10 things I do everyday as a Stay at Home Mom

Many of you all know since the birth of Laila, I’ve also transitioned into the role as SAHM (stay at home mom). Technically I work, because running this blog and social media is a full time job and allows me to contribute financially. But my husband and I made the decision for me to stay home full time with the kids so I can focus on them, the house, and my blog…so basically the CEO of our freaking life. But since giving birth to Laila, I’ve had to adjust to this new role. I’ve had to make adjustments to my life and my mindset so I can be as efficient as possible.

Taking the boys to school, nursing a newborn, keeping up with laundry, publishing new content and messaging people back is A LOT. I found myself killing it in a certain area, and lacking in another. It was hard finding balance between it all. I found myself unmotivated in all the important areas of my life. My kids’ lunches were mediocre, blog posts were pretty much non existent, and my DM’s were all unread. I told myself I need to stop feeling like a failure, and sorry for myself and start prioritizing my time. Start making to-do lists and actually do the things.

So in the midst of my chaotic cloud I was suffocating in for the first 2 months of SAHM of 4 life, people would ask me “How do you stay on top of it all”, little did they know I had like 2 panic attacks that week, my kid had lint in hair, and my other kid was missing a sock…..

Now at 5ish months postpartum, I’ve found my groove. I’ve adopted 10 things into my daily routine, that make me feel accomplished, make feel like I’m not going to have a panic attack and motivated to do it all over again the next day.

10 things I do for everyday as a SAHM blogger of 4 kiddos:

1. Pray when I wake up: I start my day thanking God for another day. For a home to wake up in. For a husband to wake up to. And for Children being my motivation to actually wake up. I also take this time to speak positivity into my day. I tell myself “today is going to be a good day. You will do your very best, and be the very best version of you”. I say this to myself because believe it or not, I actually kind of believe myself lol. I get out of bed in better spirits, and ready to wrangle the kiddos.
2. Drink Coffee: I know not everyone drinks coffee. Some people make morning smoothies, some people drink tea, some people are just naturally blessed with energy that little night time fairies sprinkle on them. But for me, I need an 8oz cup of cafe bustelo with International Delight Coldstone Sweetcream creamer. Not too much, because then its too sweet, but not too little because EWW who likes their coffee black? I can pretty much go my entire day with just one cup, but if I feel a little sluggish, I’ll brew a mid-day cup of Chai Tea Latte.
3. Tidying up the house: I LOVE a tidy house. When my house is a mess, clutter on the counters, laundry unfolded on the living room couch, IT.GIVES.ME.ANXIETY. Like I can’t relax, I can’t even enjoy playing with the kids because I’m just thinking of the mess. So in the morning after I’ve dropped the older 2 at school, I put Joel (my 3rd) in the high chair with some snacks, and I power tidy the house. Which includes: Cleaning the kitchen (dishes, counters, floors), picking up the family room (putting toys away, putting pillows back on the couch, sweeping floors, and folding throw blankets). Cleaning bedrooms (making beds, and putting away toys). When all that stuff is done, I feel relaxed, and because I do this every single day, and just maintain it throughout the day… It doesn’t take me any longer than 30 minutes to complete….thats only 1/48 of your day. A little rule I go by: If it takes less than 2 minutes to do,do it NOW. You’ll be surprised how little time it takes to do individual dreaded chores. 
4. 1 load of laundry: Everyday I do one load of laundry. I do one load everyday because I never give us the opportunity to let it pile up. When it does pile up, I’ll spend DAYS washing HUGE loads, that take forever to dry, forever to fold, and forever to put away. When I do frequent small loads, I’m more motivated put it away immediately.
   • Fold clean laundry IMMEDIATELY: I hate wrinkled clothes. I hate steaming wrinkled shirts. and I hate ironing. So I make it a point to fold/hang up freshly dried clothes immediately. This ultimately saves me time in the long run. I was known to leave clothes in the dryer for days, and then spend hours ironing it all, or worse….rewashing it all and then doing it all over again.
5. Call a friend/adult/non child lol: I talk to my sister in law every single day 59450 times a day. I don’t know if she speaks to me because she actually likes me or because she feels sorry for me lol. But we Facetime everyday and I just talk to her about the kids, her brother aka my husband, work, stupid memes we saw online, and just life in general. Since leaving my away from home job, I lost my female adult conversation time. So that time I spend talking to her about any and everything makes me feel like Aseky again, not just Mom-Aseky, or Wife-Aseky, I just feel like me.
6. Spend 30 minutes untouched and unbothered: ALL day everyday, I have a child on me nursing, cuddling, being carried, etc and a husband who wants his dang back scratched like every 2 minutes. I love my kiddos and my husband, and supporting their physical touch needs, but I’m also my own person who doesn’t enjoy being touched 24/7. Once a day, everyday when my husband gets home from work he takes the kids, plays with them, and I go to our room and lay in our bed UNTOUCHED and UNBOTHERED. In that time, I’m not wiping anyones butt, I’m not kissing boo boos, “Mommy is having her me-time…so go find daddy”
7. Take a shower: So I didn’t do this today because I didn’t actually go anywhere today, and I’m choosing to write this post instead (you win some and lose some). But I never realized how amazing a shower REALLY is until I became a mother. Like holy smokes, one time I went like 5 days without a shower. I smelt like fritos. But in my defense, the 4 kid life was beating my butt. It probably wouldn’t have been safe to shower. It would’ve been a slipping hazard for me because I was 2 blinks away from falling into REM sleep.
8. Read one chapter from a book: I wish I had all the time in the world to just read all day long because I’ve actually grown to really love books. It gives me a break from the blue light, and its fun to look forward to something every night. It’s like an episode of a really good show, but you kind of paint your own picture. Anyways, I chose to read only one chapter, sometime I want to read more, sometimes I can barely keep my eyes open for one page. So one chapter was the happy medium.
9. Kiss my husband: Have you kissed your hubby today? I think sometimes as spouses we get too comfortable with our significant other, we almost forget to do the little but important things like that, or sometimes the kisses became more habitual, like the end of the phone call “I love you”. So at least ONE intentional kiss a day is something I do. Plus, because of him being the main (and steady) source of income for our family, I’m SO appreciative of him and everything he does, and the weight he carries of being the everything payer, one intentional kiss from me is the least I can do….that and something else
10. Tell my kids I love them and Speak positivity over them: Lord knows I love these kids more than I love a good burger, SO I tell them any chance the thought pops up in my head. I rather them be annoyed with me saying it, than never hearing me say it at all. And I speak positive words over them. Before the kids get out of the car, I always tell them “you are going to have an awesome day at school” “you’re going to know all your sight words” “you are going to be an awesome friend and use kind words”. Little things like that get them excited and actually want to do the things I’m declaring over them.

Bonus: I didn’t make this a point, Because I want to stick to my “10 things”, but I highly recommend making daily to-do lists and break them up by category so you have a nice balance in all areas of your life. For example…

Goals for today:

Home

• Wash colored clothes
• Clean out expired food from pantry

Work

• Finish sponsored blog post
• clear out my emails 

Kids

• Reschedule Dentist appointment 
• look for lost library book 

So at the end of the day, I can cross all these off my to do list. I actually feel accomplished in all areas of my life.

So those are the 10 (actually 11) things I do EVERY.SINGLE.DAY for my sanity as a stay at home mom blogger of 4 kids. I really hope my daily tasks will be able to help you be the best mom, wife, and boss that you TRULY are. Thanks for reading!