Lately I have been focusing on my mental health as much as I can. As a mama to two young babies under the age of four I tend to neglect myself quite a bit. So I made a list of five things that have helped me lately. I thought I would share for any mamas who may be feeling the same way.
1) Wake up before the kids, this is a hard one. I don't always do it but when I do its the BEST. I get to drink my coffee while its hot and catch up on emails without someone climbing across my computer. I feel energized and more balanced then when I go get them I'm a happier mommy greeting them with a smile and June Cleaver good morning.
2) Eat first. So my kiddos give me a run for my money when its comes to food. C is in a picky eater phase and O has never been a stellar eaten. Steve and I LOVE to eat so you can imagine my concern when I don't see my kids clearing their plates. I kept noticing how much anxiety I had during meal times focusing on the girls eating and trying to feed them as much as possible that I wasn't eating myself. So I changed that, and decided we can tackle feeding the girls after I feed myself. Changed my tune and calmed me down immediately.
3) Self Care. This one is HUGE! The BEST gift you can give your children is a positive, happy and well taken care of mommy. That means we have to take the time to take care of ourselves and do something for US. So weather it's getting my nails done, a massage, a blowout or just laying down for a few while the kids nap it helps so much. I have to fill my bucket before I fill everyone else's.
4) Let them work it out. With the girls being 3.5 and 1 they are now starting to have a little sibling rivalry. C doesn't always want to share with O and O is now finding her voice with big sis and telling her NO. Instead of running over at every little argument I'm trying to take a step back and let the girls work it out for themselves. We tell C if there is a toy she doesn't want to share with O (that is hers) she needs to put it away in her room, same goes for O. When I see them (well more like C) playing tug or war with a toy I try to see if they can work it out on their own without C acting too much like a bully. It helps my nerves a ton not always feeling the need to play referee. For the most part they figure it out on their own are back to hugging a giggling two minutes later.
5) Do the parenting activities you love. This is a new one suggested to me by my therapist and I am so happy she did. When I am low on energy or just in a funk and I'm solo with the kiddos I am focusing on the things that I enjoy doing. Don't get my wrong my kids get plenty of uninterrupted child directed play, but when I am in the drivers seat it makes those parenting moments so much more enjoyable. So hide and seek and reading has been a great go to in the moment and they LOVE it!
These 5 things help so much and they were so little and easy to implement.
XOXO
