New Year, New Blog

Happy 2019, friends! It's been a while. I went to bed at 9:15 on NYE and -- as I shared on Instagram yesterday -- our year kicked off quite tumultuously. But today is a new day. We're back in the normal post-vacation routine again. And I feel ready to write. I'm just not sure that (never)homemaker is the space I want to inhabit anymore. I imagine I'll keep up this site for the recipes, as I consult the archives myself on many occasions. Keep an eye out, though. I have a new blog in the works. I hope to get it going sometime this month. Or if I decide it's an awful idea (or if you tell me it's an awful idea), I reserve the right to change my mind.

I love reading everyone's resolutions or intentions for the new year. I can't say I've had much mental space to give it formal thought. But I am taking this time to multi-task and share what I'd like to work on myself. As I have started jotting this down in my head, it seems like my theme is KINDNESS to myself, my family, and my body.

Kind discipline. 

You may or may not be surprised to learn that I scream and shout at my kids. I'm not proud of it. I always pledge to do better. Each night, in fact, I promise myself that I won't yell the next year. And then it seems that I yell more and louder than ever before the next day.

Things in our home feel a bit out of control at the moment. It's the stress of having a newborn combined with the emergence of an insanely stubborn toddler (who has decided after years of good sleep that it's out of fashion) . . . and add in a totally rattled school-aged kid who is very sensitive to noise and commotion.

I've realized that Ada was a really easy toddler. She slept pretty well, had minimal tantrums, and generally went with the flow. Eloise is a whole different story, and I am realizing I have zero skills to help her channel her energy in a different way. So, I watched The Happiest Toddler on the Block yesterday, and already it's helped a bit diffuse a couple situations (and didn't do anything to help others).

I have very limited time and mental space to read. If you were to recommend ONE parenting book, what would it be?

Kind eating and exercise habits

My diet as of late is also out of control. I ate all the bread and sugar over the holidays in the name of breastfeeding hunger. And laziness. And just because I like that stuff and I think it's a common struggle. As I am getting older, I'm finding that my body doesn't rebound as well from a crap diet. I feel hungover the next day after eating poorly (which I define as not having really any fruits or veggies, right? It happened many days last month).

My "diet" for the new year is all about being kind to my body. That means indulging from time to time, but also focusing on eating more healthful, nourishing foods. I will stay vegetarian, but I'd like to ease up on the cheese for a while (it has been making me gassy TMI!) and I need to stop eating SO much white bread, but I cannot give up pizza Fridays or my homemade breads. I'm going to try to make more nutritive treats (chocolate chip cookies made with almond meal and oats instead of flour, for example), too.

I am going to try a couple fads, too. Celery juice in the morning to see what the fuss is about. I'll report back. Plus, I am interested in intermittent fasting after writing an article on the subject last fall. I'm going to experiment lightly with a 14:10 approach.

Exercise time has been difficult to come by as the days have gotten so short and the family demands have shot up. I'd like to run more than I am, but I am setting a goal to hit 15 miles a week. I'd like to add a weekly yoga class to this and maybe a couple short (15 minute) kettlebell sessions.

Kind comparison. 

Or, rather, NO comparison. I've fallen into the comparison trap hard these last months. Like, why can't I seem to just chill and go wherever with a newborn like everyone else? As an example, we pulled Eloise from preschool because the baby just wasn't having the pickup/dropoff schedule because it directly conflicted with her naps. But I see moms making it work and I feel lazy or just plain shame. At the same time, I hated paying so much for something that was bringing my stress.

Anyway, I need to stop caring what "Susan" is doing with her family, how much money "Laura" has, or how fit "Tamara" is so soon after baby. When I'm not on social media, I'm much happier in some ways but then feel isolated in others. So, I need to revisit my own head to figure out how much Instagram or Facebook I want to include in my life.

I also want to strengthen my real life relationships. This period of newborn is hard for me because I really like routine and the naps are keeping us home quite often. So I will need to utilize the evenings and weekends to socialize.

That's all I have time to write for now.

Till next time!