Balancing "Mommy" and "Wifey"

Life is full of relationships. Friend. Brother. Sister. Mom. Dad. Husband. Wife. So. Many. Relationships. It's hard enough keeping up with these relationships, but sometimes adding a kid in the mix can complicate them. Hear me out. I'm a mommy, but I'm also a wife. Sometimes it's hard to manage those two relationships.

Can we just be honest and say this is hard?

Babies are dependent little creatures. They rely on us for their food, comfort, for every little thing they need. In my case, sometimes my daughter is literally physically attached to my body. With that being said, she's most definitely a priority in my life. I mean, how can she not be?

But where does that leave my husband? I'm only a year into this whole parenting thing, but balancing this dynamic is one I'm still trying to figure out. It can be very hard to balance the relationship with my daughter as her mommy and the relationship with my husband as his wife.

I'm a person outside of "mommy"

Sometimes the mommy title has to be the priority. Anaya is trying to go to sleep and needs her milkies. I got it. I'm here. Anaya fell and needs some snuggles. I got it. But this title doesn't always have to be the priority.

I've been learning that I have to continue to nourish the relationship with my husband in this new season. There was a period of time where we were like two ships in the night. He would get home from work, we would eat dinner, play with the baby, put her to bed, and then he would go study. We would wake up the next morning and it would start all over again.

I had to realize that although I'm mommy, I'm also his wife. I'm also a woman. There are other parts to me that need attention and catering to.

Make it a priority

So what does this look like? We made "us time" a priority. We eat dinner as a family, do bath time and bedtime, and then after Anaya goes to bed we spend some time together. Phones down. Just us. Sometimes we just sit and talk. Sometimes we watch a movie together. Sometimes we binge a couple of shows on Netflix. Sometimes we play Monopoly. It doesn't really matter what we're doing, we just make sure that we take the time to spend together.

Date nights. Planning a date night gives us the ability to have uninterrupted time with each other. Dinner, a movie, whatever it may be, this is the time for us to focus 100% of our energy on us.

Life is one big balancing act. We're constantly juggling work, relationships, parenting, and anything else that's thrown at us. I'm learning that it's okay to prioritize some things over others. As long as I remember to come back to them.