Good Beginnings!

Imagine your perfect day from start to finish. How does it start? What do you do? Who are you with? What makes it perfect? What are some words that can describe your day? What are some words to explain how you feel?

Now think of little ways to incorporate that perfect day and those feelings into your daily life. Is it extra time with your loved ones? More time for yourself?

For me, my perfect day started with a much needed, very rare commodity-- PERSONAL TIME! I would do some yoga and stretching, writing in my journal and planning my day with calm, positive intentions. Then I would make breakfast before anyone was up so they'd wake to delicious smells wafting from the kitchen.

This is my perfect morning, maybe yours includes a sunrise walk or a cup of coffee and a newspaper, the idea is that it is YOURS. Without even meaning so, this will even become a memory for those we love. For instance, my mom wakes up before the sun and brews a pot of coffee while she watches the news, that's her morning ritual, but even more, its part of who she is.

For a good start, so I've attached some links of video's courtesy of the lovely Barbara Biziou on Rituals..

http://www.joyofritual.com/ritual-series.cfm?video_id=248

I've realised how much I like having a regular pattern to how our day goes, and with routine and ritual its easier to schedule time for myself and for chores that have to be done.

And if there was one thing I've learned by being a mom, it is how important rituals are to our little ones. I was one of those "NEW MOMS" under the impression my baby will fit into my lifestyle and obviously suprised I don't even have time for a lifestyle. I can tell you, RITUALS AND ROUTINES HAVE SAVED MY SANITY!

My son is at the cusp of Two. Well my friends, "terrible" came early, as with everything else my son does. He is a temper-tantrum KING! The littlest things set him off to an all-out-full-face-turning-red-tiny-feet-stomping-scream fest with me asking politely, (ok, more like begging) "Whats wrong Jadyn? Honey?" to no avail.

However, I discovered this gem by accident one night and instead of the hour long wail-fest, he went to bed without a peep! By implimenting a night-time ritual where my son goes through the house turning out the lights and saying "Night-Night" to each room and walking himself to bed, he will go to sleep with out a fuss. I mean honestly laying himself down, rolling over and GOING TO SLEEP! No rocking, or rubbing his back or listening to wailing with the good ole' cry it out method, just blissful sleep--for him and us! Since then, we make sure he knows what's going on, what's coming next and it cuts WAY back on his tempertantrums--HURRAY!

Here's our schedule.. We keep some things firm-ish. Bedtimes are before 9pm, usually 8pm and he doesn't sleep in past 9am. Other then that things go sort of according to him and whats going on. Take that NO LIFESTYLE! Ha!

Jadyn’s Day Routine
7:30-8:30 a.m. Wake up, play in the crib
9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:30 a.m. Get dressed, brush teeth
10:00 a.m. Read books, Cartoons and play
10:30 a.m. Lunch
11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Nap
2:30 p.m. Arts and Crafts
3:00 p.m. Snack and cleanup
3:30 p.m. Playtime
4:30 p.m. Afternoon snack
5:00 p.m. Outdoor play/walk
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:00 p.m. Playtime and cleanup
7:00 p.m. Have a bath/brush teeth
7:30 p.m. Pajamas, story time, lullabies
8:15 p.m. Bedtime

So my goal is to wake up around 6:00am-7:00am so I have enough time to do my morning ritual.

My ritual is:

6:00:: wake up, smile, thank the day!
6:15:: get dressed, wash face, brush teeth, makeup, make bed!
6:45:: stretches, yoga
7:15:: journal, daily inspiration
7:30:: go over PODA, home notebook, think about dinner
8:00:: feed Dolce, get Jadyn's breakfast ready
8:15- until Jadyn wakes up:: Check email, Swaps, Blogs, News

To help me plan my day I use a number of EXCELLENT resources, one is momagenda which you can purchase or print out some awesome organizers!
http://www.momagenda.com/printable/

Another resource I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is 'creativemom'
http://www.creativemom.net/ see her "tools for the WAHM"!!

Also, the nest brought to you by the knot, has a whole arsenal of tools for you whether your a mom or not!
http://ideas.thenest.com/tools.aspx


If you are a SAHM, and like planning out your whole day, you could check out Fly Lady. She is great! I use alot of her stuff for inspiration, thus far I haven't been able to make everything work with toddler in tow, but I have high hopes!

Here's a link to get you started!
http://www.flylady.net/pages/get_started_1.asp


Hope that gets you started!

Love and Wishes,
Jeannie