It’s already June! HOW is it already June?
Oh my goodness you guys – the past 6 months have gone by like a flash! I’ve missed you guys so much!! Have you missed me?
++UPDATE | I am working on a HUGE project behind the scenes, so I will continue to be MIA with the blog for just a bit longer. But you can join my FREE Working Mama FB Group HERE so you don’t miss anything! ?
For you those of you who are new around here, I’ve taken off the past 6 months for maternity leave. I began wrapping things up around Thanksgiving and went pretty much offline [with the exception of Instagram] from December to June.
WHAT WAS I THINKING?
I decided to do that because I was reaching the tail-end of my pregnancy right as the holidays rolled around. So I was super overwhelmed trying to prepare for baby, wrap up things here & at work, and put on a stellar holiday season.
And most of you know that the postpartum 4th trimester is very important to me. So I pretty much dropped everything to go all-in to be fully present during this special time. Particularly with this being my last baby. I just wanted to drink it all in and not miss anything.
I am so glad that I made that decision. It has been a wonderful, magical time that I will treasure forever.
I highly recommend it if you have the ability to do so.
CAMILLA
My sweet baby girl, Camilla Irene, joined us earth-side at 10:25PM on Sunday, January 13, 2019. She was our tiniest baby at 7lbs 11oz and 18.5 inches. She is pure perfection. Stay tuned for her birth story – it’s a doozy!
I was blessed to have a very good maternity leave by our standards here in the US. The first 3 months were paid and the remainder has been unpaid time protected by Washington State law. Thanks, WA!!
If you’ve read my last couple posts then you know that I had very ambitious plans for my leave. I’m going to be 100% real with you – I barely did any of what I wanted to do!
And I’m 100% okay with that! Because what I DID do was way more important than what I did not.
So what the heck have I been doing during my leave?
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I’m Out On Maternity Leave! Will Return June 2019!
Real Life Update | December 2018
FIRST 6 WEEKS OF LEAVE
Well, for the first 6 weeks – NOTHING!
Of course, that’s not entirely true.
I did keep 3 young humans alive. And kept the household running to some degree.
We did get groceries. We did eat food. The kids did bathe. I did do laundry. Paid bills. Did dishes. But that’s pretty much it aside from nursing 24/7!
I gave myself the gift of that time to just be and enjoy the changing dynamic of my little family.
And after that?
MY LEAVE: WEEKS SIX THROUGH EIGHT
Those next two weeks we transitioned into a new routine and I got focused on my goals for the remainder of my leave.
We started getting up and going to bed at set times each night. I worked on getting the two little ones on the same nap schedule.
I established new pillars for the day with set routines, systems, and/or rhythms. These included everything from the kid’s routines to daily chores and projects.
After 8 weeks we were running on our new daily routines and thriving. So I began to identify the various projects I wanted to undertake.
HOME & FAMILY PROJECTS
I have a running list of like a million things that I want to do at any given time. But there were two big ones that stood out for me as priorities.
- Declutter and Organize
- Toddler Behavior
Not necessarily in that order either.
I try not to undertake any big project on my own. I really like to rely on expert advice, search out everything I can, compile it together, tweak it as I see fit, and run from there. So that’s what I did with these two projects.
I’ll go into both of these more in depth later as they are on my content calendar for blog posts. But I’ll touch on both briefly here.
TIME TO DECLUTTER & ORGANIZE
So my house is total chaos ya’ll. I fight borderline hoarder tendencies, I swear! We bought this house 6 years ago and still have some unpacked boxes! It’s a problem.
In addition, I have a total shopping addiction. And family who show their love with gifts. So our large home is chock-full of STUFF.
And by now we all know that STUFF is the problem. So what to do?
Obviously, start getting rid of all the stuff and get organized. But where to start?
We’ve all tried to start a decluttering journey at one time or another, but have given up be because it’s just too much. We get overwhelmed.
I know I’ve done it myself a million times. But this time I have actually made amazing progress thanks to the holy grail of purging + decluttering!
If you’re not an Allie Casazza convert, then you need to run to her website stat! I’ve taken her Unburdened course and am now in the middle of Your Uncluttered Home. Mind blowing, life-changing stuff – seriously! Check her out!
So I’m making great strides with that and feeling lighter every day. SO good!!
TACKLING TODDLER BEHAVIOR
Now on to the toddler behavior thing. So Logi turned 3 in December and I’m not sure if he still qualifies as a toddler or if he’s supposed to be referred to as a preschooler now? Thoughts?
Anyway, he was a pretty easy kid up until right before he turned 3. Then right around that time it was like a switch was flipped and he went totally psycho crazy.
He stopped listening. He started to intentionally do ‘naughty’ things. Everything became a power struggle. He even started biting again. I say ‘again’ because we went through the usual young toddler biting phase easily and without incident already.
It was bad ya’ll.
And I just knew that for a peaceful home it needed to be nipped in the bud. But none of my parenting tricks were working.
None of the standard advice from our day or what parents + friends suggested would work. It just made things worse.
I was at my wit’s end when Facebook read my mind. [No comment…]
And showed me an ad for a program that I’m sure I’d seen a million times before and had ignored. But this time it really struck a chord.
It was for Amy McCready’s Positive Parenting Solutions program.
So I signed up for a free webinar and I was immediately hooked. I signed up for her course before the webinar was even over!
This one is another life-changer. Seriously. After the first module, we began to see improvement and my confidence as a parent started to come back.
She really digs into the psychology around why the child is behaving the way they are and approaches solutions with that lens. It is so refreshing. And just understanding my own child better made such a world of difference.
Anyway, she gives actionable tools that we’ve started implementing to create a much more peaceful household. I’m only halfway through the program, but it’s like night + day. It’s been awesome!
And what about my business? Well, I didn’t actually DO much.
BACK TO BLOG AFTER MATERNITY LEAVE
I only did two business activities during this time. First, I’ve been tending my Instagram for growth like you would tend a garden. And it’s been going great! [Another upcoming blog post] I would love to connect with you on IG if I haven’t already!
And second, I’m working on something BIG! I mean big, big! So stay tuned for more information. I’m super excited about it and am working hard behind the scenes to get it ready for you guys! ? ? ?
THAT’S ALL FOLKS
And that’s what I’ve been up to all this time!
Tell me what you did during your maternity leave below. Or what your plans are if you’re expecting now!
PS
And don’t forget to check out all of my favorite things on my recommendations pages for the best things to make your life easier whether it’s parenting, budgeting, family living or blog related.
Thanks again for visiting…I hope to see you again soon!!
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