I tried waking up an hour before my kids to have a quiet morning. I read an article that said successful people meditate and drink hot lemon water at five. I set my phone alarm for five fifteen on a Wednesday.
I actually made it to the kitchen and turned the kettle on. I stood there in the dark for about four minutes. Then the baby woke up because she heard the floorboards creak under the rug. She started crying. That woke up my middle child. By five thirty I had two kids awake in the dark and I had not even poured the water.
I do not try to wake up early anymore. I sleep exactly as long as they let me. Sometimes that means we are rushing to find shoes at seven thirty. My oldest usually cannot find his left sneaker because he kicks them off under the couch the day before.
Instead of a strict morning routine, I just put all their clothes in a pile on the bathroom floor at night. I do not fold them. I just leave the pile next to the tub. We eat frozen waffles in the car if we are running late. It is not peaceful but I get an extra forty minutes of sleep. I will take the sleep over the hot water.