Me time, what is that?

Eleven years ago I was pregnant with my first child. I had no idea the amount of work she would be or the sacrifices I would have to make. Sure, I had heard everyone and their mother’s opinion and advice on how it would be once I had her.. but I didn’t really take it to heart. I had my own idea, and as a first-time mom, thought I knew exactly how it would go. I was in for a huge shock.

As I am typing this I have a 10 year old, 3 year old, and I am 32 weeks pregnant with our third. Eleven years later and I still find parenting to be shocking and unexpected. When I was pregnant with my second I knew it all since I had already been through this one. It wasn’t my first rodeo, after all. Again, I was in for a huge shock.

Two kids was a whole other experience. I went from spending time with my oldest to having to share that time with two kids while balancing life and everything else. I had no idea how I was going to do it once she was out of the newborn stage where she stayed where I put her and slept most of the time.

I have spent so much time focusing on my kids that I have forgot about focusing on me. This was not intentional, it just happened. My needs have been placed on the back burner and I have been trying to focus more on myself and making sure that I put enough time aside for myself. We all spend our me time differently and for me it looks a lot like a hot bath with a good book or sitting down after the girls are asleep to work on my planner.

Being pregnant, chasing two kids, and keeping up with life is exhausting. I know that once baby E gets here I will not have nearly as much time as I do now to spend on myself so I have been enjoying it while I can. I’m not saying that my husband doesn’t or won’t help – he works all day while I am at home with the kids so the majority of their needs are met by me. Which is a sacrifice I have made as a mom and I wouldn’t change that for anyone.. I just wish there were more hours in a day! Or that I wasn’t so exhausted by the time the girls are put to bed.

Typically I stay up for a few hours after they go to bed (8:30) and that’s when I take a bath, read, work on my planner, or do homework (which, yes, I enjoy doing.. for the most part LOL). Some nights I pass out before they do and that’s just how life is right now.

All that aside, I am ecstatic to have three kids and do this all over again, even with the unknowns and the anxiety over how I will, again, spread out my time evenly so none of the girls feel left out or loved less. I already know that my heart will expand, yet again, to provide enough love for baby E so that is not a worry of mine.

However, I do need to work on putting time aside for me. The old saying goes “You can’t pour from an empty cup, so take care of yourself first.”

I created this blog as an outlet for my emotions and feelings and I realize that I have not been keeping up with it as much as I would like. I believe that keeping up with my blog and allowing myself to flow as openly as possible will also be another way I can spend time on me.

Do you give yourself enough me time?

xoxo.