In case you hadn’t noticed, my two little cherubs are early risers. Or rather, one of my little cherubs is an early riser and she gets to the other one before I can prise my eyes open (“Mummy, I help bubby sleep” AHAHAH). I was in denial for the first few weeks of waking up at 5am, thinking it would get better. There was a lot of Peppa Pig on the iPad next to me in bed during this time.
And guess what? IT DIDN’T GET BETTER.
So I had to come up with some coping strategies. As ‘going batshit crazy’ was not an option (tried it. Wouldn’t recommend it) I had to look elsewhere. This is what I found:
Something strong to get the day started
Unfortunately I’m not referring to alcohol: some people frown on this before 12pm. And by 12pm I mean 10am. Unless you’re talking about Mimosas or Bloody Marys but I digress. Coffee is good (espresso!) but my favourite thing is Yorkshire Gold. It beats any other tea (and some booze) hands down and has got me through some very hard mornings.
Long live the iPad
Steve Jobs you were a god amongst men. On the days I really struggle the iPad and its varying apps gives me one more hours sleep: it might be to the soundtrack of Dora The Explorer/Peppa Pig/Mr Tumble but I really don’t care.
Shower it out
NOTHING wakes you up like a half an hour underneath a showerhead that’s bigger than a dinner plate. But because not all of us live in a hotel (the showers at the Hotel du Vin always, ALWAYS, do it for me) we have to improvise. Firstly, there’s always one little person asking if she can wash her hands with the shaving foam and I have to peek out from behind the shower curtain to watch the other little person eat a loo roll. Not as fun as it sounds. But I did recently get a new shower fitted (the pressure is now BRILLIANT) which makes it easier to forget the other stuff.
Go for a walk
If the above fails then the next best thing is to get out the house. And when I say ‘get out the house’ I mean ‘cake myself in makeup, make my hair look nice, dress like I’m a human being and then go to get a very strong coffee’. But in all seriousness there is something about the fresh air and interactions with actual people that really helps you forget that feeling of zombie-ness.
What helps you get up in the early early mornings?
Puzzingo is my newest discovery – a good half hour of puzzle related attentions given over to it on the slightly earlier mornings. He’s learning lots and constantly asking me what each thing is used for. Perhaps not the most relaxing but a slightly slower start to the morning.
That and a mahoosive coffee.
Oh god, 5am sounds hellish. I need a strong cup of tea to set me up for the day! Xo
Luckily for me my two don’t get up at silly o’clock in the morning but I still find it hard getting out of bed in the morning. What I have recently found that helps me is that I’ve stopped using the black out blinds in my bedroom. It’s so much easier to start the day with the sun streaming in through the window.
Wow your mornings sound like mine. Why do they insist on waking the little ones too?!
Coco pops and a banana does it for me…until the juicer arrives and I pretend to be healthy