Style Attempts: Maternity Ed. 2. Taking Time for the Details

When you have a newborn, the ultimate goal for the day is to survive.  Baby is alive?  Check.  You're alive?  Check.  Success.

Sometimes it is hard enough just to eat, let alone shower, get dressed, style your hair, and do your make-up.  Eventually, life calms down.  You fall into a routine.  And sometimes, if you're like me, you forget to include yourself in that routine.

When you're pregnant (and especially if you have another babe already), you start feeling outside of yourself.  Taking time to maintain the "details," like your hair and make-up, can make all the difference.  It does for me, at least.

I work from home.  My husband works from home.  I have a two-year-old son who entertains himself.  Why do I still feel guilty when I take a bath?  Or when I blow dry my hair?  I get too involved in trying to take care of everyone else that I forget about the small things to take care of myself.

In our old house, it was kind of difficult to get ready with Eliot.  That meant going upstairs, which would result in him crying to come along.  And if I did bring him with me, he'd surely be trying to climb down the stairs.  Irony...  Kinda hard to do one's hair and make-up.  However, our new house is a ranch.  So now Eliot just runs around where he wants to.  And I don't feel so guilty because I can do my hair and make-up in the hall bathroom where he can come visit me if he wants or go do something else.  He is very interested in my eyeliner especially because he thinks it is a pen, so sometimes I have him put on my face moisturizer or some of Chris's aftershave to make him feel like he is involved.

So often, I would decide to "sacrifice" doing my make-up in the interest of getting us out the door faster.  However, I timed myself.  It takes me three minutes to do my make-up.  I only put on a little eye shadow, eye liner, and mascara (I'm a minimalist and also don't know what I'm doing, really), but those three minutes make such a difference in how I feel about myself.  I'm worth those three minutes (and more!).

As for my hair, well, it had grown long.  Really long.  And I usually let it air dry, blow-dry my "bangs" and curl them if I'm feeling fancy, and spray in this product to help it form some waves for texture.  It didn't take long, but I was feeling kind of ratty.  I needed a trim (and then some).

And I realized that I hadn't cut my hair since September 2011 (see entry here) and the time before that had been a year.  Never again, friends.  Every time I thought about getting my hair cut, I felt so guilty.  I'd be taking time away from Eliot.  I'd be taking up time we could have together as a family doing something fun.  I almost didn't do it today, even, but Chris practically pushed me out the door because he knew it was important to me.

I got four inches off and yet my hair still manages to look long (which I was hoping for) and the curls are sticking again since I have less weight and split ends.  I didn't even blow dry my hair all the way, so I'm sure I could easily get it looking even better with minimal effort.  I should have done this a long time ago.

All of this is to say that you should make time for yourself.  I'm not one of those people who praises herself and demands a week's vacation for "me" time, but I am someone who puts herself last frequently when no one is even asking for anything.  In the words of Parks and Rec, "treat yo'self."  So, Katie, don't wait another year and a half for a hair cut.  And take three minutes a day to do your eye make-up if it makes you feel better.