Evaluating the first half of our school year....

Now that all the Christmas festivities are coming to a close, my mind is once again focused on teaching my pre-schooler. We took a month-long break during December because we traveled a lot and I had so many fun Christmas activities I wanted to do with my girls. We really enjoyed our holiday season and I think the break was really good for us, but I am hoping that the girls have not forgotten a lot. Karis had just started sounding out words well and I am hoping that it will come back to her quickly. Here are my thoughts on the 1st half of our year:

I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by!! We had a great fall and really enjoyed doing school together. I love having my girls home with me! But honestly, we did not do as much "school work" as I would have liked. It is really hard to fit it in with a baby and the day to day things I need to get done and I now realize that I am going to have to work really hard to accomplish what I want to do with Karis in January. (Sorry facebook and Pinterest - nap time is officially planning and housework time!) I wrote out a great schedule for the fall and followed it well at first, but once "real life" took over, I pretty much had to ditch it. It seemed like someone was always sick or fussy from teething or I was behind in my housework or we were getting ready to go out of town or had appointments or recovering from a trip and I just had a really hard time getting into a really good routine. But I'm determined to make it work and I plan to buckle down as the new year starts. We shouldn't be traveling and I am refusing to allow any morning activities outside the house (other than soccer and basketball class with Daddy one day a week) so that we can easily fall into a good routine.

Mid-way through the fall, I had to sit down and prioritize what I thought was most important to get done with the girls. At this early stage, I felt like my focus should be reading as much as possible, outside play, beginning handwriting skills (mazes, dot-to-dot, tracing,etc), and math skills (fun counting/ measuring/ number games). Our eventual schedule was to "do school" during Abbi's morning nap (Hopefully at least 90 minutes) and then all of us would go outside on a walk and play together until lunchtime. We would do more reading before and after naptime. And that was about it. I think that it is very important for kids to have time to play so I just let them do what they wanted in the morning before Abbi's nap and in the afternoons while I tried to straighten up for Mark and get dinner on the table.

In January, I am going to start Karis on some Saxon math and A Reason for Handwriting workbook. We will still focus on doing a lot of reading. We will probably continue to just "do schoolwork" during Abbi's morning nap, but of course, I know that they are learning all day long!

How did the first half of your school year go? Any tips or lessons that you learned? We'd love to hear it!

New Cleaning Schedule

Recently the Lord has prompted my heart (through some convicting conversations with my husband) that I am not fulfilling my role as homemaker well. I love staying home and being with the kids, but at times it is more like I am the babysitter, the one who watches the kids rather than the one who is managing her home. One of the key ways this plays out is in my housecleaning (though there are several other manifestations). I don't like to clean. I make no bones about it. I like the way a clean house looks, but I can live with some clutter and dust (okay, a lot of dust) for a long time. My general M.O. is to halfway straighten up a couple of times a week, clean the house on a surface level every couple of weeks, and about once every two months (usually right before family visits) spend an entire day scrubbing everything. I know, it's shocking.

After mulling it over and praying about my attitude, I settled into forming a cleaning 'routine' that I would follow every week. I know that most of you have heard of this, and probably many of you already implement it, but I'm a little slow. Instead of overwhelming myself (and my husband, because he is often corralled into helping during the frenzied before-family-arrives-cleaning) with a big clean, I am going to attempt to clean the house every week, by doing one or two things a day. Novel, isn't it?

So here's my schedule:
Monday- Mop, Laundry and Bill payments

Tuesday- Dust and Vacuum Downstairs

Wednesday- Clean Bathrooms

Thursday- Dust and Vacuum Upstairs, Laundry

Friday- Clean Windows and Backdoor, Dust Blinds and Fans, Wash Linens

Now, ask me if I've actually completed a week :-) I have had this schedule for just a couple of weeks, and I have not yet finished each task on the day assigned. But I have finished most of them, and this schedule helps to keep me on track. If I do a little bit each day, my house shouldn't need a deep scrubbing as often!

I am not perfect, and I still don't enjoy cleaning, but I have found a few things to help me out.

1. Invite people over. Nothing is more motivating to clean than having guests

2. Find a scent that you like. I used to make my own cleaners, but I fell in love with Mrs. Meyer's All Purpose Cleaner in Basil, so I dilute that in a spray bottle and use it on everything (bathrooms, kitchen counters, etc). The smell makes me smile and makes my house smell good.

3. Involve your children. My kids love cleaning the back door. I spray water on the door, give them rags (old cloth diapers) and let them clean it off. I hope to incorporate more chores for them over time.

4. Pray for the right attitude. I do not want to be a legalistic about having a perfect home when people come over. I do not want to be a sloppy housekeeper either, whose disarray distracts from the message of the gospel. I want to be a good wife, mother and homemaker without feeling like I must meet every single qualification of the Proverbs 31 woman. I pray for grace to let go if things don't go to plan, and discipline to do my JOB though I really don't want to run the vacuum.

How do you handle your cleaning and homemaking?

Our Preschool Schedule (kind of a "space-saving" workboxes approach)

Our first year of pre-school is starting up on Monday and I am so excited! I have a lot of fun things planned for my girls this year, but I suddenly realized that I needed to make a schedule or we were just not going to have time for it all. (Is there anyone else out there who stays incredibly busy all day long but somehow only has some laundry and dinner to show for it? :) Here is the schedule I plan to *loosely* follow with my girls. We are only going to do school about 3 days a week but will follow the afternoon schedule on most days because it makes life easier. Karlie usually wants to do everything her sister does, so she will always start out with us and if she gets bored, she will just play with her doll-house or puzzles while we finish the longer read-alouds or table work.

7:30 -- wake up, eat breakfast

8:00 -- Bible Time, weather chart, calendar

8:30 -- get dressed and do chores

9:00 -- History cards memory work, Teaching Reading, manner review, letter of the week, number-line practice

9:45 -- Preschool workbook

10:00 -- snack and outside

10:30 -- daily read-aloud, short book, Brain Quest activity

11:00 -- blanket-time while I do housework

11:30 -- free play while I do housework and fix lunch

12:00 -- lunch

12:30 -- library books

1:00 -- naps

3:00 -- wake up, library books, snack

3:30 -- Activity with Mama (click HERE to see my list of optional activities we will rotate through)

4:00 -- free play or housework with Mama

4:30 -- Make dinner/ free art work (they usually want to help make dinner but if not they can use markers, stamps, stencils, etc at the table in the kitchen)

5:00 -- Clean up/outside time/ watch for Daddy :)

5:30 -- Dinner with Daddy

6:00 -- Playtime with Daddy

6:30 -- Pajamas, singing, Scripture memory, Bible reading, prayer

7:00 -- In bed!

To make my life easier and reduce the weekly planning load, I decided to make a list of all the read-alouds, blanket-time, and learning activities/games I want to use with the girls this fall. (If you want to see my master list, click HERE.) I found this great pocket chart at Amazon and I am using it to show the girls our schedule each day. The best part is that the chart folds up completely flat and I slide it behind my couch (along with our calendar and weather chart) when when are not using it! It also has a pocket in the middle that I use to store my weather pieces, pictures, and extra letter cards.

I love the workboxes idea for organizing schoolwork, but they take up more room than I have available, some of my larger books wouldn't fit, and for just a simple pre-school plan, I didn't want to have to fill them every night. So instead, I took pictures of all our daily options, grouped them together by category for easy rotation, and placed them in our daily order in the pocket chart. Now I don't really have to plan anything: the girls simply flip the cards over to see what activity is next. Here is an example of what one day's activities might look like:
The pocket chart has 2 sides, so I 'm currently using the other side for our Teaching Reading cards sound review.

I have to mention another favorite Amazon find: this number-line flip chart. It is a lot larger than I thought it would be and has the numbers in ascending order on one side and descending order on the other. It also has flaps that flip down and cover numbers to easily work on counting by 2's and 5's.

If you are teaching your little ones at home this year, I'd love to hear about your schedule and favorite resources!

Nap Solutions

My girls are getting to the point where they don't always go to sleep at nap-time. They take a good, long nap about 75% of the time, but they were getting frustrated with staying in their beds for two hours the other 25% of the time. I grew tired of fussing at them to be quiet and wanted them to do something productive with their time if they were awake. I also did not want to lose my time to rest or get things accomplished uninterrupted each afternoon! So we came up with a new plan that is working well for us and I thought I'd share. I'd also love to hear how you handle disappearing naps in your home!

My girls undoubtedly need to have "quiet time" in order to happily make it to their 7pm bedtime. So they are required to stay in their beds, resting, with the lights off for 45-60 minutes. I do allow them to talk and sing quietly with each other during that time. Most of the time they drift off to sleep, but if not, I go in and put on a book on CD for them to listen to for about 30-45 minutes. They have been so excited about this! They are currently listening to the Adventures of Peter Rabbit and plan to do Winnie the Pooh next and then Charlotte's Web. All of these are available for free at our local library. After listening to a book on CD, I then turn on the lights and let them look at books together in their room for another 30-45 minutes. I love to hear them in there talking about what they are looking at and singing together. Now, I must admit that my girls are not perfect and there have been a few days when I have had to go in and break up an argument about who gets a particular book. But overall, this has been a great plan for us.

Something else that has greatly helped us with nap-time and morning wake-up time is our little friend, Momo. This cute monkey cost about $35 but was worth every penny! We had a hard time finding a kid's clock that wouldn't wake the girls up if they were actually sleeping past the time it was set for, but Momo is perfect! His eyes simply open at the appropriate time. He glows for a couple of seconds, but not brightly enough to wake them up. He does play a little tune, but we turned the volume all the way down and the girls can't hear it. The girls know that if they wake up before Momo wakes up, they should just talk quietly in their room until his eyes open. Then they are free to come out of their room. My girls LOVE their little monkey and are always reminding us to "close his eyes" (set the alarm) when putting them down for bed. We've had "Momo" for 3 months now and they still excitedly chant, "Momo's eyes are open," Momo's eyes are open" every morning as they come out of their room.

So what about you? What have you done when your little ones start to outgrow naptime? And do you have any good recommendations for books on CD for a 2.5 and a 4 year old?

This post is also part of KK's SUYL!

A week in the life of the Finns

My first caveat to this post would be that this week is not a normal week for the Finn family...but truthfully, I am not sure what is normal right now and what isn't! Of course with the holidays there is a lot going on, so nothing is truly normal right now:-) But anyway, here is a glimpse into our week.

Monday--My doctor's appointment day. I am going to the Ob/gyn once a week now, and I have appointments scheduled on Mondays through January 3. I am praying that I don't make it to that last appointment, since that is after my due date, but we'll see. Thankfully, my husband, who is a professor at Southeastern Seminary, does not have Monday morning classes (and the semester is over, too). This Monday he watched the kids while I went to the doctor. When I came home, he had created a castle for them in the living room out of a card table, chairs and lots of blankets. We played in that for a good part of the day.

Tuesday--The kids and I went up to campus to attend a going away party for a friend who is 'retiring' from work. Before we went, though, we made special cards for Mrs. Penny using glitter and stickers, and the kids had a blast. After making an appearance at the party, we went to lunch with Daddy and then ran a few errands around town before heading home for naptime.

Wednesday--I watched a friend's 6 month old little boy all day at the house, so we stayed home and played and enjoyed the idea of having another little baby around very soon! One of Nathan's students/good friend/babysitter of the Finnlings came over to eat dinner with us last night as well.

Thursday--We stayed home this morning to keep dry and warm during the snow/rain mix that we are getting in Wake Forest. This afternoon I am working childcare for the graduation reception at SEBTS, so Nathan and I will platoon watching the kids.

Friday--It is the day of fall graduation ceremonies at SEBTS, and all of the Finns will be involved today. We are starting off the morning with breakfast out, and then I will take the children to work childcare for graduation while Nathan gets the privilege of wearing his regalia in the snow/ice and participating as faculty in the graduation. We may also eat lunch out, depending on when graduation ends, and then the kids and I will be back home for a nap (I'll need it!!). Tomorrow evening is a Christmas party for me and Nathan while the kids stay with a sitter.

Saturday--I don't think we have anything planned! There are a lot of little things that we want to finish before the baby comes (painting our half bathroom is the biggest one), and hopefully we get a lot of those items tackled on Saturday. Generally, though, we will be at home and resting.

Sunday--We gather with our church body on Sunday, and at this moment are planning on having several members of our small group over for dinner after service Sunday morning. That will take the place of our evening small group meeting, so after lunch we will have an afternoon/evening of rest!

Whew! Just typing out my week makes me tired, and I haven't finished it yet :-) Of course, all of this could change if the Lord should decide to send me into labor...though my house probably isn't ready, I would not object to such a thing happening!

So please tell us--what is going on in your life this week? We hope you are enjoying these glimpses into our lives.

This week with the DeLongs

The holiday season is such a fun season! But it can potentially get really busy, so I try to work hard to keep a balance between fun holiday activities and sticking to our normal routine that keeps us sane :) Here is a quick run-down on what this week looks like for the girls and I:

Monday: Like I mentioned in my last post, I am super blessed every other week by a young teenage girl who comes to play with my girls all morning so that I can get things accomplished. This week, her sweet Mom offered to tag along so that I could actually leave the house and get some Christmas shopping done by myself! How fun! I had actually completed just about all of my shopping online already (yay for great online deals!) so I really didn't have much of an agenda -- just browse around for fun stocking stuffers and do my grocery shopping for the week in peace. Oh, how nice! When I got back, the girls napped and then we did our holiday activity for the day (decorating Christmas cookies) and then fixed dinner.

Tuesday: We stayed at home and kept to our normal routine -- lots of laundry, dishes, reading together, singing Christmas songs, and playing with baby dolls and holiday decorations. We were going to make cinnamon- applesauce ornaments, but never got around to it (hopefully tomorrow). Karis really wanted to share some of our cookies with our neighbor, so we braved the cold to walk over there right before naps.

Wednesday: Mark is off work and I have an OB apt. so the girls will have a Daddy morning! I don't even know what he has planned, but he likes to take them out of the house and do something fun. Hopefully we will get to making cinn-applesauce ornaments after naps and maybe take the girls to look at Christmas lights before bed.

Thursday: Another stay at home day with out normal routine! I'm planning to help the girls make Daddy a special craft for a Christmas present, but I haven't decided yet what it will be! (I'm not a super crafty person, but my girls love crafts and they make great keepsakes so I am trying! :) I'm getting ready to search the internet for ideas, but if you have any great suggestions, please let me know! I am also planning to try out this Coconut cookie recipe with them.

Thursday nights, I usually fix dinner for several college guys in our church and then we have our normal Bible Study. The girls love having our friends over and get to play with them for a bit after dinner and then sing songs together. But they go to bed before we start the Bible Study.

Friday: Our big day out every week! We always go to soccer class with Daddy at MVP Sports and then to the library and then any other errands I've saved up. We are all usually exhausted by the time we get home and immediately crash for naps and then read our new library books all afternoon til time to make dinner.

Saturday: Mark works on Saturday, so it is just another day that I try to be productive as well! I plan to take the girls to the Farmer's Market and stock up on some good meat and eggs and then let the girls help me wrap a ton of Christmas presents once we get home. We'll finish up our project for Daddy if it isn't done yet and I'll need to prepare something for the covered dish at church on Sunday. Mark gets off a little earlier on Saturdays, so we'll do something fun with him after naps.

Sunday: Meeting with our church family, covered dish, and white elephant gift exchange! It will be a fun day fellowshipping with our friends!

The Paynes Schedule This Week

This week a few of us are going to post our what our weekly schedule looks like. We've done this in the past, but maybe some of our schedules have changed. Here's what mine looks like this week:

Monday: Free Day. We don't have anything scheduled on Mondays. This week we spent the day at a friend's house. The kids played in the basement and I got to hang out with my friend. I actually scrubbed out her shower for her b/c she has a nerve disease and can't scrub very hard. We also chatted about some things we are working on with our kids. At night I had play practice at church for our Christmas program. A woman watched my boys and did a craft with them. They loved it.

Tuesday: Moms Group. We had Moms Group today at church. We are reading the book "Parenting is Heart Work" by Turansky & Miller. This was a recommendation from a POH reader and I suggested it for our Moms Group. I am enjoying the book. We also did an ornament exchange today (you had to pluck an ornament off your tree to trade with someone - no going out and buying anything!). I ran to the grocery with boyth boys after Moms Group b/c I didn't go yesterday. I love the Aldi that's by our church b/c it has the cart with two spots in the front for kids to sit. Tonight I have a Missions committee meeting at church from 7:30 to 9:00.

Wednesday: Free Day. I think I might be babysitting for a friend during the morning - TBD. Other than that, we have no plans!

Thursday: Bible Study Fellowship in the morning. Then we might have lunch at a friend's house. Thursday night is our dress rehearsal for the Christmas play. My boys will have spent a LOT of time at church by the end of the week!

Friday: Nothing in the morning. Friday evening we are going to the local ice center to see a friend's daughter perform her Christmas program.

Saturday: I teach Spanish from 10 to 11:30 for the team that is going to Honduras in April. Saturday night is our Christmas Program at church.

Sunday: The Lord's Day! We go to Big Church at 8:15 and then stay for Sunday School. I have no duties right now! But my husband Ed is teaching the 2&3 year old class. Then we have our Sunday School Christmas party on Sunday evening with a White Elephant exchange (again, something from your home, nothing bought).

A full week for us!! And we will have graced the doors of church almost every day!

So what's missing from my schedule? I'd really like to implement a little bit of structured time doing "Preschool" with Samuel. And I think I'm going to sign the boys up for a park district class in the new year (Grandma's gift to each of the boys).

What's your next week or two look like? Care to share? E-mail us and we'll post your schedule here.

Weekly Outings With my Girls

The topic this week is about outings with our kids and things we do to make them go more smoothly. I figured that the easiest way for me to write about it would be to tell you where we go each day in a normal week. But first, let me just say that although I love to take my girls on fun outings, my favorite days are when we can stay at home and keep to our normal schedule. Things just go so much easier and more smoothly when we are home and the girls know what is going to happen next. So I try to plan all my errands for the same day or two and stay at home the rest of the week. However, we do have several activities that we do on a weekly basis that we all enjoy, and even more so during the summer time.

Mondays: Usually a catch-up day for us because I try to just relax and spend time with my family on Sundays. I don't do a lot of housework or cooking, so on Mondays we stay home and catch up!

Tuesdays: Possible Early Grocery Morning and then a normal day at home: We usually stay at home on Tuesdays, but if we have to go to the grocery store that week, we will go early right before my husband heads off to work. (I try to make a monthly meal plan and do most of my shopping at the Farmer's market, farm, or during our monthly trip to Trader Joes, so we don't have to go to the grocery store every week.) I like to go when my husband is available to help because Karis is currently in the "learning how to push a little buggy" stage. She listens very well, but often gets carried away and will run into things. So I usually put Karlie in the Ergo and push the big buggy while Mark helps Karis manage the little grocery cart. If I go without Mark, then Karis just walks beside the buggy instead of pushing her own cart. There are two things that help us get through the grocery store trip more smoothly:

1. Laughter. Karis is absolutely hilarious pushing that cart around. It is very easy to get all stressed out because it is inevitable that she will run into something or someone, but we just choose to laugh at her. She gets so excited and tries so hard to help. Almost everyone that she runs into laughs at her, so why shouldn't we all just have fun as she learns? :)
2. The "one-finger" rule -- Karis knows that she is allowed to touch things with one finger, but she cannot pick up anything unless we tell her to put it in her cart. This satisfies her unending curiosity and gives her a little freedom, but keeps her in check as well. I will warn that the rule is not so great if there happens to be glass bottles or other things that are easily broken, but she is always under our careful watch so we just warn her ahead of time that those things cannot be touched.

Wednesdays: Daddy date and toddler pool time: Wednesday is my husband's day off and he has gotten into the habit of taking Karis out to do whatever errands he needs to do. She absolutely loves it and looks forward to and talks about her "Daddy and Karis" time all week long. This week she went with him to the dentist, last week he took her to the local Seminary Student Center to watch the soccer game, and the week before that, they took the dog to her check-up at the vet. It just sounds like boring errands to me, but to Karis, it is very special and exciting! I usually pack snacks for her and a coloring book and markers to keep her busy if there is any waiting involved.

Toddler Time at the Pool: Last year, Karis was scared of the pool and we decided that we needed to go more often so that she would get used to it. A pool in our area offers "toddler time" from noon to 1:00 every day and it is only open to parents and children ages 4 and under. This was absolutely perfect for Karis because there were just a handful of Moms and little ones and she grew to love the pool. An hour is plenty of time to wear out a toddler and it was perfect for meeting Mark on his lunch break. I never had the nerve to go all by myself since neither of my girls could swim and I probably won't this year, either :) We haven't actually gone to the pool yet this year because I have been really sick from morning sickness, but I'm hoping to start next week. We always pack lots of snacks and a handful of pool toys.

Thursdays: Turf Tikes and the Library: My husband runs an awesome sports facility, MVP Sports, that offers classes in soccer, basketball, T-ball, and tennis to little ones. The soccer classes actually start at 18 months, so Karis has been going to soccer class with her Daddy since she was just a little thing! She loves it! It got a little more difficult once Karlie was born, because the younger ages are parent-child classes and I still had to be able to chase her around while carrying Karlie so Daddy could focus on coaching. I used a hotsling with Karlie as a newborn and the Ergo from 6 months to a year. Once she turned one and started walking, however, she didn't want to stay in the carrier one bit! So now I just let her run around and chase balls and the other kids and it has worked out fine. It is definitely a work-out for me as well as the girls!

Library: My girls LOVE books and they LOVE the library! We don't go to story-time, although I think they would really enjoy it, simply because it doesn't fit our schedule as well. (Like I mentioned before, I try to stay home when I can, so we go to the library when we are already out and about :) Karis is really easy at the library. She loves choosing books and sitting on the fun carpet and looking at them. Karlie used to be easy at the library as well, when she would stay nicely in the Ergo while I picked through and found the best kids books. Now that she is mobile, however, she is obsessed with the books and really wants to get down and pick them out. I usually first set her down by the board books, because they are just in a big table and she can't really mess them up. I usually have about 5 minutes to myself to pick out a handful of good kids books while she is engrossed in the board books. After that, she is a crazy girl, grabbing books off the shelf left and right! Yes, I am working very hard to train her to have good library manners, but she doesn't quite have the hang of it yet :) I cannot describe to you how incredibly excited she gets when she sees all those books! After about 10 minutes of following Karlie around and teaching her to sit down and read the books she chooses (instead of throwing books around left and right :),I put her back in the Ergo so we can check out. Since I no longer have twenty minutes to leisurely browse through the books, my biggest tip is this: Utilize the online reserve function of your library!!! I usually reserve between 15 and 20 books each week so that I know that we will get home with plenty of good ones. If you run out of good books to reserve, check out some of these reading lists:
Websites:
Early Years Read-alouds -- Simply Charlotte Mason
Classical Christian EducationSupport Loop: 1000 Good Books List
The Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education booklist
Five in a Row booklist
Our Library's book list

Books:
The Read-Aloud Handbook: 6th edition by Jim Trelease
Honey For a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt

Friday: Stay at home and keep a normal schedule!


Saturday: Farmer's Market or our CSA Farm: My girls LOVE the farm! I buy most of our meat and eggs at the Farmer's Market, so I go there at least one Saturday a month. This spring, my family purchased a market share CSA from a local farm. We paid a sum of money ahead of time and can go every week to pick out fresh fruits and veggies at a discounted rate. During spring strawberry season, we went every single week with the girls to pick strawberries! It was so much fun and I love the fact that my girls know exactly where their food comes from. Now that it is so hot and I am so sick with morning sickness, we just go to the farm and buy what they have already picked almost every week. We also go to a different farm to get fresh milk, but I only do that once a month because I am part of a group with 5 other ladies and we take turns picking up milk for each other.

Sunday: Church: We attend a very small church and the children stay in the service. This is both wonderful and very exhausting, but we are blessed to have a very understanding church family. Rather than viewing the children as a distraction (which mine definitely are, ha,ha), they view them as an opportunity to minister to our family. They have told me so many times how much they enjoy it when I turn Karlie loose and let her come sit with them. I really appreciate this because it is an extremely loving environment in which to teach my girls obedience and the art of sitting still. So here is how we manage: Karis is three and is old enough to sit still for the entire service (usually a little more than an hour). We bring lots of snacks and a coloring book and markers (I LOVE the Color Wonder Markers and books!). She has learned to be quiet and sit with us, although sometimes if Karlie gets attention for being loud, Karis will start to act up and we have to take her out and discipline her. Karlie, on the other hand, is definitely still in the training period! For the first 9 months of her life, she slept in the Ergo while at church. But now she is very excited about being there and seeing all our friends and doesn't really want to sit still. So we are taking it slow. I figure that at 17 months, a half hour of sitting still is a reasonable expectation. So she sings, eats her snacks, looks at books and colors on my lap for 30 minutes. She is not always quiet and usually gets mad at some point and has to be disciplined a couple of times. But she is definitely getting the hang of it and I am really grateful to have such a safe place to teach her to sit still. After about a half hour, I let her walk around and visit with other members of our church family for the duration of the service. Fairly soon I plan to bump it up to 45 minutes, but she is not quite ready for it :)

So that is a summary of our weekly outings! Hope it was helpful and I would love to hear about places you like to take your kids and your tips for success!

TV at our house...

I had to laugh when I saw the topic I would be writing about for my first post as a POH author, because I'm not going to be much help when it comes to kid shows -- we pretty much keep the TV off at our house when the girls are awake. I know that there are a lot of great educational shows available, but my husband and I simply decided that we didn't want the TV to be a focus at our house. Karis is three years old and has learned all the basics easily from books and puzzles.

Every now and then Karis will wake up from a nap on the weekends and find her Daddy watching a tennis match or basketball game, but after snuggling for a minute, she is usually asking him to read to her instead. I have, however, let her watch a Praise Baby or Cedarmont Kids music DVD on 2 different occasions when she was utterly sick and miserable and needed distraction. She absolutely LOVED both of them and I would gladly recommend them both. However, please keep in mind that we have only watched them once so I can't promise that they would not get annoying if watched in repetition :)

We have also on occasion let her watch a short, funny YouTube video about silly puppies or kittens or a familiar musical clip (like the Sound of Music train station clip). But once again, it is usually only when she is hurt and would benefit from a quick distraction or for short educational purposes. (For instance, when Karis first started soccer, the coach asked her to walk like a penguin and keep the ball between her feet. She had no concept of a penguin, so when we got home, I pulled up a quick You Tube video to show her.)

I don't want you to think that we are ridiculous about our no-TV policy because we really don't treat it as a big deal. If there is an historical event or a major sports game on, we will turn the TV on for a while. But it doesn't happen regularly and we usually don't just sit in front of the TV to watch it; we go about our normal routines and just catch what we can. And we definitely do not make a big deal about TV elsewhere. My girls see the TV on all the time at relatives' and friends' houses, restaurants, etc., and do fine with it.

I have to be honest and admit that because my girls have early bedtimes (Karlie, 6:00 and Karis, 7:00), my husband and I do enjoy watching TV in the evenings after they are asleep. We do not pay for cable but get a surprising number of channels through the free digital box. Once the girls are older and staying up later, however, I'm hoping that we will kick the habit and do family activities instead :)

So how long will we keep the TV off? To be honest, we haven't really set an age or a time. It is just one of those things that we will figure out as we go. I really doubt that we will ever get into the habit of watching regular shows with them. But as they get older, I think it will be beneficial to watch different things with them to discuss what they see and help them learn to evaluate media with a Biblical perspective. And I'm sure that in the future I will greatly utilize the educational aspects of DVD's and the internet.

Oh, to TV or not to TV

Hello everyone! Welcome to a new week! This week's topic is "Favorite TV Shows and DVDs" - and I'm pretty sure we mean for our kids, but I suppose we could add our own favorites as well!

Before I even delve into WHAT we watch on TV/DVD, I suppose I should cover WHEN/IF we watch TV/DVDs. After Samuel was born, we didn't consistently have a TV in our home until we moved to Chicago when he was 17 months old. We did get a little TV from the thrift store when we were in CA to watch football games, but it stayed in the closet during the week. Samuel didn't really see much TV until we got Comcast in Chicago. When he was 19 months old, Joel was born and I discovered the kids shows you could choose on the Comcast OnDemand. We had our TV for the 6 months we lived in that house. When we moved to our new house (Samuel 22 months, Joel 3 months) we had the TV out for a little bit, but then put it away. We have since had it out off and on in the two years we've lived here. All that to say that Samuel wasn't exposed to much TV for the first 2 years of his life. Joel has definitely seen more in his first 2 years than Samuel did. I will say that I am a No TV supporter - especially before the age of 2 and especially in the summer. But I also don't want to be a hypocrite and act like my children have never feasted their innocent eyes on a TV program! :)

Now that Samuel is 3.5 and Joel is 2, they watch maybe 30 minutes of TV 4-5 days a week (that's my best estimate). We watch a combination of TV programs with DVDs from the library. We have our TV out right now b/c the college student that lives with us likes to watch it, but it will go back in the closet once he moves out next month.

TV Shows We Like:

Word World. This is probably the boys favorite. It is cute and fun and the boys are entertained by it. It comes on at 5:00pm here in Chicago, so it can be a handy distraction if I need to do some hands-on dinner prep. It is 2 15-minute segments that are about building words. It's pretty cute and tolerable to me. :)

Dinosaur Train. We catch this one about once every other week. I think it is on about 9:30am and we're not usually home during this time. But I know the boys really like it, so if I notice it's 9:30 and we're not doing much I'll let them watch. It is about dinosaurs that ride a train to visit other dinosaurs from different periods. The boys like it because they are really into learning all the different kinds of dinosaurs.

Handy Manny. Same here - probably once every other week. Maybe less. It isn't too bad of a show. Just a guy fixing things. I couldn't tell you what time it's on, if that gives you any idea of how infrequently we watch it.

Those are the only shows my boys watch with any consistency. They have also seen Dora once (mind-numbing - I HATE that show), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (cute but on before they are awake), Martha Speaks (over their head), Arthur (on during naps), and Curious George (also a very cute show but usually on during naps. Joel has probably seen more of it than Sam b/c it is on at 3 and if he wakes up early from a nap I will let him watch this while I finish what I'm doing).

DVDs we watch:

My boys probably watch DVDs more than they watch TV. We have a portable DVD player that they watch their DVDs on. We own a few DVDs that they used to watch, but now we get all our DVDs from the library.

Leap Frog Letter Factory/Talking Words Factory (1&2)/Let's Go to School. OUR ALL TIME FAVORITE DVDs!! Both of my boys can sing their alphabet song and tell you the name and sound of each letter. Both could do this before the age of 2 and all from watching the Letter Factory video. It's a good length (35 minutes) and pretty cute. Here is Joel showing off for you (I took this video the week before his 2nd birthday - now that he is 2 and 2 months he can do them all without help):
[VIDEO FORTHCOMING]
The Talking Words videos (35 minutes, 30 minutes) teach how to sound out words. Here is Samuel at 3 sounding out and spelling words:

The Let's Go to School one is the least exciting of the bunch (in my opinion, but my boys really loved it). But it does manage to pack in the alphabet, counting, animal families, days of the week and more in 35 minutes.

We also get different Non-Fiction DVDs from our library's children's section. I think I wrote a week or two back about getting books from the library on topics Samuel is interested in. I'll also check the DVD section to see if there is anything of interest. We currently have in our house a DVD about the life cycle of the frog, a Spanish video about animals, and a phonics video.

That about sums up our TV/DVD viewing. What's on at your house?

Day to Day Life with Little Children

I am mom to Samuel (3.5) and Joel (2). I also watch a little boy named Gavin (1) on Tues/Wed/Fri. They are my little chicks who follow me around all day long. I think the point of this week's posts is supposed to be how I get through my day with my small children. Here's a little peek at what our days look like:

Gavin arrives at 7:00 am. I usually feed him a little snack while I eat breakfast. Then I lay him down for a nap at 7:30 (his parents wake him up in the mornings to bring him to our house and he is still tired). My boys get up around 7:30am. I feed them breakfast and then let them play. We have somewhere to be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we usually get dressed right away on those days to get out of the house. The other days it wouldn't surprise me if my kids were still in their jammies at 10! They do eventually get dressed and we usually either go outside or their dad takes them to Starbucks and the local library. Gavin is usually back up by 9 or 9:30. We eat lunch around 12 and then all three lay down for a nap at 1. Gavin gets picked up at 3:30 (he's usually still sleeping). My boys get up shortly thereafter. If we've gone somewhere in the morning I usually try to stay home in the afternoon. Otherwise, we might head out to the store or to a friend's house or to the library or park. I don't usually take my boys grocery shopping with me. I either go when Ed can watch them or I take them over to the neighbor's house while I run out. Everyone is much happier that way! Ed comes home for dinner around 6:00, so I spend that last half hour straightening up the house and getting dinner ready. The boys usually play by themselves during this time. If it is just not happening with them, I can distract with a DVD. We eat dinner, play around the house some more and then head to bed at 8:00. And that's my day with three little children!

The main point, I suppose, is that I try to have pretty low expectations on a day-to-day basis. We go to a mom's group on Tuesday mornings, AWANA on Wednesday nights, and Bible Study Fellowship on Thursday mornings. Those are the only scheduled activities. We do plenty of other things, but they are flexible and at my choosing. This has helped simplify our lives and take a lot of stress out of always having to rush from here to there.

My boys are 19 months apart. This was a little tough in the beginning, especially because we've always kept a 3rd child, but they have recently really come into their own. They LOVE to play together and they miss each other when they are separated. It is so fun to spend my days with them and see all the things they come up with together. I am really thankful that God has given me this season of life in the manner He has.

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. . .

The Blog Frog

Hi all. Just wanted to remind you to check out The Blog Frog on the left-hand side of the Prayer of Hannah blog. There are some great discussions going on there. I just started one titled "Your Daily Schedule" where you can share what your schedule looks like on a day-in, day-out basis. Mariah had asked for some example schedules and I thought The Blog Frog would be a great place for all of us to share with her what life looks like for each of us. Feel free to leave your schedule there as well. Thanks!

Ask An Author: Balancing kids

I am still struggling with juggling my 2 kids, 34 months and 8 months. I want to get my schedule / routine back. Any tips for managing 2 young children? (specifically grocery shopping, bath times, meal times, etc.)

First of all, when the POH authors were planning our "ask an author" answers, Krista mentioned something about this question. I don't think she is going to post an answer specific to this question so I wanted to include her little nugget of wisdom. :) She said, "Make a plan, carry it out; adjust as necessary to fit your life and schedule that day. Parents make the plan so that kids (or life) won’t take away from what you need to get done."

So, that is my answer in a nutshell in case you want to stop reading now.

Seriously though, planning ahead is really the key. Anticipating your next step and always anticipating your kids needs can be difficult! I was just talking with a friend today about how every parenting decision is not just one decision - there are a million things to consider.

(I was saying this in reference how we made the decision to have a toy bin in our car. It seemed toys were constantly ending up in my van anyways - so why not designate a spot for them? Well, because now my kids expect to have toys in the car and I'm wishing I never created that bin!)

Back your question - here are some quick tips to manage the situations you mentioned.

1. grocery shopping - don't take the kids! That is the simplest and easiest solution. Although, it is not always practical. I try to do my grocery trips in the evenings or naptime on the weekends. If it isn't possible because of a busy week, my next step is to find someone else to watch my kids (or half of them :) If they MUST go with me - I definitely have a list and plenty of snacks. I don't go near a meal time when they are likely to have meltdowns. I go first thing in the morning after breakfast! If I've got all three with me (I keep a little girl during the week) then I wear someone on my back using the ergo.

2. Bath times are Daddy time in our house. My husband gives baths almost every night. We have a great system worked out where he gives the baths and supervises that time while I spend those few minutes straightening the kids rooms, putting away their clean clothes, laying out PJs, laying out church clothes or clothes for the next day, etc. Then I am ready to grab wet kids out of the tub and continue with the bedtime routine.

3. Meal times - especially dinner - are commonly the toughest times of the day. (According to the Moms that I talk to!) Some ideas are to do all the prepwork possible during naptime. That way there is less to do once the kids are awake. When you do have to get in the kitchen to finish - and if hubby isn't home to occupy them yet - get them good and settled with a special activity before you start. I use that time to get out my son's Color Wonder books, puzzles and other table activities. Adeline (17 months) usually still wanders around playing, but at least she isn't getting into fights with her brother!

3 under 5

I thought you might be encouraged at seeing a “typical” day of a family with three kids under 5. It is not as crazy as it sounds. Yes, each child brings changes and adjustments to the family, but I’d say going from no kids to one is the biggest adjustment. Going from one to two kids can have it's interesting moments, but so far, adding a third (even with disabilities) hasn’t been overwhelming. We are even adding a fourth in December. Our oldest will turn 5 in February. Crazy?… maybe, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So what does a typical day look like for us?

6:30 am – Eric gets up, has his devotions, pays the bills, catches up on news, etc

7:00 am – Liam (4) and Kate (2 1/2) wake up and go down stairs.
Eric feeds them breakfast and reads a Bible story with them.
They have to pick up any cereal they drop on the floor in an effort to get them to eat more neatly.
After breakfast the kids play toys or books.

7:30 am – Owen (15 mo) wakes up.
I get up. Get Owen up. Cath him (to empty his bladder) and dress him.
Put Kate on the potty chair.
Eric gets ready for work.
Eat my breakfast, do my devotions, check email, clean up kitchen.

8:00 am – get Owen’s breakfast, feeding tube and medicines ready. Feed Owen.

8:15 am – Eric leaves for work. (except Thursday mornings- Eric meets his accountability group at 7:00 so I do all of the above.)

8:30 am – All three kids are playing. I go change and/or shower (you know how that goes). Get the older two dressed for the day. Tidy up the main area of the living room.

9:00 am – Three days a week (M, W, Th) different therapists come to our house to work with Owen for an hour (hence the tidying). The other kids enjoy playing with the toys the therapists bring, or they get to watch their favorite show, “Super Why,” depending on what Owen is working on. I usually watch or participate in therapy and talk with the therapist.

10:00 am – We usually play a game or trains or Dora or read books or do puzzles together. The older two usually want some focused attention after Owen has therapy.
• Sometimes I let them watch “Sesame Street,” at which time I would take advantage and do laundry or some cleaning or do some graphic design work or project.
•Put Kate on the potty. (Right now we’re at the “she’ll go if she sits on it” stage. Working towards the “tell me when you need to go” stage.)
• I also use this time for running errands and grocery shopping.

11:00 am – some days at this time we would be arriving at the zoo to meet friends (Tuesdays) or going to a playground somewhere for a playgroup of moms and kids from church (every other Thursday).
• We also have friends over a lot for lunch, which is really fun. The kids can play while moms chat.
• Most days the kids are happy to play trains and make-believe and I can get things done or do an exercise video (which I haven’t done so much since I got pregnant). Even Owen plays and explores pretty contentedly. They all play together pretty well. Occasionally hear, “Mom, Owen is getting in my stuff.” And Kate is always sure to have some sort of drama that needs attention—whether it’s an owie that needs kissed, a toy dispute, or a something she can’t get to work crisis—there is always something.

Noon – Lunchtime. Usually something simple. Sometimes Liam helps prepare sandwiches or cut or peel fruit. Sometimes I have one or both set the table.
• Discuss what they learned with Daddy in their Bible story that morning to reinforce.
• Work hard with Owen on drinking by mouth.
• Liam and Kate put their plates and cups in the sink.
• After lunch, stretch Owen’s feet and legs, put on braces, do exercises, practice climbing stairs or using kay-walker. (except on Wednesday when he has physical therapy at 12:45, also at home).
• Go upstairs to cath Owen.
• Put Kate on the potty.

1:00-2:00pm -ish – Owen takes a nap. Usually 2 hours.
• Play in backyard with older two (I have a baby monitor outside). It’s easier to do big kid activities, like ride bikes, without a crawler to watch.

2:00-3:00 pm -ish –Kate takes a nap. Usually 1-2 hours. Put Kate on potty before and after.
• Sometimes I have Liam lay down too for at least a quiet time on his bed. Sometimes it’s because I need it, sometimes it’s because he is obviously tired and he usually falls asleep.
• I often have them clean up some toys before naps. I sometimes sneak in a nap too while Liam plays trains. Having all three asleep at once is not uncommon though!
• This is also time I use to check email, update Owen's caringbridge site, call doctors offices, insurance, friends, etc.

4:30-5:00 pm -ish – Pick up rest of toys (or at least enough to keep my sanity). Clean up the kitchen if it needs it. Start supper.

5:30 pm – Eric comes home. One of us caths Owen. We have Mommy/Daddy time “couch time” while I work on dinner.
• I have kids set the table. They carry the breakable plates and glasses. They know where everybody sits and who gets the small fork, etc. They think it is fun to help (most of the time).

6:00ish – Eat supper. Talk about our days and what we're learning etc. Review again with the kids what we learned in our Bible story.
• Work on drinking by mouth with Owen. Give feeding tube and meds.
• Eric clears table. (our deal is whoever cooks, the other one cleans up. So it switches now and then. And most of the time we clean up together.)
• Put Kate on potty.

6:30 pm – Have Owen show Daddy what he worked on that day like climbing stairs to sneak more exercise in.
• Then Eric sometimes takes all the kids outside for a bike ride or a walk to the park or he plays with them inside. He makes a real point to spend one-on-one time with each of them.
• we play together as a family
• Sometimes I run to the grocery store in the evenings. Then Eric can help unload and put groceries away!

Around 8:00-8:30 pm – put all three to bed at the same time. Pajamas, potty, brush teeth, pray, kisses and good night. We have worked hard to get them to go to bed without a fuss and boy does it pay off! Bedtime is a pleasant experience.
• Then we have the evening to talk and watch TV (especially if it’s Thursday night. We are big Lost fans.)
• We both usually also check email or catch up on reading.
• We usually clean up the living room and playroom together before bed.

10:30 pm – get Owen’s medicine. Wake him up and cath him. Put him right back to bed.


Now this is obviously not how everyday goes. Sometimes it's not even close! There are definitely days I let them watch more TV than I would ideally like, Kate doesn't get to the potty enough, I don't get my devos in, or we don’t clean up toys at all. We all have those days.

Things that have been indispensable to me in surviving a typical day during these early years:
(in no particular order)

• routine naps

• training them to sleep through the night early on

• teaching them to clean up toys early on

• teaching them to entertain themselves (play without mommy sometimes)

• getting them involved with chores early on

• getting them interested in Bible time early on

• being tough about bedtime nonsense, staying in bed, etc.

• napping when they nap

• not sweating the small stuff

• giving myself a break when the cleaning and laundry don’t get done like they used to pre-kids... pre-1, 2, or 3
kids. :)

• staying on top of the dishes after each meal. huge sanity saver in my small kitchen.

• remembering to enjoy my kids

• trying to be consistent in discipline.

• getting out of the house / doing things with friends regularly

• teaching them to hold onto the sides of the stroller or cart! huge!

• keeping regular date nights with my husband to nurture our marriage.

• keeping church and ministry a priority. Not letting the kids become an excuse for us to miss opportunities to worship, fellowship, minister to others, or show hospitality.

• not being afraid to do errands with the kids. Putting special effort into teaching them how to behave in store situations and making it fun has really paid off. As long as it’s not nap time I can take all three to the grocery with no problem. It is possible!

• preparing early to leave on time, be ready on time, etc. packing diaper bags, laying out clothes, planning ahead to leave ample time for the inevitable delay.

• and finally… Accountability. Having friends to keep encouraging me to be a better mom and wife and stay in the Word has been my lifeline. Reaching out and sharing my feelings, frustrations and challenges, and hearing I am not alone has always been a huge help. I meet a friend weekly for this, no kids!

A Typical Day with Two Boys

After 2 months, we are finally getting into a bit more of a routine around our house. We all get up at 8:00 am. (Joel ends his nights in bed with us). After diaper changes and breakfast we all play together for awhile. I shower at some point during this time as well as clean the kitchen. Samuel and I eat lunch at 12:30 and then Samuel goes down for a nap at 1. I usually try to nap a little during this time as well because I am still up quite a bit at night with Joel. I also use this time to do all my computer stuff (e-mail, blogging, etc). Ed eats lunch at 2:30 and then goes to work at 3:00. Samuel usually gets up shortly after Ed leaves. Now that the weather is nicer, I stick Joel in the pouch sling and push Samuel in the stroller down to the park. We head back home and get dinner started at 5:30. Ed comes home from work at 6:00 or so to eat dinner with us. Then he puts Samuel to bed at 7:00 while I clean up the dinner dishes. We usually have enough time left in Ed's dinner break to play a game or talk on the couch. Then Ed heads back to work and I take care of whatever chores are left for the day, work on the computer, and read or watch TV. I am a big night owl and love to stay up until Ed gets home from work at 11, but that's not such a good idea these days. I'm trying to make myself go to bed between 9 and 10. I am still up with Joel 2-3 times at night.

Our typical day is actually a lot of fun. I love having my husband home during the day with us. We truly are each other's best friend. And my boys get to spend a TON of time with their dad. The one thing we need to work on is building a consistent family devotion time into our schedule. We do read a Bible story and pray with Samuel before bed, but I'd like to have a family devotion time in the mornings with all of us.

Please feel free to share about a typical day at your house and/or how that's changed since having kids. Have a great week!

Typical Day? Ha!

Our "typical" has been constantly changing for about the past 3 months and will continue to do so for quite some time. After bedrest, a c-section, gallbladder surgery and now going back to work - we are in survival mode! As Stacey said, there are seasons to life and our current season is full of trials that make a "typical" day next to impossible!

So to be quite honest, there has been no typical or normal. The only thing consistent over the past three months has been inconsistencies! Because of all the craziness, I missed out posting last week on housekeeping. But again, I really don't have much to offer since we are in "survival mode" right now. Here is my attempt at what a "normal" day (when I'm NOT working) might look like:

6:00am - Jacob is up and getting ready for work. Depending on the day, I may get up and shower at this time or I wait until Will's morning quiet time.

6:30am - Adeline wakes up and nurses.

7:00am - She usually falls back asleep.

7:30am - Will wakes up for the day and eats his breakfast.

8:00am - Adeline wakes for the day (sometimes not until 9am if she had a long night!). Will plays in the living room while I get Adeline changed and dressed for the day. Then she hangs out on her play mat, bouncy seat or swing (if she's fussy and she usually is...) while I clean the kitchen. She usually falls asleep again before the next feeding, but we have not mastered a nap schedule at all yet!



9:00am - Will has "quiet time" in his crib. This involves about an hour of quiet play with books and toys in his bed. I play music for him, but he doesn't sleep. This is what his morning nap evolved into and I LOVE it. It gives me time to feed the baby in peace, shower and get a few more chores done (like cleaning the house in case we have a showing!).

9:30am - Adeline nurses.

10:00am - Will is up from quiet time and plays again. Sometimes during this time, we'll get out of the house for a fun trip, errands, walk around the neighborhood, etc.

10:30am - Adeline usually falls asleep again. If we are home, I let Will watch the second half of Sesame Street on PBS. This is when elmo is usually on (Elmo's world) and he loves elmo!

11:30am - Will plays and Adeline sleeps while I get lunch ready.

12:00pm - Lunch.

12:30pm - Will goes down for his afternoon nap. Adeline nurses. After she nurses, she has tummy time (since brother is not around to "help") and then just plays with me.

1:30pm - Adeline is usually asleep by this time. Since both are napping, I can nap myself or get more work done. If we have a showing on the house, I am frantically cleaning eveything up and packing the car for us to leave for an hour or so!

3:30pm - Will usually wakes up from his nap. Adeline nurses. Will plays while I nurse. The afternoon time is usually when we color, play with playdoh, fingerpaint, help Mommy cook, etc. Will loves to help me in the kitchen or play with the tupperware, etc.



The above pic is Will playing with Adeline when I put her in his crib after he woke up from nap one day. He LOVED it.

6:00pm - Dad is home from work and we eat dinner. After dinner we go on a walk as a family. Sometimes, we go on a walk before dinner depending on the day and Will's mood, etc. Adeline is usually taking her evening nap during our walk (if she isn't sleeping, then she screams for the whole walk...)

6:30pm - Adeline nurses (or gets bottle from Dad - she's having a hard time with the bottle and we're trying to learn this skill again now that I'm back at work!)

7:00pm - We start bedtime with Will. His routine is bath, 2 books, bible time, song, prayers and bed. We both do the bedtime routine with Will really love our time with him. He loves reading his bible and praying. (Most nights anyway...) Actual bedtime with Will can vary anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30 depending on how his nap went and how tired he is.




7:30pm - Lately, we flow right into Adeline's bedtime routine after Will's. She gets a bath and some play time with Mom and Dad. Then she nurses.

8:00pm - Adeline is down for the night. This is so ideal...does NOT happen every night. We're making improvements in the sleep department and actually had a huge victory last night! Last night she first had trouble falling asleep and ended up falling asleep in her carseat on the dryer around 9pm. When Jacob went to bed after me, he just moved her carseat into her room and didn't even put her in her bed. She slept until 6am!! Woohoo!! The amazing thing is that she did this the night before I went back to work (at 10 weeks old). Will did the EXACT same thing and slept through the night for the first time the night before I went back to work. The Lord knows how much I can handle for sure! Such an amazing testimony to the Lord's faithfulness!

After both kids are down for the night here is the running list of what I might do with the next two hours before I got to bed around 10pm:

• laundry (I try to do one load a night - diapers are done every other day.)
  
• cleaning
  
• grocery shopping (I LOVE doing this at night - no one is there!)
• making bread or preparing breakfast, crockpot dinner, etc.
  
• packing lunches
  
• cleaning the kitchen from dinner (if we were rushed from our walk)
• enjoying a little TV (if it's Thursday night!)
• reading
• blogging
• time with Jacob
  
• cleaning out the car from the day's activities
• packing my stuff for school (including the good ol' breastpump!)
  

Even though our life is crazy and I feel as though we have NO schedule, it all still gets done! Jacob is a huge part of this and he actually does the dinner dishes every night. (When I was on bedrest, he cooked too!) He often helps with laundry and he also vacuums and changes the cat litter.

We often pray that the Lord would multiply our time so that we could get all the chores done and still have time for fun stuff too. He is faithful and we're always amazed at how much we can get done when we think there isn't enough time! This is especially true right now when we're literally cleaning the whole house each night. I look forward to the next phase in our lives when we're settled in our new home (wherever that might be) and I'm there full time!

Our Typical Day (for now)

Life has seasons and those seasons change pretty frequently. As our kids have grown it seems like we have changed our schedule a MILLION times. I remember being very frustrated one time when my younger two were babies (they are 1 year and 2 days apart). It seemed that my whole life was spent feeding, putting kids to sleep, feeding, changing diapers, feeding, changing diapers....I felt like I wasn't getting anything "done for the Kingdom." I was expressing my frustration to a dear older lady and she said, "Stacey, this is just a season. It won't last forever. They will grow. Enjoy them during this time. This is what God has for your life right now. You are making a Kingdom impact with your kids during this time." Boy, was she right! Amazingly, they have grown!!! Now we are in a different season...and this too will change at some point.

Schedules are important BUT SHOULD NOT RUN our entire lives. We have found that there are times to relax a little and throw the schedule "out the window." There are also other times that we have had to be flexible to do anything God has us to do...Kids can really be flexible. We shouldn't stop life when we have children…Find out where God is working, and get in on it! We love to involve our kids. We stress to them the reason we are here on this earth (to glorify HIM), and serve HIM together as a family! So, FOR NOW this is what a typical day looks like in the Dunavant household:

6 Matt wakes up for his Quiet Time
6:45 Matt wakes Stacey up for “couple prayer time” together
7 Matt and Stacey wake up kids
7-7:45 Time getting kids ready for school
*Matt prepares breakfast and takes a shower
*Stacey dresses kids and sits with them while they eat
7:45 Meredith leaves for school with a taxi driver (don’t freak out…it is normal here!)
8:30 Matt takes Madison and Matthew Ray to an all Arabic speaking pre-school (their language is getting better than ours!)
8:30-11:00 Stacey has her Quiet Time, checks email, works out on the Elliptical and with weights(3 to 4 days a week), studies Arabic
9 am Matt returns from the pre-school, reads the news, checks email and studies
11am-1pm Arabic language lessons with language helper
1pm-3pm More study time, time out in the community to practice our language (shopping for fresh fruits and veggies, bread, visiting with nationals)
3 pm Meredith arrives home from school. She begins homework and chatters all about her day…Meredith is the family social butterfly!
3:30 Matt leaves to pick up Madison and Matthew Ray from school
Stacey begins making preparations for supper on the days that she actually cooks!(:
5 pm-7 Dinner, Family Time, cleaning up from supper (Matt and Meredith do dishes and Stacey folds laundry.)
7 pm Bath Time…It’s a toss up...many “final of the day things” get done during this hour…Matt usually oversees bath time with Madison and Matthew Ray while Stacey gets clothes ready for the next day and tidy’s up the house a little.
8 pm Family devotion time (a favorite for all of us!)
8:30 Bed time for Madison and Matthew Ray
9 pm Bed time for Meredith
9- 11ish Matt and Stacey spend time together, study Arabic, watch a little T.V., blog and connect with the other side of the world!
11-12 Bedtime for some exhausted parents in language study!

This schedule changes on the weekends and it also changes when we have Egyptians in our home or when we go to their home until REALLY late!

A Typical Day with a 21 month old

Well, maybe the title is elusive since we also live in a culture that doesn't really care about time, schedules, or planning (I mean scheduling a wedding 3 weeks in advance is huge) so our "typical" day is anything but typical. That said, "typically" I get up and run, shower, and have my quiet time before Lydia gets up between 8:30-9:00. She's so cute, right now she's into straightening her baby dolls and stuffed animals in her crib so I'll talk to her for a few minutes (and get together her clothes to wear) while she's "making her bed." Then we head to the kitchen for breakfast. Lydia sits up on the counter and helps me make juice while I'm also warming up our food (tyically toast, oatmeal, or eggs) so I don't have to put much effort into breakfast. We eat together and then she plays in her kitchen while I do the dishes.



Next we brush teeth, she helps me put on makeup, and then we get her dressed and ready for her babysitter (aka "teacher") so I can have a language lesson. If her our teachers haven't arrived yet, she'll help me hang out clothes on the line and we'll play or read books until they get there.

Usually Lydia will have a snack before going down for a nap and, many days, her babysitter will put her down while I'm finishing up my lesson. I'm so thankful that I can have my lessons at home where I can still be there with Lydia. Sometimes I'll have to take a break and steal a kiss or two while she's playing :). It works out great for us this way as Lydia also is learning the language and able to play at the same time.


After her nap we'll eat lunch, usually our biggest meal of the day. (I use her nap time to cook and many times Lydia's sitter will stay and help me so I can also practice the langauge.) Many days we'll then go outside and play - on the Sea, to a park, or a playground. This really takes effort here because we can't just go out in the yard to play. We live in apartment buildings that exit onto the street (filled with pot holes and broken side walks) so it always means intentionally going somewhere in order to find a place for Lydia to play outside even for a few minutes. She loves animals too, and many times we can find some when we go out to play :).




We'll return and make a simple supper or snack and maybe visit our neighbors, play together as a family, run errands, visit with other nationals, etc. I try to give her a bath each night (she's usually pretty dirty by the end of the day!) but I usually only wash hair every other day. We read books and pray together as a family before going to bed usually between 8:00-9:30 (I know this is a huge time spread but that's the best we can do where we live - it's such a night-oriented culture!). Sometimes she'll have a snack right before bed, depending on what time we ate supper. She also still drinks a cup of milk before going to bed. I've been thinking more about this and wondering how to limit this so she won't have such a full bladder before going to bed. . . as I begin to think about potty-training.

What does your typical day look like? This week we look forward to hearing how everyone organizes their days!