My baby is officially 3 months old today! Life with two kids is great and now that we are emerging from the first three months of newborn life, I’m ready for a schedule and so is my 4-year-old. Even with one kid, I really liked keeping a schedule even if it was just that every Tuesday I knew we’d head to the park in the morning and each Wednesday we’d go walking with friends. With my older boy entering the phase of scheduled extracurricular activities, I’m finding I especially need a place to write it all down. All of it, not just the stuff I can fit into a little box on my monthly calendar. Plus, I got feeling like I’d probably never fit in any time to take care of my body and mind or clean my house if I didn’t have a place to write everything down and see that yes indeed, I can take a shower today. Maybe not without a spectator and one kid banging on the door, but a shower nonetheless. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think my life is all that busy. I see my friends with kids in little league and it seriously makes me question my love of the game, but this is my life as is, and I intend on managing it to maintain time for things that matter most.
I find we function much better as a family when I have a monthly calendar I can keep on the fridge so my husband and I are on the same page, but I function much better when I have a place I can work out all the details. In college I lived and breathed by my weekly formatted planner, so I figured it may work just as well for me now. I decided to create a weekly planner template I can fill out for the upcoming week based on the monthly calendar I’ll still keep on our fridge. You’ll notice on the schedule I created that my day starts at 6am. Believe me, I’m not doing much these days at 6am other than nursing a newborn. I just slotted it in just in case I ever decide that 6am is the only time I can fit in a run in the future (very far off future).
You’ll also notice a “to do” section at the bottom. After filling out my first draft, I realized I needed a spot for a few daily “to do” items that didn’t necessarily fit into a time slot. At the architecture firm I worked at, we were trained to have a list of 6 top-priority items for our day, so I thought I’d adopt this into my personal life, as well. I felt a “top 3” system would be just fine for me in this phase of life. Here’s what I mean by “top 3”. I keep a master “to do” list on my phone with the “Easy Note” app. I have master lists for various things like home, church and hobbies. Any time I think of something I need or want to do I enter it into its prospective list. To avoid getting overwhelmed by ALL of the things on ALL of my lists, each day I plan to pick 3 to-do items I feel I can accomplish that day. If I get more done, great, but this way I can just look at my day and focus on those three things in addition to all of the other many scheduled and routine items we all try to accomplish everyday.
So, off I go into the horizon with my new scheduled life. Wish me luck! I’m not too concerned with how perfectly it all goes, I just feel like having a plan can’t hurt. Like my mom always says, “Can’t hurt, might help.”
I’ve provided a free download of the weekly planner template, below, if you’re interested. I just ask you mention “Caitlin Gates Interiors” if you share this on any platform. Thanks!
Download here:
caitlingatesinteriors.com 