I’m calling on all of my readers (especially South Carolinians) to help me vote! I don’t normally ask for help with things like this, but this means a lot to mean and to a friend of ours.

There is a great competition called the Pink Glove Dance Competition. Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, South Carolina was the only hospital in South Carolina to submit an entry to this competition. This hospital is in my community and I’m very proud!

I’ve watched the video twice now and I think it’s so fun and I love that they got so many of the hospital employees, volunteers, chaplains, administrators, doctors and nurses to participate to help the hospital win. And the top three winners will receive donations in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice.  Lexington Medical Center’s breast cancer charity of choice is the Vera Bradley Foundation.

Watch their video! And then vote! To vote, visit http://pinkglove.co/39 and just “like” the video via the Facebook “like” button in the top right of the page. (Here’s what the page looks like.)

So watch the video and then don’t forget to go here to vote!

*This is the post I wrote for Kat’s blog over at Living Like The Kings, but I thought I’d post it here to round out the week.

Stay-at-home-mom.

I stay at home during the day with my children. I am their daily childcare provider. But I am also their mom.

I spend my days with a 5-month-old and a 2 year old and they are my children. I don’t get paid, but it is my “job.” It is solely my responsibility. There isn’t a point during the day when I can take a break to do other things away from the house- unless I arrange for someone else to come take care of my kids.

One of the most common questions I get asked is “what do you do all day?” This one just makes me laugh. But the other most common question is, “how do you find the work/life balance when your work is your life?”

Women who work outside the home work all day and then come home and still have to work. I mean, work at home is also enjoyable and fun because we’re surrounded by precious people that we love.

Women who work at home work all day and then do the same job all night until it’s time to tuck the munchkins into bed.

So how do I find the balance? How do I set time aside that’s just for me? How do I find moments throughout the day to give my attention to something else? And what do I do with that time?

I am, by no means, an expert. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for just two years now, so I still have a lot to learn about the way I like things and there is always room for improvement.

In the beginning, I was a very Type A mom. I’m still a Type A mom, but I have relaxed so much and now I think I’m a pretty laid-back mom. I love a good schedule, but I’m also willing to take my schedule on the road. I learned that in order to stay sane and happy, our days needed to be similar, but they didn’t have to be exactly the same.

I put together a little list of my tips to achieve a good work/life balance as a SAHM:

1. Stay organized- I know, I know. I harp on this all the time on my blog. But, just like my kids like a good schedule, so do I. I am able to get so much more accomplished during the day when I’m organized. So I created my home organization notebook and my weekly chore chart. I know which chores need to happen on which specific day. I never do chores at night or on the weekend. And that’s okay, but that’s my time to relax with my family.

2. Have a good calendar- By staying organized and then managing my schedule, I’m able to get out and do the “extra” things that I need to get done outside the house for me and for my kids.

3. Get involved- I need interaction with other adults. So I got more involved with placements in the Junior League and work on those projects during nap time. This has me communicating with other women and attending meetings a few times a month.  I’m also really involved in our church and that work and those friendships mean a lot to me.

4. Don’t stretch yourself too thin- The last thing I wanted to be doing was volunteering all day and night as a SAHM while I paid a babysitter to watch my kids. I’m a SAHM because I want to be at home with my kids. So don’t max out your schedule to the point where you resent the volunteer work you’re doing. The most important thing is to have energy and a great attitude for your children.

5. Find a hobby- Mine is blogging. It’s a great outlet for me to get my thoughts out there– and it allows me to communicate with lots of people. Maybe yours is running or cycling or scrapbooking. But find something that is yours!

6. Consider enrolling your child in Mother’s Day Out- Hudson goes four mornings a week now that he’s two. When he was one year old, he went two mornings per week. This allowed him so time with other children and he was able to learn from other adults, too. It also gave me time to run some errands without having to drag him along with me, which neither of us like very much.

7. Lean on your husband – When my husband gets home, he takes care of bath time for both kids. I am usually cleaning up the kitchen during this time, but he loves spending that time with his boys giving them their baths. Then when they’re both in bed, we can relax together to unwind before bed.

8. Make the most of nap time- Nap time is when I do my chores, blog and work on volunteer responsibilities. I don’t do these things while my kids are awake because I need to be playing with them. So when nap time comes around, I get moving! I’m usually able to get everything finished during this time, but sometimes I don’t and it just gets pushed to the next day.

9. Have realistic expectations- Being a SAHM is not a walk in the park, although we do take walks through parks every so often. It’s work. It’s challenging. You have the full responsibility of teaching, disciplining and nurturing your children all day every day. There are meltdowns and tantrums. There are plenty of days when we never leave the house. I rarely shower and I’m rarely dressed in anything I’m proud of. But if you know that going into it and you’re okay with it, then you’re all set!

I love having other responsibilities outside the home, but I never want any of those things to take away from my time with my kids. I don’t want to be pulled in a million different directions in the middle of the day when I need to be focusing on my kids. I also know that as a wife and mommy, I still need a little time to be myself.

What are your tips to achieving that balance?

I hope that by now you’ve come to expect random hodge podge posts from me on Thursdays. It’s just the “Blue-Eyed Bride way,” right?

• I cannot wait for January. My calendar is so full right now and it completely wigs me out not to be able to find weeknights where both TC and I are free. It’s all great stuff that I love, but I’m a homebody. I like to be home.
• One of the things on my calendar is a photography class for moms– or non-moms. The class is for three weeks and Brooke Turner is teaching it. My friend and I are taking it together. I don’t want to be a professional, but I do want to get the most out of my camera and get great pictures of my children.
• I need to update you all on my reading list of 2011. Basically, when Hayes was born, I kind of fell off the reading wagon and have been slowly trying to get back on. I’ve read three books since he was born, but I wish I could say I’ve read 5 or 6 books since he was born. It all goes back to not being able to shut off my brain at night.
• Carbs are bad, mmmkay? Yes, I realize that exposes me as a former South Park watcher because I just referenced Mr. Garrison, but we were all young once, right? I confess: I watched South Park in high school.

via

• But seriously. Carbs are bad. Not only do they make me gain crazy amounts of weight, but they also make me feel so crummy. Or is it crumby? Anyway, carbs make me feel yucky and bad.
• I’ve got a pretty great review and giveaway coming up from Oreck that lots of you girls will appreciate, I think. But, my gosh, this post will require me making an actual review video and that requires me washing my hair and wearing my skinniest outfit. Pssh.
• Speaking of hair… I got five inches of hair cut off last week. This was pretty significant. My hair is the shortest it has been in four years. And guess what! I have another appointment tonight to take my hair to a darker color. Maybe dark blonde, maybe light brown. I just don’t know yet. But my hair stylist basically told me that the insane amounts of blonde and insanely long hair were not great anymore and we needed to start over. Gotta tell ya… this made me very sad.
• If I end up doing this video for the Oreck giveaway, you’ll get to see the hair. But if it looks bad, I’ll just put a bag over my head to do the video.
• I have to say that I really appreciate all of the sweet words of encouragement and advice in the comments on my post about discipline. I just love blogging and I wish I could sit down and chat with all of you over some coffee.
• Yesterday, I mentioned that Hayes has been a rolling machine. I got some pretty cute pictures of him yesterday. I laid him down on his little play mat and within five minutes, he had rolled across the rug almost to the other side of the room. I warned him that he’s not allowed to crawl.

• Speaking of the cute Hazer, look at him in his little hat. Monday morning was pretty chilly and Hayes and I went for a walk. I got this hat for Hudson. I love having two boys and I love that we’re getting double the use out of all of the boy clothes!

• TC’s small firm purchased and renovated a historic home in town. The renovations have been going on for two years and are finally complete. The house looks amazing and I can only imagine how great it is to get to work somewhere so pretty every day. They hosted an open house last night for all of their friends, family, colleagues and even just the random passerby. It was hopping. But it was lots of fun! I hope I can get some pretty pictures of it to share soon.
• So, that’s about it. I may have reached a blogging low with my Mr. Garrison reference, but if that’s the worst that it gets, we’re all safe!