Time Management for Busy Moms 4: Second Baby (or: Ahhhh!!! TWO!!!! What was I Thinking?!?)

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Shortly after I brought home my beautiful baby girl, it became blindingly obvious that looking after an infant and a toddler was not going to be easy. I hope that the lessons I learned from this experience will help prevent someone else from making the same mistakes!!!!

It's Not About Me

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 If there is one lesson I really, really, REALLY want to learn before I die, it’s that I am not the centre of the universe. I stub my toes on this truth at least once a week, painfully realising that again, I have taken offense, or jumped to conclusions, or criticized, or blamed, or judged, or, or, or... without pausing to consider Whose opinions truly matter in any moment.

Why I Bother Learning Old-Fashioned Skills: Making Stock

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I had never considered making my own stock until this year, when I came across these posts:

http://simplemom.net/how-to-make-homemade-basics/

http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/broth-is-beautiful

http://www.maggiesnest.org/2011/04/14/whats-gaps-and-why-now/

http://www.gaps.me/preview/?page_id=28

At the time, I was in the middle of researching nutrition, specifically to support good gut bacteria and thereby boost the immune system. Making stock from scratch seemed like a fairly straight-forward and easy change that I could make to our family diet, so I experimented, and I was really pleased with the results.

I have found that I get the most use out of chicken stock, rather than vegetable or beef stock. Over the past few months, I have streamlined my method, which is as follows:

Your Love, O Lord, Reaches to the Heavens

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens;

Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

I have sung these lines many many times in church in recent years, and felt that I just didn’t get what it meant.

This past Sunday, insight dropped into my mind as I sung them again. Let me attempt to put into words what I now know in my heart to be truth.

When You Don't Like Your Kids



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There have been times in my life when I found my children adorable, cute, and a blessing.

 

There have been other times when I did not like them at all.

 

Usually, it is one child who is going through a developmental phase of challenge or conflict, not all three children at the same time (thank goodness!); but it is still a very uncomfortable feeling for this mom to realise “I love you, but I really don’t like you at all right now”.

 

Here’s what I do when this happens:

Maxed Out on Friends?

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I’ve been comparing kindergarten experiences for my eldest son and my daughter over the past six months or so now.

(Note to non-Aussie readers: “kindergarten” refers to part-time schooling for kids who turn 4 before the middle of the school year.  Both of my children started at the beginning of our school year in February, but my son was age 3 years 9 months, while my daughter was age 4 years 3 months. I think the equivalent US term might be “preschool”, but I’m not sure, so I’ll stick with kindergarten.)

One of the many, many differences in these experiences has been my own friendships with the parents. 

Chore Training for Toddlers

Jacob Willemsz Delff: Portrait of a Boy, Aged 2

Training my children to help with housework is something I value highly. Why?

• I believe that in a family, everyone should help to the best of their ability with the tasks required to keep a clean and tidy home.
• I believe that those who make messes should learn to clean them up.
• I believe that part of a parent’s job is to train children with a long-term goal of independent living, which includes basic housekeeping skills.
• I believe that a healthy attitude to work starts in the home.
• Finally, as much as I love him, my husband’s strengths do not include a love of order, and I want to pass on my own love of order to our children.

So I start when my children are mobile enough to help, and mature enough to understand and follow an instruction - somewhere between 18 months and 2 years.   I have found that at this age, my children are very keen to help, and are bored with the usual ‘baby’ toys and occupations - they are ready to start learning ‘real’ work.   In addition, at this age, they are usually down to 1 nap a day, and have oodles of time to spare.   Chore training is one way of keeping them out of mischief!