"Resolution" #1: Shower more often

Is it bad that one of my top "resolutions" for the year is to shower more often?
You think I'm kidding...
Maybe I am...
Ok, I'm not.

Stay at home momma here. When you don't have anywhere to be, showering is low on the priority list. Don't judge until you've been there. Most days my shower consists of wiping sticky gunk and slobber off myself with baby wipes as I chase my toddler around the house trying to wipe him down before he gets it all over the furniture.

The truth is, I could care less about showering. Showers to me equal alone time, when I can't see my two-year-old sticking his fingers under the door or hear him yelling because his blankie came off in the bed. It is a time for me to reflect in silence, decompress, pray, blare Pandora, cry if I need to, and sometimes wash my hair.

It is important for us mommas to take time for ourselves to meditate and recompose so that we don't lose ourselves in our day-to-day routine.

I used to feel guilty for leaving Noah in his crib if it wasn't naptime, while I went to shower. I would crack the door to make sure he didn't cry, then stress the whole time I was in the shower because I could hear him crying. I ended my shower more stressed than if I had not done it at all; so I just stopped taking that time altogether. I then found that when evening came, I was exhausted, often grumpy, and didn't have any energy left to pour into my husband. As soon as he walked in the door, I would hand Noah to him and collapse on the couch expecting him to fend for himself because I "deserved me time".

As the new year rolled around, I decided to reevaluate areas of my life. Make commitments to myself. Purge the junk and bad habits and replace some of them with healthy habits.

A resolution often has the reputation for being made at the beginning of the year and once you mess up, well, you have to wait a whole nother year to try again. A commitment, such as in marriage, allows grace and doesn't have to be made at a particular time. My commitment to "shower more often" happened to be at the beginning of the year, but as I continue to evaluate my life, I'll continue to make more commitments throughout the year.

This week I started quiet time in our house. Noah no longer takes a late-afternoon nap, so quiet time is a good alternative that allows me the have "shower time" and him to learn to entertain himself for a bit. Let me tell you, it has been glorious. While he doesn't quite get the concept yet, he does understand that being put in his crib with a few books and toys means he doesn't have to take a nap, which has limited the crying fits. So far, I have chosen to shower every day (mostly because I am sick and the steam feels nice), but sometimes, if a shower is not actually needed, it may be me making a hot cup of tea (and drinking it hot) and reading or laying in bed and just enjoying the silence.  

I am mostly writing this blog as a way to reflect later, as "documenting life" is another commitment I have made to myself, but thought it was something that maybe another momma or two could get something out of as well.

Regardless of what "shower time" looks like to you, my encouragement is to make time for it. Maybe not every day, but I promise that by doing it your children and husband will thank you for it and more importantly you will thank yourself for it.

~Jess