New Page: Places I’ve Breastfed

Pages don’t show up in the main blog roll when I add them, so I thought I’d link it up here: https://athomewithmygirls.wordpress.com/places-ive-breastfed/

Hello Mornings – How to Reclaim My Mornings

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Joe

I’m up! I’m up!

It’s 6 am.

Why am I up at the gruesome hour might you ask? (Ok, 6 is not THAT gruesome…)

It’s part of the Hello Mornings challenge at held by Kat at Inspired to Action.
.

I gave this challenge a go back in the summer before DD2 came around, but it didn’t really work out. I’m so not a morning person… Though I’ve learned to be more of one since I had kids – maybe I can learn to be even more of one. I must be crazy… but I’ll give this challenge another go 🙂

I say crazy because I do have a 4 month old at home! (and a 2.5 yrs). Which means my days are NOT predictable. Sure, they are better than when she was newborn, but although she naps, it’s never really at the same time each day yet, and her “bedtime” highly depends on her naps – and if she decides she would prefer to cluster feed until 1 am that evening or not (not a rare occurrence).
.

Nevertheless, I strongly believe that if I get some “me” time in the morning, I will be a better mother to my girls, because I’ll be able to get those little indulgences – and chores, too, mainly computer-related chores & home management planning stuff, you know, the things you can’t really involve the kids in like with laundry or sweeping (ok older kids get help plan) – out of the way before the fam gets up, and then be so much less distracted during the day. I will be able to give them my full attention – or more of it anyway 🙂 I won’t have all these tasks that needs to be done nagging me – like the weekly meal plan, the grocery list, edit a few blog posts (like this one!), filling away the recipes, checking my e-mails, seeing if new playgroups have been scheduled, printing and organizing activities for my oldest (I make her lots of file folder games and fun activities, we plan on homeschooling, so we don’t homeschool yet, but I use a lot of homeschool planning tricks to organize her crafts and activities to do – otherwise we end up starring at the wall wondering what to do if I don’t have a general plan!). And also devote some time to my personal Bible studies, and just greet the day with a good start!
.

So I’m thinking, the kids wake up typically around 7:30 am, and I know just 1h of me time won’t be enough – by the time I fixed breakfast, woke up, and checked my e-mails, it’ll be over. I can be slow in the morning… 🙂 (just this morning I almost burned my oatmeal by putting it on the stove and then promptly forgetting about it – but I rescued it just in time). Plus there’s always the odd times when one of the girls wake up at 6 or 6:30. So I’m thinking 5 am might work, and when I counted back 7 hours it brought me to 10 pm and that seems reasonable!
.

Disclaimer: I’ll be gentle on myself. I do have a 4 month old around. If she nurses and cluster feeds until 1 am – obviously we scratch the next morning wake up. If the girls decide the day is so marvellous they need to start it at 6 am – we’ll try again tomorrow. DH can’t be fully on early riser duty yet as I do need to nurse DD2 when she wakes up. If DD2 wakes up 5 times in the night – sleep in a bit. I’ll still probably have more early days than less, which means things won’t pile up as much anyway. And I’m always more productive in the morning than in the evening – which is often spent cluster feeding from dinnertime to bedtime, anyway. Very, VERY frustrating trying to get things done in that time period.
.

So there we have it. I had the alarm on for 5:30 this morning, but it was a rough start of the night. DD2 wouldn’t sleep in the evening, so I nursed her to sleep at 10 pm until 10:30. Got in bed, tweeted a bit more my Nook (love that thing!), then was ready to fall asleep when DD1 woke up around 11:30 with what seems to be growing pains (she’s had those a few times these past weeks now… always in the feet… hmm…) So bed was at 12-12:30 am. Then DD2 woke up to nurse at 4:00 am. Wouldn’t fall back asleep for at 4:30 am Daddy took her to rock her to sleep. He came back up with her at 5:25 (she didn’t take an hour to fall asleep 😛 He stayed with her for a while), so I turned off the alarm to not wake her up; thought I’ll just rest my head a second but I’ll think hard about things so I don’t fall asleep and get up in a minute or two.

Yea. Right.

Got up at 6 am 😉

But now I have a blog post written (this one!) and I might edit another one, and then if I have time left (she nursed at 4 am so maybe!) I’ll work on DD1’s road trip journal. Later this morning we have playgroup in the neighbourhood!
.

Good luck to everyone doing the challenge! 🙂

Praying for our Children

Short and sweet, bebe not sleeping, yet (sigh): I just read this post about a weekly praying schedule for our children. It covers salvation, education, physical growth and health, obedience, relationships, protection and purpose. I find it inspirational, don’t you?

Fall Into Reading 2010 Wrap-Up

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Joe

Every year, Callapidder Days hosts a reading challenge during the fall season (Fall Into Reading) and during the spring season (Spring Into Reading). You basically just set yourself some goals and try to achieve them! It’s laid back and informal, but kind of fun.

I’ve done it before very casually, but this year I though I’d try a “bigger” challenge and read more books. I basically just read as much as I could – whenever I would finish a book, I’d pick a new one up from my To Read list in my bookshelf, or read my next hold that became available at the library.

For the spring challenge, I think I’ll focus it a bit more, and either limit it solely to reducing my {huge} To Read pile in my bedroom, or focus on reading some of the Classics I haven’t read yet from the BBC list. We’ll see which I choose on March 21st! 😀

.
FINAL FEEDBACKS
Some great finds this fall: The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton, which I picked up on a whim at Costco because it just looks nice, but it turned out to be one of the best books I’ve read; The Mission of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson, was an uplifting read and provided great discussion among my Bible Study group (granted, it was only FINISHED during the challenge, on Sept. 23rd, so it half counts :P); The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, which was a selection for my parents’ book club (which never met…) and I wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise (in fact, I didn’t even vote for it, I thought it would not interest me at all, but I like to give each selection a try because I would like others to try my selections too 😉 ), but it was actually very good, and my first “nursing” read! 🙂

I also discovered Sarah Bouchard, which I picked up at the Salon du Livre 2010 – the story was compelling and interesting, I’m looking forward to the sequel – but the book itself had a LOT of typos and mistakes which bugged me a bit (especially considering it was $30…)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which didn’t quite make the finish line, was also quite excellent – I’m planning on reading the follow-up book. It’s not quite a “sequel”, rather, the same building, the same characters, but a different main character/point-of-view. It tells the story of one of the characters that dies in the middle of Elegance. 😉

.
LINKS TO WEEKLY QUESTIONS
#1 – Reading Obstacles
#2 – E-books and Digital Books
#3 – Reading & Snacking
#4 – Marking Your Place: Dog-Ears or Bookmarks?
#5 – Do You Read Everything in a Book?
#6 – Favourite Reading Places
#7 – When Did You Become a “Reader”?
#8 – Where Do You Get Your Books?
#9 – Finishing Books / FIR ’10 Update

.
TOTAL BOOKS READ: 20

The Mission of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson ~ Completed September 23rd
The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill ~ Completed October 1st
Take the Fight Out of Food, by Donna Fish ~ Completed October 7th
My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult ~ Completed October 9th
Chat : -), by Nan McCarthy ~ Completed October 9th
Connect }:-), by Nan McCarthy ~ Completed October 10th
Crash ; -), by Nan McCarthy ~ Completed October 10th
The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton ~ Completed October 21st
A Wild Affair, by Gemma Townley ~ Completed October 24th
An Ideal Wife, by Gemma Townley ~ Completed October 26th
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, by Stephanie Meyer ~ Completed October 27th
The Vampire Diaries, Vol. 1: The Awakening & The Struggle, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed October 31st
Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood, by Julie Gregory ~ Completed November 12th
Out of the Abyss and Into the Light: A Spiritual Journey Through Postpartum Depression, by Katie Wilson ~ Completed November 15th
The Vampire Diaries, Vol. 2: The Fury & Dark Reunion, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed November 19th
How Good is Good Enough, by Andy Stanley ~ Completed November 20th
The Vampire Diaries, The Return, Vol. 1: Nightfall, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed November 26th
The Vampire Diaries, The Return, Vol. 2: Shadow Souls, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed December 5th
Attraction, by Sarah Bouchard ~ Completed December 11th
The Grand Design: New Answers to the Ultimate Questions of Life, by Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow ~ Completed December 18th

.
BOOKS STARTED BUT DIDN’T QUITE MAKE THE FINISH LINE:

The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery – just short of halfway through (finished on December 27th)
Preparing My Heart for Advent, by Ann Marie Stewart – but only because it’s daily devotions until January 6th, or I would actually be done the book by now!

.
MAGAZINES I READ: