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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Apparently there are limits as to what a Stay-At-Home-Dad will do

And today that thing is the Valentine's Day cookies/craft/give-away thing-a-ma-bob for the entire class. 

Husband brought the kids home from school today and entered my home office with a frantic look on his face and said "you need to go out and get Valentine's gifts for Charlotte's class, the party is tomorrow!"

"But honey, I have a lot of work left today."  He leaves my office without a word.  A line has been drawn in the sand. 

First I try to think of a way to convince him it's not a big deal, just go to Target with all 4 kids and pick something but instinct tells me that's a terrible idea. 

Second I sulk.

Third I remember we have an entire batch of red velvet cupcakes in the freezer and I could quickly ice them but then I'd need to figure out a way to package them individually because what parent wants their kids coming home with a sticky cupcake in a bag with other candy and random goodies - Kindergarten schooled me in what to expect.  Cancel the cupcake plan.

Forth I google "easy Valentine cookies" because I don't want to make sugar cookies and ice them and deal with all the kids wanting to help.  It will be a two hour project and non-stop negotiations.  I found this lovely gem for "Valentine Strawberry Cookies" but still requires a store trip.  Fail.

Then I remember I'm out of flour so I'm going to the store regardless of what I pick.  Very sad now.  Oh well, at least dinner's a quickie!  Pierogies with pre-made sauce.  Maybe I'll make everyone go with me!  NO, that will take twice as long! Now stop agonizing over this and get back to work!!

Thursday, February 05, 2015

Working from home with newborn

Baby attempts to monopolize my time by refusing to be put down.


She entertains me with cute faces.
 
But alas, lunch hour is over, she must go to her dad if I'm to get anything done around here!  

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Finding Balance ~ Part 2

Evangeline ~ five weeks old
Still refuses to be put down while sleeping so this is how I get things done on
lunch break because this is in fact, a work day.
 
 


Meal time savers with a family of six

I have a strict policy of meal planning.  This means I chart out our meals for every day of the week in excel and buy groceries accordingly.  It helps us stay on budget and saves time in meal preparation. 

Recently though, I've found that having two meals per week from the freezer to be an exceptional time saver on nights when things don't go as planned.  To make this happen we've started making double batches of our most popular meals and freezing half.

Post Dated 8/26/15

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

When breast milk production goes up, I get ravenous!

Yesterday, I sat in a three hour conference call from 10am - 1pm.  I was starving by 11:30!  I had eaten a scrambled egg with apple bread at 7:30 and it was not enough so today I made a two egg burrito with cheese and bacon.

Two Egg Burrito's or plain yogurt have become my go-to breakfast items while breast feeding for this year.  Both have ample protein and seem to hold off hunger pains until noon.

Post Dated 8/26/15

Finding Balance with Four

 

 

One thing I'm absurdly proud of is our ability to get the kids to school on time with a newborn in the house.  It's a feat that takes supreme effort and requires everyone's cooperation in a finely timed sequence of events.

The optimal time for mom to rise and start the day is 6am.  This allows me to get loaded up with coffee and breakfast before my little clan has woken up.  This does not include baby because she's usually strapped to my chest in a sling and still needs to eat or is in some form of waking or pooping because that's literally all she does these days is eat, sleep and poop.  Sometimes pooping takes an hour or more to work through - but I digress. 

At 7am I wake up the other 3 kids along with dad and they loll about on the couches while watching Odd Squad on PBS.  This takes exactly 30 minutes which allows me to make everyone's breakfast.

At 7:30am they are all ushered to the table to enjoy a lovely hotel style continental breakfast of toast, favorite toppings, juice and coffee with the occasional scrambled egg if someone has managed to hold the baby while breakfast is prepared.  Having already eaten earlier means I can immediately begin preparing lunches while simultaneously unloading the dishwasher - again this only works well if someone agrees to hold the baby. 

At 8am they rush to get ready for school and we need to work on this timing because it's a bit too tight to get them out the door by 8:10 if the start getting dressed at 8:00.  I propose less talking at the breakfast table and faster eating to finish by 7:50 going forward.

At 8:00 I begin my morning exercise routine of squats and lifts by taking the baby back into my sling and loading the dishwasher. 

At 8:30 I retire to my office with baby still comfortably asleep in the sling and prepare myself for the upcoming workday.  This could include a blog post, Facebook or jumping directly into work to make the best of every possible working minute.  Clearly I've chosen the first option today!