Goodness. Life has been all kinds of wonderful, crazy, frustrating, busy, hard, and amazing! The usual, right?! This motherhood thing is truly spectacular. I know it’s a little cliché, but it’s going by so fast! Too fast! I can’t believe it’s already been over six months since we welcomed Maxwell to our family. He is a chubby bundle of personality. I think my favorite thing in the world is when I go to get him out of his crib in the mornings. He greets me with a gummy smile that knocks me over every single morning. He’s now crawling everywhere and getting into everything! He’s started pulling himself up on things and he hasn’t even cut a tooth! He loves Yo Gabba Gabba’s DJ Lance, sweet potatoes, dogs, my phone, pacifiers, and head-butting me. Yes, he head-butts me about 100 times a day and laughs at it. I’ve so loved getting to know Max.
I think the hardest thing about becoming a mom for me is trying to figure out the self/family/creating juggle. I was talking with Mason the other day after a series of meltdowns of frustration where I felt like I just couldn’t figure the balance out. I want so badly to be a great mom and to be there for Max and any other kids we eventually have, but I don’t want to stop moving forward creatively. After stepping back, looking at what was really going on, I came up with a new motto for myself: I can’t do everything 100%, but I can give one thing at a time 100%. Let me explain. I was having days where I’d time playing with Max while thinking about my next blog post and worrying about the dishes piling up in the sink, only to run to to the dishes and realize I really didn’t have any quality time with my son, and then get frustrated with myself that I hadn’t done a single thing on my planned blog post; it was basically a vicious cycle of unfulfilling emotions. I was getting terrible sleep because my mind was alway racing with thoughts of things I hadn’t done. I’ve completely changed my mind set and now only allow one thing on my mind at a time. When I play with Max, I’m there 100%! I focus on him and take time to look in his eyes, talk and sing to him, and notice the ways he’s growing. I also allow myself time to daydream and work creatively every day and not feel bad (Max is usually crawling over me and head-butting me during this time or taking a nap or playing with Mason). While I’m focused on whatever I’m working on, I make sure I enjoy it and soak in what I’m doing. Life has felt more full now as well. I’ve learned so much from this small change and I could babble on and on about my discoveries. But I’ll save you. For now.
I have so many fun blog goals for the year! I’m planning my first sew-along! By the end of the year I want to have some patterns ready to sell. Soon I want to have free downloadable patterns and printables, and I’m going to do another small trashion collection in the fall(no actual show this year). This little blog of mine is going to have some great content over the next year! BUT, I will not be sacrificing any family time to achieve it. And that feels fabulous to say.
Oh, wow. Thanks for letting me brain dump on you and thanks for reading. Have you ever been thru something like this? What were your solutions or what did you learn? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
P.S. All you chocoholics out there need to go get Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy asap. You will thank me later.
P.S.S. All pictures are from Instagram. My user name is @lazykrista.
sounds like an awesome strategy! I’m glad you’ve found a way to decrease your stress. I can’t believe how big Max is getting. The head-butting this is too funny!
He’s getting so big so fast! It’s nuts! I feel like I blinked and now he’s crawling everywhere!
Hi Krista! I feel ya, girl. What you’ve described is pretty common. I’ve been feeling the same way for 5 years! (I have three kids, five and under). It’s a crazy ride, but your strategy is perfect! I can also assure you that it gets easier. I now put all three of my kids to bed by 7 and have a few hours of quality work time before bed. Then I can still get up and be the mom I need to be all day. My personal motto is “where ever you are, be all there.” So, if I’m with the kids I’m with the kids 100%. If I’m blogging, I’m blogging 100%, etc… It sounds pretty much like what you figured out! It takes time finding the right balance, but you’ll find it!
Ooooh, I love your motto! That’s EXACTLY what I’m sayin’!