Friday, July 20, 2012

Illness and Slow Cooking

I'm sick again.  My kids get sick, then I get sick.  Before kids, I got sick maybe once a year.  It's a lot more frequent lately (as in the last year or so).  Most likely summer preschool and Sunday school contributions.  Suspected I was getting it yesterday but last night did me in.  This morning it's sore throat and lack of energy.  Good times.

I'm glad that we planned a slow cooker meal for the week.  I woke up early today due to V and couldn't go back to sleep.  It gave me time to wake up and remember the meal.  By 7:30 am, I had completed tonight's dinner (a pork roast).  I didn't want to dig through our cookbooks for a recipe.  Online, most of the recipes required ingredients that we don't have (or even typically keep in stock).  I did find this recipe which uses veggies and spices with the meat.  (As a side note, I like how Dad Cooks Dinner has a goal of not using mixes like the typical onion soup mix in other slow cooker pot roast recipes.)  The downside to having supper prepped so early was that I was also slightly behind on getting R and little C out the door.  They didn't leave to much behind their normal.

I broke a bone in my hand (boxer fracture) at the end of May.  Yesterday the doctor finally said it was pretty much healed.  He still wants me to go back in another two months.  I know he just wants to make sure everything is ok but I can't really justify the money.  We don't know how the rest of the year will turn out.

Enough dreary ramblings for now.  I'm trying to post at least twice a week from here on out.  Some of these posts may be somewhat boring.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

"It's no good, I can't maneuver!"

Before becoming a full time housedad, I had plans to do all these great things with my spare time.  Now I try to put these thoughts out of my mind a try to dedicate myself to running the house as smoothly and efficiently as possible.  I haven't been that successful, yet.


I am trying to keep the house picked up so that when R and C are getting ready in the morning or when we're doing our evening rituals, things will go easier.  I have managed to do some dad chores such as changing the air conditioner filter and unclogging drains.  Occasionally clothes get washed, dishes get cleaned, or other to-dos get done.  I can't say I've been the most successful but I hope to get better.

In the future of this blog, I may create a list of the personal projects that roll around in my mind.  Most may never get done but at least I'll be able to get my ideas out of my head.

At the moment, I'll try to "stay on target!"

Morning

Our mornings can be tough.  Getting ready for work and school can have us frazzled.  I know other people have more hectic mornings.  For us, it's just a new routine that we are trying to get used to.

The typical weekday begins with the parents desperately wishing for a snooze alarm that would let us sleep at least a little longer. Unfortunately, the kids don't come with one of those buttons installed.  V is starting to sleep through the night but will sometimes wake in the morning for her breakfast anywhere from 6:30 to 7:00am.  C is the only one that can open doors (so far) so she'll usually wander out of her room and into ours with S close behind somewhere around 7:00am.  (Please take note: they do this even on the weekend!)

If R hasn't fed V yet, she will then take over with her while I herd the others out of the room.  I proceed to try to distract them with cartoons and a drink.  This buys me time to take Dog out and get breakfast going.  R eventually comes out and passes V to me or tries to lay her down and then proceeds to get her shower.  Meanwhile, depending on the meal, I'm probably cooking or at the least setting the table with the breakfast items of the day.

At this point, let me mention some of the things that slow us (the parents) down.  When I take Dog out, one or both of the kids will sometimes come out also.  Not a bad thing, except that I've got to watch Dog in case he poops and I have to clean it up.  The kids, if not watched, could get into all sorts of trouble.  So I can get very distracted going out in the morning.  C is potty trained but is in the habit of asking to go potty during a meal.  Our strategy is to try to get her to go before we sit down.  In the morning, I just try to get her to go as soon as she gets up.  Doesn't always work.  S, if not distracted and/or given a drink right away, can get very irate.  I understand.  He's hungry and still not quite awake.  Very tough for a kid that is almost 2 years old.  I'm only going to say this about V, she doesn't always want to be put down, and that makes mealtime a little hard.

As soon as breakfast is over, it's washing anything like lunch containers or pump equipment, packing meals for R and C, packing work and school related supplies, and getting them out the door.  All of this ideally by no later than 8:30am.

Once the excitement dies down, S gets distracted (at least for an hour) with his shows.  I will take a moment to jump on the computer to plan my schedule for the day and if I've got time, I'll read some of my favorite websites.  I try to get cleaning done throughout the day.  I try to feed V and S when their times come up.  I try to get S to nap around 1:00pm.  In the afternoon, it's prepping for arrival of R and C, dinner, bath and bed.

Hectic days start with hectic mornings.