My kids can walk out of the house, get in the car, and buckle themselves into their seats. This means that to leave the house, all I have to do is pick up my purse and walk out the door.
Okay, not quite. There’s a whole lot of, “Please put your shoes on. Oh, you don’t have socks on yet? Go put your socks on and then come get your shoes on. Get your shoes on! I don’t know where they are either! Backpack! No, you come back here for it!”
But it really is a different stage of motherhood. It’s no less busy, because school-aged children have a whole lot going on, but it’s less physical, and less constant. There are no cribs in my house, and no diapers to change. That’s why the quotes from Meagan Francis’s new book Beyond Baby pulled me in. It’s a week-by-week guide to “creating a life you love when your kids aren’t so little.”
Becoming a mom is such a huge transition, one that makes normal day-to-day tasks — like hopping in the car for an errand — into a huge ordeal. That’s why Heather and I created this site with 52 challenges to help new moms get back in the saddle. Upon becoming mothers, many of us stop thinking about big plans and goals as we aim instead to master one-handed meal preparation and collecting everything in Sandra Boynton’s body of work.
Meagan writes:
That narrowing of focus isn’t just normal, but in a way, necessary: when you’re caring for a small person who can’t do anything for himself, there’s not always a lot of room for the distractions and noise of the outside world. It’s natural to want to retreat inward to the sanctuary of home and predictable rituals and routines. This can lead to a bit of a struggle when your baby is…well, no longer a baby. As your little one toddles bravely toward his increasing independence, you’ll also find yourself looking “up and out” and maybe wondering what’s been going on in the world around you while you’ve had your head down.
Meagan is a friend of mine (we were guests on her podcast recently) and she herself has just rounded the corner of no-more-babies-in-the-house after a very long stretch of her life being dominated by pregnancy, baby feeding, and toddler-chasing. She has five children, the youngest of which is now five. She is a trust-worthy coach, empathetic to the challenges and fears of moms.
Beyond Baby provides guidance with baby steps: Make a date with yourself and Go out for kid-free coffee with another woman are the first two assignments. As the 40 weeks progress, readers will be nudged to take care of themselves, to challenge themselves, and to get a good bra or two. Seriously! Sound familiar? I cannot imagine a more like-minded book to The Rookie Mom’s Handbook or RookieMoms.com.
I’m excited to point you toward buying this Kindle book on Amazon via our affiliate relationship, and would love to hear in the comments if you feel that you are “Beyond Baby” or can imagine being there.
P.S. The book comes with a workbook in which you’ll to do some of the exercises.
P.S.2. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can buy the PDF here.
Perfect! I’m at this stage, more or less, which a 3-year-old, 7-year-old and 9-year-old so this might be just the book needed to get us through the end of summer (after the kids come back from visiting their grandparents, of course!).