Yesterday I told you all about how I don’t balance motherhood with work and life. Today I bring you advice and snark from other mothers, some who are life balance experts and others who are imperfectly human like me. They are all part of the Mommy Blogging Carnival, started by Susanna at A Modern Mother. Read more about the Best of Mommy Bloggers Carnival on Susanna’s site.
Today I challenged the bloggers to write about how they balance motherhood with life. To make things interesting, I am offering prizes for the best entries. They are signed copies of:
* The 90 Second Fitness Solution + a free fitness consultation
Read more about these cool prizes.
THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED. EVE WON. SUSANNA AND MADHUMALTI TIED FOR SECOND.
1. Susanna at a Modern Mother brings us “Ten Signs you might not have the motherhood and life balance thing exactly right.” I love Susana because she allows me to feel like a good, normal mom. I particularly liked #4: “You haven’t been away overnight with your husband and without the kids. Ever. You don’t seem to mind.” And a few others truly made me laugh out loud. This is a must read for every mother who already knows she’s out of balance before reading the list.
2. Eve from Are We There Yet? Offers “Balancing Life and Motherhood,” about her transition from “Diva-licious Vixen to a Soccer-mom/Rachel Ray wannabe.” She offers plenty of pearls of wisdom to help one balance life with motherhood, including giving up sleep and hair washing. For instance, one tip reads: “Never change your sheets—someone is bound to pee on them anyway.”
3. Debra Snider from Woman at Work has submitted “Doing it all: Reality and Myth,” about how she balanced motherhood with a successful business career and happy marriage. This is a woman who has found that elusive secret to staying perfectly balanced. I particularly loved this piece of wisdom: “When my kids were babies, I found them boring and needy. Somewhat to my surprise, I learned that adoring them didn’t stop their need for constant care from making me want to jump out of my skin, their non-verbal demands from making me long for words. Who knew? Now, I could have seen this as evidence that I was a terrible mother and should never have had kids, but whose rule would that have been?”
4. Romy Taormina, my fellow blogger at Savor the Success and the co-founder of Psi Bands (those cool little bracelets you wear during a cruise to keep yourself from throwing up the entire time), wrote this post about Balancing Work and Home. Romy is a work at home mother of two sons, age 9 and 6. Her tips range from asking for help to finding humor in all situations. It’s a great primer on staying balanced.
5. Madhumalti at Brainwaves Captured gives us “Balancing Motherhood and Life.” It lists her 7 tips for staying balanced, including using a mental “turn off switch” to toggle back and forth between work, parenthood and life. Don’t miss her related post, “How to get back a purpose in life.” She also has a blog about the joys of motherhood.
Other Great Mommy Blogs
The following blogs are all really cool, too. Because they are not about balance, you can’t vote for them. But they are all great reads. Check them out.
* Suzanne at Crunchy Green Mom offers us “Influential Women,” a list of the women who have influenced her in her life. She challenges us to make our own lists. I now look up to Suzanne’s mother for teaching Suzanne how to curse under her breath. That, indeed, is an important skill. Suzanne also offers this piece of advice for the rest of us, “When a relationship ends, take the time to heal before getting into another one.”
* Kakie Fitzsimmons of Bur Bur and Friends poses this question, “What is the best thing that happened to you today?” Her question made me think. I put this post together at 8:00 a.m. and I’ve only been up for an hour. I don’t have many happenings from which to choose. Yesterday I ran over the biggest pothole in creation and flattened not one, but two car tires. I’d left my cell phone at home, and my daughter was in the car. It was dark, and even if I could have figured out how to change one tire, I would have been at a big loss to figure out what to do about the other one. This morning I woke with the thought, “Today has to be better than yesterday.” That thought is the best thing that has happened so far. My tires are still flat, by the way.
She already has many responses in her comments area, most much more enlightening than what I’ve just offered. You should check it out.
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