Intrepid Murmurings

I love organization.  I love reading about it, I love looking at pictures of it,  and occasionally, I am good at accomplishing it myself.  I can do it if I try.  I just, often, don't.  Or, rather, I get overwhelmed, or distracted, or just lazy, and then ignore what needs to be done.  This has always been the case with me, but motherhood definitely makes it more obvious. Ha ha!  

One thing I've been thinking about (for months now) is how I needed to revamp the structure to our days.  I need to be more intentional about what we (and I) do, so that all the fun projects and ideas I have -- as well as the chores -- don't get continually pushed off to another day, or totally forgotten.  So many times I tell Emma "we can do that tomorrow" and then we never do, and she and I feel bad (I'm still mostly off the hook with the little ones, though I'm sure they'll start holding me to my words soon, too) .  

Waaaaaay back in April, I posted about being more intentional about daily planning and scheduling, and also brainstormed all the ideas I had about what exactly I wanted us to be doing.  But then, I was never able to make the leap and fill out a daily plan.  Writing down exactly what comes when is apparently akin to scheduling dental work, for me.  And so, here we are, it's now mid-August.  

But!  I had an epiphany last week, and it only took me another week to get it to fruition.  Progress!  I realized instead of an hourly, do-this-now kind of daily schedule, what I needed was more of a collection of ideas.  A guide, but with no particular order imposed.  So I created a form with all the elements that I knew I wanted, bringing together various lists I had going, either in my head, on paper, or on my computer.  I printed a bunch of them, and have them on a clipboard that I can carry wherever I want.  

What's on my daily plan page?  A to-do list, with space for only 6 (!) things, including outings, I want to remember and accomplish.  A space to write in meal plans: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack (dinners I try to fill out ahead weekly, the rest kind of fall into place a few days, or hours, in advance).  

I also created boxes for different types of activities I want to make sure we get to each day: independent play (things the kids do alone, by themselves), cooperative play (things they do together, for the most part, but hopefully without my constant assistance), and "projects together" (things I do WITH them, either one-on-one or as a group).   I also put a box for TV, so I can keep track of who's turn it is to pick, and what or how much they've watched (I limit it to an hour a day, sometimes its less).   

At the top right corner, I left a blank space big enough to clip on one of the Positive Discipline Tool Cards, which are kind of a cheat sheet/memory jog for various positive discipline strategies I am trying to work on.  I've been trying to figure out how to use these cards, and I think this will be a great way to remember to look at them! 

I also left some bank spaces, either for more activity ideas, notes, or to jot down quotes or funny things I want to remember.  So far, its been working well! Some days I get to it more than others, but even if I haven't filled out every box, the fact that its on the page is enough of a reminder.  And never fear!  There are plenty of days when we don't get to many of the activities or tasks on the list!  But, then I can just circle it and transfer it to another day.  I think this should help a lot! 

How much do you plan out your day with kids?  Have you written out a schedule?  Are you a list person like me?  How structured are you, and how do you remember what you want to accomplish each day? 

In my process of contemplating more of a schedule for our days at home, I'm trying to think of different ways to fill our time. Meals and bedtime, I am happy to say, we have down.  The routines around those things usually work (though they certainly can use some tweaking, especially now as the little ones are getting older!). Its what happens around those set times that I need to work on. 

Generally, if we are not going out (for preschool, outings, playdates, etc) we have "playtime" off and on all day.  Basically, I say "go play!" or I pull out toys or set things up, and then hope they take to it.  But all day long, this gets tedious.  Sometimes, they are great at it, everyone engaged, either playing together or side by side.  So awesome! Sometimes, nobody wants to do anything, they all whine and cry and annoy each other. Often, its a mix of  one or two kids doing okay, one or two needing help or attention.  

So I am trying to think of different ways to mix things up, things that we sometimes do but not always (or just not enough), that we can work into a more regular rotation, either daily or weekly.  Here are some ideas (some I got from the book I am reading right now, some elsewhere): 

"rug time" -- time in the living room (or wherever) where the girls have to stay in their assigned space (rug, blanket on the floor, etc) and play with the things that are set out there (a mix of books and toys -- puzzles, people, dollhouse, blocks, etc).  They cannot get up and wander over to someone else's space.  We tried this the other day when they were all getting on each others nerves, and it went pretty well!   I let them rotate through the three spaces, every 5-8 minutes or so.  The little ones needed some help staying put but they all did it!  This kind of reminds me of "centers" in school.

"room time" -- time playing by themselves in their rooms.  Like rug time, this is for independant/individual play.  I think Emma will be fine with this but I am still trying to figure out what it will look like for Elsie and Delia (currently 22 months).  Since the point is to be playing by yourself (but they share a room), I will probably have to move one of them into my room during this time?  This won't be for a LONG period of time (similar to rug time) but I like that it encourages independent play and gives them some "down time" from each other.  Ideally this is done without much assistance from me...

art projects, cooking, gardening-- pretty self explanitory! Generally needing my help/guidance for most of it, obviously.   

directed play -- time where we all play together with the same thing.  Pretend/dress up, little people or animals, dolls, blocks, marble towers game, what else....?  This is something I RARELY do, as I mentioned in this post awhile back.  And its hard for me to figure out, honestly!  What kind of play do you do WITH your kids?  Ideally not the same stuff they gravitate towards by themselves (which they can/will choose to do during free play times), right?  

story time -- right now this happens before nap & bedtime, not sure if I want to add another time in though earlier/later in the day as well...?

cleaning/work/job time -- not just routine clean up (though that will be in the schedule too!) but things like helping me scrub things, sweep, sort laundry, etc.

outside play, porch play, walks, indoor physical/gross motor activities --I need some ideas of indoor stuff to do to get them moving, other than the crazy games of chase & wrestling that goes on sometimes...

quiet time/nap -- nap for the little ones, quiet time for Emma.  My challenge right now is what "quiet time" looks like.  Must she lie down in the dark and listen to her books on tape?  For how long?  Can she stay "up" and read books with the light on?  What about drawing, quiet games, puzzles, etc? Must she stay in her room for all of quiet time?  Please share what this looks like in your house, if you have no-longer-nappers!  

TV/computer time -- I am not ashamed to admit, we often do this daily, generally for 30-60 minutes or so...  

What am I missing?  Do you do something regularly with your kids that I haven't covered?     

Around the time I started making dinner again most nights (once the twin newborn baby insanity calmed down a bit -- before that Lonnie cooked after work), I started trying to menu plan for the first time in my life.  Up until then I'd shop for fresh things and keep a well-stocked pantry, and we'd just fly by the seat of our pants.  Which was fine -- I think between the two of us we can think up and cook up a ton of great meals that way. But, once there were three kids on the scene, shopping took on greater importance.  Or rather, shopping effectively, so that we are prepared for the whole week and don't have to run to the store any more than necessary.  It also helps with the budgeting and shopping cheaply, which I have been trying to do (somewhat).

We still like a little wiggle room so we tend to stock both our freezer and pantry pretty well and don't always stick to the plan, but mostly we do.  I often only menu plan 5 days a week, leaving two free, and sometimes I just plan out a certain number of meals for the week and decide the day of which meal to make that night.

So here's this week!  I always save them so I think I have close to a year of these plans now  -- I kind of want to collect them into a big list or idea binder or something (because its kind of ridiculous for me to keep creating it from scratch every week), but what that will look like is still percolating....

Note that we don't eat beef or dairy (all parts cow) for dinner due to Lonnie's allergies.  Occasionally I will cheese up the rest of our portions, but mostly its free of those ingredients.   I also sometimes add extra foods for the kids (yogurt, applesauce, frozen peas, etc) not included in the menu.  

Sunday: Awesome sweet and spicy Asian pork shoulder (in the slow cooker), with bok choy, coleslaw, brown rice, roasted carrots/parsnips

Monday:  Curried chicken salad with grapes (using Costco rotisserie chicken) on brown bread rolls, artichokes*

Tuesday: Something with tofu & asparagus -- any suggestions?  Stir fry or soup with rice or pasta if nothing more exciting comes to mind.   

Wednesday: Hilary's Heavenly Eggs (Eggs braised in tomato sauce on crusty bread),  green salad with pears & nuts

Thursday: Bean, sausage and pasta soup (leftovers, from the freezer), glazed carrots 

Friday:  Fish & potato combo (tin foil packets, or maybe our favorite baked fish --subbing mayo for the butter in that one -- and oven fries), pureed squash (from the freezer)  and asparagus.

Saturday:  Fried chicken drumsticks, cornbread, Waldorf salad 

Sunday:  Hmm, Easter dinner!  Not sure yet what our plans are or if it will be something fancy or not...  

* Today's dinner was all thanks to Costco (well, the chicken, grapes, rolls and artichokes) where I had a great shopping trip with ALL THREE kids today, woo hoo!  Its not my first time doing this at all,  but I still always feel great when I manage to pull it off without a hitch.  Lonnie made the chicken salad with homemade mayo and it was delish!  All three of my kids ADORE artichokes and Costco is one of the only semi-affordable places to get them...

Toss me a bone, give me a click! Thanks!

Not too good in the blogging department this week -- life is getting in the way!  

Everyone still in various stages of recovery from this nasty cold.  Emma was gloriously happy to go back to school after a missed week, but I had to keep the babies home from a twins playdate because they slept like CRAP last night and needed an AM nap.  As did I, but organized and cleaned up the spice cabinet (aka random stale spices in a sticky ocean of honey) and did online price comparisons for overnight diapers (so worth it!) instead.  FUN!  And they slept for almost 2 hours!  Ran out to pick up Emma from school, and then around lunchtime Elsie became a sad, screaming mess thanks to an ear infection*. Luckily I was able to grab a 5:30 Dr. appointment, fed everyone first then got to the appointment, got the required meds (thank you modern medicine, especially numbing ear drops because ibuprofin wasn't touching it!), and then literally was home for 15 min before heading out again (leaving Lonnie with three screaming kids at bedtime, yeeps!) to arrive half an hour late to a parenting class.  Halfway through the class I realized I left my phone in the car, and called home to check in and they were all asleep.  Whew.  

For two hours every Tuesday night I am taking a class on Positive Discipline at Emma's preschool.  LOVING IT!  Its really great (except for the part where I have to ROLE PLAY, OMG) and I will post more about it soon.  

I've also been tackling various housecleaning and organizing projects (in small chunks, since thats all I can handle) and thats been good.  So much more to do, but it feels like progress.  

Right now I am eating ice cream and listening to silence.  Heaven.  

*as for the ear infection, its actually great that we've made it this far through the winter without more problems, since last year both Elsie and Delia were getting them with every cold that came through.  This is the first since early last spring!  No more talk of tubes, at least for now.   Of course now I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, since in the past if one had it the other always got it too.  So far Delia seems fine (though she was up a lot in the night, too), so we'll see.  I'm guessing its about 75% likely I will be back to the Dr's office within the week for her... 

As do millions of folks, I am sure, January is the time of year I make big plans for organizing our house and lives.  I've never been able to stay on the wagon long enough to tackle it all, but I feel like we have been making gradual progress over the past year!  I am hoping to make a lot more progress this year, and maybe get to a point where its mostly maintenance work, not big overwhelming projects.

Since the babies were born a month after we moved in to our new house, a lot of things that I would have done got put on the (very) back burner.  Like hanging artwork.  After 20 months, I am proud to say we have art hanging on the walls now!  In the past week or so I have put up some of my own art in the living room, some prints in the upstairs bathroom, some cool old Raggedy Ann and Andy cutout/paintings (made my grandma for my baby room!) in Elsie and Delia's room and a cork board for art in Emma's room. Lonnie helped today with hanging two things in our upstairs stairwell, too, hooray!

I still have lots to do, but I am trying to find time to do at least one organization thing each day. Sometimes it is very small -- yesterday it was tackling the barrette and hairband drawer (which is admittedly a big-ish project around here, ha ha)! Some things I hope to do in the next week or so: 

-file paperwork and pay bills
-drop off a box of things to Goodwill (and hopefully fill another one)
-list (and sell!) a few things on Craigslist or my multiples club classifieds section
-take a lamp in to be fixed (that has been sitting broken for at least a year!)
-begin sorting our CD collection into CD binder books
-order some prints of photographs of the girls and our family to be framed and hung

Think I can stay on task and actually get these things done?  I hope so!  What tops your organizational to-do's this month (or year)? 

Wow,  its been quite a year!  What a difference 12 months makes!  Things were definitely starting to look up this time last year in terms of getting a handle on the baby insanity, and have only gotten better and better as the months progressed.  Its been nice to be able to get back to a more balanced life, in some ways!  We certainly have room for improvement, but in generally I think we have been doing pretty well.  

Things I am proud of accomplishing in 2009:  

Working hard (but gently) to create and keep our girls on a good, solid sleep schedule.  Serving our girls and our family good, healthy, home cooked meals, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week.  Keeping up with laundry and basic cleaning (admittedly with help there for awhile, but no longer!).  Taking the girls on more outings and activities during the week.  Volunteering my time with the multiples club. Doing more writing, and planning for more.  Slowly, slowly, slowly tacking projects around the house, including organizing, yard work, etc.    

Things I hope to accomplish in 2010:

Reaching out and connecting with more old and new friends IN REAL LIFE, not just online.   Purging and organizing our home and routines, to make it a more peaceful and efficient place to live.  Working more diligently on budgeting, especially in terms of groceries and household purchases.  Getting the kids out of the house (and outside) more often, even in the winter months! Building more toddler & preschool friendly projects into our days at home.  Reaching more people with my writing.   Going out on date nights with my husband EVERY month.  Or more?

What's some of your accomplishments or goals for this past year, or next?  Any tips for me on mine?