So yesterday while I was feeding Caroline baby food (a beating...it's so messy and it takes FOREVER) Anna Kate and J.R. were upstairs "watching a movie." But they were really painting, and J.R. was eating paint and dumping it on the floor and then I cleaned them up and called the poison control center to make sure he didn't need his stomach pumped b/c of the latex paint he consumed, and got back to feeding Caroline and low and behold J.R. snuck back upstairs and did permanent marker art EVERY WHERE!!! I looked at him and said, "Are you joking?!?" He said, "No?" And then while I tried to clean up that mess Anna Kate was "cooking" by putting ALL our vitamins in water (child-resistent tops don't EVEN phase her, she can reach ANY cabinet in the whole house and she can open ANY door/container in the whole house and she has an uncanny knack for making ANY and EVERY mess you can imagine). That's where kids get expensive, not so much in the clothes and diapers and food they need as in the food they waste, the things they lose and the destructive messes they make. Ok, so this morning we went to the Y and the Sam's and now I should be cleaning the house, but I keep fantasizing that the kids will finally fall asleep for their naps...wake-up April, the kids aren't napping today. Maybe we need to just go get some sunshine b/c it's a gorgeous day!!!
But in all seriousness, daily I face many challenges. Lately I just don't know how to address all of them and I kind of feel like I'm losing control of my life and I would LOVE to have someone non-related give practical advice on how to be a more organized better mom and to help me address challenges like...
- Anna Kate has become even stronger-willed as of late...I just hadn't ever imagined that could be possible
- our dog has dug up most of our backyard recently (I don't know if this falls perfectly into the mom-rhealm of expertise?)
- keeping sane while getting your house ready to sell and then selling it
- it takes me an ENTIRE WEEK to clean the house when I REALLY want it clean in one day
- i have no idea how to keep our family fed...i do love to cook, but 3 meals a day for 5 people is a lot of food to come up with and I want us to be healthy, too
- budgeting - I spend too much money...but we don't have cable and I hardly-ever buy new clothes
- what to do when 3 kids are making messes all day...isn't there a way to more positively direct their energy besides more preschool? how?!?!
- making kids help with cleaning, laundry, cooking and to sleep or eat when they don't want to?! making kids do things they don't want to do in general...
3 comments:
oh April that stresses me out just reading that. i totally agree though with many of the things, especially the spending money (we don't have cable and I NEVER buy clothes but somehow we spend tons) and getting your kids to do things they don't want. Hunter has at least 5 tantrums per day. I'll be praying for you! Sorry I don't have anything encouraging to say:(
Hang in there friend. We have have been there - its a weekly struggle - but so worth it when you have those laughable/sweet moments. Girl, you should get a made to come to your house. . .if not weekly then every other week. I can refer ours and it is reasonable. . .the best thing is coming home to a completely clean home after spending the day running erronds or playing outside.
i know this is an old post, but i'm just catching up. :) i have a suggestion. i'm working through all these same things as you, and a friend recently asked me to try once-a-month-cooking with her. so there are 3 of us doing it, and we've tried it for 2 months now and i have to say i kind of love it. once a month we 3 moms get together without kids, and we put together about 12-15 different recipes, and we make 2 of each recipe, so at the end of the day each of us takes 24+ meals home to the freezer. the first time we used onceamonthmom.com which makes it real easy, this time we were a little more experienced and used more of our own recipes and judgment. anyway, we were able to buy so many of our ingredients in bulk which saved us a bunch of money, and having meals on hand saves me time and stress through the day, and not having to go to the store as often to buy groceries (since many of my meals are already made) i spend less money... Anyway, i'm certainly a work in progress but this is an idea i thought i'd pass on. Find some mamas and have a wild cooking day and find yourself throwing dinner in the oven with little thought at the end of the day. it's kind of nice. :)
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