THE JUGGLING ACT

I mentioned on my Instagram the other day that I think I underestimated the juggling act of four kids, running a business and working non-stop.. So how do we do it all, and still have time to recover? Organisation! I know that I say this incredibly often, but it is so overlooked and such a simple part of life that we really do need to set time aside to plan out the week(s) ahead. If you set aside an hour a week to plan out all of the things you have to do for the coming week, keep a diary and calendar and plan in advance, I can almost guarantee that some of the every day stresses will decrease.

Here are a few key things that us as a family do to keep on top of our life:

• Sunday, I plan out the week ahead, this includes: - Meal planning and prep and organising an online delivery for mid-week also.
• Planning the kids: - Figuring out who is looking after who and who is picking up who from where.
• Diary/Appointments- - Write in the diary for any upcoming events or events that we need to arrange. I also plan out my training session times, as often, the only time I can make it in, tends to be early mornings- which needs to be accounted for.

Before bed each night, here are the things I get ticked off:

• Kids uniforms out
• Breakfasts premade
• School lunches prepared
• Twins nappy bag packed
• Clothes picked and laid out

I often do all of this whilst Nath is cleaning up dinner dishes, that way we are both getting organised for the next day and still spending time with each other. Nath and I are very ‘equal/hands on’ in our marriage and our parenting styles. As we both work for our family, I don’t believe the traditional scenario of a mum doing all of the parenting responsibilities would be a fair relationship in our dynamics. I love this about Nath, and before we had the twins we were already doing this with the boys. I'm very thankful and blessed that Nath is such an amazing dad and hands on- but I wouldn’t have settled for someone who was anything less than that. I think that anyone can be a father, but it takes someone really special to be a dad. Our circumstances may be very different to yours, so I encourage you to set time aside each week to plan out.

Here are some key things I personally plan out:

• Meals
• Groceries
• Workouts
• Family Time
• Alone Time
• Couple Time

For us, it is incredibly important to have ‘our’ time. All of our kids are in bed by 7pm and this allows us a ‘date night’ every night! :P Even if that means cleaning the kitchen together, it doesn’t really matter what we’re doing, we’re spending time together. So if you’re wanting to get more organised, follow my top tips above and I hope that you see yourself less stressed and more revitalised!   Sophie x