being 'present'

as a mother of a tween and a baby it is necessary to multi-task. juggling doing the dishes while checking sisters homework and nursing the baby has become the routine in this house. i’ve been multi-tasking since i was a teen; basically when i had my daughter. there were a lot of nights where nursing and doing homework were imperative or i wouldn’t have finished school and my daughter wouldn’t have gotten fed. as my responsibilities grew with work and other activities, it was only natural to take on more tasks while accomplishing other tasks. i’d like to consider myself excellent at multi-tasking…

but recently i have taken a step back and analyzed what i’m missing out when i’m multi-tasking. sadly, it is a lot. though many things are being accomplished {dishes, homework, blogging, tweeting, nursing, etc} i’m not actually ‘present’. it seems as though the attention my children and husband should get from me through out the day has dwindled down to just physically being here. but mentally they need me too! it saddens me deeply to know that i am not fulfilling the needs of my family!

so with this new year i am going to make it a point to approach each task singly. when i do the dishes, i do the dishes and thats it. when i’m helping bry with her homework, i am going to just help her with her homework {not blog, text, IG, etc at the same time}, when i am nursing baby i am going to make it a point to just nurse him, in his nursery, with out distractions. that is one of the things i am most excited about because i miss the mommy and baby connection of just being ‘present’ with him. same with bry! when we hang out and watch a movie, i am putting down the phone and lap top and we are going to snuggle gosh darn it! the multi-tasking will be cut way down and i am going to enjoy my kids, my family, and life! i am going to be more present.

you know you're a PTA mom when...

time for another editon of 'you know you're a PTA mom when...'

... the only emails you get on your personal account anymore are from the Executive Board members

... you skip a meeting {which had sent you in to a panic when you couldn't find an excuse out of it} and you can predict what the agenda is vs. what will actually be discussed

... you read over the interim secretary's minutes and confirm your prediction

... only needing one hand to take notes cause the other has a baby in it is easy

... you can use the rizzo with your eyes closed

... your PIN and the PTA passcode for the copier blur together

... your husband has been volunteered by other board members for events and duties

... and that's okay

you know you're a PTA mom when...

as some of you may know, i am a PTA mom. i've been a PTA mom since bry was in kinder and have been incredibly involved with her school and the parents at her school. i plan to do the same with oliver when he gets into grade school. this year, however, i went hardcore and was nominated for secretary on the executive board and accepted! if i thought i was involved before, i had no idea what was coming! 

i have spent many hours at school counting, stuffing envelopes, delivering packages, writing notes, planning events.. not to mention taking minutes at the PTA meetings and going home to type them up into a much shorter version of what was actually talked about at our {over 2 hour} meetings. with all of these hours comes some slight sacrifices in other areas of my life {which I'm totally not complaining about!} so i thought i would start a new monthly series called 'you know you're a PTA mom when...'. 

... you go to a PTA meeting 11 hours before you're scheduled to deliver

... your laundry really should get done but you have a fundraiser to prepare for

... you work your dinner schedule around the PTA meetings

... your next PTA meeting after said birth of child is only 4 weeks into recovering from a cesarean... and you still make it

... you're nursing your baby at the meetings

... you have more contacts in your address book for fundraisers than you do for anyone else

... the words 'bake sale' don't scare you anymore

... you have to reschedule your child's dr. appointment because it interferes with the Fall Festival

... your computer automatically suggests your PTA minutes as the first 'recent place' when opening a new file

... the ladies in the office know you by name, know your birthday, know all of your kids, and what car you drive

... your baby is the PTA mascot

... you frantically come up with any excuse to get out of your hubby's birthday dinner because it's on the same night as the PTA meeting and then feel incredibly nervous and totally guilty when you can't and you have to miss the meeting {totally experiencing this tonight!!}

can any of you relate?