BlissTV- Morning Routines from Blissful Media Group on Vimeo.

You know how they say, “You’re a great mom until you have kids?” Yeah… that was me. I’ll never forget being at my girlfriend’s apartment in NYC one morning and seeing her try and (literally) wrangle 2 kids out of bed, to the counter to eat breakfast, get them dressed and then out the door for school. I actually remember saying to her, “Oh… come on, it can’t be that hard,” when she looked at me out of breath as the door shut. I definitely did a little eye-rolling. Ahh… what I didn’t know back then.

Fast forward 6 1/2 years. 4 boys, 5 and under.

And imagine a morning in my house. Or… imagine me trying to get down a morning routine (don’t laugh).

Like clock-work every morning, I’m woken to my 21-month old son yelling, “MOMMY!” Funny how it’s always “Mommy” and not “Daddy”, right? His “yelling” usually alarms and wakes up his (almost) 3-yr old brother… and once he’s up, he’s UP. I try my best to tip-tie down the steps so my 4 and 5 yr old sons won’t wake up… after all, it is around 6:15AM, not even time for the Today Show. Coffee is a must at that point… and I usually told to “follow” my little guys around the house as they point to everything and want me to play with them. Then the “big” guys come down.

And that’s usually when the tornado begins for the day…

Then there’s milk requests, juice requests, Nick Jr requests, Disney requests, certain food requests (because we all can’t eat the “same” thing for breakfast, that’s too easy for me). Then there’s the “time to get dressed” time – where inevitably, my 2 oldest sons love to pick out exactly what they’re wearing that day, usually both wanting the uber-cool Superman tee. And – of course, the “where are my shoes?”

Each day it’s something new and exciting and crazy and chaotic. By the time we get out the door (I always hope it’s at least by 8:50AM) we’re all out of breath… it’s just the way it is right now in our lives. With 4 boys, 5 and under… nobody is really able to do everything on their own yet… so I’m in the one (along with my incredible husband) who has to do everything.

There are the days when I totally think I have it all together… and am actually patting myself on the back – only to be asked, “Mom… did I brush my teeth this morning?” To which I then think, tomorrow’s a new day!

Ahh… the joys of trying to get a morning routine. If anyone knows the secret, please let me know!

**This article about making mornings easier is part of the Kraft Bagel-fuls “Break up with your Breakfast Routine” sweepstakes. Visit BlissfullyDomestic.com for all the fabulous details.**