The first day of Fall was on Monday, which means we have the same number of hours during the day as we do during the night.. or something like that. That’s what our yoga teacher said so it has to be true, right? She also said that a full moon during fall is called the Harvest Moon because this is when farmer’s plant seeds and hope for prosperity in the coming year. So she correlated that by stating this is the time to lay your roots and set intentions for everything you want to come to fruition in the months/year to come. What better way to do that by writing out our Fall Intentions and turning words into action. So here it goes:
Heather
Stop living on auto pilot: A lot of my days look the same. Wake up, coffee, get kids off to school, sneak a workout in, eat lunch, pick the kids up, go to the park, eat dinner, and go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. So sometimes I find myself living on auto pilot and not really enjoying some of the smaller moments that my life consists of these days. And even though the moments may feel small, they don’t feel that way to my children so I want to do a better job of living in the moment with them. Cherishing, relishing, soaking it all up.
Start each day with self-care: I kind of already do this one but want to do it more consistently and intentionally. I typically wake up before my kids around 6:30 am and this is the ONLY time of day until bedtime that I get time to myself. Every morning I want to do a better job of doing my AM skincare routine (I’ll do an updated post in the coming weeks), possibly a quick 5 minute meditation, and coming downstairs and having my coffee before the kids come sauntering downstairs for cereal, milk, cartoons, toast, no I want fruit, actually not grapes mom. You know the drill. My mornings are sacred until the chaos of the day begins so I want to intentionally and purposefully get up and enjoy my 30 minutes of peace.
Give each of my kids special 1:1 attention: Sure, this one is tough because I have three of them 😉 and it is rare that I am with only one of them at any given time, except Parker because he goes everywhere with me while the big boys are at school. But I am trying to find more special 1:1 time with each of the kids. Cammy doesn’t attend school on Wednesday’s so during the time that Parker is napping and I only have the Cam Monster, I want to give him all of my attention. It is especially rare that I only have Jackson at any given time so I am starting to carve this out more on the weekends when my husband can step in to help with the little dudes. This is probably my most difficult task as a mother: juggling and balancing all of their time, attention and feelings. There are A LOT of feelings around here. I know I am not alone in this intention and wanting to give more of myself to my kids and make them feel special so we’ll keep working at it.. together 🙂
Fine, I’ll read the parenting books: A bunch of my girlfriends created and joined a parenting book club and I was a HARD PASS on it at first. No, I am in no way, shape or form the perfect parent who doesn’t need advice. Trust me, I could use the resources. But I can barely keep up with the books I WANT to read let alone books that tell me I’m failing as a mother.. kidding, of course, but you catch my drift. Nonetheless, I decided to download the next book on audio so I can listen to it in the car and so far, I am KIND OF enjoying it. Don’t get me wrong, I have rolled my eyes PLENTY. Like, ok.. when my kid is throwing a temper tantrum on aisle 9 in the grocery store I am supposed to ask myself three questions, take a deep breath, don’t react and just try to understand their feelings.. MMMMK. But it is helping me understand my little dude’s brains more and how they process their feelings. And lastly, I actually just joined the book club as an excuse to drink wine with my girlfriends. We’ll see if the “reading” continues.. for now, I’ll TRY.
Date Nights: Summer was insanely busy.. we had something going on every weekend and while my husband and I spent plenty of time together, it didn’t feel QUALITY. With the start of school, routine, and somewhat calmer weekend schedules, I plan to get weekly date nights back on the calendar. We enjoy dinner and wine.. nothing fancy. Doesn’t need to be extravagant. A few hours away from the house just talking about things other than school schedules. This one is a big priority. At the top of the list. QUALITY TIME. Every week.
Alix
Social media/phone breaks: I know this is cliche and even somewhat trendy to say you’re going on a social media “detox” but I believe there is value to it. I find myself on my phone first thing in the morning, frequently throughout the day, and look at it before bed. A girlfriend told me about how she picks at least one weekend a month to completely stay off her phone. She “allows” herself 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening and told me how much more connected to her family she feels on the weekend. I would like to start this in October and see if helps increase quality time with my family while also managing my anxiety and the comparison that comes from social media.
Compare less…more gratitude: This is definitely connected to taking social media and phone breaks because that can increase comparison which can increase anxiety…bad cycle. It’s easy to get caught up in the comparison game and feel sorry for yourself about what you don’t have blah blah blah. Honestly what is the point? You just end up feeling like crap…it never makes you feel better obviously. I would like to find ways to practice more gratitude for what I do have and put my energy into that and work on growing from there.
Practice patience: I’m a very impatient person and it’s never been that big of an issue…I got sh*t done 😉 Being impatient does not work with having a 3 year old. She gets frustrated then I get frustrated and we both end up upset. I notice that when I get my workout in first thing in the morning or some sort of self care it sets the tone for the day. I need to get my self care in first thing so I can be there 100% for Quinn. When I’m patient and engaged with her it makes a huge difference in how our day goes. I’m part of the mom’s parents book club Heather mentioned above which is helpful for learning strategies from other experienced mamas and practicing advice provided by the books we are reading.
Family meals and get Quinn in the kitchen: During the summer I notice I meal plan and cook less dinner meals because we are out and about. Now that the weather is turning we spend more afternoons inside and homebound, so I plan to cook more. I also want to get Quinn involved in the kitchen a lot more, so I ordered her these knives so she can help me chop. I’m hopeful that by getting her more involved in the meal prep process she will be excited to try the food.
Found this quote and it resonated:
Intention is more than wishful thinking – it’s willful direction. It is a philosophy of the heart put into practice, a consistency of conscious patterns of thought, energy, and action. Through intention, we see more and create with more clarity, passion, and authenticity. Our attention then becomes a spotlight for every shred of supporting evidence that we’re on the right path.
Happy Fall!
xx,
Heather + Alix
