What has and hasn’t been working for our family thus far during social distancing

Hello! It’s been over a week since I’ve posted anything on here and partially this was because I was working late hours at my regular job (week 6 of working from home, here we go!) and partially because I feel unmotivated and unsure on what I could write about.

What has and hasn’t been working for us during social distancing

And after much consideration, I’ve decided to just write about what has and hasn’t been working for us thus far during social distancing. I find myself being on this emotional roller coaster lately as I am sure most of us are… It’s now been 5 full weeks of working from home full time and having both kids at home at all times. My husband is now out of work officially and that has both pluses and minuses all at the same time.

The huge plus is the fact that he can take care of the kids while I am upstairs cooped up in my office working (I’ve just gone through an extremely busy period at work and literally had been glued to the computer for 12 hours almost every day!) and I didn’t have to worry about making the kids’ lunch or prep their snack or make sure Leo does his e-learning things and that outside of e-learning, our boys have things to do and stay occupied…. on a flip side, we now are a one-income family and it takes an adjustment or two to figure this all out. Not an easy task and doesn’t take a day. We have to work on it and figure out a way to navigate through this new financial situation.

So what HAS worked for us so far?

1. Overall, we have a pretty good daily routine down as far as our meals schedule, play time, e-learning time, taking a walk in the afternoon (or going on a bike) ride and bedtime, but there are a few things that need an improvement, so keep reading as I elaborate on this in the ‘What hasn’t been working for us’ section down below.

2. Planning meals in advance has been working well so far. When we were both working away from home, we always struggled with dinner prep once we got home. And the logical thing would be, then, to have had meals all planned out, but more often than not, we didn’t have it all planned out. So once we both got home, it was a mess sometimes rushing with making dinner because it’s getting late and it’s bedtime soon. Craziness! But now, that I save a ton of time on commuting to and from work and my hubs is home, we have so much more time to plan even if only for a few days ahead. It’s always dinners that’s been our Achilles heel and we are now happy to say we’ve gotten so much better at it.

3. Being more active as a family. It’s so refreshing to see so many families taking walks throughout the day in our neighborhood or people on their bikes. If there’s ONE good thing that’s come out of this, is this right here – people getting outside to move a little and getting that fresh air.

What HASN’T been working for us

1. Alright, so what hasn’t been working for us regarding the daily routine (as I mention above)? Well, e-learning and our meals don’t always happen around here at a fixed time which causes some days to feel a little chaotic. Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? Perhaps not, but I am a firm believer in routines and schedules for the kids as I think kids need that structure to feel secure and know when certain things happen throughout the day. And mind you, I am working most of the day and sometimes have a fire drill at work so I can’t be the guardian of the schedule and what’s happening in the house with the kids at all times haha! And my husband is not the best at staying organized 🙂 It’s a guy thing I think LOL! Any other mommas out there feel me on this? 🙂

2. Making sure I stay sane in all of this… My husband’s pretty good at it and the kids are still small enough that they don’t feel that stress like we do (thankfully!) but I am a mess some days. I have had a lot of work recently and it’s been making me feel stressed out but also just the current circumstance is such that it creates that extra level of stress and anxiety as I’m sure many of you can relate to. Do I try to focus on the positives? Absolutely! On my Instagram account I try to post positive things and focus on those silver linings but I am still struggling some days. Once I am less busy at work, my focus will be to take time for myself during each day to meditate or do yoga at home; something that is good for the soul!

3. I promised myself to read more during this time and so far have not kept my promise. I love reading but recently haven’t had much time to do it and I thought ‘well, now, when I am home 24/7 I surely will have time’. But guess what? I’ve had too much work and when I finally have a minute to myself after the kids have gone to bed, I am so tired and my eyes feel so tired from staring at a computer all day, that the last thing I want to do is read. Ugh! I have to find a way to do it though; I know it would relax me and help me unwind after a long day working, hence #2 above.

Would love to hear what has or hasn’t been working for you guys during this time of staying put and social distancing? Please share and drop me a comment right below 🙂

Wearing: Asos dress (similar here); Philippe Model Paris glitter sneakers (via The Real Real; similar here and here); Target peach color biker shorts (currently sold out but identical linked here); Brahmin bag.