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NMM4
This post is part of the New Mom Monday series! A series about moms and their advice to new moms! Books and videos can only teach us so much, but there’s something special about hearing from real life moms. Honest, true, and always beautifully inspiring!!
What’s your Name?

Lisa Rancier

Tell us a little about yourself!

I am 28 years old and live in Blackfalds, AB. I am a registered nurse and a first time mom! My hubby and I have been married for almost 8 years and have one 6 month old daughter. We are both originally from Winnipeg, MB and we met and started dating when we were 16. I love to run, read, watch movies, and be outside – even in the winter. I am the happiest I have been in my life now that I am a mom.

How many kids do you have? What are their names and ages?

I have one, six month old daughter named Leighton.

How do you find your “me time”?

I have to be very conscious that I am making time for myself because I know it’s something I’m not good at. Instead of running around the house cleaning when Leighton is napping, I try to sit down, relax and do whatever I like – write, watch TV, read, and sew. My husband is really great and encourages me to get out with my friends so I try to see them every couple weeks to keep my sanity!

What is the best baby related book you’ve ever read?

I love the basic – What to Expect When You are Expecting. It gave me a really good idea of what to expect during pregnancy and delivery. Also – The Baby Whisperer was excellent. It gives a lot of tips on how to get to know what your baby needs based on their physical actions.

What’s the most useful baby product you have? Why do you love it?

Our Moby Wrap has been a lifesaver! Leighton loved to be held when she was younger so it was helpful for nap-time on the go and if she was generally cranky. It saved me a lot of back pain. It is a great starter wrap and hopefully I will invest in something sturdier in the future.

If you could say something to yourself when you first brought home your first baby, what would you say?

Don’t panic, you will be okay. Use the support you have around you, and don’t try and do it all yourself!

How much planning did you do before your baby was born, and how do you think that it helped or didn’t help?

I did a moderate amount of planning. I read a lot of books on baby sleep patterns and breastfeeding but at the end of the day we just did what worked for us. When something is no longer working then we change it. The reading helped because I had a good idea of what was “common” for babies and had some strategies on how to deal with crying/sleeping/breastfeeding issues.

What do you believe are the top three pieces of advice a new mom or someone trying to conceive should know?
  1. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
  2. Just because you struggle sometimes does not mean you are failing.
  3. Don’t try to rush through each stage – try to live in that moment. Life goes by too fast.
What is your best memory so far of being a mom?

When Leighton was around 6 weeks old, I was sitting with her in the rocking chair after feeding her. I was exhausted from being awake the night before and was just trying to make it through the day until my husband got home. After she was done nursing I tucked her into my arm and started singing “Skina ma rinky dink”. She looked right at me and smiled for the first time. I started crying immediately because it was easily the most beautiful thing I have even seen. My heart was so happy.

Give us the short form version of your birth story.
My water broke two weeks early so I ended up being induced at the hospital. The start of induction to time of birth was just shy of 12 hrs. My husband was the only person there with me other than the doctors and nurses.
Going into labor I had no birth plan – after 3.5 years of trying to conceive I just kept telling the doctor “do whatever you need to do to get her here safely”. Being a nurse I know how many things can go wrong during labor so I was ready to just wing it. I was however, very disappointed that I had to be induced because I was hoping to experience a natural labor. Because the contractions were so intense with the induction I did opt for an epidural. It was wonderful! I was able to get some rest so I had the energy to push when time came.
Right after Leighton was born she stopped breathing. This was hands down the SCARIEST moment of my life. I heard the nurses call a code and she was taken to NICU. Luckily my husband was able to go with her so she was not alone but the fear that sat inside me was unbearable. The worst part was that I was unable to go with her. The good thing is that she only needed breathing support, her heart didn’t stop and all her blood work was normal. The doctor expected her to make a full recovery.She was born at 7 am and by that afternoon she was able to come back to the room with me. She breastfed like a champ right from the get go and has had no problems since!
Lastly, for fun, define motherhood!

Motherhood is unconditional, wonderfully heartbreaking, overwhelming, and amazing love. It is the best and most challenging thing I have ever done in my life.

To hear more from Lisa Rancier be sure to visit her blog Say It In Your Batman Voice and follow her on Instagram.

NMM4-2

 

If you would like to participate in New Mom Mondays please feel free to message me by using my contact form! I would love to not only feature you on my blog but learn from your answers, as I’m sure many readers would too! 
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steps-to-success

My corporate job is very giving. They provide free snacks all day every day. The majority of the time they are healthy, but some days, they aren’t. Today as I walked into the office, I went straight to the kitchen to fill up my water bottle. I don’t drink nearly enough water and it’s constantly something I’m trying to work on. Filling up my water, I waited for the machine to finish as I glanced about and my eyes spotted something awesome. Pretzles. The ones with the little chunks of salt on them, I mindlessly took a handful, grabbed my water and went to my desk. It wasn’t until I was on the last of the salty snack that I caught myself thinking: 1. Why did I grab these in the first place? I ate breakfast, I’m not hungry – and 2. How is this the last one? Did I already eat the rest of them? Surely someone else must have taken them, because I do not remember eating all of them!! Does this sound familiar? If it doesn’t, maybe your mindless autopilot activities relate to something other than food. Ever bought a shirt because it was on sale and it looked cute, only to get home to put it in your closet to find you have to push clothes strategically to get it to fit and then you’re thinking… Why did I buy this, I don’t even truly need it. Or maybe you say “How are you?” to someone only to catch yourself mid conversation realizing you’re actually not listening? A lot of us function in many ways, on autopilot!

I didn’t make a CONSCIOUS choice to grab the pretzels, I just did, because I wasn’t THINKING. Autopilot isn’t always a bad thing, for example, when you get into a car do you consciously think, “Ok, now I need to grab the seatbelt and pull it across my body, and find the other end, and click it together, and adjust it so it doesn’t bother my neck and ok I’m ready.” No! You just pull the seat belt and lock it in place without really thinking about it! This is good, because the choices we made when we started putting the seatbelt on ourselves (once mom and dad started letting us do it!) created a HABIT. When we were young, we likely did think, ok time to put my seatbelt on, and go through the whole process, because it was new to us, but eventually a HABIT was created and has then turned our mind off of that particular event that most of us do a couple times a day. This is a GOOD habit, it’s when we let habits get created that sabotage our ultimate goals that we run into some trouble because now we’re on ‘sabotaging autopilot mode’ and that is not going to get you anywhere near success.

I am currently reading The Compound Effect, which I highly recommend! It talks about how creating healthy habits, not just healthy as in food and fitness related but even saving money or spending more quality time with your family, can lead you to a life of great success in different areas of your life!

  • You first need to decide what success means to you, think small to begin with so you can get the feel for it. For me, I would achieve success with my hydration if for an entire month I drank my daily requirement of 2.5 liters of water. This seemed easy enough to say out loud, but I found myself ignoring water and sometimes would go a full day without a single DROP. Yikes!!
  • Once you have decided what it is you want to do- you NEED to track it. I used a notepad application on my phone, though you are also welcome to use a REAL notebook and pen to track yourself. Every time I drank water, I would write it down on the notebook. No matter if it was a sip, or a whole glass at once, I would track how much water I drank throughout the day. At the end of the first week I looked at my numbers and was pretty surprised. During the first four days I drank less than a liter a day. Nowhere near my goal. Later in the week, I wanted to be able to write down on my notepad that I drank water so I would purposely CHOOSE to go drink some.
  • Next, continue tracking for THREE more weeks. I know, seems tedious, but you need to develop a HABIT of consciously CHOOSING to do something or not do something, depending on what you are tracking. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, and that’s what we’re trying to do.
  • At the end you will have noticed a pattern, I now CHOOSE to drink water. I still track it, but I am more conscious of my decision to drink it now rather than my autopilot lack of a choice, to ignore it. I’ve lost some water weight because of this! I was always dehydrated, just chose to ignore the signs, now I feel more awake, and drinking water makes me feel like I’m making a choice in the best direction.
Now you try.
  • Come up with a goal. (Losing weight, Saving money, Being better at your job)
  • Track your behaviour and choices for 1 week. (Track everything you put in your mouth, track every dollar you spend, track how long you spend on Personal Development a day)
  • Look at your results, be conscious of your choices and track for THREE more weeks.
  • You’ve developed a new habit!! Congratulations!

Feel free to comment below what you’re going to be tracking to hold yourself accountable! Be successful, in every area of your life.

 

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