Wishing I was more crafty and creative. Well, I am creative. I have a ton of ideas in my head but lack the ability or ingenuity to produce many or any of them. This is frustrating as I read post after post of amazingly talented mama bloggers making all sorts of cool things for their children. Ugh! Moments like this make me so sad or insecure about my mothering abilities.

The brain - multitasking

So I've been forgetting to post. I've been writing post in my head periodically during the day and by the time it's evening and I actually have time to get on the computer and write my brain is barely functioning. I have to do a serious mental check-in to remember what I want/was going to do. If I don't write it down i'm usually not going to remember it.

Today I wanted to talk about multitasking. IT IS MY LIFE and I'm mostly good at it. Take tonight as a classic example. It's DS's bathtime: He loves to have some time to play independently before I help with washing so, I set the timer and tonight's multitasking goal: clean the bathroom. (This way I'm none to far away and while he has a blast playing I sweep the floors, behind the toilet and the door, wipe the mirrors, clean the toilet, and mop the floors). I give DS 5 minutes free time before I help with washing and 5 minutes free play after I'm done with washing. If your bathroom is fairly small (as mine is (70's home)) and fairly well kept than 10 minutes is enough to do a good job. THEN, when DS gets out his task is to pick out his underwear, put them on and follow this up with putting on his PJ's. This gives me time to clean out the bathtub and tile (I'm not a fan of ring around the tub. I really like to stay on top of stuff like that). My parents (who are slightly anal (yet loving) neat freaks) taught me well.

I plan to share more multitasking opportunities as they come to light.

I feel like I am just beginning to get myself as a mother now if I could only remember who I am as a wife.

Feeling like a Goddess?

I love those days when I manage to get a lot done and feel like super mama, no super woman. Today was kind of one of those days. I'm totally fatigued as I write this so I am not feeling as pumped as I was around 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. The morning started awesome with my DS playing independently. I closed the door to my room that I currently share with DD. He has for the past few days been coming in and trying to give kisses to DD ultimately waking her up which she is not ready to do (Thank God!) DS has no sense of boundaries or he does and is in a mode of ignoring messages and corrections. He can be so defiant sometimes, it's hard to be pleasant but, I digress, this morning was awesome. DH made breakfast and we ALL ate together (mostly). Sleep was off today but I went on a nice morning outing with DD and DS so that DH could get some progress on a project he is trying to complete this week. This is when I feel like supermama. I often take on both children for a good bit of time but by the weekend I am ready to share a LOT but this weekend/today I felt like I could do it and I did. Now my post feels ridiculous as I write but I'm sure there is a mama out there that can relate?

Where does the time go?

So funny, I thought I posted last night. It goes to show what a busy day it was. I think I kept thinking all day about what I was going to write about. I find blogging, thus far to be very cathartic. I really want to set some time aside each night to jot down high points as well as low points of the day or random thoughts, which I really good at.

Yesterday, I felt both proud and exhausted by the school day. It seems that I constantly working on my little school. We welcomed the final student for the school year and personal, I hope for awhile. I'd like to keep this group intact through the summer as well. I think it's going to be an amazing year. My DS is off at his own school but my DD is with me and she loves it. It makes me realize that I really should find some baby play group on Mondays and/or Fridays for her continued interaction. She simply loves it!

Overwhelmed by bedtime tears

It seems these days I cannot lay DD down for nap or bedtime without intense crying. It is painful to hear and as I decide to approach sleep with more confidence than DS I am having a hard time hearing her cry.

Backstory, I almost never let DS cry if I could help it. I leaned strongly toward attachment parenting and truthfully eventually felt like I was enabling. To this day DS requires parental help to go to sleep. Actually, it's much improved. I thought I would try sleep cues this time and really pay attention to her rhythms and help her develop a sense of routine in her sleep habits. It works for the most part and I believe she is far more rested than DS ever was but it comes at a price of intense tears almost screams some days and I'm not sure what to do. It seems that I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't because she'll cry sometimes even if I stay bc she is so tired AND mama needs rest too. I would happily hold her all night or let her nurse all night if I could rest at the same time but, well, you can imagine. I am really at a loss. Thinking a lot about Ferber.

How to avoid raising rude children

Some would say I am easy going when it comes to discipline. In my extended family i think the saying is, "spare the rod, spoil the child." I am a STRONG non-believer in not spanking. I am an even STRONGER believer in speaking to children in a way in which I would want to be spoken. This notion is definitely weird from my extended families perspective. Respect for children is unheard of or not necessary. "They" are of the mind set that the adult is in charge and to a great degree this is true even a necessary idea but balance is the road I am trying to follow. I am learning what this means albeit while struggling at times with a DS who while assert his will and power at every turn. I know he looks to DH and myself for guidance and limits. It can be so hard to stay positive and not just blurt out the old, "Because I said so." Daily it's two steps forward, two steps back.