Mornings with Finn

I’ve made no bones about the fact that late evenings with Finn are–trying. It’s the end of the day, we’re all tired, Sona and I desperately want alone time, and he resists sleep with all of his might.

Mornings with him, though, are THE MOST.

Currently, I’m lucky enough to be home with Finn all week long. So, at least five days a week, I’m the one who wakes him up and walks him through his morning routine. I try very hard to let Sona do this on the weekends. Since it’s the time of day when Finn is his happiest, I really want her to get the chance to experience that time with him. Sometimes, by the time she gets home in the early evening, he’s starting to get a little funky.

But in the mornings, he’s the cutest darn thing you’ve ever seen.

Finn still wakes up each morning between 7:00-8:00. Since he’s been asleep for 9-10 hours at that point, he is usually hungry. At that time, I go in, quietly unswaddle him, and feed him a 4 ounce bottle in the rocking chair. I don’t turn on any lights, and I don’t turn off the sound machine. So, for both of us, it’s restful, quiet time.

He downs the bottle pretty quickly–usually in just 10 minutes or so. Then, I burp him, change him, and put him back in his crib. I swaddle him, trying to ignore the fact that he’s smiling and doing his best to engage me, and I walk away. Within 10-15 minutes, he’s asleep, again. So far, he’s never, ever cried during this time. I think he knows he’s not done sleeping, yet.

Then, he wakes for the day at around 10:30. His morning wake times are like clockwork, and he rarely deviates more than 10-15 minutes day to day. I get up at this time, too, unless I have a lot to do that day, in which case I stay awake at 7:00 and get as much done as possible while we sleeps those last few hours. (Let’s be honest: this never really happens.)

He is usually good to play quietly in his crib for the first 10-15 minutes or so after he wakes up. I use that time to make him a bottle–he drinks 6 ounces at that time–go to the bathroom, turn on the TV, and get something to drink.

Then, I go in to wake him up. It’s my favorite time of the day. I turn his lamp on and turn the sound machine down. At that point, he knows something is up and starts looking around for me. As soon as I walk over to the crib and he notices me, he smiles the biggest, most goofy heart-stopping grin. He’s SO happy to see me. (He’s also happy to see anyone else who is willing to rescue him from the prison that is his crib, but I like the believe that he’s particularly happy to see his mommies.)

As I unswaddle his arms (we’re not swaddling them for naps, anymore, just for nighttime sleep), he does the most over-exaggerated stretches.

It’s the most adorable wake-up routine you’ve ever seen. Trust me.

Finn LOVES when we say “good morning” in an annoyingly high-pitched baby voice. So, of course, we say it a lot.

I take him to the living room, get his bottle out of the warmer, and feed him breakfast on the couch, usually while watching a DVR’d episode of The Chew. (I like it more than he does.)

It takes 15-20 minutes to feed him and burp him during that time, and then we just hangout on the couch for a bit. I appreciate having the time to sit still, and he is usually still waking up. I give him lots of kisses, he stares at various things around the house (right now, it’s the spiders we have on the wall for Halloween), and we text Sona photos so that she doesn’t feel so left out.

When I sense that he’s over the couch time–or when he takes a big poop (which is often, lately)–we go back to the nursery.

I put on the Florence and the Machines Pandora station and put Finn on his changing table–his favorite place in the whole wide world. We listen to music, dance, change his diaper, wash his face, and lotion him up (he’s got pretty dry skin)–all while he’s on his changing pad. Since he seems so happy during this time, I draw the process out. It’s when I get the most smiles, too.

I think he’d stay there for an hour, if we let him.

Once I’ve put fresh clothes on him, I put him down on his play mat. I still keep the music on, and he loves to watch me dance around him. Right now, he’s really digging Mumford & Sons and Of Monsters and Men.

He plays on his mat for 10-15 minutes, and then he starts to get tired. His eyes get red, he begins rubbing his face, and he gets a little whiny. So, I slowly turn down the lights, turn off the music, and turn up his sound machine.

When I sense that he’s really sleepy, I pick him up, put him back in his crib, swaddle him (arms out, this time), tell him I love him, and leave the room. He protests for about 60 seconds, and then he drifts off to sleep. That first nap comes on pretty quickly, and it usually lasts an hour.

That’s when I eat breakfast, answer emails, and make bottles for the day.

Of course, I love being with Finn all of the time. But when I go back to work, it’s going to be my mornings with him that I’ll miss the most.