Friday, September 21, 2012

How do moms do it?

Back in February I decided that I wanted to take my blog to "the next level" this year. Among other things, that meant posting three times a week. But then I stopped writing altogether for the next three months. And all of the post ideas that usually float around in my head dried up. I finally started "writing" in my head again recently and have slowly been getting more ideas. But how do you write with a toddler around?

I hardly ever sit down at the computer to anymore. I'm adjusting to the limited social media, but my 'work' is piling up! Someone at our house is almost always getting screen time, so if 2Flowers isn't watching Elmo on the desktop or playing with a smartphone, then someone else in the house is using the desktop or a smartphone.

I've gotten to the point where I am only willing to work on the computer for more than three minutes if 2Flowers is not awake. But she is awake more often than I am at this point in the pregnancy! I can't stay up later than her. I rarely wake up before her (and when I do there are things like dishes that need to be done). I feel guilty doing screen time while Lost Boy is home because even though 2Flowers is distracted from me, we only see him for a few hours a day and me working on the computer is not quality time.

How do work-at-home-moms get their work done? I'm not a work-at-home-mom, but I'd kind of like to go in that direction. I am in awe of the moms that are able to be productive from home.

From what I've gathered, it is all about having:
  1. discipline (which I don't have),
  2. a place to work (my workstation is in the middle of the living room), and 
  3. routine/consistency (which I cannot get the hang of!)
I remember reading about one mom who wrote a book in five minute increments, because that is all the time she could ever get at one go. I'd rather work for 1-2 hours at a time, but maybe that isn't realistic?


2 comments:

  1. I had to set up a designated "office" area where I could be closed off from Kaelyn so she couldn't get a hold of my papers. My desk area is gated off, so she still comes up to the gate and talks to me, but she can't try to climb in my lap or pull things off my desk.

    I find I'm most productive is I can get her occupied and self-entertained with something. Movies work great for that (lately we've been watching documentaries). So does rotating her toys and pulling out something that has been put away for awhile. Its like a brand new toy then and she's much more interested in it. Also if I spend some quality time interacting with her before I try to work, she's much more likely to play happily on her own for awhile.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree that routine/consistency probably play a huge part in it. And I agree that you may need to change your expectations for yourself. Obviously 1-2 hrs isn't really in the picture right now, but I bet as you keep working on your routine you may be able to do 10 minutes a day or something like that. When I was prego and napping etc I was able to get one new post on my veggie blog a week and sometime not even that. And I'm still working on getting back up to 2 or 3 posts a week. Just remember not to let it take over time with family. That's what I try to remember when I feel like my blog is stagnant...my family matters more :) And this is Karen.

    ReplyDelete