SAHM Yoga, Relaxing Or Rage Inducing?

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. I didn't have to work but I had shopping and had to go clear out stuff from the old place. (P.s. Always get the fridge first when moving. We had to wait for our refrigerator to arrive and it was a week late. I somehow managed to get my husband to clear out the nasty food. Guess we need new tupperware.) Anyway, with all the work on the new house, moving and watching the kids and cooking I haven't really had much me time. I needed a little down time so I popped in my yoga video and figured my munchkin would try to copy me or would dance to the soft music that plays.

Oh boy was I wrong. She wanted to climb on me like a jungle gym which started out cute and funny until her straw cup got dumped on my lap mid hero pose. I paused the video and cleaned it up. I grabbed one of her favorite toys and set her up on her mini couch beside me.

This worked out well for a few moments but the next thing I know she is hungry and wants a snack. Pause. Goldfish. Couch. Deep breath for Mommy. Press Play. At this point I'm not feeling very zen but I gotta push through. Breath in to cat lift making sure your catch your daughter regurgitating goldfish all over the yoga mat where your hands go next. Back to her feeding seat, fresh milk and a warning that she will get time out if she doesn't listen. Get through the last string of movement and now its time for the relaxing part. Lay on your back and breath deep. All I smell is those stupid goldfish and my eyes pop open long enough to witness my toddler about to force feed them to me. After some creative new words ushered under my breath I pick up my daughter to clean her off and she waves to me signalling nuh nights. Of course your ready for a nap now! GRRRR!

Deep breath, start video over and let my muscles guide me through. Arm's up and deep breath in, my husband walks through the door, if you have ever tried to do yoga in front of your husband you know what it usually stops being yoga and starts to become and activity for your husband to see just how much of the Kama Sutra you could really do. At least that's what my husband does, so he came in and made the mistake of asking how my day is going....

Moral of the story is this, always try to cut some time out for yourself but I urge you to wait until the children are napping or down for the night because when deep breathing is used to prevent drywall damage you don't really get the zen relaxation it's supposed to encourage.

I think after the kids go down today I'll try out some meditation and get my head back. 10 more inches of snow this weekend. Ugh

Please oh please bring me some sun!

Never Plan For A Plan To Work

I learned very quickly in life that if you plan something out then it rarely works out that way. Parenting is exactly the same. Ladies, I can assure you....

You kid is going to flip out for no reason in the middle of a grocery store.

Your dishes will never be done. (This goes likewise for laundry.)

That Zumba class is going to drop in attendance. 

You will count the minutes until its bedtime, meal time, TV time, nap time. (anything that will give you ten minutes to yourself and chances are you will look at that sink and think. "Meh, that will still be there in the morning."

And that is all okay.

I read a blog recently that just made me laugh. When becoming a parent or just a stay at home parent tends to be more than we expect. My advice. from a SAHM for the last, almost, two years is to take a deep breath and just say..... "Fuck it!"

This post is coming from my dedication to get my toddler to keep sleeping through the night and she was up at 5:30 this morning. Which isn't all that bad since I am usually up at that time anyways but today is my day off and that's not fair. (I know, I'm pouting but I'm tired.)

So expect the unexpected and perhaps pick up some meditation tips and a bottle of wine because we got at least 18 years to go. It's a good thing they are cute.

If you want to read the post that cracked me up check out the link below and don't forget to leave your comments, advice or just your sympathies.

Recently I've Become A SAHM - The Opinionated E

Fighting The Winter Blues

Well, I'm sure you're all watching your social networking sites filling up with dashboard temp photos and complaints about the snow. We live in New Hampshire, don't know where that is, don't worry it's north of Massachusetts and it snows in the winter.... a LOT! In the last two or three weeks we have accumulated around three feet of snow and an inch of ice. The kids had a couple of snow days so I have had two toddlers and a 9 year old stuck in the house all day. (The temps have been hovering around 10 - 20 degrees during the day and -8 degrees over night) So as you can imagine we are freakin' bored. Usually on days like this we would grab all the couch pillows and throw blankets, toss em on the floor and pop in some fun movies. Have hot cocoa, maybe some popcorn and I like to bake something on cold days. (Lets me heat up the house without using more oil.) However, when you have four days like this in a row you get a little stir crazy. If you are not from New England you must understand, by February cabin fever is a very real thing and the results are not pretty.

It's important for, even us parents, to get outside too. Have you ever been sitting somewhere and you just look at the person next to you and think, 'I swear if that guy doesn't close his mouth to chew in the next two minutes I'm going to stuff a sock down his throat.' Or how about when you drop a pen and smack your head on the table picking it up and you think, 'That's it, we are burning this table, I never liked it anyway.' Well, we all have those thoughts but they get worse in the winter and you have got to do something about it otherwise you wind up that guy who took a chainsaw to his neighbors tree because the acorns kept falling in his yard. So what do you do?

Since this weather will last us a few more weeks, at least, I have decided to find something more active for my kids to do. We will be venturing outside today and perhaps I can get the porch shoveled before it falls off my house, but more importantly get the kids outside to play. (When it's just too cold out doing something active like hide and seek can really help.)

Simply opening you shades makes a huge difference. Even cloud diffused light is still natural light and letting it in and brightening up your house can improve your mood almost immediately. Cleaning up around the house or clearing out the areas you use most can have a similar effect. Like wise wearing brighter colors can perk you right up. On a particularly gray snowy morning (an absurd 5am) I was getting dressed and happened to remember something I read about the affect of the colors you wear impacting your mood. So on went my candy pink scarf and while this didn't make me bust into my own theme song or induce a flash mob, it did make me feel a little perkier and less like the whole world is turning gray.

I find we sometimes forget the impact our favorite things have on our emotions and our behavior. You try to frown on a jet ski! It occurred to me that these kids have been hanging around a quiet house watching the quiet snow fall, the quiet TV humming away, the quiet padding of little feet on the hardwood floors. We have a big house.. why are we being so quiet? Turn it up, I have all the music channels so I use the popular hit list and the kids seem to like it. (I have noticed they tend to like your favorite music better as you personally have a more energetic approach to it than, say, itsy bitsy spider.) So crank it, jam out a little maybe even turn this into a crazy playtime. Sometimes we will pull out all the funny hats and scarves for the kids to wander around in and they love it.

 Just a little silliness can cure that case of the blahs but sometimes there is only one thing that really works and that is simply bundling up and getting outside. Blow up a tube or dig out that sled and enjoy the powder because it's only a matter of time before the snow stops and we go back to 90 degrees with 110 percent humidity. Then we can go back to figuring out how to beat the heat.

As always feel free to leave your ideas and thoughts on breaking up your winter blahs. Send us some photos of you and your little one enjoying the winter wonderland and you could be featured in the next post.