Laundry Nightmares

Today I am doing laundry, I do laundry everyday but I don't count it as done until it is folded and put away.

Do you also end up with three or four or ten baskets of clean laundry stacked up waiting to be folded and put away? Mine end up on the second couch, you know because if they were on the floor I would think they were dirty. Anyway the laundry got switched a few times this weekend, maybe four, but never got folded or put away. I don't mind folding, but I hate putting away the kids laundry. When I don't put it away they throw every item into one drawer so it is over stuffed and they still can't find anything, and half of it ends up on the floor and needing washed again before it was ever worn.  I guess they are still too young to put away their laundry.

I will occasionally fold everything and divide it into baskets for each child and hope that my husband will take the hint and put everything away. He often does not have the time after getting off of work late to help with laundry (and I think he hates it as much as I do). So the kids dig their clothes out of the baskets for a few days until I can't stand the mess and I fold everything again and put it all away.

We have a horrible laundry room, in that we don't have a laundry room at all. We rent and we found a house with laundry when we moved, but what it should say is washer and dryer hookups at the end of the kitchen between the oven and the pantry. It is a huge step up from the laundry mat but there is no storage for laundry and no room for folding of any sort. I was looking on Pinterest for ideas that I might actually be able to implement to make this never ending job a little easier or less chaotic.

I dream of this

This is about the space I have

Then I found this blog, the inquisitive mom. She has a great post on how to get each kids laundry organized, I will implement her two baskets per child idea for my two older kids and add it as the little ones can get into putting their clothes into their own basket. At this point I am lucky if they put their clothes into any hamper. They are often left on the bathroom floor or my bedroom floor.  So I am definitely going to have my husband ad the little shelf under the washer and dryer, this weekend. And hopefully I can get the older kids at least a little more organized on laundry.

Bites for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the holiday that I get to host. The grandparents on both sides still insist on having christmas festivities at their house. I get that but I really wish they would decide to all come over bringing their one (i can't get them to agree to this number either) gift per child on one day. Anyway I love hosting thanksgiving, it is so much nicer than toting the kids from one house to another. When we get all the families together it tends to be a pretty big event. I ask everyone to bring one side dish and end up only getting to cook a few basics, I always do the turkey and the pies and usually the potatoes and then I'm done.  I am not exactly complaining, it is really nice not being overly stressed by trying to make the huge spread. But I love to cook and I love to show off new or amazing recipes for anyone other than my kids (who refuse to try anything new).

So this year besides my tried and true basics.  I am going to make some small bites for the coffee table.  They need to be super beautiful, super delicious, and magically fit the dietary restrictions of my sister. She doesn't eat wheat, rice, or oat (it's kind of a pain) she never complains so I am always looking for a few recipes that never had these ingredients to start with. I would like to do about half sweet, and half savory.

Here are some amazing recipes I found, I will make all of them ahead of time, taste each one to make sure they are worth showing off and then store them in the freezer until the day of: Yummy, pretty and easy!

Sweet Stars

Aren't those the cutest? you can find the recipe here.

Cranberry Almond Cookies

  Not gluten free but a recipe many of my family members will love, find the recipe here.

Gingerbread Caramels

I know right. Amazing recipe here.

Fig and Olive Tapenade

Not as pretty as the others but the recipe looks super tasty, I will serve it with some crostinis and maybe some apple slices. Recipe here.

Broccoli Parmesan Fritters

I know amazing! I will definitely sub the a/p flour for some corn flour and of course fry them up just before serving. Find the recipe here.

Cucumber Cups and Salmon Salad

These should be light refreshing and super yummy. Recipe here.

I will let you know how they go over.

Seven Frugal Tips for getting ready for a second Baby

So I found these tips at http://www.thesimpledollar.com

Reuse everything you possibly can from the first child. Well I don't know yet if I'm having a girl or a boy, and I haven't saved everything from the first but I am saving now, and I am also shopping at local resale stores for baby items that are in great shape and 2-5.00 for clothes and very inexpensive on furniture and toys.

Evaluate new purchases in terms of hand-down-ability. I don't know so much about this one. I like the idea and it will be super easy if I end up with two girls, but at two she is staining and ripping and thoroughly ruining clothes better than ever. I also think it would be hard if I have a boy because we wear lots of lovely little dresses, but even on the clothes that could be neutral, Sophia is very long and thin with everything being adjustable waist and if the new baby is shorter or fatter the clothes won't fit right.

Watch for tremendous diaper deals. I look, and I save coupons. But I don't think I've ever seen the diapers on sale for less than the cost of a case at costco. I will keep looking for sales and always be mindful, but it feels like a pipe drea.

Prepare lots of food in advance. I am going to try this. This one will be harder for me because it requires being organized and I am still working on that. I have also tried and never really succeeded at making up lots of food on the weekends to make weeknight meals faster and easier. But I will keep working on it and who knows maybe in six months it won't sound like a challenge.

Simulate the experience of having a baby around with the older child. No problem. Sophia has two or three baby dolls that she loves to take care of , and she loves playing with her cousin who is eight months old.

Clean everything. I try to do this all the time anyway, I am sure when I get that nesting instinct it will become a total overhaul. In the meantime I am trying to teach Sophia to help with this and learn the picking up habits.

Invite family to stay with you. This one is not going to happen. We have a very small house and it will be full with me, and two kids. But my family lives in town so there will be lots of visits and I am going to take advantage of all the help they want to give to the baby, so that I don't forget to spend lots of quality time with my older girl.

I found one other tip that is pure gold, and it hadn't even occurred to me: When your older one wants to play don't blame the baby if you can't give them time. i.e. you are nursing the new one and the older one wants to play with you don't tell them "I can't I'm nursing you're sister/brother." Try something more normal like "I'm busy right now, but do you want to come help me?"

I didn't even realize that this would become a problem but thinking about it is so logical, if you blame the baby then she will blame the baby and feel resentful.

This time around...

Last Time I was Pregnant...

 

It was my first pregnancy

I read what to expect... cover to cover

Every complaint I had, my midwife said it was normal

I had serious withdrawls from caffiene whe I switched from a huge amount to almost none

I craved Ice Cream at three am (repeatedly)

I wanted peanut butter during a snow storm - I got peanut butter during the snow storm

I was petrified of labor

I was naseous for nine months

I was more in love than I ever thought possible

After the Pregnancy:

I thought my daughter was  the most beautiful thing in the world

I couldn't sleep I was revved up about it all being over

I felt instantly better, ten minutes later all the trouble of pregnancy totally gone

I couldn't believe how much it hurt when she nursed

I was so happy and then so sad, and then somewhere in the middle

I would never have made it through the first night at home without my mom's help

I was more in love than I ever thought possible

This time around... I want to do things better than last time, I will spend most of the pregnancy the same (hopefully not as sick) but I won't be afraid of labor because I remember how awful it was. I know now that I can handle it. I will try to exercise more, I did this a little last time but I want to be more dedicated to it this time. I won't let the pregnancy sickness or tired days limit my playtime with Sophia. She will still get as much attention as possible. She and I are working on her big girl things so that there will be (fingers crossed) no digression when the baby is born. I will let her help with the baby as much as she wants to and is capable (who says two and a half isn't old enough to feed with a bottle). I will put the baby on a schedule (last time it was on demand and not good for me) I will not let the baby nurse to sleep after the first month. I will make him/her sleep in his/her bed from the beginning ( I will have to get up but the sleep I do get will be better quality) and I will be once again more in love than I ever thought possible .