My Mornings!, and MckLinky for Stellan

Wearing ORANGE for Stellan!

If you are here to blog hop for Stellan....skip to the bottom.

So, I had a question about how I manage my mornings from a fellow mom of many young children.

I think people have the wrong perception of me. I am SOOOOOoooo not perfect. My morning routine is a perfect example of this.

Despite REPEATED attempts of getting my booty out of bed BEFORE the kids, I usually wake up to a TAP, TAP, TAP on my head. I open my weary eyes to see my blonde headed, blue eyed, first born son...happy, and ready to start the day. I am so not ready. Ethan is our morning bird, and I stumble out of bed and have a cup of coffee. It's between 6:30 and 7:00. At this point I usually have a quiet morning with my son. I empty the dishwasher and start to prepare for breakfast. The babies have either yogurt, or waffles...depending on my mood. I hate cleaning the waffle maker, so 70% of the time...it's yogurt. The big kids usually have bagels, or cereal.

Around 7:30 I go sneak the baby girls out of the girl dorm, because Reagan is usually still asleep. I change their diapers, and sit them in their booster seats. I go and do the same for Joel, who is usually still asleep (our other sleeper...Joel and Ethan are a BAD combination!), but I wake him up.

With everyone in a crisp new diaper....we are ready to eat. The perk with making the waffles is that the babies can feed themselves, but being a lazy day I spoon feed the babies some yogurt.

Despite all of my rantings over eating healthy and organic, this week I shopped at :::gasp!::: Walmart, and my kids are eating the "unhealthy" yogurt with high fructose corn syrup. Am I proud? No, but I AM real...and sometimes we expirament. We wonder...is it worth the extra $120 a month in groceries, to eat all organic, all preservative free food???? This was one of those weeks.

Delaney is screaming her head off, and being unusually clingy, and I go into auto mode. I look for signs of illness...ready to call our family physician AGAIN, only to see that she has bloody gums and tooth buds. She's the last of our babies to cut many teeth at one time, and I give her Hyland's teething tablets. I am slightly nostalgic, only to interrupt my own thoughts with a, "WHAT is wrong with you! This is the LAST teething episode EVER, enjoy!"

Meanwhile, Reagan stumbles down the steps at 8:30. She's easy. She has already dressed and brushed her teeth. I give her a bagel, and she and Ethan go to play in the playroom.

I decide that today feels like a PJ day, and I leave the triplets in their Jammies. I put them in their play area. I sit down for another cup of coffee, and my laptop at the kitchen table where I either check my facebook, write a blog entry, or write for fun. I have an alloted time for the computer and after that it's usually workout time, followed by "summer school", and cleaning the house.

Do I always accomplish all of this? No. Sometimes I don't workout, sometimes I don't blog until midnight, sometimes I just give up the fight and ignore the housework (which always end up being the worst days....so I try to never give up on housework), and sometimes I don't get to school work.

Am I perfect? No. Are my kids perfect? No.












I get tired, and I have days where not much gets accomplished. There are days when Josh comes home to a crying wife who is just at the end of her rope. There are days when I wonder exactly what I got myself into.

BUT, more often than not....I have average days. My kids have fun, I get SOME housework done, I am able to write, and get on the elliptical. I play with the babies, the big kids, and even manage to get some school time in.

So, that's what my mornings are like. Sometime I will have to post our nightime routine. THAT's interesting! :)

Remember to PRAY FOR STELLAN! This is urgent, and time is not on his side.

IF you have a blog post up linking to www.mycharmingkids.net urging prayer, feel free to link to my blog here: