While Kids Nap, Mom’s should be…

As a full time wifey, mom of five, and blogger, nap time has became one of my favorite parts of the day. I often think about to just about a few years ago when there was only two kids in the house. Nap time was slowly starting to become lost in the transition of the day.

My oldest children nap time was now becoming quiet times. Where I pulled out books, a caddy of coloring books and crayons just for the occasion.

During quiet time, it was just a time to be able to get things done with peace. No kids running around. No asking me for a drink or snack every two minutes and definitely not to have my full attention to listen to a story that took seventeen minutes to say. Funny how they find it a chore to look you in the eye when giving them directions for ten seconds but when they tell you a story about what happened at the playground, your eyes better be locked into theirs for the entire time.

I now have two older ones in school and three under the age of four at home with me and oh’ boy do I ever look forward to nap time. Quiet time is good but nothing beats the peace of hearing a baby snoring…..yes, my baby snores and yes it is very peaceful to me!

Over the years, I have came to realize that nap time is indeed a good time to catch up on cleaning, making those extra phone calls, logging in to pay bills, and even to catch up on microwaving my third coffee cup from the pot I started at 7am that morning,

But one thing that I have found to be most important is to not even stress over those things.

I was literally stressing at nap time. Every parenting book tells you to sleep when the baby sleep, so I was trying to force myself to sleep. But I would either wake up with headaches or just lay there with anxiety that I have yet to fallen asleep and kids will wake up in 45 minutes, 33 minutes, oh no….only 12 minutes left, I am sure of it!

Other recommendations was to get cleaning done, to read a good book, and to catch up on the “to do” list. Yes, yes, and yes to it all. Each and every one of the tips and ideas are great things to accomplish during nap time but the thing is….. it become another “to do” task that was scheduled and set on a timer (timer buzzes the moment one of those little sleeping beauties begin to turns over in their sleep with a deep sigh of relief from a great sleep).

Nap time was no longer my time,

it become a time to get things done. I was literally laying them down, quietly removing myself from the bedroom, putting my messy bun up with a hair tie, and getting the motivated attitude in check before checking off what was on the list.

Ironically sometimes, it was just to sit and read, to take a nap, or to catch up on writing. On paper it was a list of therapeutic things but no sense of calming therapy behind it. Because it was becoming forceful to accomplish my alone time.

The last thing I need as a stay at home mom is to have another chore.

One day I laid before the Lord and asked, “Why God, why am I so overwhelmed even during the moments of peace? Why do I feel exhausted when you blessed me with three kids that actually  nap for two whole hours?”

Over time I came to realize, I am not just a mom that needs to lay down with the kids on a schedule. Or a mom that has to have the house looking perfect before the little monsters wake up to only throw the toys out again. Or be the mom that has to plan out a three course meal before they wake up. I am the mom that just needs to feel like me. The person God created me to be. Which is to do what pleases my heart and makes me feel like myself. Not what’s the next thing on the list to accomplish.

I stopped adding …

a schedule in between nap times and just left it be free. No more block scheduling my daily tasks between 12pm to 2pm. The only thing on my list was to not overthink, overwhelm, or control the situation. To not become exhausted or overlook that I am just me. I am someone that loves the moment of time and that loves myself. My need is to enjoy the small moments of “me time”.

I still do dishes during nap time. I still take a nap if I need a nap. And I still take all my ingredients from the pantry shelf to get dinner ready; add a load to the laundry when needed but most of all I just do me. I do these things when I feel like doing them, not because I made myself think they needed to be done.

For me, I sit on my phone for a hour without guilt or binge watch my favorite Netflix series. I don’t care what I am doing anymore as long. As long as it is no longer with the mindset that the time is about to buzz.

You may not write things down your “to do” list but even so, sometimes as mom’s we can lose ourselves in what needs to be done and no longer feel like anything but “just a mom”.

Our spouses then come home to a woman with a “just a mom” mentality and it can ruin us from now being a wife. A wife that they once dated and fell in love with. The woman that he has watched grow into a mother and added another trait to her belt; not a burden to her shoulders.

While the kids nap, mom’s we should be us! Walk in the freedom God has called for us.

We are more than just mom’s. We are great woman of God that was called to be a mom for a moment (ok….maybe for their whole lives….but you get my passionate, dramatic point.).

Find your nap time to be your time as you. If creating a grocery list truly does give you peace then do it but do not let any more “mom” things become your chore. Let nap time be your rest time too!