Five on Friday- Kids' Favorite Things

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you are more cheerful than my crew when I attempted to take a picture at 5 PM yesterday evening during their long requested viewing of the new Pinkalicious show!  You would think I'm above such amateur moves.

 Another day, another attempt to get three kids to look at me.

1) OUTSIDE!
Scooter rides on the greenway have been our jam all year, but with the nice weather they've been more frequent.  I try to explore a new section to keep things fun.  And there are a couple of cool playgrounds along the way.  We saw 7 turtles and 2 ducks in one section on Tuesday, then played at a new playground.  Then had Chick Fil A for dinner.  Everyone was very happy.  Including me, because I got to sneak in a 2 mile power walk under the guise of kid activity.  And because I like to see turtles too.

2)  WAAAASSSAAABIIII!!!
We made an executive decision to take the kids to Japanese steakhouse (their favorite) on Saturday evening last weekend. It was a great diversion to the nonstop rain.

 Dell Harper "I think tonight might be the best night ever!"

Tommy was a little scared of the fire, but then got in his baby groove.  Deeds was too busy eating to fool with any photo ops.

3)  Audible Books (for Children)

Our favorite diversion in the car of late?  Audiobooks!  We got several Junie B. Jones books on CD at the local library.  The kids are obsessed!  Deeds says "I'm ready for JUNEYBEEJONE now!", after his initial reluctance due to the fact that he couldn't see anything. Warning- the books do use the s-word (stupid), so we have to talk about how Junie  B. says that but we don't, etc.

I must admit, I am enjoying Miss Junie B. and her kindergarten travails very much.  Far better than Kidz Bop or Kids' Place Live.  That Lorenzo Llama makes me want to tear my ears off.

4)  Little Hoot Designs
I always brag on my friend Colleen's clothing business, but she just really knocks it out of the park!

 Love this model!

Here's some stuff from her latest show, which I shamelessly pulled from their instagram (@little_hoot_designs)

 I ordered this entire outfit for DH.  Y'all- the prices are great, and you can feel good about letting your kids just play.  Or go to school.  Or eat food with impunity.  Or at least without following them with a bottle of oxyclean.

This is Deeds' favorite shirt.  He refused to take it off during this modeling session, then got snot all over from the ensuing temper tantrum.  I bought it, and it's still his top requested shirt.

And their appliqués are fantastic as well!

Those bloomers are enough to give me baby fever!

I did nab these bloomers for Tommy.  Those fat little legs need to be on display at all times! Here's the website- http://www.littlehootdesigns.com

5)  Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

So I've been struggling to try and read DH chapter books, since we read books together with Deeds at night.  I'm trying to squeeze in a chapter of one of my childhood favorites- Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

There are a few illustrations (by none other than Hilary Knight of Eloise fame), and each chapter stands alone.  We are both enthralled!

So that's it for me- we are headed to a beer and Girl Scout cookie pairing fundraiser for the Girl Scouts tonight, then I get to have a GNO with one of my best friends from Georgia who's coming in town this weekend from Charleston.  I can barely contain myself!!

Finally, again, thank you all so much for the encouragement and kindness.  I was reviewing documents while Tommy took his bath, and the kids got extra screen time last night.  I started to feel bad, but then remembered we're all in this boat in one way or the other!

Linking up with the Five on Friday gals!




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Thoughts on Thursday- Secrets to Doing it All

• First of all, I want to say thank you for all the comments and encouragement on my last post.  I wish I had some secret to making it all happen, but I'm in the trenches too.

• Ooooh, I did think of one piece of advice I didn't include.  TAKE HELP WHEN OFFERED!  I really didn't do this until Tommy.  For example when a friends says "Do you want me to take Deeds to the birthday party?"  I no longer say "Oh, I got it!" then arrive at said party with my entire crew in to and miss the baby's nap.  Or whatever.   Instead, I graciously and thankfully accept (and say a little prayer of gratitude for my "village").

• My other secret is to ask for help.  That's a tough one for me- I don't like asking my parents, or my friends, or getting tons of babysitters.  But sometimes I have to!  And so I do.  And I try not to feel guilty about it.  Try is the operative word!

So that's it!  We all need a little help from our friends. Now, my sad desk salad is complete, and its back to work for an hour before pickup.

How I Make it Work- Working From Home

Work and life has gotten in the way of posting, which is rather boring, but I'm squeezing this into my day while waiting on return phone-calls and emails.

A reader asked for a run-down of how I handle working from home with little ones.  I don't know if I do the best job, but it's always interesting to read how we all manage things.  I'm interspersing some cute pictures of my children in case you don't care about working from home.

So quick background-  I'm an attorney for my family's business.  I work from home as I am needed.  This is great because I'm not twiddling my thumbs from 9-6 when I'm not busy.  Of course, it also means that sometimes I juggling a sixty hour work week with part time childcare.  It's a tradeoff that works well for me and my personality though.

The boys are in school four days a week from 9-2:30 (this fluctuates some, as Deeds goes to 2 schools- more on that later).  Dell Harper is in kindergarten, so she goes from 7:45-2:35 each day.  While they are at school, I work, prep dinner, switch out laundry, and (if I'm slow) exercise.  Having a limited window forces me to really focus and buckle down.  Also, I know if I don't get my stuff done, I will be working from 7-11 PM that night.

Sometimes that switch is worth it to me.  For example, today I wanted to do my group training class at 10, so I headed to my office at 6 AM and worked for an hour to get a head start.  Other times, when I'm super slammed, I know that it will be 9-2:30, plus nights, plus early mornings.  And I'm down with that!  I value the flexibility of my job so much- it makes it easy to sit in my office revising documents until late at night, knowing I can take my kids to the playground after school the next day.

Also, I love not having to put on work clothes and do my hair everyday.  After seven years of suits and panty hose, it is glorious! Wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt knowing I'm going to get kid gunk on me is great.

So that's the good things about straddling both working mom and stay at home mom worlds.  The bad is that I straddle both worlds.  I feel the childcare, housekeeping and volunteer expectations of a stay at home parent, as well as the work demands of a working mom.

What ends up suffering is self-care and time with Morgan.  I very rarely sit on the couch and watch tv with Morgan after the kids are down.  It's either housework, prepping dinner and lunches for the next day, or work.  My house gets messy because the kids are in it all afternoon, but I don't have time while they are in school to clean, because that's work time.

Also, I feel guilty if I use that kid-free time for myself- I don't mind sneaking off for an hour to exercise, but haircuts or eyebrows, or nails, etc.?  I just can't justify it.  That's why my hair is so ratty!  I make it for a haircut about 2x a year.  I also quit coloring my hair when I quit working full time.  It was just too much time and money to spend on myself.

The last tricky thing is childcare.  It doesn't make sense financially or otherwise to send the kids to daycare full-time.  Instead they go to preschool (except DH now that she's in kindergarten).  Last year the preschool at our church (where we have been since DH was 18 months old), cut Deeds' days from 4 to 3.  This was huge for me, because (as mentioned above), although some weeks I could get by with 2 days a week, other weeks I need full time.  So 4 days a week is the baseline for my sanity.  I can make it all work with that amount of time.  So, luckily I got Deeds into Tommy's school as a sibling.  Tommy attends a different program (that Deeds used to attend) that allows babies.  Next year, we are quitting my church's preschool and both boys will go to the same place.  It's bittersweet, as I loved my church's program.  However, as flexible as my job is, I can't take a chance on not having consistent days.  The other issue is snow days, illness days off or sick kids.  I'm in the same boat with working parents all over.  When school is out, I am scrambling.

Ahh, no botox, no makeup, dirty hair in ponytail selfie.  HAAWWWWTTT.

Here's the thing, though.  I would much rather have non-highlighted hair, big pores, and bushy eyebrows, and get to spend more time with my kiddos, yet work too.  If I was fully stay-at-home, I might go absolutely insane.  I need breaks from my wild and crazy crew.  It makes me (just me, personally) a better parent to have away time.  I love working for my family.  I love using the analytical part of my brain, as well as this degree I worked so hard to obtain.

I feel like I should end this with some grand inspirational quote.  I got nada.  Instead, I will tell you the truth.  I always feel like I have a window open.  For example- I'm taking work calls in the middle of making cookies with my kids, or answering emails on my phone on the playground or when snuggling. At work, sometimes I'm on a call frantically motioning to my kids to be quiet in the car.

I read all this stuff about being intentional and present.  And I think, "shit."  Because I'm not doing that.  and I wish I was.

Instead, I'm doing the best I can.  Like we all should.  So I'm going to try and continue that- intentionally doing my best.  And that's okay.

Oprah time is done.  Just call me if you need an inspirational speaker.  I'm the one in the ratty Old Navy running tights and no shower for a few days.

This picture is old.  Tommy doesn't have bottles anymore.  I look tired.  Because I am.  But I also look content.  Because I am.