4) Let your house be messy!
I’ll admit to often failing in the housekeeping department, so it may have been a little easier for me to accept this one. Here are the things I try to do daily, and they seem to keep me from losing my mind as I dig myself out of the piles of baby gear, combat boots, and family clutter. Do one load of laundry, clean the kitchen, and do 15 minutes of clutter control…every day. Ok, so most days. At my funeral, I don’t want anyone saying, “Boy howdy were her toilets clean”! Baby could care less if the beds are made, the windows have fingerprints, or your living room looks like a budding version of a Hoarders episode for that matter. There will be plenty of time to have a perfect house later on. Let the house be messy for now…it’s just proof you are too busy enjoying your baby.
3) Listen to the cliche, “Sleep when baby sleeps”!
Yes, I understand this is really hard to do if you are the only parent in a house full of children. But every chance you get, you better snooze. I mean, choose sleep over a shower if you must…it’s that important. Besides, that’s why they invented deodorant and dry shampoo, right? You are, at best, only sleeping in 3-4 hour intervals as it is…there is no shame in laying down at noon if the stars align and all the kids are asleep. Some folks say you can sleep when you are dead. I say, sleep now so you don’t meet an early demise after you fall asleep pulling out of your own driveway because you are so exhausted.
2) Get moving!
Ok, so I know many Mom’s are groaning at this one, and I totally get it. There are women for whom pregnancy is a beautiful, spiritual, and easy experience. They wear their pre-pregnancy jeans home from the hospital, and run a 10K to celebrate the baby turning two months old. I am not one of those women. On the day I had my daughter I could barely walk. And in fact, had to stay in the hospital an extra day when my hips gave out. For her first pediatrician appointment, my husband and I took Emma to the clinic. He was pushing the stroller with this week-old baby, and I was behind him pushing a walker. Can you imagine what a woman who just learned she was pregnant must have thought seeing me like that?! My dear friend Bianca and I joked that we should have put a sign on my walker: “Don’t forget your pill!”, I looked like a walking birth control advertisement! My point is that I absolutely did not want to start exercising early on, and had a very valid excuse not to, but I knew that as soon as I was cleared by my doctor, I had to get off my butt! I started out walking and doing light physical therapy. I was tired, I was in pain…but I kept going. I am now walking farther, and have added some strength training to the mix. I am still tired, still in pain, but starting to feel stronger. After 9 months of pregnancy, and the demands of a newborn…this is something I am doing JUST for me, no one else. Every mother needs something just for her. So get up off the couch, grab the stroller…and get moving!!
