Day 1

It’s Day 1 of my 14 day “become a better SAHM” challenge. Today I will be focusing on planning out a schedule that will work for both my daughter and myself. There are plenty of studies that show that schedules and routines are very important to a child’s physical and mental health. For example, routines help toddlers learn the basic idea of time and time management, help establish important habits (brushing teeth, basic chores, etc.), and can help strengthen social relationships. This entry will have my written-out schedule along with my explanations of how and why this should work.

We will start the morning off by waking up at 7am sharp (if Rose hasn’t already gotten both of us up). I will take 15-30 minutes for myself where I can either take a quick shower, pour a cup of coffee, or tidy up a bit. Then it’s Rose’s turn to rise and shine at 7:30. After we do a quick snuggle session, we will eat breakfast together. We will then brush our teeth, get dressed, and prepare for our playdate.

Most of my MOMS group’s playdates start at 9:30a. If I am hosting, I will need some time to do some last-minute cleaning up. On the other hand if I am not hosting, I will need usually 15-30 minutes for travel time. Either way I will be getting ready or traveling for a playdate. Our playdates typically last until 11 or 11:30. This is where the scheduling will vary. Depending on Rose and her mood/general-grumpiness that day, she will either eat or nap first; so these two time slots will be interchangeable. I am blessed with a good-napper and she naps for around 2 hours. Naptime will be my blogging/cleaning/focus-on-me time.

Now here’s where it’ll get tricky. The dreaded afternoon lull, which lasts from around 3 until 5:30 (when dad gets home). What to do? What to do? There are only so many activities that a 15 month old toddler and 20-some year old women can do together. This will be special baby activity time where I will get out fingerpaints or some other Pinterest activity.

So here’s my basic schedule that I hope to keep to:
07:00a-07:30a – Wake up/Mom-morning-time
07:30a-08:00a – Wake Rose up/Eat breakfast
08:00a-08:30a – Brush teeth/Get mommy and baby dressed
08:30a-09:30a – Prepare to host playdate -OR- Prepare to go to playdate then travel
09:30a-11:30a – Playdate!
11:30a-02:30p – Lunch then nap -OR- Nap then lunch
02:30p-05:30p – **Afternoon lull** Special activity for Rose/Last minute clean up/Chores
05:30p-07:00p – Daddy playtime/Cook dinner and eat
07:00p-07:30p – Quiet play time
07:30p-08:00p – Bedtime routine of bath, books, songs, then bed

Well, there it is. It’s already 3pm today (Day 1) and I kept to this schedule fairly well. I think it’s going to work. I will keep you updated for the rest of the 13 days. Until tomorrow…

The 14 Day Become a Better Stay-At-Home-Mom Challenge

My cousin just recently completed the 21 day no sugar challenge. Where, as you can imagine, she avoided (as best as she could) eating sugar. The theory is that it takes 21 days for your body and brain to become accustom to a new diet or way of life. Honestly, 21 days is extremely daunting to me and I would probably fail. So for my SAHM Challenge I settled on 14 days. Which (for whatever reason) my mind finds manageable.

So what is this “14 Day Become a Better Stay-At-Home-Mom Challenge”? (Other than a mouthful). Well, it is one giant goal made up of a lot of smaller goals. Basically I’ve decided that I want to live a more structured life with a routine to help strengthen my self-esteem, general happiness, as well as my daughter’s physical and mental health.

This 14 day challenge will consist of waking up at a certain time each day, preparing breakfast for my daughter and I, arranging and going to morning play dates, blogging during nap time, eating lunch, planning fun activities for my daughter, etc. Each day I will write about a different “mini-goal”. For example: limiting screen time, planning meals, making time for me, focusing on my marriage, etc.

My hope and end goal is that after 14 days of pushing myself to complete these tasks that it will become easier and hopefully second-nature to me to live this way. I hope that I will become both physically and mentally healthier with more energy and a better outlook on life.

Today is Day 0. The day I clean my house and get ready for the long 2 weeks ahead. Tomorrow will be Day 1 and there will be no looking back from there. Talk to you then.