Silly question. Do you have a fun nickname for your alarm? Let me back up and ask another question. Do you use your iPhone as your morning alarm clock? If so, you know what I’m talking about. See below.

The alarms on the left were what I had become accustomed to when working full time. The top was real. The bottom is a joke. On the right is my current alarm that I haven’t actually used yet…

Since I quit my job, I stopped using an alarm in the morning and just get up when the girls get up. When I was working, Jim and I would split our time up in the middle of the night (sadly we still have trouble sleeping through the night) but now I take the lead in that arena (<– totally appropriate description on some nights) and take any extra sleep I can get. Unfortunately, my girls (ages 2 and 3.5) are not consistent with their wake up time. It varies day-to-day anywhere from 5:15 to 6:30 a.m. Once on a good day, too many mornings ago, someone slept in until 7:00. Tease.

Now that I’ve had four months of “sleeping in”, I am ready to take back my mornings. My 30 day challenge to myself isn’t really to do anything but beat my girls out of bed and have a sliver of time to myself. My friend Kristin has been encouraging me, however painful (early) it may be, because of the sense of control it gives you, when likely the rest of the day will be up for negotiation.

I’ve read up on the Every Girl’s 30 Days of Motivated Mornings and my brother sent me Sean Ogle’s post: 31 Things You Can Add to Your Morning Routine to Increase Productivity so I’m feeling like this will ultimately be a good thing once I commit to it. I also watched this two minute TED Talk by Matt Cutts encouraging people to try something new for 30 days.

So… so… it’s time (ha) to move that alarm button on my phone to the right. And of course, I’ll keep you posted on how this whole thing works out. In the meantime, let me know if you have any experience with establishing a new morning routine with small children in the mix. I’d love to hear what works for you!