The Importance of Self Importance!

So to catch everyone up I have not been on here in a quick minute. Last year was a whirl wind of emotions and big changes in my life. To begin I lost my mom in late February and then 8 months later lost my grandma. Most of you don't know but my grandma had a huge impact on my life so when I lost my mom I immediately turned to her. The woman who raised me for a good half of my life and the woman who showed me what true unconditional love is was my grandma. So when she was diagnosed with cancer in October I was crushed that the next most important person was soon to be in heaven with my mom. In this 8 months I went on a journey, a journey of self discovery. Finding out the true importance of self importance. These two woman in my life were very selfless people, always giving to others and putting others before them selves. I saw the deterioration in their bodies, and self love. Now I don't want anyone to get the wrong picture here, my mother and grandma made great examples of how a mother should love their babies but the truth is they were taken too early and mostly because they didn't put themselves first at times. If they had taken better care of themselves I'm almost positive they would have been around longer than they were. I realized if I want to be around for my daughters and my someday grand babies I should probably start doing two things. 1. Taking care of myself and 2. Letting others know how much I love them by showing them that with my actions. You see when my Mother passed I hadn't talked to her for months, and the last time I had talked to her I knew I should have apologized and just put my pride aside but I didn't. So now I will have to live with that the rest of my life. I know I am human and we make mistakes so I will continue to try and forgive myself because I know that's what my Mom would have wanted, and to grow as a person I knew I would have to learn not only from their mistakes but my own as well. So to the self love part and self importance we should always show ourselves love. Think about it this way if I am always tired and never have a moment for myself how can I give myself completely to my children without being irritable or quick to push them aside when all they want is to tell me about is an episode of My Little Pony or to tell me they created a new club at school with their friends. Some ways I have discovered to show myself love is...

FIND SOMETHING SMALL THAT YOU FIND PLEASURE IN

Such as drinking tea or coffee in the morning and being on social media
Giving yourself a DIY face mask before bed
Painting your nails
It can be anything that doesn't take up too much time but you find simple pleasure in. This will free your mind of any worries or anxieties for that moment and sometimes your brain needs that freeing moment of just not thinking... ya know!

EAT HEALTHY

If we are constantly putting things in our body that don't give us the proper fuel to run how are we supposed to perform at our best. Now this is something new for me and I am trying to make better choices every day, but so far I feel better eating whole raw foods that nourish my body and give me energy to be the best mommy I can be.
Challenge yourself to eat at least one whole raw food meal a day and just see where it takes you! I bet you feel so much better and continue to take the next step to being healthier!

FIND A HOBBY

This can be something you already enjoy doing or something you have been wanting to try.
But you have to give your self one day a week that is designated to that. So when the kids are napping or when your hubby has a day off. That way you can do your thing without worrying about someone elses needs. So for example I like to...
Water color
DIY craft from Dollar Tree
Color in a grown up coloring book lol one that is free of scribbles and tears.
Read a book

BE OUTSIDE

This is so important especially if your a SAHM. It is so important to breath fresh air and be in the sunshine. Nature calms me and I think everyone can use a little outside time.
Whether it's going for a walk to the park
Laying out in your backyard
Gardening


WRITING

This one is the most important I feel. I don't get to it all the time but when I do it makes me feel so much better. Time to reflect and get the negative or positive out. Most of the time I write when I am feeling down because it is therapeutic to me and gives me something to visually look at that is bothering me. I dunno about you but my mind races a million miles per minute. Its hard most of the time to put a finger on just one emotion that I am feeling so writing them down gets them out and frees up my mind for positive and good things. Also sometimes its nice to look back at it to see the progress you have made emotionally.

Well I hope this helps someone  I know this probably isn't the most popular subject for people to read but if it helps just one person out there that would make it worth the writing to me :)

IN LOVING MEMORY OF GLADYS AND DELIA RODRIGUEZ

Back 2 School

Summer is coming to an end and although I have had fun not having to wake up at 6 am every morning, I am SO ready for my 7 year old to go back to school. (Don't act like you aren't excited too!) haha! I love my babies and I love being home with them but lets face it having all your kids home at once can take up a lot of your time and energy. I predict I will be getting a lot more cleaning done and errands ran with only having one kid at home during the day.

So let's talk about easing into the back 2 school routines and some helpful tips that I implement into our daily lives. 

1. Start getting the kids back on a sleep schedule.  If you can start 2-3 weeks ahead of when school starts the better. For example my kids have been going to bed around 10 pm all summer so the third week before school bring your bedtime back an hour (So 9pm), the second week before school 8:30 and the last week before school 8pm and by the time they are ready for school they are used to going to bed early. Same with waking up in the morning you have to actually start waking up early! Now moms I know this one kinda sucks for us but in the long run we will benefit greatly :) Same as the night time routine bring back your waking up time an hour, then 30 min more, and so on until you are waking up at your desired time a week before school starts. 

2. Have pre made snacks and sandwiches made a week before you start school. I will be making a ton of PB&J sandies and freezing them! Here is a link to my  DIY Uncrustables, prep any fruit and divide out into baggies making it easier to just grab and throw into lunch bags, same with chips make it easy by having them already put into baggies.

3. Now I have it easy because Gwen's school wears uniforms but either way get your kid's clothes out and ready for the whole week. That means accessories if a girl, socks, and undies. This makes it so much easier and NO ARGUMENTS in the morning about what they want to wear. 

4. Designate an area of your home where they will do their homework everyday. This will give your child less distractions and more guidance on what you expect of them. Have this area ready with pens, pencils, erasers, any kind of item they might need to do all their homework. You can even make a cute caddy like these ones   The idea behind this is that once they sit down everything is ready and there is no reason to leave that spot until homework is finished. 

5. Lastly BE CONSISTENT it might be tough for ourselves to abide by these steps and routines but children really strive with routine and consistency so I promise if you just stick with it you will see amazing results and much more time to go on pinterest and daydream about all the DIY projects you want to achieve this school year! 

What kinds of things do you implement in your school time routine to make your life easier? I would love to hear your thoughts!