Working Mom: Part-time

Hi, my name is Sara and I have an 11 month old son, Ethan. He was our first child, and we plan to have #2 in the next year or two. I'm happy to contribute to the Working Moms week here at Prayer of Hannah!

Our situation:
I grew up with a working mom (full-time), and I always knew that I would do the same. I've known since I was a teenager that I wanted to teach special education students and never changed my mind. To this day, I've never desired to be a stay-at-home mom but there was a significant change in my mindset once I got pregnant.

At some point during my pregnancy, the idea of working part-time popped into my head. I run the finances in our family, so logically speaking I just never thought we could afford it. I didn't even mention it to my husband for a while because I knew it was impossible. My husband is a state employee, after all, not a CEO! :) I started crunching numbers though, and thinking of different scenarios where we could make it work. I felt like we could make it month by month with a little pinching here and there, but I was mostly concerned about paying our mortgage in the summer of 2010. (I get 10 paychecks a year, no paycheck in the summer). This was a HUGE problem obviously, but I prayed about it and felt like the Lord was telling me to trust him. I've never done anything without a concrete plan. Taking this risk was a big deal. My husband was 100% supportive, I resigned from my full-time position, and right after giving birth in May 2009, I was in search of a part-time job to start in August with the 09/10 school year.

I went for an interview when Ethan was 6 weeks old. The principal told me she'd get back to me in two weeks (yikes... I needed a job nailed down!), but ended up calling me 3 hours later and offering me the job!! This was major confirmation that we had made a good decision. The school year started and very quickly we realized the Lord was filling in ALL the gaps in our budget... more on that later.

We are amazingly blessed that my mom lives nearby and can keep Ethan while I'm at work. Obviously, I trust her more than anyone in the world, and I think going back to work would have been a little harder if he were going to daycare. When my maternity leave was over and I headed back to work, it was such an easy transition because I didn't have to worry about him one bit. My paycheck allows us the opportunity to pay my mom for keeping him, so that is really nice!

As far as logistics go, this is how our weekdays work: My mom drops my baby sister off at high school near my house then comes over here. I go to work and am gone for about 5 hours (4 hour work day plus travel time). I get home in time to eat lunch and spend the rest of the day with Ethan. The schedule is a DREAM come true.

How we make it work:
- I feel like I get the best of both worlds... the working world and the stay-at-home mom world. I never get exhausted at work, never over-worked, never stressed about work. Part of this is because I'm only there for 4 hours a day, and part of it is because I'm really good at filing away "work stuff" in my brain once I walk out the door and never think about it again until I walk into work the next morning. This is really important. I NEVER do work at home, I never mix work into my home life. Work is a separate world. And on top of that, I never get exasperated with Ethan. I don't feel guilty one bit that I enjoy a couple hours away from him so that when I'm come home from work I have a fresh attitude, and an excitement to hang out with him. We have a blast together!

- A little bit more on the logistics of our day: Luckily Ethan has always been an easy schedule baby, so that makes things easier. I get up 45 minutes before him, shower, get completely dressed, make up, hair, everything. He wakes up, I feed him, I play with him while I eat my own breakfast, and we kind of just cuddle and play until my mom gets here and I leave for work. (This time of the day is precious to me). When I get home from work, I eat lunch, and we play for just a little while. Then he goes down for his afternoon nap and I get some "me" time. (I run a small photography business on the side as well as manage the website and print materials for a charity event, so that's what I usually work on during nap). We run our errands when he gets up from nap. We take some cheerios and a sippy cup with us so we can multi-task errands with afternoon snack! He's an on-the-go baby and happily rides in shopping carts. We're home in time to think about cooking dinner, and then my husband gets home and we enjoy our evening together. My husband puts Ethan to bed every single night so that's when I run around the house picking things up and putting things in order. When my husband comes down from bedtime we are DONE with chores/distractions/etc and we hang out together. I love our day.

How God has provided:
- People decided to start paying me for photography. I didn't even know I was good at photography. Not kidding. Requests just kept pouring in starting EXACTLY when I got my first part-time paycheck, so I took the "hint" and ran with it! My photography money is what we needed for cushion money... to make sure we can still treat ourselves to a date every now and then and buy gifts for friends when we want to.
- We sold a lot of junk we didn't need on craigslist, had yard sales, and saved everywhere we could. By November of 2009, we had all the money we needed to pay the mortgage in the summer of 2010. That was our biggest worry, and only a couple months into the school year it was taken care of already!
- Another big worry we had was that our cars are pieces of junk! :) There was no available money for big repairs, or a new car payment. One of them bit the dust a couple months ago, and I was worried about what we would do. Well, someone offered us a very nice FREE used car this month. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it came from the LEAST expected person I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams. Someone we have a terrible relationship with, and someone I struggle to love and forgive and accept in my life. I felt like the Lord was literally pointing at me and proving how powerful he is and how unfathomable his plans are.
- My paycheck isn't just a few extra bucks that mostly cover childcare. It is a major part of our livelihood. It currently pays our entire mortgage, pays my mom for watching Ethan, and there's a tiny bit leftover. And I'm just a public school teacher! Working part time would probably not be worth it if I only brought home a few hundred dollars a month. Since I've been in the school system for a few years, even half of my teaching paycheck is enough to make or break us.

Overall:
There have been many times this year that we squeaked by. Like in January when we felt the after-effects of the Christmas season with gifts and traveling. Phew! That was a stretch, but we made it! And we've even taken on some home improvement projects. Time and time again in this one short year, God has filled in ALL of our budget gaps, and we give all the credit to Him! Things are going so well that I'm going to continue working part-time in the years to come. I'm looking forward to all the quality time I get with my own kids, the fact that I can still make a difference in the lives of my special ed students, the fact that I contribute to our bank account by doing something I love, and having holidays and summers off with my kids! I could not be happier with our lifestyle, and if you had asked me a couple years ago, I thought it would never even be possible!

Feel free to comment if you have questions!

Rewind to Life as a Working Mom

I (Christina) originally posted this back in August 2008 during a week we titled, "Life as a Mom." We all wrote about how we balance our time and manage it wisely (or not so wisely). We had several requests to address those Moms that work out of the home. Even though I had recently quit my job to be a full time stay at home Mom, I still had two years as a working Mom. Here is what I shared...

I promise this will be my last post of the week! We had someone email and ask for advice on balancing life as a working Mom. I attempted to do this myself for about a year and a half. I say "attempted" because it is NOT easy. Will was born in June 2006 and I went back to teaching at the beginning of September. I worked until going on bedrest with Adeline in February of this year. I honestly do not have much else to offer and I'm hoping that a few of our readers that work will chime in.

What I can say is that it is definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done! So many things make it difficult and it is so easy to have "mommy guilt" over leaving your little one. I think I called home to check on Will every day (sometimes more than once) for his first year of life. Actually, it helped me pump more milk if I talked about him and got an update before heading to pump! That's another post though...

The only encouragement I can offer about "mommy guilt" is that if you are seeking the Lord and his will for your life and your family - then you are right where you need to be. It was my plan that I would leave teaching at the end of the 06-07 school year to stay home. In January of 2007 I had to submit a form to my school declaring my intent for the next year and after praying about it, I did NOT have a peace about staying home. I wanted to, but I just didn't feel the Lord leading me to stay home then no matter how long it had been MY plan. The following year, it came time for the same form and this time I was 100% certain that it was time for me to stay home. Pray that the Lord would give you a peace about where you are best serving your family.

I was truly blessed during my time as a working Mom to have GREAT people caring for my son. My husband stayed home one day a week to watch Will and do schoolwork. We called these "Dad days" and he was also able to do chores for me as well. My mother-in-law also watched Will one day a week and we had a sitter for the rest of the week. She and her husband are now like Will's (and Adeline's) third set of grandparents. He still sees them weekly and they love him like their own.

The only practical tip that I have to offer is to prepare everything the night before!! Pack lunches, diaper bags, school bags, my breastpump...EVERYTHING. I was not very good at this, but the days I did do it all ahead of time were SO much easier. I had time to get up, get ready, spend time with the Lord, pray with my husband and still get out the door on time.

Nothing super insightful, but hopefully it encouraged someone! Maybe someone that struggled like I did with the decision to continue working or not. If you are a Mom that works out of the home and you'd like to share this week, please email us!

Starting Solids and Weaning

Did you realize that when you begin giving your baby solids this is considered the beginning stages of weaning? That made me sad when I learned this in one of my courses, but I guess it really is true. . . although "weaning" could still be year(s) away!

I first wrote about this topic a little over two years ago. I don't want to recreate the wheel and think the advice I wrote there is still what I'd say today. Since I've been able to breastfeed my children, I've found figuring out when to introduce solids to be challenging (since I wanted their primary nutrition to be breastmilk the first year). With Lydia, I felt pressure from everyone - family back home and friends where we live - to feed her, and feed her early. Even when I started trying to feed her (around 7 1/2 months), though, she never really cared much for it until pretty close to a year. I went back and re-read my advice when I was thinking of starting solids with the boys and then decided to wait a little longer (they just seemed so small!!. . .well, they were, but, little did I know, one was also READY).

I started solids with the boys at 8 1/2 months. The only reason really that I started solids was that they had increased the number of times they were nursing a day from 6 to anywhere between 8-10 each. While I do love nursing, I also vividly remember several occasions where I just felt like a cow. Since by adjusted age they were still under 7 months and they really didn't show other readiness signs, I really didn't think introducing food would solve my problem. But, in stark contrast from Lydia, Luke loved food from the first time the spoon hit his mouth. (James was more like Lydia and it took a couple more months for him to start eating.) The second neat thing happened (in addition to me no longer having to nurse so much) was their growth curve shot straight up. While my boys are small (they are 13 months old and 17.5 pounds for example) they had always followed THEIR growth curve, which is really all that matters. But when I introduced food their chart almost went straight up!

Other advice I had written to myself with Lydia was not to make batches of baby food to freeze. Rather, do simple things I could mash easily and try to give her what we're eating. This was very hard to do with the boys. Pretty early on, they started eating a large quantity. And, James had a gag reflex (this is totally undiagnosed but I do think he had some low muscle tone issues) and his food had to be the consistency of yogurt if he was going to eat it - definitely not as simple as mashing it with a fork. And Luke really liked food this consistency as well. About this time, my brother sent me the most thoughtful gift anyone's ever gotten me - a BEABA Babycook. (I will talk about this more on our featured products week coming up next month.) Suffice it to say, it has made cooking for my boys SO.MUCH.EASIER.

So, here's a couple more links and thoughts. I found this baby food book and have thoroughly enjoyed it: Simply Natural Baby Food by Cathe Olson.

I am, again, SO thankful I gave my children cultured dairy (plain, whole milk yogurt/kefir/buttermilk) early on so they would develop a love for this nutritious food. All of my children love plain yogurt and kefir.

I like Dr. Jack Newman's article on introducing solids although one point he says is just to let your child try whatever is on your plate. Of course, you all know me with nutrition. . . I agree, as long as it's healthy :).

Happy feeding babies!

Preschool Websites

I've had a lot of people ask lately which websites I'm getting a lot of my ideas from, so I thought I'd quickly do a separate post with a lot of links. Here they are:

Little Hands, Big Work

ABC Jesus Loves Me

TLSBooks

Children's Learning Activities - great list of preschool resources

Homeschool Creations

DLTK's Printables

PreKinders

List of Preschool Activity Bags

Walking By the Way - More Activity Bags

Squidoo article on toddler workbox ideas

Starfall - preschool letter, pre-reading computer games

These are the blogs on my reader right now:

Confessions of a Homeschooler

ABC and 123

1 + 1 + 1 = 1

No Time for Flashcards

Make and Takes - kids crafts

This Week. . .

. . . our lives are rather crazy right now. . . or filled to the brim maybe?! We are headed back to the states for about six months and are therefore packing our things for storage as we will be moving out of our flat. In the midst of this, Josh is traveling out of the country for two weeks. When he returns we will have eight days. So. . . my life this week looks something like this:

7 - 8:30 a.m. - Nurse the boys, make breakfast, pack Lydia's lunch, change diapers, get all kids dressed, hair fixed, me dressed and ready, eat breakfast, coats and shoes on everyone, and make our way downstairs to our car somewhere on the street so I can get the stroller out and kids loaded to take Lydia to preschool.

8:30 - 10:30 - Drop Lydia off, then make my way to the corniche where I can take the boys for a walk (to keep my sanity!). I've been putting one in the stroller (which is yet another reason I love my Phil & Ted's - it can always be a single stroller. . . I just don't attach the doubler kit) and carrying the other in the Ergo. After a brisk 45 minute walk, where the boys typically nap, we come home and they are happy to get to play with their toys for a few minutes while I jump in the shower. I nurse them again and read books, build towers, do puzzles, etc. until their language teacher arrives at 10:30.

10:30 - 1:00 - I've been using this time to pack. . . well really to go through everything and decide what needs to be tossed, shredded, saved, packed, stored, sold, or given away. Then I box the stuff up, and, mingled with this I attempt to cook, do dishes, and respond to any pressing emails.

1:15 - 5:15 - The boys and I head downstairs to get the stroller from the car (where I keep it since I can't lug it and the boys up two flights of stairs to get it in our flat. . . with no elevator). It's a little challenging though since I can only hold one baby in the sling while I set up the stroller. I usually just set the other in the backseat of the car, close the door, and hope he doesn't get into anything. . .or fall off the seat. . . while I'm setting up the stroller! We walk to pick up Lydia, sometimes stop on the way back for fruits and veggies or other groceries that I don't have delivered, sometimes she plays in the sandbox while the boys hangout in the stroller, or, usually, we just return home. Lydia typically has a snack and I grab a bite for lunch. The kids and I play together throughout the afternoon. At some point I nurse the boys and they will usually take a nap (although usually not at the same time). I will fold clothes, maybe do some dinner prep, we will Skype with daddy, read books, do puzzles, color, or sometimes I'll take them on an outing if there's things I need (like a light bulb or to have a dress repaired). I'm really thankful the kids love, and ask, to ride in the stroller because it is my arms here - I couldn't hold all 3 and maneuver around otherwise! We may visit with national friends during this time, either in their home or ours. I also use this time to bathe the kids. . .although that's usually about every three days and do laundry.

5:30 - 7:00 p.m. - Dinner, clean up, food prep for the morning (things like soaking oatmeal or beans, starting stock, cutting carrots for juice the next morning, etc.)

7:00 - 8:00 - Get on pj's, brush teeth, read Bible stories and other books, play a little more (usually chase or hide 'n seek), pick up toys. With Josh gone, I've been putting in a video for Lydia while I nurse the boys - the two she's wanted to watch lately are a praise and worship kids music video or Prayer Bears - both absolutely precious and are so special to watch with her! I get the boys down and then tuck her in.

8:15 - 11:00 - My time. . . and I don't even know where it goes! But, the days seem so intense doing it all without Josh that I just like the house quiet. I read, get on the computer, do any remaining kitchen stuff, oh, and of course, deal with which ever kids wakes up that evening and needs more mommy time. I may talk on the phone, and, many nights, I've crashed by 9:45 or 10.

Well, I would love to have included pics - the kids are absolutely precious. . . oh, and the boys started walking while Josh is gone! - but, I have no way to load them onto the computer since he has all the equipment (including our computer) with him. So, I hope haven't bored you too much with a day in our life. . .

Our Basic Routine

What I do at home is always evolving, depending on the age of our kids and what activities we are involved in. We have a basic routine that we are very flexible with. I figured I'd describe what our daily life is like. Won't this be fun to look back at in ten years?!


I am not a morning person at all, but I do really like to get up at get mostly ready for the day before my kids wake up. So, I take a shower around 7:30 and am usually mostly ready by the time they get up around 8 or shortly after. I get the kids dressed and we make all the beds before heading downstairs for breakfast. I like having us all totally ready for the day before eating breakfast because then the kids can start playing immediately after they eat and I don't have to interrupt them to get them to go back upstairs to get ready. We usually only have cold cereal once a week or so (usually Sundays because I need a little extra time to get everyone ready). On other days I make toast (Meredith's favorite!) or oatmeal or one of our favorite breakfast recipes. I really like the Baked French Toast and Oatmeal Cake recipes because I can prepare them the night before and just pop them in the oven before taking my shower. They are ready when I am and then the kids and I have a hot breakfast!



Baked French Toast:

10 slices of bread (wholegrain)
1 1/2 cups of milk
4 eggs (or more, I usually use 5)
1/3 cup of honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon



Grease 9x13 pan and put one layer of bread in the bottom. Mix liquids and spices and pour half of it over the bread. Put down one more layer of bread and finish with the wet ingredients. Refridgerate covered overnight. Bake 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with maple syrup and butter.



Oatmeal Cake:

1/2 stick melted butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
2 cups oats


Combine the above and allow to soak overnight or at least 8 hours.

In the morning, add:
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup dried cherries or other dried fruit


Pour into a greased 9x9 pan and bake for about 40 minutes.



The kids play while I wash dishes and finish any little chores that have cropped up in my morning. Writing all of this down sounds really simple, but in reality it takes a long time! We are rarely finished with all of this morning stuff until around 9:30 or 10 am! I'm stunned that it takes 2 hours to make beds, eat breakfast and clean up but it really does! On days where we have play groups or the kids music class (both begin at 9:30) I usually can't wash the dishes before we go (we don't have a dishwasher or hot water in our tap living overseas and washing up oatmeal bowls takes time!).



After this morning routine we do one of two things. Either we head to out for play groups/ kid activities or grocery shopping/errand running, or we stay home. If we stay home and I have cleaning to do, then the kids play while I clean up. I clean the bathrooms on mondays and they usually just play with their toys while I do this. We only have one bathroom and it doesn't take that long. If I have vacuuming, dusting, or mopping, they help me. They think it is a blast to sit on top of the kitchen table while I mop. Or, I put the chairs on the living room rug and they play "airplane" or "bus" while climbing over all the chairs.

Once the cleaning is done, we usually have an hour or so to play some more (or do a school-type activity) before lunch. If the weather is nice we take advantage of it and spend this time playing outside.

I do take the kids on errands with me almost all of the time. Meredith does very well following along behind me while I shop and helping me put things into our stroller. Again, this is different living overseas. People shop almost daily, although I don't, because there isn't room to store large quantities of food. We walk to the grocery store and I usually put the food we buy into our stroller. Ordering groceries online and having them delivered (for a very reasonable price) is also an option that I use on occasion to stock up on larger items that are hard to fit in my stroller - like big packs of paper towels or laundry detergent. I'll be having groceries delivered more often once we have a newborn again I'm sure! But, even when we lived in the states I always did my errands with the kids with me. It certainly isn't the easiest option, but I like having Ben's free time in the evenings to spend with him, not running out by myself.

Lunch is usually quick and simple. Sandwiches, hardboiled eggs, spoons of peanut butter, fruit, yogurt, nuts, etc. After lunch is naps. My oldest is phasing out of this but still has a quiet time during the day where she will lie down and read and sometimes will fall asleep. I usually nap for a little while when they do, especially since I'm heading into the third trimester of my pregnancy and feel a little worn down by the afternoon. After naps I give the kids DVD time. This usually helps them wake up well and gives me a few moments to start dinner. I used to think that I would love having my kids in the kitchen helping me cook, but honestly I hate it. I really hate the extra mess it can create in a matter of seconds, especially with four little hands reaching into bowls and stirring, etc. Still, this is an area where I'm trying to put aside the extra work that it causes me and allow them to help me more since they really do enjoy it.

We have dinner as a family and then the kids play with Ben and I for a while before I start cleaning up. After I get all the dishes done I start getting them ready for bed. Here is a confession - I only do baths about once a week! We live in Scotland and it is cold here, so my kids are never sweaty. Add to that the hot water issue I mentioned before and bathtime just isn't easy. So, we thoroughly wash hands and faces before bed every night and just do a full bath once a week. Meredith can put on her own pajamas, wash her hands and face and start brushing her teeth and I love how much it helps me! We all play some more and I start reading bedtime stories (usually a couple regular stories they pick out and several good bible stories too) around 8:15. They typically go to bed around 8:30 or 8:45, sometimes 9. I don't mind the late bedtime, because as I said I'm not a morning person and I'd rather have them sleep later.

That is about it! This is a "normal" day in our household, if there is such a thing with small children! I do love this time in life even if it is very busy. Feel free to ask any questions about our routine, or add suggestions too!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Days/Weeks

I hope you like pictures because this post has a few! I thought I'd do a post similar to Hollie's that includes a random sampling of activities and things we like to do on a typical day. All of these pictures were taken within the last week, so they are relevant to what we're doing now! There will also be some overlap from last week's post on Toddler Activities. I had a few questions I thought I'd answer here.

Before I jump in to our days...the first picture above shows what I mentioned before about how I do stickers with my toddlers. I really thought a picture helped explain this. You can see how there is no background around each sticker and Ava is able to easily pick the sticker off! I thought this was the best trick ever when I learned it while teaching 2 year olds at church!

When thinking about our day, I generally separate it into morning, lunch, nap, afternoon, dinner, bed. Our mornings are the most "organized" with specific things I like to accomplish. Lunch and nap are standard and afternoon and dinner depend on what we have planned for the evening. Mornings might consist of free play inside, table time activities, trips to the library or museum, quiet play time in their beds, outside play time or a video.

Adeline loves to play in the beans. LOVES them! She could scoop and pour for hours.

This is one idea of a preschool activity I have for Will. I found the idea here and he liked it a lot! You can see that he has to count all of the dots on the domino and "park" in the right location. It subtly teaches addition because as he is counting up to 4, he sees that there is a 3 and a 1 - even if he doesn't realize that yet!
This is what outside play time often looks like when Adeline finds the potting soil.

We also love going to the museums and library. This was taken last week when we went to the NC Museum of Natural Science. I haven't taken the kids in a long time and they really loved it. It's free and even though we have a membership to the Life and Science Museum in Durham - I love both, really. Will particularly liked the green snakes and meeting the animals during a program we went to.
Here is another activity Will did recently which was a little difficult for him. I used pony beads to make color patterns on these pipe cleaners and asked him to copy the pattern. He struggled, but worked through it. We'll definitely be doing some more pattern activities...

And this girl could string pony beads onto pipe cleaners forever!

(Forgive the quality of these pics - my sweet hubby took them for me when I was sick on Monday!) This is another activity Will did - spelling words! I used small letter beads (bought at Walmart) and cards with a picture and the word spelled out. He used the letter beads to spell the word onto the pipe cleaner! He liked it.

And because I got some questions about it - I took pictures of the system I'm trying out for Will. It's taking up a lot of my time right now, so its very relevant to my post on "our week." Basically, its patterned off a popular homeschool method of using "workboxes." Except we use drawers. It really encourages and motivates Will to move through the activities because I space out "fun" ones with more challenging ones. He has to finish the drawers in order before moving on to the next.
Each drawer has a numbered card that he puts on the top when he is done. It really just keeps me accountable for planning out activities for him (5 new activities, 3 times a week). Once he's done the drawers, he's free to repeat ones he really liked. I do drawers for Monday, Wednesday and Friday - but leave the activities there in between. Does that make sense?

Here is what is in our drawers this week. I love these markers that I got at Michaels with a 50% coupon (otherwise these suckers are about $14!! I'd love to find a cheaper version so I can get some for the girls as well). He used these to count bears in the bear book you can see.

I got these puppet kits (thanks, Martha Stewart!) at Big Lots. He needs help with this one.

This one uses the cookie sheet to match letters. Uppercase matching with the fridge magnets and lower case with some cards I made.

A jigsaw puzzle. This is a "fun" drawer - so I left him switch the puzzle for the Mickey puzzle that he wanted to do.
Matching colors and shapes with those foam lacing beads. I'm a big fan of multipurpose items since we are limited on space - so these beads are great for us! We use them for ALL kinds of activities!

And believe it or not, other things fill my week that are not centered around my kids! Like Hollie, I love to craft and sew. I thought I'd post what that looks like for me after a reader asked this question last week,

Hollie, I would like to know how you store your sewing/craft stuff. Right now my kids share a room so I use our guest room for sewing, but in thinking about long-term, I really don't know where I will sew or craft. Any ideas?

I know she asked Hollie, but I was in the same situation so I thought I'd share. Before my daughter took our extra bedroom/office/craft storage room, I mainly stored all craft supplies in her closet. I would drag them downstairs to the kitchen table everytime I wanted to sew or craft. Not practical. Now I've added this bookshelf to our dining room. Not my favorite, but necessary at this time. My sewing machine is on top and the bookshelf's contents are hidden by two panels I sewed to match my dining room.

They velcro in place and are easily removed to reveal all the craft supplies. Aside from this, I do store kiddie craft supplies in two other locations and my fabric is in the top of my coat closet. :)

Ok, so I guess this is somewhat centered around my kids as I love to sew clothing for them. This was the first skirt I made for Adeline when she was 16 months old.

Another big part of my week is coupon clipping and coupon shopping! While the newness has worn off and I no longer take pictures of all my deals (or document them) I still clip coupons most weeks and keep up with the deals. I shop at one grocery store and after a short hiatus I've returned to the drug stores - CVS and Rite Aid - as well. Although, Walgreens is calling my name after the FREE pull-ups I scored last week... Here are some POH posts on coupons.

And lastly, I want to address a question that often comes up. SO MANY times when talking about any one of these things that fill my time - I get asked, "How do you have time to _______?" Whether its coupons, crafts, cloth diapers, blogging, tutoring, preschool, cooking from scratch etc. My answer is that you simply make time for things that are important to you! Those things will not be the same for everyone and that is OK! Mine have certainly evolved over time.

For example - when I first started coupon clipping, it took up ENORMOUS amounts of my time. As I've learned and gotten into a routine, its second nature and doesn't seem to take up much time at all. The same things goes for all of those things listed above!

And often times, I find that one thing (right now its reading about homeschooling and planning our efforts in that area) is taking up TOO MUCH of time when the rest of my house starts to look like this:

So I usually step back and refocus my efforts a little more. :) Make sure the family is fed, house is cleaned, husband is happy...and then I return to reading the book about homeschooling or looking at a blog about preschool.

For the sake of being transparent, I'd also like to confess that the cleaning schedule I blogged about here NEVER worked for me. I think it might be because our house is on the market, but I much prefer to just kind of wing it when it comes to cleaning. Sometimes I get a burst of energy and want to clean the whole house. Sometimes we have a showing and I HAVE to clean what I can quickly. Sometimes I can't take another second without vaccuming my floors. I still have a "lesson plan book" or family notebook, but it just doesn't include a cleaning schedule. :)

And that concludes the longest, most hodge-podged post EVER.

What do you feel like are your biggest struggles with managing your time on a daily and weekly basis?

What Do You Do At Home?

This week I was given the question, "What Do You Do At Home?" and I decided to give a compilation of random things that make me tick in this beautiful Stay at Home Mom Lifestyle.

I....

* I love to make foods from scratch. I usually am racking my brain trying to figure out how I can make a homemade version of this or that. Why? I know, it's more time-consuming, but I think most things are better for your health, not to mention super tast-a-rrific, if they are homemade. Seems like a fun challenge to me, so I don't mind investing the time into it. Confession: We do have oreos, cool ranch chips, Reese PB cups and Mountain Dew in our pantry, per my husband's request...sitting next to our homemade bread. (Let's all gasp together: GASP.) I try my best to steer clear of these foods, but I am also known as the mysterious nibbler in the fam and will get a sampling here and there.

* I insist on cloth diapering, because there's just something addicting about it. Do I like it always? NO WAY. The peanut butter poo stage is not especially fun, and I don't particularly like it when the poo gets under my fingernails while cleaning off a diaper. Eek! Thankfully, we have a sprayer attached to the toilet (and for the record, if you come to our house, it's NOT a bidet. Trust me, some have silently thought it and it came out later in conversation.) Confession: Disposables are my friends!! We aren't purists. My little wore disposables for months and is now wearing them again, because we need more cloth. There's something so beautiful about throwing away the slimiest blow-out diaper, putting on a slim disposable, and not feeling like I have to wrestle an alligator trying to get clothes over a seam-busting bum. Disposables are an expensive beautiful though, and one we cannot afford for the entirety of our girl's diapering.

* Cleaning: I am the picker-upper of the house and try to keep things in order, until I run out of energy. Then, I let it go for a few days and enjoy the bliss of just being messy...until I can't stand the dust bunnies staring at me from under the TV cabinet anymore. (Oh the joys of having a dog + hardwood floors. ) I'm in the thick of teaching Laney to pick up after herself and what has helped the most is really organizing her toys. I bought these tubs from Walmart, and they are the perfect size.

I love that they are clear and that the lid snaps down. When things have a home, it's easy and fun to clean up. Best of all, I can easily remove toys and bring them out later. When there's a play date at the house, I can put away most of the tubs that are the messiest and just leave a few out. When they tire of that tub, clean up and bring out a new tub. I can also put the tub with the tiniest pieces in my eldest's room, so that my youngest can't get her hands on it and possibly choke. Confession: Although vacuuming is my favorite chore, my vacuuming efforts just don't cut it. The Hubbs and I have agreed that we not only want, but NEED to invite people over to our house just to get the house clean. Pitiful, we are.

* Create: I love to create. It's so fulfilling to the deepest of my being. (I'm quite the drama queen when it comes to my loves.) I daydream of making clothes and toys for my girls and even for their baby dolls, but I just don't have the energy or the time to do it, unless I sacrifice precious hours of needed sleep. The hardest part is having to muffle this inspiration. But..I then realize that I need to refocus myself on these fleeting days and enjoy these precious littles before they are teenagers and don't want to cuddle up and read on the couch or have a dance party in the kitchen. Confession: Psst...I do stay up late every now and then and sacrifice those precious hours of sleep. And believe it or not, I don't regret it the next day. My latest craft party was making some finger puppets for the girls: the three little piggies and wolfie! I'm not quite done with the piggies and have yet to make their houses. Baby steps! Click here for the easy tutorial.

* Shopping: I'm a bargain-er at heart and love hitting up garage sales, Good Will, and second-hand stores, in search of re-purposing something. My latest project was an all-wood mirror I found on a major clearance at the mall, due to a few scuffs. We needed a place to hang towels, so I transformed the mirror into a towel rack for the bathroom. I found the hooks for free! We glued some wood to the back of the mirror where there was a shallow area, so that we could have some wood in which to screw the hooks. Worked out great!

With grocery shopping, I love stocking up on meats/other goods that are on sale at the grocery store. I am now brave enough to go shopping with both girls, which was a huge adjustment for me. We're still in the nursing stage, so the timing is still a bit tricky to hit it just right with both girls, but it's doable now, compared to a few months ago when I wouldn't DARE leave the house with both by myself. Confession: I'm not a Grocery Game Member or coupon clipper. (GASP) I REALLY want to be, but just don't think I take on that task right now and do it well. Please convince me otherwise, because I really want to do it and save away!

* Play: I REALLY try to soak up my time with the girls. Every day I think about how much I love what I do. I love being home with my girls. I love that my husband works so hard to provide for us so I can stay at home. We do puzzles, draw on the chalkboard, play with stamps, play polly pockets, teach Laney how to play with her little sister, run outside, etc... I try to have play dates frequently as well. I like the social time, as much as my children, and I also want to be there to see how my little interacts with others. Confession: Sometimes I find myself saying "Not now"..or "Just a minute..." when the kids are wanting to play. The "whatever" at times never comes to fruition or I put forth a feeble attempt to satisfy that request. I really am trying to pay attention to my words/responses to my children and being that woman of balance between playing and serving my family. Both are important for children to see. It's the balance that's so delicate and one that I'm trying to refine. I try to include my eldest in some of the projects and chores around the house.

These are the biggies of my day. I'm sure I've left off a few biggies as well, so if you have any questions, ask away! What is your FAVORITE thing that you do at home? Pick one and share!

Toddler Activities with JoJo

This week has been the biggest reminder to me why I am thankful that I had two kids close together - they play together so much! I have tried to divide what I do with Samuel (3.5) from what I do with Joel (2), but they pretty much do most things together! Just like Christina & Margaret said, it is mostly jr. versions of what Samuel is doing. Here's what you will see at our house on an average day:

1. Reading. This is SOOO important (but I'm sure you already know that!). Reading to your child each and every day is the most important activity you can do for their development. I try to read a variety of books with a growing vocabulary. We visit our library at least 3-4 times a week (it is two blocks from our house and an easy walk no matter the weather).
2. Dancing. I crank up the stereo and we jump around to the music. I try to get him to clap or stomp to the beat. But it is also a fun time to be silly with mom. He has so much more fun when I'm willing to jump around with him.
3. Puzzles. Joel loves to do the handful we have at home or the ones up at the library.
4. Cars. We have a small Rubbermaid box full of Matchbox cars. I will sit on the floor and play with them with Joel. We make them talk to each other (this is how I sneak in speaking kindly and having good manners like saying please, thank you, excuse me, etc). I also try to get him to sort them according to color or to try to line them up in straight lines.
5. Water Play. Ed started this and at first I wasn't excited about it. But both boys LOVE this. We push a chair up to the kitchen sink and let them play with the faucet/sprayer and a small collection of measuring cups, etc. They will play and play at this. This can be a helpful activity if they are bored and want my attention while I'm trying to get dinner ready.

6. Boxes & Bowls. Margaret listed this one with Jonathan and I agree. Joel loves to play in empty boxes and big bowls. He and Samuel will crack themselves up with tipping out of it, playing "Pop Goes the Weasel", pretending they are in boats, etc.

6. "Tootie Time". This is "tootie", that rhymes with "Nude-y" that means Naked. Every morning to get them from jammies to clothes and every evening to get them from clothes to jammies, the boys have "Tootie Time". I let them run around the living room with their clothes off. They think it is hil-ar-ious. And it has ended the tears from "I don't want to get dressed."

7. Playing with Random Things. This is probably the most popular thing to do at our house. Joel loves to get into the Recycle Bin and pull out all sorts of things. I used to get uptight about this, but then I realized that there was no reason for me to get so bent out of shape about this. The items are all rinsed and clean and it's pretty funny to see what he comes up with to do with the 2 liter bottles, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, boxes, etc. The only things I keep away from him are glass jars and metal cans that may have a sharp edge.

8. Flashlights. (I realize he is playing with a MagnaDoodle in the pic, but the flashlight in front of him made me think of this!). Each boy has their own flashlight and they love to run around the house and play different games that don't make any sense to me. We have an unfinished part of our basement that they call "The Dark Part" and they run in and out of there with their flashlights.

I hope you are able to see through this list that it isn't necessary to do "structured" activities with a toddler. The idea is to be active and creative throughout the day - and kids do this naturally. If you want to feel like you are "working on something" with your kiddo, then work it into their play. Do color naming and sorting as you play. Practice gross motor skills by running, jumping, balancing, etc. And most of all, have fun with your toddler and make sure to laugh A LOT!

Toddler Boys

Meredith is three and a half and loves every minute of "preschool" type activities that I give her. Jonathan, being just two isn't quite there yet so my challenge is finding activities that fit him. Boys especially need more than a coloring book and crayons. Usually though, he is included in whatever activity she is doing, only modified a bit. For instance, when Jonathan tired of finger painting, he stacked up the bottles of paint and enjoyed knocking them over. My kids love dressing up too! But, cute boy dress up clothing can be hard to find. We've acquired a football player outfit, a cowboy hat and boots and hobby horse, and here he is in a fireman costume my mom made him. He is holding another great toddler activity - a roll of masking tape. Once I was running late on the way to an appointment and didn't have time to prepare the kids bags full of things to keep them busy, but I did manage to grab a roll of masking tape instead. He can play with a long piece of this stuff for a long time! He likes to stick it to things (and it is easily removed if you don't wait a long time) and eventually rolls it into a sticky ball. I've also made shapes and curvy lines on the carpet with masking tape and have them try to balance on it or hop from shape to shape.

I don't have any of those great trays Christina mentioned, but I have found that when they kids are playing with beans or pasta, I just let them do it on the floor. If they drop any, they don't bounce and roll like they do on the table.

Jonathan can also entertain himself for a long time with empty containers, plastic or cardboard. They pretend they are boats or bathtubs or fill them with toys. Here he is taking a brief rest.

I also really try to find very physical things for Jonathan to do. He seems to need more physical play than his sister does, and I think that may be true of most boys. We take the cushions off the sofa every day and build forts or obstacle courses. I also frequently play "Simon Says" with them and have them jump, spin or flip. We dance, march and sing to music every day too. I send him up and down the stairs to find items or get things. And of course if the weather is nice enough, we go outside and dig in the dirt, play with rocks, trace our shadows with sidewalk chalk or ask daddy to play games with a ball (my husband is great at this - I can never think of fun games to play at this age, but he always gets them running and having fun). These are simple ways to enjoy the day. How do you keep your little boys busy?

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Adeline!

Toddler Activities

This week we're going to be sharing ideas for activities to do with your toddler! We realized (today!) that toddler no longer means most of our oldest children (Samuel, Will, Laney, Meredith and Lydia) but our younger ones. I know that I immediately thought of activities I do with Will when I first read this week's topic. But instead, we'll save those for a later week on preschool activities!

That being said, I have been spending a lot of time on preschool activities for Will. Right now, it consists of about an hour at the kitchen table at least three times per week. The problem is that I still have two toddlers running around the house! (Adeline is two on Wednesday and Ava - the girl I keep - turned 2 in January.) Most of my activities are things to keep them busy at the table. These also work to have everyone seated while I fix lunch!

I have been AMAZED at some of the activities I created for Will that the girls are able to do. Especially Ava! Here are some foam lacing beads that also double for sorting by color and/or shape. Will loves to do this with some salad tongs for extra motor skill practice. I gave them to Ava one day and got her started....

Went back to help Will and the next thing I knew she was DONE sorting by color! You can see in these pictures the trays I use for our table activities. These were 3.99 at Michaels (in the kiddie paint aisle, near the Crayola products) and are a lifesaver! None of our small objects - beads, crayons, craft supplies, puzzle pieces - roll off the table!

Adeline didn't do so great at sorting, but she sure had a blast filling the cups and dumping them again.

This was an activity I made for all three kids and again was shocked when Ava completed it the first time I gave it to her! I bought the cheapest cookie sheets I could find at Walmart (3 pack for 3.97 I think). I made a chart with all the uppercase letters (only first half shown above). Laid the chart on a cookie sheet and gave them magnetic fridge letters to match to the paper! I was careful to pick a font that closely resembled the font of the fridge letters. You can see how well Ava did - only some of the letters are backwards!

Another favorite toddler activity is dress-up. This is kind of a DUH one though. But I had the picture so I thought I'd share!

Even my toddlers like simple crafts. Their absolute FAVORITE activity right now is to put stickers on a piece of paper. I've found that if you remove the extra sticker parts from around the stickers - they can more easily get the stickers off the paper. Does that make any sense? Do you want a picture of this?? I cut up sticker sheets and the girls will stay busy for 10-15 minutes putting stickers on a piece of paper! They also enjoyed gluing the cotton balls on the snowmen you see above.
We even painted ornaments at Christmas! I just hovered over them with a wet rag ready to wipe up messes. (It was acrylic paint!)

This is our aquadoodle and the girls love it! Will does too - but this day he wasn't here so they got their own time with it. It's like painting with water. You can make a cheap aquadoodle by using water and paintbrushes on a chalkboard. (Saw this at our favorite museum!)

Other activities we do (but I have no pictures of):

-playdoh!

-going to storytime at the library (ours has a "rhyme time" for 2 and unders!)

-stamps (just use washable ink - they love these!)

-bean bag games

-looking at pictures of babies in my parenting magazines

-cutting out and making collage of those babies (I cut - they glue.)

-playing in a tub of dried beans (don't use kidney beans)

-sidewalk chalk outside

-sidewalk chalk on dark colored construction paper if rainy outside!

-pony beads on pipe cleaners - can make a bracelet (probably older toddlers - I didn't try this with the girls until they were about 20 months or so)

-stringing pasta

-pudding fingerpaint

NOTE: Almost every activity listed is a "table time" activity where my kids are supervised the entire time. Lots of choking hazards, but I lay down the ground rules about not putting items in their mouth. But I wouldn't recommend pony beads for a toddler without supervision, of course.

A couple of other resources for toddler activities:

Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready

No Time for Flash Cards

Preschool Rainbow Toddler Activities

ABC and 123

Update on Cloth

Just wanted to give you an update on the Carson's diapering status second time around. We used disposibles until Mattie was about four and a half months. I was given a lot of disposibles at showers, so I had no intentions of starting cloth until those little sizes were used up.

With my firstborn, we used prefolds, snug-to-fit diapers, bumgenius, one pocket diaper, bummis super whisper wraps, wool covers, and one interlock cover. With my second, we added a few thirsties fitteds in cute colors, and three fuzzibuns (thank you Shannon!). I got out the prefolds and the snug-to-fits that I bought from Green Mountain Diapers with my firstborn. I only bought two new snug-to-fits from GMD's and the rest I bought used from ebay for a fraction of the cost. Although I was especially thrilled by my steal of a deal on these cotton cloth fitteds at the time of purchase, I was NOT excited to see that they didn't hold up well for the second child. I knew that when I bought them they probably wouldn't hold up, but just forgot about that little tidbit. They were really on their third life of diapering, so I think they held up fairly well. Just be aware that if you decide to buy used, don't always expect the diapers to be available the next time you want to cloth diaper.

Now that Mattie is about 18.5 lbs at six months, we have outgrown our thirsties fitteds/covers and are in need of a bigger size. She has also outgrown the rainbow prefolds that I bought from GMD (they don't sell that size anymore). Mattie isn't quite big enough for the next size up of prefolds that I already have on hand. I have been waiting on our income tax returns, so we could purchase more diapers. Will I choose a different diaper this time?

This time around I am wanting to order at least one envibum and possibly try converting some of my prefolds into fitteds myself (you know, with all that spare time I have on hand now ). There are several patterns out there that I find appealing. I really like on in particular, but I don't have a serger, so that sends me searching for another pattern. I also want to try dying the converted prefolds to all different colors. First time around, I was able to resist all the cute colors and prints, telling myself that it's just a diaper. Deep down I really wanted all the cuteness a diaper could offer. This time around, I'm definitely going to aim in getting some cute colors on my girl.

We have some wool covers, but I haven't been able to use them since they are more summer-ish. I'm afraid they won't fit come summer, so I will probably sell them. And really, this time around, I'm aiming for trimness more than anything. I am not as into wool as I once was, although wool covers are adorable!

I LOVE SNAPS.

I posted this diaper the other day when I wrote about the BumGenius deals out right now. I posted it for a reason. I'm IN LOVE with snap diapers. Here's my latest with cloth diapers:

I've definitely been more sporadic in my use of cloth with Adeline than I was with Will at this age. Partly because I can get disposables so cheap these days with coupons. I still buy disposables for night time, church and sometimes naps. I'm getting back to using cloth out of the house with her too - but the problem is that I've realized she's outgrown many of our easier cloth diapers.

Not too long ago I had to retire 8 of our BumGenius one size diapers because the velcro was useless. Her diapers fell off of her often because the velcro didn't hold! I called CottonBabies and they graciously sent me repair kits, but I was still disappointed that I had diapers that didn't even make it through one child. I should add that I have other snap diapers (mainly Fuzzi Bunz) that I bought used with Will and they are STILL going strong. So I lost those 8 diapers a few months ago. I did buy 3 Thirsties All-in-Ones when I found a great sale, but still short 5 diapers.

I was getting ready to sell my BumGenius (in order to buy more pockets or all-in-ones) when I found out about snap conversions! I found this gal who will convert all of my old velcro BumGenius to SNAPS!!!!! This what they'll look like - except different snap colors:

(picture from Heather at Convert My Diapers)

You see, I LOVE BumGenius one size in every way - except the velcro. The diaper pictured up top is a BumGenius Organic AIO and it snaps. BUT, its not one size AND it's $25!! Too much for me. So, for $3.50 per diaper, I'm having those old BumGenius made to snap!

I've just mailed my diapers to her, so I can let you know when I get them back if I'm still 100% excited about it. I suspect I will be. :)

In addition to this, I've realized that Adeline has outgrown her prefolds! They are the biggest size I have and Will never came close to outgrowing them! I can still fold them in thirds and lay them in a cover, but they don't fit around her anymore very well. I'm getting ready to use those coupons I wrote about before to try out the Flip covers that Krista mentioned. They SNAP and I think they'll work great with our too-small-but-folded prefolds.

In short, I still love cloth diapers. I'm excited about getting my 8 diapers back in snap form and think that will really help me stay strong in using cloth all day long whether we are home or not!