10/12/2014: 17 weeks pregnant
There are definitely some things not going perfectly over here. Momma's pretty tired still, our master bedroom has been in a redecorate pause for two months, and we are still learning to parent certain aspects of our children's behavior :)
But there are a lot of things that ARE going well at the moment and I want to celebrate!
Breakfast
We've moved away from me making a daily pot of oatmeal and have upped our nutrition factor and achieved some time savings with a weekly pot of some sort of grain. I've made oat pearls (thicker and less refined even than steel cut oats), barley, bulghur wheat, and steel cut oats. I just get a large pot out on Sunday or Monday and make about 8 servings of whatever grain I've bought that week. This then just means scooping out what we want in the morning and reheating with some milk on the stove. I'm the one craving a very hearty, wholesome breakfast, but the kids are quite game. I actually sweeten mine with maple syrup, but not theirs. We all have some mix of chosen toppings: bananas, raisins, Craisins, walnuts, yogurt, etc. When they cry out for cereal instead, I just sprinkle some on top.
Morning Drop-off
We're in a rhythm and we don't tend to run late. When I can, I like to take the kids because it's fun to watch them both settle into their side-by-side playgrounds at school. Cora continues to love school and is always Miss Confident as she waves good-bye. It's interesting to watch Jack interact with his friends and really heartwarming when he runs back to give me a hug and the baby bump a kiss.
Afternoon Rest
This is the biggest improvement and it all came from my pregnant need to eat before noon. In the past, I've worked till 1:00, picked them up, and then started a 45 minute process of moving from pure chaos (over-tired children just returning to their home) through getting both of their hands washed, sand out of shoes, potty needs taken care of, stories read, last minute "needs" addressed and both of them in bed. In a word, it's exhausting. And it was NOT working for a hungry, pregnant, tired mother. So now I either bring lunch to work or come home and eat lunch/finish work before I pick up Jack and Cora. Then I'm not rushing toward lunch and instead see the post school time as a chance to spend quality time with both kids. What's also helped is that Jack is now independent enough that he's using the time I'm with Cora to play on his own. So I don't feel like he's waiting on me. I take my time with Cora and then I take my time with him. He and I are finishing up the fourth Laura Ingalls Wilder book now and working on a little project for Daddy, to be shared soon.
Cora Special Time
Since Cora naps right after school, I'm not getting as much time with her as I do with Jack (who only rests for about 30-45 minutes.) So when she wakes up, I try to make sure Jack is otherwise occupied and I go get her and some books and we snuggle in my bed and read as she wakes up. She's just getting to an age where she'll sit through most stories and so we're leaving the very-simple-board-book world and starting to read more interesting things together. She's sleepy still and cuddly so it's a great way to ease her into the awake world without enduring post-nap grumpiness.
Dinner time and bed time are generally "less smooth" but life can't be perfect right!
There are definitely some things not going perfectly over here. Momma's pretty tired still, our master bedroom has been in a redecorate pause for two months, and we are still learning to parent certain aspects of our children's behavior :)
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| Fall wear on our one day of fall weather |
Breakfast
We've moved away from me making a daily pot of oatmeal and have upped our nutrition factor and achieved some time savings with a weekly pot of some sort of grain. I've made oat pearls (thicker and less refined even than steel cut oats), barley, bulghur wheat, and steel cut oats. I just get a large pot out on Sunday or Monday and make about 8 servings of whatever grain I've bought that week. This then just means scooping out what we want in the morning and reheating with some milk on the stove. I'm the one craving a very hearty, wholesome breakfast, but the kids are quite game. I actually sweeten mine with maple syrup, but not theirs. We all have some mix of chosen toppings: bananas, raisins, Craisins, walnuts, yogurt, etc. When they cry out for cereal instead, I just sprinkle some on top.
Morning Drop-off
We're in a rhythm and we don't tend to run late. When I can, I like to take the kids because it's fun to watch them both settle into their side-by-side playgrounds at school. Cora continues to love school and is always Miss Confident as she waves good-bye. It's interesting to watch Jack interact with his friends and really heartwarming when he runs back to give me a hug and the baby bump a kiss.
Afternoon Rest
This is the biggest improvement and it all came from my pregnant need to eat before noon. In the past, I've worked till 1:00, picked them up, and then started a 45 minute process of moving from pure chaos (over-tired children just returning to their home) through getting both of their hands washed, sand out of shoes, potty needs taken care of, stories read, last minute "needs" addressed and both of them in bed. In a word, it's exhausting. And it was NOT working for a hungry, pregnant, tired mother. So now I either bring lunch to work or come home and eat lunch/finish work before I pick up Jack and Cora. Then I'm not rushing toward lunch and instead see the post school time as a chance to spend quality time with both kids. What's also helped is that Jack is now independent enough that he's using the time I'm with Cora to play on his own. So I don't feel like he's waiting on me. I take my time with Cora and then I take my time with him. He and I are finishing up the fourth Laura Ingalls Wilder book now and working on a little project for Daddy, to be shared soon.
Cora Special Time
Since Cora naps right after school, I'm not getting as much time with her as I do with Jack (who only rests for about 30-45 minutes.) So when she wakes up, I try to make sure Jack is otherwise occupied and I go get her and some books and we snuggle in my bed and read as she wakes up. She's just getting to an age where she'll sit through most stories and so we're leaving the very-simple-board-book world and starting to read more interesting things together. She's sleepy still and cuddly so it's a great way to ease her into the awake world without enduring post-nap grumpiness.
Dinner time and bed time are generally "less smooth" but life can't be perfect right!
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| No caption needed |
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