In full disclosure, I am having a “Monday” today, yes, I know it’s Tuesday!  We spent a long weekend away and had an even longer drive home from Southern California yesterday (9 hours of solo driving to be exact!) and my Boy is sick and my car needs servicing and we have no fresh groceries and the library books are due and the floor is covered in LEGOs and I have slept less than 6 hours since we got home and………well, this post (though it took the entire morning for me to write in between dishes and laundry and breakfast and playing with my sick kiddo and finally showering before lunch….okay after lunch…) is quite timely.  *sigh*

Ah, Mondays.  I remember Mondays before I had a family.  Recovering after a nice weekend and ready to head back in to work – looking forward to the next weekend of fun and rest!  I can remember feeling a little sluggish on Mondays.  A little tired and dazed and it seemed like it took forever for routine to settle back in.  But usually by Tuesday or Wednesday I was back in robot mode and managing tasks well.  But since having a family?  Ah, Mondays.  Aren’t they just the best thing since sliced bread for moms?!

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been a morning person.  Always.  I was born at 5:14 a.m.  and I must have hit the ground running!  😉  I am at my most productive, alert, and at ease in the early hours of the morning.  I can think a little clearer.  I feel more calm mentally.  I can hear myself think.  Mornings have just always suited me and my personality.  (Needless to say it was an interesting meld when I met my husband the night owl!)

When I was pregnant with The Boy, I noticed very early on that his kicks and stirs came every few hours in the night. He would wiggle around at midnight, then again at 3 a.m., and then once more at 5 a.m.  Every.  Day.  On.  The. Dot. But I started to notice that his stirrings at 5 a.m. were a little more active and longer-lasting!  Oh, boy.  We were having a morning baby!  😉  I was excited as that maybe meant nights would be a little easier on us as new parents and we would be able to enjoy sleep again! And, that is indeed what we got.  This child was made for the mornings, just like his mama. He napped regularly.  He played regularly. By 4 weeks he was sleeping 6 hour stretches in the evenings.  And by 8 weeks he was sleeping 12 hours straight through the night!   And……….yes, up by 5 a.m.  Every. Day.  On.  The.  Dot.

So, my productive mornings were now filled with a new baby.  My Boy would wake as early as 4:30 a.m. some days, and I can remember waking up to his coos, getting him changed, and heading downstairs for his first bottle of the day.  I can remember being so extremely exhausted (even though he had slept 12 hours) that all I could manage to do was lie down on the floor in the family room and let him roll and crawl over me with his toys.  After a few months we invested in a stationary jumper and he enjoyed that immensely.  He was just so full of joyous energy and ready to blast off into the day!  His mama, on the other hand, was a wreck!

I had so much to get done during the week while my husband was away at work, and when my lists had lists and my hand were full I just felt scatter-brained every day!  Yes, add managing a new baby, housework, cooking, play dates and all that good stuff to the joys of “mommy” brain and I was just a hot mess.  I don’t ever remember getting through a day and thinking to myself, “Wow, now that was a productive day!”  Nope.  Never.  I would put my baby to bed for the night at 5:30 p.m., and then “stay up” an hour or so after that to eat lunch (Yes, lunch.  Shoot, sometimes it was breakfast!), throw in a load of laundry, make the bottles up for the next day, watch Young & Restless (They used big words and left their houses during the day!), and I would get in a quick phone call to catch up with my husband.  Then, I was off to bed.  I could do no more.  Barely a dent in my many lists and I knew I would be back at the madness before the sun came up!

As my Boy grew, his body clock stayed ever constant.  Yes I heard all the “sleep training” advice, but this child was not budging.  It didn’t matter if he missed a nap.  It didn’t matter if we kept him up later.  It didn’t matter if we co-slept or left him in his crib.  His biorhythms were set.  So, I just adjusted my schedule to his the best I could.

I started waking up just a tiny bit before him and used that time to get a jump start on the day.  I would have a hot cup of coffee (I’m pretty sure this is when my coffee addiction started).  I would cut my coupons and make my shopping lists.  I would catch up on emails.  And get the dishwasher and washing machines going.  When The Boy woke (he would sometimes sleep in until 6 a.m.!) I was ready for the day.  I felt I had more time to devote to him, and not just in caring  for him, but I could enjoy him more as my head was not entangled with what I wasn’t accomplishing!

When my Boy was about two and a half, I began blogging and computer work took over my morning “alone” time very quickly.  My lists were scrunched up somewhere in the corner of the kitchen.  My coupons were piled up.  My Y&R marathons were months behind.  The laundry and dishes were always backed up.  I was starting to feel like that hot mess again!  And I am so sad to say that this went on for years.  Years.  It wasn’t until this past January that I had a moment of “What in the world am I doing with my life?!” that I began to see my struggles more clearly.

I was given a copy of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life by Crystal Paine earlier and it was an eye-opener.  I had just been surviving my life and not enjoying a single minute of living my life!  I was letting the most precious years of my life slip through my hands all because I could not get a routine going again.  My priorities were all messed up.  My body was exhausted.  My mind was drained. I struggled with thoughts of wanting to just give up!

This New Year I made an “idea” (ideas are sometimes easier to keep than resolutions! 😉 ) and I promised myself that I would get my life more focused.  I wanted to live intentionally.  I wanted to be more productive.  I wanted my faith to be more centered.  I wanted my marriage to be more solid.  I wanted to be in the moment with my Boy.  I just wanted more out of my life!

I knew that getting to where I wanted to be, had to start with making changes in my life first. This is the sort of thing that I think many moms just gloss over.  We are constantly putting the needs of everybody else above our own to the point of having nothing left to give to anyone! This cycle had to end.

I mapped out what I wanted to achieve, and how I thought I could get there.  There were 5 things I wanted to focus on, and my early mornings were, of course, the only time I had to get that done!

1. My Faith – I wanted to learn how to pray, to really study and learn from the Word, and to feel more Christ-centered in my day-to-day living.
2. Diet & Exercise – I wanted needed (!) to get back in shape.  How many more years was I going to hold on to those last few pounds of the baby weight?!  High School graduation?!
3. Reading – I wanted to start reading again!  Yes, this was such a simple thing, but I wanted to start using my brain again with big grown-up words!
4. Blogging – I wanted to change the focus of my blog and write what felt good to me, and not what would bring the most commissions.
5. Stronger Marriage – I wanted to reconnect with my husband and start letting him see there was more to me than this harried and stressed out co-parent he was living with!

So, I started revamping my mornings.

I still wake up before the chickens (and my Boy) at around 5 a.m., sometimes earlier if my mind wakes before my body with all those mental lists!

I have a big glass of cold water. After hearing John Tesh talk about waking up already being dehydrated, drinking water right after waking up has been life changing.  My headaches have disappeared, my skin feels better, and it just gets a good jump on the day’s water intake.  I know it offsets the amount of coffee I am sometimes consuming.

Then I take out a smoothie from the freezer that I have made the day before to defrost and change in to my workout clothes and head out for my morning walk through the neighborhood. I can get in a relaxing, but still vigorous, two-mile walk before my son wakes up.  I love the quiet of the street and the fresh cool morning air.  I can catch the sun rising while listening to my favorite uplifting worship songs or an online podcast.  I really love the encouraging messages from Andy Stanley over at North Point Community Church.  If the weather is inclement or I am just not up to walking, I will stay in and read or watch a message from NPCC online.

Once home, I cool off with a smoothie and have a healthy breakfast and my (first) cup of Godiva French Vanilla.

I’ll throw in a load of laundry or fold the load hanging on the drying rack and get a load of dishes going in the dishwasher.

If there is still time left before my Boy wakes, I will get started on my computer work – checking emails, answering text messages, checking in on my social media sites, checking out the deals on all my favorite Facebook yard sale groups, and doing some blog work.  It feels so much better with these “electronic leash” items as a low priority on my to-do lists!

I have been consistently doing this for the past several months (the exercise is a recent addition 😉 ) and I am loving the change in not only my day-to-day living, but in my health and personal relationships.  I am more attentive, more focused, more passionate, and just generally more in love with my life!  Such simple changes can be so freeing!

Are you ready to make your mornings more productive?  Crystal Paine over at Money Saving Mom has created this amazing eCourse that will help to get your mornings on track!   The Makeover Your Mornings eCourse is filled with very simple ideas, that when implemented over time, will make even your most chaotic mornings run a little smoother.   Crystal breaks down the day’s assignments for you in short video introductions and then you can act on the ideas while reading through that day’s reading in the downloadable eBook.

I love how she weaves through the eCourse starting very simply with “why” our mornings feel so scattered, stressful, and unproductive and how we can get and stay motivated to improve them!  There are tips on everything from list-making, goal-setting, finding a routine that fits not only you but your family as well, fitting in personal time with diet and exercise, and what to do when you feel like you’re failing.

I am working my way through this eCourse now, and have to say it is really encouraging me to get my mornings back on track.  I know what I should be doing, I can see it all mapped out, but it’s that ever-so-important consistency that gets me every. single. time.

If you are interested in checking out this eCourse, Crystal has priced it at just $17 (and in my honest opinion it is worth every penny and then some!) and it is ready to download right away.  Maybe gift it to bless a stressed out mom friend!   😉

Not sure if this course is for you? It is designed with every woman in mind — whether you’re working, stay at home, married, single, or have kids or not. If you purchase it and find it’s not what you expected or doesn’t live up to your expectations in any way, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked! So, there’s literally zero risk in purchasing!