Hear ye, hear ye! Margaret fits in my Ergo! I tried her on in my Ergo this morning, expecting that she would not yet fit, but wondering how much she had to grow. Turns out she fits very comfortably (and I don't have the Ergo newborn insert). Wearing the baby this way will be so much easier on my back!
I was thinking this morning about how mothers do calculations all the time, including the one where I weigh my exhaustion level against how long an activity will occupy the children and how much mess it would require of me to clean up. This morning after we baked the week's bread, the kids wanted to find out what would happen if they mixed flour and water and poured it out on the countertop. I decided that their fascination level was high enough that this activity was worth my having to clean it up later. But often I'm wrong about these "calcuations"!Do you stay-at-home mothers find that you spend most of your days in the kitchen? As I'm just really "coming back on line" this week (no more of Chris' time off, no more meals delivered to me, my aunt having flown home), I am reminded about just how much time I spend in this room. Not that this is a bad thing, but I do find myself trying to make the kitchen area really pleasant for me because it is my Working Office.
I start out the day down here. Even my Morning Offering prayers and my pray-for-people list are posted right above my kitchen sink. I put away clean dishes, cook breakfast, clean up from breakfast. After getting the kids ready, I come right back to the kitchen for whatever is in store: laundry (I wash in the laundry room and fold on the dining room table, both areas of which are adjacent to the kitchen), homeschooling activities at the kitchen table (right now our butterflies are living in the kitchen), baking bread or sweets, sweeping the ever-messy floor, and, of course, the cycle of cooking. I keep my computer in the kitchen because if I kept it anywhere else, I wouldn't get to use it. I wander away from the kitchen to the adjacent den many times per day to nurse and change the baby. But, seriously, I'm in this kitchen most of the time from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. when we migrate upstairs for the kids' evening routine. It's quite surprising for me to ponder how important this room is to my life, my vocation, and our family! Do you other moms have a similar experience?
Speaking of kitchens . . . I am trying to take back the healm and start cooking our dinners again. While my aunt was visiting, I took advantage of her occupying the children to plan our meals for six weeks. My goal is then to review the meal plan each week and make necessary changes based on any social outings or if Chris will be traveling for work. I think I've written on the blog before about what a weak spot meal planning is for me, how it paralyzes my brain! Therefore, I feel much relief at having meals planned so far into the future.
Then comes the work of actually cooking them. Oh yes, I have been known to plan the meals, buy the groceries, and not cook the meals! I've been doing well this week. I am taking a lesson from my dear friend Rebecca who is a much more dedicated cook than am I. She learned after her very first baby that her only way to cook nice meals for the family was to start in the morning and work at elements of the dinner all day until it was done. That is what I have been trying (after my third baby) and it's working out beautifully. Today I already have the week's bread baked, the chicken roasting (which will also be used in a couple meals later this week), and the pinto beans cooked (in the slow cooker, which I did for dinner two night's ago), as well as the rice. All I have left to do is prepare the beans with this recipe I am trying, and prepare the corn salad--one or both of which tasks I hope to do before taking the kids this afternoon to a homeschooling family's farm-ette where we will be learning about brood cicadas!
Hurray for the Ergo! I still carry 28# Jamie in mine!! :) And he'll still nap back there.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I'm ALWAYS in the kitchen!!! Sure wish I had a place for my computer in my kitchen...most of the time, my only means on internet communication/etc is via my iPhone (one of the many reasons I haven't updated my poor family blog is ages!).
I know what you mean about spending most of your time in the kitchen. When we moved to this house some years ago, I had several home improvement projects lined up. My sister-in-law advised that we work on the kitchen first because, she said, that's where we'd spend most of our times, so we might as well make it pleasant.
ReplyDeleteKatherine,
ReplyDeleteYou look great! BTW, do you wish you had purchased the infant insert for your Ergo? I am on the fence about it right now but need to do it soon if I am going to do it.
I would say that I spend a huge amount of time in the kitchen, but then again, our kitchen, LR, DR are contiguous spaces. We do everything in this/these area(s).
Have you ever taken a look at EMealz? I went there today to look at their sample menus. I'm thinking about doing it. Friends of ours in another town were telling us how much easier it made their daily lives and how much less they spent on their grocery budget by doing this. Since I have never had a meal plan and wing it and hate winging it, I am hopeful that it could be a good fit for us.....simpler and easier is getting to be a must.
Ashley: No, I don't want to buy an Ergo infant insert. I think that when newborns are so new and floppy, they really prefer something like a Moby or Maya. Soft fabric totally encases the newborn and makes him feel swaddled. That's just my preference.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of EMealz! It looks really cool and I like things that get a seal of approval from Dave Ramsey. One reason I hadn't tried it is that we're a split meat eater and vegetarian household, plus tack on one of the children being a super picky eater. So I'm doing a lot of split cooking and those automated meal plans can't accommodate for that. But if you don't have those problems, I think it'd be worth trying.
I definitely spend most of my time in the kitchen! There is always so much to do and it's always drawing me back in!
ReplyDeleteStarting dinner prep in the morning is a great idea. Something that I only remember to do on occasion - but would also be greatly facilitated by having a prepared meal plan (which I have been poor at the past several months.) Cooking ingredients in bulk and freezing them saves me many times when I haven't planned ahead.
Sounds like you might like a mei tai, especially for the newborn days. It is more supportive than a ring sling and less work to put on and off than a moby wrap, and suitable for newborns. You can even do a newborn back carry! (although I've never been able to do it for long periods of time.)
I live in the kitchen it seems, and yet it is always messy. The floor is never clean, and I have even moved my computer downstairs so I can use it while in the kitchen, so I totally understand what you are saying!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe Margaret is getting so big, so fast! It's wonderful she fits in the Ergo and thereby, is easier on your back.
I love my Ergo! I was able to use it without the insert for my 10# newborn. I have even worn my 32# preschooler in it.
ReplyDeleteI do spend most of my day in my kitchen. We are getting ready to move and the most important room in the houses that I look at is the kitchen!
Hey Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI tried Malcolm in the ergo yesterday (without the insert which I could never figure out!), and he was okay for a short time. Where are Margaret's feet in your ergo? Malcolm's were kind of tucked under.
Love, Jessica
Jessica: Margaret is still in the kangaroo hold, in which the feet are in a frog or fetal position. All scrunched up!
ReplyDelete