Blogging about blogging shouldn’t be hard, yet here we are… (plus, free stickers!)

I’m fully prepared for you to tsktsktsk while shaking your head after I say this (famous last words, anyone?), but here goes:

I think I’ve finally got a handle on… well, stuff.

I mean, not entirely. But mostly. Or, partly anyway.

{{Note: I wrote the draft of this post on my flight TO BlogPaws. Three weeks ago. I just needed to snap one pic to go with it. Just one. So, yeah. Partly.}}

It’s been a tumultuous couple of months around here. But I have found after all we’ve been through over the years, the craziest times serve as a hard reset to my priorities. When things are out of control, you figure out what’s important to force into control. For me, it’s family, number one.

What does that look like right now?

Well, when Violet came along, I hadn’t actually been in my full-time job with BlogPaws for long enough to qualify for FMLA. Yes, I could’ve taken unpaid time off, but that wasn’t realistic. We were so lucky that John’s job is super flexible AND he had a ton of leave saved up. So, for the past 7 weeks, John’s been Violet’s primary caregiver. Plus, his stuff is super project-based instead of office-hours based, so if he ends up working at night for a while, it is what it is. When he’s had meetings and things, I’ve just gotten up extra early (Vi’s up by 5 anyway, so nbd!) to get ahead on work so that I could take care of her while he was on his calls. We’re figuring it out. Some days it flows. Other days… not so much.

What we weren’t willing to sacrifice in all that figuring-it-out was family time.

So, just about every day, we’ve found time to take Violet and Cooper to the park. We’ve taken her hiking every single weekend since we brought her home. If I can get away for a lunch break, we latch her car seat into a jogging stroller and dash around the block with them. We don’t want to be those people whose life stops “because of” a baby because we want her to experience a fun, full life… And we desperately need to keep Coop’s world happy and enriched while he’s still trying to figure out the loss of Em.

{{For those wondering about Newt, it’s the same thing: daily food puzzles, daily game playing, and–when possible–out in the yard on her harness and line. We’re contemplating taking her to the park on her line… But… I don’t know? Does anyone have experience with that? Advice, tips, warnings?}}

To make totally sure that all that family time can happen, I have to be crazy careful with my time management. That has been my big struggle because I suffer from Something Shiny Syndrome (aka, SQUIRREL!).  

So, what does that look like?

Currently, I get up around 5 to feed Vi. (There’s one of those in the AM, y’all! Who knew?)

She sometimes drops back off to sleep… usually not. On the day she does, I can get a head start on BlogPaws work. On the days she doesn’t, I snuggle her and Cooper while sipping my coffee. It’s actually pretty lovely. 

Then it’s work, work, work with a lunch break to walk or jog with my babies, then back to work. On the days that I start around 5, I’m trying to finish around 3:30 or 4 so that I can work on other projects or my blog (I’m aiming for… and OK with… one post per week for now… but striving to work towards two). But no matter what I’m working on, I really, really, really force myself to be done by 5. The past few weeks, that was impossible as we worked toward the conference. Now that I’m back home, I’m going to reinforce and stick to those hours so that evenings can be cooking out or swimming (the pool’s opening soon!) or reading to and playing with Violet and Cooper.

There are three “secrets” that make all this work:

1. John. OMG, he’s such an incredible house Frau. He’s amazing with Violet and keeps things running, bottles washed, diapers changed, etc.
2. No TV. We got rid of cable years ago, and I’m SO glad we did. Whenever I see people posting on FB or Twitter that there’s NO TIMEEEEEEE but then they post about shows they watch? Drives me nuts. (Side note: OMG Will & Grace is coming back in the fall??!? Can you just subscribe to one show???)
3. My planner. It is legitimately the other half of my brain. Cooper’s and Newt’s vet appointments and medication refill reminders, Violet’s doctor’s appointments, work to dos, house to dos, shopping lists, blog posts, John’s meetings that I need to be free for childcare, deadlines, bills due, social obligations, all of it… If it’s not written down, it’s not happening. It might as well not exist.

{{Note 2: The irony of the fact that this photo is blurry upon uploading it to my computer, the ONE PHOTO that took me three weeks to remember to snap, nope… that irony is definitely not lost on me. Also, his eyes are goopy. Luckily I took this pic like 3 minutes ago so will go wipe out and write myself a note to pick up allergy meds. 🙂 }}

Which brings me to the ultimate point of this post (“Wait, she has a point?!?!?”) and my lovely friend Jodi of the fabulous blog, Kol’s Notes. She made the cutest, most wonderful pet-themed planner stickers EVERRRRR.

You guys, even if you don’t have a planner or don’t track all these specific things, you have to download and print this anyway. It’s THAT CUTE. (The hamster?? Squee!!)

Jodi shared the social media stickers.

And here’s the link to download the blog stickers.

These save me the time from writing out these headers, while making my functional planner extra cute. Plus, seriously, THE HAMSTER.

BTW: If you don’t have sticker paper, do what I do. Print it out on regular old computer paper, cut, and glue. It looks just as cute but without the added expense.

So, there you have it! A glimpse at the mess around here 😉 along with my plans to keep it someone shoved into a neat pile.

That’s about all that’s been going on around here! More on BlogPaws soon, along with some other glimpses into what life is like these days with the myriad changes from the past few months.

How are you guys?? What’s new? I sure hope all’s well!