Marla the Blogger

It has been HOT this summer. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm pregnant and already carrying extra weight around. When it's hot outside, I'm tempted to stay at home in the air conditioning, but that gets boring fast. And I don't want to waste my summer, so what do you do when it's crazy hot outside? Well, we've been trying a few different things to beat the heat and still enjoy our summer:

• Get out early - for some outdoor activities (like going to the zoo) we get going early and get there first thing in the morning when they open. So by the time the heat of the day really starts up, we're ready to go home and have some lunch inside in the cool.
• Splash around - we've gotten the sprinkler out a few times and ALL of us play in it (not just our son).  Also, we've been checking out all the playgrounds in town that have water features or wet playgrounds. Some of them are free and others are very reasonable ($2 per child).
•  Check out indoor options - as much as I love being outside, some days it's just too hot and sticky. But that doesn't mean we have to be stuck in the house. We've been to a few museums and have spent a couple of afternoons reading and browsing through books in the library together.

It's been awhile since I've written anything. The primary reason is that I've had to let a lot of things in my life slide recently. We're expecting our second child in early November and while we're thrilled about it, my being pregnant has caused me to have to shift some of my priorities. It used to be that I would get a lot of things done on the weekend when my son was napping, or in the evenings after he went to bed. Now, I have to take a nap when he's napping, and my bed time isn't that much later than his is. I need a lot more rest now that I'm pregnant, so some other things (like writing and housecleaning to name a few) have taken a back seat.

However, just because I haven't been writing here lately doesn't mean I've stopped following the Start Making Choices program. In fact, it's been really helpful since I've gotten pregnant in guiding me how to:

• Eat Well - my appetite has increased a LOT and it's been great to have tips and recipes on how to eat right (and has helped me avoid too many treats and temptations).
  
• Be Active - I was really active when pregnant with my first son and wanted to make sure I kept it up again this time, both for me and my baby.
  
• Feel Good - things have been more stressful in our lives this time than they were last time I was pregnant. In addition to running around after our young son, we've had uncertainty with my husband's job and a less-than-ideal place to live. Without the well-being techniques I've learned from Start Making Choices, it would have been harder to manage that stress.

Every month I read the new articles and advice on the Start Making Choices site. This month there is an article on "How to Make Positive Changes in Your Life" and it had one piece of advice that really struck me. It outlines how to change your sleep schedule and the advice is so simple, but makes so much sense: don't change your schedule all at once. Move it in 5 minute increments until you get it where you want it to be. Why didn't I think of that before?

I feel like I've been complaining about not getting enough sleep since, well, my son was born almost 4 years ago. And every article I've read on getting a better night's sleep seems to focus on how to fall asleep faster or more easily. Trust me, falling asleep isn't a problem for me. I'm out when my head hits the pillow. My problem is getting to bed early enough to get the right amount of sleep. I feel like whatever I've tried, it just hasn't worked.

But now I realize that part of my problem may be that I was trying to make too big of a change too fast. I've been trying to move up my bedtime by 30-45 minutes without success. It never occurred to me to try to change it gradually, over time. Going to bed 5 minutes earlier seems completely doable to me. And if I can do that tonight and maybe tomorrow night, then I can surely shave off 5 minutes more.

I think often in life when making a change, my tendency is to go all in, all at once. Making sweeping changes all at once can be intimidating and hard. Taking small steps in a new direction and celebrating little successes along the way seems like a better way to go. I'm going to start using this approach in my moving my bedtime back, as well as other areas in my life.