#MomLife: Sleep, Alarm, Snooze, Repeat

Raise your hand if you feel like mornings are the worst! It seems that no matter how early I wake up I am still running late. Every morning is filled with waking my kids up, yelling at them five more times to get out of bed, getting everyone dressed while at the same time getting myself dressed, making sure lunches are made, getting backpacks around, and now searching for masks and the thermometer, the list goes on. 

As I sit back and think about it, I wonder how we do it all every morning. How do we keep everything together when really all we want to do is go back to sleep? Why do I always feel like my head is going to blow up from all the stress our morning routine causes? Why can’t I get it together? 

I’m guilty of staying up too late and hitting the snooze button one too many times. It’s amazing how fast hitting that snooze button can lead to lost minutes in your timeline. Nine minutes turns into 18 and then 27 and so on. Giving up that vital time for sleep can really put a wrench in your morning routine. Yet here I am snoozing every day and then wondering why we are running out the door because we are late. 

I’ve read all the tips on how to make your morning routine go smoothly. Pick your clothes out and make your lunch the night before, get organized, put the backpacks in the same spot every day, make a morning routine chart. At the beginning of the school year I seem to be super motivated to do all of those things. But it only lasts maybe a week. 

We are now in week two of school and I can honestly say this morning did not go smoothly. There was running around looking for pants. Yelling to get off the couch and get dressed. The question of “Where is your backpack?” came up at least three times. Nutter Butters were dropped on the ground twice. (Yes, I fed my kid cookies for breakfast…sorry not sorry) We almost forgot to feed the dog and barely made it to the car in one piece. 

But guess what? We made it to school on time and even had smiles on our faces. I’ve always said I was a functioning hot mess and this morning showed me that it is definitely true. I don’t know how we made it to school and work in one piece but we did and we are safe and happy, so ultimately that’s what really matters. 

As I’m sitting at my desk at work, I’m reflecting over everything and realize that I do need to get it together. How long can one really go fueled on too much caffeine and stress before they crash and burn? Maybe I’ll give some of those morning routine tips a try again and hope they last longer than a week.

But let’s be real, I am in fact, a hot mess mom who will never get her stuff together. I will always be running late. I will always hit the snooze button one too many times. And I will always run around the house like a madwoman in the morning trying to get everyone dressed and together before it’s time to put smiles on our faces and head out for the day. 

I will leave you with one promise today. I promise to only hit snooze two times tomorrow instead of three. 

Steph Hightree is a hot mess mom who is fueled by stress and too much caffeine. She is a Three Rivers native who talks about the good, the bad, and well, everything else about parenthood.

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Any views or opinions expressed in “#MomLife” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Watershed Voice staff or its board of directors.