Me Time? – Mommy Blogger

12/03/2017

My name is Erin McCrea. I’m a Momma, a pet Momma, and a writer. I had my first baby at age 35 in May of 2016. Becoming a mom was the scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I have loved every moment of it. I blog at  http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/, but haven’t done a lot since Anthony arrived. It’s my goal to be a consistent Writing Mom by the time his birthday arrives. I’m shy, caring, weird, bossy, and I try to be happy every day. My baby helps with that.”

            I’m going to be honest. Before Anthony, I did NOT understand what me time was. I had me time all the time, and took no time to appreciate it, partially because I didn’t know I was actually having me time. I certainly didn’t understand the what Self Care was.

Today, I got a hair cut. That’s it. Just a hair cut. Not even a luxurious hair cut. I just went into a walk-in place, and got it cut (for 20 dollars.) I left my baby with is Grandma for an hour, and got my hair cut.

The reason for the cut wasn’t because I wanted me time, or because I wanted to spoil myself. It was a bit of self care, but mostly it was because my wonderful child grabs hold of my hair and yanks as hard as he can.  And he laughs. And I get mad. And he laughs some more.

I cut my hair so he would stop doing that. Jokes on him.

I am budgeting lately which is why I chose the 20 dollar haircut. I thought, if it doesn’t look good, it would be my own fault for getting a cheap haircut. It turned out to be a great haircut, and I’ve never been happier with my choice. (By the way, in this photo, the beautiful hat from Luxquisite is mine, but Anthony loves wearing it – I think because it’s easy for him to put on his head.)

            When I went in, I was excited for a whole 45 minutes to myself. To get a hair cut. Before Anthony, I didn’t understand that someday, chopping off my hair would be a moment of freedom. Now it’s a break from my hair pulling (and sometimes biting) toddler – that of course, I love to bits. You knew that though, I’m sure.

One of the greatest things about taking even a short break is knowing I get to hang out with him when I’m done.

I’ve been super busy this month. By day, I Mom, by night, I write. I’ve been participating in Nanowrimo which is basically, writing 50,000 words by the end of November. I am happy to say I have finished my 50,000 words, which gets me half way through a new novel. I finished Nanowrimo the first year I did it. (With a week to spare.) The year after my laptop took a swim, and I wasn’t able to participate, and the year after that I had a six month old. I attempted to write, but it wasn’t a very impressive attempt.

This year, I did it. This is another example of something that used to be easy. Something I took for granted. Writing is Me Time for me, but it’s a struggle when I’m hanging out and taking care of a toddler all day, and don’t start writing until he goes to bed. My little 18 month old has his own sleep pattern, and it is basically unpredictable. I’m sure this isn’t a surprise to anybody either. He sleeps through the night. When he wants. Sometimes he sleeps until I’m done writing. Sometimes he doesn’t. I have somehow been able to keep writing. My motivation levels are up and down, but I was able to stay at the right word count the entire time.

This is a long winded way of saying that it’s hard with a baby. I chose not to go back to work (sometimes I miss work, but mostly because I miss making money), and now I see how hard it is to raise my baby, and try to reach any sort of goal. I bow down to every working mom in the world.

Things were easy before I had Anthony, but I had no idea it was easy. My life was great without a baby, and it’s great with a baby. However, I have come to appreciate so many little things now. Like Me Time, Self Love, Self Care, and Stay at Home Mom Writing time. I never really had to appreciate writing before because it was something I loved that I could do anytime.

I definitely didn’t appreciate the solitude of haircuts.

This month has shown me that I can do it. I can try to get a novel published. I can push myself to write more and write better. And I can do it while being a great mom.

You will have to forgive me if that last statement sounded cocky. The hair cut (and writing 50,000 words with a day to spare) is making me feel like a Super Mom. It’s a pretty good feeling.