Be a Body in Motion

I've tutored a bunch of kids in physics but this never really resonated with me until I thought about it in the context of my own life.

For me becoming a SAHM is an easy way to slip into "becoming a body at rest." (Not like you are actually resting because goodness knows your not!) But for me the days truly lull on sometimes: wake, change, eat, play, nap...repeat; and if you don't take the time to pick up a hobby or go on an outing then your body will "tend to stay at rest."

I've been totally guilty of it these past few days. It's been cold out and I've been kind of uninspired and so the days have been kind of lulling on. That's one of the reasons I started my Get Out of The House Week challenge, because I needed to be challenged forced into action.

Looking back over the past few days I realized that the reasons for me not getting out are entirely in my control. We've all said these things to ourselves but with a little tweak we can be prepared to counter.

Problem: "I am not prepared to leave." On Tuesday, I found myself wanting to get out of the house but I hadn't showered and my son wasn't dressed and I rationalized that by the time I managed to get all of these things done, the opportunity would be missed.  
Solution: Have a routine. If I had managed to get up at my usual time, I would have been showered and dressed; and if I got my son dressed after I changed his diaper, then we would have been all set to go whenever I wanted. Having a routine can also come in handy when trying to make plans. Knowing that my sons best and longest awake period is from 4pm until 7pm allows me to plan meet-ups, grocery trips or errands during that time because I know he is less likely to be fussy.

Problem: "I don't have anywhere to go." On Wednesday, we were ready, but I drew a blank and couldn't figure out anywhere fun to go. 
Solution: Keep a calendar of events. Yesterday, I finally sat down and started adding all of the kid events I knew of into a google calendar. For good places to find events try here. Now if I am ever looking for something to do I can check out all of the activities and see which one will fit into our schedule. In order to keep these events separate from things we will actually be attending I enter them into a gmail account I created for my son and have shared with my calendar, that way I can just hide the events when I don't need them. I also keep a little running list on my phone of places we can go, like our local hands-on museum that has a free space for babies to play or our local mall that has a kids play place. Sometimes I even just like to walk around Target, but I recently found that a better alternative was walking around our local Salvation Army (you buy a lot less, there is always interesting things to look at, and you might find something interesting for a pinterest project!)

Problem: "It's too close to naptime." On Thursday, we were ready, but I got distracted with finishing some V-day baby footprints cards (post coming soon) and by the time we were cleaned up we only had 30 minutes before my son was going to go down for his second nap. 
Solution: Go for a walk outside; (regardless of temperature, just dress appropriately.) I was surprised by how much just going for a little ten minute stroll around the block helped. It was really just nice to be outside. 


All of these tips are handy for staying busy with baby. However, more to come on how to stay busy without baby.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - What are some things that you say to yourself that prevent you from getting out of the house? What are some ways you've managed to counter?