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A Day in the Life of The Happy Housewife ~ More Questions

Here are answers to a few more of your questions.

Is there a separate room for school?

Our house has a living room, dining room, and family room. Our living room has become our school room. We have a school table in the room, the computer, and all the school books. The school table is short so it isn’t comfortable for me to sit there for long periods of time. I usually sit at the dining room table because it is huge and we have comfy chairs. The kids who are working with me sit at the table, as well as the kids who need a little extra supervision.

When do you clean, sort through papers, file papers?

As I mentioned before we try to keep the house clean on a daily basis. I realize I sound like a broken record but  has been the best tool for staying on top of household chores. We do our big cleaning on Saturday morning. I hate to file papers. I have a small desk in the kitchen and I keep all non school paperwork on the desk. Above the desk are cabinets that store my binders, which are my filing system. I usually wait until I cannot see the top of the desk and then file. It really doesn’t take me that long, and I am not sure why I procrastinate in this area of my life. The good thing is that since I try to do everything online (regarding bills) I don’t have a ton of papers to file. It usually takes about two months for my desk to get to critical condition.

From Courtney, Would you mind sharing more about the projects that you have scheduled everyday? What kinds of things do you do? Do you quit when your allotted time is up, or keep working? Do you break things up to finish over several days?

The projects I work on during the day are basically everything you see on my Tackle it Tuesday posts. They can be anything from cleaning out the fridge or pantry to making a purse. I have found that with a lot of people living in a small space the clutter builds up quickly. If the project is something that the kids are helping with I try to make it a 30 minute project. Usually, with so many helping hands, most projects can be tackled in that time. For projects that I am doing myself I usually set a time limit. If I don’t finish the entire project I will stop when my time is up and continue working on it the next day. Years ago I would plow through projects regardless of time. This usually meant that dinner would be late, or we would end up ordering pizza because I was consumed with my project. I found that most of my projects can be spread out over a few days and I am still able to get my regular “jobs” done.

From Rachel, Have you considered cleaning with vinegar and water instead of chemical-based cleaners?

Absolutely, this is something I hope to do once the baby is born. For those of you who are interested in making your own cleaners Rachel has some resources on her site.

From Sarah: What are your little girls wearing at the table to do their crafts?

My girls are wearing large plastic smocks. I purchased them at a yard sale years ago. They are great for keeping their clothes clean. Before I had those I used my husband’s old t-shirts, they worked well too.

From Larry, I maybe asking a question that is answered therein but I missed it. I read your “story” and it ends with you discovering you were pregnant. Are you or have you written the rest? I’d love to hear the rest of the story.

I have not written the rest of the story. This story is actually very hard for me to write because I am not proud of my behavior and have a hard time letting people see the yucky side of me. At the same time, I feel there are reasons for this story to be written. I try to write a “chapter” every two weeks.

I think I have answered all the questions. If I missed one please remind me, feel free to leave any other questions in the comment section.

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by admin -

Due Date

Today is your due date, and you are almost one month old. Hard to believe 4 weeks ago today I was admitted to the hospital and we would soon meet you. You are a blessing to our family and as the days go by it is hard to remember a time when you were not with us. We love you so much!

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by admin -

Ways to Encourage Our Children to Love Each Other

The following is a guest post from Tracy who blogs at Girls to Grow.

As a Mom, one of the things I desire to see in my children is a genuine love for one another.  While there will always be moments of disagreement and times of strife, I hope that my daughters will always have a close and meaningful relationship.

Here is a list of five ways we can encourage our children to love each other.

1)    Cultivate a spirit of family unity.  There are a variety of ways to do this, the most basic of which is just spending time together.  The more family members do together, the more memories they create and bonds they form.  These times needn’t be fancy or expensive; something as simple as a family picnic or game night can provide lots of fun and togetherness.

2)    Teach respect for each other’s person, possessions and privacy.  We stress that there should never be hitting, pinching, pushing, etc and an appropriate punishment is determined if any of those occur (which they do from time to time).  As to respecting other’s possessions, we instruct our children to always ask permission before using or borrowing each other’s things.  If one of them damages the other’s item, it is the responsibility of the one who has done the damage to fix or replace it.  Along these same lines, we ask that they always knock and receive approval to enter the other’s room if the door is closed.

3)    Be quick to ask for and grant forgiveness.  If one child has wronged another, he/she should be willing to admit their mistake and apologize.  Do whatever is necessary to make the situation right.  If you are the offended one, be ready to forgive.  Don’t allow grudges or bitterness to grow.

4)    Protect the family relationship.  Never repeat stories of events that happen in the home that would be embarrassing to a brother or sister. Be protective of your siblings and their feelings.  Above all, be thoughtful and considerate toward those in your family. We are often more gracious to friends, neighbors and acquaintances than we are to those we love and treasure the most.

5)    Recognize and celebrate individual accomplishments.  All of the family members should rejoice when one of them hits a home run, memorizes a difficult piano piece or gets an A on a test.  I know some mothers who have a special plate that a child uses for dinner when they have achieved a certain goal; others may make a favorite meal or have a small award designated for honoring these occasions.  On the flip side, it’s a great thing for our children to learn to empathize when a sibling has a difficult time.  Help them think of ways to encourage each other when someone has had a bad day.

These are just a few ideas for helping our children learn to develop that special relationship they can have with each other.  I’d love to hear ideas you may have for cultivating family ties and strengthening those bonds between brothers and sisters.

Tracey is a wife and mom of two girls who can be found blogging about all things related to families and parenting at Girls to Grow.

This post is linking to Works for me Wednesday.

by admin -

Cora’s Quilt

Remember my friend who helped clean my room and make a baby sling? Well she totally outdid herself by showing up at my house on Saturday with a gift for Cora.

I’d link to her blog, but she doesn’t have one. She must be too busy helping people clean and making them gorgeous quilts to have time to blog.

She even quilted Cora’s name in the quilt.

As you can see Cora loves her quilt almost as much as I do.

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This post is linking to Talk about Tuesday.

by admin -

Cora and Kit

Cora and Kit

April 25, 2009

23 days old

I think Cora really wants to beat Kit, look how she is stretching! 🙂

A few more pictures from our day.

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by admin -

And Baby Makes Three

This is Our Story, or the story of how I met my husband, got married a few weeks later, and eventually became The Happy Housewife. This story has a beginning, but no end… yet. I publish a chapter every few weeks, so if you don’t want to miss an installment subscribe to my blog.

As I sat on the airplane a feeling of relief swept over me. There was no sadness, not even regret, just relief to finally be free of my problems (or so I thought). My relief was short lived as shortly after everyone boarded the plane I heard my name being called over the intercom system. It was at this point in my life that I realized why innocent people run from the police. I knew I had done nothing wrong, but I didn’t want to come to the front of the plane. What could possibly be the problem? I was not going to get off that airplane, I was leaving and no one was going to stop me.

After about 30 seconds of contemplating not identifying myself, I realized I did not want to spend the night in jail in a foreign country (not sure why I thought I would end up in jail) and I made my way to the front of the plane. Once I reached the front they told me there was a problem and that I need to go to security. I could not believe this was happening. I was led off the plane and through the airport where eventually I ended up in a room with several security people and all my luggage. My luggage was not the nice black stuff with wheels and zippers either. It was old with clasps that made a clicking sound when they were shut, except the clasps didn’t work so well so we had duct taped my luggage together so it didn’t fall apart.

The duct tape had been cut off and my luggage was open and they were going through all my stuff. I felt like this was all a very, very bad dream, but it wasn’t, it was real and happening to me. Then a female security guard patted me up and down as I watched in horror as they tore apart my luggage. Finally after several minutes they decided I was not a threat I was told I could reboard the plane. My luggage however was in total disarray and I began to accept the fact that my stuff might not make it to Miami.

I arrived in Florida and quickly settled back into my old life, well except for the fact that I was married and pregnant. I spent my days hanging out at my parent’s house (I had no car) and my nights watching basketball on television with my dad and a few friends. Dh and I spoke occasionally on the phone, but I did write him a letter almost every day (remember life before email). I am not sure what those letters said, I think I just felt it was my duty to write them. The more time that passed the more we grew apart.

As time came for the baby to be born we made arrangements for dh to fly to the states. I decided it would be better for him to arrive after my due date just in case the baby decided to come late. Thank goodness I did that because my due date, June 20th, came and went. By June 21st I was miserable. By June 25th, I decided that I wasn’t ever going to have the baby. By July 1st I was desperate. I arrived at my appointment with plans to beg and plead for an induction. It was July in Florida and I was miserable!

Fortunately my doctor decided to check me to see if I was ready to be induced. I was 5cm so he sent me to the hospital to have the baby. When I arrived at the hospital there were no available beds and since I wasn’t in labor they wouldn’t admit me. The nurses encouraged me to go for a walk to help move things along and I would be admitted. I walked for 15 hours! From 9 am to midnight my mom and I walked the mall, the hospital, the parking lot and every place else we could think of. Every few hours we would return to the floor where they would send me away because I wasn’t in “active labor.”  Finally at midnight after walking the entire day plus not eating my mom put her foot down. She told the nurses they either needed to admit me or send me home, but those were the only two options.

They admitted me.

By that time I was completely exhausted, my feet ached, and were covered in blisters from walking all day. They decided to break my water and surprise, surprise we had a baby 45 minutes later.

Our little girl was born 14 months after we got married. We were officially a family.

Dh arrived in the states when she was three days old and for three weeks we “played house.” I think the constant, feeding, pooping, and crying (me not the baby :), distracted us from the myriad of problems I had left down in Panama. For three weeks things seemed alright. Perhaps I had made a mistake in leaving, maybe things weren’t as bad as I thought. We were two adults, surely we could work out of differences.

Now that there was another person involved, things suddenly became a lot more complicated.

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by admin -

Frog Legs

Cora received this adorable outfit from a good friend. I just had to get a few pictures!

I tried to get a picture of her awake… but she sleeps a lot. Although in this picture she seems to be thinking awfully hard about something.

Also do you see her little part in her hair? I just noticed it the other day.

Aren’t the feet too cute?

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For more Wordless Wednesday visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

by admin -

Keep the Kids Busy without Television

So what are you going to do if you once you turn off the television?

First enter to win the Subway P.E.P. kit. 🙂

Go outside. There are so many things to do outside with your kids, sidewalk chalk, play catch, ride bikes, scooters, roller blade, walk, hike, explore, go to the park, look for bugs, sandbox, water table, sprinkler…

If the weather is still crummy there are many inside activities to replace television. Play a game, read a book, get out the puzzles, build with blocks or legos, play dolls. Have an indoor picnic, or tea party.

Crafts are also fun. Take a risk and get out the play dough. Even better make your own play dough. Stickers, colored pencils, construction paper and scissors (if they are old enough) can keep kids busy for hours. You can even use old shoe boxes to create miniature scenes from their favorite book.

One way I am able to fit in blogging, paying bills, writing emails, and other household admin tasks is to work along side my kids. Last year I wrote about some of our favorite table top toys that help keep my little children busy while I work.

I realize that many moms use the television to babysit their children while they do important things like take a shower or make dinner. I’ve been there, done that. Sometimes, especially with active little ones, television seems to be the only thing to keep them mesmerized while you get something done. I would encourage you to involve your kids, even the little ones, in your meal prep. They can help set the table, mix food together, and do other small jobs. Something I would do with one particularly active child was to fill up the kitchen sink with water and bubbles and let him play with a few of his toys in the water while I made dinner. He made a mess, but it was easy to clean up and he stayed occupied and in my line of sight.

As for getting that ever elusive shower, from the time my children were very little we encouraged room or crib time. We would put the kids in their room or cribs with a few safe toys and then leave them alone. We even put on “room time” music. This let our children know it wasn’t nap time, just time for them to stay in their rooms and play by themselves. When they got a bit older we would sometimes put on an audio book for them to listen to while they played in their room. The key to this technique is to make sure the rooms are kid friendly. If there are things your child could get hurt on in their room this is not a good idea. I found that if we started this when they were young (a few months old) by the time they were three or four years old they really enjoyed their room time. Usually we have special toys that only come out during room time as well.

We did put up a safety gate to keep a few children in their rooms during room time. This was more for their protection and to keep them from running around the house, or possibly outside while I was in the shower and couldn’t hear what was going on.

Turning off the television definitely takes extra effort on the part of the parent. It means getting organized and planning activities to keep your kids busy throughout the day. As with everything in life the best things are usually the hardest things. It might be hard to limit the television at first, but you will definitely reap the rewards.

Check back tomorrow for some ideas on what you can do with your no TV time, plus a giveaway!

 

by admin -

Kill Your Television and Join the P.E.P. Rally

This contest is now closed and we have a winner!

Here are your random numbers:

69

Timestamp: 2009-04-24 23:33:58 UTC

Congratulations Heather R. check your email for more information!

As you all know this is National TV Turn-Off Week. Subway along with the National Institute of Health has teamed up to create P.E.P. kits (Play more, Eat right, Push away the screen). Each kit is filled with fun activities to get your kids moving.

My kids were super excited when their kit arrived today. Unfortunately our weather isn’t cooperating with fun outside play.

My kids played with a few of the toys inside for a while and then decided to brave the weather and head outside regardless of the rainy 50 degree day. (Translation: the inside play became too loud and wild so I sent them outside…)

There are so many alternatives to watching television and I have to admit I am proud of Subway for jumping on the healthy bandwagon. There is so much garbage marketed to kids these days it is refreshing to see a company do something a little different.

Since you know that I am not a TV gal, and would love to help my readers kick the television habit (well, more so for their kids) I want to send one of these P.E.P. kits to you!

The kit I am giving away includes a bug net, water balloons, sidewalk chalk, a bucket and shovel, Frisbee, bubbles, jump rope, kite, flower seeds and a $10 Subway gift card. (Just promise me you will order one of the healthy subs, okay)

To enter to win a P.E.P. kit leave a comment. For a second entry tweet about this contest and make sure you include the hashtag #screentime. Leave me a second comment letting me know you tweeted about the giveaway. I will chose a random winner Friday evening (Cora will once again dictate the ending time).

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