Get dressed!

(This was one of our first afternoons out,
and I managed to not wear sweats)

(This was originally published in Feb. of 2012 in The Maine Edge and is reposted with permission)

By Katy England
edge staff mom

When you add kids to your routine, you basically add more time than you physically have to your schedule. Especially if you have more than one at the same time. This means you tend to let things go. Cut corners, as it were. You do their laundry instead of your laundry. Wash their dishes (bottles) instead of your dishes. And suddenly you realize it's 5 p.m. and you're still in your jammies – and is that the guy who's coming to fix the heater? Crap.

I've learned that you need to make excuses to get dressed. It's one of the best things you can do to make you feel like a real person again. And the more you feel like one, the more you can act like one.
Here are some ways to ensure you get dressed.

Schedule appointments where you must leave the house. Be it doctors visits, work-related meetings, home nurse meetings - whatever. Get dressed.

Invite your friends over. Preferably friends who will rib you gently about looking like an unmade bed. Schedule a girls' night, make it a point to wear that cute thing you bought, or the heels you like, or as a chance to finally get that hair cut you've been putting off for a month.

We know it's hard to focus on you when there are much more important things to be thinking about. But I think there is truth in the statement that looking better is feeling better. When I look put together, I feel more competent, I act more competent and therefore I am more competent. And getting into that mental space isn't just good for you, it's good for your whole family.

Yes, this might be spoiled by an ill-timed spit up or diaper malfunction. But who cares? You have more than one pair of pants and more than one halfway decent shirt. Most of these stains will come out. And it's OK if you have to bring a couple things to the dry cleaner.