My Monday Morning

Our mornings are some of my favorite times. I usually try to get up a little earlier than the boys to enjoy some quiet me time, but more often than not, we end up getting woken up by Henry as he whispers "is it time to get up yet?" with his little face peeking up over the side of our bed. And before we know it, it's go, go, go time. Packing lunches in a flurry of tupperware and sandwich crusts and juice boxes, car keys jingling, kisses and hugs, the little ones crying or laughing or both, a see-you-later-Daddy and just-one-more-kiss ringing through the hallway. Then it's preschool drop off time, come home and snuggle Charlie time, take-a-breather-Mom time. Phew.

But there's beauty in that, right? The routines of our day to day life. The way the sun comes through Charlie's window bright and early casting sunbeams off the side of his gray crib (even though I had spent most of my night in there with him, rocking through a hard teething night, and getting no sleep myself). There's something special in those rare mornings when Henry stays in bed a little longer, with a cup of water and his feet up on pillows and a pile of books on his nightstand (even though most mornings he is waking us well before it's time to actually wake up). There's something special in that- in our routines and in the beautiful-ness of things I might not always describe as beautiful in the first place.

So when my friend Ilana over at Mommy Shorts asked me to help her promote her "Monday Mornings" series I was so excited. If you're a regular reader of this blog you know how much I love finding the beauty in the everyday, and that's exactly what she's doing with this project. Together with Allstate, who believe families should live the good life every day, Ilana's documenting the mornings of mothers all across the country. This series has already visited moms in NYC and Chicago and they're making their way to LA, Houston and Washington, DC. The project is visiting all kinds of Moms- working Moms (with a stay-at-home-Dad), another working Mom with a working spouse, a single Mom...I love that she really is showing many different types of families and women. You can see more of the project here, and please do yourself a favor and read her intro post. This is REALLY good stuff. You can follow along with all of the series here.

Here are some photos from some of our recent mornings, too:

*This post is part of the "Mommy Shorts Monday Mornings" series sponsored by Allstate. Every family has a special morning routine, and as we continue documenting different mothers across the country, it’s clear there is beauty in all of our mornings. As the nation’s largest publicly held insurance company, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most—but to guiding families to live the Good Life, every day.

*Thank you guys for always supporting the sponsored content I share here, along with everything else! xoxo!

Our Mornings, Right Now.

At 6am a little alarm must go off in Henry's mind, because the moment the clock strikes 6, it's as if he just knows to wake up. And as the mornings have become brighter and brighter, that wake up time has creeped back earlier and earlier. Most mornings he gets up and plays quietly, although other times he's in our bed, in our faces, "wake up, wake up, someone play with me!" And of course, we oblige. Then there's Charlie- usually sleeping until about 6:30 or 7, and waking up with a smile, always. He'll usually just sit up in bed and babble until we come in, and the second you open that door there's the biggest, happiest grin just beaming up at you. Henry calls him our sunshine boy.

Then the three of us play in the living room while Hank gets ready for work. Most mornings I'll make us all a big breakfast and we'll sit at the big table, but some mornings I'll throw some mini pancakes in the microwave for Henry and enjoy a quick and easy protein bar. It just depends on my level of tiredness (Charlie still isn't sleeping through the night regularly). But either way we'll eat together, soak up the 40 minutes before Hank goes to work, and then once he's out the door it's more playtime until Charlie's first nap or Henry's preschool drop-off, depending on the day.

Right now it's all about the little blocks of time that are separated by the big divides in our day- morning nap, preschool, playtime, lunch, afternoon nap, an hour 'til Daddy's home, 30 minutes...and so on.

I'm constantly reminded that our mornings won't always be like this, and if you look back at this post it's even more clear. My, how much has changed in two short years. I wonder what our days will look like in two more? So if you need me, I'll be right here, soaking up every second with my two little rascals, fitting in all I can between all of to-dos and to-gos, playtimes and naptimes. Reminding myself on those mornings I feel even more tired than usual that in the blink of an eye my babies won't be babies, and they'll be the ones rushing off in the mornings to school and friends' houses and doing all sort of big kid things we aren't doing now. It really is crazy how fast it all goes.

xoxo

*All photos edited with A Beautiful Mess Photoshop actions. I have a post coming up sharing some of my favorites- I've been loving playing around with all of them.