Husband = knight in shining armor

Just took a couple weeks off from the self-improvement to just survive life.  Do you ever just have weeks where you are gasping for air as chores, to-do lists, kid activities and lack of sleep seem to try to drown you?  During weeks like this I find myself looking at the clock every 10 minutes from 3:30 until Blake gets home.  I usually call him around 4:45 and ask “when will you be home?” with the hopes that he will say, “I am getting off early today.  See you in 10 minutes!”  Of course I am just setting myself up for disappointment because he never says that.  He usually says, “I should get home between 5:15 and 5:30.”  I don’t know what happens to my kids, but around 5:00 they get very difficult.  They start fighting each other or making a weird mess.  The dinner starts to need my full attention around this same time and the baby wants to nurse.  5:20 rolls around and my cortisol levels are at a steady climb.  At 5:30 I am usually nursing the baby, trying to stir the dinner and telling the dogs to stop barking in the yard.  I keep thinking “Blake, please come home and save me!”  Sometimes he does.  Sometimes 6:00 hits and I am almost in tears.  Usually something bad has happened like the dogs started licking the dinner, the 3 year-old had an accident or the 5 year-old just dumped a bunch of sand out of his shoe onto the clean floor.  All of these things I can handle but for some reason when they happen during the time I expected Blake to be home it amplifies the severity of these problems.  So this week’s habit is going to be a challenge to me.  I am not going to count the minutes until Blake gets home.  I am going to just ignore the clock and think more positively during that witching hour.  Sometimes I think about how the wives or our service men are some type of superhero.  They will be my inspiration this week.

Easy Pee-sy Bathroom Cleaning

I remember the days when I would collect everything I needed to clean the bathroom.  I had to find the toilet brush, the toilet bowl cleaner, glass cleaner, bathroom cleaner, broom and mop.  I wised up and got a container of disinfectant wipes, toilet bowl cleaner (Method brand so it is safe for kids – just in case) and a toilet brush for each bathroom.  Before I had this most recent baby I realized that it takes about 45 seconds for my shower to warm up so instead of standing there with my hand in the stream wasting that precious time I could grab a disinfectant wipe and either wipe down the toilet and swish it with the cleaner and brush or I could wipe down the vanity area.    I would even use a wipe on the floor once a week.  My bathroom was always clean and I never had to take time out to clean it.  Well, since this newest member joined our family I have dropped the ball a on this because, let’s face it, I am lucky to get in a shower at all.  So this week I am getting back in the habit.  No more standing there like a naked water feature.  As for the other bathrooms, I will try to get back to doing a quick one-minute wipe down every day because we know how 5-year-old boys can be.  Do they dance and pee at the same time or something? 

My Son the Hero

At my parents’ house this weekend we tucked our three-year-old in bed and went downstairs.  My parents have done a good job at childproofing their house and our kids are good about not getting into stuff.  About 10 minutes after we tucked the kids in, my five-year-old son came running down the stairs and yelling “Mom! Jane is eating pills!!!”  I tore up the stairs and to my horror there was a bottle of my mom’s thyroid medication (which we were told tastes like pez) all over the floor in their bedroom.  My mom looks at it in dismay and said, “That bottle was full!”  After counting we realize that 20 pills are gone.  911 was called and Jane was taken by ambulance to the hospital.  This was the scariest night in my life.  After searching we found more pills and she more likely ate about 5-7.  Not a fatal dose, thanks to my son.  She was fine and since this was like taking speed, she was bouncing off the walls all night.  This got me thinking of all the play dates and relatives houses we have been to.   How many had left a prescription on the counter in their bathroom?  How many times has someone come to my house and set their purse next to my couch as it contained medicine like this or even “just” Tylenol? 

Now when we go to someone’s house I will ask if they have medication in a place that children can get to it.  And when someone comes to my house I will ask them to put their purse up on a shelf above the fireplace – just in case there is something in it.  Kids are just too fast and we can do the best we can teaching them what to stay away from and watching them.  Even so, it is too risky to trust that the house you are at or the purse someone sets on your floor are safe for your children. 

Before They Hit the Floor

What is the best way to start the day?  A cup of coffee?  A newspaper?  Nope.  Prayer is.  Do I do this?  No.  So that is what I am going to concentrate on doing this week.  A prayer (probably while I am nursing) of thanksgiving for my amazing family and to have my priorities straight for the day.  I am hoping this will help me to fix my eyes on Christ and who he is.  Then, hopefully, when I am making my decisions throughout the day I will be a little closer to who He wants me to be.  So before my two feet hit the floor I will pray.

A Little Light Therapy

Did you know that sleeping in a dark room has a ton of health benefits?  It promotes melatonin production, it is good for your natural circadian rhythm and it can help reduce your risk of cancers like breast and colon. 

I decided to do an evaluation of how much light was in my bedroom in the night.  I am surprised at how much unnecessary light is in my room.  Even though my shades are closed there is still quite a bit that gets through.  I am not sure how to help with this because we have bay windows so curtains are tricky.  Any ideas there?  I also noticed that quite a bit of light is emitted from the baby monitor.  I have a black cloth I am going to throw over it to help.  There was also some light coming from the dvd player even though it is off.  So I am going to make sure the armoire doors that the TV is in are closed.  My electric toothbrush is also very bright when it is charging so I will just have to charge it in the morning and unplug it at night.  My charging cell phone has a battery light appear when the phone is fully charged so I will put that under a cloth as well.  I will also be turning off the night lights in the kid's rooms before I go to sleep so they can benifit also.

Have you assessed the amount of light in your room?  What are some problem areas and how do you solve them?

Where's the non-rubbery beef?

A question I face every day is “What’s for dinner?”  Then I think about how that roast would be good but it is now 5:00pm and there is no time to defrost it and cook it.  So this week, before I go to bed, I am going to ask, “What’s for dinner tomorrow?”  Then I am going to pull the meat out of the freezer and put it in the fridge.  This will also get me thinking about setting up the crock pot if needed in the morning.  Plus, meat tastes better when thawed this way than in the microwave where the edges get that weird rubbery partially cooked texture.

How do you get dinner to the table quickly?

Mommies need to play too!

Today I had a wonderful lunch with my beloved friends from college.  The couple of hours we got to spend together were enough to reconnect, celebrate the exciting events happening and to share some of the sadness in our lives.  It feels like forever since we had done this.  I realized that between all the kid play dates, driving to and from school, errand running, gym going, bible class attending and chore doing, I have forgotten how important it is to go play with my gal pals.  Alone.  Without the kids.  Play dates are fun and I will be the first to admit that they are just as much for the moms as they are for the kids.  The problem is that even though we are excellent at multi-tasking and tuning out the noisy monkeys, we aren’t truly unwinding.  So this week the challenge is to add friend time back in the mix.  This week I am going to make 2 friend dates for some time in February.  When my husband does this with his friends he calls them Man-dates.  LOL. 

What are your favorite things to do with your girl-friends when you get some play time?

Larry the Laundry Monster

The stomach bug visited our house this week.  Such a horrible house guest and always overstaying its welcome.  One kid gets it, and then just as they are better, the next kid gets it, and then the next.  By this time you haven’t slept in a week so now your immune system is down and you get it.  Then hubby is down for the count. I just wanted to sing “another one bites the dust” each time one of us went down.  You can see why this week I have decided to make laundry the habit of the week. 

I have lovingly named my piles of laundry “Larry the Laundry Monster”.  He grows and grows and feeds off one half of each pair of socks.  He is stinky and dirty and he is always there just waiting to devour entire living rooms.  You finish the piles of laundry on catch-up day and just when you think you have conquered Larry, you look in the hamper and realize his span has already filled it up.

So the habit this week is to do one load a day.  That is it.  Just one load.  The catch is that it has to be folded and put away.  A load a day will keep Larry away.  Wouldn’t it be nice to feel like the laundry is done for the day even though there are still cloths in the hamper? 

I have 3 laundry baskets in my closet.  One for whites, one for mediums and one for darks.  My 5 year old knows how to sort his cloths into them and the 2 year old and baby cloths get sorted by me.  This makes the load-a-day very easy because it is already sorted so all I have to do is grab the fullest bin for the day. 

Does Larry live at your house?  How do you make laundry an easier chore?

Hopelessly Devoted

This is a habit I have attempted to do and I constantly fail at it.  Daily devotions.  It seems like I should be able to carve out 15-30 minutes in the morning to spend time in God’s Word but I just don’t.  By the time I wake up, nurse the baby, get ready for the day and get the kids ready it is time to hurry out the door.  I want to do this in the morning before I make all my decisions for the day but it just won’t happen with my own will.  It sounds so simple to just get up 30 minutes earlier but that is not something I have made work.  So I am going to try a different plan.  I am going to use lunch time with the kids as a time to have a “peaceful” time with God.  The computer sits at our kitchen table so I am going to do the 30 minutes for mommy devotion on this website:
http://annaniteacademy.wordpress.com. 

My goal will be to do the 5 days during the week, starting with week 1.  I don’t want to be legalistic about it or to do it out of compulsion; I just want to draw closer to the One who made me.  Bonus – the kids will get to see me making this time a priority.

Do you do daily devotions?  If not, what gets in the way?  If you do, what are some ideas you have for fitting it in?

Snack Attack

Somehow I manage to feed my kids and nurse my baby every few hours but I forget about my own food needs.  My breakfast, lunch and dinner consists of me starving enough to finally take the time to make something for myself.  My gas tank is so far below empty so it sends an army of hunger cues to my brain.  I start eating until I realize I am full but then 15 minutes later I am overfull and miserable.  So this week I am going to work on taking time to snack.  No more holding off my snack until I get just one more load of laundry folded or any other excuse I come up with.  If it has been 2-3 hours since my last meal then I will have a snack.  I bet it will be easier to be patient with the kids because happy blood sugar = happy mommy.  I am thinking a handful of nuts, an apple, banana or orange, a yogurt, some dried figs, beef jerky or a boiled egg.  What ideas do you have for a fast, easy mommy snack?

Just Breath

Before you do anything else right now check your breathing.  Are you taking short, shallow breaths or long deep breaths?  I am usually taking shallow breaths which do nothing to help with anxiety or stress.  So this week I am going to work on taking long slow breaths all the way down to the belly.  In for 10 seconds, out for 10 seconds.  In with relaxation, out with stress.  When driving in the car (even when late), keeping the kids from being crazy monkeys, stopping the dogs from barking in the yard, looking at a huge pile of laundry or thinking about all I am not getting done, I am going to remember to breath.