It has been a BUSY week! I’ll admit my goals were lofty and I feel I did a pretty good job. BUT it was a reality check with my husband back at work and the kids back at school. My kindergartner needs to be dropped off and picked up from the bus stop and I take my 3 year old to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. That means I have a jam packed schedule keeping naps, meals, activities, baths and bed time on schedule. Other mom’s out there I’m sure you can relate! So here is a review of my progress made this week.
Fitness and Weight Loss: The clean eating challenge I did was actually pretty great. I’m a big believer in everything in moderation, so I don’t really buy into cut out diets. Meaning you completely cut out certain foods/drinks. The first two days I felt a little light headed and had a headache because it limited carbs and sugar. But after those first two days I felt really good and wasn’t craving anything sweet. I have a big sweet tooth so that was a change. In the 5 days I lost 3.2 lbs and 2 inches. Not bad! The only downside was the prep time for the meals and my son is a picky eater so I found myself making two meals most days. But I have to say the recipes were great and it was free through a Facebook group so I’ll definitely do it again.
I also met my workout goals for the week! Yay! Monday I played soccer, Tuesday and Thursday I did a strength training workout in my home, Wednesday I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and yesterday I had a nice cold 6 mile run in a blustery 18 degrees along Lake Ontario! Here’s a picture post run. I hope you enjoy the kids play stroller in the background!
Connections: Girls movie night scheduled for Tuesday and date night with the hubs scheduled for later in the month! Super excited for both! I did want to mention though, in my resolutions post I’ve talked a lot about my goals and plans regarding my relationships with my family, friends and husband. But I do want to point out that #1 on my priorities list would be my children. I mean, I’m a stay at home mom! I made a decision to stay home leaving a good sales job. I did that because I wanted to focus on being a Mom and to give my husband the opportunity to focus more on his career and advancement. It has been the best decision of my life, but it has not been easy! It has been an adjustment and a constant battle to find the balance in my life for me as a mother, wife and individual. That being said I thought I would add some fun updates regarding the kids. My 5 year old daughter started dance class and my 3 year old son started soccer this week. It was so great to see them excited to start new activities and enjoy being active. I know that as the months and years pass by our life and schedule is going to get even more hectic with their activities but I’m really looking forward to it!
De-cluttering/Organization: Full disclosure, this was my challenge for the week…! I fell into my old priorities putting my workouts ahead of my cleaning and organization. I have about 45 minutes to 1 & 1/2 hours a day while my 3 & 1 year olds nap to get things done. When your kids are that little its not like you can just start cleaning out the cupboards or organizing a closet without leaving them unattended. And doing anything with them is completely impossible! Being honest, I much prefer working out so that’s why I keep having these issues with home organization and up keep. My husband even pointed out that my recycling area was overflowing! The bin helped but I need to empty it daily! Even though I struggled in this area I’ve still filled 9 bags so far for my 40 bags in 40 days challenge. I know I can catch up! I decided to make a list of the areas I want to tackle so I can get more focused and set specific goals and time frames to accomplish them. I think in doing that I’ll inadvertently complete the 40 bags challenge so that’s going to be my plan.
The week ahead: Here are my goals!
- Connections:
- This coming weekend I’ll be going on a much needed girls weekend with one of my sisters, a friend and a few cousins to visit our cousin living in NYC. Very excited for the trip but that means I have limited time to get other tasks done.
- I also plan to have some planned quality time with the kids since I’ll be gone over the weekend. I’m thinking about a couple fun things like making cut out cookies and maybe watching a movie with popcorn one day after school.
- Health and Fitness:
- I plan to follow the clean eating menu for 3 days during the week.
- Soccer game and strength training two days. (I know there will be a lot of walking for cardio come the weekend!)
- Organization: Tidy the counter area that is my kids nook. (Picture below of the current state, eek!) I bought a desk calendar and two magazine bins to hold the kids stuff for school and manage our schedule but the magazine holders don’t hold papers well so I end up stacking the papers covering the calendar. It’s just a mess and nonfunctional. I also plan to move my cook books and other items in that area to cupboards. Which means I need to clean out and organize the cupboards I haven’t done yet. I’ll have an after picture once it’s done.
Here’s to another week! Until next time….. 🙂
Supermom? 
Love it!! Keep up the good work!! Xo
suggestion Thea, get a big desktop calendar that you can hang on the basement door or somewhere in the kitchen, get used to writing everything on it and when the kids are a little older and going in every direction, you’ll be in the habit, and so will they to write everything on it and to refer to it. keep up the good work! You tire me out by just reading all that you pack into a day!! 🙂
Thank you for your suggestion Debbie! That’s a great idea!
Great post! You are so brave for putting a balance sheet out there to show what you’ve done and what you want to improve!
I too, in my current place, have that kitchen corner that is a magnet for keys, mail, kids’ tchotchkes that I don’t trust them to have around the house (chapstick, gum, etc). I still don’t have a great system for mail, but I am determined not to even bring it into my kitchen once we move.
Having a place for everything is half, and committing to putting things away is the other half. If you commit to dealing with mail for 10 minutes every day, just as you probably always do the dishes, it won’t pile up (so I’ve read, ha!). This is something I really want to follow moving forward. Truth is, I HATE paper mail ( I pay everything online) and so really I’m just kind of in denial about it whenever it comes in the house. I’ve been getting better at tearing up the junk credit card offers and tossing them in the trash right away.
For kids’ papers, I bought plastic document boxes at Target – one for each kid. The papers that come home that I want to save for the year go in that box. Everything else goes in the trash. But this way the kids’ papers (hate the sheer volume!) doesn’t get too overwhelming.
I love the idea of a central calendar from Debbie, and I have to agree, this saves us! I also write a M-F agenda on a white board every week for the kids to check.
Can’t even talk about weight loss and fitness goals – they have been on hold for so long. Good for you for keeping that a priority, even above some organization! Nap times are precious!
Good luck 🙂