Follow my blog with Bloglovin

How I start my week

Every Sunday night I after the kiddos are in bed I set a timer for 15 minutes to pick up the house and straighten up my desk. This allows me to have a clean slate in the morning. I then make myself a cup of tea sit down at my clean desk and do the following: 1. Pull out a clean sheet of paper and dump my brain of everything I want to accomplish for the week. 2. Pull out my planner and colored pens to block my time for the week in this order: Pink= scheduled work obligations Teal= family obligations Orange= workouts Green= Isagenix/Health Coaching Appointments and activities Black or blue travel time is marked with a line to the right so that I know even though I do not have anything scheduled my time is taken Pencil Everything that I want to do that is not necessary 3. I create my Daily to-do list from my list, taking into account how much time I have that day. Click here to see the list I use. 4. I write 10 goals in present tense that I want to accomplish this year without looking back at last week. Every day I rewrite those goals without looking back at what I wrote the day before. This allows me to become more focused on what I want to really accomplish. Buy taking these few minutes every Sunday I am setting my goals into motion and creating a movement towards them. If you use a goal setting plan share with me in the comments below.

Getting Your Toddler to Go to Bed

We have been struggling for the last few months to get our 3 year old into bed at a decent hour.  Well over a year really.  Ever since we spent a summer in Michigan where it does not get dark until 11pm and people set fireworks off all summer long.  This can be incredibly difficult for someone who works from home and does most of their work after the kids are in bed.  Finally this week WE HAVE SUCCESS!!! (well so far)  I sat down and re-evaluated our night time routine and really analyzed what bad habits we had gotten in to.
Here is what I found:
 Because I was trying to get her to bed so I could get work done I was letting her control her bed time. Movie, sure.  Banana in bed, why not.  Sleep in my bed, yeah ok. Stay up till mommy is done, ugh ok.  Not a good plan. 
 Instead I sat down and wrote out what a perfect night would look like and created a routine from there.  Since she comes home from school so dirty, we often do bath time before dinner we do not have it included on our nightly routine.

7:00- pick up toys
7:30- wash face and brush teeth
8:00-story and prayer
8:30- lights out

If she gets done with her clean up and getting ready she gets an extra story which she loves.  Her and I even came up with this little chart to remind her what she need to do.  She picked out the pictures. :)

Fab Find Friday: Nature's Box

I LOVE me some monthly boxes sent to my house especially food and beauty products.   I have been a member of Nature's Box for a few months now and I have never been disappointed.  I actually just upgraded to 20 snacks a month just before writing this post.  I pack a snack bag in my purse, in my diaper bag and always a great treat in McKalyn's lunch box. I always choose the "Surprise me" option so I never know what I am going to get.  It is so amazing I my mom decided to get one for herself.  Check my Youtube channel later this month for my review of what yumminess arrives on my door step.

Read more about healthy food choices at Emily's Fitness Training

August Book of the Month: The 5 Love Languages

As we all know any marriage or relationship takes work.  A few years ago while talking with my friend Christy she told em about this book she had read, The 5 Love Languages  by Gary Chapman.  She said it literally changed her marriage and made her fall in love all over again.  I had picked up the book after she told me about it but hand not taken it off the shelf until a few days ago.  I love that it is a quick read so far.

"By learning the five love languages, you and your spouse will discover your unique love languages and learn practical steps in truly loving each other. Chapters are categorized by love language for easy reference, and each one ends with specific, simple steps to express a specific language to your spouse and guide your marriage in the right direction. A newly designed love languages assessment will help you understand and strengthen your relationship. You can build a lasting, loving marriage together." Read more here

Check out previous Books of the Month

Fab Find Friday: Honest Diapers

I am so excited to find Diapers that I absolutely love. When I had McKalyn 3 years ago I was very torn about between using cloth and disposable diapers. I am really big on recycling and hate creating more trash than I need to. Perhaps it is from the lesson on Trash Island I did of my 8th grade science class. I wanted the environmental friendliness of cloth diapers but the convenience of disposable. When she was a few weeks old I realized that cloth was just not practical. I was constantly changing her and she was one of those kids that would poo up to her shoulder blades. Not fun in cloth. So I decided to switch to a more convenient disposable diaper. I had been given a well known brand for my baby shower so I decied to give them a try. By the end of the day she was covered with a rash and by the end of 2 days she had a yeast infection!!! A 1 month old with a yeast infection! Really!! The factor that changed was the diaper I was using. I immediately got rid of the diapers and exchanged what I had left for another brand. I did my research (which I should have done before) and realized that even though the ones I had were "unscented" that did not mean that they were "fragrance free" but actually treated with a chemical to cover the smell. Huh? I also learned about the chemicals that are diapers to help them be more absorbent. One of which was banned from tampons do to toxicity. So now I am putting it on my daughter? Double huh?! I was already using Seventh Generation cleaning products so that is the brand I tried 1st and actually stayed with. I only had 2 complaints: 1.) the absorption was not the best. 2.) They are brown, like paper lunch bag brown. So not cute. Sigh....
Jump ahead 3 years later and I was reading an article on Jessica Alba and her new book Honest and her new company by the same name.  She like me was completely freaked out by chemicals in baby products and clothing.   She also recognized that using all natural and organic product can get VERY EXPENSIVE.  So she created her own line of non-toxic organic products for home and baby.  The trial was less than $6.00 so I though why not.   First let me say how much I love the designs available. I just finished up my sleeve of skull & cross bones and am now on sailboats.  So much cuter than lunch sack brown.  I love that they have a inner net like lining so the moisture is wicked away from Emerson's skin and he is less fussy.  They absorb well, so far only one accident that was my fault and well another blog post. I started using the New Born Sleeve of 40 last Sunday and it is now Friday and I am just finishing up.  That averages about 8 diapers a day which is normal.  I think I average more a day because my son's uncanny ability to poo immediately in a clean diaper.  Sigh.....

August Goals 2013

I can not believe it is August already!!!! Where has the time gone? Where the heck did July go? Seriously I think I just wrote my July goals! And is Emerson really 3 weeks old already? How can this be? Here is a pic of my little man. Big sister is so excited! As I sit down to write my August goals something has become very apparent to me. I have not really achieved any of my goals I have set for myself over the last 2 months. I mean I have some big ones, but not as many as I have set and not as many as I would like. So it is clear I need to reevaluate my goals and my priorities. My top 3 priorities have not changed they just got bigger. 1. Be present in my children's' lives and be there for them when they need me 2. Create a healthy environment for my family; mentally, physically, emotionally 3. Provide for all my family's financial needs With that being said I went through all my on-going and up coming projects, reevaluated, prioritized & reorganized them. I came up with this great system for keeping myself on track and from over piling on too many things. (Will be posting that later) I have also decided to narrow my August goals to one simple goal: Finish every project I started and do them one at a time. Granted that is probably going to take more than just one month especially with building my own business and the new addition to our family but that is ok. Just being able to actually cross items off my list one at a time will be so gratifying.