The Non-Caffeinated Mommy

Caffeine. Such a powerful drug. So many hardworking Americans are addicted to it. Many can't bring themselves to function without it.

I used to be 100% caffeine-free. I guess except for a tiny bit of chocolate here and there, but I'll be honest, I wasn't consuming that for the caffeine. Anyway, I didn't drink sodas (not even the caffeine-free kinds), caffeinated teas, coffee or anything. My drinks of choice were water, skim milk and of course the social alcoholic beverages when out with friends.

Then in 2008, I opened up an in-home daycare. My addiction begins. During the year that I had my in-home daycare, I would be up around 5:30 or 6am...take the dog for a morning walk, then prepare for the kids to start arriving as early as 7am and the last ones would not leave until 5:30pm. That is a long work day - and with no breaks. Around 10:30am, I would start to get that nodding off feeling...and with kids, you just can't have that. You need even more energy to keep up with them than you do with just a regular job! So I started purchasing energy drinks. Diet Rockstars and Lo-Carb Monsters were my guilty-pleasures. And I drank one EVERY DAY. Sometimes two. Yeah, it was bad. Here I am, 2 years later (except for a 9-month break during pregnancy) and I'm still having one a day. I am now a stay-at-home mom for the most part and working on my cleaning business. I have a 5 year old and a 4 month old - both of which require a lot of alertness in their own ways. Tanner, the 5-year old, is off-the-walls hyper most days. You absolutely have to find things to keep him entertained. And he can be very hard to keep up with. Breckin, on the other hand, requires a great deal of attention at this age, and of course getting up in the middle of the night for feedings some nights leaves me exhausted in the AM. (Thankfully, he has been sleeping through the night most nights for about a month.) But my sleep is still light, nonetheless, since I'm used to getting up. Hopefully my body will get back to normal soon.

I have been on a mission to lose all of my pregnancy weight by the end of this year ever since I got home from the hospital with Breckin. In light of having to change my diet and exercise habits (at least from what they were during pregnancy), I have decided that it would also be in my body's best interest to lay off of the caffeine. Hopefully altogether. I want my body to run on the energy I get from exercising and eating right. For so many years, I functioned absolutely fine with no help from the caffeine jolt whatsoever. I know I can do it. It's a bit harder now that I'm a mommy of two boys, but I know I can do it. So here's to kicking the habit - wish me luck!