Morning y’all! Can you believe that we are half way through 2021? I have NO idea where the time has gone, and I’m not sure if I am happy or sad at how fast life is going by. We have only one month left until Andee turns one and less than two months left until I go back to work and she starts day care. My heart aches at this thought, but I’m also so excited for this next chapter with my girl.
I have loved setting monthly goals thus far and aim to keep this up when I go back to work. I’ve tried to always have some fitness and personal development goals with some random goals scattered in. I’m curious, and honestly a bit nervous, about how this will change for me once I start back. I did buy an awesome planner the other day that I plan (pun intended) to make great use of to help me with my monthly goals and all the multitasking I love to do. Wish me luck as I try to navigate this next big transition in life. 🤞🏻
Recap of June Goals
I have consistently woken up at 6am every week day and I have LOVED it! It has provided me with the quality me time that I have needed to start each morning. Occasionally Andee would wake up around 6, so I wouldn’t necessarily get much time to myself. But those days that she woke up at 7am were blissful! Sometimes I would do a bit of blogging, but for the most part I just drank my coffee and relaxed. It was so nice to have that quiet time and I 100% recommend carving out time like this for yourself each day even if you are not a mama, but especially if you are a mama. Lol!
I did so good with getting outside with Andee everyday and I am so glad I followed through on this. There is something about the fresh air that does wonders for Andee, and I will work really hard to keep providing this time for her each day.
I stuck to my goal of not eating sugar super well untilllllll we went to visit Keenan’s grandma in Edmonton. She is an incredible baker and made blueberry pie, cinnamon rolls and LOTS of cookies for us. It was impossible to not cheat a little bit. So I did eat sugar on three different days, and I’m not too upset about it. It was way easier to give up sugar than I thought, so I will try to continue this pattern because I ultimately feel so much better with eating less of it.
I also had the goal to limit my phone usage until after Andee was asleep, but I kind of sucked at this goal. I did really well with it for about two weeks, but then found that I was constantly working on different things for the blog and had to use my phone more. So I guess I did okay with not mindlessly using my phone when she was awake, but it still was on it a ton. I have found that I like to do so many things that I almost have to be on my phone to accomplish everything not matter if Andee is awake of not. I’m not sure if I feel like this is a problem or just a way of life for me. But more on this thought later.
The last goal I had set for June was to be more content with the idea that any movement is good movement and to do a plank a day. Well I didn’t do a plank a day, but I did do more planks this month than I ever have before. Like ever. So I’m pretty content with that. And for the “any movement is good movement” thought – I think this actually helped me be more productive with my workouts in general. It’s like it almost made them more enjoyable. Even on those days when I didn’t feel like working out, I just repeated that thought in my head and would end up (mostly) crushing it. I feel happy that I am finding a balance with this more and more, but know I will have to continue making adjustments as Andee gets older and especially when I start back to work.
July Goals
- Laundry once a week – I have come to realize that I have SO MANY CLOTHES and I don’t wear half of them. This is partly because I am still figuring out what works best for me with my postpartum body, but it’s also kind of a laundry issue. When you only do laundry once a month of course you’re gonna need more clothes, right?! So I am going to try to do laundry once a week and see how many clothes I actually wear. Then I can purge some things and (hopefully) not feel guilty about it.
- Finish a book – I started the book called, “The Whole-Brain Child” about two months ago and have yet to finish it. It’s only like 170 pages or so, so it shouldn’t be that hard to finish. I just find that I end up doing so many things that I don’t make time to read. And I actually really enjoy this book and find it incredibly helpful for Andee, myself and my students. So I want to make finishing it a priority.
- Start implementing a “back to work” routine – I know that going back to work will be here before I know it. And Keenan and I have the busiest schedule ever for these next two months (two weddings, 3 bachelor/bachelorette parties, a week long trip to Asheville, a trip to Medicine Hat, our wedding anniversary and Andee’s birthday). So I think it is important to start establishing some routines as if I was back to work already. So for example, Keenan may have to do Andee’s morning bottle each day while I pack up her bag. Or maybe I feed Andee first thing in the morning and she has a bottle for a snack midmorning. These are things I still need to figure out, and I think it will make the transition back to work much easier if we already have an established routine.
- Kick ass at the Cass Olholm Sweat Challenge – If y’all have been following along for a while now, y’all know that I love me some Cass Olholm workouts. The Sweat App, which has multiple trainers on it, started a six week challenge in mid-June and I joined Cass’s. So far it’s been three strength training workouts and two cardio workouts each week plus a recovery and stretching day and a rest day. I’ve done well with the first two weeks, and aim to keep kickin’ ass for the remainder of the challenge. Before the challenge started I did several benchmarks, like the number of kettlebell swings in two minutes and how far you can run in five minutes. I will complete the same benchmarks once the challenge is over to see how I have progressed, and I am really looking forward to it!
- Work on prioritizing the things I value – I recently met with a therapist to discuss my life in general. I had no complaints or “problem areas” when I had the session, I just wanted the tune up for my brain. This is something I am trying to do once a month because it really helps me to reflect with an outsider who still has my best interest at heart. One thing my therapist pointed out is that I am an achiever. I like to do everything and do it to the extreme. Take this blog for example – I decided to go balls to the wall with it basically from day one. And then add in all the other things like working out, cooking, reading, weaving, fundraising, relaxing. Oh and momming! 😜 In order for me to do all of this I have to be incredibly organized and multitask a lot, both of which are things that I love to do. I feel good when I am busy and when I am accomplishing a lot. But since my plate is so full, it can also lead me to a breaking point much easier if anything else from the outside world (meaning things I don’t choose to do) are added to my plate. So my therapist suggested that I make a list of all the things I love doing and prioritize them, and definitely do this before work starts back. Somethings got to give somewhere because there is just simply not enough time to do it all. So I’m going to try really hard to figure out what it is that I value most and make sure I make time for those things first and foremost. This is definitely going to be the toughest goal for me because as I said, I love doing it all! So wish me luck… Please!
What goals are you working towards? Tell me about them in the comments below so that I can help cheer you on! Thanks for reading and happy day y’all!