mothering makes me better.
i guess this is a pretty loaded title as it could mean many things, but i've talking efficiency here.
not a day goes by that i don't want to spend more time with my kid, i finally feel like i have my arms wrapped around this mothering thing. and it's the one who made me a mother that i have to thank.
so yes, a baby has improved my life (our life), of course by the obvious... the amount of love is immeasurable, but i'm talking practical and logistical improvements thanks to mothering, even if it's as a matter of survival for keeping my head above water.
in order to slow down i had to speed up.
that's in terms of productivity.
i have always been a 'mover and a shaker' if you will, but i have found my time management has sky rocketed in order to juggle wife-dom, moma-dom, work-dom, side-gig-dom, house-dom, personal-dom. the main priorities in the harrinniti household are health and happiness, i think i can speak for mister john on that one. the two go hand and hand for us. when we are healthy, we are happier. it's very important for us to continue to exercise and eat clean; not only to model for stellabird, but it makes us feel better physically and mentally. the trade off just makes sense:
happier and more energized wife, hubby and parents for 20-60 minutes of exercise 5-6 days a week.
it took a few trials to get to this point. in terms of eating habits, we were in a place of a food rut. i mean, legitimate food rut: only-eating-to-survive-and-sustain-no-interest-in-food kind of rut. i reached out to some friends and asked for tips on healthy eating, recipes, quick dinners without spending a limb every week. such a great response and was just the motivation i needed to start integrating some new, healthy meals. stay tuned for a few what's for dinner posts. thank you so much to those that gave/give their two cents.
as for house-dom, well this is the hardest to juggle sometimes, but again lowering my standards is key. i bought this little magnet as a nice little reminder to pipe down:
i've been dabbling in a little book called the simpler family. this lovely little book has so many tips across the board. in regard to "chores" i tried the "divide and conquer" mode and it worked well while i was on summer hours, 20 hr work weeks. this method splits a chore a day and in return there is no "oh-my-gosh-my-house-is-so-dirty-i-need-to-clean-every-inch" freak out. see picture below.
while this method i found helpful, i wasn't able to stick to it as much as i'd like. i recommend this to people who work 20 hrs or less. lately, my method is less structured, but it works. i still try to split up the tasks so my fridays off with bird don't turn into all house-dom & no moma-dom. it goes a little something like this: stella is reading her books, dust that room while she reads. stella wants to walk around the rooms, dust while you hold her hand. stella is eating in her highchair, toss in a load of laundry, takes 3 minutes. it's doing homely duties on the go that works for me now.
luckily mister john primarily takes care of all outdoor tasks.
an addition to lowering my standards, the health priority won over keeping up with chores. i'd rather exercise than clean and i (most of the time) can integrate bird into the mix. mister john and i are very much into health and fitness and support our efforts to keep this going in our lives. we try to map out what days we want to work out and i plan the meals accordingly. ie: tuesday night is my yoga night therefore i plan a crock pot meal or something simple to juggle along with a 1 year old. i get a 20 minute jog in and come back and stella helps me do ab work or laughs at my while i do a spartucus work out. making it fun for her is a win-win. and often times she just enjoys the fact that i am physically in the room with her.
we also started our own personal 90 day challenge for an added motivation. make a personal goal for yourself and use the awesome supplement drink for pure nutrition with work outs. it's helped us stay focused and also a great time and money saver!
the portion that took the biggest hit is my hobbies. i still do them, but typically they are squeezed in at the end of the day. i'm still working on this one, but interested to see what any other moma's (or dad's) have to say........ i consider hobbies more of a luxury at this point, but i'm also lucky that some of my hobbies are also called working out! i'd love to read more books, do more crafts and write more posts. i'm confident i will get there and i'm happy with how things are "moving" and "shaking" so far.
while a baby has certainly complicated our lives, she's also added a whole lot more sugar to the spice. thanks bird, for making my efficiency sky rocket, tired and all!
what do other folks do to "keep it together?" tips welcome.
not a day goes by that i don't want to spend more time with my kid, i finally feel like i have my arms wrapped around this mothering thing. and it's the one who made me a mother that i have to thank.
i can thank miss bird for helping me
slow down and speed up.
you see, prior to stella i would have
endless 'to do' lists and daily schedules and didn't really understand the
undertaking of the word relaxation. these daily 'to do' lists were deemed a
failure and the day was considered unproductive if i didn't cross off close to
all of the items.
well, confession: i still have 'to do'
lists. sometimes daily, some weekly and at times there is a general or
miscellaneous section on the list. the difference is how this lists are graded.
instead of grading my day on what is crossed off - they are general guidelines
and reminders of the things that i would like to do and hope to accomplish in
the near future. thank you stella, for lowering my standards and slowing me
down. if the house isn't as clean as i'd like, fine. if i can't squeeze every
engagement into the schedule, fine. i don't feel bad about declining events.
i've learned the art of relaxation.
here i am sitting and typing a blog (ahem, this is my type of relaxation mind
you...) knowing that i could (not should) be:
-
emptying the dish washer
- folding some laundry
- wrapping presents
- work for primary and secondary gigs
- endless other organization projects
so yes, a baby has improved my life (our life), of course by the obvious... the amount of love is immeasurable, but i'm talking practical and logistical improvements thanks to mothering, even if it's as a matter of survival for keeping my head above water.
in order to slow down i had to speed up.
that's in terms of productivity.
i have always been a 'mover and a shaker' if you will, but i have found my time management has sky rocketed in order to juggle wife-dom, moma-dom, work-dom, side-gig-dom, house-dom, personal-dom. the main priorities in the harrinniti household are health and happiness, i think i can speak for mister john on that one. the two go hand and hand for us. when we are healthy, we are happier. it's very important for us to continue to exercise and eat clean; not only to model for stellabird, but it makes us feel better physically and mentally. the trade off just makes sense:
happier and more energized wife, hubby and parents for 20-60 minutes of exercise 5-6 days a week.
it took a few trials to get to this point. in terms of eating habits, we were in a place of a food rut. i mean, legitimate food rut: only-eating-to-survive-and-sustain-no-interest-in-food kind of rut. i reached out to some friends and asked for tips on healthy eating, recipes, quick dinners without spending a limb every week. such a great response and was just the motivation i needed to start integrating some new, healthy meals. stay tuned for a few what's for dinner posts. thank you so much to those that gave/give their two cents.
as for house-dom, well this is the hardest to juggle sometimes, but again lowering my standards is key. i bought this little magnet as a nice little reminder to pipe down:
while this method i found helpful, i wasn't able to stick to it as much as i'd like. i recommend this to people who work 20 hrs or less. lately, my method is less structured, but it works. i still try to split up the tasks so my fridays off with bird don't turn into all house-dom & no moma-dom. it goes a little something like this: stella is reading her books, dust that room while she reads. stella wants to walk around the rooms, dust while you hold her hand. stella is eating in her highchair, toss in a load of laundry, takes 3 minutes. it's doing homely duties on the go that works for me now.
luckily mister john primarily takes care of all outdoor tasks.
teamwork: whoever does dinner, the other does clean up...however sometimes i do it bc i know i can do things reallllllly fast. boom boom boom. that's how i like to roll. then when it's all said and done i can enjoy the relaxation factor.
we also started our own personal 90 day challenge for an added motivation. make a personal goal for yourself and use the awesome supplement drink for pure nutrition with work outs. it's helped us stay focused and also a great time and money saver!
the portion that took the biggest hit is my hobbies. i still do them, but typically they are squeezed in at the end of the day. i'm still working on this one, but interested to see what any other moma's (or dad's) have to say........ i consider hobbies more of a luxury at this point, but i'm also lucky that some of my hobbies are also called working out! i'd love to read more books, do more crafts and write more posts. i'm confident i will get there and i'm happy with how things are "moving" and "shaking" so far.
while a baby has certainly complicated our lives, she's also added a whole lot more sugar to the spice. thanks bird, for making my efficiency sky rocket, tired and all!
what do other folks do to "keep it together?" tips welcome.
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