Hola! In today´s blog post, I want to share with you what a week in my life looks like. I'm presenting this from a “real” perspective with the aim of giving you some hope and inspiration to keep moving forward, no matter how slow you feel your progress is.
My approach to achieving anything is having a couple of tricks up my sleeve to minimise feeling overwhelmed. The aim is to enjoy the time with my children as well as take care of them, myself, my house, and get some Eclo Art work done.
Remember, there can be lots of things that can´t fit all in one day but you can make things happen over the days in a week.
- Live in the present with the kids: I look into their eyes and try to let them know I´m there to hear what they need to say (no matter the age) and also to share with them my thoughts telling them what is happening. Singing is also a very nice thing to do together.
- Breastfeeding time can be a restful time: I constantly think about what is happening on social media/ email/ phone but it is important to leave these thoughts in the side and focus on your breathing. Take that time to close your eyes and rest while baby is feeding. We all know how hard it is to find some time to rest during the day as parents.
- Kids will know that sometimes when they´re around, you need to do some work: I mean, kids will see you doing some work and that´s when they´re even more keen to be with you, right? But it´s important to communicate and let them know once you have had a nice big cuddle with them that we are a bit busy and they can also be busy doing their things too.
- Use their nap times to get some work done: That is when I can sit, have a cup of tea, turn some music or podcast on and dive into my office to work with my Eclo Art projects. I´ll also aim to work for at least 2 hours on my business after my kids go to sleep at night around 8:30 pm.
- I do some chores when kids are awake: This is when kids can learn and get involved in how you organize, clean, and cook your meals. Someday they will start to be interested in helping you, so I don´t wait until their sleep time to do housework.
I love making meals to last for a couple of days, this way I don´t have to cook something new for every single meal or day. For today´s blog, I have prepared pickled cabbage and carrots, as well as porridge to last for a couple of days.
The pickled cabbage and carrots can be a meal accompaniment for lunch and dinners.
I also made a lot of very nutritious porridge for about 5 adult size servings:
I also made a DIY Eclo Art reusable card display from scratch. The materials are cardboard boxes and brown masking tape to seal the board edges for a better look and finish.
I searched for a design that I liked and tried to replicate its shape – it´s hard to find something already made here in New Zealand to be able to fit so many of my card designs. Check out the process of me making it in my youtube video!.
I hope today´s blog was helpful for you in knowing that my life as a mum and artist is not just me making art. It´s also about doing lots during the day that doesn´t have to do with my profession – as a homestay mum I try to balance the time I spend doing chores, self-care, spending time with my kids, as well as trying to find time to work. But hey, you can always ask family members or friends for some help so you don´t feel overwhelmed doing everything on your own. Look after yourself.
Chao for now ^_^
Emy O