[mommy2abigail]

I feel like I give my 100% all morning, and come afternoon, I'm toast. We do tons of stuff in the morning, like go to the park for a few hours, or have a messy party with 5 toddlers or go to theme parks (we live in Orlando and have passes to everywhere). It's serious fun.

Then we come home after lunch and nap and when we wake up, I just can. not. give. any. more. We may go outside and I sit and read or crochet while she paints or plays with the hose, or we may do a craft thing inside at the table. This is all well and good, but I need to keep her busy for 3-4 hours, until dh gets home and gives me some relief. She helps me in the kitchen some, but that only takes a little while. Lately it's been a little cooler in the evening, so we go for a walk for 30 minutes too.
Today, for example, we went to Sea World with a friend and her 2 year old. We walked LOTS and saw most everything that they could see (minus the crazy roller coasters!) at about 12:30 we headed over to the kids water play area and they played for almost an hour in the water. We left at 1:30, and she fell asleep in the car until we got home, 20 minutes later. Of course, when we got home, she woke up, refreshed from her 20 minute nap and rearing to go again. I was comatose. So now, dh is going out of town, and I wont be getting any relief from him this whole week. Fine, but I'm panicking a little! I'm so tired, I just can't get off my butt to do much. I read to her on the couch, or whatever, but she's not really into playing alone and I'm not into playing atm.
So I guess my question is, how do you get more energy in the afternoon???? I just can not seem to muster it up at all. And since she doesn't play on her own, or watch tv (we do own one movie, and she watches it almost every day, weirdo!) I have NO down time at all. HELP!

 

[Nani]

I'm in the same boat as you, except my dh has been working 20hr days for over 4 months, he's not around and I have a 6 mo baby. I've hit the wall so many times that I can't even count.
This is my answer

 

[mommy2abigail]

It's so hard! I'm preggo, so I have to watch my

intake. I use it in the morning when dd has been up 4 times the night before, so I can't have anymore later on in the afternoon. Ugh, how I wish I lived in a tribe somewhere. Then at least there would be other kids for dd to play with and I'd have other mama's around to talk to.

 

[CheapPearls]

My cousin asked me the same thing and the only thing I could think of is I drink a lot of water.

And the fact my kids will play on their own without me having to be right there for them. They don't require me to entertain them all day so I'm able to relax more.

Have you checked out moms groups in your area? meetup.com and yahoo groups are a good place to start looking.

 

[BetsyS]

My son is younger than your dd, and I'm not pregnant, so my advice might not apply.

We have a set naptime at my house. I am always home for naptime. If we are getting close, and he's sleepy in the car, I do crazy things to keep him awake (tickle him, throw soft toys back at him, play tug of war with his blanket, whatever it takes). I can't handle missing naptime.

And during those 2 hours, I make sure that I sit down and do something for me. I nap, read, cross-stitch, scrapbook, cook a complicated recipe, whatever I want, so long as it refreshes me.

Then, when he wakes up, I have more energy for him. I also make sure that we go outside int he afternoon. Now that it is cooler, we are usually in the yard. We used to go to the pool, but it closed this week, since it's fall here.

 

[happymomma]

I don't think its possible for me to ever have enough energy for my boys. Well, at least when I am pregnant anyway. To just have a tenth of their energy would be amazing. Right now I am working on teaching them how to give mama a massage or rub mamas feet when I get tired...its a win/win for everyone I figure...they learn a valuable career skill, I get to relax.

The only problem with my master plan is that 99% of the time it turns into trampoline time on top of mama.

 

[Black Orchid]

i feel that way sometimes... the first half of my cycle after my period i am toast inthe afternoon. the second half, i am great. maybe try to track your cycle to see if there is a relation. when i figured that out, it helped me to feel better about having afternoon down-time.

these are my strategies:
-EXERCISE! (I know, it seems counter, but I have so much more energy now that I commit to exercising at least 5 days a week).
- Eating well... fresh foods, eating 3 meals and two snacks consistantly. I make sure to eat a piece of fruit or a serving of veggies at each meal/snack. AMAZING results. I have definately noticed the effect on my energy and it has helped me to lose a few inches.
- Drinking two cups of green tea/day. One in the morning and one at lunch. It gives me that little boost I need.
- Going to bed/waking at the same time every day.
- Cooking a soup/stew at least once a week with enough to serve as two more meals. In essence, doubling the recipe and freezing half the leftover for the weekend and putting the other half in the fridge for another weekly dinner.
- Giving myself permission to have those down-days. I knwo some do not agree with showing kids TV, but I reserve our videos and TIVO'ed shows for those days when I just want to hng out in the afternoon.

 

[DoomaYula]

I take Floridix when I need more energy. I'm probably a little iron-deficient and I do notice a difference.

Also, NAPS ARE CRITICAL. Even my 4.5yo twin boys take naps. I try not to be near a car during naptime, because it throws everything off. We all nap for at least 2h, and then I feel refreshed for the "afternoon session" of my life.

 

[kkeris]

Mine is simple- a high quality B complex daily. Especially now that I cam pregnant, I CANNOT go through a regular day without this.

 

[kkeris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Orchid - Eating well... fresh foods, eating 3 meals and two snacks consistantly. I make sure to eat a piece of fruit or a serving of veggies at each meal/snack. AMAZING results. I have definately noticed the effect on my energy and it has helped me to lose a few inches.

Wow you have some really good tips there!

BTW, care to share more on the above? How does eating a serving of fruits/veggie help with energy levels and losing weight?

 

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I could have written your post.

I am TOAST after naptime. I'm so tired I can barely function.

I used to drink copious amounts of coffee -- but now I'm pregnant too (which is probably part of the reason we are so tired!)

My coping strategy for afternoons: OUTSIDE.

We go outside. Every afternoon. For about two hours.

You are in LUCK because you live in Florida and are about to enter the halcyon season there -- winter -- and don't have to worry about snowboots and snowsuits and stuff. But even in the freezing cold dead of winter I bundle my kids up and we all go outside.

Even kids who can't entertain themselves can usually find SOMETHING other than Mom to look at while they are outside.

We go for walks. I sit on my front porch while they ride tricycles. I sit on a chair in the backyard while they romp around in the sandbox. In the summer we set up a kiddie pool and sprinklers.

I have found OUTSIDE to be my saving grace...because usually you can do something low energy while they are soaking up the fresh air...

And as an added bonus, they tire themselves out and are ready for bed earlier.

Good luck to you!!!

(By the way, I used to live in Gainesville and I am super jealous of you with your theme park passes. We used to do that too and I MISS those parks!)

 

[mrskennedy]

Can you spread out your activities? have some down time in the morning? Eat smaller, more frequent meals/snacks--this will give you more energy and so will raw food b/c it's digested more easily/faster and it's better for you, containing all the vitamins/enzymes you need that cooked food loses.

 

[mamasaurus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mommy2abigail I feel like I give my 100% all morning, and come afternoon, I'm toast. We do tons of stuff in the morning, like go to the park for a few hours, or have a messy party with 5 toddlers or go to theme parks (we live in Orlando and have passes to everywhere). It's serious fun.

Do you do this every day?

If so, I think I'd cut back!

:

I know that if I go out too many mornings in a row with my kids on outings, I really get burned out. We need to have a morning of being at home, doing relatively quiet things.

Can you do something like this:

~ Go out for two mornings in a row, then stay home the third morning?
~ Repeat.

Plan a day of quieter activities, like baking cookies or some long, involved craft project, or something outdoors, like planting a garden - anything that will keep you at home, but not going stir-crazy from being at home, KWIM?

I have to do this, or I just absolutely burn out.

 

[Meg_s]

I think that if you go all out in the morning it's actually better to have a quiet afternoon. By quiet I mean - do you have a yard, or places in the house where your child(ren) can occupy themselves? Sit down, supervise, talk to them or read a book, interact, but for the most part let them direct their own play. I generally allow for one part of the day to be the non activity part, or maybe just going for a walk or something, and then the other half will be the going out and doing something part. The nice thing about the quiet hours is that if you want you can do a little tidying up around their playing and it's nice to have the house clean.

 

[That Is Nice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Orchid i feel that way sometimes... the first half of my cycle after my period i am toast inthe afternoon. the second half, i am great. maybe try to track your cycle to see if there is a relation. when i figured that out, it helped me to feel better about having afternoon down-time.

Interesting. I've never tracked mine, but I bet it has a lot to do with my energy levels.

Any theories about why there is a relation for you?

 

[That Is Nice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamasaurus I know that if I go out too many mornings in a row with my kids on outings, I really get burned out. We need to have a morning of being at home, doing relatively quiet things.

THANK YOU for saying this. I get really burned out (and nothing else gets done) if we go to too many playgroups, outings, meet ups, etc. It is SO easy to get too involved and over commit yourself and your children. I've had to really cut back in order to have time for other things.

 

[That Is Nice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YumaDoula Also, NAPS ARE CRITICAL. Even my 4.5yo twin boys take naps. I try not to be near a car during naptime, because it throws everything off. We all nap for at least 2h, and then I feel refreshed for the "afternoon session" of my life.

That sounds heavenly. I wish we could do that in our house, but my child has other ideas.

 

[mamasaurus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spring Flower That sounds heavenly. I wish we could do that in our house, but my child has other ideas.

Talking about naps - my almost 5yo has not napped since she was 2.5yo. What we do instead is quiet time. But here is the thing - she doesn't want to have quiet time!

:

Sooooo... what we do is say this - the *family* is having quiet time - everyone else is going to have a rest, little sister, Mommy, Nanny, whatever adult is "on duty" at the time. The rule for DD#1 is that she doesn't have to nap during this time, but she needs to make "quiet choices" and have quiet activities while the rest of the family rests. She cannot disturb the rest of the family. If she does come to us for something during "family quiet time", then we tell her that we will help/play/assist her AFTER quiet time. And we stick to it. Unless it's something urgent, she needs to respect the other family members' quiet time.

This seems to work well, because we aren't telling her that *she* has to have quiet time - we aren't imposing it on her. We are saying that the rest of the family is resting, and she needs to respect that.

She then doesn't feel that we are forcing it on *her*, KWIM?