Blog - Page 25 of 94 - Nesting Story

5 Tips on how to create a routine for your family – Part two of a two part series

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

Read part one of this series here.

Creating a routine came out of necessity when I first became a mom. I was a new stay-at-home mom, and the routine-less life was starting to get to me. In fact, there were days that my husband would come home from work and I’d be anxiously pacing the halls.

I truly believe that some people thrive off of constantly switching it up and living life freely. Others need a set routine to feel grounded and happy. I am a routine person, through and through.

So when I was finding myself floundering as a routine-free mom, I knew I needed to make some big changes. Over the years I have found ways to create a routine for myself when a job outside of my home wasn’t doing it for me.

Today I am a full-time, work-at-home mom, which leaves my daily routine’s structure up to me. Having childcare has been a huge game-changer for my routine, as well as some other tricks on how to create a routine I have learned along the way…

1.Set your alarm. This may sound like a no-brainer, but not having a job outside my home makes it very tempting to sleep in and race around just before sending my kids to school and Kids & Company (child care and early learning). Before my kids were in school it was even harder setting an alarm and sticking to it.

The days I actually do set my alarm and stick to it are typically great days. I am able to eat breakfast before my kids, feel more in control of my day and tend to have more patience. When do I wake up? I find 6:00 A.M. is the sweet spot… one hour before my family wakes up.

2. Use an agenda. I don’t know what I’d do without my agenda. I’m talking about an old-school paper and pen agenda. Everything from our four kids’ appointments to work deadlines and weekly meal planning goes in there.

On the days that I feel a little anxious about what is on my plate, just sitting in front my agenda book and planning right down to the detail, makes my stress melt away.

3. Embrace a to-do list. My to-do lists go hand-in-hand with my agenda. What I do is write a list each week full of must-dos and back-burner items (you know, those tasks that aren’t urgent, but hanging over your head), which include deadlines, shopping lists, chores… you name it. Then each week I hack away as best I can.

Some weeks I cross off my entire list and others I am just able to get the mandatory tasks done. On the weeks that I haven’t tackled my back-burner items, I carry them over to the next week and try again.

4. Keep track of how you feel during different times of the day. Something I learned when I first created my own routine was how much more efficient I am in the morning than in the afternoon. In fact, most days I have to stop and have a little rest right after lunch.

Tuning into how I felt each day has helped me manage my energy levels and workload. I tackle big projects, must-dos and deadlines in the morning, and then leave my back-burner items until after lunch. So on those days that I am dragging my heels because I have been up all night with a sick kid, I can take the afternoon off, (well, as “off” as you can when you have a sick child at home).

5. Do laundry on the weekend. Can I tell you a secret? I don’t hate doing laundry. I know, I know, am I even human? Don’t worry, I detest doing dishes. But when it comes to laundry, I always schedule around it on the weekends. Being so protective of my “laundry time” on the weekend has dramatically changed my relationship with this weekly chore.

Every Saturday we (and I say we because my husband helps) wash all of our kids’ laundry and on Sunday afternoons I fold it. Because I have built my laundry-folding marathon into each Sunday afternoon, my kids expect it and I make it as pleasant as possible, while watching a movie on my iPad.

Whether a stay-at-home mom, a work-outside- the-home mom, or a work-at-home mom, routines can not only change your mood and help you complete your to-do list, it can help you complete more each week than you thought possible and even love some weekly tasks more than ever before.

Finding a childcare that not only gives me time to build my career, but that my kids also love, has been such a wonderful aspect to having more of a work/life balance. Kids & Company has the flexibility I need with my schedule, but also the unique programming, learning opportunities, from-scratch meals and sense of community they provide fills me with such confidence in my choice in childcare.

With locations all across Canada, Kids & Company is a high-quality care and early development centre that parents can trust and kids will love. It started under the leadership of two moms (one with 8 children!), who felt there was a need for flexible care options in a setting with amazing teachers, community, proven development programs and an understanding of today’s families.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, parent workshops, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Here’s where it gets exciting… right now Kids and Company is waiving the registration fee (a $150 value) for Nesting Story readers! Just email amcnaught@kidsandcompany.com to access this exclusive offer.
One waved registration per family for a newly registering child before December 31, 2018. Subject to availability.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kids & Company. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Kids & Company.

5 Reasons why having a routine is so good for our family – Part one of a two part series

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

Routine. It’s the holy grail of motherhood. At least in my eyes it is. Routine for me was something that I found during a low point as a stay-at-home, first time mom. When your kids are in school, or you work outside of your home, a routine tends to be born out of necessity. But as a stay-at-home mom, or a work-from-home mom, (which I currently am), creating a routine and sticking to it must be an intentional decision.

Sticking to a routine is not only something that our family of six benefits from, but I do as well. Having our twins in daycare at Kids and Company has been a game changer for rounding out our family’s routine. Here are five reasons why…

1. Our kids are happier. All kids are different and thrive off of different environments and schedules. I’m not sure if it depends on their parents, or just how they are. But from very early on, when our first child, Holden was just over a year old, I realized that he craved a routine. It was at this time, while exhausted and pregnant with our second child, that I started putting Holden into part-time daycare. Using those few three hour breaks a week I created a daily schedule for our family and our kids thrived.
Today our kids thrive on routine. They are generally happier on weekdays when we have a strict routine. It’s predictable, it’s segmented, and it’s exactly what our kids need.

2. Easier to parent four kids. Four kids is a lot of kids. Jumping from two to four kids when we had our twins was a big transition for our whole family. One thing that I have found helps is doing daily tasks in large quantities. Snacks, meals, baths, getting dressed and brushing teeth, are each less time consuming and easier to remember to do when everyone does it at once and at the same time each day.

3. There are fewer complaints. When you do many of the same tasks every day around the same time, everyone becomes accustomed to it and there is very little push back. On weekdays, after breakfast when I ask our kids to go get dressed, there is rarely a complaint. But on weekends, when we’ve slept in a little and had a slower morning, the moment I ask our kids to switch gears and get themselves dressed I hear excuses and complaining. I have often implemented a routine on holidays and seasonal breaks from school just to avoid this problem.

4. Helps control my weight. Having a routine makes it much easier to keep track of what and how much I am eating. Having a schedule leaves room for meal planning, which I try to take full advantage of. Also, I find I am more likely to work out regularly if I choose a specific time each day and stick to it.

5. I am happier. I am. I thrive on a routine. I was raised on a routine and I come from a long line of routine-driven people. It’s in my blood. When I stick to a routine I feel happier, clearer, more levelheaded, more ambitious and more energetic. What more could I ask for?

Finding a childcare that not only gives me time to build my career, but that my kids also love, has been such a wonderful aspect to having more of a work/life balance. Kids & Company not only has the flexibility I have needed with my unique schedule, but the incredible fresh, from-scratch meals they provide for my kids each day (which they actually eat), fills me with such confidence with my choice in childcare.

With locations all across Canada, Kids & Company is a high-quality childcare and early development centre that parents can trust and kids will love. It started under the leadership of two moms (one with 8 children!), who felt there was a need for flexible care options in a setting with amazing teachers, community, proven development programs and an understanding of today’s families.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, parent workshops, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, no detail has been forgotten.

I won’t let winter swallow me

What is the temperature where you live? Here, just outside of Toronto its the kind of cold that the air hurts your face. I barely venture outside, and even driving somewhere makes me groan. But I am refusing to let winter take me down with it.

Last week I wrote a post about how I was actually enjoying Christmas break. In fact the next day when I re-read it I annoyed myself. Because the next day I unravelled. Actually I unravelled the day after that too. I hit my wall, because doing multiple activities a day with my family left zero time for my introverted side to go into a quiet place and recharge. I was burnt out, peopled out and just done.

I didn’t cry though, which is a big improvement. I more just started stressing audibly about messes in our home and saying loudly, “I need school to start.”

Actually, random fact… I learned last week from my lovely husband that apparently I talk to myself… all the time. According to him I narrate my day. A habit I am assuming I picked up over the past couple years of working from home with kids in school and daycare.

So when Mike would yell, “pardon?” every five minutes from the other room and I had to yell back, “I wasn’t talking to you!” It didn’t help my fraying nerves.

Last year the winter won. I always start fighting seasonal depression each fall, but between having a bad case of strep throat in January of 2017 and immersing myself in the red hot political world of news, I fell into a black hole of despair. It took me a couple months and some big changes to pull myself out, but I finally did.

So by the end of the day on Saturday I had a choice to make. Was I going to let the winter swallow me like it did last year? No I wouldn’t allow it.

So what I am I doing about it? I am taking control. On Sunday I put my foot down and slowed down. I sent my family out of the house and enjoyed three hours of silence. I am still standing up for what works for me.

But the two biggest things of all…

I am hanging onto a routine while life is routine-less. That means setting my alarm for 6:45pm and doing our typical routine to get our twins to daycare, despite our big kids still being off for the holidays. And I am hanging onto my typical grocery shopping and meal planning routines.

I am being careful about what I watch and consume. Whether it’s a disturbing movie, the news, or even too much crappy food. I know that it is tempting to let it all in when you are mostly homebound, but I have finally learned that all of those things have a big impact on my mental state.

How do you feel this time of year? Is there a certain time of year that triggers you? Do you have any tips on how to beat the winter blues?

Here is a look back at some of our family’s summer routine videos that I created for Baby Center. Maybe we can all take a little motivation from these routines.

This is the year that I will find my joy

As this past year was winding down I was feeling so burnt out. It wasn’t a shock to me. As I looked back at 2017 and reflected on my accomplishments, responsibilities, and the tough stuff, I was surprised that I am still standing here in one piece. No wonder I was burnt out.

For some reason 2017 brought this notion that I should hustle harder than I ever have before and pack as much into my days that I possibly could. In some ways this mentality worked, especially for growing my business. But along the way I lost my joy.

During those jam-packed days, weeks and months, there wasn’t enough time to slow down, let go and feel joy.

I wasn’t miserable, at least not all the time, but I spent most of everyday working on to-do lists, whether it was packing for trips, unpacking from trips, finishing work deadlines, or trying to keep our house a float during the craziness in a robotic kind of way.

As the fall approached, some tough stuff came our way, which forced both myself and Mike to self reflect and think about what we really want and what is really important.

On the top of my list was to find my joy again. To actually experience life instead of surviving, or controlling life. So, how exactly am I going to do this?

Play. I think one of the biggest areas that I fall short as a mother, is just stopping and playing. Mike is great at this, but I am always too busy, or too tired to just stop and play, colour, or play a board game. This needs to change, for my whole family’s sake. The dishes can wait. The laundry can be folded later. My work can wait until my kids are at school. They won’t be little for long and I am missing it.

Delegate. As a business owner, who has experienced growth in the past year, it has become glaringly obvious that I can’t do everything myself anymore. I am a mother of four and I need to draw my “work” line somewhere. I am going into 2018 with two new team members and I know that it is my job to help my team flourish.

Find my own fun. This year I am taking up skiing again. I was an avid skier from age five until I became a parent. Then I just stopped. This year, I finally asked for new skis for Christmas, and I plan to get out there. Plus I live five minutes away from a ski hill that I have not been taking advantage of. Date nights with Mike and an occasional day of hooky from working will be good for my soul.

Stop waiting for the things I want. This past year, I started to really think about the dream I have for our home, myself and our family and started to work towards it. For so long we were just surviving moves, babies and twins. For the first time in my life I feel like the dust has settled just enough that I can start chasing some dreams.

So, I have been purging all the stuff in our house, which is still a work in progress. I bought white couches. I always wanted white couches and finally decided that I would just do it, and know that each little dirty spot just meant it was loved by our family. Involve myself in home improvements and renovations. Also, our family will be welcoming a puppy in January. Yes, you heard me right, we are getting a dog. This is a dream that is nine years in the making and we are finally doing it.

I will be talking more on the blog about him soon, but in the meantime, here’s a video about our newest addition.

Create a better relationship with cooking. Remember how I said that in 2017 our family was crazy busy, or at least I was? Well, it was so busy that I stopped cooking all together. Dinners were take-out, pre made grocery store meals, and meals from boxes. My sweet family never complained and I just kept telling myself that it was fine, that I couldn’t do it all and it was the thing that was being left of my plate.

Well, at the end of August I had a health scare that woke me right up. For the past few months I have not only taken up cooking again, but I have been trying new recipes, created a “kitchen playlist” and have begun to love creating in our kitchen. I plan to continue this journey in 2018.

Make caring for my body fun and second nature. Many of my past New Years resolutions have revolved around weight loss. This year I am relaxing a bit and plan to build exercise and healthy eating into my daily routine without obsessing. This will involve carefully choosing the ingredients I cook with, walking our new dog, leaving our home to go to the gym, and skiing.

But I will stop depriving myself of a glass of wine, or a piece of chocolate. Besides, my new found joy will replace emotional eating.

What are your plans for 2018? I’d love to hear them!

I’m actually enjoying Christmas vacation… well, so far

I am a routine freak. I don’t try to hide it. I need my routine. When pulled out of it, even for a weekend, I unravel.

But here I am, Thursday December 28th, and I am intact, mentally sound, and have not crumbled. Not even during the three straight days of family events, (some with two events per day). Nope, I’m as cool as a cucumber over here.

At least for now.

Maybe this is the sign of the times. I have emerged from the baby haze and can actually cope with life. Okay, okay, our twins went back to full-time daycare yesterday, so maybe I am cheating just a little. But hey, I have learned what works for our family, and I am taking full advantage of childcare so that Mike and I can spend some rare one-on-one time with our big kids.

Despite the plethora of toys our kids were given for Christmas, I have still heard, “I’m bored,” already at least ten times. My response… saying you’re bored buys you a ticket to play in the mounds of snow in our backyard. This redirects them pretty quickly, especially since it is -23° C outside here in Canada.

So, I survived Christmas. It was pretty great actually, despite some kids getting over colds, and Beau having a bad fall on Christmas morning. It was mostly magical. I’ve added our last couple vlogs below in case you want to catch up on our Christmas vacation.

Fingers crossed I keep going with the flow, and can survive the next week. But for now I am going to enjoy the all-day pj rule, the midday movie outings (we saw Wonder today, it was incredible), and Mike and my evening movie dates enjoying our new basement home theatre.

I hope you are surviving the holidays too, and are finding the unstructured days manageable. Fingers crossed!