What Ordinary Moms Do in the Morning

This week, Forbes ran a post about the morning routines of twelve women leaders, as told to Samantha Ettus, whose author tag line states she is “obsessed with helping women achieve their potential.” Well, I read that article and between the quinoa, green milk and vegan muffins these gals start their day with, well, I’m not gonna lie, I feel more regular already. Thanks, women leaders!

As a fairly prolific blogger with a healthy network of average and ordinary friends and readers, I challenged each of them to share their morning routines with me. How do the average and ordinary, I wonder, compare with the leaders in our midst? And, as I am obsessed with helping women come to terms with being “good enough,” I wanted to share this little window into perfectly average and ordinary mornings across America.

Amanda is a beauty salon owner and mother of two.

She lives in Zephyrhills, FL.

7.15 AM My 15-year-old son wakes me to get a ride to school. I put on flannel pants and a bath robe and calculate the days until he can drive himself as I drive him the 1.5 miles to the high school.

I return home, make coffee, play on Facebook and hopefully remember to schedule social media posts for the salon.

8 AM Husband tells me goodbye as he leaves for his banking job.

8.45 AM I wake my 10-year-old son and tell him he has 30 minutes to dress and brush his teeth.

I make him breakfast—usually cereal or an egg sandwich—and give him his medication. I get myself ready.

9:15 AM it is time to go, but the 10-year-old is still naked playing "Minecraft" so I calmly tell him I will meet him in the car.

9:20 AM He is in the car and I sign his planner and listen to his "Minecraft" or Pokémon adventures on the way to school. After complaining about the car circle and signing his planner at the last possible moment, I drop him off and open the salon at 9:30.

10 AM I take my first client.

Traci is a wife, mother of 3, ages 6, 9 and 12, and working outside the home for the first time.

3 AM Alarm goes off. Roll over and hit snooze.

3:10 AM Drag myself out of bed. Walk to kitchen. Start crock-pot so kids have oatmeal when they get up. Start coffee pot too.

3:15 AM Shower, put on my uniform, style hair (what little I have), debate makeup. Usually decide against makeup. Usually I don't really have time.

3:45 AM Drink coffee. Put toast or bagel in toaster.

3:50 AM Eat toast. Make sure kids meds are ready for husband to give them.

3:55 AM Gather work supplies.

4 AM Make kids lunches. Leave a note for them in their backpacks. When I remember. I sometimes forget. If I don't have time to make lunch, I leave lunch money.

4:20 AM Leave for work.

4:55 AM Arrive at work.

6:30 AM Call home between routes to make sure kids and husband are up and getting ready. Make sure meds have been taken.

8:20 AM Finish first half of shift. Go home to do housework or if I'm lucky, catch a nap, knowing I have to return later for the rest of my shift. [Her second shift is 3:15 PM – 7:05 PM.]

Ashbey owns her own production company and sometimes blogs for Huffington Post.

She lives in Chicago.

6:30 AM My husband's alarm wakes me and I roll over and go back to sleep.

6:50 AM My husband brings me a vanilla latte and I lie in bed sipping while petting the dog.

7:05 AM I get up and go to the bathroom. Put my hair in a bun. I put on some leggings and a top and boots. Sometimes I brush my teeth sometimes I don't.

7:10 AM My husband drives himself to the train with me in the passenger seat.

7:45 AM I return home and get back in bed with the dog. Sometimes I fall back asleep, sometimes I just day dream.

8:15 AM I get up and drink more coffee. Get on Facebook. Read dlisted.com and Buzzfeed and Jezebel and the HuffPost, in that order. Check emails. Go back to Facebook. Troll the internet for stuff I need to buy.

9:15 AM Start editing and returning phone calls and getting to work.

Carrie is a mom of three children. She lives in Dallas, TX.

5 AM Wake up and relish a few minutes of silence.

5:30 AM Start coffee and oatmeal, drag myself to pee while I have time and space in the bathroom. This is the last time I will pee alone all day.

6:45 AM I wake up eldest with ASD and go through his morning routine. Check clothes for tags, put on socks with the seam between toenails and top of toe, button pants exactly right and try to avoid a combination of teenage angst and autie anxiety. It's a very fine line.

7:00 AM Wake up other two children and try to get them dressed and fed while yelling "just shush and tie your shoes! It's OK if one lace is a little longer!” Slug down boiling hot coffee while trying to get myself presentable during the three minutes kids are eating at the same time.

7:04 AM Chase toddler out of bathroom while the middle child poops.

7:10 AM Get on coats and hurry out of the door, yelling all the way.

7:13 AM Beg with toddler to keep her clothes on inside the car.

7:15 AM Remember that I forgot to brush my teeth and hair, examine self in rearview mirror, scrape off teeth and decide it's not worth getting everyone out of the car to do it right now.

Courtney sells construction equipment and it the only woman on her team of 50. Also mothers two sons.

She lives in Bartlett, IL.

5:15 AM Hit the snooze button for the alarm I set when I planned on working out before work.

5:45 AM Wake up to one of two cute little faces standing next to my bed asking if they can have a snack before breakfast. Tell that face to lay down on my bed until 6:00.

6:15 AM Wake up in a panic as my husband leaves for work and my kids are still begging for snacks and a drink. Run downstairs and get them some cereal and juice (sometimes healthy, sometimes unhealthy).

6:15 to 6:55 AM A shitshow of massive proportions ensues as I turn the shower on in hopes of actually making it in there before it's too late, wrestle the little guy to the ground and promise him that he can wear jammies again tonight, but that clothes are necessary for the day, beg my 5-year-old to take his jeans off and turn his underwear around, and try to tame their bed head while they crane their necks to watch whatever DVR'd cartoon of choice is blasting at max volume so they can hear over the hairdryer for all 30 seconds that it is on.

6:55 AM My mom arrives and sweeps them into her calm arms and feeds them real food. The other kids she watches at my house start to arrive and I start to panic again because I should already be gone by the time they get here but I have nothing to wear and I'm bloated from my midnight snacking and why do I even care what I look like when 90% of the time I am in an office by myself anyway.

7:15 AM Drive to work. Stop at the Starbucks drive-thru and get all pissed that everyone else is stopping at the same time and blame all of them for my being late to work.

7__:35 AM__ Get to work and pop my antidepressant, take a breath, drink my coffee and go over the morning hoping I didn't forget to sign a permission slip (yes, I did forget), forget about the book fair (yep, forgot that too) or forget I had my kid's backpack. Figure out how to fix said problems while the coffee is still working.

Coya artistically directs Free Street Theater, teaches at DePaul University, and mothers a tiny little hurricane.

She lives in Chicago.

5.30 AM Wake up and make coffee, put away dishes, try to get some work done before daughter wakes up. (On a low pressure day, every so often, I read a magazine.)

6.30 AM Wake up child. Make her lunch. Help her get dressed. Beg her to tell me what she wants to eat. Make that.

On a good day, take a shower. On every day, do my hair and put on makeup and get dressed. Beg my child to please put on shoes. Rush out the door late every morning. Usually forget *my* lunch and my breakfast. Drive her to school. Go to work.

Julie is a recovering lawyer who now gets paid to talk sports on 87.7 The Game in Chicago. Julie has two boys, 12 and 13 years old. She works hard with their independence, but still nags them every 20 seconds!

She lives in Aurora, IL.

6:15 AM Alarm goes off for the 3rd time. Try to hit "snooze," hit "dismiss" instead. Fall back asleep for 25 minutes.

6:40 AM Sit bolt upright in bed, realizing I fell asleep. Become annoyed that now I'm running late.

6:45 AM Take stock. Decide if I want to take the 30 minutes to blow-dry my hair or just slap a hat on it for the day.

7:05 AM Yell at the kids that they're going to miss the bus. Let dogs out. Chase smallest dog around the neighborhood after he gets under the fence (again).

7:10 AM Get into a fight with my husband over who's turn it is to take the garbage out.

7:15 AM Drive to train station.

7:20 AM Get caught by train and sit in stopped traffic for 10 minutes (screw you, Canadian National Freight Lines).

7:32 AM Miss 7:32 train.

7:33 AM Get doughnut and Diet Mountain Dew at the train station, because I fed the kids but not myself at home.

7:35 AM Read Buzzfeed and Internet gossip sites while I wait for the train.

7:51 AM Board the 7:52 train to the city. Am immediately befriended by the smelliest person on the train.

7:52-8:30 AM Breathe through my mouth for the entire commute.

8:36 AM Think about diving into my email inbox. Decide to go back to Buzzfeed instead.

9:00 AM Arrive at work and begin my day.

Julie is mom to two, wife to one, and amazing blogger to many at ChicagoNow’s Hammervision.

She lives in Chicago.

5:35 AM My husband's alarm goes off.

5:43 AM I kick him to remind him that his alarm went off.

5:53 AM He rolls out of bed and I stretch my legs for a few more winks.

5:54 AM I'm awoken by padding feet in the hallway. The boy is up. He goes to the bathroom and then to his playroom. I consider getting up to shower, then I grab my phone and check Facebook and email.

6:05 AM I finally get up, shower, throw on whatever pants aren't standing up on their own yet, and head downstairs for breakfast. I flip on PBS Kids, make some chocolate toast for the boy, some cereal and coffee for me, and settle down to multitask—eat and write a blog post.

7:06 AM I realize the girl's not up yet, so I turn off the sound machine and open the shade in the kids' room. I go down stairs and make lunches.

7:21 AM The girl's still not up, so I bodily take her from her bed and carry her downstairs. I put a bowl of something in front of her. Inevitably she'll tell me she wants eggs.

7:35 AM By this point, I've hopefully made my bed and done something with my hair and face, but most likely I've gotten caught up in some conversation on Twitter. I give the kids clothes to wear and encourage them to dress themselves.

7:39 AM I drag the girl into the bathroom and tell her to pee. Then I shove her clothes on her.

7:45 AM We all say goodbye to dad as he leaves the house just in time to make the train.

7:47 AM My son asks for his vitamins. We all have vitamins. The "Frozen" gummy kind.

7:50 AM I shove the kids and myself into some combination of shoes, coats, scarves, hats and gloves.

7:55 AM We're out the door and on our way to school. I'm lucky—the rest of the parents are lucky—if I happen to be wearing pants that are not pajama-adjacent.

Katie is a kindergarten through second grade instructional coach and mom of three under three.

She lives in Clive, IOWA

4:45 AM Alarm goes off. Am I feeling a little sick today?

5:00 AM Husband's alarm goes off. Still feeling a little sick. I'd better snuggle these babies just a little longer.

5:15 AM Up and at ‘em. Shower.

5:30 AM Make bottles and pick a baby to feed. Usually the one who screams the loudest. Wait for husband to realize the other baby is screaming and get out of his luxury 20-minute shower to feed the second baby. Not happening. I go get the second bottle and feed two at the same time.

6:00 AM Babies are done being fed and hubby is dressed and ready to go. I change and dress babies while the two-and-a-half-year-old morning monster gets his wake up time with daddy.

6:15 AM Babies are ready to go, so I head downstairs.

6:35 AM Head back upstairs to get dressed and pack up babies.

6:40 AM Pack bottles and breakfast.

6:45 AM Pack up babies.

6:59 AM Should be heading out the door but the two-year-old doesn't like the shoes I've given him because they don't match.

7:10 AM Out the door and in the van.

7:25 AM Arrive at daycare. Dump all three, kiss and run!

7:35 AM Head to work. It's a 25-minute drive and work contract starts at 8. Please let there be no traffic today!

Kay is a 41-year-old wife, student, and mother of seven children (ages 5-24 years old).

She lives in Brick Township, NJ

6:45 AM First alarm goes off.

6:45 AM to 7:10 Repeatedly hit snooze.

7:15 AM Stare at myself in the mirror and notice the dark circles under my eyes.

7:20 AM Hop in the shower.

7:31 AM Kick it into hyperdrive, wake and carry kindergartner from her bed to my bed while wearing a towel.

7:35 AM 5-year-old is now lying in my bed kicking bed sheets and crying because she doesn’t want to get up.

7:42 AM– 8 AM Mad dash to get daughter dressed, brushed and on the bus. She eats breakfast at school because if I threw that into the mix too, she might as well arrive at 10.

8:10 AM Little one is on the bus, my feet and hair are now frozen because I threw on flip-flops in 30-degree temperatures.

8:15 AM First cup of tea. I enjoy it on the back porch while watching the sun break out in full glory.

8:20-8:50 AM I hurriedly get dressed and do my makeup. I don’t need deodorant, right? The other six kids are old enough to get themselves ready.

8:50 AM Carpool to college with my 21-year-old daughter. Realize that I can’t find my phone, homework or car keys.

9:00 AM Finally leave for my 9:30 class amongst, “Really mom? When are you going to stop losing things?”

9:10 AM Stop at Wawa, grab a Red Bull, water, nuts and a candy bar. This will be my lunch for the day since I have three back-to-back classes.

Kerri teaches writing at Governors State University and blogs about cancer. Mom of one teen girl.

She lives in Flossmoor, IL.

5:45 AM Alarm goes off, but I’m already awake. Because of menopause, I’ve been sleeping for only three to five hours at a time, broken by an hour or more of wakefulness.

6:00 AM Finally haul myself out of bed and decide which sweatpants are cleanest to pull on.

6:02 AM Realize I’ve pulled on dress pants from the day before. Sort through the clothes on the floor for sweatpants.

6:05 AM After 10 minutes of wrangling him, I finally get a leash connected to my wiggling, jumping, kissing, tail-chasing dog.

6:06 AM With head lamp affixed, I walk Freddie.

6:36 AM I send a little prayer to a god I don’t believe in that my daughter is out of bed. I call upstairs with good cheer, “How’s it going?”

6:37 AM I make coffee and oatmeal and toast.

6:45 AM I eat my oatmeal and toast, take my antidepressant, my thyroid medication and my vitamin D and wash it all down with black coffee.

7:00 AM I slice bread for my daughter’s sandwich as I hear about how she’s too tired for school

7:10 AM I tell her to hurry up.

7:15 AM I tell her to hurry up.

7:19 AM We leave for school.

7:22 AM Either Queen or Taylor Swift are queued up and we sing.

7:30 AM Daughter drags herself out of car and into school

7:40 AM I fly upstairs, shower, get dressed.

8:20 AM I compile my lunch, pack my stuff, pile it into the car.

8:30 AM I stop at Starbucks for a coffee and check FB while I wait.

9:00 AM I’m at work.

Lisa is a field operations supervisor for an insurance adjusting firm and mom of two.

She lives in Linwood, MI.

5.30 AM I wake. I check my work cell to make sure nothing urgent transpired overnight. I check my personal cell (and Facebook) to get my brain functioning well enough to travel down the stairs without incident.

I wake my boy (10, ADHD and anxiety). While I shower, my son eats breakfast. When I am done and dressed, he has his turn.

While he is showering, I wake the sleeping bear: my 8-year-old daughter (bipolar disorder).

While she is showering, I let our four dogs out to tend to their business in the backyard and feed them breakfast.

I 'put my face on' while she is dressing, then we do our hair together. The littles get their medication and we brush our teeth.

7:10 AM We pack morning and after school snacks (and cold lunch depending on what's on the hot lunch menu that day).

7:15 – 7:20 AM We leave the house, all of this without feeling like I might spurt blood from my eyes from repeating myself 510 times: “This. Is. A. Good. Day!”

I drive them to school with incessant sniping in the backseat, walk them in, and say goodbye for the school day around 7:50.

8 AM I arrive at my office to begin the daily circus.