Bad Habits as a “Stay at Home-r”

Good afternoon everyone and Happy Friday!! The week has come to an end and what a week it has been!! This weekend is also Easter, so a very exciting weekend! Today I am going to talk about something that I have noticed since becoming a person who is home more than not. I’ve always been a homebody, but it is different when you are truly a Stay at Home Mom/Employee/Wife/Whatever. It is very easy to fall into some bad habits when you stay at home most of the time and are busy-ing yourself with things around the house.

I work part time, own my own business and am a mom, wife, and homemaker. I blog as a hobby and enjoy it! With all of that, I found myself going down the rabbit hole with some of these habits. I’m hoping that I can help you identify these habits too.

1.) Staying in your pajamas all day. Get out of your pajamas! I don’t care if you just get out of your sleep clothes and put on sweatpants, just doing this one thing will change a lot in your mindset. It is so easy to fall down a rabbit hole when you stay in the same pajamas or clothes all day and all night long (even if you are changing your pajamas frequently it’s the mindset of being in clothes that you sleep in that makes a difference). For me, I actually put on a full outfit every morning that involves jeans, a skirt or a dress. You will automatically be more productive and feel better when you change your clothes after getting up in the morning.

2.) Eat and Drink Appropriately. Another one that I just can’t stress enough. A lot of times when we stay at home we fall into two different categories; eating everything or eating nothing. Neither one of these options is a good option. Try to space out your meals and/or snacking and make sure that if nothing else- you get a good breakfast to start your day off. I find that when I eat a good healthy breakfast in the morning, I snack less throughout the day. Another big thing to make sure you are doing is hydrating. Drinking plenty of water is a big thing and will also help motivate you to be healthier and make healthier choices throughout the day.

3.) Staying in the House Too Much. It is really easy to just stay in the house and stay where you are comfortable. It is even easy to say, I’ve got too much going on to fit in time to run out without it being errands or necessary. It is essential to leave the house a couple of times a week just to change your environment and scenery. I will be the first to admit that I don’t do this very well. I find that even taking a walk through the park and out in the neighborhood halfway through the week works wonders for our attitudes and our outlook. In our home we try to take a walk halfway through the week or run out to a store or do something and then our weekends tend to be filled with seeing new sights and running errands. It breaks up the monotony of the week and helps it you to not feel like you are stuck in Groundhog Day.

These are the three biggest things that I have discovered, although keep an eye out because I’ll be talking more and more about some other habits to get into and how to break some of the bad habits that we may have! What bad habits have you noticed if stay at home?

MiaLeave a comment

My Evening Routine

Good afternoon everyone and Happy Monday! I hope that this week is getting off to a great start for you! It’s been fantastic here in our home as my nearest and dearest friend is in town visiting for a couple of days. It’s already been a whirlwind of a couple days and I can’t wait to see how the next couple days go!

Today I’m excited to share a little glimpse into my evening routine. You can find my morning routine HERE and while I get a lot done in the mornings and have some “me” time, I feel like my evenings are where the real relaxation is. It’s a great time for us to spend together as a family and when we get to just enjoy the coziness that is our home.

I work from home and then once I’m done with work, I typically do my daily chores around the house. I consider my day “over” around 4:00-4:30pm. At this time our little man is typically waking up from his nap, so I’ll get him out of the crib and we will enjoy a little bit of time together in the living room. I’ll grab his leftover milk out of the fridge and we just relax for about 30-45 minutes with a little TV or playing on the floor.

Around 5:15-5:30pm I start on dinner. I make home made dinners every night, except for a Friday or Saturday night, when we either do something easy or order in for our date night. Because I am making dinner almost completely (and completely in some cases) from scratch it can take upwards of an hour to cook. I enjoy cooking and typically during this time, my husband will arrive home from work. I try to clean as I go, rinsing out dishes and doing what needs to be done.

Dinner time is typically around 6:30pm in our home and we like to sit around the table and just chat about our days. This is our time to catch up with each other and just chat. After dinner, I’ll get the kitchen and dining room cleaned up and my husband will either play with our little man in the living room or head down and do homework. One way or the other we will all end up on the floor in the living room playing until it is little man’s bed time.

We start getting little man ready for bed at around 8:30pm and my husband actually handles bed time for the most part. While he is getting little man ready for bed, I am taking my make up off and washing my face. I occasionally change into my pajamas at this time, but more than likely not. Once little man is in bed, we either catch up on some television or read in our living room until we are ready to go to bed. This is the time that we get to just relax and spend a little one on one time with each other, without little man.

So that is what our evening looks like! What is your evening routine like?

MiaLeave a comment

March Favorites!

A post on a Wednesday?! This was originally scheduled for Monday, but Monday just got away from me and I didn’t get the post finalized in time to get it posted. So, here we are.

It’s already April 5 (what?!) and while I can’t believe that it is already April, I am excited to share some of my favorites for the month of March. I am trying to do only products that I used the whole month, but there are a couple that slipped in that were only used for part of the month.

Ok, to start with, I’ve been really loving my new planning that I have started with in the month of March. I have been going round and round with planners as I am such a picky person and a huge paper planner. I had been using the Passion Planner, but it ended up becoming cramped and I wanted to have a little more space for notes and such on each date. I’ve been eyeing the Bullet Journal system for a long while now and decided to take the plunge for March. I’ve never been happier and more at peace in a planning system. I will be doing a separate post and series about this system, so stay tuned!

I finally bit the bullet y’all. I decided to go ahead and purchase the Ugg Slippers that I have been eyeing for years and years. I always went back and forth because, let’s be honest, they are expensive and I was always able to get a similar cheaper pair somewhere else. After throwing out my latest pair of slippers I decided to go ahead and purchase them as I know they are meant to last for a long time and I have heard only good things. I have not been dissapointed! I’ve only had these for about half the month, but holy cow they are fantastic! I’ve been wearing them everyday around the house and they have been so comfortable.

We are coming up on Passover and while I do not celebrate anymore, there are still a couple of food items that I love getting and eating. One of my all time favorites are the Manischewitz Chocolate Macaroons. This is the only way that I will eat Cocunut and I honestly gobble these down. I have been enjoying have a couple of these throughout the week (or maybe more than a couple) and they are just so delicious! I will be a little sad when they are retired for the year soon.

Lastly, this past month I have watched two movies that I love and am proud to call favorites in my collection. The first movie being, of course, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I could not ask for more in this movie and as an installment in the wizarding world! It is simply magical and just perfection! Newt Scamander is such a fantastic character and the niffler is by far one of my favorite animals/characters! The second movie is Trolls! I only just recently watched it when I bought it on DVD and it is the cutest movie! Our little man loved watching it as well with all bright colors and fun songs! Poppy and Branch are very dear to my heart as they are very much like myself and my husband in so many ways.

What are your favorites for the month of March?

MiaLeave a comment

I Hit a Wall…

I feel like it is an age old situation: Dispense good advice, don’t take a word of it yourself. This past week has been so hectic and at times just felt discombobulated. Side note- I’m super proud of that word choice 🙂 I’m very much a organized and have become a routine based person and this past week has just been crazy where that is concerned.

I feel like I say a lot that I am a routine based person. I can do spontaneous and I can have my days/weeks where it is off, but on the whole I love the way that I have my days and weeks planned out and I have found that it works really well for our family. This past week has pushed the “spontaneous” side of me a little too far and by the end of the week, I had firmly hit that wall of DONE.

We had a couple of appointments this week, which normally wouldn’t be so bad, except this week I had anticipated one appointment that was 30 minutes away. I had planned for just that one appointment and had figured that I could get everything else done around that. Then, it turned into two appointments on two different days both 30 minutes away. I also had a couple other errands to get done while we were out that added to the time.

My part time job picked up quite a bit in terms of being busy and having A LOT to do, so that was a factor. It’s tough when you feel like you are accomplishing quite a bit while working, but when you look at the numbers, nothing has changed. You clear out x amount of tasks to have y amount just added back to the mix. So, I know that that played a lot into my feeling of busyness and discombobulation.

Our sweet little man has been teething this week as well. I’m not sure what teeth are coming in, but it’s been a rough one for him. Normally he has a very happy sweet temperament, but with teething he goes hot and cold between smiling and crying. He typically wants to sleep more and has no interest in eating/food. He also becomes very clingy when he is teething due to the pain. He only wants to either be held or be in my lap. This is not a bad thing until things are not getting done. I still soak up the time for the most part because these moments are starting to become few and far in between.

So add together: extra appointments, extra large work load, irritable, clingy toddler, and a snowstorm at the start of the week and you get a mom who feels like she isn’t getting anything done! Normally I have a good handle on things and can pretty much handle whatever is thrown at me, but this past week just felt like so much at once. I hit a wall and actually ended up doing as little as possible on Saturday. We did a simple breakfast, leftovers for lunch, and ordered in for dinner. I did a little work, but overall just tried to relax and enjoy my time with my toddler.

It was exactly what I needed after the week felt like it was falling apart!

MiaLeave a comment

Week In Pictures – A Family Visit and Shopping!

Hello everyone! Gosh, it is already 5-6 days into March! This past week has been a whirlwind as my husband went out of town for most of it for work and my mother came into town for a visit. We did quite a bit of shopping and just got to spend some time together. This was also my first full week in a new planner set up as well as adding some more to my journal. The week ended with some more shopping for the new baby as well as our little man.

I had a few things that I needed to pick up, some more spring/summer maternity clothes, some books and I had a few appointments throughout the week as well. This kept us plenty busy for the week and it seemed every day we had to do something!

I was able to get quite a bit of some new tops to gear up for the warmer weather (of course now that I have, it’s getting cold again) and I’m very much looking forward to spring and summer outfits that I can put together! Sweet Little Man and #2 also got some new clothes for summer as well. We’ve got everything saved from when Little Man was a baby, but with them being born at opposite ends of the year, there are some clothing items that we need to have. I also want to do a different theme for his nursery than we did for Little Man as they are different.

Little Man had a “woodland” animal/fox theme with Oranges and Browns in his nursery and I think #2 is going to have a mountain animal/bear theme with Blues for his nursery. I love what we have picked out so far and I think it is going to come together really well! We’ve still got to move quite a bit of furniture around and switch rooms around before I can decorate the new room, but I’m definitely in a nesting mode and think I will be for a long time still.

One other big thing that I did this week was to get my eyes re checked out. I’ve had glasses for a long time for when I’m reading/working at the computer/watching TV and when I was in school, but I’m one of those people that doesn’t typically wear them. I just strain through the situations and work through it. It has been steadily getting worse and I think it has some to do with the amount of migraines I deal with. I got a new prescription and some new glasses to go along with it. So far, it’s been such a difference! To be able to clearly see things has been so nice! No more straining to see for me.

How was your week?

MiaLeave a comment

Let’s Talk Pregnancy #1 vs Pregnancy #2

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that your week has treated you well and if not, well it is weekend time! This week has been a rough one for me and has really been trying. With that being said, since it is Friday and I am celebrating being over halfway done with Pregnancy #2 I want to do something a little fun!

A week ago we found out that we are expecting another little boy! This is very exciting for us and we are looking forward not only to meeting the little guy, but that our sweet little man will have a little brother to be best friends and grow up with! They will be very close in age and will be able to do a lot together! Since both my pregnancies have had their differences, I wanted to do a little Pregnancy 1 vs Pregnancy 2. I will start with the major differences and then have some similarities.

To start with, in Pregnancy #1 I had very little “morning sickness”. The only time I was sick was for maybe 2 weeks in the beginning and then it all went away. With Pregnancy #2, I was sick from about 3.5 weeks on. I won’t go into all the details, but it was bad. I had a really tough time and was very very ill. Once my doctors prescribed me some medicine it helped, but it didn’t truly let up until around 15-17 weeks. Even now I still deal with loss of appetite.

Another difference is in Pregnancy #2 would be my body changes. Pregnancy #1 I carried really low. Sweet little man just loved to be right in my hips until the very end. He didn’t deviate too much from his location, although he would kick and get mad as heck if I was sitting upright and he was getting “smushed”. With #2, he is definitely all over the place- up high and down low. I’ve felt him getting closed to my ribs a couple of times already!

Another little difference is how I have approached the pregnancy. Obviously Pregnancy #2 I have a toddler running around, so I’ve been more focused on him and making sure that he is doing well and less focused on myself than Pregnancy #1. I have been much more relaxed this time around with some of the restrictions of pregnancy. With #1 I was very hyper aware of everything that was going on and everything that I was eating and drinking. This time around I haven’t been able to do that. I stick with the major things to avoid in any pregnancy and try not to consume too much caffeine. Beyond that I’ve just been a lot more relaxed about

So, those are the major differences at this time. My cravings have been mostly the same, although I’ve tried to be a little healthier this time around. I’ve been loving the carbs, fruit and spicy! I’ve been hating Peanut Butter and Green Beans. I know I said that my sickness was different as well as my body changes, but where I’ve gained my weight so far has been the same. I have gone all belly once again (look for a picture to come soon!) and everywhere else has stayed the same.

So those are just a few things that I’ve noticed that has been different and the same with both pregnancies! I feel really good now though at this point in my pregnancy and I feel like I’m really starting to be “settled” in pregnancy #2.

Mia3 Comments

Week in Review: Ball Week!

Hello everyone! Before I begin, I want to just say that this week is going to be a three post week to help make up for the posts that I have missed lately. I had a couple of things that I wanted to share, but the time just got a way from me. So to start off, I am going to share a little bit of the week and formal event that we went to earlier in the month!

Leading up to the main event was a pretty typical week, although little man sure did learn some new ways to be extra adorable and extra destructive! While I found some time (and a day of cool temperatures) to pull out my fuzzy fox socks and enjoy a nice cuppa!

We had the opportunity to go to a formal ball and we took the chance to have a night out and relax. Sweet little man got the chance to have a playdate with some friends and a little sleepover. I was a little anxious about leaving him for a whole night, but overall I was relatively calm. I knew that he would be well taken care of and would have a blast playing with the other kids. I figured if he was going to have an issue it would simply be right before bed (as that is when he really puts the pieces together that one of us is missing) and while he did have a little bit of an issue, it wasn’t bad and they said he calmed down quite quickly and easily. I knew that he would be in good hands, so I knew deep down overall I wouldn’t have to worry. It made the whole process a little easier!

For me, going to a formal event means the chance to really get dolled up and even a little pampered that day. I really wanted to be able to look good and feel good all night long so that played a big part of my “prep” day. I went and got my nails done first thing in the morning, then in the afternoon I got my hair professionally done. Hair is the thing that I struggle with the most and it ended up being easier to not have to mess with it! I did my own makeup in between the two appointments as well as enjoyed some time with little man. It was nice to have some time to just relax and be pampered, something that doesn’t typically happen.

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22 Weeks Pregnant and I loved this dress!

With the actual ball, we had a good time! We got to enjoy our time with friends and listen to some exceptional speakers. I also got to meet some new people (which as an introvert says a lot!) and enjoy speaking to some that I already new. It gave us a chance to have an evening where we didn’t have to worry about getting up especially early the next morning or get home to little man. We definitely did take some advantage of that as we stayed out till midnight (what?!) and decided to go out for breakfast the next morning. It was nice to have a more leisurely start to the morning, however morning is when my anxiousness really started to kick in. After breakfast I was more than ready to see our little man!

*I am not posting any photos of myself and my husband for personal reasons, but I have included my “full look” for the evening.

MiaLeave a comment

A Date Night With Yourself

Good afternoon everyone! It is Friday, which means…weekend!! I hope that your week has gone well and if it hasn’t, well time to celebrate because you can enjoy a little time without those work week stresses. Today I want to talk about a way that you can do that and take care of yourself.

No matter what you do, it is extremely important to make sure that you are taking care of yourself. By take care of yourself I don’t simply mean eat healthier food, drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep. Those are all very important things that need to be done, but I mean take care of your soul. Take your time for you, the time that you need to recharge your person, soul, and make sure that you are prepared for what you need to do in your day to day. If you don’t take this time it wears on yourself and you cannot better do everything else that you do.

This past year I have realized just how essential this time is, not just for me but for my husband as well. I also have had the chance to figure what works best for me that lets me recharge my batteries. This allows me to be a better mom, wife, friend, employee, store owner, and just overall person. There are a couple of things that I’ve learned in finding what works for me.

The first thing I learned is when you want to have your time. Some people like to have their time late at night, others prefer the middle of the afternoon, while some get up extra early in the morning. For me, most of my evenings I try to set aside for family time and my mornings are for getting my day off on the right foot. For me, my perfect time is the middle of the afternoon on Sunday Afternoons. This is when it works for me.

The second thing I learned is what I want to do for “me time” and that it isn’t the same thing from time to time. Sometimes it is watching a movie with a cup of tea in a quiet house. Sometimes I want to get out of the house and go get pampered or go somewhere to read. What I do will change based on what my needs are at the time. That’s ok, the whole point is to take time for myself and what my needs are.

The last thing that I learned is that this needs to be a semi regular time that happens. It may not be every week, but it needs to be at least once a month. Some months I will need it twice a month, but I need that time at least once a month. I do bits and pieces of my time throughout the month (my morning routine being a good example of this) and that helps quite a bit as well.

I find that when I have the time that I don’t have to worry about anything, I don’t have to be a mom or a wife or really a being if I don’t want to be allows me to be a better mom and a better wife. This is something that is true for anyone. You can’t take care of anyone (or anything) else without taking care of yourself. If you incorporate this time on a regular basis, you will find yourself in a much better place.

What do you do to take care of yourself and recharge?

MiaLeave a comment

A Chatty Week!

Good afternoon everyone! It is a Monday and I feel ready to get down to business this week!

This past week and weekend has sure gone by fast! The week has been filled with the normal busyness of work and well life. We took a little “adventure” halfway through the week to just get out of the house and pick up some needed grocery items.

When we first started re switching (yes, re introducing and switching, that is a story I will tell) to milk, I didn’t realize how quick he would actually take to it due to previous situations. I also didn’t realize that his switch would literally be an overnight switch. Also, that switch would include the sippy cup that he just decided which one he loved and that he only wanted that. He literally woke up one morning and when we put him in his high chair, he refused to take his bottle first (which still had milk with a smidge of formula) and simply wanted table food. Once he had that he only wanted plain milk and took the sippy cup right away! Who woulda thunk 😉 Now our sweet little baby is turning more into our little man every day.

So, with all of that we ran over to get some lunch at Panera Bread and then a stop at Target for odds and ends and of course, some milk (we had only been getting 1/2 gallons until he made the full switch). Aside from that trip though, it was a pretty standard week of work and play (more play for Colton and work for me). Our little man is getting more and more curious at what we are doing at times.

We re arranged our lower level to give him more space to play. With that change, we also opened our desks and computers up and he is able to see what is going on on the screens at any time he would like. This is both good and bad as just about every day this week there has a come a time where he wants to be up in my lap banging away at the keys and playing “big and important” on the computer. My calculator seems to placate him (at least for now) and it is something that he can also carry around with him and I’m not worried about him damaging it!

Over the weekend, I had a singular goal of finding a dress for a special occasion that we have coming up in February. It requires a floor length “ball” gown type of dress and the search was not one that I was overly looking forward to. Being 19 weeks pregnant with Baby #2 can mean any number of things for your body and I honestly didn’t know what type of style or dress I was really going for. I am in that time where the baby bump is “cute” before starting to get big, so I wanted to lean towards something a little more form fitting than an A-Line or Empire waist style dress, but I wasn’t totally sold on that. Above all, I wanted to feel comfortable in whatever I chose and look good/appropriate.

I am not going to show pics just yet, as I want to show the entire look, but suffice to say, I found a dress that I absolutely love! I have never felt so good in a dress and I am so glad that I decided to go out on a whim and try it. It is form fitting, but gives me room to breathe (and grow if need be!).

My second goal of the weekend was to get my life and home back in order. I didn’t know when or how I was really going to approach this goal, but I knew that I needed to put in some time to do some writing, a little tidying of accumulated messes, and get my meals figured out again. I think I’ve also conquered this goal as well! I have cleared the last bit of mess from our moving furniture and tidying last weekend as well as cleared out quite a few of the accumulated messes. I’ve still got to sit down and sort some meals out and write a couple more posts, but on the whole, I feel quite accomplished!

How was your week and weekend?

MiaLeave a comment

What is Date Night?

Good afternoon everyone! We are at the start of yet another weekend even if this week may be shorter for some of you due to the holiday, it’s still another week and that can mean long hours or stressful work to be done. I want to touch on a little bit of a self care for your relationship amid the chaos that can be the week. I am going to do a self care post as well for taking care of yourself as an individual, but wanted to start with more of the “Date Night” first.

*Quick side note, because I can’t resist…I am currently in the office/den/guest quarters of our house to get some work done. My husband (who is off today) is upstairs playing with our son and I am just down here marveling at the excited, happy squeals and screeches coming out of my our sweet boy as he just runs around the house with daddy. It warms my heart in a way that I cannot explain. Now that I’ve gotten that little note of emotion out of the way…

When Rob and I were expecting we heard (and I knew) that continuing to take care of our marriage, separate of our son and future children, was going to be key. While I know that we have a strong, solid, loving, caring marriage, kids are hard work and it is so easy (so so so easy as I’ve learned this past year) to forgo that while in the throws of parenthood. I didn’t want us to lose any bit of our marriage and really wanted to develop some time in our week to devote to each other, as most nights we spend as a family.

Here’s a little tidbit about Rob and I, we are one of the biggest pair of homebodies ever. We don’t really like “going out” unless we are making a special trip out (like a day trip or a weekend away) and we just tend to feel more comfortable in our own home. We also aren’t really into crowds or a lot of social events. The social events that we do attend are work events and, while nice to have, are not really what I would consider “Date Night”.

The fact that we are homebodies is not a bad thing, but it can make what is considered a traditional “Date Night” (dinner and a movie or some variation of that), difficult. Combine that with having a young child and not a lot of family in our immediate vicinity, I knew that we needed to improvise.

For us, “Date Night”, looks like the following:

  • We order in food or get takeout from somewhere. Occasionally we might cook, but if we do it is super easy meals that don’t take a lot of prep work or cook time.
  • We put away cell phones, books, computers, tablets, whatever that might distract us. During our normal family times, we typically will multi task to an extent and so for our “Date Night” we make a point to put everything away after dinner and focus on what is happening. I also want to make a note that at a certain time during the week we stop multi tasking and focus on our family time.
  • We get a movie. We will either use RedBox or pull up a movie/tv show on Netflix and watch it. Each person gets a chance to pick every other week (one week it’s my pick, the next it is Rob’s). This allows both of us to be able to watch what we want and not always feel like we are having to watch what the other wants to.
  • Typically (not always, but most of the time), we end up sleeping in our living room. This means we don’t have to worry about getting up at the end of the night or having to do anything further other than enjoy the evening. We get to just relax and not worry, which is so nice.

This is our Date Night tradition and it fits perfectly for us! We also don’t have to worry about the expense of having to get a babysitter as we are at home still and our transition into “Date Night” flows really seamlessly. Our son is old enough to where he can play independently (although still supervised) in the same room as us and goes to bed at a reasonable time so that we are not falling asleep right as we get into the movie.

I would love to hear if you have a specific tradition for Date Night or how you handle getting in time with your spouse that is somewhat or all kid free!

MiaLeave a comment