Waking-Up Routine

When the babies moved in, we quickly established a routine upon waking up. Not surprisingly, the main part of our initial activity involved playing. Andy would jump off the bed when he heard the alarm, grab a squeaky toy and place it on the bed by me. I would throw the toy in one of several places.


One place I’d throw the toy is across the room in the loft. Andy would quickly pounce on it, squeak it and return it to me. Abby, in the meanwhile, would crawl to the head of the bed by me and start kissing me. Another place I’d throw the toy is in the bathroom upstairs. I would sometimes throw the toy down the staircase. Lastly, I’d throw the toy over the balcony into the living room. Andy would ‘boom, boom, boom’ down the steps. I would then hear him hit the hardwood floor when he would ‘tip tip tip’ down the hallway. Lastly, I’d hear the glorious squeaking. He found the toy and won that round. On the longer runs, I would kiss Abby some more and hug her. She would thwap, thwap her tail on the bed.

These play sessions could easily last 10 minutes, sometimes longer. I would shower in my next step of my morning routine. I’ll explain later, but the babies had to join me in this routine. I know it’s weird. After showering, I’d put on my clothes, put the babies on leashes and take them on their baby walk. The walks took around 10-15 minutes. We’d return home where they’d spent their time napping. Surprisingly, the babies didn’t give me a hard time leaving them all by their babyselves.

I’d grab a soda and a banana and went to work. Having the babies in the condo took up 30 minutes at the start of the day which included feeding them. I felt so guilty leaving them alone for such a long time. They were used to having someone always around them. They adjusted well.