8 Promises to My Daughter

6 weeks. That's roughly the amount of time that I will become a mother to a newborn baby girl. Each week that passes by, I reflect and panic rushes through my head. I'm excited, of course, but I also begin to think about how I'm not ready. One thing that does put aside the anxiety is knowing my husband, Ken, is here next to me on this journey to create a family. He will be a great father, I just know it and it will be so natural for him whereas for myself I think I will struggle at first. I hold myself to high standards, and I need to understand how there's a lack of control going forward and it's okay.

This brings me to why I wanted to put together promises I hope to keep for Kaylee, it will a foundation for myself as I enter motherhood. These are my promises:

1. I promise to be patient and let you learn to be who you want to be. You are the maker of your own destiny. I'm only here to guide you through this adventure called life where I have to remember to sit in the backseat but provide advice wherever possible.

2. I promise to make as many sacrifices as necessary to help you succeed. I will always put you first. If money is strapped, or we're in a place that puts our family under some hardships - you will be at the center of it where I will make sure you still have similar or more opportunities than I did.

3. I promise to substantiate your feelings. I don't process my own feelings well, and empathy has always been hard for me, but I will actively work on this. I want you to be able to come to me with anything on your mind and know at the end of the day, I am your mother and I do not judge.

4. I promise to instill confidence in you. My parents did this with me, and I can tell you confidence goes a long way. I was very shy as a child, and it took a lot to open me up and have myself be comfortable in my own skin. You should never be afraid to stand up for yourself. Confidence is key in being who you are, and building relationships with others.

5. I promise to teach you (not just at the beginning, but throughout my lifetime with you). Teach you the values and morals that make a person kind. Teach you to open your imagination to creativity. Teach you skills to grow your knowledge. And most importantly, teach you to challenge yourself and never give up as cheesy as it sounds. You should always be striving to self-improve with a positive mindset.

6. I promise to discipline you fairly. There are always consequences to wrong actions, and it's my duty as a mother to make sure you understand what is considered wrong. We'll disagree I'm sure of it, however, please remember I only discipline to do what's best for you.

7. I promise to be there for you for all your big moments or the ones you care deeply about. Moments are fleeting, and I want to be a part of those memories. I will always make time for you and I want you to see me as your biggest cheerleader.

8. I promise to love you and show you how to love others. Ken and I say we love each other daily (sappy, I know!), but that kind of affirmation reminds you to appreciate who you have in your life and reinforce there's an invisible bond that lives strongly between humans. Love is what gives our lives purpose.

With these promises, I want to be the best mother I can be.

Kaylee, you're almost here. Your dad and I can't wait to meet you.

Surviving Quarantine

With this being a never before experience long period of self isolation time due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and myself being a high risk as I'm in the third trimester of pregnancy, I've been looking to fill my day with new things to do outside of my typical routine. It has not been easy, but I wanted to share what I've been doing to keep me sane. (These aren't hard or fast rules)

1. Create Daily To Do Lists

This is the biggest piece advice that I highly recommend. Typically I take the night before the next day to think about how I want to prioritize my schedule. It lets me brainstorm the best way to keep myself productive in a positive way. These to do lists can consist of different chores, tasks, exercise, and entertainment. I usually have a combination of all of these in order to get a bit of variety throughout the day, and at the end I feel fairly accomplished. Nothing's worse than feeling like you let a day just pass you by.

I keep track of my work tasks with a very thick planner, while on the weekends I resort to using my phone and the reminder app as I'm more on the move. Both these methods can be used together, although it could be duplicative effort, I have found that writing things down has kept me accountable and I take pride to see what I've crossed off my lists.

2. Find Ways to Self Improve

This may sound like assigning yourself unwanted homework, but you have to think about it in the perspective of improving yourself beyond your current knowledge base. For instance, I like to broaden my digital technical skills completing different certifications related to my job, or I take some baby care online courses to help me prepare for motherhood, and finally I've started to find new creative skills to hone on (like this blog!) Self improvement goes a long way. You might need to wrangle some motivation, and it's definitely hard for myself, but I want this to become a lifestyle habit of mine.

3. Practice Self Care with Health and Mind

Next up, caring for your health and your mind. Before quarantine, I was an avid hiker and loved to explore new parks and places on the weekends. Now, I've been forced to change this up. During the weekday mornings, I've taken up daily prenatal yoga routines and a 15 minute meditation sesh to start my day fresh minded. Then during the day, I schedule in breaks to walk around my house with a chore or even take 15 minutes to indoor cycle on a bike. Finally, if the weather permits I try end the day at least 3 times a week with a 40 minute walk around my neighborhood. All of this moving around will get your blood moving and take your mind off things. I even schedule a call during an outdoor walk to connect with an old friend as it gives me a chance to maintain relationships. Self care is important and should be a high priority to upkeep.

4. Find Ways to Entertain Yourself

Of course, don't forget to relax, chill, and unwind a little bit. This could be crafting, puzzling, or for myself I spend a lot of time playing Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch and watch some new TV shows or movies. I think the one thing to make sure you don't do on this one is spend too much time here. You can easily binge watch a whole TV show season in day, or get carried away on a game for many hours. When you over do this last one, you'll quickly realize this is quite the way to be positive in your productivity.

These 4 everyday actions can and will help you. It's all about finding the right balance, and actually going through with it - I swear by it. Hopefully by the end of this quarantine, you can say you kept yourself busy and you were able to adapt your lifestyle for the better. :)

What to Expect

Let's start off with a few ground rules for this blog project to keep myself accountable.

1. Post content at least 1-2 times a week.

2. Content must rotate in categories to give a variety of perspectives across different themes.

3. Remember: This is a space to create. Be open to sharing whatever's top of mind, only others need to bear what is here. :)

I'm not a good writer, and I don't intend to be - this project is primarily for myself, an outlet beyond my day to day norms but I also hope that what I build here gives someone somewhere something to take away with.