Simultaneous Naptime

My kids are simultaneously napping. This has never happened. I can honestly say that since Caroline was born the two of them have never taken a nap at the same time. Not even in the car.

(Andrew always fought his nap and when the baby was born it was easier to give in. I tried to have a "quiet time" every afternoon, but his room is right next door to Caroline's and his version of quiet was very good at waking the baby. So I gave that up too.)

The reason for the simultaneous nap? A nasty, nasty stomach bug that knocked Caroline out for about 12 hours and has now taken Andrew out of the game for a second straight day.

It's been really awful. He threw up every 1.5 - 2 hours for 26 hours straight. Neither of us slept much these last two nights, even after the sicks were finally over.

I'm so hopeful that he will be back up and running before Easter, and that Brian and I don't get sick. I'd hate for the kids to miss out on church and our Easter celebration. And I really, really don't want this bug. It's a bad one.

So I should be sleeping, right? The house is so quiet. I'm going to jinx it. I'm waiting....

Nope. Still sleeping. Wow. The power of a quiet house.

I got up super early one day this week. It was Wednesday. I got up before everyone else and wrote my post about playtime. I didn't open my browser. I didn't sneak a peek at Twitter. I just started writing, and it was amazing how quickly it was finished and posted and that was it.

One big idea I took away from my weekend at Blissdom was the power of focusing. It seems ironic that at a social media conference I learned that I should turn it off and not be social all of the time, but I think this is true for me.

I've always been good at focusing on the task at hand. In 7th grade I remember my science teacher telling my mom that I was always the one zeroed in on her during her lectures, and that she never worried about my mind wandering. 

I'm afraid I've lost that ability. I don't know if it's the ding of a Twitter notification, interruptions from the kids, the buzz of a new email on my phone, the TV that's too often on in the background, but it's so hard to focus right now. I'm trying to be a full-time mom, a part-time worker, a part-time blogger, a part-time hobbyist photographer, a full-time wife and friend. That's a lot even with all the help that I am so blessed to have.

I don't have a set-in-stone plan right now, but I think I'm going to try really hard to put some more schedule into my day. Setting aside blocks of computer time each week: these hours are for blog reading and sharing, these hours are for photo editing, these are for designing crafting and photographing.

Maybe then I won't feel like I'm missing something by X-ing out of all my browsers, knowing that I'll have time to get back to it later that day. I've already taken the facebook app off of my phone and I'm thinking of doing the same with Twitter. I won't get rid of Instagram though. No way. I love you too much Instagram. :)

Time management. I need some, and I think setting up chunks of time throughout my day for certain activities is the way to go. 

Also, simultaneous naps are amazing. I could really use a few more of these. I'm sure my productivity would sky rocket.

How about you? Do you try to schedule? Fly by the seat of your pants? 

-------

My plan for more focused computer time was inspired by Megan Jordan, and sadly I didn't even get to attend her session at Blissdom. But from everything I heard from those who were there and from the Twitter stream during her talk, I think focus was a key component. I can't wait to go back and watch her workshop once it's posted. 

Blissdom 2013 Recap

So I'm back! Blissdom'13, my first ever blog conference, was at The Gaylord Texan here in the Dallas area last week.

I decided to go to Blissdom back in the fall when it was first announced that it was moving from Nashville to Dallas. I had thought about attending even when it was in Tennessee, but when they moved it here I certainly couldn't pass it up.

My overall experience was very positive. I loved getting to meet so many of my favorite blogging friends and lots of new friends too.

The people, the community, were the highlight for me.

THURSDAY
I started the conference with a photo walk around the Gaylord Thursday afternoon. I'm so happy I did this because I think it set a great tone for the weekend. It was fun and relaxed and friendly.

I didn't take many photos though because I was too busy talking - ha!

Things officially kicked off that evening with a newcomers meetup. Again, I met tons of friendly and talkative women and felt very welcomed by everyone.

We had time to walk around and meet the great Blissdom sponsors later that night before they brought in the entertainment - soap stars! All My Children will be back later this summer on Hulu.com and they were there to promote their comeback. I haven't watched AMC since college, but they were still fun to see.

FRIDAY
Friday's opening keynote was given by Scott Stratten of Unmarketing fame.  He was hilarious, and I loved everything he had to say about the business of being social on social media.

Friday was devoted to breakout sessions. I chose one writing, one photography and one life workshop - clearly I wanted to spread out my inspiration!

My favorite of all my sessions was the writing session with Shelly Kramer on writing for the web. She talked a lot about SEO and the best way to share content. Her tips were very constructive and actionable, which I thought were missing from the other sessions.

Friday night we headed to the Glass Cactus for Girls Night Out with Chris Mann and Amber Riley from Glee. While they were both great, The Spazmatics, a new-wave 80's cover band, who came on after the Bliss folks were done were AMAZING!

Pretty sure Blissdom should book them next year. :)

SATURDAY
We slept in and ordered room service Saturday morning so we missed the talk with Susan Cain. I was pretty bummed when I realized she was the author of the book Quiet about introverts. I should have paid more attention, but the sleep was fabulous and I may buy her book anyway.

Somehow I didn't get much out of the day Saturday. I only made it to one breakout session because we were on our own for lunch and the hotel was packed. A few girls jumped in my friend Arena's car and we had a great off-site lunch. Seriously - it was so fun getting to know these girls a little better.

By the time we got back it was almost time for the closing keynote by Jon Acuff, author of the new book Start. Loved him! I don't even know what to say accept that I wanted to be his friend. And read his book. And have him teach me all his witty and inspiring ways.

And that was it for us. My friend Sarah and I headed home early so I could get her to the close-to-my-house airport first thing Sunday. Also? We were kind of happy to have our own beds. :)

A few thoughts to wrap up this insanely long post:

- The Blissdom people were friendly and fun. I felt welcome and included in the community and was perfectly happy to sit down at a table with strangers and say hello. But I'm kind of like that anywhere so  I'm sure that helped my experience.

-The sessions were just meh. I'm so glad I took Shelly Kramer's workshop, but other than that I didn't take home much actionable info, and I was disappointed in that. But I do have three books to read.

-My roommates, Sarah, Mandy and Mindy were awesome! They made the weekend so much fun.

-The local Dallas bloggers that I've gotten to know are a great group of hard working, smart ladies. I think we're pretty lucky to have such a dynamic local support team.

-I really like bloggers. They're just cool. I know we talk about ourselves a lot and you'd think maybe we'd all be really into me, me, me, and while I'm sure there's a lot of that out there, I didn't run in to it one bit. Just a good supportive group of ladies. And for that I'm very thankful.