Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a night owl. I love sleep. When I had my first child, I thought I would never survive a baby waking me up at 4:30-5am everyday. Then I had a second baby two years later. I took whatever broken sleep I could get. For years, our kids would wake up by 6am. Now that they are 4 and 6 years old, they wake up at 7-7:30. This is new in our house. They go to sleep around 8:30. DH and I go to sleep around 9-10. DH wakes up by 6 to get ready for work. I am no longer a night owl. I need my 7-8 hrs of sleep. You just adjust.

PP again. I would recommend outsourcing as much as you can if you can afford it. We used to have our old nanny come to our house on Sundays while DH and I relaxed. We did not have to burden the other so we could get a break. That improved our marriage greatly. She did our laundry, cooked meals, tidied up, made our beds, could watch kids alone for an hour or two if DH and I wanted to step out. DH and I were home and spending quality time with our kids and with one another but did not have to lift a finger catching up on housework. It was really nice.

That does sound really nice! How did that work out with pay? Just extra hours each week? (Sorry, expecting FTM and a complete newbie with household help.)

We paid about $100-150 for this Sunday luxury. She would come 5-10 hrs. Our marriage was on the rocks. We were always blaming one another. We both thought we did more and were resentful. Getting this Sunday off was a better of spending our money than going to marriage counseling!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So I typically go to bed about 10:30, and wake up at 6:15 (my older kid wakes me at this time). I do morning routine stuff until I leave the house at 7:45.

Its just that by the time I do the cleanup/morning prep/etc. after the kids are in bed, it's something like 9:45? And then yes, I want a few mins to spend with my husband, and also to read or watch tv. To decompress.

Right now, I do all my finances at lunch at work during lunch, because that is when I have time but really, I'd rather just eat my lunch and take a stroll or call my mom. I already only take a 30 min lunch. And I don't work out often enough. Twice a week, I telework, so on those days I get extra time instead of commuting, so I'm able to work out. But that's it. I'd like to up it to 5x/week.

If you want to get up earlier, you have to go to bed earlier. 9:45 is very late to have the kids in bed. If you are committed to it, kids in bed by 8:30, you in bed by 9:30, and up at 5:30.

I also agree with a PP who said you have to be consistent about it and get up at that time daily, even on weekends. For me, if I sleep in even once, my bedtime is blown and then I'm back in a cycle of dragging in the morning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a night owl. I love sleep. When I had my first child, I thought I would never survive a baby waking me up at 4:30-5am everyday. Then I had a second baby two years later. I took whatever broken sleep I could get. For years, our kids would wake up by 6am. Now that they are 4 and 6 years old, they wake up at 7-7:30. This is new in our house. They go to sleep around 8:30. DH and I go to sleep around 9-10. DH wakes up by 6 to get ready for work. I am no longer a night owl. I need my 7-8 hrs of sleep. You just adjust.

PP again. I would recommend outsourcing as much as you can if you can afford it. We used to have our old nanny come to our house on Sundays while DH and I relaxed. We did not have to burden the other so we could get a break. That improved our marriage greatly. She did our laundry, cooked meals, tidied up, made our beds, could watch kids alone for an hour or two if DH and I wanted to step out. DH and I were home and spending quality time with our kids and with one another but did not have to lift a finger catching up on housework. It was really nice.

That does sound really nice! How did that work out with pay? Just extra hours each week? (Sorry, expecting FTM and a complete newbie with household help.)

OP here. So I typically go to bed about 10:30, and wake up at 6:15 (my older kid wakes me at this time). I do morning routine stuff until I leave the house at 7:45.

Its just that by the time I do the cleanup/morning prep/etc. after the kids are in bed, it's something like 9:45? And then yes, I want a few mins to spend with my husband, and also to read or watch tv. To decompress.

Right now, I do all my finances at lunch at work during lunch, because that is when I have time but really, I'd rather just eat my lunch and take a stroll or call my mom. I already only take a 30 min lunch. And I don't work out often enough. Twice a week, I telework, so on those days I get extra time instead of commuting, so I'm able to work out. But that's it. I'd like to up it to 5x/week.

Anonymous wrote:I was a night owl. I love sleep. When I had my first child, I thought I would never survive a baby waking me up at 4:30-5am everyday. Then I had a second baby two years later. I took whatever broken sleep I could get. For years, our kids would wake up by 6am. Now that they are 4 and 6 years old, they wake up at 7-7:30. This is new in our house. They go to sleep around 8:30. DH and I go to sleep around 9-10. DH wakes up by 6 to get ready for work. I am no longer a night owl. I need my 7-8 hrs of sleep. You just adjust.

PP again. I would recommend outsourcing as much as you can if you can afford it. We used to have our old nanny come to our house on Sundays while DH and I relaxed. We did not have to burden the other so we could get a break. That improved our marriage greatly. She did our laundry, cooked meals, tidied up, made our beds, could watch kids alone for an hour or two if DH and I wanted to step out. DH and I were home and spending quality time with our kids and with one another but did not have to lift a finger catching up on housework. It was really nice.

You need to get up at the same time every day. No sleeping in on the weekends or days off. I only realized how important this was when I had kids and had no choice but to get up the same time every day. It really gets your body in a routine and makes it a lot easier to get up early.

Simple. I had kids.

Oh my goodness, I can't believe you all consider "a morning person" as someone who rises at 5 - 5:30 am. I think I'm a morning person but I get up around 7-7:30. haha

You can't do something without giving up something else. So, if you are going to work out, you can't just say "I will do it early in the morning" and have that solve all of your problems. You are going to lose out on sleep that you probably need, or couple time with your husband when the kids go to bed or your alone time to watch downton Abby without anyone making fun of you or whatever. You have to decide what you are willing to give up. Maybe it is one of those things. Maybe it's not any of those things, but you could pass off the bedtime routine three days a week and workout/do dinner prep then. Or maybe you could cut back to 90% at work and go to the gym at 4pm four days a week. But becoming a morning person doesn't magically give you more time.

I was a night owl. I love sleep. When I had my first child, I thought I would never survive a baby waking me up at 4:30-5am everyday. Then I had a second baby two years later. I took whatever broken sleep I could get. For years, our kids would wake up by 6am. Now that they are 4 and 6 years old, they wake up at 7-7:30. This is new in our house. They go to sleep around 8:30. DH and I go to sleep around 9-10. DH wakes up by 6 to get ready for work. I am no longer a night owl. I need my 7-8 hrs of sleep. You just adjust.

I still am not 100% a morning person. But I do get up naturally before 6 every day. A kid that wakes up before 6 will get you in that mindset. And the going to bed early. I go to bed by 9 every day. Even if I don't try. I will fall asleep where I am.

What time do you normally wake up? What do you do with your lunch hour?

I do all my finances/email checking/bill paying at work during my lunch hour. I also run errands during lunch and buy things off Amazon. We like to work out at night.

Some people just aren't morning people. But.. I'm also not exhausted at 9pm. I'm winding down around 11pm. How much sleep are you getting? Vitamin D low?

I had a baby who woke up at 5:30am for over a year. The key part is being in bed EARLY. You can't go to bed at 11pm and think that getting up at 5am will be easy. I go to bed by 9:30pm every single night. It's rare I stay up later. If I'm sick, or had a rough week, it's not unusual for me to be in bed at 8:45pm. My now toddler is in bed before 7pm, so that clearly is what makes this possible.

But no matter what, getting to bed early every night is the key.

This might not help you but I became a morning person when I got a job for which I had to get up at 5:30 am. My only advice to you is that to become a morning person, you might need to to bed earlier.

I've come to the conclusion that many of the things that I stress about not doing well, would not be an issue, if I could just get my butt in gear at 5am and do them. These include working out, cooking dinner, and answering emails/going through finances. I don't have time during the day to do them (full time work), and by the time the nighttime grind is over (9 pm), I am beat. I use my last bit of energy to clean up the kitchen, throw in another load (which thankfully the nanny folds for me), make lunches, and prep breakfast (i.e. slow cooker oatmeal). My nanny also preps our food (cuts veggies), so sometimes DH will make dinner for the next day...but sometimes he's back online finishing stuff up.

Anyway, if you were NOT a morning person, but figured out a way to become one, can you please share? I think the *stress* of having to get stuff done after work is really messing with my overall happiness.