Happy New Year, mamas! We made it through the holiday season, and we made it more or less in one piece. Unfortunately, I cannot fit into any of my jeans, and I have a headache because I've been eating sugar cookies for breakfast every day, but other than that, we are GREAT!
If you're a SAHM and you've been living your best life at the end of 2018 because your man was home with you for the holidays, and you've gotten used to having family around to entertain your babes, make you meals, and watch Great British Bake Off with, you might be experiencing what I like to call the Post-Christmas Hangover.
You're not sure what to do with yourself now that you're back to "real life" and you no longer have a house full of fun decorations and Christmas spirit. Now you just have meal prepping and your yearly check-up with your doctor to look forward to. Ew.
So what are some things that we can do so that we don't lose our sweet mama spirits and we can more fully enjoy ringing in the new year with our families, and especially our littles who we spend all day with? Here's a few of my own ideas:
Slow Down
I swear, the entirety of November and December, I had an ongoing to-do list and was constantly running around, checking things off, baking, wrapping, cooking, crying, baking more, all while somehow remembering to start the dishwasher before heading to bed (too late). So over that. I am ready to slow. down. I'm going to get into the habit of taking short cuts like grocery pickup/delivery instead of driving myself crazy to get to the store during preschool hours. I'm going to make sure I'm ready for bed at a decent hour, instead of staying up till the wee hours of the morning and hating myself once the kids wake up. I'm going to get things in the crockpot in the morning, so I don't have to stress and rush to get something on the table once Daddy gets home. Slow down. Take a breather. And stop stressing so much.
Unplug
Something that's been weighing on me for a while, and something I think will drastically change my mental and emotional health this year is getting off my phone and quit my reliance on social media for contact. During the holidays, I am all about scrolling through my feed all day long to see what my friends/fam are doing when they're traveling/seeing Santa/going sledding... but now that we're back to our day-to-day, I need to remember that living in the present with my kids while I have the chance to be at home with them is so so much more important than seeing what a friend from high school bought from Sephora over the weekend. Keeping my phone at my work desk or on my nightstand, and being okay with not having it on me at all times, is something that will help me and especially my kids this year.
Back to Basics
Since the holidays are all about surprises and treats and fun, it's sort of satisfying to just go back to the normal life of preschool drop-offs and cleaning the kitchen for no other reason than it's dirty (and not that you're hosting six extra people for a super special meal). Right after Christmas and at the beginning of the New Year, I like to reset-- get back to a healthy, happy schedule with sleeping, eating, cleaning, and playing. I love taking a look at my schedule and condensing it to the bare minimum and getting a baseline for things I can reasonably do in a given day/week/month, and then building from there. Planning menus for the week, and ordering groceries to cut back on overspending and eating. Setting an alarm before the kids wake up in the morning and making the bed so that I don't jump right back in as soon as I drop off my son at school. Sweeping my floors at the end of the night instead of letting my toddlers' crumbs accumulate into a mountain of nasty after 3 days. Taking care of all the little things before moving on is going to be a big priority for me this year.
Family First
After the hustle and bustle of Christmas and all the gift giving and meal sharing and serving and helping, I have to admit that our family needs a little TLC. After all the warm and fuzzies of sharing your talents with others around you during the holiday season, it's important to spend the time at the beginning of the new year refocusing those attentions on your littles and and your relationship with your partner. Since we sometimes put other things first when the need arises, I think the beginning of a new year is a perfect time to place importance on the "family first" mentality. Like making sure that you and your kids are well fed and getting enough sleep before volunteering to be the carpool mama that week. Like choosing to do a date night with your husband instead of baking a cake for the church function. Like missing out on a birthday party for a friend so that you can all play at the park together as a family. Keeping family first will help us to prioritize our time for the things that matter most, and hopefully we can find the balance again.