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parenting tips and tricks

School Year Organization: 10 Things I’m Doing Now to Keep Myself Sane Later

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Yesterday, I was lamenting about my internal struggle about how this time of year seems to be quite difficult for me as there is so much to do and not do all at the same time. In an effort to make the beginning of the year go smoothly, I organized some parts of the house over the summer so that we can spend the last bit of summer relaxing.

Here are ten things I did while the kids were home to get ready for back to school.

1.) Got Rid of Old Clothes: There is no sense cluttering up the kids drawers with clothes that are too small or clothes that have tears or stains from summer. I typically don’t do any “back to school” clothes shopping until the weather starts to change a bit (and I can hit up sales) as they have plenty of clothes to get them through those first few warms weeks of school. This way it is easier for them to find what they want to wear, and there is room for new clothes.

2.) Organized High Traffic Areas: The craft table, desks, and front hall closet got an overhaul. These are areas that typically see a lot of traffic during the school year. The kids tend to drop school bags, shin guards, ballet shoes, homework, and everything else in these places. I tried to make sure that everything has a place so that when we are in a hurry, we can find everything in a jiffy.

3.) Found a Place for All the Papers: So much for the digital age! Since my kids have started school, I cannot believe the amount of paper they come home with every day. Try as I might to get rid of a little bit every day, there are still some papers that I have to hold onto. I found a way to organize everything perfectly, while still allowing me to save time.

 

4.) Got the Kitchen Ready: I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like my kitchen get a break in the summer, and when school starts I am back to cooking, baking, fixing meals multiple times a day. Since I was cooking less this summer, the kids helped me do a little kitchen organization.

5.) Went Through the Toys: Once the school year starts, our family doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room in our schedule. So, I try and take an afternoon to talk toys with the kids and talk about what they don’t play with anymore and what can be donated. This helps make room for upcoming birthdays and holidays too.

6.) School Supplies for Home: When I do decide to go school supply shopping (I’m the worst), not only do I try and purchase school supplies for school, but I also try and purchase a few extra of everything for home. This helps especially for homework or craft projects at home, and everything is cheaper and can be bought in bulk this time of year.

7.) Got Everyone Back on Schedule: Over the summer we are all going to bed a little later and sleeping a little later. The last part of summer, I am slowly but surely trying to get my kids to bed a little earlier and to wake up a little earlier too. I don’t want to their teachers to experience how cranky they can be when they are sleep deprived that first day of school. We have been doing this in about 20 minute increments, little by little. Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.

 

8.) Got Myself on Schedule: This school year, I will have pockets of time where I will be alone, so I want to be able to fill those with productive things so that when the kids are home I am able to make time for them.

9.) Bought a Surprise: I bought each of the kids a special surprise for their first day of school. It is nothing expensive or lavish, but it is just a little token to let them know we are thinking of them that day. These are things I keep my eye out for over the summer and buy when I see them. This year, I got them each a book about the grade they are going into this year.

 

10.) Pack in the Fun: I scheduled a ton of playdates, events and fun for the last few weeks of summer as I could so we can spend time playing and enjoying the nice weather and each other.

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10 Little Things that Help This Mom with Preschoolers

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When I go to classes at Second City, there are times when I know I am the only person there with a Mom purse filled to the gills with more things for the kids than myself, however, I also know that there are just some things that make life a bit easier living in a house full of preschoolers.

Here is my list of TOP TEN little things that help me survive parenting three little ones.
1. Spill Proof Cups and Water Bottles: A few months ago my son was mortified that I called his water bottle a “sippy cup” as in, “Mom, c’mon, I’m not a baby anymore. It is spill proof!” Apparently, my little one likes to exert independence when it comes to hydration. However, let’s face it, I know grown adults who spill (cough cough me), so we always have spill proof cups and water bottles on hand for both the kids and adults in the house. 

Look at these cute cups from Target!

 

2. Large Inexpensive Purse or Tote: We are no longer in need of a diaper bag! WOOHOO! However, there are a few things that we need to keep on hand at all times such as water bottles, medications, and some things to keep the kids occupied. Because of this, I have had to upgrade the size of my purse a bit to accommodate what we need while we are out. Instead of investing a lot of money in a fancy purse or tote (sigh, someday I will have a Kate Spade), I found an inexpensive and stylish large bag that I don’t mind carrying around. Since this is a bag that houses sticky medicines and often times snacks and water bottles, I won’t be heartbroken if there happens to be a spill. 

No one will know its from Target or filled with markers and juice boxes .

 

3. Keyboard Protectors: Life with little ones can be sticky. Literally. Between the jelly, play doh, and new found love of glue, kids just have sticky fingers. I found these keyboard protectors for my laptop, and I love them. Now, when someone climbs on my lap to play, I’m not so worried about jelly on my keys. 

These are a lot cheaper than replacing a laptop.

 

4. Easy to Make Trail Mix: (or Goldfish Crackers) Snacks at home or away are necessary for growing preschoolers. For this Trail Mix, I mix together Quaker Oatmeal Squares, Craisins, Raisins, Pretzels, and chocolate chips for a little treat to tide the little ones over until our next meal. Also, when this runs out, Goldfish crackers work just as well.
5. Board Games and Decks of Cards: My kids love playing games. It has become one of our favorite family activities. Games are educational, fun, and are an awesome way to foster family time. We keep both regular and travel size games on hand. 

Our current favorite GUESS WHO?

 

6. Mesh Laundry Bags: These have become a life saver. While my little ones are growing by leaps and bounds every day, their socks are still so teeny tiny and often get caught in the washer. Also, these little bags help keep pairs together. 

These would also be a cheap solution to storing bath toys.

 

7. Library Card: Most people have a Library Card. However, with all kinds of media so readily at our fingertips, many do not keep their Library Cards up to day. Libraries have amazing toddler and preschool programs, story times, crafts, sing-alongs, and all kinds of activities to keep my little ones happy. The programs are free as long as I tote my Library Card. 

 

8. Crayola Color Wonder Markers and Paper: My kids love to color and draw, but again, sometimes the mess is more than I can handle. Color Wonder Markers will only color on Color Wonder Paper. I cannot tell you how many messes these avoid! 

Color Wonder? More like Color Miracle!
9. Good Concealer: Having preschoolers is a whole different kind of exhaustion! My kids sleep through the night and gone are the days of middle of the night feedings and diaper changes, but keeping up with these little ones and making sure they aren’t getting into trouble has me sometimes looking a little worse for wear. With a little dab of some consealer under my eyes, I look fresh as a daisy.
My favorite concealer!
10. Anytime TV: Whether it be Netflix, a DVR, and Apple TV, or an old fashioned VCR, having your kids favorite shows accessible is perfect for those moments when it is time for a show, but their favorite show isn’t on at the moment. Sometimes, you just need 30 minutes to get dinner on the table, fold a load of laundry, or hide in the closet and eat a piece of dark chocolate. 

Apple TV

 

What are your go to items for surviving life with toddlers and preschoolers?





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Baby Tips: Homemade Babyfood

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When my kids were babies, I made home made baby food. I’m sure there are moms out there that want to roll their eyes, but honestly, it wasn’t that difficult.

There were a few reasons that prompted the whole thing, such as I like to save money, I like to cook, I like to know what my kids are eating, and we were already starting to see some food allergies developing in the kids.

While I do realize this is not the choice for everyone, I was happy that I did it, and I feel like my kids got to try some variety of food that they would not have otherwise gotten to taste until they were much older.

 

Here are some tips I learned along the way:

– Baby feeding is typically a hot topic, and pediatricians are sometimes changing their minds on when to start feeding purees and also, what types of with which to start. Also, every child is different, so please talk to your pediatrician before starting any type of pureed food.

– There are baby food cook books and awesome resources. Some books I read were: Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel and Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron.

– The best online resource I have found for homemade baby food and recipes is Wholesome Baby Food. It is like a one stop shop for all you need to know.

– The supplies I had on hand in addition to a regularly stocked kitchen were a food processor, a fine strainer, and ice cube trays with covers.

 

– When I cooked, I would make huge amounts, freeze it, and then store the cubes in freezer bags. I would only actually have to cook about once a month.

– Make sure you know all the rules regarding safe handling instructions for food. You can get a lot of information regarding food prep and storage from Wholesome Baby Food or Super Baby Food.

– There are several ways to cook baby foods, but certain methods help food retain their nutrients better. For example baking, steaming or boiling all have different advantages.

 

– The only thing I did not make myself were the cereals. I thought they would be too difficult to make, as well as there are several healthy and inexpensive brands. I bought the Earth’s Best brand.

If this is something you decide to do, I hope these tips are helpful. Happy Cooking!

P.S. Take a walk down memory lane with me today over at South of I-80. I’m talking my two favorite pizza places.

Sweet Dreams: Baby Sleep

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I recently got an email asking me questions about baby sleep, and I thought it would make a good post for any readers that have young ones. Again, I am in no way a sleep expert, but this is what worked for us.

 

When our oldest was born, we thought we had it covered. After 24 hours of being at home with our newborn, we realized we really did not have a clue about anything. I mean a person can dream about what parenthood is going to be like, she can read about it, and do all the babysitting of her friends kids she wants, but it is wildly different than anything you could imagine. Both the good and the bad.

With the help of my sister, sister-in-law, pediatrician, mom friends, a few books, and some good old fashioned motherly instinct, we were able to have kids that slept in their own beds through the night (and still do).

 

First let’s talk books:

On Becoming Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam – This book is pretty hardcore with sleep training. It basically sticks to a pretty strict “cry it out” mentality. While we did like the idea of a self soothing, child the main thing we learned from this book was the beauty of routine. We learned that the order of events in the life of a baby is pretty important, and it helps to establish comfort for a baby. Routine (not schedule) with eating, bathing, play time etc, can really help establish a sleep routine as well.

The Sleep Lady’s Good Night Sleep Tight by Kim West – This woman is the sleep whisperer. She uses gentle very effective methods for getting a baby to sleep at night. Her approach also keeps in mind that babies go through growth spurts, developmental changes, and other things that will affect a baby’s sleep and offers coping with these scenarios. It is worth the read and also gives some perspective to how much a baby is going through developmentally. It also explains baby’s sleep needs and the importance of napping routines to help with night time sleep.
The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp – This book (or DVD) and the methods proposed were extremely helpful. The key thing that we took away from this book was white noise. All three of our kids loved it, and Caroline still loves her white noise CD. For whatever reason, this totally worked for our kids. The day we don’t have white noise in our house, I am wondering if I will be able to sleep without it. (After 5 years of having it, my guess is not). 

 

Daily Routine (times were never set in stone… ever).
7:30 a.m. – Baby wakes, change diaper, nurse or bottle feed
8:00 a.m. – Get dressed, eat purees (if you have started that)
8:45 a.m. – Play time, stories
9:30 a.m. – A little bit of nurse or bottle. Morning Nap
11:30 a.m. – Wake up, change diaper, play time
12:15 p.m. – Eat purees, clean up
12:45 p.m. – Stories, nurse or bottle, afternoon nap
3:00  p.m. – Wake up, change diaper, nurse or bottle snack
3:30 p.m. – Play time, stories, walk or play outside
5:00 p.m. – Dinner purees (again if you are there), clean up, play with Dad
6:30 p.m. – Begin baths, jammies, dim lights, stories, nurse or bottle
7:30 p.m. – Bed

Tips:
– Swaddle! Swaddle! Swaddle! If your baby is less than 12 weeks old or cannot roll over on their own yet. Make the investment and get a Miracle Blanket. Young babies love it!
– Last Feeding: As you can see from the above routine, I pretty much would nurse or give my kids a bottle before nap/bed as part of the routine. When they stopped nursing or bottle feeding they would get a small sippy of milk. Here’s the deal, some people are really against nursing or bottle feeding before bed, but it really worked for us, and helps calm everyone down. We would try and coincide this time with a story as part of the bedtime routine. Also, babies love the close contact or snuggle time. If you’re at your wits end, give it a whirl, and see how it goes. If your child is done with bottle and nursing try a sippy cup of water while reading a story or snuggling.
– Darkness: When it was time for naps/bed, the shades would get closed, The darkness really helps as it helps release melatonin for easy sleep.
– Lovies: All three of my kids have lovies which we introduced around the age of 4-6 months old. Kids will start attaching to something around this age as part of their development. It helps them to sooth themselves and gives comfort. When they were really little I would make sure we had it for stories and snuggle time. I know this sounds weird, but kids are associate smell with comfort too. So, if you want to carry their lovie with you for a little while, the lovie will smell like mom’s shampoo, perfume, or dad’s after shave and kind of be a comfort to the baby.
– Soothies: My kids were all different. Russell didn’t like to suck anything, George had a paci til about 18 mos old (just for sleeping and he gave it up on his own) and Coco sucks her thumb. There are a lot of people who are against this type of soothing, but my theory is: if it makes them happy and they sleep through the night then it cannot be too bad of a thing. Also, no one will go to college (or Kindegarten for that matter) sucking their thumb.
– Getting Up: If we had a crabby baby in the middle of the night, we tried not to establish a “let’s get up at 2 a.m. every night for a snack” routine. Try everything you can just to make sure you’ve explored all your options: changed diaper, checked for fever, give some snuggles, read another story, make sure he/she isn’t too hot or too cold. However, if you have tried everything, kids go through growth spurts, and he/she really may be hungry, and you may have to nurse or give a small bottle or sippy cup of water.

Good Luck and Hopefully Sweet Dreams!

Finding My Stride: Establishing Routines

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Today is the second week in the Mom of 6 Organize My Life Boot Camp. This week’s topic is establishing routines.

I am a creature of habit. I love routine. Repetition. Predictability. Don’t get me wrong, I love the spontaneous outing or change up to the every day norm, but I feel that change ups come much easier when there is some sort of normalcy.

You know I’m a dork already so I have no fear sharing this with you, but even when I was unemployed after college, I made up routines for myself to keep my sanity. Wake up, eat breakfast, go for a run, job search and set up interviews, eat lunch, more job searching, nap, even more job searching, dinner, IM friends, watch nightly sitcoms, Golden Girls reruns, read, bed. I felt that even in a time of no schedule and really nowhere to be, I had something to do.

Now that I am a Mom of three all born in a span of 33 months, I have figured out how to establish routine that works for our family. That my kids find helpful. That Brian helped to establish. That even allows me to still enjoy my sitcoms.

I just want everyone to know that in our house the schedule is loose. The time frame is not set in stone, however, the routine does not waiver. Schedules are good, they are helpful, but sometimes they are unrealistic and constrictive to follow. I feel that it is unrealistic for anyone to believe that they can get any kid to bed at 8:00 p.m. on the dot every single night. I think it is unrealistic to assume that you won’t get caught in a traffic jam, soccer practice will run late, or the check out at the supermarket will be packed. I mean, you might even burn dinner while on the phone, supervising kids and Play-Doh and folding laundry and might have to find a plan B for dinner before the husband gets home (true story). Time is sometimes unreliable. The routine, however, helps to give everyone some comfort.

For example, my kids don’t go to bed at the EXACT same time every night, but we do the same thing before bed every night, and end up in bed between 7:45 and 8:30 p.m. consistently.

All the routines in our house are this way. It started when they were babies. Nurse, play, change diaper, sleep. Nurse, play, change diaper, sleep. Then, as they would grow things would evolve. Naps got further apart. Play time got longer. Nursing turned into table food.

Right now, we have a few standard routines that keep us on task, and allow us to have flexibility when we need/want it.

So here is a little day in the life…

Morning
Alarm Goes off at 4:30, I hit snooze button and debate about working out and try to make a decision before next alarm goes off at 4:40. If I decide to work out, I hit the gym and shower and am back in time to take a power nap. Then 6:30 alarm goes off, and Brian gets up, showers, and starts getting ready for work. Kids hear Brian and proceed to wake me up. I get them something to drink, and flip on a show for them while I get breakfast ready. Kids and I eat, then head upstairs, get dressed, brush teeth, get shoes, glasses, socks, coats. Everyone heads out the door. Brian to work. Boys to school. Caroline and I to Mom and Me activities.

 

Afternoon
Coco and I pick up the boys, and since it is kind of a long commute, I try to pack a snack and something to drink for the way home. When we walk in the door, everyone removes shoes, empty and hang up back packs, and wash hands. I make lunch sometimes with a little help from the kids. We all eat together and talk about school. While they have a little down time, I go through school papers and mail and sort it out and look to see if there is homework that needs to be done after naps. Between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. everyone (sometimes Mom too) takes a nap. My oldest really only needs a nap about 3 or 4 days a week, but he does have at least an hour of quiet time which includes looking at books while resting. This is my time that I do laundry, do some cleaning, catch up on a project, or blog. When everyone wakes up from naps between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., I usually have a little snuggle time with everyone (while I still can) then, we grab a snack. Then it is homework time, (if there is any), play outside time, or park district activity time. Then dinner prep begins.

 

Evening
Kids will play independently, watch a show, or help me make dinner. Brian is usually walking in the door at this time, and changes clothes and will do a few things around the house like switch up laundry. Dinner is on the table between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Brian and I will sometimes clean up the kitchen together and do baths together or we will divide and conquer. Then it is finish up playing, pick up some toys, and pack backpacks. Next, we pick out clothes for the next day (sometimes this is when I pack my gym bag). Then, it is baths, jammies, brush teeth, find lovies, story time, prayers, kisses, and bed. Brian and I then collapse on the couch, do some work, blog, and watch sitcoms and try to be in bed no later than 11:00 p.m.

 

Then we start again.

Some notes:
– Times are not set in stone. These aren’t schedules, these are routines.
– My kids are amazing when we travel or do anything a little different, because they always have the comfort of the routine. No matter where we are we always have something to drink when we wake up. No matter where we are, we always wash hands before lunch. No matter where we are, we always have lovies and storytime before bed.
– Routines evolve as the kids grow.
– When someone is “not having” the routine, I let the kids make some decisions. Such as what kind of fruit we will have with breakfast. I will let someone pick what story we are reading at bedtime. Sometimes I will give special jobs like prayer leader, table clearer, or have them put toothpaste on everyones’ toothbrushes. Then, I give lots of praise. I have found my kids are much more cooperative when they feel they are part of the decision making and helping.
– Sometimes, we don’t follow everything perfect. We make mistakes. Sometimes, Brian and I leave the kitchen mess to play tag in the backyard instead. Sometimes, we skip baths to play Hi-Ho Cheerio. Sometimes, we put on Dolphin Tale and eat finger foods in front of the TV. Sometimes, everyone needs a break from the day to day, but I know that even though we have skipped a step or switched it up, the overall important parts of the routine have stayed the same.
– This is what works for US. I’m not saying that OUR routines will work for everyone, but I do advise having some sort of routine.