BACK TO WORK MOM ESSENTIALS
NOV 18, 2018
Much like how the rest of my life is going, my first month back at work has already passed! What a month it was, started it off with the babe having the sniffles and literally not sleeping for my first two weeks back. She is the best sleeping babe of all time, so this was a huge shift in her nature and one that made transitioning hella hard. I ended the month with the flu from hell, throw in a few crazy life situations and I’m surprised I even survived the first month back! But, here I am. I did it guys! We all survived, dogs included! I’m sharing a few things, as well as “tips” that helped make that transition a lot easier. It’s super hard from hanging out in PJ’s all day with babe, to having to be somewhere daily and not look like a swamp monster.
A Portable Coffee Mug – Caffeine is essential to any day in the life of mom. It’s especially essential when you have to make it through morning drop off, a full day of work, evening pick up and then your nighttime routine. The caffeine helps you act less (unfortunately not look) like a swamp monster too. Your time is super pressed, so there is really no opportunity for a leisurely coffee at home before work and no extra time to stop for your usual Timmie’s or Starbucks coffee! Especially if you have a babe who starts to get super cranky in a car seat. I personally just want to get to my drop off destination as fast as possible to keep her happy. Preparing your coffee to go at home will ensure momma starts her day off on the right caffeinated fuelled foot!
Spotify App - I mentioned this lifesaver in my Mom Essentials list and I’m bringing it up again because, you’re going to be spending 5 days a week commuting to and from home. More then likely one, or two, or three…. or four, of those morning or evening rides will involve some sort of tantrum. Both of your routines have changed, but babe doesn’t understand why so a tantrum is excusable but not the greatest way to start or end your day. This is where Spotify comes in, throw on that Moana or Coco soundtrack and you’ve got quite a happy little singing babe! She immediately stops tantruming (Is that a word? If it isn’t, I’ve officially invented it.) or feeling bored and starts bopping and humming along. Well her version of humming. Seriously, a saviour. I even texted my stepdaughter to tell her if I ever kicked her off the app between certain times of the day it was for emergency situations!
Natural Alarm Clock Sound App - You’ve just spent the last year being woken up by, hopefully, the soft cooing noises of your little babe. The last thing you’ll want to wake up to now is that harsh BEEP BEEP BEEP of an alarm clock. Allow yourself to awake gradually with more natural less harsh sounds. I’ve been using this app for a few years now and love it because I can choose what sounds to mix together. I can also set it so the sounds gradually get louder, waking me up a bit more delicately. Plus, in those ugly winter months it’s nice to be woken up to the sound of chirping birds, something we never hear in the winter.
Google Pixel Phone - It takes amazing quality photo’s. Photo’s I can then scroll through when feeling bleh about not being with my babe and instantly smile about. It’s also great for sharing pictures and videos of your babe to all your coworkers.
Rusk Curl Freak - For me, having great hair makes or breaks a day. I just feel my best when my hair is looking fab, and that’s not something I want to give up just because I’m a back to work mom. This hair tool has been my life saviour for countless years now and the biggest time saver! You can choose how curly you want to style your hair by setting the length of time to hold the curl and you can set the intensity of the curl. The best part is the curls hold for more then just one day, so I get a few days of beautiful hair and only have to style it the one time. This item is expensive but worth every penny. It takes me about 10 minutes in the morning to get flawless curls and help me look less like the monster just emerging from the swamp.
Pack Your Bag Under Eye Patches Tarte – These definitely helped me look less swamp monster and more human during those first two weeks back with babe not sleeping through the night. I’m also able to get two uses out of one set and I store them in the fridge for extra coolness to reduce the puffiness.
Neutrogena Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover - At the end of the day, when babe is finally asleep, all you want to do is get the day’s makeup off as fast as you can. The sooner you get it off the sooner you have some much needed time to yourself! This is the eye makeup remover you want, it even removes off that stubborn as heck waterproof mascara!
As I do with all my essential lists, I have a “Back To Work Mom Essentials” experience. This one may seem obvious and it’s a broad “experience”. You need to “treat yo self” (any Parks and Rec fans out there?). This could be anything really, a new outfit to wear your first day back, maybe you’ve neglected your hair for the year off? Go get your hair spruced up! A mani and a pedi, a massage. Heck, make it an entire spa day! I treated myself to a new pair of glasses, finally! I took myself out of what looked like actual mom glasses to a cuter new trendy pair. So now I’m a “cool mom”.
I only have three pieces of advise for making the transition and your new routine a tad easier, and they’ve really been life savers for me!
We all know I pre-plan my own outfits for the week, but I also pre-plan baby’s outfits for the week. It truly makes mornings so much easier not having to figure out what you or baby need to wear.
Meal plan. Though you do give up a lot of you time on the weekend for this, it really does make weeknight life easier. The last thing you need after a super long day is to try and figure out what the heck to make out of your stuff in the fridge and then prepare it. I do as much pre-prepping on the weekend for the week ahead, then all I have do is cook the dish on the “scheduled” day. I have a bunch of go to recipes I use but of course, good ol’ Pinterest is great for switching things up when needed!
My BIGGEST advice, whatever time you think you need to get yourself up to prepare for your departure, back that by one extra hour. Seriously. Though in reality you can do that and just as you’re about to walk out the door, baby has a poop and then your delayed by 10 minutes. So really I guess you could just get up at whatever time you think and no matter what you do you’ll be some form of late! All you can do is try your best!
Transitioning everyone to a new routine is not easy, and being away from baby is super hard. However you will be able to do it. Everyone learns the new routine, you all settle into it. Just know it takes time, think how long it took to get baby into a routine to begin with. Every momma returning to work, I wish you the best of luck!
