Wednesday, July 10, 2019

My "Me" Day

Me time is hard to come by as a mom of a young toddler. Phil encourages me to take time for myself on the weekend but I have a hard time doing that since I'm away from Paul about 50 hours a week. :/ But I know that taking time for myself makes me a better mom so I have decided to try to take a day off each quarter for some me time.

Flipping through a Little Blue Truck Book before heading to the ENT
Yesterday was my "me day" for the 3rd quarter of the year. It started out with some non-me activities as I had to take Paul in for his 6-month ENT check-up. The hearing test and check-up went well. The NP we saw is hopeful that Paul's tubes last until March. They last about a year and he got them in late November. I really hope the NP is right as it would be better for them to fall out after cold and flu season! We will see what happens!

He of course screamed and cried when I did drop off. I am so glad Phil does it most of the time. He does not cry when daddy drops him off! I am sure he recovered quickly but it's tough to leave a screaming baby!

I needed a "reset" on my day after the crying drop off, so when I got home I headed out for a 3.5 mile run. I ran to the huge bronze bunny that is about 2 miles from our house. I have no idea why there is a huge, bronze bunny but it's a fun and unique landmark! I ran without my Garmin which is something I do now that I'm not training for a race. If I saw my pace, I think I'd feel bad about myself and compare my pace to my pre-baby pace. So it's better for me to just run for the sake of running!



After my run, I got cleaned up and headed out for lunch. I had a haircut at 12:45 so I had a leisurely lunch at a local French restaurant close to the hair salon. I sat outside and enjoyed a glass of crisp white wine with my salad. It was delightful to eat alone!


I did not take a picture of my haircut as I didn't wear make up yesterday (I don't wear make up on days when I don't work!). My haircut/color turned out great, though. My hair girl has been doing my hair for 10+ years so getting my hair cut is like catching up with a great friend!

When I got home, I laid on the couch for a bit and did some reading. Oscar immediately jumped up to keep me company!


Around 3, I went to pick up Paul and we stopped by a friend's house as she was off work and was home with her 2 boys. We stayed for about an hour. It was fun to catch up!

When we got home we played for a bit and then I made dinner. We are going to try to sit down and eat dinner as a family 3-4 nights a week. Eating together is supposed to help toddlers eat better. This picture was taken before Paul threw hand fulls of rice across the table.... :/ This toddler eating thing is HARD. He wouldn't eat any of the stir fry or the rice so he had bread with peanut butter and some banana. *Shrugs shoulders*


Aside from the frustrating dinner, it was a really lovely day! If you find it hard to take time for yourself, especially if you are a working mom, I highly encourage you to consider using your PTO to give yourself some me time! I am fortunate to get a lot of vacation time and now that we don't travel much anymore, there's plenty of vacation time available to use on myself!

When was the last time you set aside "me time"? 

12 comments:

  1. When I was working I could not do this because of the crappy amount of time off that I had. I had to use it all for sick days for my kid or for vacations.

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  2. You are fortunate to have so much vacation time! I'm amazed by that, as unbillable hours is our biggest expense as a small business, so we just can't give too much time off. It's different for a small service business compared to a company like yours. I do think we give our employees good benefits and with total paid leave some get over 30 days.
    I'm glad that Paul's ears tested out good, and I pray he doesn't get anymore infections for a long time!

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  3. My new company gives me less days, but they are more flexible, so it ends up being a better deal for me. I'm glad you've dedicated time off, I think that's important! especially because the weekends can be so packed, its hard to justify taking time out for simple things like solo lunch and haircut.

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  4. I've always been an advocate of using vacation days in order to get my life in order. I used to work the 2 jobs so often times these kinds of days were the only time when I could really feel like I was getting anything done. These days my life looks a little different but I still take a vacation day, often if I'm going to be out late the evening before, and use the day to get things done that are difficult to cram into a weekend! Life definitely looks different for us both these days and I know neither of us would trade it for anything! I love hair appointments! I have one Friday with Sam who I've been going to since 2004, time flies! I know you're not alone on the toddler eating, hang in there mama!!!

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  5. I'm so glad you're going to take a "me" day once a quarter! It has to be so hard trying to juggle working full-time with motherhood, and not wanting to use the limited hours you have with Paul to do something else. This is a great compromise!

    At my work, our sick days are separated from our PTO. We get 5 sick days and I never use them all up so I like to give myself mental health days using my sick time when I'm nearing my work anniversary and need to "use them or lose them."

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  6. Sounds like you had a wonderful day to yourself! I've done this a couple of times, and it's always so worth it

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  7. It sounds like a great day -- I love me time. You get more when you are retired but there are still a lot of obligations! It must be terribly hard with a toddler and a job.

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  8. I'm doing this for the first time this morning as well! I'm only doing a half day before we head off camping, but it's so nice to have some time to myself and I don't feel as guilty about it since we're about to have a weekend where all 3 of us spend A LOT of time with each other in very close proximity. I am reading blogs and blogging in a coffee shop right now and then going to yoga and then packing up the car for camping for my morning off :)

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  9. So glad you scheduled some me time and got out for a run! :)

    I need a lot of me time to feel functional, so I definitely look up to all parents that get so little. It's important, even if it's hard to take the time for yourself sometimes!

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  10. I don't have any kids but I take a "me" day once in a while, usually a Friday or a Monday to get a 3 day weekend!
    And the best is that I don't need to use any vacation time since I have a flexible work schedule! I just have to work more in the previous of following week! My regular work week is 35 hours, so it's easy to do.

    I love to have time to myself, just to read or run some errands!

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  11. And I also get 10 sick days every year, so I can also use them when needed! If I don't use all of them, I get pay for the remaining days!

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  12. Glad to hear you had a day for yourself. I think that is so incredibly important. I definitely don't take for granted how much "me time" I get. I know it is a lot compared to a lot of people, and I try to make the most of it, be productive, and accomplish things during my alone time.

    Dropping off a crying/screaming baby/toddler and having to leave is SO hard. I remember taking my nephew Giovanni to daycare sometimes when he was really little, and this would happen, and it would be absolute torture. I am such a softy, so even having to take a little niece or nephew away from the park and hearing them cry is so painful for me. I hate having to do it.

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