Finding Balance

The Glamorous Side of Working Motherhood

No matter what your situation, the working mom vs. the stay at home mom debates can get pretty heated. We all feel strongly about our role and want to feel valued for what we do, so the working mom debate is not an area I want to dive into today. Moms of every variety are giving it their all on a daily basis. Selflessly they nurture little ones and support the family, often sacrificing of themselves to do so. But for a moment, I want to lift up the working moms. Especially the moms who would much prefer to be home with their babies because this is the group where I find myself. As much as I love my job, and try to remind myself that working is a privilege that not all women can enjoy, I’d still rather be home with my kids. So if those feelings resonate with you, then read on.

You Have to Look Presentable

Don’t laugh, it’s true! When you have to step out of the house every day and take your place in the world, you typically do it with makeup on and your hair done, right? Be honest, would you really spruce up so nicely (and so early in the morning!) if you didn’t have to go to work? I’m a teacher, so I’m off during the summer. On those days you’re more likely to find me in yoga pants and flip flops – and no makeup!

Via

You Have Extra Income

The real blessing of working, even part-time, is that you do have a little more wiggle room in the budget. Even with my husband and I working three jobs between the two of us, we’ve got enough in the bank to cover the bills and and have some left over for fun stuff. I’m really careful with the budget, and always make sure that we allow for some “no excuses” spending money for each of us.

You Get to Talk to Adults!!

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Every time I start feeling crabby about having to work full-time when I really don’t want to, I remind myself of the fact that for at least 8 hours I get to talk to adults. People who don’t use words like “potty” and (hopefully) won’t erupt into a fit of giggles if someone says “poop”. Yes, coworkers can be dramatic and difficult to deal with at times, but you know what? I can avoid these people if I want to because I’m not their mom. Of course I miss my kids terribly and would always prefer to “watch this” one more time than sit through a staff meeting. But it’s pretty nice having a balance of adult time and kid time in my daily life.

I know there are a lot of women out there who are proud of their independence and prefer to work than to stay at home, and I applaud them. I am thankful that my job of being a teacher combines all my favorite things: learning, creating, and helping kids. There are still many days when I’d rather be home with my own children, but on these days I reflect on the impact I’m having on young learners and how much I love teaching. That, and the blissful lunch with adults when nobody’s trying to poke anyone with a fork and I get to for-real laugh at adult humor.

You are doing a great job, Mama. Hang in there!

Overcoming Challenges to Self-Care

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NewYearNewWater #CollectiveBias

I’ll be honest. Rest is not in my vocabulary. As a mom of 4, I’ve always just figured that people with this many kids just don’t get rest. That the busy, on-the-go lifestyle is embedded in you once you leave the hospital with baby #2 (or 3 or 4…). But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The key to finding balance in your life is to overcome your challenges to getting rest and practicing self-care. Here are some thoughts on how to do that.

Overcoming Challenges to Self-Care

Don’t let your excuses stop you

I have a goal this year to go to the gym once a week. Shortly into the new year I started missing gym day because it was too hard to find time to work out. To me, time spent at the gym was taking away from the time I had to spend with my kids. A friend recommended I try exercising in the living room with my kiddos instead. It’s not my ideal workout, but I do get my heart rate going and burn some calories. Plus, my kids love doing workout DVDs with me. And I love anything that helps them burn off some of their energy!

Take baby steps by making healthy choices

Good nutrition is beneficial for your mind, body, and spirit. It’s so simple, but eating 5 fruits and vegetables a day can do a lot to improve your physical and mental health. While I was stocking up on groceries, I saw that our local Vons had a special on wanu water. It’s this fruit-flavored water drink that’s packed with essential vitamins like vitamin E, vitamin K, and vitamins B1, B3, B5, B6, and B12. The B vitamins are a natural source of energy, and I could always use more energy! wanu also comes loaded with Folic Acid, Biotin and Fiber. You can get 24% of your daily recommended intake of fiber from one serving of wanu. Because fiber supports a healthy weight by making you feel fuller longer, it’s one of the main reasons I drink wanu. It’s at Vons, Safeway, Albertsons, and Pavillions. Use this coupon and get $1.00 off the purchase of any two (2) 16 oz. bottles of wanu. 3 wanu water flavors

Schedule some “me” time

Self-care doesn’t have to be a day spent at the spa. You can simply set aside some time to read a book, go for a walk, or get a manicure. Put it on the calendar and make yourself a promise that you’re going to do it. And, just as you would keep a doctor’s appointment, make sure to keep your appointments for self-care.

Celebrate small wins

When you DO make and keep an appointment with yourself, give yourself a pat on the back. You had to be intentional and put in effort to make that self-care activity happen. Reflect on how it feels to have done something nice for yourself. Remember that good feeling the next time you don’t think you have time to spend on yourself. Last week I took a walk on the beach by myself. It was only for about 30 minutes but I savored every moment of it, just enjoying the sound of the waves and the fresh ocean air.

Find your passion

What is it that you love doing? If you’re not sure, try out new things and you will find something that you can’t get enough of. It’s funny, I always thought I was a terrible artist. Then one day a friend invited me to a painting and vino class, and it turns out I’m not too bad at painting! So don’t be afraid of trying something outside of your comfort zone.

Be thankful

Even if I can only squeeze in 30 minutes a week for myself, at least I got some time to take care of my personal needs. Taking better care of my body is becoming more important to me. I’m thankful for low-calorie drinks like wanu water. It’s refreshingly sweetened with monk fruit, so it has 0 grams of sugar. It may seem silly to be thankful for something as simple as a drink, but you’d be surprised how much better it feels to always be in a gratitude state of mind. I’m thankful for anything that tastes good and only has 10 calories, like wanu water does. I’m also thankful for each glorious sunrise, getting to work on time, the opportunity to help a friend… Everything! Living out thankfulness truly gives me a sense of peace.

Sunday is for Lesson Plans and Laundry

They say that the only things that are guaranteed are death and taxes. I disagree. As a teacher mom, I am also guaranteed to spend my Sundays working on lesson plans and laundry! I’m totally not complaining though, because I get to spend summers with my kiddos. That makes up for a lot. 🙂

This weekend flew by, even though it was a whole day longer due to Veteran’s Day! We started Sunday with a trip to church. After that, we went on an errand to get my favorite face soap at Sprouts. You’ll have to check out my haul to see what it was (also available online here). The rest of the day was spent chilling at home, playing out front, and trying to get some lesson planning done.

In this vlog of our daily life, you’ll get to see all the mess behind the page Simply Sweet Days! Lucky you! The kids get spooked out by a big, hairy, scary BUG. Johnny finds new places to store his stuff. And, although he’s MIA for this video, John gives me a gift that proves he’s the most thoughtful husband ever.

The only unfortunate thing about a “Daily Life” kind of vlog is how long it can be. I scrunched down our day into short highlights, but it’s still a lengthy video. I won’t even be a little bit sad if you skim through, but I would appreciate it oh, so much if you’d subscribe to my channel so I can get a custom YouTube web address. YouTube only lets people customize their web addresses once they reach a certain number of followers, but no worries – I’m getting closer to the magic number every day! I think it’s 100…

I’m not sure how often I can do these daily life vlogs. The time consuming part isn’t shooting the actual video. That was super easy. But it takes a few hours to cut out all the extra bits and the zillion times I say “um… so…”.

Thanks so much for checking out our vlog!

Easy Dinner Without The Guilt

In our house, we’ve got family members in 4 different schools. Right now we’re right in the thick of everyone’s new school schedules, different back to school nights, registration days, meet & greets, and getting supplies. We’ve managed to keep our family from feeling chaotic because we make it a priority to preserve our family time together. We do that by saying no to things that are more than we can take on, and by rotating through our easy family dinners. Keeping healthy food in our tummies helps us feel good, but we choose dinners that are easy to prepare so we still have some quality time as a family.

Pizza: Dinner Without the Guilt

Now typically we don’t consider pizza to be a healthy meal. But Papa John’s just came out with a gluten-free crust pizza that is actually pretty amazing. It’s made with ancient grains, including Sorghum, Teff, Amaranth, and Quinoa. The crust is thin and has lots of flavor, and the pizza has that great Papa John’s quality that we love. I’ve honestly never seen my little ones gobble pizza up the way they did this pizza. You may have seen my Facebook post about it. Papa John's Gluten Free Crust is our favorite easy dinner without the guilt!

You know I love a bargain. We ordered our pizza online so we could use a promo code GLTN2T for a small 2-Topping Gluten-Free Crust Pizza $9.99. We picked it up from the store and the whole way home my little ones were talking about how excited they were for pizza.

I’ve had gluten-free dough in the past and have found that some can be flaky or bland. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this pizza crust was very tasty!

On busy weeknights, I feel better about not cooking a family dinner when I know it’s a healthier option like this pizza. We chose to add sausage and pepperoni since we were getting a 2-topping special. The price was just right and the pizza was delicious!

Ordering online made it easy to customize our pizza.

First, navigate to the page for Papa John’s pizza with gluten-free crust. Then you just choose the cheese you want Add meat toppings, if desired Than maybe some veggie toppings and that’s it! You click the button to add everything to your deal, and proceed to checkout just like any other online shopping experience.

Papa John’s has a variety of customizable options: square or round pizza, spicy or regular sausage, Parmesan Romano or 3-cheese blend… You can pick and choose what you want on your pizza to make it fit your taste, and with that ancient grains gluten-free crust you don’t have to feel guilty about it!

So Much to be Thankful For

Have you ever gotten stuck in a slump, where it seems so easy to start dwelling on the hard things? This is me lately. Actually, this is me every August when I go back to work after 6-8 weeks of being home with my kids. I know that, as a teacher, I am beyond lucky to even have that time with my family. But when it’s over, I still feel bummed at returning to the stressful working mom routine.

Emily, Madeline, and Johnny came in to “help” me set up my classroom 🙂

I decided I didn’t want that heaviness weighing on my heart anymore. So today I just sat down and started listing all the things I’m thankful for. From the mundane to the grand, I write down every nice thing I’ve got going for me.

-I actually HAVE a job

-I was born in the USA

-My family is healthy

-My husband is thoughtful and loves me and our children

-I have a safe place to live

-My husband can go to college

-Both my parents are still living

-We have our own cars (ok, one is missing a front bumper and the other is 20 years old but hey, let’s not go there, right? 😉

-I belong to a wonderful online community (that’s you!)

-I have friends who love and support me

I could go on forever!

My oldest is such a good sport when I *need* a Snapchat selfie!

This is a habit I’m going to start doing on a regular basis. I’ll call it a thankfulness journal. Instead of taking all life’s little blessings for granted, I’ll write them down. Then it’s so much easier to focus on the good instead of the yucky stuff.

The thing that makes a thankfulness journal work is not to argue with yourself. See what I did there, with the thing about the cars? When I make excuses for why that nice thing isn’t so nice after all, I’m really saying I shouldn’t be thankful for it. When really, I am filled with joy every time my car makes it the 33 miles to my work because that’s just one more day we don’t have a car payment!

Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful, or if you want to join me in writing a thankfulness journal.

Savvy Ways to Manage Pain

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. All opinions are mine alone. #StopPainNow #CollectiveBias

You never think you’re going to be one of those people who has frequent back pain. For me, it’s still something that I’m just a little bit in denial about. The truth is that, 4 years ago, I started suffering from back pain. My doctor says it’s because my newborn twins were putting a toll on my core muscles and my back was doing more work than it was capable of. Since then I’ve learned to manage my on-and-off back pain.

Savvy Ways to Manage Pain

Let Go of Control of the Housework

Yes, I just said that. You have to give yourself permission to not have a perfect-looking house. We keep a clean home but I know my limits and what my body can take, so I’ve learned to not push myself. Carrying the laundry back and forth to the laundromat, and the movements required to fold it all puts a strain on my back. There are some days when I (gasp!) don’t fold it all. My kids have clean clothes to wear and that’s the best I can do at the time, so I’m ok with not having neatly organized drawers of folded shirts and pants.

Find a Supplement that Stops the Pain

Last week at Sprouts I discovered Curamin® Stop Pain Now. I picked up a bottle of the Curamin® Extra Strength in 60 count, which was just about enough to last me a month. I love it because it uses natural ingredients to get right to the source of my pain. Plus it doesn’t have the side effects that some other pain relievers do. I keep a bottle of Curamin® Extra Strength in my purse so I’ve always got some on hand because it’s gentle enough on my system that I can take it daily. Since I started using Curamin® I’ve been able to enjoy time with my little ones without that constant back pain. Grab yours at your local health food store, or through this buy now link.

Speaking of Housework… Recruit some help!

If you have kids, then they can be a big help around the house. My oldest (before he broke his ankle) has been tremendously supportive, and the chores he does aren’t even that complicated. It’s just such a relief to have one less thing on my to-do list. Lately I’ve been encouraging the 4-year-olds to help out around the house, although I sometimes cringe on the inside at their “organization” skills. When they’re cleaning up it helps me and gives them a sense of responsibility. Little ones love to be helpers!

If you don’t have kids, you’re not out of luck. Try talking to a neighbor to see if they know anyone who can help you, or maybe put a note up at your local community center. Many high school kids have to complete community service hours as a graduation requirement, so you could also contact the local high school about finding some free helpers.

Give Your Kids a Reason to Want to do Chores

In our home we make chores a positive experience. With the preschoolers, we use our imaginations to make the chores fun. We might pretend that all the toys are leaves and we are the fairies that have to make room for a fairy party. Or we may play a game with the laundry as we sort it. “Do socks go with pajamas?” “No! They go with all the other socks! Silly Mommy!”

It’s always funny for preschoolers when the “wrong” thing happens. 🙂

My oldest wants to have his own spending money, so his chore chart is more of a “menu”. I use the blank chore chart to write in jobs and prices. That way he can choose the chores he wants, and he’s also in charge of how much money he earns for doing them. You can grab your blank chart here and write your own ideas on it, and the chart with chores printed on it here.

Follow the Doctor’s Orders for Exercise and Stretching

My doctor assigned me some stretches that I’m supposed to be doing on a regular basis. When I keep up with my stretching and make sure I am exercising, I feel better and have less back pain. Of course, finding the time for exercise as a mom with 4 kids and 2 jobs is the real trick. 😉

Don’t Push Yourself Too Far

Part of learning to deal with frequent pain is also learning your limits. Before you push yourself too far, take some time to do something that reenergizes you. When I need slow down I do something for myself, like grab a snack and work on my adult coloring book. Whatever you do for fun, make sure it also helps you to relax.

I’ve had back pain ever since my maternity leave after twins. Since then I had another baby, and the pain hasn’t eased up any. My doctor says it’s from doing a lot of lifting and bending, which you really can’t avoid when you have 3 small children. So until they grow more independent, I am learning how to live with it.

I hope these ways to manage pain were of some help to you. Do you have anything you could add to the list? What are your go-to pain management tips?

When Work and Motherhood Collide

04. I cMost of the time being a working mom isn’t such a big deal. It’s just a normal pattern of life, the same as many other moms have. My family has a pretty good routine going and we’re pretty happy with our schedule. But every now and then the demands of being a full-time employee conflict with my responsibilities as a wife and mother. In those cases I have to choose between paycheck and child. Last week was one of those times when work and motherhood collide and I have no regrets that I sacrificed my reputation as an employee for my son.

This was 2 weeks before the injury, after his performance in Singin’ in the Rain

When Work and Motherhood Collide

On a lazy Tuesday evening as we were all settling in for the evening I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. The rest is kind of a blur, but I remember some snippets of the conversation.

“… An accident”

“… Paramedics advise going to the nearest hospital”

“… In a lot of pain”

It was the kind of phone call a mother dreads. While things could have been far worse, it’s terrifying to find out that your child is injured and requires immediate medical care.

After rushing to meet my son at the ER, all the missing details were filled in. He had fallen while roller skating. His right ankle was broken in several places. A splint would be put on to keep the bones in place until we could get to a pediatric orthopedist. The injury was treatable but may require extensive treatment.

The timing couldn’t have been worse

But I guess that’s the definition of an emergency, isn’t it? I had already taken the day off work to stay home with the twins, who were sick with the stomach flu. I had parent conferences scheduled for the following day, but while in the ER I was quickly making arrangements to postpone those.

We spent most of the next day at the children’s hospital hoping to have the fracture repaired by a specialist. Unfortunately, the doctors weren’t able to push the bones back together. Surgery was recommended, as soon as possible.

Our care was transferred to our insurance carrier’s hospital, where we spent another half-day doing pre-operation tests and scans. Our appointment was so early in the morning that I had hoped to still be able to hold parent conferences later on that day. After several hiccups in the process, it became clear that I wasn’t going to make the already rescheduled conferences after all.

There was nothing I could do

We were at the hospital, where the phone service is practically nonexistent. With it being such short notice, emailing the families wasn’t a reasonable option. I had to make a difficult decision.

I called my supervisor and told her there was no way I could make it to parent conferences. It wasn’t even possible to call families to let them know I wouldn’t be there. I asked if she could please tape a note to my classroom door because today I’m not even going to try and be an employee. I’m a mom first and foremost.

It didn’t sit well with me to bail on all those families. They entrust their children to my care, and my commitment to my own child had a negative impact on the children in my class.

Sometimes being dedicated to my family makes me feel like I’m being selfish. Having to choose between somebody else’s child and my own doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult, but it is. I care deeply for the students and families in my class. It breaks my heart to let them down.

Regardless of your profession, it’s never easy to have to choose between work and motherhood. It takes a conscious effort to push away the guilt you feel for not choosing the other, and to be confident that you made the right choice. I hope I’m not alone in feeling like, no matter what I do I’m going to be disappointing someone. I just don’t want that someone to be my child. 7c2e0580ad6cb2f0df3056f6bcfa88098e1cdbdc453438aaf7

6 Things I’m Doing to Live More Joyfully

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This past year sure was a bumpy one. I’m thankful to be sitting here today with so many blessings. We have good health, reliable~ish transportation, and financial stability. I know, right now you’re probably thinking I’m just a “sunshine and roses” kind of girl. Really, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. This was a very tough year for me emotionally and physically, and I admit I didn’t always handle the lows as well as I wish I had. It took many frustrating, tearful, and overwhelming experiences to teach me these 6 things I’m now doing in order to live more joyfully. I know these would help you too!

6 things I'm doing to live more joyfully

6 Ways to Live More Joyfully

Enjoy Being Where You Are

Feeling discontent robs me of my happiness. I start to get restless. I seek out new opportunities in hopes that a change will make my life better, as if my true happiness lies in a job or an event or another person. The moment I start to notice all the things I have, I realize how blessed I am. I open myself up to live more joyfully when I shove aside discontentment.

Share the Load

It’s hard to enjoy yourself when you feel overwhelmed, isn’t it? Over the last 4 years of my marriage I’ve learned to let go of my need to control and instead let my husband take the reins. When we moms try and take on too much, we’re really not giving our husbands much credit. Husbands can follow a dinner recipe, load the washing machine, and get the kids ready for school just as well as their wives can. A while back I read the book The 5 Love Languages, and it has really helped me to communicate (rather than nag) and listen to my husband. I highly recommend it!

Approach Life with an Open Mind

I had a principal once whose mantra still sticks with me today: “We can do hard things.” With his empowering attitude, he motivated the teachers and students in our school to find faith in themselves and to push themselves farther than they thought they could go. Last year, I found myself making excuses for things that seemed too hard. Making excuses only gave me permission to give up. This year I’m going to try things I didn’t think I could do and celebrate every win. I know there will be many!

Treasure the Small Moments

There are 4 young people in my home who won’t be little forever so I’m storing up pictures and memories. Every kiss, every cuddle, every call for Mommy. I’m telling them stories of when they were “little” (which was not long ago!), saying yes to every story book they want read and every song they want to sing. My children mean the world to me and I want them to know that. Plus, they are 4 more reasons to live more joyfully everyday.

Be Proud of Who You Are

This life lesson comes from playing the compare game: Putting my own strengths and accomplishments on a balance scale against those of others and finding self-worth in whether or not I come out looking better. Well, that’s a bunch of nonsense. I have a husband who loves me with or without a great bikini body. I’m one lucky girl! My coworkers are kind. My friends are loyal. The people I’m closest to stand behind me 100%.

Take Risks

It’s such an exhilarating feeling to go totally out on a limb doing something, and then watch it turn out better than you anticipated. Last year I was pleasantly surprised by a DIY post I wrote that went viral (on a small scale, but it still made my day!). That’s what I want to see more of from now on. Not everything works out though, and that’s ok. I did another project last year that was a total flop. Every new venture brings with it the chance to do something amazing, or learn from what didn’t work. The difference between joyful and unhappy people is their attitude when the results aren’t great.

I hope the new year brings you plenty of opportunities to grow and challenge yourself to be more and do more than you thought possible!

How this Mom Makes Time to Enjoy the Weekend

This morning I woke up with a sense of panic and anxiety that I had to hurry and get ready for something. Every other day I have some important reason to lurch out of bed and get the show on the road. But today there was nothing on the agenda. I literally had no where to be, nothing to do… The whole day was wide open in front of me and I was completely free to enjoy every minute of it.

I’m so used to having a packed schedule that it actually took several hours to adjust to the fact that the day was all my own. Even my husband was surprised that I had nothing planned. For once, I was going to be able to enjoy the weekend.

So what did I do? I drank my coffee in the living room, savoring two whole cups of coffee in one of my favorite mugs. When you’re always on the go, drinking coffee at home instead of in a travel mug in your car is a big deal.

The kids stayed in their jammies until almost lunchtime.

I leisurely braided the girls hair.

I carried Johnny around A LOT. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Find me on Snapchat! —> SimplySweetDay

I went to visit my parents. The little guys spent the first hour there running in mad circles around the house. With at least 12 different spots to sit, they all wanted to sit in Papa’s favorite chair!

I went for a bike ride with my dad. He’s really into electronic bikes, so we took them out for a spin. These things are pretty cool. They have a throttle, like a motorcycle, and have a little motor. It sure was nice not having to struggle up those steep San Diego hills on a hot day!

As soon as it was cool enough to play outback, the kids were in toddler-and preschooler-heaven. Dirt, swings, slides… everything a busy little guy needs to have fun. They ran barefoot through the drought-parched grass until they almost couldn’t stand anymore.

The girls got their dresses so dirty but I don’t care. It’s all about finding ways to enjoy the weekend, right? A little dirt never hurt anyone.

It was such an enjoyable day, and I feel very blessed to have had this chance to slow down. What did you do this weekend?

Rewriting My To-Do List into a Ta-Dah List

Some days it feels like there is so much on your plate. Between all the things you have to do and all the things you want to do, there don’t seem to be enough minutes in the day to do it all. During stressful seasons of life, I’ve been known to write a to-do list that runs the length of an entire sheet of paper. And how much of it did I actually get done? Not much of it!

What if there was a way to make to-do lists more uplifting? There is definitely a time and a place for a traditional to-do list. But every now and then, What if you give yourself a break and skip the to-do list? Instead, look back on what you accomplished that the day and make out a ta-dah list.

How I’m rewriting my to-do list into a ta-dah list

When you think about it, you really do get a lot done in the course of the day. Sometimes what gets done doesn’t seem important because it doesn’t have monetary value or maybe you don’t see immediate results. But spending time with loved ones and taking steps toward your future dreams and goals is just as important as running errands or following up on emails.
Here’s my ta-dah list from last week. Writing it out made me feel much better about my accomplishments.

So why do we let our to-do lists put so much pressure on us?

A to-do list can be overwhelming when you don’t have a lot of available time. Not to mention that there can be a number of things that will interrupt you and derail you from your plan. Urgent emails, phone calls, or sick kids needing to be picked up from school can put a halt on your hopes of a productive day. When it feels like your time is not your own, you can brighten your outlook by thinking about how much you got done, instead of focusing on how much is left to do.

As this Labor Day weekend comes to a close, I am thankful that I spent time connecting with my husband and 4 children. We laughed, played, and (thanks to that extra day off) got a jump on the upcoming week. I’m not saying I’m not a planner. If you’ve seen my printable calendar template or read about my meal planning, you know that I’ve got a bit of Type-A in me. But I still know when it is time to step back and enjoy your surrounding, celebrating your accomplishments no matter how small they may seem.

Do you have a Ta-Dah moment from the last week? Tell me what you are celebrating!

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