Thursday, January 26, 2012

A day in the life of a stay at home mom!

I will one of these days make a YouTube video of this. But no time for now.

Ok so here is a day in our lives right now...

it starts at 4am or so when Chawezi most likely will wake up and cry, and I will eventually go get him form his room and feed him. Then I was try and get back to sleep for a few more hours.

Alarm goes off at 7am... this is for vinj, and he doesn't have a choice weather he should get up or not, he has too. But then there's me, the stay at home mom... it goes off - and my mind floods with options...
1. Get up, work out, have a fresh coffee while reading a good book, listen to MY MUSIC in peace, SHOWER, all before the kids wake up.....  OR.... sleep... The first options are SO MUCH BETTER for me... and it's amazing what a difference an hour makes in ones morning. See I have the advantage of my kids sleeping in until 9am, or sometimes longer!  And when I choose sleep, I always regret it, because having alone time in the morning is (lets face it) AMAZING! So I start my day with one of those options, almost never eating in the morning (not a good habit) I just drink my coffee....

Around 9-9:30 kids wake up. Depending on how stricked I feel, they eat breakfast. Eating some days is a battle in this home... seriously, it involves tears, time outs, more tears, gagging.... all to get one egg in each of their tummies! And then other days it's a breeze and they both just eat... so it's touch and go and I am THANKFUL for the good days! From 10-11:30 we do "School" ... I have lots of preschool work books and crafts, so we do work pages, cutting, pasting, tracing, folding, colouring, and we have story time where I read at least 5 books to the kids. (I am one of those moms that already worries about how soon my kids will read and if they will really "get it", lame I know... but take me as I am) So the main way I have been reading kids get the first skills for reading is by being read to. So thats my amazing strategy :) heehee.  even though our days don't always go the same, we almost always do the hour and a half of creative time. the kids love it, and it's so good for them. AND if I am lucky, Chawezi will be down for his morning nap at this time. If not he sits in his car seat on the table while we craft away.

At this point the kids have asked if they can watch "Word World" (I HIGHLY recommend this show, it has a few seasons, and is SO creative, it's a spelling show with animals, and their stories.. very cute, and education, which all parents love) Or the usual DORA or DIEGO ... So until lunch they are allowed to go down and watch one of the approved shows. At this point I usually check kijiji if we have an add up, skim a few blogs, and facebook, then it's lunch time, I will normally clean something at this time too, and it ends up being sweep the floor, wash floor, put laundry in... etc. I am trying to do cheap but healthy lunches... it's actually not that easy when you are feeding kids that eat like mice.... and want chicken strips all the time. So I have started making SOUP, veggies mix together basically, and they like it. So that is a WIN, and a good suggestion from my sister Lana, who got the idea from a friend Vanessa- who we all know is an expert at saving money, (I mean the women knows how much it costs her to have a bath... seriously!)

After lunch (which can be an ordeal just like breakfast.....) I am being more stricted about eating though because seth for some reason has lost 3 kgs in the last 3 months? Plus we all know kids, right after not eacting their lunch they are asking for snacks 10 minutes later right! I start to asses Taliah.... is she tired enough for a nap.... and then the thoughts come into the mind... i taliah goes down (and hopefully chawezi too) it would be so quiet and I could get more cleaning done in peace, BUT if she goes down will she go to bed and fall asleep tonight.... big debate right! :) So lately she has been napping maybe 3 times a week. She is growing out of it. But since she doesn't always nap, this turns into about 4 to 5 "time outs" in the afternoon, from fighting with seth...

Vinj is either in a meeting, or studying most of this time...

Lately friends have been stopping by in the afternoon, which is great! But also usually means I don't make supper on time, and vinj complains : ) (not really.. but kind of) I gotta get better at the whole supper thing. Not to inspiring when no one in the house is big on eating.

the evening depends on the day, some times it's music practice and we all go over to the church, or it's small group and everyone comes to our house, or we just laze around, some times it's a spontanious dace party in the living room (especially after the kids bath and the are running around naked) or it's a family movie night.

Kids bed time every day is.....
Bath
Pajamas
Bed
Stories
Prayer
Sippy cups
and good night. they go to bed really well. We dont usually hear form them again, unless they have to go pee :)

The vinj goes and studies and I sometimes sit and wish I was studying, I do kinda what i feel like then, of corse I have chawezi totally awake at this time, so I play with him, watch something on netflicks, read, clean, bake, resently I have been listening to sermons on youtube alot, I don't know why but I don't go to bed, I don't like to without vinj, so most nights have been going to bed around 1am or 2 am.

And then the day starts again, and the whole debate when the alarm goes off the next morning... day in and day out.

Now that it is getting a little warmer out, we are going to start going for walks in the afternoon. And I look forward to getting the kids outside! And my self too!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

30 day shred- I AM SORE!

So, yesterday I started the 30 Day shred by Jillian Michaels. In my opinion she has been a super jerk to people, but has also helped alot of people too. AND she created a 30 minute work out, which works so much better for moms! Anyway, I woke up SO SORE I didn't think the work out was too hard, but my body hurts pretty bad! I was like how am I going to do it again today! But I did, and yes I am sore still! So anyone know when it stops hurting : ) haha. Also anytime we are out for food away from home (where there are healthy choices) I am just getting a regular salad... I am NOT a salad person, but surprisingly, I LIKE IT : ) while I watch vinj down a big bacon swiss burger.... oh well. I feel like this year is the year I get in the shape I have "wanted" to for a while. I will post a picture if I find any difference at the end of the 30 day shred.
Me and chawezi after the 30 day shred

Also, I love being in a city! We got three visitors yesterday just pretty much out of the blue. It's nice to be loved. (Josh we love it when you stop by!)

Random thought, I miss Toby, Vinjelus brother! Funny story just for Toby, Seth and Taliah were looking at a photo of you we have from our namibia holiday, Taliah said "uncle toby!" seth said "no thats daddy!  Uncle toby has a black small truck car, with a tire on the back!" (since you were standing by a blue car, I guess it made you vinjelu)  Anyway Taliah was insistent it was you, and Seth insisted you didn't have hair like that and you don't drive a blue car : )