it usually gets done at a more stressful time of the day.
Make-Me-Sane tasks are tasks that need to get done to prevent your from losing IT. Usually these are tasks that, if not handled early on, create a domino effect of disastrous proportions later in the day.
For me, it's the freaking dishwasher. For you, it might be the folded laundry that will sit on the sofa all day and get trampled by the toddler and the dog if it doesn't get brought upstairs.
4. Breakfast with the Family
I'm truly blessed to have a husband that makes everyone breakfast first thing in the morning. This wonderful act of service allows me the alone time my introvert-heart craves and the ability to take care of myself so I'm set up for a day of productivity.Eating together also allows us to review the day's events and to-dos.
What You Can Do: I understand that not everyone has the ability to eat breakfast as a family in the morning due to work schedules, etc, but if you're all awake and in the house, I would encourage you to eat together. Delegate to other members of the family if possible. Maybe your husband's work schedule doesn't allow for him to cook breakfast or even eat breakfast with you, but can he start the coffee at least? Can he get the toddler in the high chair?
If he's out the door before the kid is awake, can you guys enjoy a cup of coffee together? Just find a way to connect with someone in your family on a personal level.
5. Get the kid(s) dressed/diaper changed
After breakfast, we all go upstairs and I get Anna dressed and changed for the day while Matt finishes getting ready for work.6. Family worship time
Once everyone's ready, we head downstairs for what we call Family Worship Time. This little 5 minute sliver of our morning has turned into one of my most favorite things we do as a family. Matt takes out his guitar, Anna finds a musical instrument and we sing a song of praise to God. Then, we gather as a family and Matt says a short prayer.What You Can Do: If you're interested in what Family Worship Time looks like for us, I wrote about what we do and even created a downloadable guide with a month's worth of Bible verses, songs, and activities you can do with a toddler.
Refresh Your Own Morning Routine
My mama morning routine, in its simplest state, consists of 6 steps:- Spend time with God
- Self Care
- Make the Bed
- Make-Me-Sane Task
- Take-One-For-The-Team Task
- Family Time
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