Keeping My Sanity

The other day, I was talking to my good friend from High School - and she asked me what I do to keep my sanity, being a stay at home mom and all. She just had her third child (he's so adorable!), and she is off work for maternity leave. I can only imagine she might be going crazy.

When I quit my job and started staying home with Jonas, I went a little crazy. I was so used to going and being super busy (a different busy than now), so it was kind of hard getting used to staying home.

I thought about her question for a second and I said "taking pictures?"  As I've thought about this for the past couple of days -What keeps me sane - I realize it's not just my photography that keeps my sane, but it all comes down to hobbies. I have developed hobbies that I love doing, and I look forward to doing - when I get time. :) And these are hobbies that I never had when I was working. When I worked my hobbies consisted of relaxing and watching tv because that was all my fried brain could handle. But now, there's so much more!

Obviously, I can only do those hobbies when Alexis is sleeping (she keeps me super busy these days when she is awake) and Jonas either "helps" me or he watches his daily movie when I do these hobbies. I've been trying to have him watch his daily movie when Alexis takes her second nap, so I have time to either do my hobbies, or the things I need to get done around the house - cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc.

I want to share some of my hobbies that I've been working on lately. Obviously I do photography. I learn new things and when my kids are playing, I am also playing - so that helps keep me sane during the day. I love capturing images that will remind me of their childhood. They grow up too fast!

 I also love cooking and finding ways to eat heart-healthy. I hardly ever repeat a recipe, unless it's a staple like pizza or spaghetti or grilled chicken with potatoes, or a really amazing dish that I tried. Clint also recently told me he was tired of eating peanut butter and honey for lunch everyday, so I made a bunch of beef, bean and cheese burritos. Which, by the way, I found some whole wheat tortillas that are amazing! And healthy. They have no fat in them - no saturated fat, no cholesterol, they have 5g fiber and 3g protein in each tortilla! And they taste good, too. They are "Maya's" brand. I have only been able to find them at Walmart, and every once and a while Winco will have them, but they are the smaller size (like a 7 inch size) at Winco. They are about $2 each bag, but so worth it! I also made a bunch of calzones and froze them for him to grab and go as well.

I also recently bottled a ton of peaches and pears. That took a while! But now Alexis eats those all the time, and I don't have to buy as much fruit baby food. Jonas will eat them occasionally. It's so hard to get him to eat sometimes! I like finding ways to make cooking easier for me, and saving money at the same time.

And I love to sew - mainly just sew things for my kids. I have been working on a car mat for Jonas for Christmas. It's going to be awesome! It takes so much work, though. I was working on it every night for a few weeks until Clint had surgery and now I haven't worked on it for a month. I need to start again so I can get it done in time for Christmas. And I also have plans to make Alexis a blanket for Christmas.

I'm going to piece them all together with "roads" made out of old jeans my mom had lying around. Plus I still need to zig zag stitch around everything and stitch in wording, and I have 3 more rectangles as well to finish. wow, that's a lot to do.

And blogging. I think it's fun to share my thoughts about my family, about me being a mother, etc. I like the writing aspect of my blog and sharing my photos. It keeps me learning, since I try to articulate my thoughts well (hopefully it comes across that way - I'm really not the best writer, my husband is so much better!) and it keeps me motivated with picture taking. Trying to come up with pictures for each post, thinking creatively and making the pics interesting, etc.

I do like to exercise because it feels good when you're done, but these hobbies are more fun than exercising. Although, I've been exercising quite a bit lately. Like 3 times a week. But if I exercise, I do it at night, and that's usually when I work on Jonas's car mat, because I don't want him to see it if I do it during the day. It's so hard to manage all my hobbies I want to do with little time. Ha ha! Maybe I try to do to much, and that's why I feel busy, on top of taking care of kids. But it's fun and it keeps my sanity.

There you have it. Those things keep me sane, plus other stuff. Like having a mostly consistent schedule so Jonas and Alexis know what to expect and are happy, naps, going outside to play, keeping my house clean enough, playing with my kids so they are happy, etc. If the kids are happy, mom is happy. :)

I just really enjoy having hobbies.