Sunday, October 31, 2010

Wanted: Morning Motivation

I am not a morning person. Even as a little kid I despised mornings and longed for late nights. I used to stay up late to watch "All in the Family" after the news from the hallway (so my parents wouldn't see me still up).

In high school, I would only give myself enough time to brush my teeth before I headed out the door to catch the city bus in whatever clothes I found on the floor. I would get up at 7:55 to make it there by the 8:10 bell. Often times I was late so I just decided to skip and I would stay home and sleep. At this point All in the Family re-runs were cancelled and I instead watched Patrick Stewart in "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Loved that show, but it didn't come on until 12:35am (this was before the DVR craze).

I still struggle with mornings. As the days get colder, it gets harder to convince myself to crawl out of my nice warm covers into shocking frigidness that is "morning". I catch myself barganing in my head as to what activities I can skip in order to sleep more and still get out of the house on time (when we have to be somewhere, like today, Church).

"If I don't eat breakfast, I can reset the alarm for 15 minutes later."

"The kids can eat cold cereal and milk in the car. After all, we'll be driving for an hour and a half."

"A ponytail will do. Skipping the shower buys me another 1/2 hour in bed."

Seriously. I do this.

Not to say that there aren't plently more mornings where I give in, grudgingly, and just Get Up. Now that I have very active toddlers it's kind of hard *NOT* to get up. My main motivation is, "Why is it so quiet out there?" That's never good. ;)

I also fight the urge at night to get up out of bed once the kids are asleep and spend a few night-owl hours to myself, knitting or reading or going online. (I have learned that if I want to even *think* about getting up in the morning, I better just stay put and go to sleep.)

So I pose a question for all you "Morning People" - How do you do it? Why do you do it?

Or maybe better yet, I should pose these questions to the other Non-Morning People (especially the non-morning moms)?? How do you do it? What motivates you to fight against your natural desire to sleep-in? How do you combat the promise of a warm comforter over the reality of cool morning air against you exposed skin?

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Something Old, Something New

I want to try something "new", although really it's not new.

I am going to *try* to write something daily or every other day.

I am going to stop feeling like I have to be witty or funny or have some deep meaning behind a post just to put it up.

I am going to use my phone to post, if I must, to make this happen. It is a lot more work getting out the laptop and hooking it all up. I use that as an excuse to not post pretty often.

I may post random, useless things. I may post something that touches something in my heart or yours. I may simply be annoying.

But dang it - I like to write. It is good to put something, well not "on paper", but out there. It feels good to me. And I like reading other blogs that have a post everyday (or every other) even when they are not "super deep" every post.

I am giving myself permission to not worry about what anyone else thinks, especially ME, about my writing. I also will not worry about short posts or long posts or not having a picture or having no access to pictures (like on this phone!) To post, or bad formatting or bad spelling.

Whew. That feels better already.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Should This Bother Us?

I have no intention of getting rid of my microwave *any* time soon. It is a necessity item in our house with a new baby.

That said.....

I do wonder about said "appliance". Obviously, food can be heated up on the stove, in the oven, or even in a crockpot.

Let's say I were to heat up something in the oven. I take it out. I turn the oven off. If I put my hand in the oven right away I would feel heat, possibly burn myself if I touched any part of it.

If I heat something up in the microwave, the food comes out hot but the space in the microwave is cold.

That makes me wonder exactly what the heck is going on in there???!

I know, I know....it has to do with some kind of waves-type-thing radiating or causing molecules to move around and heat up or whatever (I know it has to be a fat, water, or protien molecule to react, that's why paper doesn't "burn" or anything in there).

But when you think too hard about it - it's really, really weird. W-E-I-R-D.

Monday, October 25, 2010

By Myself

Today is the day my husband returns to work (or shall I say "returned" as he has been there since 6am?).

I am alone, with the kiddos.

I had big plans and expectations for myself today. I thought, by the sheer power of my awesomeness, our day would look something like this:

5:30am - Mom wakes up and packs Dad's lunch while he finishes dressing. Mom writes sexy love note and puts it in Dad's lunch for him to find later.

5:45am - Dad and Mom make out for a few minutes before he leaves while kids sleep peacefully in bed.

5:55am - Dad leaves for work and Mom joins kids in slumberland.

8:00am - Baby wakes up to nurse. Once satisfied, other children wake up.

8:30am - Diapers changed all around. Everyone dressed and ready to eat. Brealfast time.

9:00am - Dishes done. Laundry started. Blues Clues in and homeschool started.

9:00am to 11:00am - Nurse baby and fold laundry while toddlers play to learn and Mom "teaches" 10 year old his schoolwork. 10 year old is cooperative and loves to learn.

11:00am - kids go outside to play while mom prepares lunch and nurses/change baby.

12:00pm - Lunch, healthy with 1 protien, 2 fruits/veggies, 1 carb and milk or juice (for non-milk drinkers or toddlers who love OJ)

12:30pm clean up and diaper changes

1:00pm - Toddler nap time. "Big girl" 4 year old gets to stay up and color while 2 year old naps. Baby naps peacefully at same time while Mom finishes folding laundry and catches up on her blog. Then mom knits leisurely while 10 year old cheerfully completes schoolwork.

Sounds great! Right?

Except it went like this:

5:30am - Mom wakes up to Dad trying to find a pair of socks and 2 year old's feet in her face. Mom goes to bathroom and comes back to bed to nurse baby.

5:45am - Dad kisses all the kids on the forehead and then Mom's forehead before he leaves for work.

5:50am - 6:15am - Mom tries to fall back asleep but is pestered by the idea that the baby is going to wake up again as soon as she falls asleep.

7:30am - 2 year old wakes up. Says "Where's Daddy?" and crawls out of bed and runs from room, presumably to look for said "Daddy."

7:35ish - 2 year old slips ice cold hands under mom's arm that is holding baby and says "Up." Mom pulls toddler into bed and pulls blankets up.

9:00am - Baby wakes up to nurse. Mom realizes it's freakin' 9am (!) And looks around for other kids who have been up by 8 everyday for a week. Two toddlers are laying next to her. Whew.

9:15am - Get toddler #1 a cup of OJ. Toddler #2 a glass of milk. Poor dry cheerios into a paper bowl and place on toddler table. Yell downstairs for 10 year old to wake up. Sit down to nurse baby again.

9:45am - Realize you haven't changed diapers yet. Crap.

10:00am - Clean diapers and clothes for little ones. Baby sleeping for a few minutes. Get dishes done. Yell at 10 year old to feed dog amd flip laundry. Promptly facebook from your phone that it will be a good day.

10-12 - evaluate the chaos around you and be humbled that everyone ate today. Crap - except you.

12:00pm - Tell boy to start lunch. You can't because the baby won't stop crying. Tell him to put away schoolwork b/c he must learn to obey (he hasn't beeb all morning) before we can jump back into school.

1:30 - Thank God for Mac&Cheese, fishsticks, and chicken nuggets.

2:00pm - Start to lose it as you realize you just need a nap. Change baby diaper while 10 year old changes 2 year old. Tell 10 year old to watch a movie with 4 year old while you try to get 2 year old and baby to sleep at the same time, by yourself! Ah!

2:05pm - 2 year old is banging head on locked door to your room (he's locked IN with you) while you nurse baby and pray everyone just falls asleep.

That's more like it!!

How is your day?

:)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Still Kickin'

It seems like the longer you go without blogging, the harder it is to jump back in.

Each day I probably have 2-3 post ideas swimming around in my head, some of them even get fully thought out word for word. I want to blog often, but the needs of those around me seems to increase exponentially once the computer is turned on.

There is no shortage of incidences that can warrant a post of their own happening around here. Life with 3 kids under the age of 4 and one adolescent 10 year old boy is kickin' my butt.

~My baby girl is soooo big! When my midwife came to weigh her at 2 weeks old (when the medical community wants babies up to their birth weight) she was 10 lb 2 oz - almost 2 lbs bigger than birth!! She is now about 11 lbs at 4 weeks.

~The size "small" longies that I knit no longer fit. Mediums fit ok over the cloth diapers or on their own, but I need to knit some new longies. I am leaning towards larges. Next baby (if that happens) I will just start with mediums.

~So of course I ordered new yarn! Mmmmmmalabrigo! I love Malabrigo. I got one skien each of "Whales Road" and "Velvet Grapes" and 2 skiens of "Little Lovely". I ordered it on Monday and it came today. Fast shipping!! I will take some pretty picks soon (if I can) Whales Road is just as beautiful and glorious as I thought it would be!! I am totally knitting a sweater for myself sometime in that colorway. Little Lovely is something I always thought looked ugly in pictures. In person it is gorgeous.

~i have also been knitting a hat for my little baby, my boys sweaters, and rethinking my LOTR socks.

~My baby cries. A lot. This is not something I have experienced before. I do everything I can think of, and she still cries. It's kind of hard. But I love her. And I just keep cuddling her, holding her, changing her, nursing her, wearing her, sleeping with her, and kissing her.

~i typed this up in the car (not driving, just riding) on my blackberry. Excuse typos and weird spelling. ;) I hope to be "back" soon.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What I've Been Up To......

Lovey says, "Baby Sister."
She opened her eyes, for a minute.

Closed again. But Cute.


Taking baths.




Supervising naps. It's an important job.