At Home with Lex: Chapter One
The beauty of reclaiming your time, space and identity after the baby years.
Today is a strange and exciting day in that it’s the first day that I dropped both of my boys off at school. Yes, it’s November, and it’s a strange time for us to have started our youngest in school, but thankfully our preschool is very flexible and let us decide when he (or rather, I) was ready. I pulled our empty wagon home today both excited by the promise of more mental space and shocked that we’re entering this new chapter.
When my eldest started school, I found it to be a difficult transition. I had been home with him full time since birth and had poured my entire identity into being his mom once I exited the workforce to focus full time on motherhood. I hadn’t invested much time in myself and once he started school I felt very aimless (this feels comical now since it was just two hours to myself a day). After some soul searching and lots of hiccups, I got back to writing freelance and also started creating content as a way to fill my cup. I spent more time with friends and learned to invest in my health more than I had previously. By the time our second was born, I had a better infrastructure set up as to how I cared for myself, my children and my home.
That made my second postpartum more seamless and, as I sit outside typing this, our second preschool transition much smoother, too. This time around, a whole life overhaul isn’t required. Instead, I’m looking forward to carving out more space and time for the things that bring me joy. And, of course, I’ll use some of the time to get stuff done so that when the boys are home I can be more present and playful.
As I begin this next chapter, I’m feeling really called to get back to writing, but on my own timeline and without the deadlines associated with journalism. I want to dig deeper into the things that bring me joy, like baking, gardening and perfecting our home. I now no longer see these as frivolous pursuits because they’re not “productive” or “necessary.” I also want to re-familiarize myself with hobbies like tennis, golf and pilates with friends. I plan to get back on a manicure and massage routine, as well. In short, I’ll be adding a few more things, expanding on some others and not changing very much other than how much I show up for myself and how I show up for my kids when they’re not in school.
Of course, this is all theoretical, as they have about 25 days of school in November and December combined. So really, our routine won’t get totally smoothed out until February. But the beauty of the second time around is that I have more patience and more grace for these transitions. I’ve also shifted my perspective so I’m not concerned with trying to be incredibly productive every second of every day or writing a perfect first blog post back after months of being too busy with summer and back to school and all of the various small milestones that motherhood brings.
In this stage of life and in this next chapter, I’m looking forward to sharing and exploring what life looks like after the baby years (although I’ll probably have another on of those). I want to celebrate the beauty of reclaiming my time, space and identity outside of my kids through simple hobbies, style and homemaking. I’ll be sharing what that looks like, in all its mundane magic, with recipes, musings, recaps, styling and homemaking tips and more.
And with that, welcome to the party. I’m so glad you’re here.
xx
Lex