For the last few years, I’ve heard fellow moms around the blogosphere raving about the Motivated Moms planner (Click here to visit Motivated Moms.).  I always clicked over to see what it was all about, but never did anything about it.  This year, I decided to change that.

Our house is reasonably clean the majority of the time, but I don’t have a system in place to keep it that way.  I just run around putting out fires and it’s stressful!  Already, I can tell that this planner is going to help with that!  Each day, it has a list of daily chores for you to do, plus another list of chores for that particular day.  They even have a version of the planner that has daily Bible readings scheduled in (which I took advantage of)!

It does cost $8 (no matter which version you get), but it’s $8 well-spent in my opinion.  I’ve already looked through the entire e-book and am so excited about the changes I anticipate this bringing to our home (maybe it will even leave more time for rv repair…if that was something I needed time for! LOL).  For the record, I ordered the full-size page-per-day with Bible reading planner.

Update
You can now get $1 off your order when you use the coupon code NEWYEAR. This code is valid through January 14, 2010. Thanks, Laurie!

Disclaimer: I have not received any compensation or free products from Motivated Moms for this post.  It was written because I really like this product.  However, I am an affiliate of Motivated Moms and will receive a small percentage for every planner bought through the link above.

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One of the things I really struggled with after having a baby and especially after we had two was the housework.  Before I had kids, I had a system that really worked well for me.  I used a card file to organize all my chores and everything got done when it needed to.  But with all the chaos of having children, the card file quickly gathered dust.  I would forget to check it or would get off track because I didn’t have time to do certain things on the days they were supposed to be done on.

I tried several other systems before I hit on one that I’ve been using since Kelvin was born.  This works for me because it’s completely flexible and can change with our weeks, which are always different.

First, I made a list of all the things I want to get done every week.  Since I still have two small children, it doesn’t include detailed cleaning.  It’s just the basics that have to get done (sweeping, light dusting, cleaning bathrooms, etc.)….there will be plenty of time to dust the baseboards when the kids are older!!  Hey, maybe then they can even do it for me!!

Then every Sunday when I’m planning my week, I look at all the activities we have going on and figure out which days would be good for doing each chore.  For instance, I’m not going to try to sweep the house the day we have appointments and grocery shopping.  Then I write each chore from my list onto a day on the calendar.  Some days have three or four, some days don’t have any.  It all depends on what’s going on.

Now what about bigger jobs that don’t need to get done every week, but still need attention (like scrubbing the bedroom floors, vacuuming the stairs, purging the medicine cabinet, etc.)?  I don’t have a list of these jobs, but you could definitely make one if it would help you.  I just pick one thing that’s been bothering me to get done each week.  That way, things are getting done when they need to be done, not when they’re not even dirty yet.

I would highly recommend this system to any mom.  Let’s face it…none of our weeks are the same.  Some weeks, we have insanely busy Wednesdays, other weeks our busy day is Monday.  This system lets you schedule your housework around existing commitments, but since it is scheduled and it’s right there on your calendar, you don’t forget about it.  There’s nothing worse than realizing it’s Friday, the house is a wreck and you haven’t done any of the housework you needed to for the week yet!

For more fabulous organizing tips (and some giveaways this week!), visit Works For Me Wednesday!

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Before I had kids, I was nothing if not a morning person.  Morning was my most productive time of the day and the earlier I got up, the better!  In fact, when Chad would have to leave for work at 4 am, I would stay up after he left and clean the house before I went to work.

But now I have two alarm clocks in cute little pint-size bodies.  They get me up all night long and then insist on getting up for the day far too early.  Needless to say, I don’t get much done in the mornings anymore.  Especially since night-time is now my most productive time, since it’s my only alone time!

But, like it or not, I have to hit the ground running in the mornings.  For several months after Kelvin was born, I struggled with getting through the whole breakfast/clean-up/getting dressed routine before noon without someone or everyone melting down.  Then I discovered the benefits of preparing for the day the night before…which is perfect because that’s my most productive time anyway!

Here’s what I make sure to do every night:

1. Unload the dishwasher.  I run it after supper and unload it after the kids go to bed.
2. Get Kelvin’s meals ready.  Since I make my own baby food and have it stored in the freezer, I just get out the food he’s going to eat that day and have it in bowls in the refrigerator all ready to go.  All I have to do is heat it up!
3. Fill up the kids’ sippy cups and pour a cup of milk for Ava (stored in the fridge, of course).
4. Set up the coffee pot.
5. Clean up the downstairs.  I wipe the kitchen counters with Clorox wipes, pick up the living room and sweep the floors.  Coming downstairs to a messy house really puts a damper on the morning!
6. Check the weather and lay out clothes.
7. Take my shower.  Even if I don’t do any of the rest of these things, this one is the most important.  If I tried to squeeze in a shower every morning, I’m sure it wouldn’t happen most days!
8. Fill out my Daily Docket.  (Thanks Simple Mom!).  It’s good to have an idea of what our day will look like and what activities we’ll be doing, whether we’re going to stay home, run errands or go to the park and play on the swing sets!

Yes, it’s a lot of work at night, but it makes the mornings run so much smoother!!!  And a smooth morning paves the way for a great day!!

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Lately, I’ve been having a string of days filled with a terrible two’s attitude and a clingy baby and nights filled with fussing and wakefulness.  I wake up feeling just as exhausted as I was when I went to bed.  So “burnout” is putting it mildly for me right now!

Here are some of the best strategies for avoiding burnout, or at least preventing it from getting too out-of-hand.

1. Take care of yourself.  It’s really hard to take care of other people when you haven’t been taking care of yourself as well as you should.  This includes getting enough sleep, eating well and getting exercise.  I will be the first one to admit that I fall miserably short in most of these areas quite a bit of the time.  But when I’m focusing on these things, I feel so much better and it’s much easier to face the day and everything I need t0 do.
2. Take time for yourself.  Motherhood is a very selfless lifestyle.  The kids’ needs always need to be prioritized.  But when you get a break (nap time or bedtime), make sure to take a few minutes to do something you enjoy doing.  Lately, I’ve been reading for a little bit every night before I go to bed.  After spending all day doing the things I have to do, it’s amazing what just 10 minutes (because that’s about all I have before I’m too tired to keep my eyes open anymore) spent on myself can do for my attitude!  I also make sure I take a shower every day after the kids go to bed.  I do it at night so that I don’t have little people whining or popping their heads in the shower every couple minutes.  That is MY time and everyone knows it!
3. Make a Ta-Da list when you’re feeling especially overwhelmed.  This is a concept I got from Flylady awhile back.  Basically, you make a list of everything that you accomplished that day.  Just today, I was telling Chad that I got nothing done all day.  Then I realized that wasn’t true.  I took the kids to get their pictures done, I washed diaper covers, I washed diapers, I finally found all 40 cupcakes (don’t ask) and the list goes on.  But because those things weren’t things on my to do list, I don’t feel like I accomplished anything.  Now, if I’d gotten our hall closet organized like I’ve been wanting to do for weeks, I would have been all excited because I’d “gotten something done”!  A Ta-Da list can help shift your thinking and keep you from getting discouraged because you’re “getting nothing done”.
4. Find a good balance between getting out of the house and staying at home.  Most people will tell you to get out of the house to avoid burnout.  But if I’m running around every day, everything at home starts to suffer and I end up feeling overwhelmed and burned out.  But if I stay home every day and never get any social interaction, I end up feeling lonely an isolated.  That’s why it’s important to find a balance between the two.  For me, I have one errand-running day, one day at church and I try to get the kids to 2 playgroup a week.  This leaves 3 days for us to stay at home all day (plus, we’re not gone all day on the days we do go out).  This works really well for me at this time in our life.
5. Take a vacation day!  Obviously, moms don’t get a vacation, at least not when their kids are really small.  But every once in awhile, I have to have a day where I don’t do anything except the bare minimum.  I still change diapers and feed kids, of course, but everything else gets scaled back.  We stay in our pajamas, get a casserole out of the freezer for dinner, and just hang out and play and read books and watch Sesame Street together.  Believe me, it works!
6. Above all else, remember that this too shall pass….and someday we’re going to look back and miss it.  Try to enjoy the little things!

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I have a theory about mommy guilt. Maybe it’s something everyone else already knows and it’s just taken me this long to figure it out, but no one told me this, so it’s still my theory! It is that mommy guilt is a direct result of anticipating how other people will judge you.

Let me tell you how I came to this conclusion.

This morning, the mailman knocked on the door to give me a package. I answered the door in my pajamas…for the second day in a row! I instantly felt guilty and thought, “He must think I never get dressed and just lounge around in my pajamas all day every day!” See how the guilt came along with assuming he was judging me?

Then I realized I should not be feeling guilty! Even if he was judging me for still being in my pajamas, he had no idea that I’d been up 3 or 4 times the night before with an inconsolable baby who woke his sister up every time he woke up! He also didn’t know that I’d spent the morning changing diapers, making breakfast, washing diapers, and cooking a meal to bring to a family who’d just had a baby! And he didn’t know that when he knocked, I’d been in the middle of doing Ava’s alphabet flash cards (one of her very favorite things in the world!) with her! So even if he was judging me, who cares? I hadn’t done anything wrong! I’d just been so focused on my family that I hadn’t had time to get dressed yet (or even have a cup of coffee…yikes!).

That got me thinking how often I’ve judged other mothers without really knowing their situation (and I know I’m not the only one!). OK, some mothers deserve to be judged, but when it comes to a mom who’s really trying her best, we ought to cut her a little slack! We’re all in the trenches together!

Besides, I’ve found that a lot of the things I’ve judged other mothers for, I’ve ended up doing myself. For instance, I’d always judged moms who had their kids on “leashes”. Yup, you guessed it! After Kelvin was born, it became almost impossible to keep both kids under control in a store by myself, so I had to buy a cute little harness for her (which she loves, by the way…she’s always asking to put her puppy backpack on).

Anyway, I kind of went off on a tangent there, but I guess my point is that we need to not worry so much about what other people think and just concentrate on what we know is true and cut other mommies a little slack, too! After all, we don’t want to contribute to other people’s Mommy Guilt, do we?

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Here’s what I’ve learned about having two kids under two years old so far:

1. Empty the diaper pail.  Now.  Even though Kelvin is cloth-diapered 95% of the time, it’s crazy how fast the diaper pails fill up!!
2. Let the house go.  Honestly, the only things I’m keeping up with right now are laundry and dishes.  I wash laundry one day, fold it the next (we do laundry every other day around here).  I run the dishwasher every other day and empty it the next day.  I try to pick up the living room once a day after Ava goes to bed.  That’s about all I have time for at this point and that’s OK for right now!  A little dust never killed anyone!
3. Don’t expect too much.  Two kids is a full-time job (especially when one has acid reflux and insists on being held CONSTANTLY!), so I try to be realistic in my expectations on what I can get done.
4. I can spend quality time with Ava while I’m tied down nursing Kelvin.  We read lots of books while I’m feeding him!
5. Stay connected to friends and family.  It’s important for me just to have people to talk to and share every day life with, and it’s important to them because they want to keep up to date on everything going on with the kids, especially since all our family lives so far away.
6. Turn on some music or the TV.  It’s really hard sometimes being stuck in the house with only two little people, neither of which can string two words together.  Background noise is essential to maintain my sanity!
7. Showers rock!  It took me awhile to figure out how to squeeze in a daily shower (by myself), but I think I have it down now.  At this point, that’s pretty much the only thing I get to do everyday for me, so I look forward to it.
8. Use a baby carrier.  Kelvin’s still getting used to it, but my Peanut Shell is a lifesaver sometimes!
9. Ignore the clock.  There’s no point in even trying to get anything done by a certain time when my everyday life is dictated by two people who can’t tell time.
10. Don’t blink.  Even though it can be overwhelming sometimes, I know I’ll look back and miss this someday.  It’s going to go so fast and if I blink I might miss it!

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I feel awful today! My allergies are kicking my butt and now that I finally gave in and took an antihystamine I am falling asleep in mid-sentence with my kids. This got me to thinking…how can we moms cope when we don’t feel well but we can’t “call in sick?” It’s hard!

Here are a few ideas off the top of my head for coping with days when you don’t feel well.

Rest

When you are not feeling well, a great thing to do is to use all the times during the day when you normally would pay bills, scrub the floor, or do some other job and spend it on the couch instead. Ten minutes here and another ten there can get you at least a little extra rest when you’re not feeling well.

Ask For Help

Do your best to communicate your needs to your “support network” around you. If your support network is limited, even older siblings can be asked to help out more than usual. Don’t worry…they won’t be scarred for life if you ask them to help out a little extra for a day or two.

Lower Your Expectations

Yup. Unless it absolutely can’t be ignored…leave it for the next day. Although many of us shudder at the idea, clutter management, laundry, vacuuming, and even the dishes can wait if they have to.

Love Your Kids

Spend your down time snuggling with your kids. Reading books, telling stories, or just cuddling can all be done from the couch. They’ll love the extra attention and you’ll feel good about giving them some extra time even when you’re not feeling well.

A little time and extra TLC will hopefully be all that is needed to get you back on your feet again. Until then…do what you can and just try to get through it!

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I’ve been in “organize life” mode lately as we are embarking on a brand new homeschool year this week. This time of year always motivates me to get all my duckies especially organized and in a row and I find myself running around a little nuttily as I am driven to accomplish this.

As I write this, we have our first day under our belts…we had a decent supper, laundry is caught up, floors are vacuumed and swept, and house is pretty picked up.

I still have to organize the lessons for tomorrow morning and get kids ready for bed…but I am feeling pretty good about our first day.

What would I have to say if our day had not gone quite so well, though? Good question! I think I would say:

1. Focus on what went well
2. Analyze what went wrong
3. Cut myself some slack
4. Realize it’s a marathon and one day isn’t that important
5. Do what I can to insure tomorrow’s success
6. Do something that rejuvinates me
7. Get a good night’s sleep

I have had my share of “days like that.” I know how demoralizing they can be. The best thing you can do is just pick yourself up and start over the next day on the best foot that you possibly can!

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