Q1 Goals:
1) Focused time with A&C Daily:
I tried to do this many days, but didn’t necessarily structure it as well as I could have. I think they respond better when they are AWARE it is the special time and it is clearly delineated! Something I am continuing to work on. It is currently hard as G’s bedtime and their bedtime are similar and now that I am back at work, my slices of time are generally with all 3 at once (sometimes with Josh, sometimes alone). But I can use my days off for this purpose and want to be better about it! 10-15 minutes with each kid is enough to make a difference.
2) Family dinners Sundays
Yes! I cooked almost every Sunday during Q1. I got in the habit of having our nanny shop on Friday for weekend supplies – a luxury I know, but if I didn’t do this I’d probably just place an online order to be delivered Friday evenings. It turns out the barrier wasn’t the cooking itself – but the shopping & planning. I made several recipes from Milk Street magazine, as well as these delicious lasagna roll-ups from Brittany‘s blog and continue to heavily use Run Fast Eat Slow.
3) DIA method / exercise 5x/week
Yep! I did switch from DIA to Mommastrong at the end, but I’ve done something most days of the week. I’ve done a little bit of running, but not a ton. I’ve also gone for some walks (usually with G in the Ergo). I wouldn’t say I’ve been working out particularly hard, but I have been consistent about getting something in with a focus on core strength.
4) Outline book (chapters, aims, ideas)
I do have a chapter list and a 2 page summary done . . . but I’d like to have a more fleshed-out outline. However, I decided I wanted to do the planning makeovers first to see what I’d learn from those before going further! These are scheduled for March (I chose 4 victims volunteers last week!) and I’m excited to see how things go!
5) Kon-Mari Home
I did many categories but not all. Of course G has already grown out of her carefully-arranged newborn (and 0-3) clothing already! Ah well. (On that note . . . I’m SOO excited for THIS SHOW!).
6) Combine A&C Rooms
CHECK. A’s clothes and toys are still in her old room (and G’s are in A&Cs . . . sigh), but we’ve got bunk beds and a functional nursery complete with crib. Moving stuff around can come later. The transition to bunk beds went shockingly well.
Q1 Habits:
1) Read daily. CHECK. I read 17 books in Q1. I’m still on my 1st book in Q2 (pretty sure it’s NOT going to be the reading fest that maternity leave was!). I did love this habit, though, and am continuing with reading every morning during my initial pump session!
2) Moment < 90 minutes. I did well in January – and just okay in Feb. But I’m improving in March! I find it really helps NOT to start the day with scrolling (reading/journaling instead). By the way, I do use the “exclude” feature to cut out time spent on google maps, spotify, YNAB, etc. My big time-wasters/distracters are Mail, Instagram, Feedly, Safari, and texting, so I’m mostly focused on those.
Q1 Bucket List:
1) A&C Ice skate. Didn’t happen! Josh wasn’t that excited about it, and given that I was essentially attached to G, this did not come to fruition. Maybe next winter (or I guess any time really, since it’s indoors and never actually ice skating weather here . . . ).
2) Read 10 books. 17, as noted above. CHECK.
3) Listen to album daily. I did this all through January and it was fun! Then I started slacking. I really enjoyed getting to know some new music through this project and really exploring the 2017 ‘best of’ lists. I am now making a point of doing “Music Monday” every week on my commute; I need to be better about turning it on in the house — we have a Sonos system so it’s so easy; I just don’t know why I don’t always do it upon arriving home! It really does add something to the mood and it’s just a nice part of life that I otherwise miss out on.
4) 3 date nights. We went on one without G, and even that one was a struggle! (We did have a fun basketball game night WITH her). We have a very willing babysitter. I just really struggled with leaving G, which is odd since you’d think a 3rd kid would be easier to detach from. As her bedtime has drifted earlier, this should get easier and easier . . . although last night I was up at 12, 1:40, and 4, so I’m not sure how excited I’d be to go to bed late (which for me these days is any time after about 9:30).
That’s it! Q2 goals to come on Monday – time to do a quick run while G hopefully remains asleep . . .
Accomplishments/Events/Highlights:
– #1 – most of G’s months 1-3 – enjoying her happy faces and snuggles, being amazed by her rapid growth & development, and surviving the early pumps, night wakes, and sleep deprivation
5 Comments
Way to go on moving forward on most of your goals. Super impressive! Also, I had no clue you could use an "exclude" feature on the Moment app. That will def help keep my time down since a lot of time I am listening to podcasts while my phone is in my back pocket (while doing household chores or whatever), etc and that racks up my time spent on phone. 🙂
Cute is a very cute child. I like this kid
My son is a month old and I am in the picking sleep over everything else phase right now! This is not my favorite phase. I am really struggling with the cluster feeding in the evenings and how to meet his needs while also spend quality time with my daughter. Not sure why I was so unprepared for this aspect of bfing this time around….any tips would be appreciated! I am basically breaking my back trying to feed him all over the house while I follow my daughter around and she”s still annoyed at me 🙁
I’m not sure how old your daughter is, but what helped when my little guy was so young was a "special toy box" that she could only play with when he was nursing. It was just a little plastic box with a lid and I put some inexpensive things in there: New box of crayons, new coloring book, new drawing pad, inexpensive finger puppets, stickers, a couple of new books, etc. She could only play with things in there while I was nursing and so she could be nearby but had her own thing going on. Also, do you have a partner who could step up and try to charm and occupy her while all that cluster feeding passes? Good luck — those days (and nights!) can feel so long — but you are doing the best you can, and it’s great.
It sounds like you are in a good place!
I agreee about having to label special time as such. Whenever I time with G, reading or playing, it doesn”t seem to count as special time unless I”ve clearly stated that”s what we”re doing. Sometimes I forget and he acts like he”s being robbed of something even if we had spent tons of time together. Is Josh doing it with the kids too? Also, once a week I try to do something with G outside of the house which we call Super Special Time. Like I trip to the park where I actually play with him, or we run an errand, or get a treat. I actually prefer when we get a treat or meal together because we have time for conversation then!