On-air Alisyn always looks pulled together and perfect. But her family balancing act is admittedly not without its faults. “I don’t sleep much,” she tells us. Though no one could tell from her 6am composure. 

Her day starts at 3:15am and like many of us can relate, her alarm surprises her every morning. “I drag myself into the shower and dash to work by 4am. I spend the next hour being transformed by our hair stylists and makeup artists. Then I have one hour to pour over every newspaper article and website I can find to study up on the news of the day. I review my questions for our interview subjects, get a microphone hooked on, and run out to the studio to be in place when the cameras start rolling live for “FOX & Friends First” at 6am sharp.”

We’re tired already, but this is just the start of the day.

“I’m off the air at 9am, then we do an online show called “The After The Show Show” until about 9:15. During all of that, I’m writing my blog, “Aly In The Greenroom” and responding to readers and viewers comments and questions. We have an editorial meeting from 10am to 11am where we bat around ideas for the following day’s show. By 11am, I’m usually exhausted and starving. I try to go to the gym but my appetite usually wins out and I eat lunch at my desk while looking at email. I often have a story to write or report on, so I stay at work until about 3pm when I dash home to pick up my daughters at preschool by 3:30. I play with the kids until 6pm when the dinner, bathing, reading, pajama routine begins. I tuck the kids in bed by 7:45, do my homework for the follow day’s show and fall into bed by 8:30. Repeat.”

She admits her work/life balance too often makes her feel like she’s “hanging on by a thread.”

And the kids are all under four. The twins, Alessandra and Francesca, are three, and Nathaniel is just 17 months old.

It’s a good thing that Alisyn’s husband, Tim, is hands on. “I’m very lucky,” she says. “He has the kids on his own from the time they wake up (6:30am) until the time the babysitter shows up about an hour later. So he changes diapers and makes everyone breakfast before he has to head to work. He’s also the one that gets up in the middle of the night if one of the kids wakes up crying (and it seems one usually does).”

Alisyn’s success started before she took on her greatest job—mom. “I considered becoming a lawyer and even took the LSAT. But I always really wanted to be a TV reporter so I decided to pursue my dream instead of my fall back plan. At 15-years-old, I was watching ‘The Phil Donahue Show’ and thought, ‘Wow, that looks like a cool career. He gets to interview interesting people all day. Maybe I could do that!’”

She applied to colleges that had TV stations because she knew she wanted to major in broadcast journalism. “Once there, I had a terrific hands-on internship that allowed me to interview newsmakers on Capitol Hill. From that moment, I was hooked.” She shares that it would have been very difficult to build a career and a family at the same time, so like many of us, she waited to have kids.

Sometimes just listening to the news is depressing and Alisyn reports it—often knowing about things before the public does. She agrees that sometimes it can be difficult for her as a mom. “Part of my job is to watch the evening news every night. But I find that watching the news is a challenge with kids in the room. There are so many stories of death and destruction that I don’t want them to see.”

As a reporter, she says she used to be able to separate herself from a story, even a tragic or traumatic one. “Now [that I am a mother] I’m more compassionate and feel more of an emotional tug during sad stories.”

Before she had kids, her main beat was crime and she spent a lot of time chasing murderers and rapists. She found herself in prisons and neighborhoods where she wasn’t always so safe. “I would think twice now before charging up to a fugitive’s hideout in the middle of the woods,” she tells us.

She knows how lucky she is to have her dream job in such a competitive field. “Virtually every morning I pinch myself as I watch the parade of famous people and politicians come through our greenroom. Recently, I got to interview Paul Stanley of the rock group KISS whose poster I’d plastered all over my bedroom as a 12-year-old and I thought how happy that little adolescent girl would have been to know what her future held.”

Sometimes, she even takes her kids to work. “One of my daughters seems to be experiencing some separation anxiety,” Alisyn shares. So, on a fairly regular basis she tells me she doesn’t want me to go to work; she wants me to stay home with her. I explain to her that I like going to work, just as she likes going to school. She then asks if she can come to work with me and she does a few times a year.”

Will they follow in mom’s footsteps? “They haven’t exactly grasped the concept of choosing a career path yet,” she says, “though my 17-month-old son seems to have a penchant for sweeping and mopping so we’re thinking something custodial is in his future.”

And even with lack of sleep, Alisyn values every second of motherhood. “I’m astounded by my kids and the funny things they say and do. I find that getting to know them is a never-ending project. It’s a daily discovery. For them, I try to dig down deep and have more patience and energy than I would otherwise because they deserve a mother who is connecting with them…even though I may feel like napping.”

“Recently we had The Wiggles on our show. My children are big fans…so I brought the kids to the studio to watch them perform,” she says. “Now my daughters think I actually work with (or maybe for) The Wiggles! Every day when I come home from work, they ask about The Wiggles.”

She also sees how lucky she is in family. “Growing up my mom was one of the very few working moms in the neighborhood. She was a high school English teacher and I always thought that was cool. I loved the days she’d take me to work with her. Going to work felt like a privilege. I hope my children feel the same way and are proud of me and my career.”

It’s safe to say that The Wiggles helped secure that.

Check out Alisyn's blog here.