Guest Post – How Do You Do It?

A few ladies at Girls Gone Sporty organized a guest post swap and I was pared up with the lovely Kelli of Mom 4ce.  As soon as I checked out her blog, I was impressed.  She’s the mom of four kids and manages to balance fitness and family without going crazy.  So of course, when discussing post topics, I said that I needed to know how she managed to do it.  I have enough trouble keeping myself in check.  I needed to know how she did it with four kids!

Take it away, Kelli!

I remember back when I had my twins (almost SIX years ago!!!) and people would stop and ask me how I managed a three year old and two newborns with a husband that traveled part of the week.  I would shrug my shoulders and say, “I just do it.  It’s not always perfect but I just do what needs to be done.”

Now I have four kids ages; 8, 5, 5, and 1 with another on the way.  I homeschool, run a business from home as well as take courses to get my holistic health coaching license and I get asked a lot; “HOW do you do all of that?”  The answer is the same but I’ll delve deeper today.  I’m going to preface this all by saying that I’m not perfect at all and what I do may not work for you and that’s totally OKAY!

First of all, I schedule.  I schedule a lot.  I use the calendar app on my phone and make sure that I check the calendar the night before.  To me there is nothing more embarrassing than missing an appointment or a deadline.  We moved 180 miles away a month ago and I slacked off on scheduling for a while and I have missed some things because of slacking off.  I also schedule my workouts on my calendar.  This way I know exactly what I’m doing the next day.

Second of all, our family is a team.  I don’t do it all.  My older kids have chores and they do them.  They are early risers and I used to fight against that but now I use it to my advantage.  They get up, make their beds, and either read or build with blocks while I get breakfast ready.  Then they help with dishes while I get the youngest dressed.

Third, I enforce quiet time/ nap time like a drill sergeant.  I know that it may seem ridiculous to you that my almost nine year old spend an hour to two hours resting but it works for us.  The older kids are quiet while the youngest naps.  Sometimes they may doze off too and I’m okay with that because they wake up between six and seven.  While they rest I workout.  During the week I use a workout DVD or I stream something through GAIAM TV.  This energizes me and helps me make it through the rest of the day.  On the weekend my husband will watch the kids for an hour while I go run (more like a walk these days).

Fourth, I get my sleep.  It’s tempting to stay up late and get stuff done that didn’t get finished throughout the day.  However, if I’m not in bed by ten or ten thirty most night I struggle to function.  Then by the afternoon instead of working out I nap and then I beat myself up for not getting in my workout.  So for me sleep wins everytime!

Fifth, I play with my kids.  Every afternoon after rest time my kids and I go in the back or front yard and play.  I make sure to play tag with them or join in with whatever other game they are playing.  On the weekends my husband joins in as well.  This keeps us all active as a family and in my mind it keeps me young too!

These are my basics for fitting in exercise and juggling everything else in with a family.  How do you do it?