My secret and some tips
How do I manage to work, be a mom of three, go to the gym, attend the house, and also write it in a blog? The answer is quite simple, the secret that everyone who knows me knows: I married a wonderful man who is an excellent dad. My husband and I are a team, actually we did projects together in college since before we were dating. He is my support and my compass. He is my partner and my best friend.
Once I clarified the point, I would like also to tell you some things that help us to bring a little "organization" to the family, or just things that make our life easier:
- Having a Daycare near to my work, that I trust and with excellent teachers who adore my children, and to which my babies are happy to go. This makes a difference from heaven to earth so I can concentrate on my work.
- Splitting tasks with my husband make us to coordinate better and have things done. For example, he clean up the kitchen and I cook. He takes out the garbage and I do the laundry, etc. It's not that we sat down one day to split, somehow each one started doing the things that made it feel more comfortable I guess.
- Technology. Since my husband and I started using Google Calendar, we stopped forgetting the appointment of the baby's pediatrician (which happened once). I send invitations to him and he sends them to me, then we schedule: Swimming classes, Pediatrician appointments, Dentist appointments, Holiday days, etc. Onenote I started using it at work, and then I found it very useful to carry a "To-do-list" of personal things, since, it can be accessed from the cell phone or the computer. Another tool that helps us take the month-to-month budget of the house is Google Docs.
- Whiteboard Calendar. I started to print PowerPoint calendars and paste them on the wall so that Thomas would know how many days until each event, but it took me a long time to do it and it was not easy to add things, then I got month whiteboards, and now he even crossed out each day. This helps him a lot to take perspective of the time and gives him much security knowing what will happen each day.
These small details have made a big difference for us, and don't believe that our life was always like this. When the babies were younger, I would say to my husband: "our life is a chaos", but as time goes by, you re-take control and in the end you have enough time to write it here. And although I have a pile of clothes waiting to be folded and my house is not impeccable, I feel that at least the really important things are under control :).
And you? What things make your mom/dad life easier?