Things That Are Working For Me Right Now

1- My Hobonichi Techo Cousin. While I love looking at diverse and sundry planners, I don’t know how I survived last year without my precious HTC (I just made up that acronym, but I think it works). Seriously, I just love this thing so much. I love filling out the daily pages, love the ability to make weekly plans on the calendar layout, love having a daily space for planning / to do items / notes, love how professional it looks (I am using a plain black leather cover this year).

2- My morning routine. Currently it looks like this:

4:45: Up. Key point: Coffee set up the night before so it’s ready! Quick email check & planning session. (Note: I go to bed around 9:30 or so; sometimes earlier if I’m extra tired. So this isn’t as insane as it sounds.)

5:15 or so: Write post, do podcast prep, etc

5:50: Workout

6:30: Shower + breakfast prep (for me + big kids)

6:45 Go to G & nurse (I am jinxing myself with this post, but lately she is sleeping later and will hang out for a bit before getting impatient. Only change we made is to start her nap later — closer to 11 am — and open her curtains/let light in about 2 hours in)

7:00 Breakfast w/ big kids

7:30 Leave with A or C (Long drop-off line dilemma solved: I have now been walking with A from a playground closer to the school entrance, so it’s about a 10-15 min walk each way. Extra steps + fresh air for both of us + time to chat.)

3- Workouts. I’m still really into Beachbody, alternating with running! My goal is 6 days/week of short workouts. Last week (example) was

M – 21 Day Fix Dirty 30

T – Run 3 mi

W – 21 Day Fix Upper Body

R – off

F – Run 3 mi

S – Run 4.5 mi

S – 21 Day Fix Lower Body

I still want to add in a day per week of a more involved workout (Orange Theory / Burn Boot Camp / Barre Class) but I really like this scaffold. Once G weans, I could potentially have one day per week where I just leave early, get one of those workouts in, and start my work day early.

4- Nursing. On that note – yep, we’re still at it! G is 14 months old and she still enjoys her 2 sessions/day – when she wakes up, and at bedtime. My milk is definitely still there — I’m sure it’s just a few oz each time, but it’s not nothing. I really love that she is still so into it and find it really relaxing and not burdensome at all. If Josh and I have a date night, I just feed her earlier (like 5:30 pm) and it works out fine. G refers to breast feeding as “Mi Mi Mi” — she will point to the chair where we sit and say it in the world’s cutest tone.

I will say I’m surprise we’ve lasted this long – this is now my nursing PR 🙂 Josh and I are going to be away for a weekend in a couple of weeks and I’m a bit concerned about how I will handle that. I kind of have pump PTSD to be honest (and I actually gave my pumps away — though I could temporarily take them back, as my recipient isn’t due for a few months!).

5- The Bag Switch. I have gotten into the habit of doing a ritualistic shift from work bag to diaper backpack on Saturday mornings, and then back again on Sunday night. I also take that time to weed through and throw out extraneous @*&@#, which tends to really accumulate (receipts! band aid wrappers! an empty fruit puree pouch! etc etc etc). I also will switch to my ‘leisure’ bag on my days off (like today!). I never used to have a formalized process for this and would be out and about and then realize that I never restocked the sunscreen or worse, failed move my wallet to the appropriate bag (thank goodness for Apple pay, but still). It’s the little things 🙂

PS: Thank you for all of your comments on the pants post and the 80% dilemmas post. I have made my decision about the pants but not the 80% — definitely a more difficult choice! I will keep you updated when I can in both regards. Theory, Betabrand, J Crew Cameron, and Boden are all going back to the post office today!

(Also, now that I have decided my work uniform will be slim black pants, I now feel that I need more tops. To be fair, I spent much of 2018 in the same 4 wrap-style dresses to accommodate my post-baby pumping self.)