Juggling and a New Balance

I don't know if anything can really prepare you for being a parent and facing the biggest challenge of balance - attachment parenting. On one hand you're told to breastfeed your child, babywear your child, and take a full year off work to bond, love and nurture your child. These are tall shoes, make no mistake. On the other hand, you need to maintain your self of identity, get exercise, and get rest.

The reality of the situation looks like this:

Now don't get me wrong - J is usually a happy baby, but like all babies, he isn't happy 100% of the time. I know the photographic evidence around this one is slight, but that's truth of the matter.

Being a mother has challenged my sense of balance. 

I need to respond to my child, but I also need to get other life items done to a point. Some can wait, and some can not.

I'm starting the new year with one of my resolutions on how to figure out how to have more balance, and how to also achieve the basics but also the awesome additions and traditions that make family life fun.

1. House Basics: Get in a routine on what you do on what day. So far, Monday is laundry day and every other day is diaper laundry day. I like these lists from Tip Junkie because they are pretty and versatile.
2. Organize: We're working on a place for each thing and thing in it's place. We're purging, we're labelling, we're building storage.
3. Time Out: Working on a schedule for a time out for each parent that will allow us to persue our own hobbies, and recreation time.
4. Traditions & Fun:  We are building in family time for fun too - we have a list of local things that we always say "wouldn't it be neat to...." but we never really get around to it, so we're building time to play hooky, go on some adventures!
5. Extended Family: Our extended family (and friends who we consider family) all live 3,500 km away from us, so we are working together to make time(s) in the year where they visit & we visit.

 One of the major things I've wrestled with lately is going back to work. I love what I do, truly and passionately love it - I love the challenges every day, I like serving people in my community and I love what we're building here. To stay home for the last 8 months and hand over my role and be a full-time mom has been a challenge for me.

It required me to shift my priorities from career to family, and now when I need to make a decision on when to go back (in Canada, we get 16 weeks maternity leave, and 35 weeks parental leave that can be taken by mom or dad), I am challenged again.

The decision isn't made lightly - it's not career vs. family now, it's literally time vs. money both of which that benefit my family. I don't think there is a one right answer, and I don't think there's an answer that is right for everyone either, so we have made our own decision that will mutually benefit our family, but will challenge us to work together as parents in a really different way than we usually do, and communicate differently too.

Here to 2012 and the new challenge that await!