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How often do you feel the need to calm your nerves?
Sometimes it can be a little stressful being home with a baby. Ok, maybe not just sometimes, maybe all of the time. I spend my day doing things in between taking care of Olivia. Some days, I get everything finished that I need to get done, others, not so much. On top of that, I have 2 other children that need my love and a husband that can sometimes be gone up to 12 hours a day with work and school. So I need to take a little me time every day, even if it is just for 5 minutes. Here are some of the things I do that could help you calm your nerves.
- Color: Seriously, I color. I used to just color some of the many coloring books we have lying around the house because that’s normal with children. But it didn’t always comfort me. Buying an adult coloring book helped. Smaller images with so many details calms me like nothing else. I’m not even sure why. But I enjoy it.
- Taking a Nap: Yes, guilty. Sometimes I take a nap with Olivia in the afternoons. I don’t sleep any longer than an hour, especially since Noah is only in school for a little under 3 hours. However, any little bit of time helps me feel so much better.
- Online Shopping: Ok, this isn’t the best thing for my wallet but sometimes, it is exactly what I need for my mind. I have always been and always will be a deal shopper. But the shopping is worse now that I have a daughter. So I rely on deals from my favorite places to keep me going. Have you ever shopped at Crazy 8? They don’t really have any newborn sizes but I have been shopping the clearance rack since I found out I was having a girl. Right now, you can get up to 75% off the entire site, plus an extra 20% off with code EXTRA20. I have a bunch of stuff in my cart right now. Shhhh, don’t tell my husband.
- Just Leave: If you can, just get out of the house. Sometimes I just head to Target or Meijer since both aren’t too far from the house and I can just walk around with Olivia. I tend to choose Target since they are breastfeeding friendly based on recent stories… I love it.
- Turn on a Movie: So, maybe you don’t really have the time to watch the movie but turning on something that you love will help. I tend to watch a comedy because laughter will immediately calm me down. It will probably calm you down too. If there isn’t something on TV and you don’t have time to find something, sign up for something like Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime Video. All of them have a free period so if you don’t like it, cancel before you get charged.
- Breathe: You don’t always have time to do any of the above things because the baby isn’t sleeping.. the reason you can’t stay calm. Just lay the baby down and leave the room. Breathe. Head back and start again. The baby can feel your anger, anxiety or whatever you are feeling and react to it. Just breathe.
Let me know what you do to calm your nerves because I need to add more to my list. Hopefully this helps just one of you out there.