Not enough hours in a day

I know I'm not the only one who thinks this. For some it might be quite the opposite, but i feel, depending on what you do, it's either categorized in 2 boxes. 1.) your doing the same few things you do everyday that are long and time consuming, or box 2.) your day is filled with a bunch of smaller tasks that equal out to be long and time consuming.
Problem? These things are usually necessary for your every day life.
Other problem? There are just not enough hrs in a day!

A working parent's day might look something like this,
Wake up & get kids off to school
Rush to work
Stay at work from 8am-4pm
Pick up children from school/daycare
Go home start dinner
Make sure home works is done
Bathe children & put them to bed at 7:30pm
Stay up and prepare everything for next day

OR

A stay at home parent's day might look like this,
Wake up to children who have already been up!
Go start coffee as your children flock to your legs for food, like pigeons in a McDonalds parking lot
(phone rings...immediate chaos ensues)
Feed children ( sprinkle Cheerios on floor) LOL
Remove diaper from fluffy butt
Attempt to make cup of coffee
Leave coffee to attend to child who has pee'd the Nile river
Remove remote from the hands of wrestling children, because the hot debate is if we're going to watch the weather channel (Evelyn) or PBS ( Omri)
(phone rings...immediate chaos ensues)
Nurse youngest child who has just injured herself using the oven door as a hang gliding device
Rangel up children to wash and dress in attempts to get them to the park/ or library
Come home to prepare lunch
Pray that ALL children take a nap
Try and relax while 2 children sleep and one runs the house
(phone rings...immediate chaos ensues)
Look at the clock and scream "IT'S ONLY 1:30!"
Check email ?
Kids wake, have a snack read 4 out of the 15 library books
Take pictures of them bouncing off walls
Watch naked child walk past me with one red glove and a slice of raisin bread
Chat on bed with 6 yr old about butterflies
Daddy comes home 3pm
Run to bedroom with iPad chocolates
12 mn later..........smallest child pushed bedroom door open and crawls on bed
Do a load of diaper laundry
Play tea party dr.s office in learning room
Tear up kitchen table with popsicle sticks and water colors
Eat dinner at 7ish ( yeah I know)
2out of 3 kids in bed by 9
Oooh, remember to put laundry in drier
Live the nightlife with Little one till 10 ish.....then head to bed
My last glance at the clock says 1:34 am

NOTE:
(Since I've come from the working world with child and am now a SAHM with children these are from my experiences)

Now I know both these look 3 chocolates short of desirable, but they share similar qualities. They both lack the obvious, housekeeping duties, and 'extras', But I pulled from both, what were necessity.
I think we can all agree to some extent, that after we do such 'duties' we could use an extra 4 to 8hrs a day to complete the other needed tasks in our lives, I.e washing floors, doing laundry, keeping up with dishes, running to the post office, having the time to catch up with phone calls / emails, time for yourself and so on.

There just aren't enough hrs in a day

And Until there are a few extra hrs added, I'm going to continue to put what i feel are important first. Reading, playing, laughing, eating, teaching, hugging, screaming, being creative and taking it slow.
Because my dishes will be just as I left them, but my children won't keep.

And here's a little ditty I mustered up.........

I don't do it because it's easy, I do it because it's worth it!

'My house is spotless', is a lie
My sticky floors make great designs
Clean kitchen table adorned with flowers...er...
My Dirty dishes are stacked like towers
I wish i had time for things of this sort....
But laundry piles make great forts
No t.v room located in basement
My children make for great entertainment
Our laughter is far greater than our cries
If i state, 'I'm a perfect mother' I'd be telling you lies
Join us if you will, or leave us alone
While we demonstrate what it's like to make a house a home :)

How to turn a muslin into a sling

This muslin blanket is an Aden+Anais. If you know about this type of breathable, over size, light weight blanket, you will know it serves as many purposes. It can drape over carseats and strollers as a shade, moms use them as burp rags, they are also what is deemed to be a 'safe' blanket, in bed with babies. As a mom of 3 I have recently discovered that it can also be used as a sling when you're in a pinch. Here's how......


Open muslin completely and bring the right bottom corner to the left top corner.


Taking both ends to that newly made left corner...


And fold it in toward center.



Gather you top and bottom ends and make a knot. ( knot will be tighter depending on size of baby)


When held should look like a mini pouch ;)



:)


Place makeshift sling on, and go find child!


Stuff baby in and tighten or loosen knot as desired.

A year of nursing

Since the day I left my nest and snuggled against my home....



Laying on mums chest, I knew I wasn't alone...


Through, lip tie and tongue tie, high palate and reflux



I would nurse my way through because I knew it was best for us...





Through my first cold.....




And snuggles with my cow.



Through lazy afternoons, I would demand milk now!



dribbling away milk, on family trips.....



And slight confusion on daddy's lips.....



Through face time while mommy chats......



And evening nursing acrobats......




I can't believe the time is here! I have already been nursing just one year!

***

I’m celebrating World Breastfeeding Week with Natural Parents Network!

You can, too — link up your breastfeeding posts from August 1-7 in the linky below, and enjoy reading, commenting on, and sharing the posts collected here and on Natural Parents Network.

(Visit NPN for the code to place on your blog.)

Summer times - a - simmering

With the weather reaching the all time highs ( 80's +) it's time to hit the beach!
I tend to expire anytime after 73 degrees and have taken one for the team by making fun of 3 pitchforks weather. Hate extreme heat. I hate salt water. But by golly I'm going to make something out of this summer instead of treating the hot days like they are the rainy days, staying indoors and dancing around.



So off we go, enjoying the sand between our toes, with the fearless trio.

Being mom for a day : challenge accepted by 6 yr old.

So you've survived challenge "mom", still think its fun?

Earlier in the morning hours

EVELYN : " being a mom must be fun........."
ME : " oh, that sounds like your up for the challenge! "
EVELYN : " I don't know why you don't like dishes, you get to play in the bubbles"
ME : " why don't we switch places for the day, you can be the mom"
EVELYN : " challenge accepted"

So for a day Evelyn was in charge ( 9:30 am - 2 pm) I was in my glories, doing what a kid should be doing. And she......well....let me show you.




We started with diaper laundry. She was to load washer and set on rinse and spin, while she waited, she began doing dishes....


Yup! Dishes with a side of "annoyance" , and before she knew it the washer had stopped and she put the " wash" cycle on and finished off dishes. A smell filled the air and she had her first diaper to change :) and boy was it stinky!




HAHAHAHA yes! She though it was going to be easy!



But Luna proved her wrong!



But there was no time for loligagin because it was already time for lunch..



Omri wanted ham and cheese, so she was to prepare that for her feisty toddler. She also put Omri down for a nap......and....went back to washer to get her laundry out and to the drier.....



Aaaaaah yes! Oh but there's more! Loving the land of laundry, she started her second load and had to remove them from the drier .....



And fold!



She looked like it was enjoyable till I announced I ( being the child) was in charge of the t.v MMWAHAHAHAHH. OH and while your at it, mind as well vacuum up the cereal.



And proceed out doors to check the mail.



' children' don't drink coffee, but I needed some, soooo....



But even moms get breaks, so she relaxed on the sofa for a bit, but not too long before the phone rang and proper phone etiquette peered through, I couldn't help but to giggle.



Around 2 pm, pa arrived home and she fixed up his lunch also ;)




Her day shift was over ( child labor laws) and she was happy she was able to do soo much, sad thing is I think she liked it!

Life with littles : questions you're not sure you want the answers to

Sure little girls are cute, soft spoken, gentle beings, made from sugar and spice and everything nice, but don't let my girls fool you.
If you could bottle fizz, salt, fluff and sour stuff in a bottle rapped in a pink bow, there you would have my girls. Nurturing with a side of spitfire and some times tempers and attitudes hotter than a Cajun pepper patch. In my short 'career' of having children, I find myself hollering out the following. So please read and feel free to laugh aloud, where you are ever so gently reminded, your a mother of littles.

Questions your not sure you want the answers to....


How did the remote get into the kitchen sink?
Where did this vomit come from?
What is that smell coming from your room?
Why is there silverware in my trash?
Who's crying now?
Why is there half a worm on my kitchen table?
What is that goop on MY toothbrush ?
Is that chocolate on you hands?
Why are there teeth marks in my soap?
How did you know toilet water tastes ' dee-rish-us' ?
Why is there chewed up meat behind my microwave?
Where are the limbs to your doll?
Did you honestly think that was a good idea?
Why are you running from MY bedroom naked
Where is your sister?
Where are all your panties?
You stuck your finger where ?

This is just to name a few.

What have you found yourself asking? And do you really want the answer?

Making time

As busy as our lives tend to be, in the hustle and bustle of life, the sunny days filled with laughter and play, the days filled with crushed Cheerios on the carpet and crying children, running errands on borrowed time and when ice cream is the dinner of choice........I find my self snapping pictures to capture all of the things that will one day escape our memory. And as much as I can cry and complain of exhaustion and the madness, I will look back and smile.