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As a mom do you find that you put your health in last place? Honestly, I put myself in that position day in day out. Most days, I don’t even do it consciously. My kid and husband just come first. I don’t think that is a terrible thing to be honest. It’s what moms just do. May was Women’s Health month – and I think that as women and even as moms we need to start paying attention to our health even more.
Do you find yourself in last place often?
I had this teensy tiny break this week from my Little Man. I took my daughter shopping, as well as enjoyed some lunch and ice cream. When she was finishing her ice cream, guess who called us; just to check and see how much longer we’d be? My husband. I could hear my Little Man in the background crying for mommy. We rushed. I came straight home. Does this sound familiar?
Most days I don’t mind putting my kids and husband first but the older I get the more I realize that I need to be taking good care of me too. Taking care of myself is important for my kids to see too, right? I am a valuable person and my health is valuable.
I am in my mid-30s. I am still holding onto 20lbs of baby weight. Now that my Little Man is two years old (yesterday was his birthday!) I don’t have any excuse. Health Secrets #1 is that I’ve been making a conscious effort to exercise at least 3x per week and taking time away from the computer, tablet and cell phone to actually chase him around in the sunshine.
Besides staying active, which I think is of utmost importance, here are the things I am also doing. My other health secrets if you will:
Water – we have never been great friends, water and I. But lately, I’ve been drinking more water and less soda. This has done amazing things for my skin. I can only imagine how my body has been thanking me on the inside. {Do you drink enough water?}
Sleep – I blog at night. As a homeschooling mom I just have to. I used to stay up until midnight or later. But not any longer. Sleep is vital. I’ve been saying no more often to pitches for this blog and it feels good to not be so busy. Having time to sleep? Priceless.
Healthy Food – I love spring and summer don’t you? We love the strawberries, watermelon, grapes, and salads. There is no better time to incorporate healthy, clean eating into your diet than summer. Make a resolution to try new fruits and vegetables this summer. Your body will thank you.
Skin Care Routine – I Googled ‘adult acne’ a while back and read an overabundance of articles. I learned to follow 3 simple steps as an adult acne prone woman:
- Use a product with low concentrate of Salicylic Acid to wash your face twice per day (Walgreens Oil Free Acne Wash $6.49 is perfect!)
- Use a low concentrated Benzoyl Peroxide product (Walgreens Spot Acne Treatment $6.49 contains only 2.5%) treatment twice per day.
- Moisturize with an oil free moisturizer. (I’ve been using Aveeno’s tinted version and love it.)
Daily Vitamin – I have been breastfeeding the last two years. I also take a women’s multivitamin daily. My hair, nails, body, and milk production thank me. Do you take a multivitamin?
Oral Care – my husand’s joke is “Only take care of the teeth you want to keep.” He says it to my six year old a couple times a month. Usually when she complains about brushing her teeth. But seriously, taking care of your mouth is so important to your health. Brushing, flossing, rinsing, regular check-ups twice per year – I do it all. {Well, I could honestly floss more.}
And last but certainly not least, I have a strong faith in a God who I believe cares about my Spiritual and Physical Health. It is all connected. It is important to have a healthy mind, heart, and body. (And yes, my faith wavers at least every two weeks and I have doubts and struggles just like you – but my faith is still a priority even when it is weak.)
Motherhood is a difficult, rewarding, terrifying, important job and I want to be healthy.
Living healthy as I try to stay sane with two kids almost 24/7.
What are you doing to take care of your health?
What are your health secrets?
I need a new skin care routine desperately. It just feels so icky right now. I think hydration really plays an important role and I need to up my water intake.
Water has always been a hard one for me. I have been doing better than before though. It really does improve my skin.
Great tips! I know I slack in my skincare routine so I need to step it up.
Kas
I have multi-vitamins but I’m really bad about remembering to take them! But my skincare routine? That I’ve got down!
Same here, Ashley. For some reason I easily forget the multi-vitamins but I don’t forget to wash my face daily.
It’s amazing how much better we feel when we take care of our bodies. I love to shop at Walgreens. Thanks for sharing.
I love shopping at Walgreens. I look for their orange clearance tags on every aisle. Such a fun place to shop!
I’m post menopausal so calcium intake is very important for me.
That’s a great tip for my post menopausal readers. Is Calcium the one you have to take with another Vitamin to help asbsorb it better?
Great tips. I make sure to always wash my hands/sanitize to stay healthy. I’m a bit OCD like that.
My husband is the same Jennifer. He washes his a lot and carries hand sanitizer in our van. {I’m used to it!}
Great advice. They are all what we need to pay attention if we want to be healthy. Thanks for advice.
I’ve been battling to take better care of myself lately, because it’s so important as a mom to do so. My youngest has been challenging, which is why my needs were put last. We’re doing a lot better now, thankfully 😉
Us moms always seem to do that Lisa. I think it’s natural. But, I am trying to take care of my own health as well. Hopefully, they’ll see that and appreciate it when they are older.
Drinking lots of water is one way I try to stay healthy. I do need to do better with skincare though, thanks for the the reminder.
LOVE that quote by Mother Theresa. That is so so true. 🙂
I love quotes, Maggie. I love incorporating them into my posts 🙂 Thanks for coming by!
I need to get better about taking care of my spirit. I was so deeply wounded several years ago and I haven’t been doing a good job healing from those wounds. One day at a time from here on out. I’m SO glad you’re drinking more water. It’s amazing how good hydration will affect your entire body. You might even see that you lose some weight if you drink enough water on a consistent basis. It sounds completely counterintuitive, but drinking more water will help you eliminate water weight. Crazy, right? And seriously, hurray for Walgreens for being a one stop shop for women to take better care of themselves. You ARE important. Remember: treat yourself the way you want your children to treat themselves. #client
I like that statement at the end: Treat Yourself the Way You Want Your Children to Treat Themselves. That’s great! I should have made a graphic of that one too! Thanks Summer for the support and encouragement. It sounds like we both needed your words! 🙂
I get so caught up taking care of everyone else – I forget about myself most of the time! I do need to get better, but I have slowly been making changes! Thanks for the reminder!