Wake up. Get dressed. Eat Breakfast. Leave.

How long could it take?

In our house, generally about an hour and a half.

My alarm goes off at 6. (Technically, it's Theresa's alarm. I don't have one, unless you count my cell phone's 3 alarms which I use when I'm travelling. It can be quite useful to have multiple alarm settings!) I'm not really a morning person, so it takes me a few minutes to actually recognize that music is now playing. (Theresa has it set to "radio", and I would never think of changing something that Theresa has done!) So I guess some of this time must rightfully be claimed by me. When suitably roused from slumber, I reach over and start waking Grayson up.

Grayson is usually the one that we can't move from the "green bed" (our bed, which currently has a green bedspread on it) to his own crib at night. He is a fairly light sleeper, and when being picked up or laid down in his crib, that is often enough to wake him to the point that he realizes he is no longer in the green bed. Which brings him back to the green bed.

Once Grayson is awake, we both start saying "Nooo-ah... it's time to get uuu-uuuup". Because, even though I may have been successful in moving Noah from the green bed to his crib when we went to bed, it is highly likely that he will wake up in the green bed in the morning. He used to just wake up at some random hour, get out of his crib, and wander into bed with us. Now he prefers room service. He wakes up (still at some random hour) and cries until I go get him and bring him back into the green bed.

If you missed my earlier post regarding bedtime, the boys refuse to go to sleep in their own cribs. So they fall asleep in our bed, and if we are successful, they are moved into their own cribs when we go to bed.

If you're starting to think that it must be crowded with four of us in bed, you're right. Which is why Theresa generally won't be found in bed with us in the morning, because when Noah joins us, he takes pleasure in thrashing about in his sleep, which drives Theresa to the guest room bed. (Yes, we finally got it cleaned up, so she doesn't have to sleep on the couch anymore). By now, it is usually about twenty after six, or sometimes later, and if Mattea hasn't joined us by now with all the racket that the boys are making (which she usually has), we'll go get her out of bed.

Then we go into the boys room to get them dressed, and Mattea goes back to get dressed as well. If there are no green train underwear (of which we only own two pair), it takes Noah forever to select proper undergarments. Grayson, though not as picky, is no speed demon. Then we select a shirt. If there is no white dinosour shirt (Noah) or yellow Micky Mouse shirt (Grayson), again, we go through the selection process. We have tried having them pick something the night before, but then they've had a whole night to change their mind. Finally, we get to pants. Right around now, I'm thinking we would have been better off just buying 10 or 20 of exactly the same thing... shirts, pants, underwear, socks... just to avoid all of this! I thought the days of clothing selection were only going to be applicable to Mattea. Wrong!

So usually, we're finally dressed by 6:45-6:55. So we head downstairs to get some breakfast. Deciding on what to eat usually isn't a problem. Generally everyone is hungry and will go with whatever selection that I throw their way. But they are s-l-o-w eaters. Most mornings, by now, Theresa has joined the mix somewhere along the way, and if she is out of the shower, I'll head up and take my own while she monitors the mealtime progress. Typically three bowls of cereal later (each) (at 7-9 minutes per bowl) everyone takes their bowls and places them on the counter or in the sink. With any luck there are no clothes to be changed due to spills. Then we get jackets on. Then we find sunglasses. No, not those sunglasses. Those sunglasses. Then everyone gets herded out to the van. After Grayson has to go find his brown guitar to take with him. And Noah goes and gets his yellow guitar. And Mattea has to go back in and get her snack and schoolwork. Then somebody is wailing because he or she doesn't have something that they desperately need. So I head back into the house. Then as we're ready to pull out of the driveway, I remember that I forgot the check for daycare. Or Mattea's lunch. Or my phone. So with any luck, we're pulling out of the driveway around 7:35.

Wake up. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Leave. As simple as that!