I’ve heard of women “losing” themselves after having a baby and I didn’t really understand what they meant until I became a mom. The first few weeks were a whirlwind of trying to establish a nursing relationship, pumping, barely sleeping, diaper changing, etc that I just didn’t care about doing anything for me. I chose naps over showers and there was no way I was going to waste one of his naps on a 2 hour hair straightening session or painting my nails. If I wasn’t going to sleep, I was going to do laundry or try to make sure my husband actually had dinner when he came home from work. This lasted for the first two or three months with the exception of Mr. S purchasing me a spa day for Mother’s Day and making me go, and the few movie dates we took. Then summer break came and I thought I would finally have a little more time for me. After all Mr. S is a teacher, so he has summers off. Well that didn’t exactly go according to plan because I ended up with Bell’s Palsy in early June and I definitely didn’t want to work on my appearance at all. It took until about the end of the summer for me fully recover and then school started back for me. I had syllabi to write, essays to grade, online tutoring to do, and let’s not forget working on my comprehensive exam lists. See where this is going…
It felt like I just didn’t really have time for me and when I did I needed to use that time to do actual work. Well almost eight months postpartum and I seriously need to make time for me. I started by buying myself some new clothes, since I’m in the process of revamping my wardrobe. Then I asked myself when was I the most happy with my appearance and it was Feb 2011 when I cut my hair into a bob. I found out I was pregnant in July 2011, so I didn’t bother getting it cut again.
Date night
I made a hair appointment for November 17th and I’m getting that cut again. It’ll be easier for me to manage shorter hair that doesn’t take two hours to straighten. Plus, there are only so many mom buns I can wear lol. I also subscribed to Curlbox, a monthly subscription for those of us with curly/kinky hair. I will be way more tempted to do something with my hair if there are new products around. Oh, and I subscribed to Julep Maven, a monthly nail subscription company. I’ve received boxes from both companies already and if you’re interested in a review on them I’ll do one. If you’re interested in the Julep subscription, you can get your introductory box for .01 using the code COLOR2012.
I’ve decided to make time to paint my nails at least once a week. If I’m wearing my hair straight, I can get away with doing it once a week and if I’m wearing it curly it will be even easier since I can do it in the shower. This is one way, albeit it shallow, that I’m getting back to me.
Did you “lose” yourself after having babies? How did you get back to you?
Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way from Curlbox or Julep Maven for this post. I purchased both subscriptions with my own money.
