Life As a Mom: Finding Time to "Do It All"

Okay, so I still haven't found THAT much time, but this is the way I have found to help keep me focused, and feel like I have actually accomplished things during the day.  I don't get burned out cleaning all day, and I don't waste time when I sit down to work on the computer.

My day starts much earlier, but my "schedule" starts at 8 after I have dropped Big Sister off at school.  It looks like this:
8:00 - Household Chores
9:00 - Blog/Computer work for Sunla Designs
10:00 - Crafting work for Lila's Bowtique
11:00 - Household Chores
12:00 -  Lunch and Blog/Computer work for Sunla Designs
1:00 - Crafting work for Lila's Bowtique
2:00 - Catchup before I pick up Big Sister from school


The rest of my day is filled with homework, piano practice, Girl Scouts, and dinner.  The hour-long shifts keep me focused and working as quickly as I can to get a lot done in that little window of time.  If I tell myself "I have all day to get that done" it usually takes all day!

You may be asking why I haven't scheduled time for Baby Brother or errands and such.  It's because I take care of those things as they come up, and resume my schedule based on what time it is.  For instance, on Monday I go grocery shopping as soon as I drop off Big Sister.  It is usually after 9 by they time I get the groceries put away, so I skip the Household chores at 8:00 and start right onto my Blog/Computer work.  I adjust for this by scheduling less cleaning on Monday, and the grocery shopping is actually part of my Monday chores.

At 2:00 it is time to catchup on whatever I didn't get done that must be finished before Big Sister comes home.  usually that means packing orders to drop off at the post office, checking my email one last time, or prepping dinner.

Freebies: Kids' Fluids Chart

After a recent check-up at the doctor's office we decided we needed a way to make sure Big Sister is getting enough fluids.  She drinks milk in/with breakfast, but drinks water the rest of the day.   I've never figured out a way to get her to drink more milk until I had the doctor tell her she needs to be drinking 3 glasses a day.  We worked out a chart to be sure she's getting enough of all the right fluids- 3 glasses of milk, 2 glasses of water, and one glass of juice.

Here's what we do:
Milk- one in/with breakfast, one with her afternoon snack, and one with dinner.
Water- at school- she takes a small bottle with her to school and refills it once she has finished it.
Juice- I make her popsicles from juice using the Tupperware popsicle mold.  Now, I know this is only 2 oz, but she usually gets a little juice at some point in her day, so I am not so worried about it.  She enjoys the popsicle treat, and I am happy it's not completely loaded with sugar.

Here's a chart I made to help Big Sister remember what she has had already.  I gave her an off on Sunday since we are usually pretty busy that day.

Fluids Chart


Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday 10: September 21, 2011- Tooth Number Two

Wordless Wednesday: August 31, 2011- Big Sister and Baby Brother

Wordless Wednesday: August 17, 2011- Big Sister on a Bike

Sneak Peek Saturday: Parties- Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Here's a little sneak peek at a Mad Hatter's Tea Party I hosted for Big Sister and her friends.  See the rest of the party when I post more pictures and all the details next week.  Be sure to follow my blog to see the rest of the party!

Featured Friday: Parties- Spa Playdate

Today's Featured Friday is this adorable Spa Playdate!

 

Big Sister has been begging for a spa themed party for her and her friends, and since I've been looking for something to do to make her feel special since Baby Brother was born, we decided to host a Spa Playdate!

 

We had lots of activities for the girls and the entire playdate took 6 hours.  In addition to the normal spa activities, the girls decorated flip flops with stick on gems from Oriental Trading, and made their own body glitter (I got the idea from Making Scentz).  I couldn't find clear aloe vera, so it ended up greenish in the bottle, but the color goes away when you rub it on, and all you have left is the glitter! 

For lunch I served Turkeys in a Blanket, Peanut Butter Sandwiches cut into hearts, and Chicken Ranch Crackers.  Sweets came from Lilah's Deli & Bakery- yummy cupcakes and cakeballs!  I made sure to serve lunch before the manicures.

I designed all of the invitations, signs, water bottle wraps, cupcake wraps, cupcake toppers, and glitter bottle wraps.  These are all available in my etsy shop.   I printed them at FedEx Kinkos for about $0.53 per sheet!

The goody bags included things we would use at the party like a washcloth, stretchy headbands, ponytails and a hairbrush, as well as lotion, homemade soap, and lip gloss.

The girls had so much fun they can't wait for the next playdate!

Wordless Wednesday: August 3, 2011- Big Sister in a Sari

Life As A Mom: Big Sister Blogs

So Big Sister's summer project is her own blog.  I set up a private blog for her that is only viewable by family and close friends.  She learned about story writing and titles in First Grade, and I wanted to encourage her to continue, AND it gives me some quiet time in my day.

How it works:
1.  Topics- She can pick a topic from my topic cards (I turn them over so she can't see) or she can choose to write a story- either fiction or non-fiction.
2.  Five Sentence Minimum- She must write complete sentences with correct capitalization and punctuation.
3.  Spelling- She writes her blog quietly in her room while Baby Brother is napping, so her spelling is how she believes things are spelled.  She must try to spell on her own, sounding things out.
4.  Pictures- She helps find/create a picture that illustrates her topic.  She has even started telling me- "Mommy, take a picture, I am going to blog about this today!"
5.  Posting the blog- She writes her blog on paper, and then I type it for her, adding pictures where she wants them, but I DO NOT correct any misspellings, or incorrect punctuation.  This will become a virtual record for us of her writing as she grows.

Why it works:
She loves to share her life/stories with friends and family and reading their comments on her blog keeps her energized and motivated.

Sample Topics:
- What I Learned in First Grade
- My Best Friend
- My Favorite Food
- My Favorite Color
- My Favorite Book
- My Loose Tooth
- Our Vacation
- My Baby Brother

I pick simple topics so she can easily write five sentences.  She will often write many more sentences, and I always encourage her to write as much as she can.


What do you do to encourage your children to write?

Sneak Peek Saturday: Parties- Spa Playdate

Here's a little sneak peek at a Spa Playdate I hosted for Big Sister and her friends.  See the rest of the party when I post more pictures and all the details on Friday.

Life As A Mom: Teaching Big Sister to Swim

Prince Charming and I decided this is the summer for me to teach big sister to swim.  She goes to a "year 'round" school, so her summer started in July.  After a month of lessons she is doing very well.  However, I am NOT a swim instructor, I am NOT trained in CPR, but I am a pretty decent swimmer.  She improves a little more at each lesson, but I like to start from the beginning each time and remind her of the basics.  Our lessons usually last about an hour and a half.  I like to give her a little time to have fun at the end of her lesson, and since there is someone at the gym watching Baby Brother, it is a great time to have one-on-one with Big Sister. 

What We Do:
 1.  Kicks- I have her hold on to the side wall of the pool, and practice kicking- straight legs, no splashing- her feet should stay in the water as much as possible
2.  Arms- She can just barely stand in the shallow end, so she stands while we practice "scoops."  She makes scoops with her hands and reaches out as far as she can to scoop the water that is furthest away.
3.  Kickboard- We try to kick with a kickboard, but most of the time she falls off to one side or the other.  She wants to put it under her chest, but I want her to hold it out front because I don't want her to get used to having her arms close by, and eventually I want her to practice on the kick board with her face in the water.

 

4.  "Swimming"- We use a pool noodle to help her gain confidence while propelling herself forward with her arms and legs.  She can now swim across the shallow end of the pool easily without me.  She puts the pool noodle across her chest and under both arms.  It helps her keep afloat and we concentrate on her big scoops, and keeping her bottom up so she is kicking close to the top of the water.  I know she could swim without the pool noodle but she feels more secure with it, and I would rather her be more cautious in the water than not!

5.  Floating- We practice floating on her back, and she will float several seconds before she realizes I am not holding her anymore.  I keep one hand in the middle of her back, and once she is relaxed and secure I remove my hand while keeping her mind on what she is doing with each part of her body as she floats by herself. 

6.  Swimming on her back-  I like to call it "Chicken, T, Rocket."  Once she is floating I tell her to make a "T" with her arms and "Rocket" off as she pushes her hands down towards her legs.  To bring her arms back up with as little resistance to the water as possible she puts her hands towards her armpits like a "Chicken," and then back to the "T." So while she practices this, and remind her of where her hands are supposed to be with the visual clues of "Chicken, T, Rocket"

7.  Diving for rings-  She loves to go diving for her rings, and at first couldn't get enough energy to swim down for them, but can now swim several feet under water and grab the rings from the bottom of the pool.  We have six rings, so I usually drop one from my right hand as far as I can reach, one from my left hand as far as I can reach, and the rest somewhere in between.  She holds her breath and dives under and can usually pickup all of her rings at one time.  And yet she still doesn't want to swim without her pool noodle! 

Disclaimer:
Big Sister does NOT know how to swim proficiently.  I keep my eyes on her at all times and am never more than 2-3 feet away.  I am NOT a swimming teacher, and these may not be the "correct" techniques for teaching swimming- but it works for us. 

Recipe: Turkeys in a Blanket

Okay, so it's nothing new or special but Big Sister loves Turkeys in a Blanket.  I often forget about them, so I thought a quick blog might help me remember.

Big Sister was having her summertime weekly playdate with E., and made a special request for Turkeys in a Blanket.  Prince Charming even rant to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients- Turkey Hot Dogs and Refrigerated Crescent Rolls.

Super simple to make, I cut the dogs in half and rolled them up in the dough.  I used 4 hot dogs and two packs of crescent rolls (4 in each).  I used to put cheese in them (seal the ends if you do), but Big Sister has decided she doesn't like cheese so much.

Bake them according to the package directions and you are done.  I bake mine in the toaster oven.  I try not to use the full size oven unless I have to, especially now when it's 101 degrees outside!

Once they are baked and cooled they won't last long.  E. says, "I LOVE THEM!"  She wasn't a fan of the peaches though.  She's more of an apple or grapes kinda girl.  I will have to remember to pick up some fruit she will eat before next week.

What is a simple playdate lunch you like to make?

Wordless Wednesday: July 20th- Big Sister's Painted Face

Life As A Mom: Behavior Beads

A friend of mine shared this concept with me, and with a bit of tweaking it has worked for Big Sister since she was 3 (she'll be 7 in September).

We call them Behavior Beads- I used heart-shaped Pony Beads because they were different, and she didn't already have them.  I found a silicone necklace/bracelet I could string them on at Hobby Lobby, but you can also buy them on Amazon. They are called Stretch Magic Silkies.  They are perfect because they are easy for kids to open, and the bead I used didn't slide off the other end.

How It Works:
1.  She gets a set number of beads to start the week- 5 works for us (we used more when she was younger- you may need more or less).
2.  She must have at least one bead at the end of the week to earn her reward.
3.  She loses a bead for each offensive behavior- whining, talking back, lying, etc.  Certain behaviors usually only need a simple reminder to change quickly- "Do you want to lose a bead?"  She must remove the necklace and give us a bead when we ask for one.  I explain to her why she has lost it, and what is better behavior next time.
4.  She loses a second bead if she whines, cries, or complains when we ask for a bead.
5.  She can earn a bead for exemplary behavior- in the grocery store, at our bakery, or with Baby Brother.  I don't do it every time, but I like to let her know that I have appreciated the good behavior, and only if she has really tried to be good but had one bad day and lost several beads.
6.  At the end of the week her reward is something that is important to her- a playdate with a friend, a date with Daddy, a trip to the park, etc.  These are things that are important to HER and in our budget!

Why It Works:
The beads stay on a necklace/bracelet so she can wear them no matter where she is.  Losing a bead is an immediate consequence.  And since she isn't crying (she will lose another bead if she is), we are able to explain to her why she has lost the bead.  We can do this at the grocery store, at work, at home, in the car, anywhere!  When we tried stickers, stars, happy faces, etc the method stayed at home, and it was tears and begging at night when she didn't get her star, sticker, or happy face.  I LOVE the "take two" rule- it avoids the meltdown.  And because she can see how many beads she has left, she can predict whether or not she will get her reward on Saturday.

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