Tag Archives: changes

Under Construction: Body, Mind & Blog

Hey there, Happy New Year! How were your holidays?

Mine were fantastic! Lots of time with family and plenty of relaxing. I am not ready to get back into the routine of work, but I am ready to start the new year. There is always SO much anticipation of goals and successes with the new year, and this one is looking like it could shape up to be one of my best yet!

Why is that, you might ask?

In my post on December 19, I let you all know I was going to be taking the remainder of the year off from writing. I also mentioned, that there was A LOT of fun, new things coming your(and my) way.

I thought I’d take this post to share just a little overview of what you’re likely to see over the next year.

Under Construction Body, Mind, Blog - Baby Doodah

Under Construction: Body

  • No Sugar, No Grain(NSNG) – For at least the first 31 days of the year, I will be following the NSNG diet, along with Seamus. He’s been eating this way for about 4 months now and has great success in weightloss, as well as his mental health. He says he is able to think more clearly and even has more energy (who couldn’t use more energy). I’m planning to do it for a month for now, I want it to jump start me in the right direction, but I will reassess at the end of the month. More to come on this in future posts!
  • Movement – I frequently talk about exercise and I get into a great routine and then one thing or another derails me and I stop. I’m not going to let the past dissuade me, though – I have my work calendar blocked off from 3 to 4, so that I can head to the work gym and move. I no longer have a “no time” excuse!

Under Construction: Mind

  • Personal Development – I’ve learned, in 2014, that developing and growing your mind, even after finishing school, is so important. I have no idea why I never thought of this before, but 2014 has been a year of growth. I’ve read books, listened to countless podcasts and webinars, and I don’t see a single thing changing in 2015. I am such a sucker for new information, or really just information in general – I am positive that won’t stop in 2015.
  • Life Coach – At the tail end of the year, I decided to get a life / business coach. I’d thought about it for a long time, but either couldn’t afford it, didn’t like the options that were in front of me, or I just wasn’t ready – whatever the reason, at the beginning of December, Tara from Tara Newman Coaching and Family, Sport, Life and I began working together. We’ve had a couple meetings and in just those meetings, I feel more put together and like my life is slowly beginning to take shape. (I highly recommend you check her out, if you’re interested in getting a life coach.)

Under Construction: Blog

  • Behind the Scenes – I’m going to be doing a TON of improvement with this here blog-a-roo. I’m taking a blogging course (Elite Blogging Academy), and going to be putting into practice what I learn there. Some of it won’t be noticeable to you, but other things will be, either way – I promise to start bringing you the best content that you can fathom! I am going to be treating this blog more and more like a business, but don’t be alarmed, I will still be sharing family and Emmett updates.
  • Content – Practice makes perfect, right!? I need to get better at writing, researching and putting together really AMAZING posts, you’ll be the lucky recipients of those posts. I’ll also be creating (and sticking) to a regular content schedule, I’m thinking that Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday – with Turn It Up Tuesday going live on Monday evenings, will work perfectly, but this may change. Stay tuned!
  • Some slight site changes – As I mentioned above, you’re going to notice some sloooow changes. I say slow, because all of the changes will be occurring while I am still working full-time and being a mom, so I have to work within my free-time. I’m also considering redesigning my blog, but that won’t come right away. I need to weigh the pros and cons of switching, before even considering something new.

So, yeah – there are some really exciting things in the works for us, here at Baby Doodah. I couldn’t be more excited to be sharing them with you, my lovely readers!

Your turn!

What new and exciting things do you have planned for your life in 2015? Please share in the comments below, I would love to hear from you.

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Let’s Talk – Some Changes & a Meal Plan

Life is full of changes, and I don’t always cope so well with them – but if I want to become a successful solopreneur certain things need to evolve.

Changes in How I Do Business with my Blog.

I have always enjoyed blogging, I’ve had 3 or 4 different blogs in my lifetime, and I’ve enjoyed writing for each one, but I always seemed to run out of post ideas. I never looked at the full picture, or the different angles that a topic can come from. Even with Baby Doodah! I haven’t fully grasped how many readers I could reach if I just buckle down and really look at this like a business. Yes, it is a hobby and I enjoy every single minute that I get to be at the keyboard, writing (90% of the time), but I do want to gain audience members, too.

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of reading, learning and personal development. I’ve been reading blog upon blog about how important it is to have a business plan for your blog. That is literally something I NEVER considered for my blog, in fact – even right now – I have NO Idea how to go about doing that. I have an idea, but I am one of those people who needs specific instructions before I can move forward.

I’ve managed to find a couple of fantastic resources (here are a few for your viewing pleasure, How to Build a Blog Business Plan and How to Create a Successful Business Plan for Your Blog) that will help guide me in the right direction, and I can’t wait to get started. It’s essentially grown-up homework for something that I really enjoy doing, that can only lead to success. Right!?

Things around the blog won’t be TOO different from the outside. I’m thinking I will change the days that I regularly post, right now I aim for Sun-M-W-F, and then my weekend link-up post. I am thinking it will be a good idea to switch to Sun-Tues-Thurs and my weekend link-up. I will be posting less, but my content will be more in-depth, I won’t feel rushed to pump out a blog post so that I can meet my own expectations and those of my readers. I’ll be able to spend time gathering information, thinking through and actually writing multiple drafts of posts. It all sounds really exciting to me! I can be such a nerd. HA HA

Anyway, I wanted to come clean to you, my loyal and valued readers. I love keeping you up to date on everything I have planned, because it is you that I write for. I really hope you stick around!!

Kind of random to put these two together, but that’s how I roll…

My Meal Plan

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs & bacon

Lunch: salad with ham and sliced chicken, sunflower seeds, bleu cheese, purple cabbage and honey mustard & baby carrots

Saturday: (we’ve started meal planning and shopping on Saturday evenings) Spaghetti Squash Fettuccine Alfredo

Sunday: Pork Fried Rice (we’ll be having cauliflower rice)

Monday: Rotisserie Chicken & Baked Potatoes

Tuesday: Homemade Steak Sandwiches

Wednesday: Greek Meatballs & Spinach

Thursday: Scrounge Night

Friday: Homemade Pizza

There you have it!! My confession on changes coming and my yummy weekly menu. We do have a lot of repeats this week, but why mess with what’s broken, right!?

I’m linking up with Laura from Mommy, Run Fast! and Jill from jillconyers.com. And, also linking up with the Motivate Me link-up hosted by Janice from Fitness Cheerleader and Rachel from RunningRachel.com.

Your turn!

How do changes of any kind make you feel?

If you are making a meal plan this week, what’s on it?

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Transition

It’s been a rough couple of days in our household. We’ve been trying to slowly transition Emmett from his SwaddleMe to his Halo Sleep Sack and it hasn’t gone very well.

Last weekend we started by using the sleep sack during the day for naps but still intended to use the SwaddleMe at night. We knew that since Emmett has trouble with most changes, this would be no different. However, in the beginning he didn’t do so terribly. It would take a couple tries but eventually he’d go down for his normal 20 to 45 minute nap. We were thrilled because we knew how much we struggled moving him from his cradle to his crib. Unfortunately the effectiveness of the sleep sack wore off and Emmett refused to stay asleep with it. 🙁

Since he’d done so well with naps, we decided to try putting him in it on Saturday night. What a mistake! He went down between 7 and 8 PM like he normally does and was up at 12:45 AM. I went in, fed him and laid him back down, he was sound asleep so I figured everything was peachy. I headed back to bed and was nearly asleep when Emmett starts wailing. I go back in try to just give him his pacifier and soothe him without picking him up but no cigar. We sat and rocked for awhile and he eventually fell back to sleep, I put him in his crib sound asleep, headed back to bed and he was up within 10 minutes. We did this about 4 more times over the next 2 hours, eventually I had to call Seamus in to take over. We decided at that point we would just swaddle him so we could all get some decent sleep. That stinker slept from around 3 AM until 7:30 AM without a peep!

We had decided earlier in the weekend that even if Emmett wasn’t sleeping successfully in the sack at home, we’d still try it at day care for his naps because he needs to make the switch before he starts rolling over from back to belly. Another mistake! Apparently he didn’t like it with them either and took only 2 naps that were only 30 minutes each, with his last one being at 1:30 PM. I get there to pick him up at around 5 PM, he did sleep in the car on the way home but as soon as we took him out of his car seat, he had a total meltdown. Seamus made the (smart) executive decision that E was going to bed. We swaddled him, we couldn’t take the risk of him being up as much as he was on Saturday night, we both had to work in the morning.

This is really really rough and I don’t know what to do to get him used to the change. He is almost nearly rolling over from back to belly and when babies start to do that, it is recommended that you stop swaddling them because they can roll over, and without arms, can get stuck on their stomach with their heads smooshed in the sheets. Basically it’s a suffocation hazard.

I think for naps and possibly over this coming weekend, we’re going to swaddle him with one arm out and then 2, etc, in hopes that this will make his transition a million times smoother. We need sleep!

Seamus and I are running on fumes, due to the lack of sleep, so any advice you have or ideas you’d like to share, are welcome!!

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