Being a mom is like a balancing act. As much as I LOVE the challenge, balancing everything and keeping life in order can be tricky at times and I only have one baby (slow clap to all of you moms who have more than one). Between my sweet husband, baby Ralph, the puppy brothers, our friends, family and jobs to say that we have a lot on our plate is an understatement.
Being only 6 months into motherhood, one of the biggest things I have learned is the art of balancing. It’s balancing everything from home life, relationships to work. Although I still get quite overwhelmed by how spread thin I feel sometimes, one of the most helpful things in balancing all of this newness is managing time.
If you do not know me well, then you do not know how scheduled my life is. Everything from the amount of time it should take me to get from my work out to my house (that is IF the instructor decides to start their class on time) to when we have a window to go out of town. What can I say, I love a good schedule and I love managing my time, so that I can dedicate as much free time as I can to my little family (meaning: I can get done everything that I need to do for our unit in order to spend time together and be distraction free).
The other week I was in a bit of a discussion with someone who does not know me well and this person made a comment about how stupid my schedule was. To be accurate this person said ‘if I hear one more thing about that dumb schedule’; I tried to laugh it off because 1. this person does not know me well at all 2. commenting on the way that a stranger someone chooses to run their life is crossing more than a few lines.
Full disclosure; I am not really sure why this comment struck a nerve with me. I kept replaying the comment (and conversation) over and over again and weeks later, it still bothers me. It bothers me that someone feels like they can comment on how I ‘do life’ with my little family and how we (my husband and I) choose to spend our time. It also really gets to me that I am literally doing everything in my power to learn how to balancing this new life with a child and trying to do the BEST job that I can, is getting a hateful comment from a total outsider.
As I have mentioned in past posts, we keep baby Ralph on a strict schedule. Not to be ‘strict’ but to ensure that him being well fed (enough ounces in a day) and has had enough sleep will not only help him be more content but also help us balancing this new life with a baby because we know when works best for the baby to be able to do things with us. For example; Wade and I love going to dinner. In fact, I don’t remember the last meal that I cooked. Prior to baby Ralph we would just grab dinner whenever and call it a day. Now we wait until his last cat nap is over, have everything prepped and the second he wakes (or gets woken if it’s been more than an hour), the three of us head to dinner…with a happy baby. Hate if you want but the schedule works (you can read the schedule that we used up until a week ago here). **Also, I promise I am going to share baby Ralph’s updated schedule soon!
Not to pat myself on the back but prior to baby Ralph, I have always been good at time management and balancing but Ralph now being here has created a whole new ‘art’ of balancing that totally honest, I did not know would be this difficult. While I have learned so much the last 6 months about balancing, as Ralph gets a little bigger and easier to get around (less nap time/etc); I know that my balancing skills will improve even more and I will be able to dedicate even more time to other things with Ralph (instead of revolving my entire world around his nap times).
Sorry this post was so lengthy, I just want to make it known that being a mom is WORK and I now appreciate my mother and other mothers who did it with a lot more children and less hands on deck so much more. Being a mom is the most rewarding job in the world but also the most difficult because on the constant worry and the attempt to figure out the art of balance. I also want to encourage all of you who have ever gotten a snarky comment about the way that YOU are choosing to do life with your crew to take it with a grain of salt and remember that the person who is ‘hating’ on the way your choosing to schedule or do life; is probably envious and does not know how to express happiness/encouragement but only hatefulness.
The art of balancing is something I know I will get better at but for now, my current routine is as good as it is going to get.
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