10 minutes a day

Anyone can do anything for 10 minutes a day right?  I have a new goal for myself to post at least one thing a day.

Today started off a little bumpy.  I’m on here after an apology to the kids for getting onto them for not starting their chores right away.  A moment of reflection on my part helped me to realize that I should have been scolding myself.  In reality, my scolding stemmed from looking around and seeing that it was nearing 9am (school time) and I hadn’t done any of my chores, save making breakfast.  I have a handy excuse of taking care of the baby, but she doesn’t warrant that I sit in the chair for an hour sucking down my coffee to revive me from a too late night of computer time.

The kids are diligently working on their chores now and here I sit.  Here are a few more 10 minute activities that I need to get done today.

• fold laundry
• play with Caleb
• pray
• load dishwasher
• read to kids
• read the scriptures
• run a mile
• reading lesson w/ Soph
• pray
• math with kids
• play with Caleb
• PRAY!

And all the stuff in between, I’ve got a full morning.   Thankfully baby is asleep.

Oh yes, after my apology to the kids and letting them know that I should have been getting onto myself, not them, Sophie chanted, “Oooh, Mama got in trouble.”

My clean laundry awaits!

 

Dead Day

We refer to the day that Daddy has to work in the mornings and sleep when he gets home to go in for a mid that night as our “Dead Day.”  Today is a Dead Day.  Three people are sleeping right now and three people are playing outside on this beautiful day.  I should be outside playing, but I’m putting my feet up for a minute to be able to handle the events of dinner and bedtime by myself.  I thought it might be fun to jot down how my day began and what has transpired.  This would be a fairly typical day, but nothing is ever the same.

5am- Wake up with baby, nurse, put back down and both of us sleep till 6:30. (Sophie has joined me in my bed by this time, hubby has already left for work).

6:30- Up with Hazel, she throws a fit which wakes Caleb.  Morning coffee while I nurse (no bible this morning, Caleb and Soph have lots to talk about).  Quick prayer to start the day and make a mental note of those in need of prayer.  Will be thinking and praying for them (and myself) throughout the day.

7:15- Hazel in the bouncy while I shower. Yes! Hazel was content long enough for me to shave.  Caleb and Soph jumping on bed singing “Attitude of Gratitude” from SpongeBob movie (one day I’m going to write a post just on SpongeBob and how he has gotten a bad rap, this guy is hilarious for all and has an amazingly positive outlook on life.)

8:00- Swaddle Hazel for morning snooze and hold her while I instruct the girls on making boiled eggs and muffins.  Baby is down and I help girls finish up.  They did most of it and I am so proud of them!

9:00- Late at eating breakfast (usually we start school by now).  We have boiled eggs, muffins, oranges and milk.  Mmmmm.  Bible time with the kids, we read from the Story Book Bible by Pearl S. Buck. Today’s story was about Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. (Love this story book bible, so good.)  Have to read our New Testament passage at lunch, Hazel is up.

9:45- Nurse Hazel, and the kids thoroughly clean the kitchen.  Dishes unloaded from the dishwasher, Sophie sweeps, Gabe clears and wipes table,  Chloe rinses dishes and wipes countertops.  Awesome!   (I tell Chloe to get a plastic storage bag for  the leftover eggs.  Later I come in and she has put all the leftover eggshells in the plastic bag, what a sweetheart.)

10:15- Gabe and Chloe start copywork and work on math.  Sophie draws an amazing picture of two deer and two elk edging along a river.  There is a tall tree to the right, a bear and a cub on the other side of the river and the sun reflecting on the water.  The sun itself is hued with red, orange, and yellow.  Very nice!  Caleb during this time and most mornings is wonderfully independent.  He sets up cars, plays with Sophie’s SpondgBob toys (in real voice, so funny), runs around with swords slashing all the enemies.  There is an occasional marker on the face, pencil on the wall, puzzle boxes getting dumped on the floor, but that’s typical two stuff.

10:45- I get a call from my cousin that I have not talked to in forever.  We chat while the kids do school and I rock Hazel to be settled for another nap.  She goes down and I talk on the phone while playing cars with Caleb in the boy’s room. He is perfectly delighted, although I’m certainly not giving him the full attention he needs.  We manage to stage a tremendous traffic jam of which he continues to play with while I get off the phone and help out kids with some new math concepts.

11:15- Chloe does spelling while Gabe and I do a reading lesson.  Not really sure where Sophie and Caleb are at this point, but they are loud enough for me to know that they aren’t getting into any serious trouble.

12:00- Hazel is up and kids start their own lunch of corn dogs, apple sauce and gold-fish while I nurse.   We read our New Testament passage of Jesus clearing the temple courts during passover.

12:45- Lunch is over, kids once again clean up.  Gabe and Chloe have to finish up some math that wasn’t done correctly.  They all play outside for a bit while I tend to an increasingly fussy baby.  Baby almost asleep when a wailing Caleb comes in reporting he was hit by Sophie.  Sophie claims they were all play fighting on the trampoline. (It’s all fun and games till someone gets hurt!) Baby wakes due to the commotion, back to settling her.

1:15- Whew!  Baby asleep again.  Time for stories with Caleb.  We read Tawny Scrawny Lion and Richard Scarry’s Day at the Police Station.  Daddy get’s home, Caleb happily crawls into bed, we all love his nap!

1:45- Baby up again (she’s full of cat naps today).  Gabe wants to look at Lego stuff online.  I allow him 15-20 minutes.  Girls are in their underwear with blankets wrapped around them playing “indians.”   Daddy goes down for his nap and says to wake him at 7pm.  Goody, he’ll be up for bedtime help.  I hang out with the baby till she is ready for another nap.  We’ll have to do our school read-alouds later during another nap or at bedtime.  We have selections from Paddle to the Sea, Parables from Nature, and Viking Tales that need to be wrapped up this week.

3:00- Baby down  again and I get on the computer(should have done our read-alouds).  Just taking a little breather.   Kids want to swim and the weather is delightful, can’t see cooping them up inside.

4:00-Baby and Caleb up. I am now typing with Hazel happily looking around.  I have to order our pizza and get geared up for movie night (our regular dead day activity).

All of this and we still have four more hours till bedtime and a baby that doesn’t usually settle for night time sleep till 9-9:30.   And don’t forget, I’ve changed about 10-12 little diapers and 3-4 big diapers.  I did manage to wash a load of diapers, but didn’t have much time for other house work.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Until next time!

 

Life with four

Whoa! I actually have a minute to try and write a new post.  Three out of four are sleeping and the best child to be awake, because she is the quietest and least demanding, is sitting behind me putting coins back into a Curious George penny bank. 

Life is full. 

I could post that and be done.  I think I have reached the point as Director of Home Affairs to say that the house won’t always be neat, the laundry won’t always be washed, dried, folded and/or put away, the dishes will sit in the dishwasher either clean or dirty, (I can’t believe I spent 6 years as a homemaker without a dishwasher!), dinner won’t always be ready at a decent hour or not at all, and my kids, and myself on some days, might never get out of our pajamas.  But there will always be kisses for bumps, smiles for every “watch this Mama!”, and sweet cuddles in the night with a baby who is already growing way too fast.

It has been a tough adjustment, but also full of blessings.  As of now I would say the transition from three to four is the hardest.  I do believe that it all depends on the age of children and whether mom is prone to the blues or depression afterwards or not.  I don’t think having four would be all that hard if I had a 12 or 13 year old daughter!  Gabe is an enormous help and he’s only five.  In fact, Chloe put Caleb to sleep the other day by dutifully rocking the cradle and putting the pacifier in his mouth when needed.  She looked so proud, especially when I told her that she was going to be such a good Mama. 

My days pretty much consist of making sure everybody’s basic needs are met.  This includes getting everybody fed and helping them get proper sleep.  That’s about it, amazingly and very surprisingly that is all that I have time for. (I do try to make sure we’re all clean behind the ears and such and that we’ve got clean underwear.)   It might be spiced with story time a couple of times during the day, which can be lacking in quality as I bounce the baby or we strain our ears to hear over his screaming. (Thankfully he’s pretty sweet so that one doesn’t happen too often.)  We also try to get outside a bit, which tends to be me saying, “Why don’t you guys go outside and play and get all your jumps and runs out.”  I’ve literally had to choose either to shower in the morning or do some other kind of chore.  As of now, I’ve chosen the shower because if I don’t I’m grumpy.  No one wants a grumpy Mama around here, including me.   I really try to do something with my hair and face because by the time hubby comes home, it doesn’t matter what I’ve done to pretty myself up,  I’ll tend to look quite dishevelled when he walks in.  I really resist the urge to “hand off” during this time as I know he needs to wind down a bit from work before literally jumping into the circus.

[I left this post for about 5 days because for some forgotten reason I had to stop writing, I'll try to wrap it up.]

Something about each of the kids. Gabe is such a huge help right now.  He hardly ever complains and he is usually happy to help when I ask.  He has been acting out in attitude lately so I sat down to have a one on one with him.  He frankly told me that he doesn’t like it when the baby cries and interrupts things between me or daddy and him.  And it takes us so long to put him to sleep sometimes.  Bless his heart, he’s been so patient and I’m thankful he can be honest too.  I asked him what he did like about having a new baby, and he said, “Well….I think he’s kinda cute.”  And that’s an understatement, he dotes on that baby and steals all of his smiles!

Chloe is as bouncy as ever.  She has been more sensitive it seems to God and Jesus.  At bedtime prayer we always ask the kids what they want to pray for.  Chloe always says, “I want to thank God for Jesus and sending him to us.”  Of course, Christmas had a big influence on that.  Just tonight I prayed with her and in my prayer I said something about heaven and how we will be with God forever when we die.  She asked me with a quaver in her voice, “Mama, when we go to heaven will we have to leave our house?”  I explained to her that yes we would, but we wouldn’t be sad about it when we got to heaven.  After I left I heard pitter patters on the stairs.  “What is it Chloe?”  “Mama, will there be no tears in heaven?”  ”No Chloe, no tears of sadness, only tears of joy.”  I told her with a smile that there would be tears now if she didn’t get in bed and stay in bed, she giggled and rushed off to her room.

Sophie is two and has a mind of her own.  She’s smart, she knows when Mama is nursing and can’t get up to follow through with a command.  She knows that Caleb can’t tell on her if she pokes him in the eye or prods his mouth after I’ve specifically told her not to.  What a rascal.  She’s a blast though and a statement she says all the time when I’m talking to the baby is, “He can’t tay anyting becud he too wittle.”  

Okay, hubby is home and this post needs to be done.

Edited to add:

Ha! That minute that I had in the beginning turned into two weeks!

 

Morning Routine

Okay so here I go at putting my morning routine on paper.  I have been getting up this past couple of weeks around 4:30 am.  This is all very well and good, but I tend to linger after my devotional on the computer till about 6:30 or longer.  Not good.

I’m also wanting to involve the children in this routine as well.  I think they are ready for a more structured morning.  At least Gabe and Chloe are.

Okay, I’ll give it a shot.

My early morning routine:

1. Wake up at 4:00 am. (It usually ends up being 4:15 or 4:30, but I would really like it to be 4:00, I’ll set the alarm for 3:45.

2.  Start coffee and a load of laundry.  Should also be dressed.

3.  Begin my online devotional or bible study and pray.  Would like to be done with this by 5 or 5:30.

4.  By 6:00 I’d like to be done with the computer.  Any extra time after devotional till 6 will be internet time for blog, research or whatever computer play time.

5.  Put clothes in dryer, start another load if there is one.

6.  Don apron. Straighten up kitchen, do any dishes that didn’t get done the night before, put dry dishes away.

7.  Think about dinner.  Do any prep for that, pull out meat from freezer, etc.  Start a loaf of bread, if desired or needed.

8.  Kids should be getting up around 6:30 or 7:00.

The kids and my morning routine.

1.  Start breakfast while children are getting dressed and making beds.  Pajamas go on beds or in the laundry. 

2.  Before breakfast any thing that has been taken out must be put back and cleaned up.  Eat breakfast and be done by 8:00 or 8:30.  Daddy also does his bible story time with us.  Perhaps we could turn this into family devotion time?

3.  Everybody helps with clean-up.  They will bring me plates and cups.  One child washes dishes with me while the other cleans dining room.  Dining room clean-up consists of putting anything in fridge that goes there, wiping off table and chairs, sweeping with assistance.

4.  Both children will then go to the laundry room and take clothes out of the dryer.  In the beginning I will assist them in sorting and folding what they are able to do.  Chloe can learn small towels and washcloths.  I think Gabe is capable of folding his own clothes.  They will then take their clothes to their room.  Gabe can put away pants and shirts, then put the rest somewhere in his room for me to do(he’ll need to get taller to do it himself!).  Chloe can just put hers on her dresser.  I will take mine up along with Sophies clothes and towels. 

5.  Everybody helps Mama clean-up upstairs bathroom.  Gabe swishes toilet with brush and picks up any loose articles.  Sophie can even put old towels in laundry.  Chloe can wipe down sink with a wet wipe.

6.  We all brush teeth and Mama showers or freshens up while kids play upstairs or read stories.  Hopefully it’s only 9 or 9:30.

7.  I’d like to spend about 15-20 minutes with them during this time just playing or reading a book.

8.  Straighten up anything upstairs before heading downstairs.

9.  Head outside for walk or playtime outside. (Next year, this will be school time for Gabe, that’s weird!)

10.  Lunch will be between 11:00 and noon.  Kids help with prep or watch a video depending on the type of morning we have.  No video if there has been whining, complaining or any other bad attitude or behavioral problems.

11.  We eat and clean up together(same as after breakfast, but alternate jobs.)  

12.  Upstairs for stories and nap or quiet time.

So there it is.  I suppose I’ll print it out and see how well I do.   It’s not happening this morning, maybe a couple of things.  And we’re leaving for Georgia this Friday, but when we get back, I’ll be running a tight ship!

 

Garden and TSing

I’m still around.  I just haven’t posted in awhile.  A few things:

Hubby is letting me have a square foot garden this year!  It is going to be my Mothers Day present.  Sounds like a weird gift, but I am thrilled.

I am going to be doing some hard core tomato staking with the children.  I started yesterday and it was pretty gruelling.  Gabe did a complete turn around on his behavior though.  He’s been getting defiant with an attitude lately and I really wanted to nip it in the bud.  And I didn’t realize how disobedient Chloe was until I started really paying attention.  If I tell her to come to me, she’ll ask “why” and start pouting if I’m persistent.  And little Sophie is starting to whine and cry a lot these days.  If something doesn’t go her way, she cries and puts her head on the floor like her world is falling apart.  Needless-to-say, I haven’t been enjoying the children in this state!  So we are working on things and, like I said, we’ve already had some amazing results.

Gabe was very pleasant all day yesterday and when Daddy came home he decided to test to see if he was on board.  I was quite shocked to see him be so nasty to Daddy, he was so pleasant with me all day!

Speaking of, they are all up and ready to start the day.  Better get on it!

 

Cable Internet

This semester someone changed all of the web pages for Hubbys online courses. It takes him forever to complete his postings with dial-up so we are getting cable internet. And then we will get a digital phone service, it all breaks even compared to what we’re paying now. I can’t wait.

I’ve been catching up on some of my friends from TIB. (There’s a whole nother story to that, but I won’t share it on here.) Anyway, about half of the people I wrote to have responded. I asked questions like are you married, children, what’s your job? So far I am the only “housewife!” It almost seemed as though they were competing a little or trying to show off their accomplishments and most of them made references to music, whether or not they are pursuing it or putting it on hold and what not. I on the other hand did not make reference to music, except to say that Chloe loves to sing and dance.
I can’t find the word that I want to discribe them with. It definitely seems futile. And they probably look at me and think, “what a waste.” And I think, I have the most important job in the world, no, I don’t think that, I know it. My job has eternal value. My children will grow and influence the world somehow, then they will have children who will do the same and the cycle continues. It’s my job to instill good values, morals, ethics. Moms can’t do this when their children are in day-care or pre-school, and especially if they don’t have any children at all. Their jobs and accomplishments will die(most of them) when they die. The children I raise and their children and so forth will create a legacy, and that will go on forever. And not only in this world, but in the Kingdom to come as well.
Well, there is my rant to remind myself that I have a very important job.

 Edited April 3, 2007:   I just had to come back and add a few things to this post.  I don’t want to cause any hard feelings.  I realize that there are some very important jobs that women can do besides raising children and I’m glad they do them.  I also realize that some women are not called to be mothers of their own children, but I do think that as women we have a God-given desire to nurture and that we should act upon that as well.  The thing that I think bothers me the most is the way that children have been de-valued in our society.  For now I woud say that the main culprits are abortion and hard-core feminism.  Many do not see children as the precious gifts that they are.  We can dispose of them easily if they are not desired and they just get in the way of our career if we do decide to have them.  I guess these are the things that bother me most.  There has just been a horrible degeneration of the value of children in general, whether people decide to have them or not.  It’s funny to think that in Old Testament time your value was rated on how many children you had. Now if you have more than two, you’re almost considered freakish or something.