My Mama Morning Routine and Free Morning Routine Checklist

Having a stay-at-home-mom morning routine with a baby that starts you off on a productive foot is no small feat. Last year, I wrote about my struggle with getting started for the day and how I developed a morning routine to combat the feeling of chaos and exhaustion.

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. 

So, I chose to give myself some grace and embrace the new season.

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Gentle Newborn Routines to Strengthen Your Bond with Baby

My third trimester was filled with anxiety, and then depression ascended, and my days ebbed and flowed. Panic, anxiety, and a never ending list of tasks led into a spiral of inner thoughts that convinced me my husband and unborn child would thrive if they had a different woman in the house.

Someone more efficient, more cheerful, more kind.  Don't get me wrong, I did a LOT to reduce my stress during pregnancy, but postpartum depression and anxiety still found a way to meet me in my newfound motherhood. 

By week 3, my husband went back to work, and family wouldn't be making another visit for awhile.

I was facing my first week alone with my baby during the day, and I was scared. 

What if I get frustrated? What if we don’t bond? What if I make a mistake because I’m too tired? My mind kept thinking a schedule would protect her, but I knew it was impossible to schedule a newborn.

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3 Simple Ways to Worship God with Your Toddler

We've been doing family devotions at home with Anna since she was about 12 months old, and I wish we had started sooner!

Not only does our 3-step approach allow God time to minister to my heart and my husband's heart when we were otherwise skipping over family devotional time, but it lays a foundation for our daughter to know God's love for her.

Family Devotions at Home with a Toddler

There's not much to it. The best part? It takes 5-10 minutes and can be achieved in three easy steps:

1. Sing a song of praise
2. Read a bible verse out loud
3. Say a prayer

Sing a song of praise

We are lucky that my husband plays guitar. In fact, his talent for music is, what I believe, a blessing from God, but he has gone years without playing it. The act of doing this with our daughter has brought his guitar out of its case on a daily basis.

Matt and I will pick a song for the week and sing it every day with Anna. Sometimes, it's a favorite hymn. Sometimes, it's as simple as Jesus Loves Me.

The point is that we are worshiping together, and God loves that, no matter how simple the song.

If you don't play an instrument, play a recording of the song and sing along!

I recommend doing this step first as most toddlers can't resist a good song and opportunity to get the wiggles out.

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Preparing for Baby: How I Reduced Stress During Pregnancy

Stress during pregnancy is inevitable, especially if you're a first time mom, and I had my fair share of it. With so many life changes hitting me all at once (like moving to another state, selling our home, quitting my job, and having a baby for the first time), I was having a hard time handling the transitions. 

More than ever, I needed to figure out how to reduce stress during my pregnancy not only for my own sanity, but for the health and well being of our baby. 

When I was pregnant, I ended up developing a mood disorder that remained with me six months postpartum and was officially diagnosed as Postpartum Depression and Anxiety. During my pregnancy, it manifested itself in severe anxiety that often left me struggling to sleep at night, not knowing when the next panic attack would show up.

How I Reduced Stress During Pregnancy

1. Limit Daily To-Do List to Three Essentials

When I would share that I was struggling with anxiety, a few people said it was normal during pregnancy, that hormones are just all over the place, but Matt and I knew that something was off. I know for some, they just wanted to help me feel better about what I was going through, but often, I left the conversations feeling misunderstood.

In the end, it was my concern for my baby that put me in front of a therapist. I wanted her to have a healthy mother.

The therapist helped me give myself permission to relax. We looked at what was causing me severe anxiety and she helped give me the tools I needed to handle it in healthier ways.

One of the areas of anxiety for me was being overwhelmed with the amount of tasks and chores I felt I needed to be doing, so one of the tools my therapist helped me with was to limit my daily to-do list to three essential things where one of those essentials needed to involve some kind of self care.

For me, those three essentials were getting out of the apartment, preparing for the baby, and completing a house task (like dusting or doing laundry)

I would also add some lavender essential oil to my diffuser during the day and have it on while I completed my tasks to help me stay calm and relaxed.

Tip: If you have a scent that you associate with happy memories, find a way to have it near you throughout your day whether you wear the scent or burn a scented candle. For me, my cousin gifted me a lavender scented moisturizer that I also used on my honeymoon. Ever since, lavender has been my signature scent that transports me to a joyful and peaceful time.

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A Legacy of Grief or a Legacy of Joy: My Battle with Postpartum Depression and Anxiety

There is fury and despair beneath the surface of my soul and it will get out if one more thing goes wrong.

And it always does.

I am afraid. I am sad. I am no one. I am nothing.

These phrases were on repeat in my head during my pregnancy, and they slithered into the first few months of Anna's life, robbing me of joy. Robbing me of all the hopes and ideas and stories I dreamt of whispering to her.

I lived this way for over a year.

For over a year, I smiled and nodded through finding out I was pregnant, quitting my job, moving, and navigating a new city.

For over a year, I smiled and nodded when people asked how I was doing.

But bubbling under the surface were lies, fears, and paranoia. They took over me, distorting my thoughts away from what was good.

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How to Find Joy in your Morning Routine with a Baby

In my mind I can see the mother I want to be and when I wake in the morning, she is not there.

I am exhausted. Everything aches and I am resenting my daughter for needing me. I am jealous of my husband who gets to drive to work in silence. I am bitter from the memory of mornings spent in solitude and hot coffee.

I am not a morning person.

But the moment I entered motherhood, I was called to something greater and this morning grouch was not the woman my husband and daughter deserved.

In my selfishness, God met me through the giving heart of my husband who makes me breakfast everyday and tells me to forget the dishes when the baby naps and do something I find fulfilling.

So with my husband's lead, I set out to create a structured routine for my mornings. After all, our bedtime routine with the baby works so well, even the dog knows all the steps.

I wanted to see if it was possible to have a stay at home mom morning routine that not only fulfilled my personal needs, but also pushed me to find order and peace at the start of my day. 

I found myself in need of the mental energy to manage the house, devote time to my daughter, and pursue a project. 

So I asked myself: What is it about my mornings that leave me zapped before 9AM hits?

Here's what wasn't working:

• I wasn't showering until Anna's first nap
• The kitchen was left in a disaster until noon
• I wasn't spending time in God's word
• No time to myself

Once I saw the pain points, I made a list of five solutions I wanted to achieve in the morning that could help alleviate some of those problems.

Those 5 solutions were:

1. Eat breakfast as a family
2. Read a devotional
3. Listen to a podcast
4. Unload the dishwasher
5. Get out of the house

I found that I was already doing some of those things. We were already eating breakfast together and when we moved into our rental home, I started going for walks with Anna every morning. All I had to do was figure out where I could fit the rest in.

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10 Newborn Essentials We Needed After the Baby Arrived

Before Anna was born, newborn essentials meant finding the most beautiful-yet-comfortable-welcome home outfit for our little baby.

It also meant countless hours of finding the safest-yet-affordable-yet-stylish baby gear.

While I'm happy to say all of our baby gear selections turned out to be great for us, I still had no idea what daily life was going to be like. Once we got home from the hospital and lived a week or two with our little baby, there were definitely a few key items we were scrambling to acquire after we brought the baby home.

If you're looking for a beautifully curated collection of perfectly matching items, this isn't the place to find them.  If you're looking for a post providing a million research-backed analysis on baby items, this isn't the place for that either. The following items were purchased out of exhaustion and desperation. These items are no-fuss and served us well in our need to problem solve on a whim.

Here's a list of 10 newborn essentials we bought after we brought Anna home

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases through some of the links in this post. Thank you so much for supporting me!

1. Seventh Generation Diapers

We started out with Pampers Swaddlers for sensitive skin, but around 1 month, we noticed a heavy duty rash appear no matter how clean we kept her. By accident, we ended up with a huge supply of Seventh Generation diapers which we didn't like at first as the newborn size was huge on her, but they turned out to be the only diapers that didn't irritate her as we fought night and day to get the diaper rash to go away. These diapers were also the most affordable disposable option in terms of bleach-free, all natural materials.

2. Aquaphor Baby Healing Ointment

To help ease the diaper rash, we use Aquaphor. No fuss ingredients and it keeps moisture at bay without drying her skin. One tub got us through 2 months and for at least one month, we were applying it at every diaper change.

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Our Newborn's 5 Favorite Baby Books

I come from a family of book lovers and storytellers. My parents were always reading, and looking back, I find myself incredibly lucky to have witnessed them not only enjoy reading to me, but reading for fun on their own too.

My mother had shelves and trunks filled with books on nearly every subject from Colonial Williamsburg to Japanese cooking.  My father always had a book in the car and it would accompany him in waiting rooms or even to the movie theater right before they dim the lights for the previews.

Both of my grandmothers were filled with folk lore and rhymes, and aunts and uncles on both sides shared their favorite tales with me and my cousins. It was only natural that I chose to go to school for writing; after all, my love for a good story is in my bones.

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The First Time: A Birth Story

The apartment is quiet and we are slow dancing to Tchaikovsky in the living room. Your little arm fits just so around my shoulder; your little head rests in the crook of my neck as you gaze out the window. You are six weeks old, and I am crying.

I'm thinking about my grandmother, your namesake. It is hard to explain to others how you embody her, for it is her character, her expression that lives in you and only those who knew her well can spot it. She was story come to life and as a storyteller, I am haunted by what I cannot provide for you: a story with a beginning, middle and end of how you came to be.

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