When You Just Can’t Do It All…

By In Her Shoes “Mompreneur” Contributors: Ginger + Liz

We’re busy as ever with new Ginger + Liz projects and burning the midnight oil (working on very little sleep) to stay on top of work. And naturally, these are the times that something personal comes up with the kids that requires our full attention. For example, the baby’s first nasty cold (sad face) or the big first birthday (yay)!

Whether you work for yourself or not, when your infant baby is sick everything has to be put on pause for a bit. You stay home calling the pediatrician, googling homeopathic remedies, and running to the pharmacy (maybe more than once). You just want to coddle them all day and rock them to sleep, something you can’t do while typing on your laptop or iphone. All face to face meetings are moved to conference calls, or rescheduled, and emails start to pile up, fast! And, as entrepreneurs, when you finally are able to really get back to work everything you left hanging in the balance is waiting right there for you, and more!

Another reason to rearrange your schedule is your baby’s first birthday. Around 8 months old you have these dreams of grandeur about the first birthday party. You go to Pinterest for ideas, come up with a theme, an invite list, ponder on venues and all. And then, time passes so quickly that before you know it the baby is 11 months old and you only have a few weeks to roll out this master plan and stay on top of your other baby’s needs (the business). And then, you look up again and realize that now you only have one week before the baby’s birthday! Suddenly, the words of Moms that have been there before come to mind. “She’ll only be one, she wont remember a thing”. “Wait until her 2nd birthday”. Or, “Girl, just get a cake and ice cream and invite family over”. In the end, it’s true…all you need is something small for the sake of memories. And, that’s just what happened. More power to the Phaedra’s (Housewives Of Atlanta fame) out there that have presidential like events for their babies. This mamma just couldn’t do it!

Following are three tips for balancing personal issues that pop up with a hectic work schedule:

1. Define your moments for yourself. Maybe everyone is doing an extravagant themed birthday party for their children but if that is not realistic for your schedule, don’t beat yourself up about not keeping up with the Joneses. The most important this is creating family memories – don’t loose sight of what “really” matters – family & love.

2. Keep cool and carry on. When your personal life or work life throws you for a loop, let your instincts kick in, be solution oriented, and keep calm.

3. Write a “While Baby Is Asleep” TTD list and be efficient with the time your baby naps and is asleep. You’d be surprised how much you can accomplish if you are aggressive about getting the most out of your baby’s nap and sleep times.

To learn more about Ginger + Liz visit www.gingerandliz.com or follow their brand on Twitter and Instagram (@gingerandliz)!