Autumn in Parenthood

Hello lovelies!

It’s a new season full of new possibilities and new experiences, which (for me, at least) are bringing about a lot of new feelings as my son Jake has now begun first grade (full-time school! Eeps!). 

In the first few days of the pandemic, our family suddenly had no access to daycare, and we had to make a lot of significant changes to our work/life balance. My husband and I moved around our work hours to keep our son home with us, sharing childcare 50/50.

We leaned into slow mornings: cooking, library, bike rides, errands, secret field trips. I crammed work deadlines in focused time slots, often staying up late to catch up on projects. A lot of times I’d have to sacrifice Work Time for Mom Time, and I craved more time to make art. Exhaustion was not an uncommon feeling.

Fast forward to now: Kid is up early, off to school. I get in a bike ride, and then I strap in at 9:30 for a full day of work. Old Amanda is back, baby! (maybe?)

I should be happy that I have my time back, but I find myself missing what I had before. When are we supposed to go to the botanical pyramids or bake the one kind of cookie we can consistently not burn? 

Typical, right?

Even though things can’t be the same again, at least I know I’m still needed. In the middle of writing the last paragraph, I was called away by Jake to talk through some hurt feelings from a playdate. I think I could learn to really enjoy this new phase… so long as I can keep my head in the game 🙂

Here’s hoping your Fall is filled with positive changes and lots of quality time with your loved ones.

xox, 
- a

Side note for designer friends who feel they’re struggling to get things done: I recently wrote a blog post for Curio that includes some of my favourite techniques for working faster. If you are juggling kids, a day job, and anything else competing for your time, maybe some of these tips will help you push out creative work in those tiny pockets.

PPS. Did anybody catch my reference to “Autumn in New York” in the blog title? If so, let’s exchange addresses and become pen pals!