Maintaining a sense of self + being productive in quarantine with a child.

 

For the most part of this "new normal", we have all been thrown into, I have remained pretty sane and content in quarantine at home. This is mostly due to the fact that I was already at home most days doing the same thing before the COVID-19 outbreak. I was already not working for a whole year, I became a stay at home mom last May and have been chilling since (what a perfect time for the shelter in place)! Now that the COVID-19 cases here in San Antonio have skyrocketed, I feel even more inclined to just chill and do other things while I have all this extra time. Shops, restaurants, and bars are closed, tubing, and beaches are off-limits, so getting creative and not having to get dressed for ANYTHING are what the days now consist of. 

Put the tablet and phone away

Sounds like common sense right? Well, try it, if not all day, for the first few hours of your day. I get it, you're bored, or feel like you don't have anything else to do, so tapping on to Facebook to see what the world is up to intrigues you, but I guarantee you're going to wake up to someone posting "JUST WEAR YOUR F****** MASK!", or someone negatively posting the new number of cases of COVID-19. You don't need to feed your worries. Aside from social media, for the most part, I get bored just laying in bed or on the couch watching Netflix or Hulu the majority of the day. You want to remain productive and active throughout the day to avoid getting in a slump or feeling lazy. I've found that walking around with my hair undone in sweatpants with yesterday's t-shirt on, just weighed me down and contributed to my groggy attitude and "tired" mindset. It wasn't until I changed clothes, washed up, and set down the iPad that I became revived. Wake up, wash up, have a quick snack, and go for a walk, or if you can't, sit and have a morning stretch. I do this most days and my daughter just assumes I'm getting ready for playtime. If you're newly working from home, I get it, you have a lot to do, but what could be better than having your kids home & happy to be spending a little extra time with?

Invest in a baby carrier

Since the birth of Jael (my daughter), I have used a baby carrier pretty much every day. It has been a lifesaver for me. I use a Boba X carrier which has been a breeze to use, even on my own. There's just the right amount of clips and harnesses to get the correct fit as your baby grows and the plus is that it is breastfeeding friendly! I've used my carrier to help get things done around the house as well as walk the dog. As a matter of fact, I'm using the carrier right now to type this post as baby sleeps! Sometimes Jael gets in her mommy moods, where she just wants to cuddle and stick to my hip so the carrier definitely comes in handy at the instances where I'm in the middle of something.

You can find the link to the Boba website HERE, particularly the Boba x carriers, though they do sell other carrier types such as the 4g, Air, and baby wraps.

Nap time means ME TIME 

Baby girl is pretty good with her naps. They are pretty darn consistent and really it's mainly an all-natural routine we've go into. Since she's been born, I've let her lead the way. I was never caught up on doing things at a certain time, whether that be snacks, reading time, playtime, bath time, etc. Thankfully it's all worked out! While for the most part, I am able to do other ME activities while she's awake and preoccupied, nap time for us usually is around 25-45 minutes, which gives me a good amount of time to start switching gears.

What are your interests and hobbies? If they involve going out and socializing, find this time to create new ones! Painting has grown to be one of my favorite things to do. I really just like to paint shapes, dots and lines and call it my "art". HA! that sounds like every painting, but really, my paintings are just colored lines with some dots in the mix. Above is a photo of our dining area, where most of the wall is filled with my scribbles of paint and others done by boyfriend (a much better artist than me).

If you don't have any paper, or canvases, get creative and find other things to paint over! I just recently painted one of our small terracotta pots, which  I think turned out pretty cool and I painted over one of my daughters lacing boards, which I felt was too distracting.

 

Start an indoor or outdoor garden

You don't need my list here to suggest that. Starting an indoor/outdoor garden or buying plants to fill your home seems to be what everyone is doing at the moment and for good reason. It's calming, brightens up any space and provides you time to nurture and care for another life. While this may be beneficial to us momma's looking for some escapism from whatever it is we have going on, involving our kiddos in this activity is a great learning opportunity for them! Our kids are naturally interested in what we do. They observe and absorb our actions on the daily, so why not involve them in taking an active role in our home. Watering, checking soil, and leaf dusting are all simple actions our kids can begin with. With consistency, our kids will gradually learn to properly care for plants with little help. The takeaway we get from this is more one on one time, while we build on our kids patience, respect and responsibility.