Which would you rather do?

[gatorsmom]

Put 4 tired, wound up kids to bed at night or wake up 2 sluggish boys at 6:30am, dress them, feed them, get their snow clothes ready and lunches, rush them out the door and to school. In the cold. For school at 7:30am.

I have been falling asleep in the recliner at 7pm for the last 3 days (just woke up in fact) while kids are crawling on me yelling, " wake up mama!". Dh sleeps in nearly every morning while i get the boys ready and take them to school. I made him a deal tonight- if he would put the kids to bed, I'll continue to take the boys to school in the morning. He's putting them to bed as I type. ;)

so, who's getting the better deal, in your opinion?

[ourbabygirl]

Hmmmm.... tough call... are they crankier at night or in the morning? I would *probably* pick the morning gig, but the tough part is getting everything done on time so they don't get to school late or forget anything. ETA: Oooh, I forgot about buckling them all in to car seats & stuff..... you get bonus points for that!
I give you major props :bowdown: for being such a good mom to 4 kids, day in and day out! I thought I wanted 4, then realized I can hardly handle 2! ;)

[LMPC]

I think it depends on if you are a morning person or not. For me, it would be a better deal to put them to bed...I hate hate getting up early! The fact that DH made the deal with you is great! Maybe you can get some much deserved rest tonight! Don't go to bed too late ;) You know how this board can be a time sucker!!!

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

Honestly it would depend on if i was a night owl or a morning person. Lucky for me i'm the night owl and dh is the morning person so it's a good distribution of labor. He gets ds ready tue,wed, and thurs. mon and wed he works overtime in the morning so I get ds ready. Fortunatly mil likes to take ds to school because in her words " I'm 72 and retired, if I didn't have something to make me get up and ready I'd stay in my pj's all day." So that just leaves getting dd ready and she gets up at 8 so we both get a fairly smooth entry into the day and usually both the older ones are in bed by 8:30.

[hillview]

If I get a good night sleep the early shift if my preference. NICE job!
/hillary

[WatchingThemGrow]

morning sounds right unless you're a night owl.. I'm not so good that early in the morning, unless I get to bed early. Hey wait, how are you feeling, BTW. I missed the rest of your thread on that..

[egoldber]

I would rather get them up and do the morning than bedtime. I am much more patient in the morning than I am at night. ;)

[kristenk]

I think you got the better part of the bargain. I'm not a huge fan of the morning rush around here, but there's a finite amount of time to it. You need to get it done by x:xx and that's it. Bedtime can drag forever.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I think it depends on if you are a morning person or not. For me, it would be a better deal to put them to bed...I hate hate getting up early! The fact that DH made the deal with you is great! Maybe you can get some much deserved rest tonight! Don't go to bed too late ;) You know how this board can be a time sucker!!!

That's what I was thinking too. No way would I want to wake up at 6:30. Of course, I wake my ds1 up for school at 7:20 and we walk out the door at 7:40. I do everything possible I can think of the night before so we can sleep in those extra precious minutes. It helps that I only have to get one out the door though!

I do one kid at night and also wake up in the morning with both (staggered wake up times).

I would probably experiment a little bit and see which one is better. 4 kids though? I think I would choose the morning wake up ver bedtime. :)

Beth

[lmh2402]

i would/do pick the evening shift.

my situation is different - only one kid and he's younger

but i am not happy when i wake up in the morning

but i love bath time and pjs and putting him to bed

it's the end of the day and he's tired and often fussy. but i still like it

PLUS, dh is almost never home for bedtime...so our hand is basically dealt for us.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Can you go back to sleep after you get the big kids off to school in the morning?

Beth

[DrSally]

I guess I'd rather sleep in b/c I'm a night owl. But, it's great that he responded to your deal and is doing one of the times, at least! I'm glad you spoke up and I'm glad that he was responsive.

[gatorsmom]

morning sounds right unless you're a night owl.. I'm not so good that early in the morning, unless I get to bed early. Hey wait, how are you feeling, BTW. I missed the rest of your thread on that..

you are sweet to remember!

I haven't had another heart episode, thank goodness, but I have an appointment in 3 weeks with a cardiologist. I'm hoping he can give me some pills to take in case I have another heart episode that I can't stop by myself. Somehow, though, I don't think it's going to be that simple. I'll give an update though after I see him. :)

[DrSally]

I almost always end up doing both. But, here's what I do in the morning. DD is a bright and early 6:30 riser. I don't have to be out the door until 8:30am. So, I pack lunches/bags the night before (on those days they need it), and get DD out of her crib, bring her into bed with me, where she either falls asleep or brings some books and reads in my bed. I get up around 7:30am and shower, then I get the kids dressed (letting DS sleep as late as possible).

[KrisM]

I'd do morning. By bedtime I am just ready to be done for a while and would glady hand that off to DH every night.

[crl]

I would pick the morning shift. By bedtime, I'm done.

Catherine

[MamaMolly]

Please, please, please have your DH call my DH. I'd take either deal right now. :(

[srhs]

I think it depends on if you are a morning person or not. For me, it would be a better deal to put them to bed...I hate hate getting up early! The fact that DH made the deal with you is great! Maybe you can get some much deserved rest tonight! Don't go to bed too late ;) You know how this board can be a time sucker!!!
That's what I was going to say. As much as I like DH doing the bedtime routine, I am not a morning person, so I am sure I would pick that one. Glad you split it up though--brilliant!
Agree with PP for the major props on your daily care of your 4 kiddos. :)

[WatchingThemGrow]

you are sweet to remember!

I haven't had another heart episode, thank goodness, but I have an appointment in 3 weeks with a cardiologist. I'm hoping he can give me some pills to take in case I have another heart episode that I can't stop by myself. Somehow, though, I don't think it's going to be that simple. I'll give an update though after I see him. :)
sorry for the out of context question, but it was truly scary to read about that happening to you. Amazing how you (or rather God) calmed it down on the way there... praying for you to make through all this muck, sister!

[RunnerDuck]

I am handling wake up and bedtime alone this week as DH is out of town. They're both evil, in different ways. I guess if I had to pick, as much as hate waking up in the AM, I'd do AM duty, because my girls have started to get in bed with me early in the morning to "sleep" with me, which mainly involves poking and rolling and agressive repositioning of my arm... so if I did night time, planning to sleep in in the AM, I'd have to get up anyway. DH is useless in the mornings. He is not a morning person, either, but the kids leave him alone. So unfair.

[AshleyAnn]

I'd rather do bedtime. I'm not a morning person and I am a tend to run late for everything. And I HATE cold weather. At least once the bedtime routine is done I can have a drink (well ok I can't as I'm knocked up) and just be glad its over and the day is done verse just beginning.

[alexsmommy]

I'm a morning person and much more patient in the morning, so I'd rather do that part. It often works out that way, if DH is home at bedtime, he usually puts the older two to bed so I can go to bed at the same time and nurse the baby down. On no school nights the deal is they can stay up an hour later, BUT they have to shower and put on pj's at their pj's at the regular time and if there is any resistance/complaining/procastinating when it's time to go brush teeth/potty and climb in bed, they lose a half hour the next no school night. There is also no books on those nights. Usually it works out fine.