When does the yelling stop?

I have been sick for over a week now and it seems everyone is yelling at me or at each other in our home. It may be because my ears are so stopped up I cannot hear or that I am yelling in order to attempt to hear what I am saying but everyone is yelling. Lizzie yells at Lilly. Lilly yells at Chris and I am yelling at everyone.

I have expressed my grief to Chris that all the yelling in the mornings must end. I think we have conditioned the girls not to respond to us without us raising our voices to get their attention. This must stop and Chris yells that this must STOP!!! I don't remember a lot of yelling in our house growing up. You either did what Mom or Dad said immediately or your tail would be on fire. There wasn't any discussion and we all knew what roles we played in the morning.

I think our problem is we are the most unorganized group of people on the planet! Here is our morning routine:

6:45 am Chris wakes up and jumps in the shower

7:00 am Chris wakes me up and expects me to take a cold shower because he just finished his shower and there is no hot water left. Yelling begins!

7:05 am Chris wakes up the girls for breakfast...Please note Lizzie has been up for hours rearranging everything in the living room, office, refridgerator and her bedroom under the cover of darkness. I think she is a bat or has super night vision. Lizzie yells at Lilly to get up, Chris yells at Lilly to get up and I am screaming because someone just flushed the toilet and has frozen my already cold shower.

7:10 am Chris has breakfast ready and the girls are eating and I am getting out of the shower. Possible moment of silence.....Hmmm...It is short lived because 7:15 am is approaching.

7:15 am Chris starts hollering that it is 7:15 am and that we are leaving at 7:30 am

7:20 am The girls have yet to finish their waffles or pop-tarts and Chris cannot understand why all the females of the house are still not dressed and ready to depart in ten minutes. Chaos begins!

7:25 am The girls are rushing to brush teeth, comb hair and put on their shoes as Chris is trying to grab all the backpacks and stuff and while I am trying to finish getting dressed, too.

7:30 am A chaos bomb explodes as not a single female in the house can find anything because Chris is demanding we all leave NOW!!!!

7:35 am Everyone is in the car now except me because I need five minutes of quiet to locate my backpack that I packed the night before that has been moved in the morning's chaos. I find it and the last person leaves the house for the car. Oh and I almost forgot...Did anyone let the dog back in the house?

As you can see there are many things at fault with our morning routine. Several weeks ago our morning routine landed Chris and I in hot water with our employer. We had been tardy to work almost every day of the week for over a month. I have been trying to locate the cause of our family's dysfunction for over two years now and I might have a solution. First let me outline the problems.

Problem 1: Only Lizzie is a morning person
Problem 2: Bethany, Chris and Lilly are not morning people

Lizzie has been a morning person since she was born. She wakes up hungry and ready for a new day. Lizzie goes to pre-school and here she has the structure she needs. Scheduled activities, playtime, meals and snacks. Her little body knows when she is supposed to eat and if you do not feed her, she becomes crazy. She loves the mornings but by the afternoon needs a nap. She will not take a nap and by 7 pm I am wanting her to go to bed. I bathe her around 7 pm then it is time for a story and off to bed by 8:30 pm. If any of Lizzie's routine gets out of whack there is hell to pay for the rest of us.

Lilly was a semi-morning person before she turned eight years old. She will be ten in April and is already showing signs that the pre-teenage sleeping habits are forming along with a tendency for being a night owl. She also likes being by herself unless she needs something and enjoys reading. Her reading appetite is tremendous! She can read large chapter books within a few hours and reads on an 8th or 9th grade level for fun. Her vocabulary is incredible and she surprises me with new words on a daily basis.

Chris is not a morning person or a night person. He is an in between person. He functions well beginning around 9 am but turns into a pumpkin at 9 pm. All he wants to do when gets home from work is sit in front of the TV or work on something that is broken in the garage. This walks all over me! I like a little TV before I go to sleep but to spend hours in front of it is a waste of time and energy. The kids love the wasted time in front of the TV! But I have to give Chris, credit he can fold a lot of laundry watching TV. So, today I am not mad.

Bethany is not a morning person and if you wake me before 11 am your life maybe in danger. I need a hot shower and caffeine of some sort to even think about waking up before noon. My brain does not work until around 2 pm and does not begin to show signs of slowing down until around 1 am. Yes, I said 1 am in the morning. My humble co-workers know it is not best to schedule meetings until after lunch and I work a second job in the evenings three days a week. When I am awake, I am on fire and expect everyone to run just as hard as I do. Just look for the crazy short lady with a McDonald's unsweetened iced tea in her hand that might be me leading the blind and the naked through a mine field.

See, I told all of ya'll I was crazy! Back to the question: When does the yelling stop.....

At this time, we have worked on our morning routine and things have gotten better. Chris is now getting up at 6:15 am instead of 6:45 and I have a hot shower. Things are looking up!