Category: Randomness

I came across this link in my inbox this morning from MOPS. I had a little meltdown the other day about things I felt I needed to get done and I just felt completely overwhelmed. I didn’t want to ask for help because I thought the things I was worrying about were silly even though they were making me nuts. When this article popped up this morning, it just struck a chord with me. Here is the article:

Moms care for everyone, and sometimes (read: more often than not) it’s hard to find time (or even remember) to take care of herself. Here’s a little list of ideas to help rejuvenate. Pick one. Or two. Or, actually, just do them all. We dare you.

1. Sleep in once a week and let your hubby get the kids up. Or if it’s Saturday – stay in bed and let the kids watch cartoons. Cuddle longer. Enjoy the quiet.
2. Be spontaneous – in one way or another. Plan less and live more. If your child asks to throw the ball, stop dinner and go outside. Be present now.
3. Make a friend and be a friend. You need support and so does she. Your kids have one model of a mom. And they need to know that you aren’t doing life alone.
4. Invest in vacation for just you – if it’s you and a spouse that’s great – but take time to be away from your kids. So each week, put money aside for just mom time. And if you want to feel guilty about it, that’s just silly. Rested moms make for better moms.
5. Write an encouraging note to someone every week. It might be someone that lives under your roof. One note per week is 52 or more people in your life that now know you are grateful for them.
6. Read a blog. Peruse a magazine. Watch a home and garden show. WASTE 30 minutes a week – or more. Do something you love and stop feeling bad about it.
7. Ignore a chore. Once a week, don’t do a certain “must-do” task. And watch the world still spin. Even if you leave your laundry in a pile for one month, the world still remains on axis. Wild, huh?
8. Show a neighbor you care every week. Something active, tangible, relational that says, “Our family cares about you.” Do this with your kids. Demonstrate what loving those around you looks like.
9. Make one phone call a week that is just for you. Not one where you are serving and giving but one where you are mutually caring for each other.
10. Find a mentor. And meet weekly with this person. Encourage one another towards love and good deeds. Do not give up meeting together. Even if it has to be over the phone, 30 minutes – meet, and meet again, and love faithfully and fervently and watch your spirit soar!
11. Have 30 or more minutes of silence per week. Yes, total, absolute, certain, deafening SILENCE! Yes, you can tell me the 30 reasons why this is impossible – or you can make the sacrifice – turn off the TV, take your early morning cup of coffee outdoors, away from honey and children, wake up at 3am and go to the bathroom by yourself – even that counts – just choose the silence. He speaks to you in whispers there.

Every week. 11 steps to you becoming a healthier woman! Enjoy.

Here’s to hoping you find some time to yourself.

Article can be found HERE.

The past couple weeks, Chuck and I have been making a very conscious effort to use our phones less. Checking Facebook (Instagram, Twitter, etc.) has started to consume my life. I know I am not alone in this. Chuck commented that in five years we aren’t going to look back and say “I wish I had spent more time checking Facebook”. And he’s absolutely right.

With baby number 3 just about 16 weeks away from arriving and these two girls growing up before my eyes, I need to remember to savor the time I have with my girls, with only two kids, with a little bit of free time from a newborn and when I am not running on fumes from being up all night. I need to stop going to the gym for 5:00am classes (because those couple extra hours of sleep will be appreciated as my frustration levels rise during the day). In general, I need to set down the phone and live life.

I have seen a few articles recently that have hit a chord with me about how much time we spend on phones. This article was one I saw recently that I loved. It’s about how much different a personal connection is than a connection you have through social media. And this video is called “Look Up”. There are loads of other articles and videos on the same subject.

Social media can also be so depressing. When we are looking to see what people are up to, we are only seeing the very best things…the things you want others to see about your life. It’s hard to feel like you are enough when all your friends (or “friends”) are out having fun, dressed up, showered, put together, smiling, laughing, living it up….when you feel like a mess because your house isn’t clean, you don’t remember when your kids last had a bath, laundry is overflowing, dishes are piled in the sink and your to-do list is a mile long. Yet, you aren’t unhappy, you just feel inadequate. “Why can’t I get it all done, too?” “Why aren’t I doing that right now?” Just depressing.

No one shows the pictures of the dishes piled, the laundry that has been in baskets for days still waiting to be put away, the toys strewn all over the house, the crumbs all over the floor, that you had a fight with someone, that you are feeling secluded, that life is life and not always picture perfect.

I admit I have done all these things. I have posted about all the fun I had during the day and not about the number of times I got frustrated with the kids. Maybe I do that so I make sure the fun things outweigh that I felt like a terrible parent that couldn’t hold it together that day. I’m not sure.

Although I am not ready to give up Facebook (and the other forms of social media) completely (because I know there are many people that love seeing updates about the girls that don’t otherwise get to see them and I run a book club through it), but I am making an effort to put down my phone more and spend more time with my family. I have turned off notifications for just about everything and a few other FB tweaks so I’m not so engrossed. And I have moved all the apps that I was checking ALL THE TIME to a different page on my phone. Not seeing them immediately when I turn my phone on has helped me sort of forget they are there and made my addiction subside a little.

I always had a feeling if I wasn’t “liking” someone’s post they would think I didn’t like them or I didn’t care or something else dumb like that. No, I just didn’t see it or didn’t check my phone or FB screwed up my feed somehow. Any multitude of reasons. But of course, I go right to the whiny girl thought. Would I really think that if someone I knew didn’t “like” one of my pictures. No. So why do I automatically assume someone will think that of me?

I think all of these steps will help with my overall happiness and even my confidence. I will know what I am doing is right for me. I need to remember that people didn’t always have Facebook and Instagram and Twitter (and Google+ and LinkedIn and……) and they are just fine. Imagine the time I am going to have on my hands to do things I do love!?

So there you have it. My thoughts on social media after I have had some time to process and contemplate my usage and what I want out of it.

What are your thoughts on social media? Are you too engrossed, too? Do you hardly ever use it? Have you cut back on your usage? Do you forget to “look up”? I would love to hear your thoughts.

I’m admittedly not much of a Weird Al fan, but Chuck said I should watch this video and I’ll admit, I found it funny and laughed quite a few times. If you get upset with grammar misuse, you will definitely appreciate this video.

I haven’t been posting these monthly MOPS calendars (because I kept forgetting), but here are the last couple months. I thought you still might be able to find some fun ideas in them if you are looking for things to do with your kids/friends/family.

First, I will start by saying that I’m a bit of a freak. I knew that one day I would want at least three kids. So when I made a Twitter account for Maddie (@microhays) I knew that I should make one for possible subsequent children. Not knowing what the future would hold, I created two more accounts….One for “Maybe Baby #2”, AKA, Dannie (@nanohays) and one for “Maybe Baby #3”, AKA, Baby #3 (@picohays).

All this to say I added a link on the right hand side to the new baby’s Twitter feed and it will show the most recent post there as well, just like the other Twitter accounts.

So there you have it. I’m a nerd. The next name in the list of metric prefixes is “femto”. Not nearly as cute as the others, which is why I haven’t created another account. We will see how 3 goes. Then I can assess the possibility of any other Twitter accounts.

Yep! This is happening at our house! We are really excited!

And note that I cannot take any credit for the above photo. I slept on the couch while Chuck made this beauty!

I went to my doctor appointment yesterday. We had an ultrasound and confirmed that yes indeed, there is a baby in there (I never believe it until I see an ultrasound!). The due date I was thinking was November 30th. Since I have c-sections (here’s why), I was planning for a birthday the week of Thanksgiving. Maybe not ideal, but you don’t get to pick when you’ll have another baby.

Well, I went to the appointment and my doctor decided to move my due date up by 6 days (to November 24th), which would have a surgery date of the 18th (because that’s the day she does surgeries). Which means that we will have a very busy November….My birthday and our 10 year anniversary is on November 6th, Dannie’s birthday is November 13th and this one will be born the following week, then there’s Thanksgiving the week after. Phew!

So I’m now 13 weeks instead of 12. Nice little bonus there! There’s a small chance my doctor will call and adjust that date again, but she was pretty confident of the change due to the measurement of the baby.

Speaking of baby….what a little cutie! It is quite the little mover in there and I am still astounded that I can’t feel something that 3 inches long moving inside me! The baby had its hands snuggled right up by its face.

So there you have it. A third baby is going to be added to our brood. We will be finding out if it’s a girl or boy the second week of July. We will probably do something fun again like we did for Dannie.

I’ll do what I can to keep some updates coming!

There’s a new link to the right —>. It’s a link to my YouTube page where I upload all the videos of the girls. I can’t believe I didn’t already have a link there. Someone was asking me recently where they could find all my videos, so this reminded me to add it here.

Happy video watching! Do you get lost for hours watching YouTube videos, too?

A number of friends started doing the 100 Happy Days Challenge. I thought this was such a fun idea and fitting to some of the changes I have already been making in my life this year. I saw it earlier in the year, but like most trends, I am a little slow on the uptake. So here were are, almost mid April, and I’m jumping on the bandwagon.

You can read more about it on the link above, but basically, the challenge is to find something that makes you happy each day and document it.

I am going to put all 100 on Instagram, but sometimes they will be worthy of crossing over to Facebook, too.

Why would I do this? Well, one, I like annoying people with pictures on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter. Also, because why not? What can it hurt to try to be happier or find little things that make you happy each day?

So are you going to try it with me??

Anyone else already doing this? Have you been doing it longer than the two days I’ve been doing it? Have you noticed any major differences in your happiness yet?

Here’s the calendar of events from MOPS for the month. There are some good ones this month!

Since it is almost the end of March, I decided to look back on my 2014 resolutions and see how I was doing.

1. Do :: I have been going to the gym a lot recently and I forgot how much I really enjoy that time. I go there to take classes, but once in a while I’ll get a little extra time there and get to walk on the treadmill and read for a bit, too. It has been great for my body, mind and soul to have this outlet. And I always feel better after lifting weights to loud music or taking a relaxing class of Tai Chi/Yoga/Pilates!

I have also started to learn some programming on the side. It’s been a fun challenge. My biggest challenge is trying to find time to do it. And making myself feel smart enough to do it. I have doubts if I can do this or not, and embarrassed if I don’t get the correct answer the first time around. I am working on that. I have a wonderful teacher at home! I stepped out of my comfort zone and went to a women in technology event and I am so glad that I went. I met some wonderful people and even asked some questions. I would really love to do something in technology one day, I just need to keep figuring out what that something is that would be a good fit for me.

2. Happy :: This one has been a little harder for me. I have struggled with some people recently and I have had to step away from some things that have caused stress and unhappiness in my life. It wasn’t an easy choice, but as the weeks go on, I am more confident that it was the right choice for me at this time. I have taken more time for myself and spent more quality time with my girls. That has made a big difference in my happiness. I still have moments where I get frustrated, but I am really trying to see the big picture and not worry and stress about things as much. So I am getting there.

3. Thanks :: I have really been trying to tell people “thank you” more. And I have really been leaning on some of my long time friends recently. They have meant the world to me and I am really thankful for them and what they have taught me and reminded me about myself. I have some really wonderful people in my life. Every time I see them I am reminded what amazing people they are and how lucky I am to call them friends. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

There you have it. A little run down. Maybe in a couple more months, I will look back on this again and make sure I am sticking to it.

Are you sticking to your resolutions? Have you ditched them completely? Have you had to change or modify them since the year started?