a busy mom
and her bullet journal
Now this a log that I hope no mother ever has to use. None of us wants to see our little ones getting sick or suffering in any way. But, there are certain things that we should probably track. I know that my mother did when it came to me, especially in those days when we didn't have access to computers and electronic records like we do nowadays.
I've reserved a page in my 2016 bullet journal for tracking any diseases my daugther could contract. So far, I had not had to use it and I keep my fingers crossed. The idea is to keep track of the most common diseases children can get and when they got them. These would be measles, chickenpox, fifth disease, mumps, rubella, Etc. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just a list of the most common ones under one column, a column for the date (you could use two columns: One for start and another one for end date since some diseases can run for several weeks) and a column for general notes. I'm glad that my mom kept a track of those because when I got pregnant and they ran all the necessary blood tests, one result came back positive. It was for rubella (also known as German measles,) something I had as a kid. I was glad I told them ahead so they wouldn't freak out. But hadn't my mom kept track of those things, with me growing up in one country and now living in another one as an adult, who knows. I might have not been able to give warning to the doctors so they wouldn't worry or call the CDC. Just kidding. You may be thinking what's the point of tracking certain things that seem to have been erradicated, at least in the United States. While I'm no doctor or scientist, some diseases have cycles of decades when they do not show up at all and, all of a sudden, a new generation gets sick with that particular disease that was thought to have been completely eliminated. I don't know. I thought it would be useful and, along with my daughter's vaccine tracker, I created one and I will be referencing (threading) to these on my future bullet journals.
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One of the things that kept giving me trouble in the last couple of months was the daily habit tracker. With everything that is going at home lately, I keep on forgetting to use it. And this was something that was helping me stay on top of the things that are important to me, for a better quality of life. I loved the weekly style I used to have and that one seemed to have been more effective. But I needed to simplify. It was taking me too much time to set the layout up. And even with my monthly version in opposite to weekly/daily, I'm still spending too much time and tracking basically twice. I need to turn to something more minimalist... now.
I posted on November 1 about the changes I was making for this month due to the fact that I was running out of spreads and I didn't want to start a new notebook for just a couple of spreads. I wanted to share how things were going considering that half of November is already gone. Things That Are Working So Far
A new month is here and this prompted me to make changes to my monthly setup. I always use a calendar view for my monthly log. For the longest time I tried to use the original monthly log, to not avail. I still use that one for my work bullet journal. However, because I'm a very visual person, I struggle a lot with that format. Therefore, back in May, I started to use an actual calendar view.
This month, I decided to tweak it a little bit. I made the calendar smaller, which gave me more rows at the bottom of the spread, as well as more space to the right margin of the right page. I can now use this extra space at the bottom for my habit tracker. Even though I said in my last post that I was not going to keep a habit tracker anymore, I decided to give it one more chance and I reduced the number of habits to the ones that made most sense to me and my current living situation. Once in a while you may need to stop and think if you're not overdoing it. I've realized I've been spending too much time every Sunday or Monday in trying to set my weekly spreads out. I started to use the bullet journal because I needed to get better organized and save time. Now that I've been using the bullet journal for about seven months, I think I've overdone it. I started very minimalist and then I realized the potential of this incredible system. I started adding collections and trying different spreads and ideas. Eventually, it started to get more and more complicated. Or maybe complicated isn't the right word here. I think every thing that I've done so far has or had a purpose. I think I got carried away. That's a much better choice of words.
Here's a tracker I created to help me remember my daughter's immunizations. I basically copied the one from the CDC where you can download it as a PDF. However, it does not have room to write down the dates. You could use the yellow bars. But I do not like carrying extra papers. Either way, I had some time in my hands and remade it in my bullet journal. By the way, it is a good idea to go back to the CDC page and make sure that they have not updated the vaccination schedule. As we all know, new discoveries are done every day. By the time your child may need a new shot, they could have discovered a new vaccine or an exciting one could have become obsolete. Immunizations Tracker (children 0 months to 6 years old.) For updated immunization schedule in the United States, visit http://www.CDC.gov/vaccines Supplies
Today I'm going to be sharing the bullet-journal version of the baby tracker I used when my daughter was a newborn with some additions. As soon as my daughter was born, I realized that she was not a baby who would cry that much. If you have children, you know that crying is the way they have to communicate when something is bothering them: A wet diaper, hunger, over-stimulation, boredom, hot, cold, etc. Eventually, you start even learning the different cries a baby may have. The way a baby cries when hungry is not the same way he or she may cry when wet.
My daughter was no exception to that; however, she was, for most part, a very content and happy baby. She didn't cry much and she didn't cry at all when she needed a diaper change. Now that she just turned 2 years old, she still doesn't cry or anything when she needs a diaper change. In fact, the only way you know that she needs a clean diaper is because of the "beautiful" smell trace she leaves behind and wherever she goes. Therefore, I realized soon after she was born that I was going to need a system to track down her nature calls, as well as feedings (the latter, to keep my own sanity since I was breastfeeding, pumping, and supplementing with formula.) Welcome! For my first post, I would like to share the log I currently use for tracking my daughter's day. She just turned 2 years old and she's an incredibly active little girl. Since I work full-time, my mom watches after her while I'm at the office and she then reports back to me.
Weekly logs are not included in the original bullet journal. In fact, the original bullet journal offers just the Future Log for future planning. I need more than just that, especially as the months go by. As a result, I have a couple of weekly logs each week: One is for my own personal use and the other one to track my daughter's days. For both my weekly logs, I use a full spread per week and both my logs start the week on Mondays. In case you were wondering, I'm using a medium-size Leuchtturm1917 dotted grid notebook. |
AuthorMother, daughter, wife, full-time project manager, semi-pro photographer, certified Spanish translator, and even self-taught plumber and electrician when needed. Yes, you will see me more frequently at Lowe's than at any other store. Archives
February 2017
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