I’ve been working from home with kids around ever since I started my blog almost seven years ago. I started when I had a five-month-old baby, worked through having another baby (18-months apart from my first), and then worked through having a third baby two-and-a-half years later.

It’s hard finding time to sit down at my computer and work when I’ve got three young kids who need a lot of attention and care. But it’s something I’ve had to figure out in order to help support our family.

With schools closing for who knows how long, I know a lot of working moms are suddenly finding themselves having to manage working from home while taking care of their kids. No matter how old your kids are, this can be a struggle.

I wanted to share some of my tips for working from home with kids for all those mamas who are feeling overwhelmed with everything that’s going on right now. Hopefully some of what I’ve learned can help ease this weird, difficult situation we’re all in right now!

Tips for Working from Home with Kids

Accept that you’re going to be busy

The life of a work-at-home mom is a busy one. You have to be efficient about your time if you’re going to get everything done. Downtime you usually use for watching TV might need to be used for work, and that’s okay. This is a weird, new thing we’re trying to figure out, and routines are going to be interrupted for a while.

Sit at the table and work while your kids color or do school work

Depending on your workload and profession, you may have to fit in work whenever you can. Sometimes that means working with your kids around you while they do something quiet, and the dining table is a great place to gather and work together!

Schedule when you’re going to work

If you have a set time scheduled to work, it’s easier to follow through and enjoy the rest of your day. Schedule a few hours after lunch to get work in, or a few hours in the morning while kids play. Scheduling the time you’re going to work helps you feel more committed and makes it easier to actually work when the time comes.

Work when your kids are sleeping

If you’re a morning person, get some work done before the kids are up. If you’re more of a night owl, stay up after the kids are in bed and work. And if your kids still nap, work during nap time! I don’t wake up early or stay up late unless I have a lot of work to catch up on, and I usually only stay up at night because I am not a morning person, but if this will work for you, take advantage of it!

Set up a work space

If you don’t have a home office, set up a designated space for work. A space where you don’t have to clean up all you’re working on every time you take a break, where you can have some privacy and focus on your work instead of what the kids are watching on TV. We’ve used one of our bedrooms as an office for the last few years and it’s made a big difference in my productivity.

Remember this won’t be forever

This is just a temporary situation. No one can say how long it will last, but it’s going to get better one day. Kids will go back to school, parents will go back to work. Do what you have to to make it work.

Remember you aren’t alone

Nothing like this has ever happened in our lifetimes, so we’re all feeling the same way. We’re all just trying to do our best to make things as normal as possible for our kids while keeping them and us safe and still doing our jobs, whether that be full-time mommin’ or working from home for the first time. It sucks a little bit, but we’re all going through this together, and there are lots of other mamas you can reach out to who can relate.

Utilize quiet time

Quiet time is still a struggle for me with my oldest, but we’re working on it! Set a timer for quiet time when you work so kids can see how much time they have left, and then check in on them a few times. Quiet time doesn’t have to be super elaborate or full of pre-planned, themed activities. It can be as simple as doing some mazes, word searches, or color-by-numbers, playing a puzzle game, doing an actual puzzle, reading, or building a town with LEGOs. If you have younger ones, I’ve also put together some great ideas for quiet time with toddlers.

Give yourself grace

It’s okay if your kids watch a lot of TV so you can get your work done and support your family. It’s okay if everyone stays in their pajamas all day and you have cereal for dinner. You’re doing what you have to right now, and nobody can tell you the right way or the wrong way to get through this. Be patient with yourself, and if you have a rough day, the good news is that you can try again tomorrow! You’ve got this!

Set up a rewards system

When your kids are good at playing on their own (especially during quiet time), reward them. It can be something as simple as an extra snack or an extra episode of their favorite TV show. You can come up with a different rewards system for each kid, or stick with the same thing. I’m all about bribes and sometimes there’s no way I can have time to work without them.

Put on a movie and lock the door when you have calls to make

Remember that video that circulated a while ago of the guy on TV who was working from home and his kids burst in during an interview? Don’t be that guy! If you have conference calls or video calls or team calls, put a movie on for your kids and then make sure there’s a locked door in between you and your kids. That way you won’t have any interruptions.

This last week has been the weirdest week of my life. Regular things are so completely different, and it’s been hard for me to adjust. Fortunately, my kids are adjusting to being home just fine! They’re so resilient!

If you’re among the many moms who are now working from home instead of in an office, I hope these tips will be helpful. Working from home with kids can be a challenge, but it’s one that you can absolutely overcome. Figure out what works for you and cling to that. Stay positive, look for the good, and don’t falter. You’re awesome, amazing, and you’re going to get through this!

Check out the other posts in my Stuck at Home series here:

• 36 Things to Do With Kids
• 10 Things to Watch With Kids
• 35 Things to Cook With Kids
• 7 Ways to Stay Connected With Friends and Family

The post Working From Home with Kids appeared first on Life With My Littles.

A few months ago, I was stuck. Not like having-a-hard-time-finishing-a-blog post stuck, but like what-am-I-even-doing-and-how-am-I-going-to-keep-doing-this stuck. It was rough. 

I felt stuck, and I was having a hard time figuring out how to stop feeling stuck and get things back on track. I felt lost and like I didn’t know where I wanted to go with my blog, like there was just not enough time in the day to get everything done that I wanted, and like I was losing my motivation and desire to keep this space going. The little behind-the-scenes things that I have to do to keep my site running and get my posts out there were draining me and making it hard to keep going.

I’m assuming if you’re reading this, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Everybody has times in their lives when they feel stuck. It might be in your job, in your relationships, in your responsibilities, or in achieving your goals. Sometimes giving up and walking away seems like less work than continuing to figure it out and solve the problem. 

You may have guessed that since I’m still here writing I figured it out and got un-stuck. There were a few things that completely turned it around for me, and today, I want to share them with you. I want to tell you how to stop feeling stuck, get your motivation back, and find fulfillment in your life!

And if you’re thinking that I’m only talking about blogging, I’m not. You can apply these tips to stop feeling stuck in whatever it is you’re stuck in, and I’m positive they’ll help!

Here we go!

How to Stop Feeling Stuck

1. Give yourself a break.

Take a step back, whether that’s for a day or for a week or two. It’s okay to need a break, and depending on what it is you’re stuck in, you can give yourself a long one or a short one. Obviously if you’re feeling stuck in something like motherhood you can’t really take a week off, but you can ask your husband to take over for a night while you go to dinner and a movie by yourself. There’s always a way to give yourself a break.

I love writing and creating content to help other mamas enjoy their lives, but I also needed to remember that my priority is to my family and my health, and when those things suffer, I need to step back and give myself a break!

2. Remember your why.

This is a biggie. No matter what it is you’re stuck in, there’s a reason you got started in it in the first place. Sometimes our “why” gets swallowed up in all the menial tasks we have to do, and we forget what really led us to that thing in the first place. 

One afternoon I sat down with a pen and a piece of paper and wrote down my why, where I want to go (basically what I want to accomplish in the future), why I couldn’t stop, and what was holding me back. Sure, I knew all these things in my mind, but it was a total game-changer to see them written down on paper (especially the “what’s holding me back?” answers).

3. Make a plan.

Your plan might be one or two steps or it might be ten. You can start from the beginning or you can start from the end and work your way back. Sometimes even just having a few simple things you know you can do is enough to get you un-stuck. Look at your answers to “what’s holding me back?” and “where do I want to go?” and use the solutions to make a plan. 

Doing all of this was kind of my plan, and it helped a lot. I also decided to cut back in a few places and give myself some slack (which is why I’m only posting once a week and doing one Honest Birth post per month now). I realized that I needed more time so I needed to be more intentional with my time. I also felt burned out so I decided to take breaks and try and remember that I don’t have to squeeze work into every bit of free time I have. 

It’s okay if you aren’t sure if your plan will work or if it seems more like a starting point than an actual plan. You have to start somewhere, and the rest of the steps will help you figure it out!

4. See how it works for a week or two.

Test it out! You may have struck gold or it may need a little bit of tweaking. You’re not going to know until you try your plan out. Follow your plan for a few weeks and see what happens!

5. Adjust your plan.

If your plan is going pretty well but it could be better, adjust it! Maybe you need to find more time or get some help. Find a way to do so. Maybe your plan is crap and hasn’t helped at all (I hope not!). Trash it and make a new plan. Not every plan will be great on the first try, but that’s okay! You have to be proactive about getting un-stuck because it’s not just going to happen on its own.

I recognized that my plan was going great. I was less stressed, felt like I had more time for my family (which was a big part of me being stuck), and I was enjoying blogging more. I actually haven’t made any adjustments yet, but I may soon with summer vacation right around the corner! 

6. Get help. 

It could be hiring an employee, asking a friend to watch the kids for one morning a week, inviting your husband or kids to pick up a few chores, or just finding someone to vent to. We’re not meant to do everything alone, and the bigger the aspiration, the bigger the team you’ll need. Getting help will look different for everyone, so figure out what it means to you and jump on it!

7. Re-evaluate.

Just because your plan is working for the first month or two, doesn’t mean it will continue to work down the line. Every so often re-evaluate how things are going. Like I said, I’m probably going to have to re-evaluate my plan once school is out and my kids are home during quiet time, and that’s okay. Different seasons in life call for different plans. 

You can do it!

Things can seem pretty bleak when you’re stuck. And figuring out how to stop feeling stuck is hard on your own. Hopefully these seven tips can help you get back on track and help remind you why you started the thing you’re stuck in in the first place. They worked for me and I really hope the work for you, too! 

There’s a time and a season for all things. You don’t have to run faster than you have strength, and you don’t have to chase every single one of your goals right now. Nobody can do it all, and no matter how put together we all seem, we’re all constantly figuring out how to make things work. And that’s fine.

You’re amazing and you can do it and you’ve got this, mama!

The post How to Stop Feeling Stuck appeared first on Life With My Littles.

As a married mom of three with a successful business I run from home, I’m often asked about finding balance in motherhood.

“How do you balance having three kids and finding time for yourself?”

“How do you balance staying-at-home and working-from-home?”

“How do you balance taking care of your family and your house?”

“How do you balance your relationship with your husband and being a mom?”

“How do you balance all the things!?”

Time, relationships, hobbies, work, to-do lists; there are a lot of things that moms try to “balance.” But before we get any further here, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

There is no such thing as balance. You can’t do it all.

GASP.

I know. It might be hard to believe, but nobody can successfully parent their children, maintain a romantic relationship with their spouse, keep a clean house, run a business, buy groceries and make dinner every night, and still find time to read or paint or go to school or exercise. You can’t do it all. There’s just not enough time.

And let me stop you before you give me that “we all have the same hours in a day” crap. Sure, Beyoncé has done incredible things with those same 24 hours in a day, but I’m 1000% sure that she has a nanny, a chef, a house cleaner, and a personal trainer. She’s not actually doing it all, either.

The actual word balance means having an even distribution, remaining upright and steady, or something in equal proportion. But in motherhood, that does not exist. You can try to have everything, do everything, and never say no to helping anyone, but at some point you’re going to start tipping and eventually things will come crashing down in a big heaping mess. You can’t spend even amounts of time parenting and working and cleaning, you aren’t always going to be at the top of your game, and you’re going to have moments when you wonder how you’re going to survive. That’s how motherhood works.

Mamas, there’s no such thing as balance in motherhood. I wish I had a better answer for you, but it’s true. It’s a little misleading to perpetuate the idea that there is such a thing as balance in motherhood. It leads to mamas feeling like they’re not doing enough, like they’re not measuring up, and like they’re failing. Nobody wants to feel that way.

Every season of motherhood comes with different challenges. The baby years require different things than toddler years, preschool years, elementary years, and definitely the teenage years. Oftentimes as soon as you find your stride and feel like you know what you’re doing, some new challenge will come along and mess up your routine. You have to constantly be adapting and changing and evolving.

So I propose that instead of trying to find balance in motherhood, we try to manage motherhood.

You’re going to have to let things go. Channel your inner Elsa, Mama. Sit down and think about (or write down!) what your priorities are. Figure out what you absolutely have to do and what matters most to you. You have to feed your children, but nobody said it has to be an organic, from-scratch meal every night. But then again if that’s important to you, make it a priority. I’ve made running a priority so I wake everyone up an hour early and we go to the gym before dropping my son off at kindergarten. My business is also important to me, so sometimes I stay up late after everyone has gone to bed to get work done. I can function fine with less sleep so I’ve had to let go of sleeping until 8 every day. You’re going to have to drop a few things, even things you enjoy, but remember that one day you’ll be able to pick them up again. Sometimes things are going to be a little messy. You might decide that helping your son with his homework is more important than doing the dishes or that reading a book to your toddler is more important than folding a load of laundry. That’s okay. Motherhood isn’t supposed to be neat and tidy all the time. Motherhood is messy from day one. Accept that you can’t do everything, decide where your priorities are, and let a few things go. It will help take a huge weight off your shoulders when you realize and accept that you don’t have to do it all.

Decide what you think success is. Not what your mom thinks is successful, not what Sally from mom’s club thinks is successful, but what success means to you. That’s where your game plan is going to come from. For example, let’s take cleaning. If having a clean home is important to you and makes you a successful mom, think about what clean means to you and focus on those things. When my floors are clean, my kitchen counters are cleared off, and my kids’ toys are picked up. I feel like my house is clean. So to be successful in having a clean home, I make sure those things are done at the end of the day. I don’t stress about having every inch of my house clean because mama ain’t got time for that, and neither do you. You define your own success.

Find shortcuts. Find small ways to save yourself time and energy. I’ve been using Walmart grocery pick-up for over two years and it has made grocery shopping so much easier (shopping with young kids is a no go) and saves me A LOT of time. My husband also bought me an iRobot to vacuum our floors and I love that thing like family. Once a day DJ Roomba vacuums our kitchen, dining, and entry area, and I don’t have to worry about the kids making a mess with their meals or sweeping every day. I also like to freeze big recipes so we can heat them up later and we don’t end up throwing away a bunch of leftover food. Find shortcuts that you can take in your life to help save time and energy so you have more to spend doing other things in your day.

Do what works for you, not other people. This sounds obvious, but we’ve all tried to make something work because some expert or celebrity swears by it, even though making it work is causing us more stress. I tried using a cleaning schedule but it stressed me out because I felt like it was just adding to my to-do list every day. Now I do things as needed and it works for me.  If getting a house cleaner once a week is going to help you, find a way to make room in your budget and do it. If eating out the three times a week your kids have after-school activities helps you stop stressing about dinner, do it. If folding laundry while babywearing helps your baby get in a good nap and keeps you feeling productive, go for it. It might take some trial and error to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t, but that’s okay. You’ll figure it out and each time you do, things will get a little simpler.

Instead of looking at what you didn’t accomplish in a day, look at what you did. This one is huge for me. I’m a big list person, and I make lots of to-do lists (I’m also forgetful so this helps me remember what I need to do!). But being a list person can be tough because if I don’t get a lot of things done, I feel unaccomplished (even if I did one big thing that took all day). What has helped me is changing my perspective. Instead of looking at what I didn’t do, I try to remember what I did do, especially things that weren’t on my list. I made lunch for my son before he left for school, I played hide-and-seek with my toddler, I cuddled up with my daughter and watched a TV show with her. Those things all matter, too. Sometimes you’ll feel like your to-do list will never end and like you didn’t get anything done at the end of the day, and it’s not a great feeling to have. But you’re not failing at being a mom if things are left undone. If your kids are alive at the end of the day and they went to bed knowing they’re loved, you’re golden.

Don’t let tasks seem like tasks. I recently heard someone mention something about not letting the little tasks of motherhood seem like tasks. Every day we feed our kids, do their laundry, clean up after them, and put them to bed, not to mention taking care of ourselves, working, exercising, meal planning, and spending quality time with our husbands. We have a lot going on. Motherhood involves a lot of doing the same thing over and over again, day after day. Sometimes it can be monotonous, but those little tasks are the things we’ll look back on and miss one day, so we should do our best to enjoy them. I know it might be hard to enjoy wiping bums or putting away laundry. Those things fall pretty low on the scale of glamorous living. But remember your why. Your kids need you to do things for them, they want you to help them, and they will always think you’re the best mom in the whole world (that’s a direct quote, I might add). You’ll be able to manage everything a little bit easier and with a lighter heart if you’re remembering that they won’t be little forever and this time goes by way too quickly.

We all have a lot on our plate. No matter what stage we’re in, we’re all just trying to learn how to manage it all. There’s a big learning curve in motherhood, and you’re not going to be able to do everything all the time. You’re not supposed to. You can’t expect to stack everything from the buffet on your plate and make it back to your table without spilling. So instead of trying to do everything and then find balance in motherhood, let a few things go. Assess your priorities, find shortcuts, do you, focus on what you can do instead of what you can’t, and try not to get bogged down by the routine of motherhood. You’re doing better than you think you are, and you’ve got this.

If you liked this post, check out the rest of the posts in my New Year, New Mama series here!

How to Start Living Your Best Mom Life

Say Goodbye to Mom Guilt

Getting Things Done and Staying On Top of Your Schedule

Getting (and Staying) Organized

Taking Time for Yourself

Becoming a Fun Mom

Time to Make Some Changes

The post New Year, New Mama: Finding Balance in Motherhood appeared first on Life With My Littles.

When I was a new mom, I would look at myself in the mirror and compare myself to moms with four kids who seemed to have it all together. My hair was sticky and frizzy and theirs was perfectly curled and free of any spitup. I wore sweatpants with holes in the knees and they wore tight-fitting skinny jeans with confidence. While I struggled to stay on top of laundry and throw together dinner from a cardboard box, they had a perfectly organized home with gorgeous decorations their kids didn’t destroy and a home-cooked meal on the table right as their husbands walked through the door.

I felt like I wasn’t measuring up and I had no idea how anyone could ever have more than one kid.

But then my baby started growing up, I started getting into a routine, and I figured out that showering at night was a lot easier and gave me time to get ready in the mornings. I started cooking dinners with more than three ingredients and felt like I was sort of nailing being a mom.

Now I have two kids and a successful business, and most of the time I feel like I’ve got it together.

But I still look at other moms and wonder “how do you do it?”

How does a single mom of three manage to get food on the table and keep her kids in clean clothes while working two jobs and living in a two bedroom apartment?

How does a mom whose husband is gone for months at a time for business or because he’s in the military maintain a positive attitude and continue raising her kids like it’s not a big deal?

How does a mom who has had three miscarriages keep trying even when her doctor tells her that the odds are stacked against her?

How does a mom with four kids under three manage to find time to take care of herself, her kids, her husband, her house, and her aging parents?

There is always going to be a mom who has a harder or crazier or more unpredictable life than me. There is always going to be a mom who seems like she is keeping it all together, despite the challenges she faces in her life. No matter what stage of life we are in, there is always going to be that mom you ask “how do you do it?”

I am amazed by the strength and courage of other moms who face trials way harder than my own and still manage to seem like they are rocking it. Being a mom is hard, and when you add in a bunch of other factors, it can seem like an impossible job.

I think that answer to “how do you do it?” is that we just do. We are always adjusting to the changes in our lives, whether that be the ages of our kids, our personal lives, our relationships, our homes, or things out of our control. After a while, things just seem normal and you figure out that you can make dinner and hold your baby at the same time, or that you can sort laundry while brushing your teeth with your left hand. And then after a while you may even decide to add another baby into the mix. And you just do it.

So new moms, don’t look at all the things that seasoned moms are doing. Don’t look at their challenges and how many kids they have and how wonderful everything they bake is. Don’t think that you’ll never get there. You will. You can’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle, and that is extra true in motherhood. Where you want to be might seem so far away, but you’ll get there. And then one day, someone will ask you how you do it, and you can smile and tell them you just do.

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