Self care.

Self care is so hard.  It's hard for anyone in this "go go go" society, but once you're a mom, it feels almost impossible. It can seem selfish to take care of yourself when you're constantly taking care of someone else. So if you take the 20 minutes- 2 hours to do something for your own health like running, going to the chiropractor, or doing some yoga, somebody might get hurt or be unhappy or this or that. Ay yai yai.

Finding the balance  is difficult, but necessary.  Before I became a mother, I used to think, "How can some moms just let them selves go so much?  Go work out!"  If only I knew how difficult that is!  It seems pretty simple, but oh boy, it isn't.

 One day you say, "I'm going to run at least 4x a week."  So day 1 of running starts and you're feeling great!  You try again another day and 10 minutes in, the baby or toddler is not so happy in the stroller anymore.  Another day, you try to do an exercise video and your little one climbs all over you or steals your weights.  Then you want to go do laps, and you ask a relative to babysit, but nap time all of a sudden becomes an issue that one day and you miss your window.  Am I right?  There's always something ;).  I personally would rather be there for my daughter than be in perfect shape,  but it would be nice if I could figure out both. 

Not all kids are the same and I sometimes get jealous of the kid that will be perfectly happy for hours in a stroller or who will fall asleep for other people besides their mama.  But I love my daughter just the way she is and she'll only be little for a short amount of time in the grand scheme of life. And little by little, I'll be able to take care of myself more & more as she gets older. Until then, I'll stick to my bigger pants.