A morning in the life of Steph

At least once a week I am late to work. Since we work on flex time it’s not a huge deal but I hate it nonetheless. Usually that night I go home and complain about it, and on more than one occasion Jay will ask, “Did you oversleep? What happened? What took so long?” I usually then scream and stomp around, mad that he doesn’t understand how hard it is to get two little girls as well as myself ready and out the door each morning.

So, this morning I decided to photo-document my morning routine. I hope it provides a little insight to my poor, so out-of-the-loop husband.

After getting myself dressed I wake up Sam, get her dressed, then drag Addi out of bed. Then, while I am chasing Addi around, Sam usually follows me around crying until I pick her up.

Next on the agenda is for Addi to practice going potty. She insisted today on using the stool, even though she obviously did not need it.

She kicked me out of the bathroom for privacy but let Sam stay. Sam stayed entertained by playing peek-a-boo with me.

After seven minutes I insisted that she stop practicing. Then Addi washed her hands. For 4.5 minutes. We rinsed three times.

Because oral hygiene is so important, we made sure to brush. Addi did great today - this only lasted about two minutes.


Don't forget to rinse and spit! She prefers to do this pants-less.


While Addi brushed, Sam played with the drawer. Thirty seconds into this, Sam smashed her hand in the drawer and I abruptly ended bathroom time.


After getting Addi dressed (which took a while... new clothes = lots of decisions in the morning!) I got both girls downstairs and ready for shoes. I think it might have taken Addi less time had she not been wearing mittens.


And we are STILL working on the left and right feet...

After picking out our breakfasts (Addi wanted DIEGO yogurt, NOT Dora. Stupid Mommy.) we brushed the girls hair. This is NOT Sam's favorite part of the morning.

However, being held by Mommy fixes everything.

Next we tried to get Smokey into the house.

Addi got tired of yelling from the door and tried to wrangle him up from the yard herself.

Sam helped by trying to make Smokey jealous by eating his treats Addi laid out.

After giving up and putting Smokey's food and water outside (and saying a quick prayer that he wouldn't dig out or bark all day) we got into the car.

Then I got back OUT of the car to get Addi a juice box. Guess what I really wanted to drink?



Finally I did a quick sweep of the car to ensure we had all the necessary supplies... White dress shoes... CHECK. Snack for Sam.... CHECK. Pillow from the couch... CHECK.

We made it into the girls classrooms with minimal fanfare and I headed to work. Only one hour and 52 minutes after I started the madness. Not a bad day's work!