SAHM Outfit Day 9

Another long day. We are preparing for spring break and our family vacation to Florida. I think that preparing for vacation is a ridiculous amount of work and I'm glad that we only really do a trip this huge every couple of years. The added stress has not been fun. I never did get out of my hoodie and jeans like I planned yesterday. Just as soon as I was done with my blog post yesterday morning I realized that I had an appointment scheduled at 9am across town and It was 8:50! I quickly got my 3 littles in the car (Liam was still sleeping mind you) and rushed to the appointment. I called them on the way to let them know I was running late and thank goodness they were feeling nice because they let me come in anyway! After that appointment it was nonstop errand after errand after errand....grocery store, Walmart for an exchange, and then a quick purchase at Best Buy turned into over an hour with 3 kids under 4! Blah!! McDonald's for lunch and then over to Target. On the way home to try and prepare dinner before I had to pick up kids from school I stopped at the park to nurse the baby and let the boys, who had basically been in the car or running errands the entire day, play for about 20 minutes. Got home made some 5 cheese ziti and popped in the oven, picked kids up from school, home, chores, ate some, picked Ash up from cheer, left from there to get Brinton and Julianna much needed haircuts, home to drop off girls, across town to cello lessons and finally home at 8:30pm!!! It was insane and with all that I felt like I accomplished 1/10 of what I wanted and needed to do. Today was much the same although I spent a couple hours after picking Liam up from preschool at home packing which was great for my littles who just wanted to be home...is it time for Florida yet?!

Here was the outfit of the day. Blurry again sorry. You get the picture, right?! Anyone want to volunteer to be my photographer???

SAHM Outfit Day 7 & 8: I'm Slipping

In the last 3 days I've had 3 separate people comment to me that they have been checking the blog to see my daily updates. I was actually taken aback because I really, honestly didn't think anyone cared. It's just a way to hold myself accountable to my goal and help me get out of this funk I'm in. It feels nice to know people are reading, caring, and at least one person was inspired to start getting ready for her "mom job" everyday.

So I've missed a couple of days. I took the weekend off...although I looked pretty cute on Sunday for church so I probably should have taken a picture then.

Daylight Savings was Saturday/Sunday and we sprang ahead an hour. Sadly, daylight savings time has completely, 100% messed me up. It's crazy to me how one slight change can totally wreak havoc on my entire life! My sleep schedule is off and the kids schedules are wonky as well. Yesterday after getting just a couple hours of sleep it was time to get up and go in the morning and I was not ready. I made an attempt at getting ready and threw on a pair of jeans, a blue top and a hoodie....pretty much exactly like Fridays outfit but with a different tee. It turned out to be a long, long day and I found myself finally eating dinner at nearly 11pm. *sigh* Can't wait for my body to adjust to the time change. It's like jet lag or something.

So this morning I woke up early and guess what?! I basically put on the same outfit as yesterday!! That's 3 mom "business days" in a row! Yikes. Looks like I'm slipping into a bad habit again. It's only 8:30 am so I plan on getting changed and putting makeup on and brushing my hair so I guess I can make up for it a little. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

SAHM Outfit Day 6 at the Zoo

Day 6 was filled with fun and busyness. I haven't really sat down all day. I didn't get to take an official outfit pic today but my friend captured a fun moment with me and my littles on the carousel at the zoo. I was having so much fun I didn't even really get to take any pics. The kids had the nicest naps on the way home. I should take them to the zoo once a week!

SAHM Outfit Day 5

Today I had no problem getting dressed. My hair kept falling out and I've had to redo it about a million times....blah. I've always loved this outfit but I look awful in the pics so maybe it isn't as cute as I thought. :/

SAHM Outfit Day 4

I ran a brush through my hair, twisted it back and put a bobby pin in it. I'm wearing yesterday's makeup and some Chapstick. I don't love this sweater but hey I'm dressed, right?!

It's the middle of the week and I've been flying solo the last two days as my husband teaches Monday nights and has graduate classes Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Usually by Wednesday I'm running low on patience and energy by Thursday I'm a total grump. I'm struggling with a lot of depression lately, it's something I've unfortunately dealt with most of my life. It seems silly to be depressed when life is so good. I have a beautiful family, a nice home, food, clothes... I'm not sure why I'm writing all of this down for the public. Just trying to find myself. It's been helping to get ready in the morning it gives me some time to focus on me and I think it's helping me be a little nicer and happier in the morning.

SAHM Outfit: Day 3

I'm up. I'm dressed. My hair is done. I put make up on. I want nothing more than to take a nap right now.

I woke up with 3 kids in my bed last night. There were kids on either side of me and one laying across my legs pinning me down in one spot. It was a rough night of sleep. I woke up this morning and had to force myself to get dressed. I really just wanted to stay in pjs so that after all of the morning school drop offs I could just come home and lay back down. I still think that would be a great idea.

Funny how being all dressed makes me feel like I have to do something rather than just lounge in my bed. Or on the couch. Or in the middle of the living room floor. That sounds so nice right now though. *sigh*. Thank goodness for a nursing baby that gives me the chance to sit for a few minutes.

I had Elise take a picture and Julianna take a picture and Camryn wanted in on the picture....

SAHM Outfit of the Day: Day 2

It's 9:46am and I'm sitting down on the couch nursing the baby and taking a minute to blog from my iPhone. Today was the second official day of my little project but it was the first day I had to actually work around our morning schedule. I slept in a few minutes longer than I should have, took a long time finding something to wear and spent entirely too much time on my hair. I put it in 4 different styles before I decided on one. This shouldn't be so hard but I'm hoping that maybe as I continue I'll get quicker at getting ready. I took the kiddos to school, came home got a load of laundry in and then took a couple outfit pictures in the bathroom mirror....I probably need to have one of the older kids take a pic before I drive them to school in the morning. Bathroom "Selfies" are so middle school. I will say that I do feel more energetic already. I just feel ready for the day and I have a lot more motivation this morning. Usually when I stay in my pjs or put on some grubby clothes I just feel like curling up in a ball on my couch and sleeping. Today I have a long to do list and as soon as this precious baby girl falls asleep I'm looking forward to getting it done.

My New Mom Uniform...

I'm a mom.  I'm always on the run, I'm always on the go, I'm cleaning , I'm cooking, I'm feeding the baby....it's a messy, wonderful, crazy job.  I've had a hard time adjusting to this postpartum, for the 7th time, baby body of mine.  It has new curves, my hips are wider than they've been, my thighs a little thicker, it's a brand new body for me. Not all of my clothes fit the same as they used to and I've resorted to wearing a lot of stretchy, yoga-y type pants.  Sometimes in the morning I grab the first thing I can find and throw it on....pj pants, yoga pants or sweats and a tee.  They don't hug my curves or flatter my body.  They don't do anything at all for me except keep me warm, comfy and they are extremely low maintenance.  This has become my MOM UNIFORM.   

When a nurse goes to work she wears scrubs.  When a farmer goes to work he wears overalls.  When my husband goes to work he generally wears a dress shirt and a tie.  When I go to work I wear pajamas.  Right??

A few months ago I wrote about how I had read somewhere that just because you are a stay at home mom doesn't mean you shouldn't get dressed nicely for your job every day.  So I got dressed up all nice and then the baby had a poop explosion on me and I was right back where I started in my scrubby, grubby comfy clothes.  I wondered, WHY DO I EVEN TRY?

Today I was thinking about how I feel like I'm slowly losing myself.  I'm doing so much for everyone else every.single.day that I just don't even know who I am.  There are days I don't even really look in a mirror much and then when I catch a glimpse of myself I'm embarrassed that I just ran errands LIKE.THAT! I'm so tired.  Every day just drags on and everyone needs every ounce of me and I'm just so spent.  I don't have energy. 

Yesterday was Saturday.  I woke up and threw on a striped tee, no bra (yikes) and some black yoga pants.  I planned to do housework most of the day but the baby is teething and was being extra clingy.  I had no energy for housework so I decided I was going to make a run to the store and get something really quick.  I put on some boots (no socks) and my coat on over my clothes (no one could tell what I was wearing or not wearing, right....) and ran out the door.  Well my 20 minute trip to the store turned into an entire day of running errands.  In clothes not fit for running errands.  I had become my worse nightmare straight out of the People of Walmart.  (I'm hitting my head against the keyboard as I write this.)  HOW DID IT GET TO THIS?!?!  HOLY COW?!?!  How did I become that mom of 7 that has no time to even care about the way she presents herself to the outside world?!  HOW?!?!  Ack!  So, last night as I got into bed and thought about the day and thought about my life and thought about my job as a mom I decided I really needed to rethink my mom uniform.  I really need to find a little bit of Alida again.  A little spice.  A little fire.  A little something. ANYTHING!

I decided to try a little experiment.  For the next 30 days I'm going to dress up every day.  I'm not wealthy, I'm not a fashionista, I'm actually not good with fashion -at all- but I'm going to dress up every single day.  I don't have the nicest clothes, or tons of clothes or the best name brands or money to go on shopping sprees so I'm just going to use what I already have in my closet.  I bet I'll find some outfits I hate and some outfits I love.  I'll find some new combinations and some clothes that probably just need to make their way to the donation bin.  I'll probably put together stuff that clashes and looks totally wrong (hopefully not too often).  I'm excited to see what comes of this.  HOPEFULLY A NEW ATTITUDE AND JOY FOR MY JOB.   I'm also going to do my makeup and do something with my hair everyday.  I don't want these things to detract from my job as a mom or make them any harder so I've allotted myself 15 extra minutes to do this each day.   I've decided to record the process here on the blog and post a picture of my "Stay at home mom Outfit of the day" to keep me on track and motivated. Don't worry if you could care less about my outfit, lol, I'll post family stuff too.  Promise.

What I hope to gain from this is:
1. New insight on this ever changing postpartum body of mine

2. A new appreciation for my clothes

3. A new appreciation for my job as a mom

4. JOY and ENERGY.  (ever notice how when you look good you actually feel better, too??)

5. I hope to gain ME again!  Right now being a mom is consuming every ounce of me to the point where I've forgotten who I am.  I hope this little experiment leads me back to me.

I'll be posting here everyday (when I can remember) and I'll also be posting on instagram with the hashtag #sahmootd (stay at home mom, outfit of the day). Feel free to play along one day....or every day...or a couple of days....

Stay at Home Mom Outfit of the Day
Sunday, March 3
Day 1

I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE TO GO TODAY.  I might need to rethink this top...it's not necessarily all that flattering to the left over baby pooch, but I did my makeup and my hair! (Stake Conference today, we had a couple of sick kiddos so I stayed home and my husband attended church for the family, hence the casual outfit.)  I think I need a new photographer....blurry. LOL.