The "Fun" Mom

This week's going pretty well so far. I've not blogged everyday, but I'm working on it! (I'm here now, aren't I? haha)

I've tried to get up early the past two days to spend some quiet time with God, but the boys have woken up with me each morning. I guess that's one downside to all sleeping in the same room. (It's HOT here in Maine, and we only have one window A/C unit, so we're all camping out in the air conditioning in the master bedroom). I'll try again tomorrow to get up before them - I think I'm going to turn the volume on my alarm down. If I hear it, I'll get up, if not, then we'll try again tomorrow at a slightly louder volume!

I'm doing well on the water goal. It helps that it's been so hot here - I'm trying to keep all of us hydrated, so I'm keeping ice water on the kitchen counter in a cooler. Every time I fill up one of the kid's cups, I make myself drink some too. Seems to be working so far!

The biggest goal for me this past week (so far) has been the "Fun" mom goal. I had gotten so busy and so caught up in my "to-do" list over the past few months, that I kind of forgot to enjoy my kids. I felt like I was always telling them "in a minute!" or "When I finish (fill in the blank here)." A little piece of me died every time I did that, but I just couldn't seem to stop myself. With it being summer, I've really wanted to make myself slow down and have FUN with the kids instead of constantly working. I'm happy to say that it's been a success - well, the having fun part. We've gone to state parks, we've gone to the beach, last night we had a Candyland tournament before bed, and tonight we played outside and worked in the garden together. It's been great spending this time enjoying my kids - I'm thoroughly loving every minute we spend together.

It's paid off with their behaviour, for the most part. For example, this past weekend was a holiday (Fourth of July was on Sunday). Since this is our last summer in Maine, I really wanted to cross off a really big item on my "Things I Want to do Before I Die" list: Go see the Boston Pops concert on the 4th of July. I've watched this concert on TV for years - seriously, as long as I can remember. I've always wanted to be there to see the fireworks, and enjoy the music. This year was my last chance, realistically, since we're moving to the other side of the country.

We packed the kids up, and with the help of nearby relatives who let us crash at their place (they live just outside of Boston), we were able to put together a trip that cost barely anything (just food and the train into the city). We left the house at 4:30 am on Sunday, pulled into the parking garage in Boston at 5:30 am, and were in line for the Oval (the area where the concert is located) at 6 am. The Oval didn't open until 9 am - so we had a long wait ahead of us. The boys not only waited in line wonderfully, they were troopers and made it all day until the concert started at 8:30 pm. "Making it all day" means hanging out on our blanket in the middle of the blazing hot sun, because seats were first-come, first-serve, and people have been known to move other people's items if you're not there guarding your spot. The boys - all three of them, ages almost 6, 4, and 18 months - were AMAZING. They made me so proud - I feel like I should go to Confession, I'm that full of pride!!! haha They were wonderfully behaved, and such good sports about it all. I think the fact that I've really tried to spend quality time with them really helped with their behaviour on Sunday: I think they're feeling more appreciated and secure in our relationship. I want to continue that this summer, and I've really got it on my mind in everything that I've been doing.

It's not all roses, though. I'm having a really hard time getting everything done and keeping a balance, now that I'm trying to focus more on quality mom/boys time. I'm behind in my commitments to other things: work (the youth group), school (the boys), the house (keeping it clean for showings). I haven't worked out in who knows how long, because by the time I sit down and get everything else done, I'm ready for bed, and it's almost midnight. I've stepped back from some of my roles with the youth group (on the Diocesan level, not the parish level, for any parishioners reading this!), and with preschool (stepping down off the board after this summer). Those are really the only things that I can "lose' right now: I have to still maintain the house, and the parish level youth group stuff is my part-time job. I can't really step back from everything else. My only solution is to find a way to balance it all.

For those of you out there who also find that you have to balance quality mom stuff with work/other obligations, how do you manage it? What kind of secrets/tips can you share with me, so I don't lose my mind?

Thanks!

Battling the Stillness

I feel like every one of my posts recently has started with an apology. I've (obviously) been having a hard time keeping up with things recently - well, pretty much the past three months. I honestly can't really even remember the past three or four months - it's all been a blur. I can't believe it's already July, and almost a week into July, at that!

Summer has officially started here in Maine. It's hot (90s!!! No central A/C!! ACCCKKKK), it's sunny, and school is out. Well, school's been out for a couple of weeks now, and it's been beautiful weather for a couple of weeks, but I'm just now sitting down to truly enjoy summer. We had a wedding (my sister's), a couple of business trips for Mike that I tagged along on, an interview trip to Arizona, and then a mad dash to finish projects around our house so we could list it on the market. It's been a bit overwhelming.

I've fallen back into my previous pitfalls: snacking out of boredom and not really paying attention to what I'm doing. I'm snacking for comfort - the more stressed I get about my "to-do" list, the more I eat. I've been watching myself do it, in that kind of mind's eye viewpoint, and honestly, I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to even care about stopping. I'm tired, I'm stressed, and most of the time, I can force myself to not even care about what I'm doing to myself.

That has to change. I don't have a scale yet (never bought a replacement), and we can't find the DVD for our Wii fit - it disappeared while we were gone on one of the business trips, so I can't weigh in, but I can't tell from my clothes and how they fit, that I've gained a lot of the weight back that I had lost.

So, starting right now, I'm starting over. I'm going to do this in small steps - life is going to stay stressful right now, and I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. But I DEFINITELY do not want to move to Arizona feeling like I do right now. It's hard to explain, but I don't feel CLEAN the way I am right now. I'm so sweaty and grimy, and the extra weight is just contributing to that. I don't feel cute or attractive at all, and I don't like that.

Each week, I'm going to try and set three goals and work on meeting them. Some are going to be weight-loss related, and some are just general goals for my life/mindset that I need to, or want to, work on before we move. This summer needs to be a time to recharge and revamp before things change again. I need to find my base before we pack up and move across the country.

So, this week's goals are:

1) Blog, blog, blog. I was doing SO much better when I was blogging before. I miss that outlet. I'm constantly thinking of things to write about, but I never take the time to sit down and write it out. It's not like I'm not on the computer - I seem to find time to email or check out statuses on Facebook, but I've not been taking the time to sit down and put my thoughts out there. It's more for me than you guys, because it helps me to formalize my thoughts, to put them into some sort of understandable format, so that I can return to them later and know what I was trying to say. I need that for my own good!

2) Have FUN this summer. My life is SO crazy during the school year with all the different meetings/time spent in the car, etc. I realized that this is going to be our last summer in Maine - and I want to enjoy my surroundings as much as I did the first summer that we lived here. Now that Baby #3 is easier to tote around and isn't napping as much, one of my goals this summer is to be a fun mom again. We're going to hit up the parks, the beaches, the state parks, etc. We've already started, and I'm loving it!!

3) Take a little bit of time each day and add it into my prayer life. I've been kind of shortchanging God recently, and had moved my prayer time to be as I was getting in bed. I'd read a little Scripture and then try to pray it- and often fell asleep in the process. God deserves better from me. My goal this week is to find a better time of day for that prayer. I've been getting up at 4:45 am the past few weeks for at least a couple days a week to take Mike to work (his car needs work, and we're saving up the money to get it done, so we're down to one car right now), and I actually really like getting up that early. I'd get a lot done. Summer is the perfect time to change this part of my schedule - I don't get hooked on summer TV usually, so going to bed early isn't as much of a struggle, so getting up early isn't as hard the next day. My goal is to get up at 5 am, take that time for my prayer time, and then eventually add working out into that time period as well.

4) Drink water. I've gotten kind of lax on this recently, and started falling back on my soda/coffee habit. It's going to be super, super hot here this week, and I need to make sure that I get myself back into the drinking a lot of water habit.


So, there they are. My goals that I'm going to start working on this week. I'm feeling pretty positive - I've enjoyed the trips to the state parks recently with the kids (goal #2), and I'm enjoying writing this right now (goal #1). I think it's going to be easier to stick with this time.


How are you all doing out there? Are you working on the same goals that you were six months ago, or have you revised them at all? Share!