Day 30: Sick Baby!

Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging... and that is just how it has to be. Little Man caught a stomach bug from daycare. The last two days have had a lot of snuggles, diapers, and pedialyte.

Day 27: What's a Family to Eat?

We are on day 2 of snow days... so Little Man and I didn't go to work. We stayed home and as of right now we have chicken in the oven. I was going to make baked chicken until I realized that I did have rice crispies or special k at my house... so instead I dipped the chicken in chipotle ranch dressing and backed it for 15 minutes and then checked it and poured a little more dressing and then put some butter in the dish to keep things moist. I am baking it at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. It smells delicious, but that has led me down a path of destruction before. Dinners have about a 50/50 chance of turning out. My philosophy is keeping and open mind and trying new things.

Feeding my family more than frozen pizzas or cereal and pb sandwhiches is important. Though, it is going to take a little longer to be able to find balance and keep this going... I think we are on the right path.

Day 26: Winter is Here

We are in a region wide (my part of the start) winter weather warning, though it sounds like western Wisconsin is also getting hit by the snow. Little Man and I are in our jammies. We just stirred the chili and will be stirring it again shortly. We took a couple of naps and watched the snow fall outside. The visibility is better now than what it was before... but snow emergencies are being called everywhere and business are closing down. I am so very glad that I got LM some more baby food and picked up a gallon of milk for us.
We are just doing laundry and hanging out... it is way too windy for us to go outside and see if little man even likes the snow. Winter is here to stay I would say, so I imagine we will have a lot of time for that.

Day 25: One Bite at a Time

Lately,  I haven't felt like I have had a lot of things to say on the blog, because everything seems to be very ordinary-- Little Man and I do a lot of day to day things like laundry, dishes, playing, and trying to figure out what we can make for supper based off of our very odd pantry staples. Harvest time almost always kills my groove and turns me into a person who is stressed frazzled, and doesn't have enough hours in the day to get anything done. Right now at our house is rush time because we have heard that we are going to get anywhere from 0-16 inches of snow in the next 48 hours... This seems like over kill to me mother nature, but my opinion is irrelevant. Mother Nature is still going to do her thing. So, I am going to turn up the heat a little bit in the house and I am going to try and get a little bit more laundry done. I did pull a lot of unnecessary stuff out of my car this evening when I finally got Little Man settled for the night. This whole teething thing is going to be death of this mama. What I have noticed is that when I am at my whits end with the crying and the teething pain thing... there is a continual urge just for one more snuggle until my frustration subsides.

Which is kind of how I feel about putting my house back together... Yes, there are a lot of things that need to be done and it is totally overwhelming when I put it in the context of what I need to do everyday. When I work on putting my house back together one task at a time, it does seem way more manageble. So, right now even though I am tired and cold I am going to pick a couple of tasks to do-- so that tomorrow I am able to do a couple more tasks and then eventually my house will be put back together. I have to keep in mind that I have a lot of responsibilities, but if I work at things a little bit at a time they go so much better.

I do wish that the snow would be in such a rush to greet us, but it was bound to happen... so I guess that it is better just to get it over with and move on to our next thing. Though, snow does complicate what I was going to wear to work tomorrow, because a dress on the first snow of the year is ALWAYS a bad idea!

Day 24: Wrapping Up the Week

I am in the process of wrapping up the week, I have one more official day of work and then I switch gears to full-time mama for the weekend. What I am looking at entails copious mounts of laundry and dishes.... I am currently drinking cider out of a Christmas mug, because that was the last clean one in the cupboard and now we have no clean mugs/ glasses.... During the week it is sometimes easier to just push things to the side, because when I get home from work I want to spend time with Little Man in addition to things that have to be done like making supper, and preparing ourselves for the next day. The weekend is usually more relaxed, because we don't have concrete deadlines. We can  hang out in our jammies and watch a cartoon. Little Man loves The Doozers on hulu. The episodes are 10-12 minutes long... we don't watch a lot of tv, but this show I recommend because it has great morals, bright colors, music, and are fun.

This weekend will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end. I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday.

Day 29: Working Mama, Traveling Mama

Little Man and I are gone a lot between work and other obligations. So, I have become really good at packing a diaper bag for day long adventures. I thought I would share with you what I always keep in my diaper bag today.

Here is my diaper bag, though mine is in the print navy wave (which has been discontinued). I love the outside pockets and the fact that it has a zip top. 

I keep a flannel receiving blanket in there-- it does double duty if we are at restaurants or malls I use it on the changing tables. If we are going to a family members or friends we use it as a burp cloth. It one of those pregnancy brain induced purchases that was well worth the eight dollars a pack that I spent on them.

I have a pacifier and pacifier clip in my diaper bag. Little Man loves his pacis, they soothe him and they will be easier to take a way than his thumb. Though, some days he has an attitude about the clip and just wants his paci. So, I keep a munchkin paci & bottle wipes in the diaper bag. Eventually the paci ends up on the ground and this is really helpful to have.

I also have Boogie Wipes. My kid always seems to have a stuffed up nose, and theses seem to help get the boogies out and keep his nose from getting raw.

I always have a book or two in his diaper bag.

We have a couple of toys in there. Right now he is loving his cloth bunny rattle, his monkey toy, and his links. I try to switch the toys out every once in awhile. 

I of course have diapers and wipes. With one of cases of diapers we got a Diapees & Wipees diaper holder with a little plastic case for wipes. I love this thing! I can't fit as much in it now that he is in size 3 diapers, but when he was little I could fit diapers, wipes, Vaseline, and his little bottom lotion. The other nice thing about it is that when we are at grandma's house I can just grab that thing and away we go! This last time that I bought a case of wipes I got this little re-usable wipes travel case... and I love it! It is way better than the individual packs of travel diapers. We use Pampers diapers and Huggies natural care wipes. When it is necessary I throw in diaper cream or other necessaries.

Of course you will need baby food... as in substance for the little one.  Little Man is still drinking formula, though we are introducing pureed baby foods. What I have found that if we are going to be gone for a little while those teeny tiny rubbermaid plastic containers work great (I also use them form spice mixtures)! If I am going to be gone for say a whole day I will throw two of those in my bag and bring the big formula container, but leave it in the car. That sucker gets heavy toting it around the mall. I buy bottled water for Little Man, mainly because there usually isn't a drinking fountain close by when he wants to eat. For as much as we have to be out and about, I prefer to be home during our fruits/ veggie meal Little Man makes quite the mess and a good portion of the time it ends up in my hair. Not because he spits it out, but because he touches my face or hair while he is eating.

(none of these links are affiliate links, they are more or less to give you an idea of what I am talking about)