What is your mornings like?

I thought it would be fun to post my typical morning routine as it is very cat related.

I don't have to use a alarm clock because I have 5 very active personal alarm clocks. If I actually used an alarm clock it would be set for 6:30am.

5:00am- Frisky jumps in bed and does the ol tap tap tap with the paw to my face. "Um excuse me mom? mom? You awake mom? tap, tap.

5:02am- The little motor boat Sophie jumps in bed you can hear her coming a mile away with the purrs. She walks across my head then lands under my chin. Mom? you awake? Looks at Frisk. you haven't gotten her up yet? Here let me help. Sophie proceeds to lick and clean my face while purring up a storm and Frisky continues to tap me in the cheek to get up.

5:05am- Mom is still not out of bed so more drastic measures are needed. Frisky now proceeds to walk to my other side and tap my other cheek while ever so slightly letting the claws rake my cheek. not enough to hurt but enough to get attention. Sophie now walks on top of my head and starts kneading dough on my scalp. Meanwhile DH sleeps soundly.

5:06am- with the continueing kitty scalp massage and awake check from the first two. Jack starts chiming in from the door. Meeooooooow Meoooooow is she awake yet? Other 2 look at Jack and say No! Jack in a louder voice MEOOOOOWWWW. Did that work?

5:10am- Nothing seems to be working Mom is being stubborn and wont get out of bed. More drastic measures are needed. We will head over to Dads side of the bed and walk all over him and tap him in the cheek! Mom springs out of bed because she knows Dad doesn't have to get up til 7:30am and is not as understanding as she is about breakfast time.

5:10am- Mom gets out of bed looks for her slippers which one is usually under the bed or in the livingroom where Sophie has used it for a play toy. So with one foot in a slipper and the other bare she waunders out of her room. She gets to the door where Sophie and Frisky have raced her to the entrance and meets Jack and Austin who is old enough to know to let the young ones wake her up so he can just lounge and wait.

5:12am- Mom does the kitty dance from her bedroom to the kitchen. She jumps and weaves and stumbles and trips as she manages her way around her kitty obsticle course. Finally she makes it to the kitchen and gets everyones bowl out of the cabinet then heads to the pantry for breakfast.

Frisky gets his food first as if he doesn't life will end and he will surely starve to death.

Miss Priss is second because she is quietly sitting there closest.

Jack and Austin get thiers and are happy.

Mom meanwhile has Sophie attached to her ankle walking around with her new kittie ankle bracelet. She gets the baby milk from the cabinet while listening to the Chorus of kitten starving. She mixes the milk puts it in Sophies dish along with her wet food and Whew breakfast time is done. Or is it?

5:20 am- It is now time to feed the Ferals outside. So mom gets the dishes out and mixes up the Feral food and takes it outside to the waiting kitties who know that the inside kitties will do their part and get her up so they can eat. Domino the dominate male proceeds to thanks mom for bringing breakfast by hissing at her the whole time she lays the bowls out while the others stand back and wait for her to clear away from the area so they can eat.
She then empties all the outside water dishes cleans them out and refills them.

5:30am - Mom comes back inside grabs coffee pot and fills it for a much needed cup of coffee and then proceeds to try and find her glasses because she has been doing the feeding off memory because she can't actually see where she is going. Once she finds her glasses she empties and washes the inside water dishes and refills them. By the time she finishes that her coffeee is ready and she can finally sit for a minute or 2 before it is time to gather all the dishes and wash them and get them put away. Then it is time for her to get ready for work. Whew

I get up, wake the cats up for breakfast, make coffee, try to slug it down before my SO wakes up and starts *itching about something I have or have not done. Such fun!

*beep beep beep* The alarm goes off and another day has begun ... off to the kitchen I stumble to make the morning coffee. But first, I must get out of bed.

Ever so gently, so as not to disturb Lexus, who is sleeping stretched out long and flat against my back, I turn back the covers and perform gymnastics in order to have my feet reach the floor. *sigh* Lexus lifts her head and yawns so I hold my position until she again settles. Holding my breath, I wait for her to put her head back down. My feet swing over the side of the mattress ... and Lexus, now fully awake, jumps to the floor in front of me.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I reach for my sweatpants. Lexus jumps back up onto the bed - could it be she isn't ready to get up yet??? *sigh* No. I try to pull on my sweatpants while Lexus walks over my legs with paws that need clipping. She purrs ... I cringe as little razor-sharp claws pierce my thighs.

I stand upright and Lexus again jumps to the floor between my feet, weaving in and out, around and back through again. I reach for the wall to steady myself so I don't trip over her. Just two or three more feet and I can get to the door to open it. Lexus continues weaving, I continue holding onto the wall for support.

There, finally I am at the door. Lex raises up on the door to stretch and to hurry my progress, effectively preventing me from opening the door, then more weaving and wall-grabbing.

The door finally comes open and I begin walking through only to find myself again grabbing for the wall as Lexus darts through my feet and up my Ranch-O-Rama Bowling Alley style hallway, for all the world sounding like an entire herd of African elephants. Whoever said that cats have velvet paws ... did not own any.

The bathroom is the first stop, must address my morning needs. Lexus insists upon supervising as though I had not been successfully potty'ing for nearly 46 years, jumping up onto my lap as I do my "business". Her paw pads are like ice and her claws make holes in my skin but I cannot deny her. I finish and stand to flush ... Lexus jumps onto the seat to make 100% absolutely certain the water all goes down the hole. Once satisfied that it has, down she comes and pads not so silently to the door, meowing for me to hurry on now. Again, she raises up to stretch and blocks me from opening the door until she is done.

The door opens and yet again, I am forced to abruptly grab for the wall to keep my balance as she darts through my feet and runs noisily up the hallway towards the kitchen.

Tonka greets us as we enter the living room - braying his Good Mornings at the top of his little Blue Point lungs. A small detour to his cage for a quick chin-scritch while Lex jumps up onto the top of his cage, reaching through the bars to pat him on the head. I put her on the floor.

Finally, now a full fifteen minutes after the alarm has gone off, I make it to the kitchen. Lexus happily chases a moth that was stupid enough to fly by her face. I remove the coffee pot from the maker and begin filling it with cold water. Lex jumps onto the sink in hot pursuit of the ill-fated moth and splashes cold water all over the front of me. I put her on the floor. She again finds the moth and sniffs it, sucessfully allowing it to become stuck to her nose. She sneezes, blowing now dead moth and cat snot onto my feet. I reach for the paper towels to clean up the mess as Lexus jumps back onto the counter to bat at the roll as I tear off a sheet. Moth and cat snot are balled up into the paper towel and I turn to put same into the trash bin. Lex jumps onto the top of the bin and stands there meowing at me as if to say, "Hey! Gimme back my moth!" I put her on the floor and dispose of the towel.

Turning back, I open the cabinet to retrieve the coffee can and Lexus jumps up onto the counter and then into the cabinet. I put her on the floor. I get the coffee can and before I can close the cabinet, Lexus is back inside of it. I put her on the floor. I fill the coffee maker and push the on button. Lexus returns to sit on the counter top to watch me and again I put Lexus on the floor.

I shuffle over to the buffet where the cat food bowls are kept and retrieve two along with a can of cat food and a fork. Lexus gets inside the buffet. I put her on the floor. Lexus gets into the flatware drawer, I put her on the floor. Turning around, I reach over to place the bowls, can and fork on the counter top as Lexus weaves in and out, around and back again through my feet. I grab the counter for support. I get the can open just as Lexus jumps up onto the counter and then onto the top of my head. I put her on the floor.

One bowl is now filled and I turn to put it down for Lexus, who has jumped back up onto the counter behind me and is now happily eating the remainder of the food straight from the can. I put Lexus AND her bowl on the floor. I fill Tonka's bowl and start to walk back into the living room. Lexus runs between my feet and I nearly tumble over, almost spilling Tonka's bowl.

I shuffle (can't walk or else risk stepping on delicate cat feet) to Tonka's cage and open the door to place his bowl on the shelf. Lexus jumps to the top of his cage and reaches through the bars to again pat him on the head. Tonka hisses and swats at her while my arm is inside the cage. Lovely long, deep red furrows suddenly appear down my arm. *sigh* I place the bowl onto the shelf and take my right arm out just in time to catch Tonka before he jumps out of the cage in hot pursuit of Lexus, who I have - yes, you guessed it - put on the floor.

I close the cage door and Tonka begins eating. Lexus jumps up onto the side of the cage, hanging SpiderMan style. She reaches a dainty little Seal Point paw in to snag a pawful of Tonka's breakfast even though she has her own and has chosen to ignore it. Tonka brays his protest and I put Lex on the floor. She pads into the kitchen behind me and returns to her bowl, noisily slurping the gravy out and leaves the chunks for a treat to be enjoyed later.

I fill my coffee mug and watch the sun rise. All is as it should be with my world this morning.

Hmmmmm -

Something is chewing on my hair...something is pulling at my hair....apparently it's time to get up...thank God my cats know I get to bed late and need to sleep in...I open my eyes and 4 pairs of golden eyes stare back at me...

Try to through 4 sets of four feet prancing around my feet...two minutes later I get to my bathroom door (which is only a few feet away mind you) to perform morning ablutions. I have 4 sets of eyes staring at me, 2 from below, one from above and one from eye level...

Coffee is a time away, but first, cat food and water, yes masters, I hear and obey...

I call for my maids to make coffee and walk to the nursery...4 pairs of kitten feet rush to the door so that I can't open it...the 3 Aby kits and a Maine Coon kit start prancing..a hah! I'm too clever for you now, Ive learnt my lesson and yes, my legs are covered, you can't climb me nyah,nyah! Open the kittening cage and greet my Reecie and Bella, weigh Bella, good growing great. But where's Klara the nanny cat of the nursery? Ah, after 3 minutes of looking, there she is, on top of the airconditioning unit (when did Norwegians learn to climb like that? She must have been taught by the abys...) finally to the babies delight we start the daily grooming rituals...nail check,eye check, ear check, body check and a quick comb and brush. 40 minutes after I walk into the nursery, I walk out and head to the boys room nabbing my coffee.

And so I greet the boys - only two reply as usual, the rest are STILL SLEEPING! Food and water check, Dum2 gets his eyes done and grooming.

I have 18 cats, i love them all! They are more important to me than me!

I see that I am not the only one who has kitties who must assist me in the ladies room. I can't remember the last time I pottied alone at home. When I get up to go to the restroom atleast 3 cats go darting in. Funny thing is I am the only one they do that too everyone else gets to potty in peace.

My kitten has now learned where the shower is. The other morning I was in there showering and I look at the glass doors and I see kitty paws and a smooshed kitten face against the glass. I opened the door thinking the running water would scare her away. Nope she came in and started sniffing the Shower gel and Shampoo bottles. She has some sort of fasination with smelly stuff. She sits by the buckets of cat litter I buy and sniffs them or the bottle of Febreeze. She gets in my hair and just sniffs my hair it is the funniest thing.

Alarm goes off at 8am. I usually start feeling SOMETHING around my face before that but I rarely open my eyes until I hear alarm.
A couple of minutes after alarm, I start feeling sniffling around my face if I don't wake by then. First thing I see when I open my eyes is either my baby sitting or sometimes curling up in front of me. I greet her then get out from bed. She follows me to a bathroom, then to a kitchen, patiently waiting for her breakfast. And, of course, that's the first thing I do for her in the morning, even before my own breakfast or coffee.

My baby wakes me up if I oversleep, longest I ever did was probably 20 minutes ever since she came to my place. Most of the time, because of my baby, I can always wake up on-time. I love my interactive alarm clock

4:00 a.m.: Joji meows, paws and kneads on my chest/arms/face. "Time to wake up, mom"
4:10 a.m.: done with my bathroom rituals
4:30 a.m.: gathered all the litter boxes ready to be scooped and cleaned, swept the floors of kitchen and litter box areas.
5:30 a.m.: All cats are enjoying a home cooked breakfast - fish/chicken/beef. Water dishes have been washed and filled with fresh water.
6:00 a.m: Litter boxes are clean and back to their original locations. Cats finished their meal. Their bowls are washed, dried and back in storage.
6:00 a.m - 7:00 a.m: Check email and visit TCS.
7:00 a.m - 8:00 a.m: Dog (shih'tzu) is up. He has his grooming session after he finishes his toilet run outside. Eats breakfast and cats are given bowl of dried cat food.
8:00 a.m onwards: Cook and have my breakfast. Take a shower. If it's a weekday, am off to work. If it's a weekend, I go back to bed.

Those are great morning rituals! And you write so well, that was fun to read!

My typical weekday morning goes something like this:

I'm a light sleeper, so occassionaly wake up slightly. If I roll over, I hear a little "mow?" and feel a jump on the bed. In a second, I have a cold nose and tickly wiskers in my face, and a free purr-massage on my chest. The massage is followed by a facial (kitty kisses) and accupuncture (love nibbles) on my cheeks. Then my the spa treatment moves to my neck. This whole time I am rubbing kitty ears and checks. It's a full love session!

As the love session slows down, my arm finally catches up with the rest of me and starts to fall asleep. The purr-massage slows down and I know the lump on my chest is starting to fall asleep. I ever-so-slightly turn my head to see what time it is. Most mornings, by this point, it's just about 4:05 AM!

Together, we sleep. Then SOMEONE has to readjust (hint- it's not me). She turns a few circles, and the purring starts again. With the purring, my hand instinctively moves to the kitty-cheeks (can anyone tell me how to stop that?? ), and we have another mini love session. As this session slows down, I peek again at the clock. 5:15! My alarm goes off at 5:30...

Sure enough, as Evie is zonked, the alarm goes off. I elbow hubby (he's a heavy sleeper), and he turns it off for me. Can't disturb the kitty! Around 5:45 I start stirring, to try to get Evie to take the hint. This only initiates another love session.

FINALLY, at 5:55 (I have to leave the house at 6:15!), I try to slide out from the purring, and as soon as my feet hit the floor, she jumps down with a "MOW!". We walk together to the bathroom, where, of course, the first thing I do is water the kitty straight from the fountain (she has her own constant fresh water, but it's not good enough). As she takes in water, I, um, let it out. When we are both done, she starts up with her "mow mow mraow!!!", and I know now she is asking for food. She's starving!

So we "slinky" down the stairs. She runs three ahead, and stops right as I step about on top of her. So I side-step, and she runs ahead to stop right in front of me again. And again. And again, until I feel lucky to get to the bottom in one piece. Then she slips and slides across the wood floor "mow!"ing all the way to her food dish. She hops up on to the table, and by the time I get there, she is eating her left over dinner! She had food this whole time... I give her fresh everything, and by now it's 6:05 and I have to rush through the "unimportant stuff" (you know, personal hygene, getting dressed, ya ya...) in only 10 mins!

Oh, and at 6:05 I have to drag hubby out of bed, but that's a different thread.

Well now that my alarm is set for 5AM, Jordan begins his gentle wake up call at 4AM. He jumps on the bed comes up to my pillow & lays down for a little while. He purrs loudly to let me know how much he loves and needs me. Then he gets up walks across the pillow, making sure to step on my hair, walks back, and lays back down. More purring & on the good days he too goes to sleeep. Then Maggie decides what he is doing is not working, and she begins to meow. It starts out quiet and kitten like and increases into full out demands. Then she gives up. Levi sleeps peacfully at the end of the bed, not sure what all the comotion is about. After all he has faith that I will feed them as soon as I get up. Isaac waits paitiently for any sign of movement. At the slightest turn, he lets out a meow and is off to the kitchen, only to return to the bed when he realizes I did not follow. This continues until 5AM, until my alarm goes off. Then Jordan wants to go to sleep, Levi, Maggie & Isaac all take turns crying until I stop hitting the snooze button and get up. As I get up they all run to the kitchen. Isaac turns around because I am not moving fast enough. He leans against me trying to steer my body in the direction he wants it to go. I grab Jordan's food and tell him it "Time to do Mom's hair". I start towards the bathroom and he runs in front and waits in the bathroom. I usually have to kick out at least one other cat before closing the door. I give Jordan his breakfast and do my hair. When he is done, I open the door and he runs out as the other three run in. They find any scrap, no matter how small, he may have left behin. I finish my hair, and get dressed. As I begin to pack my lunch a chorus of meows reminds me that I have not fed everyone. Maggie makes sure I hear her demands above all the others. Isaac is always at my feet making sure I don't forget about him. Usually he gets stepped on at least once. After my lunch is packed, I ask "OK, who is hungry". Levi, Maggie & Isaac scream like I just asked the stupidest question in the world. Jordan comes running in from the other room for his second breakfast. Jordan gets fed first, after all he is the king. Maggie is impatient and tries to get the second food put down, but Isaac pushes his way in reminding her he is second in command. Then Maggie gets the thrid food. The whole time Levi sits paitently by his bowl knowing that his wonderful Mom would never forget him. I go on about putting on my makeup while they eat. They all peacfully retire to their favorite corners, for their morning bath. I finish getting ready. As I say good bye and give morning kisses they all settle in for their morning naps. After all getting Mom up and of to her job is a lot of hard work.

I have two versions:

1. The Active Morning
At around 7:15 a cat paw starts patting my cheek. When I pretend to still be asleep there's a meow and the paw starts patting again with ever so slightly more extended claws until I open my eyes. Staring right into a pair of wide green cat eyes.

Sometimes, if my hand was sticking out from under the covers I'll notice there's a feather stick or a toy mouse squished in it. Thank you Nikita, I can take a hint.

Nikita will start running around and meowing and if I still don't get up or play she used to into my wardrobe and start throwing my clothes on the floor but since that always resulted in her being expelled from the bedroom she's finally stopped doing that *knocks on wood*

Then I get up, play with her, get ready for work and leave.

2. The Quiet Morning.
The alarm goes off at 7:30, there's a heavy warm weight against my leg and when I move to turn the clock off the weight start vibrating gently. Nikita is sleepy, adorably cuddle and purry.

It's extremely hard to get up then and when I do I get looked at as if I'm a big betrayer that just doesn't understand the value of sleeping in. Not helped by the fact that I then pick Nikita up and put her out in the hallway before I leave for work. She's not allowed in my bedroom during the day.

I tend to get the quiet mornings if I've played enough with Nikita the night before, if I didn't there will be an active morning.