What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

Oh boy! The first hour of my day…

The first hour of my day is completely devoted to my dogs, not entirely by my choice. 😂

I am awakened every morning by a purposely noisey yawn from Lady, my Beagle Baby who’s “official” full name is: Lady Girl, the Little Princess Peanut Butter.

So I roll over and give her belly rubs and “bummy” scratches. She wiggles around in her nest, which is a large, very comfy afghan my mom made me. She chose that as her “blankie” very shortly after I brought her home from the rescue I adopted her from.

When I’ve decided she’s had enough, I go down to the end of the bed where her brother is.

Her big brother is my baby boy. I adopted him 2 weeks after I moved into my house, a house I had closed on 4 weeks earlier. So this big boy and I started this chapter of my life together. He has been with me through a lot. He’s a very special, emotional boy. ❤️

Anyway, I roll down to the foot of he bed and wake Reggie up. He’s getting to be an old man so his excitement at the morning snuggle time is restricted to a very awake and wiggley butt.

So I give my boy, an American Staffordshire Terrier… whose “official” name is: Reginald P. Dogg, the Big Handsome Man; my dad, Reggie’s Pa, gave him the formal name, I added the title… I give my boy ear massages, I pick his eye boogies because handsome men don’t have eye boogies, I ask for a morning kiss because good boys give their mama kisses, then I lay my head on his side and tell him he’s the best boy ever and mommy loves him so much.

Meanwhile, Lady is pacing on the bed and continually yawning noisily.

So I get up, the dogs get off the bed, one off each side, and they crowd the door while I put my slippers on, so I have to move them to get the door open. They’re cute but not always very bright.

The chaos that follows is the 3 of us making our way own the hallway and through the kitchen to the slider. And again, they’re crowding me because I apparently am not moving fast enough for their bladders. I open the door, and they’re gone…out the door, down the stairs, and running free in the fenced-in yard.

While they’re outside pottying and sniffing to see who ran through their yard overnight, I enjoy the silence. Hahaha! While I have time, I go to the bathroom and take my morning meds. By the time I’m washing my hands, one or both dogs has come running into the bathroom. At this point, they make it very clear that I am now not moving fast enough for their tiny tummies.

I go to the kitchen and put their food dishes on the counter and go to the closet where their food is kept. Meanwhile, Reggie is hopping up and down with just his front feet, which makes his ears bounce up and down in such a cute way. 😍 While Reg is channeling his best Tigger impersonation, Lady could be a stand-in for Piglet. She runs down the front stairs to avoid Reg. When he bounces into the kitchen, she sneaks by him and runs into the bathroom, and back out again. Then she’s running in circles, and back in and out of the kitchen, all the while with her tail between her legs because she doesn’t want to be squashed by her Tigger-like brother again.

While all of that is happening, I’m measuring out and pouring food into their dishes.

Now it’s time to give them their breakfast. Reggie always gets his first because he will try to eat someone else’s food if he doesn’t have his. I taught him that he needs to calm down and sit before he can get his breakfast. That rule applies to anything placed in his bowl to eat. While I’m taking care of Reggie, Lady is jumping and dancing behind me, sometimes jumping on the backs of my legs and butt. She is still in training to sit and get her food dish, so as long as she sits until the bowl hits the floor, I’m happy.

While they’re eating, I will load/unload the dishwasher, fill their water dishes, or make coffee…basically kill time until they’re finished eating.

After they finish their breakfast, it’s 🎶 medicine time 🎶. I sing it to make it seem like a happy time. 😂🤷🏼‍♀️ Reggie gets a chewable joint medication, an allergy pill, and arthritis/pain pill that is given in a spoon of canned food. Lady gets half an acid reducer with some canned food as well.

Instead of bushing their teeth after breakfast, they get Greenies treats. I put the canned food back in the fridge and get the Greenies out of the cabinet. By the time the bags hit the counter, Reggie is sitting on my right and Lady on my left.

I give my greedy babies their dental treats, put the bags back in the cabinet, close the slider, and walk back to my bedroom.

Once there, I sit on the edge of my bed and wonder what I’m going to do for the next 45 minutes…