5:30 in the morning, and the bread dough is rising nicely…
I’m finding nearly impossible these days to sleep past 4:30. It has nothing to do with my back – it’s been this way since mid-November. I’ll be sleeping quite soundly, then – BING! 4am, eyes wide open. Sometimes it’s a little later, but by 4;30, it’s obvious that I’m not going back to sleep.
So I get up.
And do things.
It took a while to make peace with this, and turn it into something good. For several weeks, it was Just Frustrating. Not sure where the turning point came, but once it did Life became smoother. More efficient.
Efficient. From now on, that’s going to substitute for ‘organized’ in my thinking. A desk top or a cabinet’s contents can be organized, but organizing me requires too much advance planning, and leaves little room for the inevitable randomness of Life with a Three-Year-Old.
Who, most days, sleeps until around 7.
Which gives me several quiet hours to consider our Day Ahead. The Have to Do things, the Want to Do things. Good weather for outside play, or find a project to do indoors? Does the cookie jar need filling? There’s even time to consider the age-old “What’s for Dinner?” question, long before it’s asked…
That’s her “Smile for Me!” face, by the way…
There’s time to change the sheets on the bed. Start a load of laundry. Plenty of time for my cranky old oven to preheat, for the bread dough that proofed in the fridge all night to rise and be ready to bake shortly after sunrise.
Time to enjoy my coffee s l o w l y ….
Time to stand on the porch and absorb the dark silence that only exists in those wee small hours…no birds…no traffic…no light…and to try to store that peacefulness inside, and call on it later when it might be needed…
The down-side, of course, is that by 8 pm, I’m fading fast…the minute Angel is in bed and the coffee pot readied for morning, I’m pretty much done. 9 pm – lights out.
I can live with that…as long as there’s time to play.
Love the mornings before the kids awake. So peaceful. Coffee in hand and banana bread in the oven in Texas.
This is one of those, “If only I’d realized the first time around” things…when my own kids were little, I just wanted them to let me sleep-in!
The link with your gravatar isn’t working…I’d love to see your blog, too. Is there another one?
The bread looks delicious! I can almost smell it from here.
Years ago, when I was in my mid-30′s, I started waking up every single blessed morning at 4:00 am. Like you, I finally gave up and decided to go with it. I learned to love those early morning hours. After a few years of that, things gradually went back to normal and I gradually started sleeping later and later. Now here I am yearning to enjoy the early morning again. There’s something special about that time of day.
5:30 is my ‘normal’ time; been doing that for years. I don’t know why it’s suddenly an hour earlier, but I’m trying to make use of it. Now that I’m over being ticked-off
The bread is amazing – new recipe and technique. Might be the best I’ve ever made…
The sky pictures yesterday and today, have been awesome!! Maybe if I got up early I might find a red sky here!! Your bread looks good. Have a good weekend.
Having two brilliant sunrises in a week is a bit rare around here – another reason to be up early!
I want up early like you and my husband jokes that he doesn’t smell bread baking. I can’t like him see this post!
Did you get auto-corrected? You’re not a typo-gal
The bread is an experiment. Our only good local bakery shut down, so I’m trying to take up the slack…
Auto-correct drives me crazy. I don’t want to live without it but sometimes it is hard to live with it. I meant to say that I wake up early. Sorry about not catching it. I would love to share some of your fresh baked bread in the morning, I bet it is delicious.
No need to translate – my daughter can’t spell to save her life, so I’m used to decoding
Those early hours of the morning before the rest of the house is awake are very special. I don’t get to see them too often though – up too early and by 4pm I’m grouchy and horrible, even more so than usual! Another wonderful sunrise.
There are days when I’m like that, too. We still have a Rest Time in the afternoon (“It’s NOT a Nap, Grandmom!”) so I can get a little down-time then.
My, what lovely post…as I was reading it, I could feel the tension (that I didn’t realize was there) leave my shoulders. It makes me remember the peace I seem to be missing in my “hampster wheel” life of late. I obviously need to re-vamp. Thanks for that reminder! And thanks for your blog!
Thanks, Vicky. It’s always good to hear from you…Are you finished with school yet?
I love getting up early–funny that!
It do too….but not *quite* this early
5:30 is ‘normal’ for me.
When I had small children at home, I loved getting up early, just for the peace at the start of the day.
I wish I’d learned this when my own kids were little (20-something years ago). All I wanted then was to sleep until 10…
I have ALWAYS, even as a child, gotten up early 5:30 and then I have always and forever gone to sleep at 9 p.m. unless I was working shift work. And boy was that ever hard.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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I don’t know how shift workers do it…it was hard enough when I was working to do one day per week that was 12 – 9, rather than my usual 7 – 4. All the department heads were required to close the store once per week…
What a beautiful sunrise!
Thanks Cathy. It was a rare treat to have two in one week!
I have always enjoyed the early hours of morning. The time before everyone wakes up. Time for just me. Time for me to do stuff without being interupted. Glad you are enjoying it a whole lot more now.
I’ve been an early-riser for years, but more like 5 or 5:30. I was angry with myself for a while, missing that extra half-hour or 45 minutes, and that made me cranky. I hate to be cranky…so I changed my attitude
I am glad, I thought of you yesterday morning, I woke up at 4.30 and then couldn’t get back to sleep, so got up.
You certainly are productive so early in the morning. Even now that Max allows me to sleep in till 7:00 — some mornings — I’m not one to do much other than sip coffee for a spell. And considering how many times I’ve made mistakes just getting that cup of coffee, I think it best I avoid anything mechanical until I’ve been awake for at least an hour.
Love that pic of Angel at the door with the soccer ball.
But you’re a late-night guy, right? I’ve just traded evening productivity for early-morning.
Although, the coffee is on a timer…I don’t have to do anything but drink it when it’s ready
Sorry you´re not sleeping but glad you´re putting a positive spin on it! Writng this at 3am – ironically, I can´t sleep!
Oh, I’m sleeping. To a point…
Then, it just ENDS, like a switch being flipped.
Hope your bout of insomnia is temporary!
I don’t really like getting up early but the times when I do get up before the boys and have that quiet, slowly sipped cup of coffee and just be, it is a very nice time and a good way to start the day. You, however, not only have time for a slow cup of coffee but you are also productive – way to go! Yummy fresh baked bread.
And your granddaughter’s Smile For Me face is beautiful!
I didn’t like it when I was younger. When the kids were little, there was a lot of,”It’s YOUR turn to get up with them” at our house…But those were also the days when I was up until after midnight
It sound as if you are managing well on your new world and new life with Angel; and you fulfill the old adage:” Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
I’ll give Ol’ Ben Healthy…I’ve always thought the others were a bit of a stretch.
Good to hear from you, Ronnie.