2019 Happiness Project—April

In addition to and as part of my 19 for 2019, I’ve decided to tackle a Happiness Project. I first read Gretchen Rubin’s book in 2014 and became enamored of the idea. However, my desire to do things perfectly kept getting in the way. I felt like I needed to have lists and charts and plans. While all of those things are helpful, sometimes it’s better to just get started.

And so, with only a vague notion of what I’m going to do, I decided that 2019 is the year of my Happiness Project. I’m going to have the same monthly focuses Gretchen had in her book, but will modify the individual tasks to fit what’s needed in my life.

April: Lighten Up

Gretchen’s tasks for April were:

• Sing in the morning
• Acknowledge the reality of people’s feelings
• Be a treasure house of happy memories
• Take time for projects

I would never go so far as to say that I’m already crushing all of these. But I am definitely a sing-in-the-morning, acknowledging-feelings, happy-memories kind of person. I attribute some of these to my jumble of feelings about losing my mom at a young age… intentional parenting and all that. Taking time for projects is an opportunity though.

#1 Take time for play

During the week, to be clear, there’s not a lot of time for play, at least for me. Work takes up a good chunk of time, and the free moments are usually spent bathing kids, cooking dinner, snuggling as much as possible, and checking that both kids have clean shirts for the next day. Then on the weekends, I snap into home productivity mode. I’m a whirling dervish of counter-wiping and vacuuming and laundry-sorting.

It’s important that the kids see what my husband and I do to keep our house running smoothly. But it also makes us rather boring to them sometimes.

This month, I’m going to take more time for play (and projects too!). Bean wants to play dolls? Yep, let’s line all 12 of them up here and pretend they’re having a party. Dude wants to run laps around the cul-de-sac? Let’s go buddy. I’m hoping to refinish the bookcase in Bean’s room this month too, and there’s probably no reason she can’t help with some of the painting. I bet she’d find it to be a lot of fun.

#2 Make time to read

Reading is just about my favorite thing to do at any given time. My dresser is covered in books and my hold list at our local library is obnoxious. We also make sure to read to the kids every night before bed. They get to pick two or three books, which allows for 5-15 minutes of reading. I’d love to get more dedicated time for this though.

This month, I’m going to try and find 20 minutes each day (not at bedtime) to sit with each kiddo and read them whatever they want to hear. They can do this together or separate, and it probably means Dude is going to have me read “Wonder Woman Perseveres” hundreds of times. (He is totally fixated on this book!) It will be time well spent though. I believe reading is vital for the kids’ development. Also, my grandma loves to read, it was my mom’s favorite thing to do, I love it, and I’m hoping that by making it a habit in their formative years, both kids will appreciate a good book throughout their lives as well. It’s a thread that can connect our family.

#3 Make Disney photo books for the kiddos

Did you know that on the Shutterfly app, you can create a free paperback 6×6 photo book each month? You pay for shipping and if you go over the page allotment (which I believe is 40) there’s a fee as well, but overall it’s a great deal. I’m going to create individual photo books for each kiddo, featuring their favorite moments from the trip. I’m working on a larger album for our family, but I think they would get a lot of joy out of having their own personalized books as well.

Being a mom is basically my favorite thing ever.

I’m looking forward to a month particularly focused on doing the best job I possibly can with my sweet babies!