Summer Planning

As some of you know, this is my first year working in a school. One of the biggest and exciting things of the school schedule is the breaks and time off in the summer. Granted, for my charter school system that looks like about a month and a half. Over the past few days, maybe weeks, I have been questioning myself and asking, What the hell are we going to do during the summer? Am I supposed to get a part time job? Am I supposed to transition into being a SAHM (stay-at-home mom)? Do I keep him in daycare or switch him to a camp? Do we travel? (You know I love this last question, by the way).

These are things that I haven’t had to consider previously, but it is everything that I have been working towards. Before I had Aiden, of course, I liked the idea of working in a school. The time off is something that anyone would ask for. But when I actually became a mom, it became necessary. Growing up, my mom was a SAHM. She spent her days maintaining involvement in our school, serving on the PTA, attending field trips, maintaining overall school presence and advocating for our needs. Dance class and piano lessons filled my routines. Thereafter, it was track once I got to high school. I honestly try to do a hybrid of this for Aiden. Balancing my work schedule, running to cooking class at the Y (we took a break for this session) or whatever activity is in place (currently swimming). I like it this way. I’m busy, he’s busy, we’re all busy. I personally have no desire to be an SAHM. I enjoy working. And this does not imply that SAHMs are not busy—becaues guess what, THEY ARE! However, when I was for the few months of maternity leave, it was cool, but it wasn’t for me. I commend SAHMs for what they do, but to each her own!

Nonetheless, the idea of being a SAHM for the summer freaked me out a little bit. I found myself texting some of my mom friends, who too are in education, asking them about their summer plans. Daycare, camp, what are we doing? There are options, but some have multiple kids, while others have one like me. Again, I was scared. Me and Aiden, home together and spending all of this time? I’m laughing as I write this, but my kid is everything. This may sound bad and some may understand, but going to work is the break that I need from parenting. It is a part of my identity and without it, who am I? Being a MOM is enough, but I enjoy what I do with both my child and while I’m at work. He is my priority and that can never be doubted, but this is one of the adjustments that I have not had to make yet—being home during the summer.

So here I am in March, attempting to make a decision about the planning for the summer months. After days of considering different options and scheduling, I decided that I am going to pull the plug on daycare for the summer. Honestly, we both need a break. There will be things discussed specific to daycare in another post, but for now, a change in routine will be good for the both of us. I plan to structure our summer days with tons of fun activities and learning. The YMCA that we frequent has a summer day-camp program designed just for Aiden’s age group. It’s only 2.5 hours, but it’s the perfect amount of time for me to get some stuff done and have time alone, while Aiden gets to have structured time in a different setting to socialize and be around a different group of kids than he’s used to. This won’t take place until late June, beginning of July, but it will be a nice change. Let’s face it, change is good—it promotes growth.

So here’s what my summer will look like if I have it my way. There will be the daily structure of the day camp, paired with trips to the zoo, pool, discovery activities, day trips to Philly, Sesame Place, Dorney Park (have you seen their Pre-K Pass—kids are automatically free 2 and under, but Pre-K Pass=free 3-5 years old). We will always be on the search for FREE activities and you can look out for my announcing them as I become aware of them as well. I’m going to plan a cheap trip to San Diego if the flights are permitting. That way we can get over to the Legoland there. I’m looking forward to the Legoland waterpark opening up in NY, as well (I could be making this up, but I feel like I saw an email about it somewhere).

Let me just say, I truly enjoy my kid. He is BEYOND amazing. His memory is impeccable, he loves to learn and experience new things and I enjoy creating memorable moments with him. He has yet to stop talking about the trip to Legoland. The past few days, I have been working on the anxiety of having all of this time (I’m exaggerating, it’s only 1.5 months) not working during the summer (just wanted to clarify that this was what the anxiety was based in and not actually about being with my child). For the sake of both of our sanity, it is important for our time to be structured and for us to have some sort of routine.

What will your summer routine look like? This is a question for whether you will be working, staying at home or even doing a hybrid sort of schedule.

Share with us all below!

As always, thanks for reading!

Please like, comment, share and subscribe! Don’t forget to click the link in the content for more info about Dorney Park’s Pre-K Pass!

Self-Care Sunday: Finding Your Passion

It wasn’t until recently (within the past year), that I was able to truly find my passion and how to make it work for me and my life. Before I had Aiden, I was clear on my goals and how I was going to reach them. However, when motherhood came in and swept me off my feet everything changed.

Let’s rewind to almost a year ago, when I started the Mommy Moves blog. At that time, I was beginning to find my passion. Naturally, I enjoy helping others, listening and providing advice when asked of me and just providing support overall. Not to mention, my career as a school social worker, clinician and everything else I’ve been trained to do is to listen and guide. Nonetheless, I did not feel like the hospital was enough while I was working there and the opportunity to work in the school fell into my lap.

Passion fulfilled, right? No, I still needed something more. As a Virgo, I have the tendency to keep pushing—perfectionist mindset almost (but this is not a self-care thing, so we’ll talk about that in another post). At work, I am satisfied knowing that I am able to access the youth prior to the crises happening, even preventing them from happening and providing support, guidance and skill-building when needed. With me identifying this niche, I feel my reach getting bigger. I am able to educate my kids on what they are going through and how to deal with it, especially living in the City of Newark. They can relate to me—feel a sense of connectedness with shared background, race and community. Not to mention, I am able to provide their families with psychoeducation and access to services when needed.

Okay, so now that I am finally working with your in the capacity that I need to, how to do I continue to reach moms and do so in a meaningful way. What speaks to my passion? What do I enjoy? These are questions that I needed to ask myself in order to get to the What, Why and How of it all.

Before motherhood, I truly enjoyed entertaining people—having people over, creating a space for fellowship and spending time with friends was what I loved to do. Even throughout my pregnancy, I enjoyed the visits, hosting people, cooking and providing merriments. This went away a little bit as I tried to find my footing, a routine and battled with baby blues that possibly developed into undiagnosed mild postpartum depression and anxiety. After Aiden was born, I openly welcomed visits and was thrilled to host again, but with the move from Upper Vailsburg to North Newark, it stomped on any thought of entertaining others, led to an increased amount of stress and to another last minute move that is literally my happy place.

Anyway, I say all that to say the change in environment has led me to really exploring what else I can be doing in addition to being a millennial mom, succeeding at motherhood, at work, ramping up my blog and now creating my website, offering coaching services and planning events. These are the things I’m working on and I’ve never felt better. That is the purpose of self-care—to pour into yourself. I have been working extremely hard in doing the things that I love to do. I have plenty of new things coming and it brings me so much joy and excitement. Until two of my girlfriends mentioned my level of recent happiness, I wasn’t aware of how much it showed outwardly. I do know; however, that it feels good.

With this Self-Care Sunday post, I want you to know that if you are spending your time doing things that don’t speak to your spirit, that you’re not passionate about or that you outright hate, then you are spending majority of your time in a space of negativity. You have to figure out what your passion is and fit it into your already busy life, so that you can spend your days doing what you love.

Below you will find some tips on finding your passion. I also want to let you know that soon I will be launching courtneychanel.com and this will require you to subscribe on the new platform.

Here are some tips on finding your passion:

Write your vision –Write down exactly what you want your life to look like. Post your vision everywhere so you can see it. Remember that you can revise your vision along the way if you want.

Reflect on your current life –It’s so easy to focus on the negative aspects of your life or the things that you don’t like, but take a look at your current life and see how much it matches with the vision you wrote. Write down those things that are already happening and hang them up as a reminder. It will help you to keep going whenever you’re faced with a challenge

Think about what you tolerate—What is draining your energy? Throw these things away that can be removed without too much effort or disruption. In order to make room for new and positive vibes coming your way.

Clear clutter—Not only that of which was physical, but the clutter of too many extraneous distractions, activities and commitments that deplete your energy

Assess relationships—Think about any relationships that may be draining you, upsetting you or causing you problems. Is there anything you can do right now to release these people or change your relationship with them? You have to make room for important, new relationships

Make an appointment—Set a daily or three times weekly appointment with yourself that you set aside to work on the actions that will move you towards your vision and life you want. If you don’t set aside the work time, you won’t be able to reach your goal. Put it in your phone calendar, write it down, tell Alexa or Google to remind you.

Tell people your plans—Do away with the work or move in silence. Tell those closest to you what you are trying to accomplish. Let people support you and hold you accountable.

Start reading—research your passion and look at how other people were able to translate that into a career. Invest in yourself, buy books and make notes about anything that seems interesting or relevant to you

Narrow your search—As you begin reading and researching, you may find a lot of things that speak to you, but deepen this based on what you may think is truly a good fit

Find a mentor—Find a couple people who are doing what you want to do and who are doing it well. Network! Take that leap and reach out to them.

Do more research –This is more so to figure out exactly what you need to do to take actionable steps. It is an ongoing process as you are learning or transitioning

Take the first action—If you don’t take the first step, how will you know what will work or not?

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Thanks for reading!