DATE ARCHIVES : February 2016

5 Life Hacks Every Mom Needs to Try

As a mom you’ve probably become the queen of multi-tasking. It just goes along with the job. You may have never thought you could brush your teeth while helping one child brush her’s and helping the other put on her socks. Nonetheless, you get it done and rather well. It really should be an Olympic sport. If it was you would definetly get a medal!

If you really want to go for the gold, check out these 5 lifehacks every mom needs to know:

  1. Read While You Wait- How many times a week do you find yourself waiting in your car for your child? Whether it’s a school pick-up or some kind of activity that’s running over, the mom taxi is in full effect and the meter is running. While it may be nice to have the quiet time to just think, you could use this car time more wisely. Use it to catch up on your reading. If you’re like me, you’ve been reading the same book for months because you never have time. When you do, you’re just too tired. That’s why I started bringing a book along with me all the time. Over the past few weeks, I’ve read more than half of a novel I’ve been dying to finish. It beats playing on my phone and using up all of  my data!
  2. Fluff & Fold While They’re Showering– My kids are at the age where they’re old enough to take a shower by themselves. But, they still need a little help. So, I can’t go too far. One night, a pair of pants in the laundry basket starting staring at me while I was on a standby shower help. When I asked the pair of purple butterfly leggings what she was staring at, she started telling me I should be putting her away. Truth be told, I probably should have put her away days ago. That’s when I got to thinking. This is a perfect time to get the laundry put away. I’m right near the bathroom so I can run in and help, but I’m also using my downtime wisely. Score one for mommy!
  3. Exercise & Prioritize– Call me a nerd, but I love a good list. While it may be a little stressful to see everything that needs to be done written down in black and white or on a phone screen, it’s a great feeling to cross those items off the list when you’re done. If you get a few minutes to sneak away and exercise, make your lists while on the treadmill. Use the notes feature on your phone to prioritize away. This way you’re shedding some pounds and organizing at the same time.
  4. Turn the Lonely Socks Club into a Theatre– Do you ever wonder what happens to socks between the washer and the dryer? One makes it up while the other escapes for greener pastures. In my house, there are so many socks who are in the lonely socks club. They usually sit at the bottom of my laundry basket waiting for their match to return from wherever they disappeared to. They don’t. Ever. So, I usually throw them away. Then, I got an idea. Why not turn those lonely socks into sock puppets for the kids? Grab some googly eyes and a glue gun and go nuts! It’s not only fun for the kids, but also gets gives those lonely socks a purpose in life, one that doesn’t involve your laundry basket or the garbage.
  5. Art Work Wallpaper- It seems like kids produce artwork just as much as they poop. That amounts to a lot of pieces of paper just lying around the house. Of course you can’t throw any of them away, because they’re all special…right? Okay, we all know we toss a few in the garbage, but there are still a lot left over. If you have a play area or maybe a little nook in your child’s room, turn their artwork into wallpaper. Make sure it’s a not a wall that you have a relationship with or that you especially love. Chances are it will get a little worn out. But when kids see the new “wallpaper”, they’ll feel special to see their masterpieces hung up…all over the place. Your OCD about too many papers around will lessen, even if it’s just for a little bit. It’s a win-win if you ask me.

Okay, so these are the lifehacks that I particularily enjoy. I know there are hundreds of others out there to choose from, but a lot of them are a little high maintenance to be considered a life hack if you ask me. The ones I listed here don’t require a lot of effort or a degree in Pinterest. They’re just simple, everyday hacks for your everyday momma. So, time to hack away!

Say Yes to Saying No

No.

You probably lose count when you think about how many times you say it to your kids on a daily basis.

But, how many times do you say it to other people when it comes to invitations, favors, or other things?

I’m waiting…

I hear the crickets.

If you’re like me, the answer is probably close to never. I don’t know if it’s a mom thing or just a “me” thing. But, I pray I’m not alone in this horrible habit of feeling like I have to yes to everyone for every thing. It really is a disease. It makes you tired to the point of downright exhaustion. It makes you feel as though you are letting people down if you say no. The truth is half the time they probably don’t care! In a way you’re letting yourself down because you’re not really happy.

Stop.

Yep, I said just stop.

Say yes to saying no. I’ve started to do it recently. Let me tell you, it’s almost as enjoyable as binge watching Lifetime movies. Before you start ripping down every invitation off your refrigerator, you need to take a step back.

Prioritize.

Take a look at the invitations or favors that you honestly want to accept or help people with. I think this is half the battle. Does your child have to go to every birthday she’s invited to? No. We know half the invitations come home because many schools have a rule that if you hand out one invitation in class you have to hand one out to 20 more…even to the kids whose names your child doesn’t even know! Just say no. Not to your child’s BFF, but to the child you didn’t even realize was in your son or daughter’s class. You just can’t make every party or every play date. If you do you’ll pass out and go broke at the same time!

The same is true with invitations you may get yourself. Although, honestly, your kids probably get more than you do, so you may not be saying no so much here! But still, you get my point. How about when someone asks you for a favor on a day when you may actually have a few hours to yourself…kid-free. What’s a momma to do? This probably has to be a case by case decision. Think about who’s asking. Think about what exactly they need, then decide. If you need to say no so you don’t feel overwhelmed, then do it. It doesn’t make you a horrible person. It makes you human.

For some reason we feel like we have to make everyone else happy before we make ourselves happy, no matter the cost. But if mommy is exhausted and stressed out, she’s more likely to lash out and yell more than she should. She’s more likely to eat more ice cream than she should and exercise a little less than she should. Am I right?

Life is too short to ignore your own happiness for the sake of everyone else’s.

Start saying yes to saying no.

You’ll thank yourself later.

 

 

40 Days of Less Yelling…Can You Do It?

So, today is the first day of Lent. If you’re Catholic, like me, that means you usually have to give something up for the 40 days leading up to Easter. When I was little and even as a younger adult, I would rack my brain trying to thing of the one thing I loved the most that would torture me to give up. In years past that meant chocolate (several times), cookies, sweets in general, and even gossiping…I know, the humanity! Other years I pretended Lent didn’t even exist, so I didn’t give up anything at all.

I can’t say I stayed on the wagon for all those endeavors. I snuck a Reese Peanut Butter Cup or two…or three. I snatched a few cookies here or there or everywhere. Of course, someone annoyed me enough that I had to start talking smack. Needless to say, I was anything but successful with the whole “give up something and stick to it” for Lent thing.

So, now I’m a mom and I’m supposed to know what I’m doing to set a good example. But,  I once again had trouble trying to think what I could give up for Lent. My daughter came home from CCD last week and told me she learned all about Lent. It was interesting that she told me she was going to do something nice. She never once mentioned giving something up. Her “do something nice” was to be nice to her sister. Hopefully she’s more successful with her mission than I have been with mine.

That got me to thinking. What could I do for Lent that would be difficult for me and benefit others at the same time? As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew what it was already. I could yell less. I know I said this was part of my New Year’s resolution. Honestly, it hasn’t been working out so well. Time to hit the restart button and have a do-over.

Yelling less doesn’t mean my girls won’t get reprimanded if they do something wrong. It means I won’t feel as though I’m going to have an aneurysm when I do get mad at them. It means I won’t look like one of the characters from “Where the Wild Things Are” when I let them know they are doing something wrong. It means giving myself an interior “time-out” if you will. It’s probably a win-win all around.

As much as I may not want to admit it, yelling really doesn’t solve any problems. My kids may stop doing whatever annoying activity… for awhile. They may clean up a mess…only to mess up the same spot again five minutes later. They may decide to stop screaming like animals…for a few minutes.

In the end, I’m still annoyed.

So, let’s try this yelling less thing for 40 days. Can I do it? Hopefully! Can you?

I Love You All the Time

I Love You All the Time

It’s kinda funny when you see things come full circle with your kids.

When my older daughter was a baby there was one book I would read to her all the time.

It’s called “I Love You All the Time”. Are you familiar with it?

It’s a cute board book that describes all these different scenarios, but in the end, the “busy” adult always love the child. It’s a sweet book to remind kids they are always loved no matter what’s going on around them. I used to love reading it to her. It was the one book that she would always smile and giggle at. I would do funny voices and act it out a bit too. But, as she got older, it kinda got tossed aside. It got “traded up” for more “deeper” books, like “The Cat in the Hat” if you will.

Honestly, I also forgot about it. I knew it was still on the book shelf. But, it seemed to have gotten lost. So, you have to imagine my surprise when my older daughter found it on the shelf and decided she wanted to read it to me. It has to be a good couple of years since I read that book. My younger daughter never took to it the way her sister did.

So, after she asked to read it, I asked her if she remembered that I used to read it to her all the time. When she said she did, my mommy heart melted. We sat on the couch and she started reading. For a few minutes I was brought back to a time when I would hold her tight and read to her. I could breathe that sweet baby smell forever. I wish I could bottle those snuggles and bring them out now.

I was brought back to reality as she read me the story. She did a really nice job. It must have been all the times she heard me read it to her. I have to say a part of me liked it even more when she read it. Although I hate the fact that she is growing up, it showed me that she is learning and getting smarter by the day. Isn’t that what we all want?

While the entire book is great, the last line is the best.

“Even when you can’t see me, I love you all the time.”

I hope that rings true for her just as much as it does for me.