In less then 5 weeks I will be the Mommy of a two-year old and a newborn. All I keep thinking about is the lack of sleep I will be getting until my children begin school. I remember always commenting on women I would see with "stair-step" kids, you know two toddlers and an infant, and here I am following in their foot steps {a little}. I say a little because I met a woman in Target last night that is 6 months pregnant and has a 9 month old at home {sheesh}.
The idea of having children so close in age doesn't seem beneficial while you are living through the tantrums, potty training, nursing, and everything else, but I found a short list of benefits that I listed below.
- Friendship/Companionship: If you look at siblings who are 1-2 years apart in age, you notice that many share the same friends, the same interests, and often look out for one another in social settings.
- Costs:With two children in the same age range, consider that they can share toys, lessening your costs. They can also share clothing, in most cases. You may be at a true advantage, especially, if your children are of the same gender.
- You only have to go through it once!!
- Career: If you decide to be a stay at home mom, you are able to get back in the work force sooner, if you decide to have children back to back.
- Future Families/Cycle: Oddly enough, especially with multiples, children in the same age bracket often plan their lives around one another due to their closeness and friendship. They may get married around the same time, and in a lot of cases plan on having children around the same times so that there will be a continued bond with their children. Source
Time Management 101
Back in December I had the pleasure of attending a workshop sponsored by my girl, Natasha of the Flair Factor. The Sunday social was about how to effectively manage time, especially as mothers. The discussion began with the idea of 168 hours in a week, a concept written about by Laura Vanderkam.
This was broken into the following:
- 50 hours in an average work week
- 56 hours of sleep
- 62 hours remain (5 hours of which need to be spent strategizing + planning) {According to the CDC at least 2.5 hours per week to exercise -- 30 minutes a day}
The portion of the workshop I enjoyed the most was the idea of creating and maintaining a "time log". A time log is basically an agenda that sections your day into hours, most smart phones have this capability. I am still old school and keep a planner book. I find myself forgetting to input data into my cell phone agenda, but always writing it done in my planner. Old habits are hard to break. I do plan my days by the hour because it gives me a sense of balance in my very hectic life. Sometimes I wish I worked and lived in the same state because some of the chaos would be controlled. It's a bitch working late in NYC and having to come Jersey to run errands and such. I like to make my week days as jammed packed with activities as possible because on the weekend I hate to be like every other drone and in the mall, supermarket, or post office. My weekends are for sleep, peace, and relaxation.
Back to the workshop . . . The take-home messages of the workshop were:
- Think about it as 168 hours and not a 24 hour day
- Be on the offense, not defense
- Use your mornings
- Ignore, Minimize, + Outsource
- Bits of time, for bits of joy
- Time logs + Agendas + Planners are vital to planning a successful 168 hours
- If it's not made a priority it won't happen
Printable Weekly Planners here and here.
