We are a few months into life with two kids. The visitors have slowed down, the meal preparation from friends and family have dwindled and we are settling in as a family a four. Lennon spends most of his time in his bear suit (it calms him down and he loves to be outside so it keeps him extra warm) and I am starting to feel like crawling out of the newborn hibernation phase and plan little parties here and there at the house.

To be honest, I am working a lot. I have so many professional goals that if I don’t take time to pause and make plans with our friends, I feel super off-kilter and crave socialization. I am definitely one who gets energy being around others. What you see pictured is a set up from Green Box Art + Culture, a company that specializes in making contemporary art and wall decor. We are so in love with the new serve wear and other accessories that we got from them. At the end of the post, I will tag exactly what you see pictured here in this post.

Okay, so in order to plan small things like dinner dates with neighbors or coffee dates and walks with girlfriends, I have to make sure I am managing my time as much as possible!

I will never say that I mastered this whole work from home thing nor the art of having two kids, but we have developed a bit of a practice of managing it so we can be as present as possible with Winter and Lennon and also get our work done throughout the day. Below are 5 tips on being productive.

5 Tips on Being Productive (and having kids at home)

Time Block:
-This technique is so simple and it really helps keep me focused and efficient. Here’s how it works: allocate a certain amount of time to a certain task and stick with it. From a psychology perspective, we are far less efficient when we bounce from task to task (i.e. working on a blog post for a few and then getting distracted by an email and tending to that before I finish my blog post). So before I go to bed, I write down everything I have to do the next day and try my best to stick with it. Of course, this was easier to do before Lennon was born because I he likes to eat at random times of the day so of course, I stop for that :)
-Forest App: This app is so cool and such a good visual support for me. When you start a task, you plant a tree and the tree grows as long as you don’t touch your phone for that allotted amount of time. If you touch it, the tree dies. So it encourages you to build a forest by sticking to your time blocks.
Wake Up 20 minutes Before the Kids: Now this is another one that I can’t do always because I am too tired from multiple nursing sessions in the night, but if I can; wake up before Winter, get work done or even just have a cup of coffee and sit while holding Lennon for a bit so that I just have a chance to wake up and regroup myself before starting the day.
Keeping Winter to a Strict Schedule: We do not mess around with naptime or bedtime. Winter is going to school a few days a week so the days that she is home, we make sure we are super scheduled. This gives me time to finish up any work I have or spend time with my husband.
Put Your Phone in a Time Out Box: I am much more productive and HAPPY when I have present moments with my children. My husband and I have a no phone rule at the dinner table and put our phones into “Time Out” and model this for Winter by getting her attention before we do it. I feel like Winter is much more likely to “let me” work when she has gotten undivided attention beforehand.
Sensory Boxes: When I have to work in front of Winter, I try my hardest to have activities for her. I will put out stickers or play dough for her to do or make a sensory box. I bought a bag of rice from Costco for 5 bucks and I put it in a bucket with measure cups and a plastic tea set, sometimes I hide figurines in it, it really keeps her occupied. Another good idea I got from another Mom on Instagram is to put painters tape on the floor. Build a house, hopscotch, whatever and that keeps her entertained for a bit. I found that I can make a TON for super cheap and the more she has, the longer she stays occupied.

There is no rule book of “How to Do It All and Still Stay Sane”” (if there is, please let me know hehe). Whether you work from home with children or go to work every day to come home to your second job as a mama, don’t be too hard on yourself! The most important thing to littles is time spent and attention, even 30 seconds and no mama is perfect but perfect for their family. I hope those were helpful to you! Below are the links to everything I got from Green Box Art + Culture. I would highly recommend checking them out for wall decor and kitchenware. They have this awesome feature where you can shop by theme such as Music, People, Still Life, Typography, Woodland, etc.

For the Kitchen:

These adorable assorted Farm Animal plates
This Rosy Buck serveware board
The Llama and the Cow tea towels

For the Living Room:
This “Llama Loves Sheep” Pillow
And they have so many little mini wooden frames available. I got these two to put up around Christmas time (Llama and The Polar Bear) but they have several others that would fit any occasion.