I will not accept many meeting invites before 9:00am. Now if Michael Dell invited me for an 8:30am (he hasn't yet, but you never know) I would accept that one. But in general I can always find a reasonable alternative time. It's not that I'm lazy, I just have other plans.
Most mornings (at least 5-6 days a week including weekends) I wake up at 5:00am and play Outlook at my kitchen table while watching CNBC. Although Outlook always wins, I can't stop playing. These two hours are some of my most productive of the day. I'll finish up a presentation, or catch up on blogs. There are no drive-by's, no phone calls, and very few replys come back over e-mail.
But around 7:20am my favorite part of the morning begins when Ainsley starts talking over the baby monitor. She babbles for a while, lately she giggles, and every now and then an actual word floats out (usually mamama). After a while she starts getting a bit impatient and a lot louder, like she's calling for us to come get her. Then she starts pulling the strings on her musical toys which is like a paging system for parents. If we try to ignore that cue...things get ugly.
Every morning Courtney and I go in together to get the baby. I usually pick out some clothes (which Courtney changes when I'm not looking) and feed Ainsley in her room. Then we come downstairs and the three of us have breakfast together. Courtney and I have coffee and talk about the day while Ainsley feeds the pugs some Cheerios we actually intended for her.
Ever since I adopted this morning schedule I come to work much better prepared and in a much better mood (trust me, it really could be worse). I enjoy this time so much it takes a lot for me skip.
