Reflections of an Introverted Mother

Reflections...

…since I’ve blogged here, I’ve finally got around to registering my new domains. The next step is speaking to my amazing web guru to get her to change the domains over. Then I can really get started.

I have a whole lot of thoughts on what it’s like to be an introverted mother, especially now that my kids are school age, but even thinking back to the struggles when they were toddlers and babies and wanting me ALL THE TIME. It was very difficult to have time to recharge.

As well as being an introvert, I’m an INTP personality type, so some of my reflections will be coloured by the rest of my personality too. I have some pins on Pinterest if you want to know more.

Keep your eye on my Facebook page to find out when the domain changes.

I start every morning with a shower. For me, it’s a way to recharge before I start my day and my kids know that shower time is sacred.

With two boys, it’s not unusual for our mornings to be full of noise and chaos. My shower time is a time for me to be alone with my thoughts. If it’s interrupted then the day just doesn’t start right. I’ve found that I need that quiet time.

On a typical morning, my shower will be a bit longer than the three minutes recommended during our recent water restrictions… I would call it my “mental health” time.

When my kids were small, there would be days when I wouldn’t get time to myself. I would have toddlers wanting my attention all day and I would struggle. It was at this point when I set boundaries and protect my shower time. It was essential for me to keep my sanity. I would shamelessly put the kids in front of the TV with a snack or their breakfast as I knew it would mean that I could get this time. Even now that they are bigger, they eat their breakfast while I have my shower. The boys know that my shower time is sacred and necessary for having a happy mummy.

Reflections of an introverted Mother

I am an introverted mother. This does not mean that I’m shy, it does mean that I get my energy from inside myself. As a parent, this presents a number of challenges, especially when children are demanding attention and I’m just feeling drained.

There are things that I do to help me look after myself and meet my needs, so that I can meet the needs of my children. There are also things that I’ve taught my kids to help us have a calm home life. That is what this blog will be about.

One of my aims is also to turn these reflections into a book. I’ll look forward to sharing posts with you and getting your comments and feedback. Comments will also help to turn these posts into a book that will be useful to other introverted Mothers, or those who want to see in the mind of an introverted Mother.

If you were looking for “My Daggy Life” – it has changed to this blog.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts.

One of the books I'm reading

As if I don’t have enough on my plate, I’m adding another challenge for myself. One of my dreams is to be a published author of picture books (you can read more about my writing journey here).

My kids are now 9 and 10 (11 on Monday), so we don’t read a lot of picture books any more. We have shelves of them, however they are gathering dust as the boys have moved on to chapter books and novels. My first-hand knowledge of picture books is becoming rusty.

So, this year I’m aiming to read 365 picture books, and blog about them… I have set up a blog at http://365picturebooks.wordpress.com/ and backdated a few posts so they began on 1 January. I’ve also scheduled a few posts as I was able to read quite a few books on the weekend.

It’s been fun rediscovering picture books that I had forgotten, many are ones my kids loved when they were younger.

I’m on the hunt for some books to add to my list. Do you have any favourite picture books you suggest I read?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. Can you believe it’s 2013 already? I just realised my last post here was over 6 months ago…. oops. I have been blogging over on my other blogs, but they have specific themes.

Over the Christmas break, I came up with some ideas for blog posts that didn’t fit on those blogs, however they are perfect for this blog – so I’m starting it up again.

Recently, we have been winning some cool goodies, and I wanted to share them. There have been books, days out, skin care products, and more.

I also started drafting a series of posts about our Santa-free Christmas. I’m trying to work out if sharing now while the thoughts are fresh is the right time, or save them until closer to Christmas… let me know.

As well as other aspects of my daggy life.

I hope you’ll enjoy my posts while I kick start this blog again.

Odd socks...

I know I haven’t posts here for ages… but my writing site is down and I didn’t want to miss out on Monday Muse.

This piece is a bit silly, but I hope you enjoy it.

Lefty lay on the couch, limp and lifeless. He was lonely and blue, and just didn’t have anything in him. His twin was missing and all his friends were away. There was no way he could even look for his twin, even if he had the motivation.

So, he just lay there – flat and blue. It didn’t matter that they were no longer identical, after all, time makes it mark on us all. Lefty lay, longing for his twin, and feeling helpless. He was starting to fear that his partner was gone forever.

He prayed that one day they would be reunited. After all, what else could an odd blue sock do?

Linking up with Author One Day.

My new cook book

I got a new cook book for Christmas, and so did my Mum. We tend to use the same books to find dinner, so we’ve set ourselves a challenge – to cook one recipe from our new cook books a week.

So, last night I cooked Apricot in Chicken Sauce from my new cook book, Tastes of Persian & Armenian Cuisine.

I haven’t eaten much Persian or Armenian food, so I really didn’t know what to expect. When I flipped through the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that most recipe’s were gluten free – meaning Mr N could eat them!

We love Apricot Chicken, so the Chicken in Apricot Sauce seemed like a great starting point.

It was easy to cook and only took around half an hour. We had it with rice and beans & peas.

The verdict? Yummy, my kids loved it, though Mr Z picked out all the bits of apricot, which surprised me. They are already asking to have it again. It looks like the potential to become a regular favourite.

I didn’t have time to take a photo of the meal – it was eaten too quickly! So I’ve put a pic of the cook book instead.

One habit at a time...

I have been seeing so many blog posts, Facebook status updates, recommendations for apps, and more about weight loss.

Every time I read a recommendation, I get more and more overwhelmed by it all and it all seems impossible.

So, I’ve decided to take baby steps. Instead of trying to do everything at once, I’m doing things one step at a time.

The first step was to make sure I have a healthy breakfast every morning. So far, I’ve been doing this most mornings. The odd morning I forget, I really notice it! By having a healthy breakfast, I’m not grabbing biscuits and snacks during the morning.

The second step is to do regular exercise. This is being achieved with my new toy. So far, I’ve kept it up for a week, and I’m already feeling better.

I haven’t decided on the third step yet, I want to master step two first. One option is something that worked for me in the past, and that was not eating anything after dinner. It was a small thing but made a huge difference.

I don’t own scales, so I’m not focussing on my weight, I’m looking more at living healthy and the weight loss will follow. I judge it more by how I’m feeling and how well my clothes fit. I have a couple of dresses that are slightly too small for me right now that I would love to fit in to again.

So, there’s my strategy – baby steps, taking things one step at a time, with the ultimate goal of creating long lasting habits that will stick around.

Update on walking

It’s been a week since I got my new toy… I thought I’d check in and give an update on how things have been going.

This week has been quite hot, and living upstairs, it’s been even hotter. In spite of this, I have managed to walk every night.

The first night, I only did 15 minutes, the second I did 17 minutes and every other night, I’ve managed 20 minutes. The last two nights, I’ve even sped up the treadmill so I’m walking faster.

I have learned a few things to make this challenge easier:

• Put something fun on TV. It makes the time go faster and I’m not  focussing on how unfit I am. Shows have included Talking ’bout Your Generation, Zen, The 10th Kingdom, Lewis, and Good Guys, Bad Guys. OK, so those last three are DVDs.
• Have a routine. I’ve been putting the kids to bed, waiting a short time, then walking. After that, I’ve been sitting down to watch something or get some writing done.
• Have a set time. I’ve been setting the timer for 20 minutes. This is a short amount of time, but achievable for me. When I start finding this too easy, I will increase the time, before that, I will increase the speed

I’m not watching my weight or measuring my waist or anything like that. I just want to get fitter. So far, this is working well. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.