2012 is already gaining momentum, but before we get too, I wanted to take a quick look at what I learned in 2011 from my first full year as a mom.

• Being a full-time mom is a very challenging career. And even though I thought it was the career I wanted, turns out that’s not the case. It took me almost the full year to come to a balance that works for us, 3 days at Day Care, 2 days with mom and the weekend with mom and dad.
• Kids can be stubborn. And frustrating. Especially when they are still not able to properly communicate what they want most of the time.
• Kids can also be hilarious and laugh at the silliest things, like a good game of pee-a-boo.
• The house is never going to be as clean as I would like it to be. And that’s ok.
• Have a child is stressful on the relationship with your partner. It takes more work than before to keep that part of my life in check. Date night has to be NON-NEGOTIABLE!
• It’s ok to let my husband be a dad and to step back and let him take care of things.
• That patience is essential for sanity and taking a step back once in a while, taking a deep breath and counting to 10, can be very helpful.
• It’s easy to smile when your child gives you a hug and a kiss.
• Being a mom finally helped me to understand many of the challenges my mom friends had in their lives.
• And finally, that there aren’t enough words in any language to describe how much I love my daughter and how much it grows every day.

I would love to hear from you about some of the things you’ve learned this year as a mom or dad. Check in on the comments below.

This is a very special blog post dedicated to my dad, Jérôme Boyer. There are so many things that he has done throughout my life to help me be successful, but there are two very key things that I wanted to share with you today.

When I first started my business back in 2006, my parents were my first associates. They have always been amazing at supporting me. My dad never really got involved, he did use the products for a while but the habit didn’t stick.  He did give me one referral though. A good friend of his, Peter, has a daughter, who is my age. At that time, she had just opened a personal training studio. Jérôme suggested to Peter that she and I should connect about this Usana thing I was doing. It was a great referral, because through that connection, I met Brian, another trainer. Over 3 years later, Brian is now working at One Health Clubs, and when they mentioned they were looking at bringing supplements on board, Brian thought of me and Usana. Long story short, we are now partnered with One Health Clubs and it’s the start of an amazing journey together.

The second thing is a card he gave me back on June 26th, 2007.  I believe I had just level advanced in my business. It’s one of those Blue Mountain Arts cards. I have had it on my bulletin board for over 4 years because the poem has inspired me daily.

“Success is what happens when you don’t give up. Your dreams are just around the corner – waiting to come true … I believe in you, and I know your hard work, persistence, and dedication will pay off. And when they do… they will be extra sweet because you will know you have earned your rewards. I’m proud of you, and I hope you will achieve all that you wish for – and more.”

This post is for you Jérôme, I love you and thank-you for your amazing support!

During one of our playgroups last week, we were asked about some of the challenges we face being a parent. For me, I find the biggest challenge I face on a daily basis is all of the choices I am making on behalf of my daughter. Once of the biggest choices for me has been whether or not to put my daughter into daycare more often.

I am starting to understand why moms with one child have a nanny, or why stay-at-home moms (as opposed to work-from-home-moms) put their child or children in daycare. Being the sole entertainer for your kid(s) all day can be a challenge. Before I had my daughter, I couldn’t relate to why you would need help with only 1 child. Now – I get it. The thing is, when you are at home with your kids, you’ve got the house to take care of as well as the child. Laundry, dishes, making meals, cleaning up after meals – all of that still has to be done.  Not to mention running errands and appointments.

A good friend of mine has very little help with her son. He is now 1 year old and she has had so little time for herself over the past year. I have been able to send my daughter to daycare twice a week since the beginning of September and I am going to admit that I am so happy to be able to do this. This is such a shock for me – as I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.  When I realized HOW HARD it is, I found that daycare has been a lifesaver. Of course, I do work from home as well, but I could work less (my income would remain the same) and spend more time with my daughter. What’s great about the daycare we found is that she is doing developmental activities as well. She has so many different toys and activities to do there, they sing songs, do circle time, feed her fresh health foods and she’s on a regular schedule there. No one has to run to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for dinner. No phone interruptions. No one watching Survivor (guilty pleasure). And she loves it there.

I’ve had an unusually busy week with my business, so I decided to put her in to the daycare today as well (as an extra day). She was so upset to leave when I picked her up that she refused to sit in her car seat. The bottom line here is that I’ve stopped feeling bad about my choice to send her to daycare for part of the week. It’s not what I planned and it’s not what I thought I wanted, but it turns out – this is what works!

What’s your biggest parenting challenge? Do you struggle with sending your kids to some kind of care outside the home (or do you have a nanny)? Share with us in the comments below.

This past weekend we were away in Collingwood, and as promised, I unplugged. Sort of. For the most part anyhow. Turns out it was harder to be unplugged than I had expected. I had my phone and Playbook with me (no laptop) and there was no WiFi connection, with spotty phone service at best. The question is, how did we do, as this was a challenge for all 4 adults that were on this trip with us.

Friday was the biggest challenge for me, since I had to take care of a few last minute business details (our business week closes every Friday so it’s important to take care of things by then). I spent about an hour taking care of business. The rest of the weekend was much easier, I had my out of office set on my email, so even though I checked my phone once or twice a day, I didn’t have to answer, since everyone would get the out of office reply.  And I stayed off Facebook – the whole 4 days. That was actually nice. I do really enjoy Facebook and I enjoy connecting on it, but I found out that I can easily do without it.

My hubby was the most unplugged, but then again without his computer, there isn’t much for him to plug into.  He’s great at leaving work at work and not worrying about it when he’s not there. He is definitely plugged in at home though, being a WOW gamer, it’s an important part of his down time.  Our friends did pretty well too, one being a real estate agent – I was impressed that he was able to unplug a fair bit, because their profession often demands working on weekends.

What did I learn from this mini experiment? First, that setting an out of office on my email is a great way to have a break from answering emails and to feel like I’m more in control of my email, because I can choose to answer when I’m ready.  So don’t be surprised if every once in a while you get an out of office response from me, even if I’m in town. Second, that I can live without Facebook and it wasn’t as hard as I thought. Facebook has definitely been a good thing in my life, but a forced break is nice. And finally, that a weekend without my laptop and wifi is truly a break.

Did you unplug for the day? Why not try the out of office trick for the weekend? Or turn your phone off on Saturday and Sunday? Who knows, you might not even miss it.

The Winter of Our Disconnect is a great first-hand story about the author, Susan Maushart and her 3 teen-aged children, who “unplugged” for 6 months. She is a transplanted New Yorker, who lives in Perth, Australia with her kids (but not their father). She is also a journalist who was basically married to her iPhone. The idea for being “unplugged” for 6 months at a time came to her when she started to realize that her family was always plugged into sometime – and often more than one thing at a time.  Whether it be a laptop, cell phone, tv, iPod – they were always connected in some way to a device, but they were no longer connecting with each other. Sure, removing all technology from the house for 6 months may seem extreme (they could still use it outside of the home – i.e. a laptop or computer at school or the library) but the results of this experiment were pretty profound.

I do recommend you take a look at this book, I found it at my local library.  Here is the link to my Amazon affiliate account.  Read on if you’re not planning to read it yourself.

What I really enjoyed about this book is that it’s not just the story about life without technology in the home, she also did a great deal of research on the effects of technology and media on our lives, especially the research where children are concerned. Even children as young as 3 are in front of a screen for an average of 3 hours a day. Of course, this also includes time in front of a computer where many children are getting a head start on reading with some of the amazing programs available these days. Much of the research shows that the more time children and teens spend in front of a screen, the worse off they seem to be.  And the myth that they are better multi-taskers? It’s just that – a myth.  Turns out our brains can really only do one task at a time, so the “multi-tasker” is simply switching quickly from one task to another.  And in reality, none of the tasks are done very well.  What I have noticed in my life is that if I finish one task before starting on a second task, the first task is completed more quickly and more accurately.

Some of the best parts of the experiment were that her son, previously plugged into his computer playing online games every night, picked up his saxophone, started taking lessons and became quite gifted in playing jazz. He also developed a passion for reading and listening to jazz on – wait for it – records! Her oldest daughter found that it wasn’t as bad as she had imagined it to be, and she also found more time to read, cook and spend time with her younger sister. The youngest daughter found it the most challenging – she escaped to her father’s home for the first few months – but when she returned, the biggest change for her was the improvement in her sleeping habits. She basically used to fall asleep with her laptop – no laptop – no late night stimulation, better sleep.  And finally, as a family, they did grow closer, learned more about each other and created deeper relationships, that involved conversation.  For those of you who have teenagers, you can understand how difficult it can be to have actual conversations with your teenagers, so this was a big win.

Do you feel like you are too plugged in? Ever fall asleep with your iPhone or Blackberry in hand? Does your family spend the evenings in front of a screen or even several screens? I find that my husband and I often retreat to our own screens in the evening after dinner. We do take the time to sit and have dinner together, but shortly after, I’m in the office and he’s on WOW. My phone does get turned off at night now, and my laptop and playbook are shut down.

We’re going away for a long weekend after Thanksgiving (the Canadian one) and I have challenged myself and our friends to a techno-free weekend. No laptops, cell phones turn off as soon as we arrive, no TV or Playbook.  Should be a blast! We’re taking a bunch of board games to play and there are lots of activities nearby – including a day at the spa with my girlfriend while the husbands watch the kids.

I challenge you readers to a techno-free day, evening or weekend! Check in below if you’re up for it! Will you be able to switch off? I’ll share our experiences when we return.

Have you seen the latest newsletter? You can subscribe right at the top so you don’t miss another edition of Success Tips with Julie Caroline.

There’s something I noticed this past month. I think my daughter eats better than my husband and I do. She eats whole foods, lots of fruit, some veggies, good sources of protein and fats – she loves salmon and avocado and drinks only milk and water. We give her very little processed foods (i.e. baby mum-mum) and of course, nothing with added sugar. Sure, she’s only 1 and we can pretty much control what going into her mouth (well, at least where food is concerned), but it’s also great that she loves to eat healthy foods.

For those new parents out there, who are still in close control of what their kids are eating – are they eating better than you are? Or do you all eat the same? Or are their eating habits worse than yours?

I often wonder how many children today have such poor eating habits. Is it because of what their parents are feeding them? Is it the media influence on tv commercials and branding with cartoon characters? Is it the food they are getting at school, perhaps in the cafeteria or in a vending machine? At what age do we “lose” the influence we have over what our children are eating?

The best suggestion I can offer to help battle this issue is to help parents and other caregivers learn about healthy, low glycemic eating for themselves and their families. In my opinion, if the parents have a better understand of what food is healthy and how easy and inexpensive it can be to feed your family with healthy, low glycemic whole foods, then we’ve at least got a chance to teach our children too.

Our next 30 Days to Optimal Health Program is starting on Wed. Sept 21st.  We’ll be starting the following Monday with a great 5-Day RESET Cleanse to help kick the carb cravings, bust the sugar habit and release fat from our mid-sections!

Who is this program for?

• Moms who are still struggling with extra baby weight or consuming extra calories but no longer breastfeeding
• Dads who gained baby weight too
• Runners and walkers who struggle with too many high glycemic carbs in their diet
• Any parent who wants learn better eating habits so that they can teach their children

How do I sign up?

• Contact Julie Caroline directly at julie@inspiredbyjuliecaroline.com for a free consultation call, to find out if this program is right for you

We’ve already got several people signed up – would you like to join us?

Many of you know that I spent last week in Salt Lake City for the annual USANA Convention.  Over the next few blogs posts, I will be sharing some of the great wisdom and tip that I learned from our amazing line-up of guest speakers and USANA Associates who provided training sessions.  First, I wanted to share what it was like to travel for the first time as a mom.

I have spent much of my life traveling, crossed the ocean more that a dozen times and on average take 2-3 trips a year. I am used to being away from my family, especially since my parents live in Mexico and my sister and her husband live in Vancouver.  This trip was the first time I would be away from my 11-month old daughter for more than a night. I knew it would be challenging and lucky for me, I was surrounded by many more experienced moms who helped me out.

A few things I did to prepare ahead of time:

• I made sure my daughter was well taken care of, by people I trusted.  She spent her days at our new day care and evenings with Daddy.  The weekend was spent with my in-laws, who spoiled her.
• I created a vibrant, funky dance mix to lift my spirits in case I was starting to get homesick.
• I put many photo albums of my daughter and family on my BB Playbook, so I could easier flip through them at any time.
• I asked my hubby to take a photo of her every morning and every evening, and to send it to my phone.

The first few days of the trip went well, no sign of the tears yet.  What I noticed is that many people do ask you about how you’re feeling and if you’re having a hard time being away.  I became aware that there are a few different types of “traveling parents” out there too:

• Those who were away from their kids for the first time, and found it tough (me!)
• Those who had been away from their kids before, and still found it tough
• Those who are often away from their kids, miss them, but are really good at being present and enjoying their time away (working on that!)
• Finally, those who just brought their kids along – there were so many babies and children at Convention this year! It was nice to get a “baby fix” every once in a while

I made it through the first 3 days pretty well, but by the 4th day, I was starting to get homesick. We tried to do a video call (with Google) and couldn’t get the sound and video to work at the same time. I got to see her little chubby legs and longed to be holding her in my arms. By Saturday, it was getting more and more difficult for me to focus on the events of the day – which were amazing, and included a speech by Chris Gardner (of The Pursuit of Happyness). And even though thousands of flights had been cancelled and so many people were being re-routed by Hurricane Irene, I decided to go to the airport on Saturday night and do whatever I needed to do to catch a late night flight out.

By some miracle, I was able to catch a flight from SLC to ATL, which arrived at 6 am on Sunday.  I took the 9 am flight to Buffalo and was holding my daughter by 1 pm.  She was so excited to see me and kept hugging me. It was amazing. I never realized how hard it would be for me, but I will do it again next year. It’s so important for me to have room to grow as a person as well, and this trip provides that for me and my team every year. And hopefully, by next year, she’s be able to carry on a conversation on the phone so that I know she understands that I love her and miss her.

Share your experiences about traveling without your kids. Have you done it yet? Longest trip? What do you find is your biggest challenge when you are away? And finally, any tips on how to make the trip easier on mom?

To all of my mommy friends who were moms before I became one. This is an open letter of apology and I wanted to let you know that I finally GET IT.

• It’s not possible to work from home and raise kids without help. During the day, forget about it! In the evening, once the kids are in bed – you’re lucky to get an hour a night. And that’s if you choose not to see your spouse.
• Keeping the house clean and tidy – again, another task that is best done by someone else. You spend your day picking up after everyone, doing laundry, folding it and putting it away. Not to mention all of the time spent preparing food for everyone. It’s a bit of a challenge over here, with me being a vegetarian and hubby a meatetarian. It’s certainly getting easier now that baby is eating more food like us.
• Leaving your kids to travel for an event is also much more difficult than I thought. If you’re going alone, your spouse being at work all day means a day care situation for baby. And our daycare is closed on Friday (the one day a year) so we were very lucky that my in-laws are coming to take care of her.  Going away with your spouse – this can be even more of a challenge!!
• Not to mention how hard it is to actually be apart from your kids. Our daughter spent Saturday night at my in-laws so that we could enjoy our trip to the Cirque du Soleil. I missed her so much and we were only apart for 24 hours (not to worry, I still really enjoyed my evening).
• I totally underestimated how much love you have for your child (or children). Now I do understand why we make sacrifices for our kids, why we choose certain things for our child’s safety first, why deciding who takes care of your kids can be such a tough decision.
• And now, more than ever, I understand why it’s so important not to judge other people’s parenting decisions. Being a parent is a very tough job and often we make decisions that we feel are best for our kids – not someone else’s – just ours. I never really understood this until we were bombarded with opinions on so many different topics when our daughter was born.  I’ve learned to smile, nod my head and say, um hum.

Please accept my apologies and know that I am on the same team now – and I GET IT!! Share with us any “ah-ha” moments when you went from being a couple (or single) to being a parent.  Check in below on the comments.

A few weeks ago, I was caught up in a day care disaster. The home day care I had lined up for the month of August fell through and I had less than 24 hours to find another solution for full-time care in August. I only needed day-care for August, as I’m not going back to work full-time (as most of you know, I’ve been back for a while, just doing it when I’ve got a few minutes here and there) but I had committed to 2 weeks of French cooking camp here at my home. And those of you who have kids can understand why I wouldn’t do this with a 10 month old in the house.

With some help from my friends on Momstown and Twitter, I had 2 possible solutions within hours and less than 24 hours later, we had signed on with a full-time day care facility only 5 minutes from home. I have to say that I am very blessed to have found a place that had spaces and could accept my daughter immediately at only 10 months of age. And that it’s a great day care.

I am curious to find out what other people do with their kids. What options, if any, have you chosen for childcare? Are your parents or in-laws able to help? Home day care vs. Day care facility? Montessori? And how did you choose your care provider? I never thought I’d be needing day care, as I had always planned to stay at home with my daughter. Turns out I did need this help this month and I’m also planning to put her in care two days a week in September.  There are many reasons why I’ve chosen to do so, including time to work on my USANA business, socialization for her and time to get stuff done around the house and do errands!!

Now I understand why stay-at-home moms have nannies or put their kids in care a few days a week! Once they start moving, you can’t get anything done unless they are asleep. And what on earth do you do with more than one?!?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Air-conditioning

Beautiful best friends

Caring husband, who is a great dad and takes good care of our daughter and his wife

Dear daughter, who is beautiful, healthy and growing up so fast

Electricity

Furniture

Great relationship with my family

Health – my own, my husband’s and our families

Imagination and the ability to create my dream life

Just being alive

Kisses from my baby

Love from so many wonderful people in my life

Money and the never-ending supply of it

Nature and all of  the beauty in fields, mountains, rivers, forests, lakes and oceans.

Olive oil and all of the tasty Mediterranean foods I love

Peanut butter and chocolate, any combination

Quiet moments of reflection

Roof over our heads

Swimming in a pool, lake, river or ocean

Tasting, touching, hearing, seeing and smelling.

USANA Health Sciences – my vehicle for creating the life of my dreams

Vision – knowing that everything I dream can be achieved

Water to drink, to bathe in and to wash clothing and dishes

Xcellence – Striving for it in every aspect of my life

You!

Zig-zags of life, it’s never a straight line

This weekend, I encourage you to create your own gratitude alphabet and share it with us.