You’ve probably heard the phrase: ‘Do as I say not as I do‘ a thousand times in your life. As a new mom, I keep on thinking about this adage and how flawed it is. Every night, I pray that I will be a good role model for Isla (and our future kids), and in order to do this, I need to act the way I want her to act. Therefore, my mom mantra is going to be ‘Do as I say and as I do.’

This statement applies to all aspects of life, from being kind and respecting all individuals to eating healthy and staying active. I cannot tell Isla to eat all of her veggies if I’m stuffing my face with pizza, nor would I be able to scold her for talking bad about a classmate if I constantly gossiped about my friends. Although many of the examples I can think of pertain more to a few years down the road, I know that I need to get into a good routine now so that she doesn’t grow up watching Sasha and I have bad habits.

One example of us getting into a bad habit is with our meals at dinner time. We spend a lot of money at the grocery store every week, buying organic veggies, fruit, meat, etc. to prepare all three meals at home. There is a delicious health food store and restaurant a stone’s throw from our house that is very reasonably priced, and so a few weeks ago, we decided to get takeout from A Moveable Feast every night (Monday through Friday) to see if we saved money by eating out (making our grocery bill significantly smaller). Not only did we spend less on food that week, it was such a relief not to have to cook dinner and clean the dishes. By gaining thirty minutes every evening, I felt like a new woman!