The previous evening sets us up for the day ahead. I described extensively what I do on a typical evening here, and now I’ll talk about my mornings.

The funny thing is that my morning routine is much shorter than the evening routine. The latter is elaborate, with many moving parts, while the former is rather straightforward. Anyway, I’ll walk you through it.

Wake up 30 minutes before my son

This has been key. I used to wake up at the same time as William, and that felt stressful even though I didn’t realize it so explicitly. I was trying to take care of his needs while also taking care of my own, which often led to frustration on both sides: he wanted me to cuddle him, but I just wanted to pee!

Now, I wake up at 6:30, while he wakes up at 7:00. Once I’m up, I have time to pee (fortunately), get dressed, comb my hair, and wash my face. Then, I go to Jacob (my husband) who’s been awake for a while, studying for his exam, and we check in with each other. “How did you sleep? How did William sleep? (Jacob is in charge in case William wakes up in the night.) Did you dream of anything interesting? Do you feel rested?”

At 7:00, we both go to William and cuddle him as he wakes up. It’s wonderful to have this family connection time at the beginning of our morning! Then, Jacob goes to make breakfast, while I help William go to the toilet and get dressed. Finally, William and I make everyone’s beds.

By the time we get to the kitchen, breakfast is ready. We all eat together, and then I prepare some things: William’s lunch for daycare (packed during our meal prep session), any snacks, and (very important!) his teddy bear all go in his backpack. If there’s anything to do in the kitchen, such as unloading the dishwasher or putting away any dry dishes, I do it. (Jacob is in charge of loading the dishwasher, so I don’t have to do that, yay!)

Jacob gets William dressed and all set up in the stroller, and then William and I are off! We aim to leave at 8:00 and usually manage. Before we implemented this upgraded morning routine, we were struggling to leave at 8:30 (more like 8:45), and at daycare they repeatedly asked us to really try to be there by 9:00… Oopsie.

Fresh, fresh

I enjoy our walk to daycare very much: the morning air is fresh, and we get some sun. William comments on everything we see whether it’s a truck, a cat, or many, many bicycles (as you tend to see on a typical morning in the Netherlands). Then, I drop him off, and on the way back I think about the day ahead, or I listen to an audiobook or podcast.

Around 8:45, I’m usually home, and I make myself a cup of tea or a cacao drink depending on my mood and caffeine needs. By 9:00, I’m ready to start working. This makes me feel sooooooo good because only a month ago I was aiming to start at 9:30 but effectively only starting around 10:00. For a person like me who likes doing my important work in the morning, this is huge and feels amazing!