Parenting In This Day and Age

I told you I was thinking a lot lately about my role as a mother. I didn't say I had any original ideas on the subject, but I've certainly been reading lots of blog posts, etc. that I want to share. Here's another...

From Kevin DeYoung on The Gospel Coalition:
an excerpt from the beginning of his post Parenting 001...
"Does it seem like parenting has gotten more complicated? I mean, as far as I can tell, back in the day parents basically tried to feed their kids, clothe them, and keep them away from explosives. Now our kids have to sleep on their backs (no wait, their tummies; no never mind, their backs), while listening to Baby Mozart surrounded by scenes of Starry, Starry Night. They have to be in piano lessons before they are five and can’t leave the car seat until their about five foot six."

and one from the end...
"I just know that the longer I parent the more I want to focus on doing a few things really well, and not get too passionate about all the rest. I want to spend time with my kids, teach them the Bible, take them to church, laugh with them, cry with them, discipline them when they disobey, say sorry when I mess up, and pray like crazy. I want them to look back and think, “I’m not sure what my parents were doing or if they even knew what they’re were doing. But I always knew my parents loved me and I knew they loved Jesus.” Maybe it’s not that complicated after all."

Click the link above for the full article.

Since I realize it's easy to 'talk' on a blog or wherever & come across like I've got it all together or that I'm being this wonderful, multi-tasking mom, I feel like I should confess that I don't and I'm not (never have, really). My house is a wreck & has been for months (I blame nursing school). We've eaten way too many fast-food meals & the kids have spent way too many hours on the weekend zoned out watching cartoons while I try to catch up on laundry before the week hits us square between the eyes again. We haven't been to church on a regular basis in a long time (that one really bothers me the most). I could keep going on, but you get the picture. I try to do better every day (even if only by a teeny, tiny bit) & do my best to let go of the things that won't matter in the long run (like whether the kids have wrinkled clothes or cute lil' heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches). And, I hope once this season of our life is past (in less than a year - YAY!), I can get my act together a bit more.

On Household Matters...

I’m on a mission to get our household running like a well-oiled machine before nursing classes start at the end of August. It seems like every time I go through a season of life when I am overwhelmed, the state of our house reflects that & looks like a tornado hit it. I am not embarrassed to admit that I’m not the best housekeeper to begin with (okay, maybe I’m a little embarrassed to admit that). My house is not one that you can just drop by unannounced & expect it to be presentable enough for company. Though I have the best intentions, I fail in execution. But, when I am overwhelmed, the house looks even worse than normal, with piles everywhere and everyone playing a sort of Russian roulette every day with whether they will have clean clothes to wear or dishes to eat on or food to eat for that matter. Sad, isn’t it? Granted this sad state of affairs has only happened a few times. One that comes to mind is the weeks that I was plagued with all-day nausea in the first part of my pregnancy with Ella (before I gave in to my doctor & starting taking anti-nausea medicine). I am determined to not let that happen again. One of the ways I’m heading off that situation now is by implementing some checklists & chore charts for all of us (except Ella – although I'm teaching her to clean up after herself & help with simple tasks, I think it’s a little early for a checklist for her).

Anyhow, the point of this post is to share some of things I’m using/planning on using in the hopes they might help someone else and also in the hopes that I’ll follow through since I’ve written it down & put it out there.

Household Chores: Motivated Moms has several different versions of planners. I’m using the full page per week one (the first one on the list).

Wesley’s checklists: This is something we tried for a bit right after Ella was born. It seemed to work okay then. Amazingly Wesley actually requested that I make these for him again the other day. I thought it was both funny & endearing that he wanted a checklist – evidence that he must be my child after all. If you are interested in my template just email me.

Meal Planner: E-Mealz. I used this for about 6 months when Ella was an infant & liked it overall. Some of the meals were a little unusual for our tastes (and I would say we’re not picky eaters), but I loved not having to think up meals & already having a shopping list made out for me. I’m planning on using this in conjunction with some of our family favorites that I can make in batches & freeze (things like PW’s Chicken Spaghetti) or that can be made in the crockpot without too much work (like this recipe for a whole chicken that we can make into two meals by having taco soup the next day).

And, lastly, printing out my calendar from Entourage (the version of Outlook for Mac) each month to post at home so it will have game schedules, my classes, birthdays, etc. already on it & all I will have to fill in is the day to day things that come up.

I also have big plans to go through every nook & cranny of our house during the break between my spring classes (last final is May 12^th) & my summer class (starts July 13^th) and get rid of a bunch of junk + get the rest of the stuff organized. I’ve already gone through one desk, one dresser, part of one storage closet & started on my scrapbooking closet/area. Then, during the two week break I’ll have between the end of my summer class & the start of nursing school I’m planning on getting some projects I’ve been working on for a loonngg time wrapped up – namely Wesley’s baby book (almost ten years in the making & I’ve completely started over twice) & finishing a quilt that I started in a quilting class I took in the summer of 2003 that I ‘gave’ to my sister, Megan, for Christmas that year in pieces (I had all the blocks made & some of the quilting done) – she has been reminding me to finish it for her almost every time I see her. I think I might have good excuses for not getting it done yet. Some of the big ones are moving twice, getting engaged/planning a wedding/getting married, buying a house, finishing two degrees + starting another, starting a new job, remodeling our one bathroom, having a baby (all in the last seven years, but not necessarily in that order).

Credit for finding the meal planner & household chores list goes to Susan Wyatt. I found both those from her sharing them on her blog.

Link Love

I think I may post a collection of links every now and then that have been inspiring me, challenging me or that have just made me laugh. Here goes…

• Back to the Basics series starting on Simple Mom (first post in the series here)– I have a post that I’ve been ruminating on (sorry, my Animal Science background bubbles up into my speech every now & then) that sort of addresses this in my own life and talks about some changes I’ve been making ‘round these parts.
  
• Heroe’s salute – I have a sister in the Army, a brother-in-law in the Marines and a good friend who served a term in the Air National Guard. All three have been deployed at least once in the past eight or so years. I also have a grandfather who served in World War II and both Anthony’s father & paternal grandfather served in the military. Needless to say, we are mindful of the sacrifices our military make/have made for our freedom & our protection. But, the video that Karen Russell links to in this post is still a good reminder that “freedom don’t come free.” Her post is also worthy of your time to read it – her husband has a very good point (no disrespect to Michael Jackson or his family).
  
• On a lighter note (unless you’re talking about caloric weight), I happened upon an older recipe post on Pioneer Woman’s blog for blackberry cobbler that I will be making very soon. I rarely see recipes online where I think, “I have to make this NOW!” but this is one of those. I love, love, love my mom’s blackberry cobbler, but bless her heart, she’s just not good at handing down recipes. It would probably go something like this…
  Her: Well, you need a good bit of blackberries
  Me: How much is a good bit?
  Her: Oh, about two cups, I think. Then, you’ll need some flour and sugar.
  Me: Um, how much?
  Her: Hmm… Maybe a cup of flour and ¾ cup of sugar. I don’t really know. I just put more in the bowl until it looks like enough.
  Me: Well, okay then.
  
• Could you put all the states in the right place on a U.S. map? Here’s a neat little game where you can test your knowledge of U.S. Geography. The best I could do was 96% right & an average of 5 miles off. It’s also a good way to goof off when you’re procrastinating at doing something (I won’t tell you how many times I played it before I got that score). If you play it, come back & tell me your top score (unless you stomp mine & then, well, spare me the humiliation).

And, a picture just because I've been posting too much lately without one...

She was 'helping' plant some flowers.

I'm a Messy Cook

I am definitely NOT one of those cooks who can whip up something delicious and leave the kitchen sparkling clean. Nope, not me. This is a lot closer to what my kitchen looks like every time I bake...

Notice the weird shape of the powdered sugar on the flour?
This is where the rest of it was...

Someone has to lick the icing bowl clean...

The finished product...
(lighting is a little off - the icing was actually white)

This was by far the best from scratch cake I've ever made. Of course, I've only made two (that I can remember). One when I was a preteen (chocolate w/ chocolate icing) that was absolutely horrible. And, one for Anthony's birthday the year before last (red velvet at his request) that was probably just as bad as the first one. I think we may have just eaten one piece each & thrown the rest away.

The recipe for this cake is from Pioneer Woman. It's called a Strawberry Shortcake Cake. Anthony & I practically polished the whole thing off ourselves within a few days (I think Wesley & my father-in-law had one piece each). Yum!

Anyhow, just tryin' to keep it real around her.

Spring Cleaning for Normal People

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos

So, if you've visited our blog in the last couple weeks you've noticed the button over to the right about the spring cleaning party at simple mom. Well, I need to make a confession...

I haven't made it past day two. I'm thinking I should start a spring cleaning for full-time-outside-the-home-working-moms-in-the-middle-of-baseball-season-and-the-busiest-time-of-the-year-at-work party. How's that for a catchy title?

Anyhoo, if you're interested in following along with my progress or *gasp* want to join in, I'm still going to follow simple mom's lead with the areas & process, just at a much (MUCH) slower pace. Call me a snail spring cleaner. Ha, ha, get it? Snail's pace, spring cleaning. Ho, ho, he, he - okay, no one else is laughing. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I'll be linking to her day-by-day process with some before & after pics as I move through the house. If you want to join me, post on today's post & just say, "Hey, count me in," or "My house is filthy, too" (just to make me feel better) or "I like the color blue" - I'm not picky about blog comments (or the lack thereof - hint, hint for you lovely people who drop by & leave no evidence you've visited :)

The older I get the less I like clutter & general schtuff in my house so this should be fun. I've never done an overall cleaning out in a (relatively) short period of time. It's usually more of a can't-close-the-closet-door induced purging or (more often) an oh-no-our-parents-are-coming-to-visit-in-two-days cleaning of the house from top to bottom (which equals not a very thorough job - think surface clean). Mom, Dad, if you are reading, just forget you read that last sentence. I promise my house stays that clean 365 days a year.

Worn-Out Woman Syndrome

I don't know if you noticed, but I recently changed up the blog links in my sidebar, not only to include a blogroll, but also to add some new blogs, like Crystal Paine's Biblical Womanhood, Money Saving Mom and Mom of Littles. I have been so blessed over the last few weeks since I found her from Simple Mom (who I found from Ali Edwards). Not only have I become an avid coupon clipper, but I've also begun examining a lot of the things in my life which are unneccessary distractions from my main purpose in life - to live a life that glorifies God. In this season of my life (as Crystal puts it), that means pouring my energy into being my best as a wife, mother, homemaker and employee.

I've been slowly reading through some of her older posts on Biblical Womanhood and have been soaking up her Godly advice on a number of subjects. One of her series, From Exhaustion to Rejuvenation, Overcoming the Worn-Out Woman Syndrome, (four different links to the four posts) is something I have found to be especially helpful. I don't know about you ladies, but I never realized how very much there is to do as a mother and/or wife until I became one. Ever since then I have felt (to varying degrees) like I'm burning the candle at both ends just trying to take care of children and husband while attempting to keep a spotless, well-organized home (emphasis on the attempting). Throw on top of that trying to be a dedicated full-time employee, a good friend, sister, daughter and church member.

Anyhoo, I just thought I would share links to that series so it might help someone else who has felt the way I do. I'm quite sure I'm not alone in feeling overwhelmed with the day-to-day of being a wife/mother. I'm sure if you are neither a wife, mother or homemaker that you can still glean some helpful information from her posts.