Our weekend and some thoughts on taking care of ourselves

This past week was definitely a tough one for my family.  I honestly don't know how we made it through school, homework, skateboarding, ballet and the daily life. And then there was Easter to top it all off. I was exhausted,  the kids were excited.

I usually look forward to the weekend. It's our time to unwind and relax. But come Saturday morning, we still had NOT dyed eggs or done anything remotely associated with Easter.  Yep, I felt all the mom guilt at that point. So off we went to get (and by get, I mean go to four different stores to hunt down) egg dying kits. We spent the afternoon boiling eggs and then coloring and decorating them. The girls had a blast and so did I.

But the truth is. I was exhausted. I didn't want to dye eggs and sure as hell didn't want to drive to four different stores with four kids to get the stuff to do so.  I didn't want to set up everything and i didn't want to clean it up either. I should have planned better. (A mama can dream, right?)

I want to do all the great fun holiday stuff with my kids but the truth is sometimes it's hard,  and I need a break. I need some time for me. And it got me thinking about how much time I really do get for myself. (And the answer to this is minimal.) So sad, but so true. And then I wondered why.

Why do moms always put themselves last?  Why is it always something for everyone else but nothing for ourselves? We eat standing up and re heat our coffee 10 times because it's impossible to finish it before it gets cold.

I realize that saying all of this is easy and in the craziness of daily life it's easy to put our needs last.
But, we need to learn to take care of ourselves. We need to take a little time each day for ourselves. Whether it's a yoga class, a bath, going on a walk, reading a book or just sitting down in a quite room and doing nothing. We need to do this for our health. For our basic sanity. We need to do it for our kids. They need to see how important it is to take care of yourself.

And most importantly, we need to know we deserve it.

XO, D