Jello Brains

Today I’m having my very first guest post by Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking. I just love this girl and I know you will too!

Sometimes my brain feels like the pulverized bananas plastered on the tray of my son’s highchair. Mushy. Browning at the edges. My day has been a blur of pureed baby food (both pre and post digested) and keep-the-house-in-one-piece survival tactics.

Don’t get me wrong–I love my job as a stay-at-home-mom. And I remember having the same “mushy brain” days back when I was a “career girl,” working as a critical care nurse with open heart patients. There is some level of monotony with every job, I suspect. Even the really important ones!

As a mom to a small child, with a husband who is super busy with grad school, I fight mushy brain syndrome with the following:

Carving out some time in the day to delve into a good book. Fiction can be really entertaining, educational, and just a hoot–but I try to throw in some history, science, and biographies, too.

I have always been a bookworm, but I’ve found it difficult to set aside good chunks of time for reading since I became a mom. So, a couple of months ago I actually started taking a class outside of the home. I really enjoy the subject (world missions) and having deadlines “forces” me to do the reading. The class also gets me out of the house, hanging out with new people, and learning new things. Perfect!

I’ve also learned that as a SAHM it’s easy to get isolated. There’s a lot to do within the walls of my home, but I need to connect with people–moms, friends, family, neighbors, the community. Most of the time, some measure of housework has to be “sacrificed” for this, but it’s more than worth it! We need other people.

When all else fails, it helps if I just go outside. Water the plants, take a walk, sit and look at the trees and give my synapses time to recover from to-do lists and plastic toys.

A date night with the hubby never hurts, either. 🙂

Here’s to being a living-in-the-moment, mushy banana cleaning, brain exercising mom!

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Alicia is a tea-drinking, book-reading, sushi-eating, candle-lighting, bread-baking gal who loves her family and all things domestic. She is a stay-at-home-mom to one squishy little boy, wife to Andrew the Golden-Hearted, and blogs regularly at Alicia’s Homemaking.

Visit Kristen at We are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday.