Before the Sun?

[Jenna]

Proverbs 31:15
She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.



Ok, I'm making war on my nature, and it definitely isn't comfortable. I am having a difficult time getting myself up when I am supposed to. Now, my husband and I usually stay up kind of late. We normally go to bed between 11pm-12am, even during the week when he has to be to work by 8am. Sometimes he has to be to work as early as 6am because of snow removal. Now, I would really like to be able to get myself up so I can make him breakfast before he goes. My trouble is in actually getting my bum out of the bed. I'm having real problems with it.

So, I need to get up about a half hour before Michael does, so I can wake up a little, read a bit in my bible, and get the food to cooking. I've set my alarm, but keep sleeping right through it. My brain just isn't cooperating, and I'm not sure what to do. If I turn the alarm on louder, then I'll wake everyone else up also. I feel a bit at a loss for ideas. I keep trying to get to bed earlier so I will be rested well enough that the alarm will wake me up. However, then Michael fusses at me to spend more time with him. I WANT to, which is why I stay up so late and have such a hard time getting up. My work day doesn't end when he gets off work, but continues on until I can get the last of the chores done after I put Anna to bed. So, I get pretty tired to. I know that I need to start going to bed a little bit earlier, especially on hard days, but I've got to ease into it. In the meantime, does anyone have any ideas on how to make it easier to peel myself out from under the covers? For those who are not morning people, how do you do it?

 

[LiberatedChick]

I used to have a small electronic organiser which had an alarm function. I'd set the alarm and put the organiser under my pillow. It was harder for me to sleep through that lol. Currently, I set two different alarms....one on my alarm clock and one on my mobile phone. My husband sleeps through anything so they don't wake him but I have a tendancy to hit the snooze button on the alarm clock a few too many times so the different sound of the mobile kind of shocks me back out of the land of nod. So maybe try a different sounding alarm, more high pitched ones tend to wake me up easier.

 

[Jenna]

You don't find that the pillow muffles the sound too much? I tried setting my watch alarm, but the pillow muffled it so much that I never heard it go off. I guess that you can set the volume on cell phones though, right? I personally don't have one, which is why I ask. I wonder if they make little battery opperated alarm clocks small enough to tuck under a pillow, but small enough that I could still sleep with it there..........

 

[Cordy]

Usually when I sleep through alarms, it is because I am overtired. I think sleeping through the alarm is a sign that you shouldn’t be getting up at that time because your body hasn’t had enough sleep that it needs in order to remain healthy. I think if you really want to get up that early, you might want to consider going to bed earlier, rather than depriving your body from sleep.

 

[KleinerApfel]

Jenna, it seems that you need more sleep than your husband, which is a biological fact for many couples. Women do often require more sleep.

So if you are certain you really need to get up earlier, there is no getting away from the fact you need to get to bed correspondingly earlier!

Have you given your husband the choice?
Ask him to decide which he would prefer: he can have you to spend time with late at night talking, watching TV or whatever, OR he can have a cooked breakfast.
Both is probably just not realistic without something else having to "give."

Alternatively you could offer cooked breakfast as an occasional luxury for him, say once a week, and stay in bed the other days.

I think compromise is the way forward; try to find what works best for most of the family most of the time, rather than what's perfect for just one member and never mind the mess everyone else gets into!

God bless you, Susana

 

[Jenna]

Granted, there are many times when I need to exercise a bit more self discipline in getting to bed a wee bit earlier. Even so, I just have never really made a concious effort to set myself on a schedule after Anna was born. I was always just up whenever she got up, and slept when I couldn't keep my eyes open any more. lol I'm getting more into a routine now, but one that I don't like. I go to bed late, and then still get up 2 or 3 times during the night to chase the cats off for fighting,to go to the bathroom, or to check on Anna (bad dreams, etc.). Technically, if I am going to bed at 11pm, I should be able to get the sleep that I need if I get up at 7am. I've tried making breakfast first, and then doing bible study and such after I clear the table. That works out too.

If there is one person that I am trying to make happy, it's most likely myself. There are times when Mike will mention how nice it would be if he could get a hot breakfast before braving the cold, but the greatest majority of the time, I don't begin to rouse until he's kissing me goodbye. This is just something that *I* want to do. It does make me think though. Maybe I should be setting time aside during the afternoon for a modest nap. Anna doesn't usually take one anymore, but if I start getting her up in the morning for breakfast with myself and daddy, then she should be ready for a nap in the afternoon too. *ponders*

 

[Saint2be27]

What I have to do is bribe myself out of bed. I like to stay in the warm, cozy blankets so I found a nice coffee that is a treat for me, I prepare it the night before then have husband turn on the coffee pot before he showers.

It's comforting and wakes me up.

 

[andiesmama]

Confession...I don't get up to make my hubby breakfast in the morning...but then again, he's NOT a breakfast person! But I do set our coffee-maker to come on early in the am so he'll have some...maybe like Saint2be said, you could set your coffee maker to come on & then you'd have the enticing aroma of coffee to help pull you out of bed...ummm, if you even like coffee, that is!!

 

[Saint2be27]

Jenna, you sound like such a nice wife!

If I had a hot breakfast ready for my husband in the morning...he'd have a coronary heart attack! Actually the other day I had dinner ready for him when he got home from work...on the table and all and he surprisingly asked "who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

That is very comendable for you to think of doing this for your husband to brighten his day.

 

[Jenna]

Me? A nice wife? Naw............. lol You know, I really do try to take care of him. He works so hard during the day. There are days when I don't get to see him except at bedtime, because he works so hard, especially during the winter. I also know that there are many days that he works right through his lunch, and the only meal that he might get in a day isn't until he gets home for the night. So, I try to always have dinner hot and ready on the table when he comes in. Still, he's absolutely famished by the time that he gets home. I'd like to make sure that he gets a meal before he goes in for work so he doesn't get so worn down and hungry during the day. He is a breakfast person. I just have a hard time getting myself up early enough for his breakfast time.

It isn't that I am just trying to look like a nice person to other folks. I've never been too concerned about how people view me. I just want to take good care of him, because he works real hard to take care of us. I keep our home during the day and take care of our daughter, and I appreciate how much my husband does so we can afford for me to do that. I see how hard my little sister has to work at organizing sitters and a work schedule, and it makes me even more grateful. That aside, I just love the guy. I want him to feel like home is his sanctuary, a place where he is well cared for and is able to really relax.

I think that my difficulties stem from the fact that I'm mildly disorganized with my time. During the day, I don't have things that must be done in any particular order. I take each chore as I wish, and manage my time as I see fit. Because there hasn't been a NEED, I feel ill equipped to get myself situated when I really should be more motivated toward getting up and getting things done. That's the story of my life though. lol Some of my earliest school memories are of 1st grade, or rather my mom trying to drag me out of bed for it. lol I love the morning. I love to be up before the sun and watch the pink and purples chase each other across the sky. Unfortunately, some part of me just isn't as fond of the situation.

About the coffee thing, I just don't have a coffee pot with a timer on it. Mine only has a switch on the side to turn it off and on. I drink tea, and Michael drinks coffee a couple times a week, but not really often. It all depends on if he wants to bother with making it. lol

 

[KleinerApfel]

Jenna,
it sounds as though you really want to do the breakfast thing, and your reasons are good. Your husband is blessed, and it's really good that you want to do this for his well-being.

So you'll have to explain to him that you would like to do this, but in order to manage it without something else slipping, you really need to get to bed early.

11pm - 7am sounds like the "ideal" 8 hours, but you're disturbed several times, and may not get more than 7 hours. Over a week, that is a lot of sleep deprivation.
Besides, each of us is different. I function best on 9 hours most nights, then can get away with 7 on the others, but also take a nap occasionally. My husband needs only about 6 - 7 hours a night.

Maybe you could go ahead and do it for a trial period. Give yourselves a deadline of a few weeks ahead to assess whether it's working out for you all.

God bless, Susana

 

[InTheFlame]

Many people need sunlight to really wake up properly. If you're wanting to get up before sunrise, you've got a great resource that the proverbs 31 woman didn't - electric lights! Can you get a timer device (plugs into a power point, and an electrical appliance ca be plugged into IT to be turned on at a particular time), and plug a bedside lamp into it? The extra light should help you wake up.

 

[GirlieGirl]

If you ever figure it out how, let me know. Right now hubby and I take turns dragging ourselves out of bed and making breakfast for the other.