Day 2 | Mornings

4:30 am   Clickety clack, clickety clack

“Nash go lay down”

4:40 am  Clickety clack, clickety clack
“What time is it?”

4:45 am  Clickety clack, clickety clack- whimper- nose whistle
“Shhhhhhh”

4:56 am  Clickety clack, clickety clack- whimper- nose whistle- radio alarm
“Can we do a snooze?”

5:05 am  Clickety clack, clickety clack- whimper- nose whistle- radio alarm
And I’m up.

Not sure why we even have an alarm clock since the dog has been waking us up every morning for the past 12 years.  He paces the hardwood floors most of the night but it is loudest in the morning. Most people ask why we just don’t cover the floor with rugs so that we can’t hear him and my answer is the same every time. Our wood floors are beautiful. They deserve to be admired. Brian installed the hardwood floors himself. We started just in the living room and soon added each of the bedrooms. I love these floors.

5:06 am  Feed the dog
Unlock the door and while it’s opening and I hear the squeak of the hinges- reminder that we need to put some WD40 on the door- that noise will surely wake the girls. Nash gets sent out to do his morning business while I scoop one cup of Iams dog food and fill his water dish ¼ - ½ of the way full. By the time I have closed the door and turned my back to grab his dish he has already made his way back to the deck and has started the whimpering to get back in the house. He’s not fooling anyone, I know he didn’t pee.

5:09 am   Grab iPhone, close bedroom door so Brian can get some dog-tap-dancing free time , head to the bathroom to shower

5:10 am   iPhone
I spend the next 20-30 minutes on my phone. Its pretty ridiculous. I got into this habit one week when we were super busy at work and it has been a bad habit that has stuck with me every day since.
I check my emails. I have two. One for work and one for play- although the two accounts do mix a little of both work and play depending on the sender.
I check Facebook and catch up with all of the gossip and drama that went down since the last time I looked.
I catch up on my Words with Friends and Scramble with Friends games- which used to be fun until it started feeling like a second job. Current count of WWF games: 9 and SWF games: 14
I check my schedule to see what my day looks like and start to get an idea of what I should wear- dressy work clothes or going more casual with jeans.
I check my blog and the other blogs I follow.
I then finish up by emailing myself the daily morning brain dump- things I must do at work, things I need to stop at the store for, things I dont want to forget to do or research, etc.

5:38 am   Shower
I like my showers HOT. I love taking showers and love washing my hair. I fully wash and conditioner my hair every day and each of these days I remind myself that I read online that you really shouldnt wash your hair with shampoo every day and I should remember that for tomorrow. Tomorrow I will just rinse it with water but no shampoo. I forget tomorrow and tell myself to remember for tomorrow. I dont remember.

5:50 am   Process of getting ready
By far one of my least favorite tasks is drying hair. My hair never dries like it does when I am at the salon. When I am home drying my hair it frizzes up like those expanding Rice noodles. I cant figure out the drying with a round brush thing so every day I use my flat iron.

6:15 am    Chaos begins
When I am done getting ready I make my way to the bedroom to get dressed. This can either go very smoothly or it can be a horrible experience. I already have an idea of what to wear but when it goes on and I look in the mirror I make a decision within 10 seconds if this is going to work for me today or not. Fifty percent of the time it aint workin so I am back to the closet to fight the internal battle of what to wear.
By this time Hannah is either a) already sitting on the couch eating breakfast (that I made her during the 5:30 am time) b) in her room awake on her bed trying to surprise me by coming out of her room already dressed c) still sleeping in her room and not thrilled with my time-to-get-up-back-rub

6:25 am   Haileys turn
I usually have to wake Hailey each morning. Shes still in a crib so its easier to contain her however, she typically isnt awake yet. Most days she is happy when she wakes and jumps right up to meet the day.

6:27 am   Wet toast time
If Hannah is already up she is already eating. In those cases I can try to distract Hailey from the thought of food and move quickly to get kids dressed and get out of the house. If that doesnt work I am making "Wet Toast no stack" which I soon learned to be white toast, lots of butter, not folded or stacked together- these girls wanna see and taste the butter- ick!

6:45 am   Kisses, Hugs, Bones, Songs
Time to kiss and hug daddy goodbye. The dog gets a bone and the girls make their way down the deck stairs to the car. They can buckle themselves now which starts to make life a little bit easier for me. They insist on listening to tunes on the way to Jackie's. Lately the requests have been for 'I'm Sexy and I Know it', 'Fine by Me', 'What Makes you Beautiful' and 'Payphone'. Quite a taste of music for a 2 and 4 year old.

7:07 am   Start my commute
We live in Champlin but I work in St Paul. It is 29 miles from our house to my work. Somedays it takes 33 mintues and others it can take up to 60+ minutes. I worked with HealthEast before Brian and I met so this was a job I already had when I moved out here. I love my job and before we had kids the commute didn't bother me.
I am a salaried employee so there is not a scheduled time I need to arrive to work. Helps with the stressful feeling of 'need to get there on time' and as long as I am on my way I feel better- even if i feel as though we are running late. I will get there when I get there. There are about 4-5 days per month that I do have early morning meetings- 7:00, 7:30, or 8:00 am starts and on those days I am like a lunatic trying to get the kids out of the house earlier and those days that they know I wanna get out so they start moving in slow motion. Or so it seems.
Days I dont have anywhere to be are typically just what I need to start my day. More so in the spring, summer and fall when the sun roof can be open and stereo can be loud. I used to listen to talk radio- KQRS but lately I find that the people on that show are much more crabby and snippy than they used to be and I it was affecting my mood so they are gone. I listen to KFAN some mornings but its heart breaking to hear what their take is on why these Minnesota teams just can't seem to win so I have been steering clear from them as well and stick to the tunes.
My commute MUST include a cold can of Diet Coke. Can. Not bottle. And it needs to be really cold or it just doesn't taste as good.
I drive through Downtown Minneapolis on my way into work each day. For a good ten minutes I can see the downtown skyline, I pass by Target Field, the Basilica, the Sculpture Garden (you know, that cherry on the spoon youve seen), the Metrodome, the low income housing with the red, blue, yellow, and white blocks of color all over the building. I pass by the U of M campus looking over the Mississippi River. The time of morning I come is the same time the sun decides to appear lighting up this city with colors and lighting that are short of perfect. I can assure you that not a day goes by that I dont appreciate that scenery. Its breathtaking and even though my morning may have been chaotic, even though I may have acted like a lunatic, even though I can still hear the clickety, clack of the dogs nails on the hardwood and shutter at the thought- I still notice the view. Every morning.