I am blogging a series about a two week online course I am taking called Makeover Your Mornings. If you would like to read my other posts on this course, click here for Part One.
Lesson 4: I got into bed a bit after my set bedtime last night, but I still woke up closer to my wake up time. Yay! I actually woke up excited to do yoga. I used to do it in college and when we had a Y membership, but I haven't done this type of exercise in a while. I dusted off the old yoga mat and turned on some soft ocean music and just did my own set of stretches and poses. It felt good, especially after my little jog yesterday (I was a bit sore/stiff). Being able to get in a little bit of fun exercise and having time to prepare a healthy breakfast are two of my incentives for making over my morning. I just have to share an idea I found for overnight oatmeal in a jar. I got a little too excited about oatmeal when I watched this video. I tried it this morning, and it truly was quick and easy + my 9 year old loved it cold! Enjoy!
Lesson 5: It was Saturday today, and I did get up pretty early so that I could walk the neighborhood this morning befor breakfast. That first part of the early summer morning really does feel lovely. I don't know what I'll do when the weather turns cold and I have to move all my exercise indoors. Today, I started writing down some big goals I have for myself, and I got my husband's input on some areas as well. Breaking these goals down into smaller steps will probably take me a few days.
Lesson 6: I continued working on breaking down my goals today. My areas where I have set goals for myself are My wellness, My marriage, Ivelina, Home Schooling, and Finances. I have a few goals for each area that I am breaking down into smaller monthly steps. I don't really enjoy goal setting, so I am trying to make my first set of goals really doable and simple.I'm most excited about my goal for our marriage: plan one date per month (without Ivelina). We are just getting to the point where she has been home for a year and we feel comfortable letting her stay with other people for a while. In fact, this week, she will begin staying with a friend during the mornings while I am at work. Additionally, this coming weekend, Ivelina will have her first overnight experience away from home. She will be staying with her grandpa, and Jeremy and I are planning a date! Quality time is my love language, so I am stoked about some time with just him!
Lesson 7: I got up a bit later than I was supposed to today, but I still did my entire morning routine and had Ivelina ready by 7:45 a.m. Tomorrow, when it is a work day for all of us, I will need to get us all out the door by 7:20 a.m. Today's lesson was about having an accountability partner to hold me to my goals that I am setting for myself. My husband can be one of these people, and I already have one friend who is sort of an accountability partner for me in some areas of my life. I'm hoping between the two of them, I can stick to most of my goals!
The thing I am loving the most so far about my changes to my mornings is the extra time I have to walk/jog in my neighborhood by myself in the quiet of the morning. It allows me time to think and pray over my day. I return home and have some time to read my Bible. It has been refreshingly better than rolling out of bed to a child that is already awake and immediately taking care of her before I have even been to the bathroom! Let the makeover continue!
Showing posts with label wellness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wellness. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Makeover Your Mornings (Part 1) - Change is on the horizon
Change is just around the bend for us Moorhouses. After some time of searching for a better job opportunity, my husband, Jeremy, has secured a new full-time job that he will be starting next week. There are so many benefits to this job I cannot even name them all. One BIG benefit is for the first time in his life, he will be working an 8-5 job. He has always worked a 4-12 midnight kind of schedule, and boy are we excited to change that!
His new job means big changes for our family too. I am working four mornings a week over the summer, which means Ivelina will need childcare. Starting next week, she will be staying with a friend/neighbor who has four little girls. It's the perfect place for her, but I am still nervous about the transition. All these upcoming changes are good changes, but I have known for a while that one area of my life really needs to benefit from some good change too.
For a long time, I have been frustrated by my mornings. On mornings when I do go to work, I have to drag myself out of bed only to find Ivelina is already awake. My hubby has usually slept longer because his schedule has always made him get home at midnight or 1 a.m. I'm usually running around for an hour trying to get Ivie ready, breakfast ready, and the dog cared for before I head out the door. It's frantic. It's stressful at times. Sometimes it make me grumpy. And, I'm already tired by the time I leave my house. Plus, I am always 5-10 minutes late for work...eek!
On the days when I'm off, getting ready to start the home school day isn't any better. Because it is my day off, I feel like I "owe it to myself" to sleep in a little. So, I wake up later, and by the time we eat breakfast and get everyone ready, it's 10 a.m.! I know home school is flexible and all, but in my heart, I want us to be starting before 10! It makes the whole morning feel rushed, and I feel lazy & guilty for wasting away those precious morning hours.
All this being said, I know as our family transitions into this new routine and new schedule, I want to make some changes to our times together to make them less stressful and more meaningful. I discovered a sale the other day for an online course called Makeover Your Mornings, and my first thought was, "I need that!" The course only cost me $7. It came with a downloadable workbook and video links for each of the 14 lessons. I have only completed 3 lessons, but it is totally transforming the way I think about my time.
Below is a recap of my thoughts for the first three lessons.
Lesson One: Today's lesson was an introduction. I told my husband about my plans to commit to this course. He agreed that with his new schedule change, he would love for us to all be on the same page, eating breakfast and dinner together, and getting up a little earlier so we do not feel so rushed out the door each morning. He added that more structure and routine is a good thing for our daughter too. He supported my idea to make over our morning routine! I'm excited to get things started!
Lessons Two: Today, I learned that I need to set a bedtime for myself. I've been really guilty of waiting up for my husband to get home from work even on nights when I have to be at work early the next morning! I also need to establish a nighttime routine for myself. I have always been pretty consistent about packing my lunch and choosing my outfit the night before, but with the upcoming changes of getting all three of out the door by 7:15 each morning, there are definitely more things I could be doing at night to help the morning run smoother. I have written down my nighttime routine, and I can't wait to try it! I am a little skeptical about getting up earlier because I have always had such a hard time with that; however, I believe the reason why I have always had a hard time getting up earlier is because I don't go to bed early enough. For right now, I have set my bedtime to 9:30. We'll see how it goes!
Lesson Three: So...last night I did much better and did go to bed at 9:30. I thought I would just lay there for two hours trying to fall asleep, but that did not happen. This morning, I cheated a little. My ideal getting up time that I have set for myself is 5:30a.m. I know that sounds crazy, right? When my alarm went off, it was so dark I reset it for 5:50a.m. It will take me a while to adjust to waking when it's still dark. On the positive side, though, I had time to do devotions, exercise, and shower before the little one was up! That made me feel really accomplished! Pushing snooze for twenty minutes snuck up to bite me, though, when the last 15 minutes before heading out the door was a bit of a frenzy. I had to eat the breakfast I had prepared and still needed to throw my hair up, do make-up, and brush my teeth. One funny note: I decided for my exercise today to do a little walk/jog around my neighborhood. I thought surely I would be the only one out that early, but as soon as I got on the road I encountered three different neighbors who wished me good morning and asked what I was doing up so early. Ha! So there are other people crazy enough to be out and about at dawn. That fact made me feel better. I hope that after the two week course, my body will adjust to this new schedule, and I will be able to figure out my best rhythm.
His new job means big changes for our family too. I am working four mornings a week over the summer, which means Ivelina will need childcare. Starting next week, she will be staying with a friend/neighbor who has four little girls. It's the perfect place for her, but I am still nervous about the transition. All these upcoming changes are good changes, but I have known for a while that one area of my life really needs to benefit from some good change too.
For a long time, I have been frustrated by my mornings. On mornings when I do go to work, I have to drag myself out of bed only to find Ivelina is already awake. My hubby has usually slept longer because his schedule has always made him get home at midnight or 1 a.m. I'm usually running around for an hour trying to get Ivie ready, breakfast ready, and the dog cared for before I head out the door. It's frantic. It's stressful at times. Sometimes it make me grumpy. And, I'm already tired by the time I leave my house. Plus, I am always 5-10 minutes late for work...eek!
On the days when I'm off, getting ready to start the home school day isn't any better. Because it is my day off, I feel like I "owe it to myself" to sleep in a little. So, I wake up later, and by the time we eat breakfast and get everyone ready, it's 10 a.m.! I know home school is flexible and all, but in my heart, I want us to be starting before 10! It makes the whole morning feel rushed, and I feel lazy & guilty for wasting away those precious morning hours.
All this being said, I know as our family transitions into this new routine and new schedule, I want to make some changes to our times together to make them less stressful and more meaningful. I discovered a sale the other day for an online course called Makeover Your Mornings, and my first thought was, "I need that!" The course only cost me $7. It came with a downloadable workbook and video links for each of the 14 lessons. I have only completed 3 lessons, but it is totally transforming the way I think about my time.
Below is a recap of my thoughts for the first three lessons.
Lesson One: Today's lesson was an introduction. I told my husband about my plans to commit to this course. He agreed that with his new schedule change, he would love for us to all be on the same page, eating breakfast and dinner together, and getting up a little earlier so we do not feel so rushed out the door each morning. He added that more structure and routine is a good thing for our daughter too. He supported my idea to make over our morning routine! I'm excited to get things started!
Lessons Two: Today, I learned that I need to set a bedtime for myself. I've been really guilty of waiting up for my husband to get home from work even on nights when I have to be at work early the next morning! I also need to establish a nighttime routine for myself. I have always been pretty consistent about packing my lunch and choosing my outfit the night before, but with the upcoming changes of getting all three of out the door by 7:15 each morning, there are definitely more things I could be doing at night to help the morning run smoother. I have written down my nighttime routine, and I can't wait to try it! I am a little skeptical about getting up earlier because I have always had such a hard time with that; however, I believe the reason why I have always had a hard time getting up earlier is because I don't go to bed early enough. For right now, I have set my bedtime to 9:30. We'll see how it goes!
Lesson Three: So...last night I did much better and did go to bed at 9:30. I thought I would just lay there for two hours trying to fall asleep, but that did not happen. This morning, I cheated a little. My ideal getting up time that I have set for myself is 5:30a.m. I know that sounds crazy, right? When my alarm went off, it was so dark I reset it for 5:50a.m. It will take me a while to adjust to waking when it's still dark. On the positive side, though, I had time to do devotions, exercise, and shower before the little one was up! That made me feel really accomplished! Pushing snooze for twenty minutes snuck up to bite me, though, when the last 15 minutes before heading out the door was a bit of a frenzy. I had to eat the breakfast I had prepared and still needed to throw my hair up, do make-up, and brush my teeth. One funny note: I decided for my exercise today to do a little walk/jog around my neighborhood. I thought surely I would be the only one out that early, but as soon as I got on the road I encountered three different neighbors who wished me good morning and asked what I was doing up so early. Ha! So there are other people crazy enough to be out and about at dawn. That fact made me feel better. I hope that after the two week course, my body will adjust to this new schedule, and I will be able to figure out my best rhythm.
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