It’s just a Phase…

I don’t know about you, but I am tired. I am not talking just physically tired, but I am mentally exhausted. My youngest is going through 4 month old sleep regression with teething. His twin siblings who are 2.5 years old, now decided when they wake up in the middle of the night they come wake mommy up before going back to bed. Better yet, the twins started waking up at 6am almost every morning.

Now, I am already usually up at 6am but I have a routine, usually either feeding the baby or pumping, so I do not have a free hand to make the twins breakfast or help them with the potty. This is so exhausting, to feel like you are being pulled in every which direction. I know I am not alone in feeling this way. With kids, other family, pets, work, every single person has different things that seem to pull them in all directions. I know in my household, these phases will pass, but there is always the next phase. I keep telling myself that someday the kids will not want to wake me up, or they will not want me at their every beckon call. I will miss these days when they no longer exist, but that does not mean that I can not be tired right now.

I understand that we are so extremely blessed beyond belief to have three beautiful, healthy children, but that does not mean it takes away the feeling of being exhausted. It is such a misconception in today’s society to be unable to ‘complain’ or show any other emotion besides extreme happiness when talking about your kids. People so easily say ‘well at least you have kids.’ When parents, including myself ‘complain’ or show signs of exhaustion it in no way means that we do not want our kids or that we do not know they are the greatest blessing we have ever been given. Most times there is no deeper feelings, it just simply means we are tired.

So the next time you hear a mommy or daddy complain about their exhaustion, please be kind. You have no idea what they had to endure to become parents, whether that be no issues, battling infertility, adoption, fostering, etc. just remember they love their children, I love my children, but sometimes we just want to vent, then take a physical and mental nap.

Xoxo,

One Exhausted Mama

Ghosting

We’ve all been there, right?  One of your family members, or maybe an old acquaintance, lets say ‘Susan’ has started a new journey in their life and they are posting about it all over social media.  They might message you and want you to join them, and you either ignore them or give some vague response on why you just ‘can’t’ at the moment.  Then, a few weeks later, maybe even a couple months, a message hits your inbox again.  It’s from Susan, your mind races on what excuse you should give this time, or should you just ignore it. Maybe, if you don’t open the message completely they will never know you seen it. Yeah, that sounds better, you ghost them. Then, you go back to your social media sites and ‘unfollow,’ so you don’t get one of those dreaded messages again.

Guess what, that was ME! I was the ghoster, or the one that unfollowed, but guess what it didn’t hurt Susan, she just poured her time and energy into someone that acknowledged her, nope, it hurt me! I was the one that was missing out on all the great oppurtunities I could have had. I sat at home, on my ass watching tv wondering how on earth I was going to loose the baby weight, but I didn’t want to actually do anything about it. I ghosted anyone that made me feel bad about that, no they didn’t actually make me feel bad, I made myself feel bad because I couldn’t see it at the time, but I was making up excuses after excuses on why it would never work out for me, why I just didn’t have the time. Trying to raise three kids under three is a workout in itself, I told myself I didn’t need to do anything about it! Boy was I wrong! Truth is, I can’t do this by myself! Ive tried for a long time to hold myself accountable and exercise and use portion control, and it just is not feasible for me! I need the accountability from other people. I need the feeling of waking up and having to workout or eat right because you don’t want to let others down, ultimately you don’t want to let yourself down.

The wonderful thing about Susan though, she didn’t give up on me! When I was ready to start my own journey, Susan was right there with me ready to help me along the way. Now that I have started, I am able to realize some of my past mistakes. If I wouldn’t have ghosted Susan the first time she reached out, think about where I could be now! I feel better than ever, and I could have felt this way years ago! My kids are seeing a new side to mommy! They are seeing a side of mommy that makes me more than just a mommy! I get to help other people on their life path, as I’m walking down mine! My kids watch me be supportive and mentoring to others, as I want them to be when they grow up! I also, want to show my kids they need to take care of themselves when they are older, take time for yourself, for your mental state, for your physical state!

Truthfully we are all in this world together, and if you need someone to help you take care of yourself, hold you accountable with your nutrition and wellness, I am right here beside you! I will be Susan! I will never give up on you, even if you ghost me or give me some excuse on why you can’t do this right now. Eventually you will realize that the excuses you are making are only hurting yourself! Trust me, been there, done that, but I will still be here waiting for you like Susan waited for me. Take the leap, join me on my journey, I don’t want you to be like me and look back on what could have been. Be in the present, change your nutrition and wellness now, and better your future!

If you would like to join me, follow the link below! I hope to chat with you soon!

https://linktr.ee/mmfrericks

Follow me on Instagram: @mmfrericks or @fitishfoodies20

-xo one determined mama

Making this Parenting Thing a Little bit Easier. Baby Edition.

Moms and dads have it rough! On one hand there is no greater blessing, but on the other hand you are just trying to survive and keep the kids alive. I thought I’d write this post and share what items have worked for my family to make this parenting thing a little bit easier. I take all the help I can get, so I thought I’d offer up a little help to or my own!

⁃ Baby Bum Diaper Cream Brush

If you have ever had a baby with diaper rash, you NEED this! I was so tired of sticking my hand in diaper cream 947463 times a day! Having one of these eliminated that completely and makes the job a bit cleaner! It also gets my husband to help out!

⁃ Diaper Genie/ Dog Doo-Doo Bags

We’ve all heard that we need a diaper genie or something similar, well the realy dirty diapers make it unbearable to flip the lid open to put the next diaper in! A perfect little hack I found was to buy dog doo-doo bags and put the really smelly diapers in one of those before putting them in the diaper genie! Your nose will thank you later!

⁃ Pacifier clips

If you ever hunted for a pacifier in a car seat, swing, bouncer, you know you need this! Have you ever been carrying your baby when he/she decides to spit their pacifier out in the store and leave you wondering how you are gonna clean it off quick before they start crying? #lifesaver

⁃ Halo SleepSack

They say you should not put anything inside a bassinet or crib besides baby. These halo sleepsacks are amazing! They have Velcro so your little one can’t squirm his/her way out! When they are old enough to roll or start showing signs of rolling, these other sleep sacks have been a godsend! Baby stays warm, and I know there is no suffocation risk!

⁃ Baby Brezza One Step Sterilizer and Dryer

This is definitely not a need, but it’s a want. I didn’t have it with the twins and I wish I would have! No more boiling water or steamer bags to sanitize bottles, pacifiers, or pump parts! This makes it so much easier and faster!

⁃ Baby Shusher

Ever get tired of saying “shhhhh,” yeah, me too! This thing is a lifesaver! Also, it’s portable so it’s perfect to take with while traveling! I do have another sound machine, but while baby is in our room still, we will use the shusher!

These are just a few of my favorite things that helped me get by with a newborn! I am all about helping other moms make life and raising babies a little bit easier! None of these items are sponsored, this is my whole-hearted opinion! I hope you find something useful!

Xo, one helpful mama

Choose YOU

Why is it so hard to choose yourself? I don’t know about you, but I tend to be such a people pleaser. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it seems like my life falls short in the ‘me’ category. Always giving to my kids, my husband, my family, my friends, and at the end of the day it feels as though I have nothing else to give to myself. The best way to be able to give 100% to the people that need you in your life is to also give 100% to yourself. What are your goals, your hopes, your dreams?? In 2020 my biggest goal is to spend a little more time on me, even if it is just 5 minutes a day.

Once I truly committed to wanting to do something for myself, I looked up a great coach and followed her lead! For anyone looking for true inspiration you can follow her @shawn.groft on Instagram. She is a beachbody coach that works with exercising, nutrition, and motivation! She makes me feel like she is truly invested in my well being and helping me become the best version of myself! This woman also happens to be my mother! She has devoted her entire life to her kids, her husband, their farm, and has not saved any time for herself! She is so easy to follow, because she is so relatable. She works a full time job, has one child left at home, helps my father on the farm and still manages to spend a little time on herself each and every day. If she can do this and put the effort in, then I have no excuses.

When I was “sweating for the wedding,” I was exercising and drinking Shakeology from beachbody. I lost a ton of weight and felt better than I had in years! After our wedding, I dropped off of the bandwagon. I used wanting to start a family as an excuse. Five years later and I am just starting to get back into it. Chocolate Shakeology is my all time favorite! With my mother by my side, I have decided to join her team and help her to help others! I love the shakes, the Beachbars, and I could get use to the exercising! After all, most of the exercises are only around 20 minutes long!

If you would like to join my mother and I on our journey follow the link below! Whether it’s for fitness, nutrition, or just pure motivation, we will be right there beside you every step of the way! Remember, choose YOU, because YOU are worth it!

https://linktr.ee/Sgroft

Xo, one motivated mama

Scheduling

Writing my first blog post seemed like it would be such an easy task. For anyone that knows me, they know I like to talk a lot, so I felt as though it would be easy to have something to say. Boy was I wrong. I had been staring at a flashing bar, racking my brain for something that I felt compelled to share. That’s when it hit me. With three young kids at home it is hard to find time to do anything for yourself but with a great scheduling system in place, at the end of the day I still find time to unwind after the kids are all in bed.

When we had our twins, who are now 2 years old, they were the first kids to join our household. The pregnancy did not go as planned and we delivered 5 weeks early. They spent 9 days in the NICU, which I credit for giving us one of the greatest parenting tips, scheduling! From the time they were born they were on a strict feeding schedule of every 3 hours just to put on weight. As they got older we also started scheduling their naps and bedtime when we were allowed to stop waking them in the middle of the night for feeding. I truly believe scheduling is what has helped the twins to sleep through the night since they were 4 months old. Life has unexpected curves in the road so it isn’t feasible to have a strict schedule every day of their lives, but we try to stick to it the best we can. The twins are now two years old and they are still very much scheduled. We wake, eat, nap, and bedtime around the same times everyday.

When we had our youngest son who is now 3 months old, we thought we would never be able to stick with scheduling as now we had the twins running around, but so far, so good. He has slept through the night since he was about one month old! He eats every three hours starting at 6 am, so we are able to schedule our appointments or travel around his feeding schedule. At this point he still naps when he wants to, but eventually he will start being awake more and we will start scheduling his naps. If you don’t use a schedule for your kids and that works for you that is great! Scheduling is just what we have chose to do, and it seems to work for our family so I wanted to share. In no way shape or form does this mean that the routine or lack of routine that you choose to do is better or worse. I just wanted to share what works for our family!

A typical day for us starts at 6am for baby and 7:30-8am for the twins and has the twins in bed at 8pm and baby goes down at 8:30pm. That gives my husband and I some time to do our own nightly routines and get our house back in order just to start the chaos back over in the morning. Scheduled chaos that is!

Sample Schedule for 2 Year Old

Twins weekend schedule-

7:30-8am wake

8:15- breakfast

8:45-11:30- play

11:30- pick up toys

12pm- eat lunch

1-3pm- nap

3pm- snack

3:30-5:30- play

5:30- pick up toys

6- supper

6:30-7:30- play

7:30 pick up toys

7:45- brush teeth, jammies on

8pm- bedtime

Signing off,

Xo- one tired mama

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started