TGIF!!! Holy smokes, this week got the better of me. No idea what was going on but I was exhausted, on the verge of tears sometimes, grumpy, and distracted. Heading into the long weekend with a more positive outlook after a great night of sleep last night 🙂 Thank goodness!! Weird feelings. Happy May Long weekend!!

In belated honour of mother’s day last week, I wanted to share 14 things today that help me to be a better mom. These are personal and they are just things that work for me. But who knows – whether you’re a parent or not, something here might resonate with you too 🙂 Being a mother is just one part of my life, but sometimes it can feel very all-consuming so I was happy to take the chance to reflect on it here.

1) Working part-time – I’m not cut out to be a stay at home mom, I don’t think. NOT that there is anything wrong with that choice. I also found life to be very overwhelming with babies and working full-time. So when my current position became available at 60%, this was really the best of both worlds for our family. My husband’s job is often extremely stressful so this works for us. I won’t work part-time forever, and I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do this even if they wanted to, so I try not to take it for granted.

2) Wine – every once in awhile. Especially helped relax with a newborn from time to time 🙂

3) Coffee – 2 a day at exact intervals. ❤

4) Sleep – for me and for the kids. We have strict bedtime routines for our kids and I try to get 7 1/2 hours per night if I can – it makes SUCH a big difference in our energy levels and mood.

5) Yoga – once a week at a formal class which is incredible, but a couple of nights a week on my own. Even just taking the time to take deep breaths when I am frustrated really helps.

6) Simply on Purpose on FB and Instagram – I love her and her parenting advice. Truly inspring.

7) Screen time limits – again, this one isn’t for everyone and I respect that, but our girls know that they only get maximum three shows on Netflix per day or a movie on a weekend, and that means that they are not constantly bugging me to watch something all day long if they have already had that time. It is usually in the afternoon and much less on weekdays when we have limited time together as a family. It works for us so far (I’m not naïve enough to assume this will always be the case ;)). We also have designated times when my husband and I are not with our phones – aka at the dinner table, for instance.

8) 3 in 30 Takeaways for Moms podcast – I just started listening to this a few weeks ago and I am obsessed. Each episodes is approximately 30 mins long and gives you three immediate take aways to implement with your parenting, if you choose to do so. Amazing guests and discussions.

9) Having mom friends – I recently made an amazing mom friend. I am so happy to have this person in my life because she has girls who are similar ages to my own and they all play well together. We have similar parenting ideas and values. It is amazing. A lot of my friends are mothers now and I love having people that can relate to it. That being said – any friend is a great friend – being a mom isn’t a requirement!!!

10) Quality time with my husband and with each child – This is 2/3 of my family members’ love language (my husband and my oldest daughter). My youngest daughter’s is probably physical affection – she is soooo cuddly 😉

11) Saying yes if I can – Cup of Jo posted about this recently and I found myself nodding along. Why not say yes if there’s no harm in doing so? There are so many “no” moments but I’d like to add some yes moments every day whenever I can.

12) Exercise and fresh air – the cure for everything, sometimes.

13) Different meals – lots of people out there disagree with this, but for us, what works right now is having slightly different meals than the kids. We like sauce! And spicy things! The kids don’t. We eat low carb mostly – the kids do not. For suppers, I make a plain-ish meat, a side for us, and a side for the kids. (EASY sides). Then some vegetables that are either raw chopped veggies for the kids or frozen veggies. It’s a bit more time consuming but it keeps us all healthy, so it works?!

14) Music & dance parties – as often and as silly as possible. Music really makes everything better. Everyone grumpy one morning? Hard to be grumpy when you are listening to Disney songs! Just my humble opinion 😉