Before 8 a.m. on Saturday {Katie}

Growing up, my dad gave me the nickname “Little Bit” because I would always plead, “just a little bit more sleep,” when he would attempt to wake me up in the morning for school. That nickname still applies today–especially when my kids inform me that the, “Sky’s awake, so they’re awake. So we must play.” (Just a little Frozen humor for you)

I. just. want. a. little. bit. more. sleep. 

Now, my ideal mornings are slooooooooow, so when Meg from Margaret Koning Photography came to our house, I was beyond thrilled to have her capture our slow Saturday morning. Because, who really wants the we’re-in-a-rush-to-get-out-of-the-door kind of morning documented to look back on–trust me I won’t forget those crazy times.

Most mornings our kids wake up before me and my hubby. He hears them stirring before I do, either that or I pretend to still be asleep, which forces him to get the kiddos first…and thus begins the morning. The mantra of our parenting for this season of life is man-to-man defense. We each are in charge of one kid; getting their diaper changed, take them potty, feed the baby a bottle. And then regroup once those tasks are accomplished. The joys of having two-under-two.

Oh man, the bottle… since this photo session our son has dropped drinking out of a bottle, but I’m beyond glad we were able to capture the aspect that let me hold on to the baby-ness of him. Please tell me I’m not alone on this one, but my son had to have his bottle within seconds of us coming into the room–or he lost it. I mean there was no point in going into the room if we didn’t already have the bottle prepped.

Once the first items of business have been completed in the morning, I make my way back into bed. I’m attempting to magically have everyone go back to sleep, which never works–so I settle for cuddling and playing on the bed.

Eventually we all get to the point where our stomachs are grumbling, and head downstairs to make a pancake breakfast. On slow mornings we make homemade pancakes, on busy mornings we make a box mix with protein. Our oldest is at the stage where she is independently-dependent, meaning we let her do things by herself…with our help.

She’s also still at the stage where she hands out kisses upon request, and sometimes without. One of the best stages.

Okay, so breakfast is underway, the baby has been given a tide-me-over snack, and now we serve the kiddos first. My belief is that once they are old enough they’ll be on their own to get their food, and any seconds/refills. Buuuut right now, that is not the case, so we serve them and celebrate with a cheers over our first cup of coffee of the day! Then we will join them and eat breakfast together, all in one place, with only each other’s company and crumbs.

After the meal, it’s the game of cleaning the kids up. Spoiler alert, I win every time. Then we’ll make our way into the living room to see where the day will take us. On most mornings we’ll  snuggle up on the sofa with our daughter and watch a movie or an episode or two of Curious George, and our son makes his way onto the rocking horse. But on this particular morning, it was more tempting for our oldest to entertain our guest, and be a ham.

Thank you all the readers for walking through our morning with us. I hope there are parts that can relate to you and your family.

I want to especially thank Meg Koning for the photos she blessed us with, because whether she knew it or not, photos are one of my love languages. I will look back on these photos when I want to reminisce on this season of life with my two under two and smile, and possibly shed a tear or two.

The perks of having littles are the precious moments you get to have doing very mundane things.

P.s. Dad- I usually went back to sleep in the bathroom, curled up on the floor… #sleepisgoldwithorwithoutkids #oncealittlebitalwaysalittlebit

For more pictures, and a peek into Meg’s perspective of this before 8 am shoot, be sure to check out her post here.