Are we having fun yet? or Motherhood or There are no pictures... you'll thank me later

I really couldn't decide on a title for this post... can you tell? There are so many others that kept running through my head last night as I changed my two year old's sheets for the 4th time (we don't have that many sets of his sheets, and ok, My Beloved did most of the linen changes since I was bathing and changing our son.

You guessed it... at about 10 last night (only about an hour after he fell asleep) my toddler woke up crying... and it was more than just an "I'm awake" cry. I headed down the hall to comfort my little one and to put him back to bed. In a hope that he wasn't all the way awake, I didn't turn on any lights.

As I bent down to feel my way to him, I felt something moist. YUCK! I thought. I stood and returned to the hall to flick the switch on. With light on my side, I returned to the scene of the crime to find my suspicions confirmed. Vomit! A big puddle of it next to my very upset boy.

I took a closer look at my guy before picking him up and holding him to myself to dispense comfort. Yuck! Off came the shirt. I picked him up carefully (not in a comforting way) and took him to the bathroom, turned on the bath water and grabbed a washcloth to start the wipe down. It was then I noticed that it was all over his hair. (Note: encourage child to chew zucchini in the future.) He was very upset and loudly crying through all of this process. Once the initial wipe down was done I let him hug me and cry while the bath water filled. He did not want to take a bath.

As I was putting him in the tub (against his will), My Beloved came to join us, very curious about what was wrong (having been on the phone when the whole thing started.) I did the fastest bath I could so I could let Tornado out of the bath and hold him till he calmed down. His little body trembled the whole time. Poor thing. Once clean and calmer, we set out in search of a new diaper and clean clothes for him to sleep in. Meanwhile, Sweet Pea was now awake and Daddy worked on the bed. Yuck! I owe that man dearly! Everything went into the wash... the sheet (after being shaken outside), the teddy bears, the blankets, the under sheet thing (whatever it's called)... everything!

Bed made new and kid calm and clean, we tucked him in (with new "animals" and blankets) and turned out the light. My Beloved headed for the kitchen to do a thorough cleansing of himself while I worked on getting laundry moved over so I could wash the mess!

Not 10 minutes later, and before the washer was finished filling, it all started again! Thankfully a bath was not necessary this time (or the other 3). A wipe down of face and hands and a change of shirt, sheets, blankets and animals was plenty. Then back in bed. The sheets we used were one of ours folded up smaller. The last couple times we got away with only changing his shirt and sheets.

Poor guy... He kept asking "what Tornado (of course he used his own name) do mommy?" He asks that a lot, but it was pretty sad this time. He is better this morning. We are hoping it was a reaction to dinner and not a virus that Sweet Pea will get. That sounds like even more fun!

Check this one off the list... first stomach bug!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:37 AM 4 Comments

Submission

I've been learning what submission should look like in my life and find myself sorely lacking. Having grown up without much example of what this should look like, I married knowing that I should and wanted to be a submissive wife... and I set out to be so. I imagine I did better at it in the first year we were married, but still, I don't think I was doing all I should have to be submissive.

Submission to my husband is more than just giving in because I know I have to... or should. It's deeper than that. Submission to my husband is something I should do in everything thing... big or little. And more than that, it should come without clarification or appeal.

Often, My Beloved will say something or ask something and I am unsure whether he is serious or not (he is a bit of a joker at times). Example: cookies after church. I mention that I want to go over and get one and he says "I don't think you need to do that." Is he just giving me a hard time? OR is he serious? We've been married almost 4 1/2 years, but still I struggle with knowing that. So instead of submitting and dropping the subject, I clarify... "are you serious? do you really not want me to?" To which he says, "I suppose you can." And I say, "Are you sure? I don't have to if you really don't want me too." And on and on it goes until I either go get myself a cookie or feel let down not to get one.

Oh how I've missed the point! Regardless of whether or not he should be more clear (something we have discussed and he's working on it too), I've missed an opportunity to bring him honor.

Don't miss that... I've missed a chance to honor my husband. Sure... it may not matter. Sure, he may have been kidding. But as he said last night (while we were talking about this very subject), how much more am I honoring him if I joyfully submit whether he really meant it or not.

Today I will be looking for ways to joyfully submit to him completely... in big and little things. I welcome any suggestions, reminders and encouragement from those of you who have been down this road ahead of me!

Labels: Life Lessons for Mommy, Prince Charming, Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 7:41 AM 2 Comments

"no" food

I'm really struggling to figure meals out this week. Last nights meal was good. I thawed salmon and we had it with asparagus and barley (though I end up with a hurting stomach when we eat barley straight, so I don't know if we'll do that again. Thankfully no one else is bothered.) I have tons of beef (steaks, roasts, and ground beef--we buy our beef by the 1/4 cow from a local farm) but not much else. I'm out of brown rice and have limited pasta. No canned tomato products aside from spaghetti sauce (and My Beloved would really rather not do spaghetti AGAIN.) Running out of milk, and few fresh fruits and veggies.

While I sit here and type I'm thinking of some things I do have, but I need the creative juices (and lack of interruption) to come up with something from them. I'm planning to cook up this for dinner tonight, but I'm still at a loss for tomorrow night. Any ideas for things that are quick and simple with few ingredients (not chicken since we're out)?

Labels: In the Kitchen

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:43 AM 2 Comments

Sticking to a Schedule... come what may

Yeah... I don't. If one kid is up, I will generally wake the other up when it is time. I really have to. Our nap schedule (not to mention everything else) really is tied to how they mesh with each other. But if both of my children sleep past 7... 7:30... 8... 8:30 (and are still sleeping as today), I simply thank the Lord we don't have any plans that would make me wake them, and I get something done. I'll just adjust our day to fit them.

I love staying at home.

Labels: As it happens..., Mommy's Tool Box

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:38 AM 3 Comments

Breakfast of Champions

With no bread in the house, and limited food selection (without spending 30-90 minutes of prep time anyway) breakfast was a bit of a compilation this morning.

• 2 Saltine Crackers with Sunflower Butter (peanut butter being taboo and all)
• 1 banana
• glob of leftover tuna from lunch the other day (his favorite part I might add)
  
• 1 cup milk

So much for number 3!

Lots to do today. I'm off to deal with this...

Labels: As it happens..., In the Kitchen, Keeping My Home

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:36 AM 4 Comments

My working copy

I mentioned that I'm working through rearranging our lives and such. I've followed the advice over at Preschoolers and Peace and made my "Rock List". Read it (even before you finish my post... it has great wisdom in it and I'm excited to press on toward organization (of life and home) since reading her series.

Though I really think this is my finished list, I'm reserving the right to make changes still. You may find that it is very similar to Kendra's Rock List, but I'm ok with that. She challenged us to make our lists on our own before seeing hers, but I just wasn't happy with mine (anything I came up with) until I saw better what she meant. So, I started with hers and made adaptations and changes... my family is different than hers after all.

I'll take some time to walk you through each and explain what they look like/should look like in my life another time (perhaps after I've officially adopted it as "my list". But for now, here is my working copy...

1. Time devoted to God: time seeking, worshiping, studying, and in the presence of the Lord.

2. Time devoted to My Love: time spent with him and on the things important to him.

3. Feed/clothe family and keep home sanitary (though house cleaning takes back seat to business when it needs to according to My Beloved!)

4. Train up my children in the way which they should go (inc. “education” , character, life skills etc.)

5. Run our business (this needs to be done, but shouldn’t take the place of any of the other items, except maybe cleaning, per my husbands request).

As I said, it's a working copy, so it may change a bit, but I'm pretty sure it's basic structure is going to stay the same... at least for this season of my life.

Have you given any thought to your "Rock list", your "top five", or your "priority order"? I'd love to read it!

Labels: Home Making, Mommy's Tool Box, Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:18 AM 0 Comments

Dropping in

I wanted to stop by to say hi. I feel like I've been gone forever... and I'm not really back yet. I did want to share with you all that while I'm away I am working through some changes in our lives and schedules. I've been encouraged by Preschoolers and Peace to look at what my core activities should be... my "rocks" as she says. I'm still working on what exactly my rocks are in this phase of my life, but I'll be sure to share them when I'm ready.

Blessings!

Labels: As it happens..., Home Making

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:05 PM 0 Comments

I'm away from my computer

Much of my week has been spent processing photos from an engagement ceremony we shot on Sunday. With it came another glaring reminder that my children need my FULL attention if I even hope to train them up the way I should... let alone enjoy them. This said, I've devoted every moment of their awakeness today to concentrating on them. This means I have to take the precious few moments they sleep in the afternoon to do EVERYTHING else that just can't be done with them underfoot.

So that's where I am, and where I may be for a while... but isn't motherhood really great when we just take the time to concentrate on our children. I've thought several times today how blessed I am to get to watch them grow and change. I prefer that over selfishly snapping at them because they dare to behave badly while I'm trying to do something else.

Labels: As it happens..., Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 4:14 PM 1 Comments

"Man sleeping Mommy"

How do you explain death to a 2 year old?

We were at the funeral on Friday (husband of a dear older lady at church). We didn't necessarily need to have one last look at dear J, but we did need to greet his widow, give her a hug, make sure she knew we were there, let the kids smile at her and give her hugs. These things were important.

I knew that I had no idea what to tell Tornado about the lifeless body in the fancy box at the front. I thought about it and nothing came... so I said nothing.

We weren't even at the front yet when Tornado spied him from half way across the room where we were standing in line. "Man sleeping Mommy," he said.

In the next couple seconds I thought of all the things I could say to him. He's dead, Sweety. J is in heaven now with God. No, my very literal 2 year old would struggle with him being in heaven when he is definitely *right there*. Nope... this is definitely not the age and day to delve into doctrine and death with my little guy.

I smiled, chuckled right along with My Beloved and the couple people standing around us and said, "yeah, that's right."

He said it a number of times between that spot in line and the front (next to his family). I wonder if that is why he wanted to lay down on the chairs during the service. And I thought he was just tired. Hmmm... I wonder.

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 10:18 PM 0 Comments

A Week in the Life of... Me:Friday

Whew... Friday. Wow. I have to wonder how many of my "readers" I've alienated this week. The week is over after this post though, and we will return to our regularly scheduled programming... whatever that is.

This morning started much like each of the others. A late night last night left me cuddled in bed with My Beloved at 8 this morning when I heard Tornado yelling, "Mommy, help cover!" over and over and over again. I decided I'd get up. "So much for my omelet," My Beloved said as I disappeared around the corner.

Turns out he was right. By the time everyone went potty and I got them dressed and Sweet Pea nursed, it was just about time for My Beloved to get out the door to work, but he decided he did have time for a quick omelet. I got it all started before realizing we had no cheese and no meat. So I scrambled the eggs instead. It was worth a shot.

With him gone to work I rinsed out the pan and started over again with eggs for the rest of us. I added a couple pieces of bread to the toaster oven (I put one in for My Beloved, but it didn't end up getting cooked) and double checked that it was set to "toaster" this time. Everyone was at the table eating by 9 at least. While they ate their eggs and toast and banana, I ate and cleaned and ate and cleaned. With clients coming at 10:30 I had a LOT of work to do.

While they ate I picked up all the toys and shoes and clothes etc from the living room and started the Roomba (our robot vacuum).

Around 9:30ish breakfast was done and kids were wiped up. We all headed down the hall for potty time. Sweet Pea played in their room while Tornado sat and I super fast cleaned up the bathroom.

Then back in the living room/kitchen we went. I cleaned up the dishes, placing them orderly in the sink and straightening up so it at least looked nice. I didn't think I had time to actually do them. From there I worked at getting rid of things that are "temporarily" being stored around the house for various projects and moved them to our bedroom. The house looked so much nicer already.

At 10:20 we headed back for potty time and I put Sweet Pea down for her nap. I did this deliberately late knowing that she was going to miss her afternoon nap, or at least have it deferred some.

Moments later the phone rang. I assumed it was My Beloved calling quickly before the clients arrived. Turns out it was the clients, stuck in traffic near the Baltimore airport, more than 2 hours away... 3-4 when traffic and weather were considered. She'd let me know if they could come later this afternoon or evening.

I hung up and looked around the room... it was pretty clean. The vacuum had been moved into the kitchen and was now finished. Things looked really nice. I decided to sit and blog about yesterday... something I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get to do. But Tornado wanted to watch Signing Time. My solution? Since he has to watch it on our computer (no TV and all), I sat him next to me, though he eventually moved to my lap, and let him watch it small on the screen. This was the first time I've been thankful for that program staying on top of all the others. I could just work around it and we both got our way. And he was quiet and safe and still and I got to be with him. It was great!

An hour later we turned everything off and headed back for potty time. Then it was time to start lunch. Tornado ate around noon, but I left Sweet Pea sleeping as long as she would to cover the interrupted nap schedule to come.

Tornado was done and clean before I heard her around 12:40. We did potty time, then I got her up. She nursed and then went right to the high chair for lunch. While she ate I got Tornado changed into his "church" clothes and even did my hair and got changed. Sweet Pea was next and we were all dressed and ready for My Beloved to pick us up by 1:30... right on time. The hardest part was keeping the kids from messing their hair while we waited for Daddy. This was especially hard for Sweet Pea since she rarely leave hair bands alone... but she was sooo cute! I just love that her hair is curly.

We didn't arrive home from the funeral (and a couple little errands on the way home) until after 4:30. Our friend "Uncle Heaven" arrived about a quarter to 5 to help My Beloved with his work leveling our garden sight.

Our menu for tonight certainly did change... from burritos (but I didn't remember I had to soak grain for the tortillas) to burgers (but there isn't any cheese and I didn't have time after the funeral to make buns). We settled on Spaghetti... and old stand by.

The guys headed outside around 5 and I sat down here to type a while after that... kids playing around me. Guys calling for me to get this and that and bring water and can you get that string?

When the water was *finally* ready around 6:15, I threw the pasta in for dinner.

Dinner was finally on by 6:45 and I had to have the house cleaned up and kids in bed by 7:30, the new arrival time for our clients.

I was just finishing putting away the food (dishes can wait) when they arrived at 7:30. We visited and talked "wedding" for an hour or so until they left just before 9. It was a great meeting, the first time we'd met the groom and the first meeting we've had with the couple at all... and their wedding is less than a month away. I was a bit concerned about this wedding until now, not knowing what to expect. Now I'm just excited!

I checked in on "the boys" for a few minutes after they left. I gave the just of some of the high points of the meeting to My Beloved. I was taking a breath before expounding more details when he informed me that they were really looking forward to the apple pie. Yeah... the apple pie. "I'll get right on that" I said with a smile and headed back up the steps. "I love you!" I threw over my shoulder.

I was glad I'd mentioned thinking about making it during dinner. I probably would have given up the idea had I not gotten his hopes up (it's his favorite.) Under normal conditions I never would have considered making an apple pie from scratch at 9 at night, but these weren't normal conditions. The last time I made apple pie, I made a double crust, then used a crumb topping instead, so the second crust was in the freezer waiting. I took it out to thaw earlier this evening. As an additional bonus, I still have canned apple pie filling (I learned to can this fall and did a bunch [or more] of apples... applesauce and apple pie filling.) I sliced up a couple more apples to fill it out some (1 quart of apple pie filling doesn't fill the crust as much as we like, so I add a couple more apples at the time) and dumped the rest of the filling in on top. I stirred it up some in the crust, just to make sure the juice got everywhere. Then I mixed up a crumb topping and put it in my preheated oven. There you have it... 9:30 and a homemade apple pie was in the works!

I stepped out to visit again, and hopped back in here to report in to you all. Next I will try to muster some energy to un-bury our bedroom from the "clients are coming" clean up. Then I might think about doing the dishes from dinner... then we'll see. My book is calling my name. :)

Labels: As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 5:40 PM 0 Comments

A Week in the Life of... Me: Thursday

Thursday wasn't quite as productive in the way of lots of little things getting done... and to be honest, I had a hard time tracking the exacts of the time and all. But still, I'll see if I can remember the gist of the day.

The big ticket item for the day was making rolls we could take with us to the funeral today. I was excited to be able to serve My friend W in this way, but I've never had much success with rolls, so I knew I needed to start early... just in case I needed to try again if they didn't work. We found a recipe and tried one with spelt. The recipe was going to take 6 hours, so I had to build it in from the beginning.

Up and dressed in the morning, all of us. Sweet Pea nursed and I made scrambled eggs for the three of us. No breakfast for My Beloved, sadly. We just didn't get up early enough. He had a Cliff Bar at work.

Eggs, bananas, and juice done, we cleaned up and headed for another potty time.

Around 9 I realized we would need to make more bread. The loaf from the other day was especially little and didn't last long. So I made some bread (more specifics on this process next week.)

Once the bread machine was going, we made our way to the bathroom for bath time. Sadly, when things get busy and overwhelming, I tend to forget this until after the kids are in bed for the night. I hate it, but you should know the truth. So with this being the case, I made a very deliberate attempt to do bath time. You should also know that when we found out Sweet Pea would be a girl, I swore I would not bathe them together... being boy and girl and all. I tried and tried to hold true, but they get bathed so much more often now that I let them bathe together. At some point in the future (probably nearer than further) I'll separate them for modesty reasons. But for now, it's necessity.

They love bath time and laugh and splash and play. Steal cups from each other, etc. Of course neither of them love the actual washing part. Sweet Pea acts much like Tornado did at her age. Tries to get out of the tub every time I get water in her face. I finished her up and let her get out... letting Tornado play a bit. Sweet Pea was having a blast in her towel playing in the mirror. I got her diaper on her and got her all dressed while Tornado played. Then it was his turn to get out.

Around 10 now, I let the kids play (Tornado in his towel) while I gathered clean clothes from the house to put away in their drawers (seems like clothes are always folded while someone is asleep... then they just sit around the house for days. Not good. I took some time to get a few pictures of the kids playing too. It was fun.

Around 10:15, we got Tornado dressed and put Sweet Pea down for her nap. Then Tornado and I headed back to the kitchen. Tornado played while I cleaned up the kitchen some.

Closer to 11 we began the rolls together and I put the bread into the oven. I set the roll dough to rise for a couple hours around 11:30.

11:50 came before we started Circle Time, so we did an abridged version... I just let him color in his Bible Story Activity book while I made something for lunch. Just before noon, My Beloved called to say he'd be coming home soon.

I got Tornado started with lunch (sunflower butter and jelly sandwich and avocado slices) and then made sandwiches for My Beloved and I.

I got Sweet Pea up before we ate because I didn't want her sleeping longer. Sadly, she was already awake and playing... so I could have left her playing and eaten my lunch. Oh well... I nursed and ate and nursed. It all works out.

My Beloved headed back to work and the kids and I headed outside (after potty time) to take advantage of our beautiful, sunny, 70 degree weather. The kids had a blast running around in the grass and I just soaked up the warmth (while chasing and watching them of course.)

Tornado went down at 1:30 and Sweet Pea and I played on the couch a while (she just loves that). I let her play with toys for a bit too while I punched down the roll dough and kneaded it some more. Then back in the bowl it went to rise for another hour.

Sweet Pea went down around 2. Tornado wasn't sleeping yet, so I grabbed my book and "stood watch" outside their door, correcting as needed. It wasn't as bad as some days. By 2:30 or 3 Tornado was asleep and Sweet Pea was laying quietly playing with a blanket or something. I made my way out to the computer to try to get something done.

We are trying to design some new marketing pieces to send out to people about Senior Portraits. This takes a bit of time, but we really need to get some new clients this year. The Christian school that used to send all their seniors to us has changed the way they do things. While they are going to give them our information, they aren't requiring the kids to use any one place... but are letting them choose. I'm imaging we will have fewer students from there because of it. That's fine though... we really needed to break out into the public schools anyway. Though we had been planning to back off on our business, with My Beloved's job being shakier than we ever expected, we have decided we need to try to grow our business instead.

I worked on this and the rolls through the afternoon. Just before 5 I pulled the chicken out of the fridge and started prepping dinner. We decided not to do the casserole idea from my meal plan. Instead we just poured some Frank's hot sauce over it and threw it in the oven (still hot from the rolls). We added to that rolls and fresh pineapple. It worked... and was super easy for me.

My Beloved got home and we got dinner going (he loved the work I'd done on the marketing pieces by the way... I was thrilled!)

Dinner was over by 6:30, (again, I was thrilled!) so we headed out on a walk down the street. A cold front was moving in and the skies were overcast now, but it was still warm enough not to need jackets. We met a "neighbor" from around the block out walking too. We are hoping to see him out on walks regularly and have a chance to build a relationship and introduce him to Christ along the way. We don't have many relationships outside of our Christian circles, so we were excited about this contact.

When we got back home we ran into our neighbor/landlord closing up his shop for the day (his shop shares a driveway with our house and his house is on the other side of us and around a little corner.) They were still having trouble with their scanner, so we headed over to see if My Beloved could fix it. His wife was in the shower when we got there, so the kids and I headed back home instead of staying to visit with her.

The kids played so cute for the entire hour I worked on cleaning up dinner and dishes. Tornado would sit on the ottoman and throw a little stuffed cow toward the kitchen. Then Sweet Pea would pick it up and run it back to him... remind me to share with you my "kids are like dogs" theory sometimes. It was pretty funny.

It was just after 8 when I was done int he kitchen, so we headed to the potty and got ready for bed. I tried to call My Beloved when jammies were going on so he could come home for tuck ins if he wanted, but it rang in the bedroom.

Just after the kids were all tucked in and I was about to leave them, the front door opened. Daddy made it just in time.

My Beloved and I worked on some garden things the rest of the evening, then spent some time together. It's wonderful that a day can accomplish fewer things and still be a great day!


Today there are significantly fewer things on my to do list... not because there isn't much to do, but because there is little chance to do them. I was supposed to have a client come this morning, but weather and traffic has pushed that meeting until sometime later. This afternoon we will be at the funeral and then I'll see how much I can do. We may scratch the burrito meal off my menu too instead of something quicker. We'll see how much I can get done. Making everything from scratch makes that a more difficult meal than it would otherwise be. Oh well... more on today later.

Labels: As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 10:35 AM 1 Comments

A Week in the Life of... Me: Wednesday

I think I will be glad when this "week in the life of..." business is over. It's been real hard to get to all the things I have to do and jot down an order and time that things happened in and remember to take pictures. Very hard. Not to mention that I really don't have the time to sit and blog it all out. But I said I'd do it, and I'm going to do it... at least through Friday. Don't count on Saturday.

I began my morning a tad bit earlier than the other days... and feel really good about it too. I was up before the kids... 30 minutes before the kids as a matter of fact. It's amazing how that can make you feel... unless the kids woke up at 6 am... then I don't feel so good about being up at 5:30. But then, maybe that's what time I should be getting up. I may get more done. And I could justify and have time for a nap in the afternoon.

Anyway... my day:

7:45 am ~ Wake up and get ready... including clothes, shoes and brushing my teeth! Wow!


8:00 am ~ throw all the chicken stuff into my dutch oven/5 qt. pot and add the water and veggie stuff it needs. I've been saving the ends onions and garlic and such for just this occasion. I added a thing of celery and a broken up carrot or two, lit the fire, threw the lid on and walked away...

8:15 am ~ ... all the way to the kids room to get them up. Potty time for Tornado/diaper change time for Sweet Pea and dressed both kids. Sweet Pea nursed.

8:30 am ~ Start breakfast (scrambled eggs) with Tornado on the counter eating cut up celery and carrot while I cook (they were still on the counter and he wanted some... what was I going to say? "um, no honey, you can't have vegetables... you haven't had your breakfast yet." Um, no. Sweet Pea played nearby.

8:40 am ~ My Beloved leaves for work. Beef roast comes out of the freezer to thaw (on the counter for a bit, then in the sink with water after dishes were done.) Kids and I sit down for breakfast.

9:00 am ~ Potty time, start bread in bread machine

9:15 am ~ Dishes with Tornado, Sweet Pea plays on blanket near us in the kitchen (at one point in there we all gathered up and went out to meet the mail lady.)

10:00 am ~ Sweet Pea nap time, Tornado potty time

10:15 am ~ "quick" computer/blog time, Tornado played blocks and cars nearby.

11:30 am ~ Circle time with Tornado

11:55 am ~ "accident"/potty time... new pants

12:00 pm ~ Sweet Pea nurse, Tornado reads book on couch

12:15 pm ~ Serve lunch (sandwiches on fresh bread for Mommy and Daddy, leftovers for kids)

1:00 pm ~ potty time for Tornado, put kid clothes away while kids play in room, kiss crushed fingers, jammies for Tornado, Tornado down for nap

1:15 pm ~ Sweet Pea and Mommy play on couch. Sing some songs and crawl around laughing (her, not me)

1:30 pm ~ Business work, Sweet Pea playing nearby, police/correct through nap time

2:00 pm ~ Tornado sleeping, put Sweet Pea down. Proceed to listen to her throughout the afternoon. Design new letterhead for business

3:30 pm ~ Letterhead design done, find recipe for beef roast, prep dinner... listen to Sweet Pea playing and fussing intermittently

4:00 pm ~ ruin dinner by adding barley 1 1/2 hours early instead of waiting till the end.

4:15 pm ~ computer work and blog reading

4:30 pm ~ start working on this post

4:45 pm ~ Tornado up, joins me to cuddle while I type, think about how terrible I've been about taking pictures today. Sorry! Maybe I'll have to take parts of my day apart some time in the future and get pictures for you.

5:00 pm ~ potty time for Tornado, let Sweet Pea get up... having not slept at all this entire afternoon! Nurse and read to Tornado. Let Sweet Pea crawl around on me and couch.

5:20 pm ~ no idea, honestly.

5:40 pm ~ My Beloved walked through the door. It was great!

6:00 pm ~ Potty time for Tornado, laid around, talked about working at cleaning up the kitchen in the last minutes before dinner.


6:20 pm ~ My Beloved helps me strain chicken stock and pour it into ziplock bags.










6:30 pm ~ Dinner served.

7:00 pm ~ Nurse Sweet Pea, take vitamins (I never remember this!)

7:10 pm ~ Sweet Pea in jammies, Daddy cleans up Tornado, potty time and prep for bed, singing, praying, tucking in.

7:30 pm ~ Close door to kids room! Woo Hoo... early! Time with My Beloved... just the two of us!

8:00 pm ~ Clean up kitchen from dinner, My Beloved on back deck building plant boxes for our raised beds.

9:00 pm ~ Sat down to finish blog post. :)


Wow... pretty exciting day huh? It was slow and lazy... at least I was. The cloudy dark day and constant rain and drizzle killed my motivation. Still, when I consider what I did get done... Chicken Stock (3 quarts worth) made and in the freezer, a yummy dinner My Beloved was excited about made and served to my family, fun time with both of my children, and some business thrown in there... really it doesn't look like such a bad day. Of course I know the things I wish I'd gotten done... and I just felt blaw.

I guess there is one benefit of writing out all my accomplishments for the day. Normally My Beloved would ask what I'd done all day and I would just shrug and say I know I did something, but I can't think of anything. Anyone else have that problem?

Labels: As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 4:32 PM 0 Comments

A Week in the Life of... Me: Tuesday

My Tuesday was a pretty normal day... though I was running even more behind than Monday. Another late night and we all slept in. One of these days I'll break that cycle. I've determined to try to give you as much detail with as little actual typing as possible. Yesterday's post was a little out of hand.

8:00 am ~ Kids up, Potty Time for Tornado and get him dressed, nurse Sweet Pea and change and dress.

8:30 am ~ Prepare Oatmeal, Daddy leaves for work, kids play

9:00 am ~ Potty Time

9:15 am ~ Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats (soaked the night before) with applesauce (for sweetness and coolness) and raisins... though Sweet Pea doesn't have the raisins yet. Clean up kids.

10:00 am ~ Mommy computer time, kids play

10:30 am ~ Potty time for Tornado, Sweet Pea down for a nap (we're running behind schedule about a half hour on this)

10:45 am ~ My mom called, we chat for 15 minutes

11:00 am ~ I have breakfast... toast with jelly.

















11:15 am ~ Look around the house... decided to do something about the crazy mess that is everywhere.

This is where times and such start getting a little fuzzy. The cleaning that I started here went off and on throughout the day. It mingled with kid time, potty time, discipline time, etc.

12:00 pm ~ Wake Sweet Pea, start pot of water to boil for pasta (I had very little bread to feed kids for lunch), nurse sweet pea

12:15 pm ~ My Beloved coming home, make open face sandwiches with last two pieces of bread

12:30 pm ~ All at table for lunch, clean up lunch.

1:00/1:30ish pm ~ Tornado potty time and in jammies for nap. Police nap time with constant reminders, corrections and some frustration.

2:00 pm ~ Tornado still awake, put Sweet Pea down for nap too. Kids proceed to play and disregard Mommy's correction for the next hour and a half. I get little bits of business work done on the computer between needs for correction.

3:00 pm ~ I take up my post at the door of the kids room for prompt correction (things have gotten worse.) Work on outlasting Sweet Pea and training her to lay down in bed, not just get back up again. This lasts a half hour or so.

3:15 pm ~ Tornado in Sweet Pea's bed, gets corrected and put back to bed. Regular corrections for both children continue.

3:40 pm ~ Tornado gets corner time for getting up on his bed again. Sweet Pea falls asleep while we he is gone.

3:55 pm ~ Tornado back in bed.

4:00 pm ~ Tornado in corner again for blatantly disobeying and trying to wake up sister.

4:20 pm ~ Tornado potty time and dressed. With me in kitchen, sitting on counter with hands folded in lap (tightly tomato staked) while I make dinner and

5:15 pm ~ Sweet Pea awake and nurse. Tornado potty time.

5:20 pm ~ My Beloved home. He ground some flour for bread for me. Tornado outside digging in dirt with Daddy. I worked on more business things.

5:40 pm ~ More dinner prep.

7:00 pm ~ Chicken done... Sit down for dinner.

7:40 pm ~ Potty and bed time for kids.

8:00 pm ~ My Beloved headed back outside to work on garden site more and I cleaned up dinner.

The great thing about roast chicken is that you can use it for several meals. I cleaned off the bird, putting chicken in tupperware for Thursday night's chicken casserole and the rest of the bird parts for making stock.
















9:30 pm ~ Kitchen (and house) clean!

9:35 pm ~ Make smoothies for our evening snack and re-clean up.

9:45 pm ~ Settle onto couch to watch program with My Beloved and massage his sore muscles. (He's been working hard in the yard.)

10:30 pm ~ Bed time... read some.

Labels: As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 10:26 AM 0 Comments