So, What’s Next For You?

The question I have been asked every day for the last month, and guess what…. I DON’T KNOW. Sometimes I feel like people are thrown off when you tell them you actually don’t know what you’re next step in life is. Am I the only person who’s plan is to just make it through the day ?

Next week I will be ending my career with a company I have spent the last 4 years with. It’s very bittersweet, but I do know I am ready to close this chapter and open the doors for a new one. I’m 26 years old with a 16 month old daughter at home, another one on the way, and trying to navigate the first year of marriage with my dear husband.

Maybe it’s just in people’s nature to always ask what your future plans are because they think everyone has it figured out? If so, what do they think when someone doesn’t know. Do they think that person is lost in this world and in need of direction?

I’ll still continue to work part time at the bar which means my days will be filled with doing what I love the most, being a mom. This is something I have always battled accepting is perfectly ok. It IS ok to love being home and raising a child. Raising them to go out in to the world and treat people with kindness, understand right from wrong, and encourage them to be who they want to be. I’m going to enjoy scheduling play groups instead of meetings and walks around the park instead of the office.

If there is one thing I have learned since becoming a mother is that a career will always be there but children grow up fast and being a mother will ALWAYS be my favorite job of all.

My Organized Mess

Being a parent is already chaotic enough and when you throw ADHD in the mix every day can be a circus. When it comes to playing in forts, banging on pots and pans, singing and dancing you could say i’m like the energizer bunny. When it comes to making it to appointments on time, putting our clothes away, pretty much anything that requires organization… i’m not the best.

That’s what navigating parenthood is all about though, right? Some days we are rockstars and actually get everything crossed off our list for that day… and then there are other days when it’s 5 pm, dad is pulling up in the driveway and we are still in our pajamas running around the house.

There are a few things that keeps my life in order on a day-to-day basis and I’m guessing there are other parents out there that can relate. As someone that is not very well organized these are a few things that help get me through the day:

Every morning, make your bed. Sounds silly but there is something about making my bed every morning that keeps me mentally organized.
Make a list. I know this sounds so cliche but seriously, making a list lays out what you need to do that day and also feels great when you can cross things off.
Working out. This is such a difficult one that even I struggle with each day. As parents we give so much of ourselves to our family.. I truly believe it is so important for our mental health to take even 20 minutes a day for ourselves.
Get in a routine. As someone with ADHD daily routines keep me balanced and now having a daughter I realized having her in a consistent daily routine is important for her as well.

I’m always interested in hearing tips on what works for other parents to navigate the crazy day-to-day life with children. Please share some of yours!

It’s Time For a Boycott

Sometimes I wonder if I were to boycott my “wifely” duties for a week what would happen. Would everyone be eating food off the floor with their hands and wiping their asses with bath towels?

I work a few week nights at a local bar. Typically I’m there by 4 pm and return some time before midnight. Dinner is ALWAYS cooked and ready to eat before I leave so no one goes hungry. Wednesdays are never easy for this household. Usually my husband gets home from work around 3:45 pm, we share a quick kiss and I am out the door. This particular Wednesday was extra stressful. I’m trying to put makeup on with no mirror while chasing my daughter around the kitchen as she’s death gripping a butter knife that i’m not even sure what black hole she found in.

To make things worse, my husband worked from home today. So I know he can hear us running around from the basement and i’m almost positive if I did walk down there he would be on his second game of NHL and definitely not working.

I’ve got 5 minutes before I have to be to work… I scream for my husband to get upstairs. I should add that usually this five minute window before I need to be out the door is absolute madness. He gets upstairs, I pass parental duties off to him, tell him dinner is in the oven and i’m off.

I really enjoy the 3 minute drive I have to work of pure silence as I leave one chaotic situation and enter myself into another….as much as I complain about the craziness I think deep down I do enjoy it and almost thrive in these environments.

Work was like any other night, busy. So, when I pull up into the driveway around midnight the level of exhaustion is real. For any working moms out there you know this situation of what is about to happen next all to well….

I walk up the stairs to our kitchen and can already feel the mess of dishes, toys, trash, etc., thats about to flood over me as I open that door.

I open the door and so it begins, a few empty glasses that are sitting not even IN the sink, but next to it. One of which has a little red wine left in it.. which already pisses me off because being pregnant I miss the occasional glass of wine with dinner more than anything. There’s some wrappers on the ground, i’m guessing the dog got into the trash. Plates, forks, knives are scattered all over the counter… and here’s the kicker, THE DISHWASHER IS COMPLETELY EMPTY.

I feel like smoke is literally coming out my ears. I turn the corner to look at the oven and it’s game over. This is what I see;

Please raise your hand if you have experienced this. What WAS supposed to be left overs couldn’t even make its way to the trash. I would like to say that this is the first time something like this has happened but it’s not.

In the famous words of Jane Levinson “ I am out of carrots. I am out of sticks.”

I think it’s time for a boycott.