Mornings With The Kiddos

Mommy takes night duty with Colby (thank you, thank you, thank you my love!!!). My small contribution is to take Colby whenever he wakes up for good, which is usually around 6:15. Abigail gets up at 8.  During the week, Stephanie uses her rare kids-free time to workout and shower/get ready for the day. Personally, there is no way I would have the discipline to get out of bed. On the weekends, Stephanie uses that time to try and make a small dent in her sleep deprivation. This means that I get a lot of quality time with the kiddos in the morning.

Before Abigail gets up, I get to hang out with my boy. He is usually a very happy baby in the morning when he first gets up. I get more smiles early in the morning than any other time. We typically either hang out in our room (during the week) or head down to the family room (on the weekend so Mommy can sleep).  So what do we do with our time? We like to open the blinds to let the morning light in, read about how the Nationals did the night before, and spend quite a while inspecting our favorite ceiling fans. Colby usually goes down for his first nap between 7:30 and 8.

Abigail typically wakes up promptly at 8 when her green light goes on. Recently, she has wanted to head down to the basement as soon as possible. On Sunday morning, I met Abigail at her door and, while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, the very first thing she says is “Daddy, can we go play in the basement?” She couldn’t be any sweeter. I would keep her at this age forever if I could. Since I know she is growing up (too fast), I try to savor these moments as much as possible.

On the weekends, we try and let Mommy sleep in as long as possible. This means that Abigail and I usually get half an hour or more in the basement. When it is just the two of us, her favorite game is to have me push her in her “cool car” while we do lap after lap of the basement. Good cardio for Daddy! We listen for Colby on the monitor and, if he makes noise, she says “go back to sleep Colby!” so we can continue our laps.

However, if Colby does wake up, Abigail is very understanding. We either put Colby in the rock-n-play and keep doing laps or, if he is too fussy, I will carry him around while we chase Abigail in a game she calls Nascar (we all know where she got that from, G-dad). To play Nascar, Colby and I push Abigail’s pink bike while she pushes her Lamby in a shopping cart. We race laps and occasionally crash, which she finds hilarious.

A little medical addition from his big sister

Colby loves his big sister, Abigail. Colby typically smiles every time he sees her. So sweet.

We are always happy when Mommy wakes up as spending time with the whole family is my favorite thing in the world. However, I absolutely love the time I get to spend with Abigail and Colby in the morning. Getting one-on-one time with my kiddos while they are happy and playing is something that I will always cherish.