The Morning Rush

I think we all imagine that maternity leave will be this great time off of work to figure out this new little baby and start to get a routine together. It is certainly NOT a vacation. Being home with a baby all day is a full time job. Kudos to the Mama's who stay home with their babies (&& even bigger shout out  for the Mama's with multiple babies at home - you're awesome!). Those precious weeks are amazing because you spend 24/7 with this little miracle. You watch her start to become more alert and learn from her every day. You witness her roll over and start to cooh at you, you get to see that first smile and rock her to sleep. It is wonderful, but also overwhelming. As maternity leave came to an end I panicked! I was going back to work and leaving my bubble. How am I going to do this?! Get ready, get her ready, drop her off and then go to work all day?


It's drastically different then your pre-baby life. You can no longer run out of the house and make it to work in 15 minutes. No, now you have to prepare yourself, the baby & of course there is always an outfit change for one of you before sprinting out the door.

Thankfully I have a great job and work with awesome people. I've even had to bring little lady to work with me in a pinch.

Now that we've hit the 3 month mark I feel like I'm finally getting into a rhythm. Here are a couple of things I've found helpful.

1. Get your bags packed and in the care the night before. After bath time and playing and that final bottle when she zonks out for the night, I pack up my work bag and her diaper bag for the next day and load them in the car. Its one less thing to carry out the door or forget in the AM.

2. Pack your lunch or snacks the night before. I am trying to get back into my Sunday meal prep routine as this makes a huge difference! But at the very least if you pack up your breakfast, lunch or snacks at night all you have to do is grab the bag and throw it in your purse before your head out to daycare.

3. Wake up early and shower while she sleeps. We've finally gotten her into an awesome pattern of sleeping through the night (holding my breath it lasts). Thanks to this I can get up at 5:15-5:30 and jump in the shower why she is still snoozing. Granted this means I run around in my towel for the rest of the morning but hey it works.

4. Skip the blow dryer - ain't nobody got time for that! Between the heat and the noise you're doing yourself (& your hair a favor). Albeit my hair looks somewhat scary in the AM, it's worth it to run around and let it air dry rather than risk waking her up before I'm ready.

5. Get dressed at the last minute. My little lady is the Queen of spit up. I quickly learned spending my morning in a towel or robe is best. I get her ready and throw on my dress the minute before we walk out the door. You may laugh but it is way easier than trying to change yourself 3 times.

6. Toys & noise. I keep her busy with music playing on my iPhone, or white sound if she's fussing. She is her mother's daughter as she LOVES the vacuum. Once I get her strapped into her car seat I give her a fun toy to keep herself occupied while I throw my lunch into my purse and slip on my shoes.

I am sure that these are all old hat to the veteran Mama's out there but if you're new to mommyhood like me I hope they prove useful.