Monday 9 April 2012

I Am Currently...

Obsessing over: Ways to tweak and improve this blog! I am so enjoying working on my blog and trying to make it the best it can be, but it seems like painting the Forth Bridge sometimes. I will have little phases of concentrating on a certain area - building Twitter followers, working on design, photography, post ideas, or building links with other bloggers - and inevitably it means that at the same time some other area of blogging is getting neglected. But on the other hand this blog's only a little baby really, I've only been working on it a couple of months so of course it will take a while to work out the best ways of doing things!

Working on: Trying to find a balance between being a good mummy and having enough time for myself (think this may be an ongoing problem...!). Everyone warns you about the guilt you feel as a mum, and its true, it can be hard to look after a baby all day, but when you get time off it can be almost as hard trying not to feel like you shouldn't be having time off. It is very strange to go from having worked in a job full time ever since graduating to being a full time mum. Looking after a baby is hard and tiring in a while different way, and it is a job you can't leave at the end of the day. I know that actually having a bit of time to myself helps me be a good mum, and gives other members of my family a chance to build their own relationships with baby Joe, but it is a challenge to leave the guilt behind sometimes.

Thinking about: How to manage my time to get everything done and give enough time to all the people I love. It is definitely a challenge, but I think I need to be stricter about the times I spend with friends and family, the time I give to working on this blog and the time I keep for myself (if there's any left!). I think giving myself clear blocks of time to work on the blog might help to stop me spending too much of my family time on the laptop. And I want enough time away from the computer to work on creative projects so I have interesting stuff to blog about! I am thinking I will have a couple of sessions a week where I take my laptop to a local coffee shop with free WiFi and work really hard on this site without any distractions, and then make sure I have some dedicated time where I put away my laptop and smart phone and have quality time with my boys too.

Currently by Amy Warner on GroovesharkAnticipating: Our family holiday to Dorset at the end of this month. We are going down to the family cottage (where we spent our honeymoon). We can't wait, last time we went was nearly a year ago and Joe was only a couple of months old, this time we'll be able to have so much fun with him, playing i the garden and going to the seaside. We might even take him to Monkey World (have you been there? Its THE BEST!)


Listening to: I've been trying to keep my energy levels up and get lots of housework done by playing some 80s funk and soul, I was loving a bit of Chaka Khan recently!

Eating: The last of my Easter chocolate - its too hard to leave it alone! Think this week will be a bit of a mini detox - I felt really inspired by Emma's post on A Beautiful Mess yesterday about her 5 Day Green Smoothie Challenge, think I might get back into making breakfast smoothies, so fresh and healthy for first thing!

Wishing: I hadn't just eaten that chocolate! And that we get some sunny weather again this week, I was just getting used to the sunshine when it turned grey again. Rain, rain, go away...

A little insight into my current state of mind - clearly a few themes come through there! What are you currently up to?

PS: A confession: this is not an original post idea! I have been inspired by Dani's Currently post on her great blog Sometimes Sweet. She mentioned in her post that she was happy for other people to do their own Currently posts and I felt really inspired by her post to do just that! Please do head over and check out Sometimes Sweet, it's a lovely read.

8 comments:

  1. I can identify with a lot of what you say in this post - that balance is so hard to find! I guess we just try to do our best, and we know we're striking it about right if everyone is feeling pretty happy! As a working mum I feel a lot of guilt but I try to make that choice work for everyone.

    This was a lovely post :)

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    1. Thanks Suki! Like you say, we all just keep trying and doing our best, what else can you do?! I'm so pleased you enjoyed this post, I really like this format, I think I might make it a regular thing. And thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, they are really great to read : )

      Amy Xxx

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  2. Amy, I think we're like the same person on diff ends of the world sometimes. Everything you've talked about, I've had issues with. And yes, motherhood = guilt. I'm constantly trying to be the best mom, but I get a little crazy like everyone else...it's tough trying to tell myself that I need ME time. And I'm thinking about changing my blog layout too..check out http://www.puglypixel.com/ They have awesome freebies! Thx for posting this, I might just do a post like this sometime. xo

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    1. Hey Louise, one of the great things about blogging is the new friends you make, isn't it! Funny how similar life can be even on the other side of the world... If I ever come up with the answer to the whole work/life, mummy/me balance I'll be sure to blog about it (now THAT would be a popular post!).

      Good luck if you go for a redesign, I totally adore Pugly Pixel, Katrina's freebies are the best aren't they? There are so many riches for web design out there for free, it always amazes me.

      Thanks for your comment, its great to hear from you! Amy Xxx

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  3. It's hard fitting everything in isn't it?!

    Love the cleaning music idea - I tend to go for Blondie or some other fast paced album to make me clean faster!!

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    1. Music is the best for setting - or changing - a mood, isn't it! I'm amazed how energising it is to put on some upbeat tunes when you have jobs to do. I'm not sure anyone has the whole life balance thing sorted out, we all just keep on doing our best I guess. The great thing about blogs is they show you that we're all in the same boat, and occasionally if someone comes up with a great way to make life easier they can share it!

      Thanks so much for leaving a comment : ) Amy Xxx

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  4. amen to everything you've said! here's to practising me time!

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I love to hear from you - no-one wants to be in a one-sided conversation - so leave me a comment and let me know you care! And if you want to send me a really lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng message, you can email me on heynicecardigan [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk

Amy Xxx