There are moments when I wonder if I should go back to work, because I've been a stay at home mom (SAHM) for over 8 years now! It's been a long time since I've held a long time job, I had a couple part time things I did over the years after having my oldest, but none for more then 4/5 months. Literally, I haven't worked more then part time since 2007 and that's crazy to me! I loved working I loved having a place to be and a job to do with it's set schedule and plans.
You know what though? I LOVE being a SAHM too! I didn't think that I would at first I honestly couldn't picture my life as "just a mom" and still there are days I wonder if it's right for me. I think we all do! We all start feel like our kids are our life and that we don't have a life of our own. In a way it's true, at least for me. My life really does revolve around my kids and their schedules and most of my friends now are other moms who's kids are in my daughters class, or for my youngest kid close to her age that I've met the mom too. We both needed adult conversations, so we have playdates to let the littles play while we can have a conversation using "big words" and not "baby talk".
I have a few friends that like to remind me I'm not "just a mom" and I love them for that, but most days I do feel like mom is my title and life and there's not much else to it. Other days though, I'm sewing or typing or talking to an adult and I feel like I'm a separate entity from my kids and that's nice too. I'm dreading the next school year in a way because my youngest is going to start pre-k which means I will have 6.5 hours Monday through Friday where it's just ME! What the heck am I supposed to do with that much time? every day of the week?????
Honestly, I can think of a ton of stuff that I can do with that time and I'm sure I'll accomplish a lot more sewing during those hours, but I'll also miss my little one running around. I'll also miss her asking me to "just cuddle me all day" while we watch a movie together! Yeah, that one happened yesterday! I said awe of course I'll cuddle, but it only lasted maybe 30 minutes. It's times like this that make that baby fever kick back in!!! Then I will have more mommy duties to take care of all day and no time to think about having 2 kids in school. Hubbies not on board with that idea though he thinks 2 girls is enough, so I guess I'll be filling the hours with sewing, maybe some cleaning and who knows what else. I've even thought about getting a job again, but yeah it's way to early to decide if that's going to happen or if I want it to happen.
For now I will enjoy the last few months of one on one time I get with my youngest while her sister is in school and we will have a fun summer before she starts her first year of school!!!
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Friday, January 8, 2016
New Year.....New Goals!
Every year you see New Year, New You, or questions about your new years resolutions and what your plans are to make this year better then the last! Well, I definitely get on board with the new year, new you and the need for weight loss after the holidays! I mean who doesn't completely gorge themselves on cookies, candies and other assorted treats starting in October and ending sometime after Christmas....if your lucky!
I don't ever give myself a weight goal to hit, because honestly I've weighed about the same since I had my second kid 3 years ago. I have fluctuated and did lose a good bit of baby fat, but never did much to help drop the weight. Who really has time with two kids?!?!? Well, really that's no excuse I've decided. You have to make time if you want to make a change! Over the summer I was sent a link to a mom who does work outs in her home and had lost 100 pounds IN HER HOME! Yes, it takes proper diet also, because eating leftover chicken nuggets and pizza isn't good for you if you want to drop a few pounds. Sad I know!!!! Anyways, back to the work outs, I was told about this work out challenge that was being done and one was starting up for summer. So I took the challenge! 90 days of work-outs, what the heck was I thinking committing myself to that?!?!?
Well, 90 days is a long freaking time in the summer when both kids are at home and your trying to work out. It's also long when you have a two week road trip planned!!! So I probably did more like 75 days even though I did extend past when the challenge ended since I skipped about all of the two weeks we were gone. I picked it back up when we went home :) To hard for me to work out on the road especially when internet wasn't always available.
You know what happened during that time.....I DIDN'T LOSE ANY WEIGHT!!!! That's right NONE, however, I did slim down in areas and get muscles as big as mountains if you asked my oldest! This is why focusing on weight can't always happen! I got so upset that I pushed myself so hard while doing the work outs and I ate a little better, but lost nothing!!! Such a disappointment to my ego I'd say, but I took pictures and compared them and could tell I did get more toned in my arms and legs and slimmed down in areas.
So where am I going with this? Oh yeah, new year goals! My goal now is to focus on another 90 day work out challenge and not stress about the number on the scale! It matters to everyone in their own minds and ways, but who really knows that number besides you? Well, your doctor and maybe your significant other and that's it. What people will notice is you slimming down and toning up and guess what else? Muscle weighs MORE then fat!!!! Yup, that's right, the thing you want most is muscles and toned arms and legs and those things add weight to the scale! So rather then focusing on a number I'm going to focus on how clothes fit me and how toned and strong my body is becoming!
I really do feel better when I get in a work out and I am doing them from home. There's tons of free videos on YouTube of work out's you can do in your living room. I literally only use hand weights and a chair in my living room to work out and get fitter. My husband has told me he doesn't like taking measurements for me anymore because my calves put his to shame and my thighs are like rocks so there's no need to measure them anymore. I just laughed and asked how I'm supposed to track changes, his response was to just take the before and after photos since those were what truly show the difference!
Still thinking you don't have time, trust me you do! The kids want to watch TV forever anyways, so why not take your tablet to another room and load up a video and get to work! I've done that before, but I like putting the videos up on my TV through the Blu-ray player. So I let the kids work out with me which sometimes means lots of stopping, or they eventually go play in their room, but I get the work out done and I feel much better about myself after that. I promise it can be done and you don't have to go torture yourself with the gym and daycares if you don't really want to. I did love going to the gym back in the day, but options here are limited and daycares in gyms are only certain hours or not available at some gyms. So this works great for me, but even a walk around the block could help, so just make the time and do this one thing for YOU!!!!
I don't ever give myself a weight goal to hit, because honestly I've weighed about the same since I had my second kid 3 years ago. I have fluctuated and did lose a good bit of baby fat, but never did much to help drop the weight. Who really has time with two kids?!?!? Well, really that's no excuse I've decided. You have to make time if you want to make a change! Over the summer I was sent a link to a mom who does work outs in her home and had lost 100 pounds IN HER HOME! Yes, it takes proper diet also, because eating leftover chicken nuggets and pizza isn't good for you if you want to drop a few pounds. Sad I know!!!! Anyways, back to the work outs, I was told about this work out challenge that was being done and one was starting up for summer. So I took the challenge! 90 days of work-outs, what the heck was I thinking committing myself to that?!?!?
Well, 90 days is a long freaking time in the summer when both kids are at home and your trying to work out. It's also long when you have a two week road trip planned!!! So I probably did more like 75 days even though I did extend past when the challenge ended since I skipped about all of the two weeks we were gone. I picked it back up when we went home :) To hard for me to work out on the road especially when internet wasn't always available.
You know what happened during that time.....I DIDN'T LOSE ANY WEIGHT!!!! That's right NONE, however, I did slim down in areas and get muscles as big as mountains if you asked my oldest! This is why focusing on weight can't always happen! I got so upset that I pushed myself so hard while doing the work outs and I ate a little better, but lost nothing!!! Such a disappointment to my ego I'd say, but I took pictures and compared them and could tell I did get more toned in my arms and legs and slimmed down in areas.
So where am I going with this? Oh yeah, new year goals! My goal now is to focus on another 90 day work out challenge and not stress about the number on the scale! It matters to everyone in their own minds and ways, but who really knows that number besides you? Well, your doctor and maybe your significant other and that's it. What people will notice is you slimming down and toning up and guess what else? Muscle weighs MORE then fat!!!! Yup, that's right, the thing you want most is muscles and toned arms and legs and those things add weight to the scale! So rather then focusing on a number I'm going to focus on how clothes fit me and how toned and strong my body is becoming!
I really do feel better when I get in a work out and I am doing them from home. There's tons of free videos on YouTube of work out's you can do in your living room. I literally only use hand weights and a chair in my living room to work out and get fitter. My husband has told me he doesn't like taking measurements for me anymore because my calves put his to shame and my thighs are like rocks so there's no need to measure them anymore. I just laughed and asked how I'm supposed to track changes, his response was to just take the before and after photos since those were what truly show the difference!
Still thinking you don't have time, trust me you do! The kids want to watch TV forever anyways, so why not take your tablet to another room and load up a video and get to work! I've done that before, but I like putting the videos up on my TV through the Blu-ray player. So I let the kids work out with me which sometimes means lots of stopping, or they eventually go play in their room, but I get the work out done and I feel much better about myself after that. I promise it can be done and you don't have to go torture yourself with the gym and daycares if you don't really want to. I did love going to the gym back in the day, but options here are limited and daycares in gyms are only certain hours or not available at some gyms. So this works great for me, but even a walk around the block could help, so just make the time and do this one thing for YOU!!!!
A Halloween post I totally forgot to hit publish on, ooppssss
So Halloween came and went this past weekend correction months ago, and I feel like my friend said it best the other day also months ago, she said "I feel like I'm the Grinch of Halloween!" I read her Facebook post saying that and thought, yeah that sounds just like me. She posted it maybe the day before Halloween, but I'd been feeling it for at least a week!
Before my little family and I moved Halloween was one of the bigger holidays we celebrated. My dad would come over and help pre-decorate the house for our Halloween activities. We'd always set up fun stuff to look at leading up to the day and then the night of we'd figure out how we want to scare people. Of course, as years evolved and kids came into the picture the scare tactics were limited, but they were still there. This was always one of my favorite holidays mainly because my Dad and I bonded over it. This was our thing for the most part and he and I would get really into setting things up.
Now that I've moved away the decorations have been limited on set up, because the addition of a second kid meant our time was spent on them more then decorating the house. The house I'm in now had very few people in the neighborhood last year so we did a few decorations, but took the kids elsewhere for trick or treating. This year there are more houses and people, but I just didn't feel in the spirit I guess. Due to traveling I didn't even get the chance to take the kids to a pumpkin patch which has been a tradition I started when we had our first. I think that combined with my mom getting the kids costumes months in advance I just didn't feel the same about it this year.
I've always made or at least been the one to purchase and decide on my kids costumes, but grandma stepped in this year and got some cute dress up dresses from Cracker Barrel of all places. Don't get me wrong these dresses were amazing!!!!! One looked similar to Elsa the other was a witch costume with lots of sparkles everywhere! They were fabulous and the girls were in love when they got them and didn't stop talking about which ones they'd wear. They both got two dresses, but chose the Elsa and witch the others were similar to rapunzel and another orange colored witch versus the purple that was chosen.
So I was kind of Grinchy for Halloween this year and I'm okay with that. The girls had fun going to two days of trunk-or-treating and we did go to a few houses that were handing out candy when we arrived home. I'm just hoping this isn't an insight into the rest of the holidays as I don't want to be a Grinch the rest of the year, but I know that Christmastime is a really hard time to be a Grinch when you have two kiddos at home to raise your spirits!!!
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