Weekly Update: 11

28 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by Kandice Mann in Children, Christianity, Infant, Toddler, Weekly Update Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

This week Kennedy was teething, starting solids, and having some separation-from-mommy issues, and we stepped up our game on potty training with Kaylynn. From the beginning of this journey, I declared in my heart (and I think on this blog too), that my girls take priority over any lists. They are too precious and time is too short for me to ignore them when they need me, just so I can get another load of laundry done or even save our family a few extra dollars.

It’s a hard balance though. At this point in my journey, I know that I am sacrificing some of the time I wish I could be spending with them so I can break my 27 years of bad habits. But I have to keep things in perspective when I do choose a task on my list over them. Part of My Housekeeping Mission Statement says” I will make strides everyday… to set an example for my children.”

I don’t want my girls to fall into the same sinful life that I have up to this point. And yes, I say sinful because my disorganization stems from being lazy and being a poor steward of my time. It’s a harsh truth but it comes with the reality that only by God’s grace, mercy, and strength will I be able to overcome this sin and live a better life. If I don’t recognize the sin in it, I will try to fix it myself and fail. By recognizing the sin, I can repent and ask my powerful Saviour for his help.

So, as you might have gathered already, the girls required a little extra of my time this last week which is perfectly fine with me. In terms of “things I got checked off my list,” my week wasn’t very good. However, if you look into the hearts and minds of my 2 precious girls, it was a great week! Please keep that in mind as you read what I did/ didn’t get done.

Still Working On…

Daily chores- Dishes and quiet time are about the only things I got done almost everyday. The other items were pretty sporadic and there were a few that I didn’t get done at all.

Weekly chores- I’m not sure that I personally got anything done on this list. But Matt was a huge help this week. I was able to mark several things off my list everyday because of him. He did all that, worked 2 jobs, and found time to be a wonderful daddy. I am so blessed!

Potty training- I’m really not sure what section to put this in, because it’s not actually listed on my week-by-week plan. But its going great! At the beginning of the week I decided to do cloth only. No diapers or pull-ups at home unless she was sleeping. She would tell me every time as she was going and we would make it to the potty in time to get a little in it.

The first day of this I was home alone and needed to feed Kennedy. I was afraid we would make a bigger mess if I wasn’t able to help get her undies off, so I let her go naked from the waist down. Looking back, I’m not sure how that logic works, but the strategy did! She got all her pee in the potty while I was feeding Kennedy.

Since then we have gone naked from the waist down everyday and only had 1 mess (and boy was it a mess!). After a few days we tried undies again, but she peed in them so we went back to being naked from the waist down. When we leave the house she wears pulls-up and will use the potty if I ask her and time it right. But if not, she goes in her pull-ups. I think we will try loose-fitting clothes like shorts tomorrow to get the feel of having something on, then transition to undies.

New Goals…

Tag for JBF- I didn’t get anything new tagged. That means this week I am going to have to really push it. If I want to be able to buy new-to-us stuff at the sale, I need to be able to sell the stuff I have now. It’s a good thing this week is a catch up week.

Plan weekly menus- I created a simple table to fill out every week that has a place for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert for each day of the week. I also created a theme for dinner each day of the week. The days are

  • Surplus Sunday: aka leftovers
  • All-American Monday: this could include meals that scream American like hamburgers and hotdogs, but it will also include regional meals like New Orleans rice and beans, Chicago-style pizza, Philly cheese steak sandwiches, or New England clam chowder.
  • Have it your way Tuesday: each week a different family member will choose what to have for dinner on this day. For a while this will only be Matt and I and then we can guess what the girls would say. After each family member has “had it their way,” we will have a meal that each person puts together themselves. We’ll put out a bunch of ingredients and let each individual put in what they like. Examples include make your own pizza bagel, potato bar, salad bar, maybe even a Sunday bar.
  • Worldwide Wednesday: foods from across the globe, some will be familiar like spaghetti, but others will be new tastes.
  • Crockpot Thursday: easy on the mommy.
  • Breakfast for Dinner Friday: breakfast is such a favorite in our house that we are going to have it for dinner every week! But we’ll change up the menu since there are so many breakfast choices.
  • Soup, Salad, and/ or Sandwich Saturday: I’m not sure this one needs much explanation.

I’m excited to start using this menu! I really hope that we get creative with it and build some fun family traditions.

Start feeding Kennedy solids- check out these pictures

Plan for April- almost done. I’m going to finish this one up tonight I hope.

Looking Ahead…

Week 12 is a catch up week. If all goes as planned I will probably be spending most of the week tagging for JBF. But I also plan on starting a blogging series either tonight or tomorrow on my cloth diaper reviews. So you can look forward to that!

Weekly Update: 9 & 10

23 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by Kandice Mann in Weekly Update Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Sorry I didn’t post last week. We went on a mini family vacation. It was a blast and a well-needed time to refresh. Now I’m ready to get back at it!

I’m going to start using a new format for my weekly updates. From now on I’ll have a section for previous goals that I’m “Still Working On,” “New Goals for this week” and “Looking Ahead.” The old goals will keep me accountable; most weeks I don’t make my old goals a priority because I know I won’t have to share with you how I’m doing on them. Not anymore. And I’m hoping that the looking ahead section will keep me motivated and keep you interested in seeing what’s coming up next. So here is a look at weeks 9 & 10 (mainly just 9, since I was gone for 10)

Still working on…

I got laundry,dishes, and a quiet time done almost everyday in week 9. Monday of that week was a great day for me as far as other daily and weekly tasks. However, I didn’t get much accomplished in those areas for the rest of the week.

I’m still really struggling with waking up early. Everyday I seem to have a new excuse. Up late with the baby, went to bed too late, battery died on my phone (aka no alarm), didn’t hear my alarm, or just plain not motivated to get up early. I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve to help with this one, but if none of them work then my next move is to plan on sleeping late but getting more work done at night. I’ll keep you guys posted.

On a positive note though, I finished organizing our papers into a folder system and did some more research on potty training, both goals from week 8.

New Goals

Begin tagging for JBF and my own garage sales and sell on Craigslist I got most of my tags typed for my maternity clothes. I was hoping to get farther along on this one by the end of the week, but I did get a great start.

In case you are wondering, JBF stands for Just Between Friends and it is a seasonal children’s consignment sale. I am a consignor, volunteer, and shopper. As a consignor, I set my own prices and make a percentage of what I sell. Because I also volunteer I get 70% (it’s still a whopping 65% if you don’t volunteer). As a volunteer I also get to shop before the public. As a shopper, I get to purchase quality children’s items at amazing prices!

If you are interested in consigning or looking for more information click here for the Springfield area Spring Event. Not in the Springfield area? Click here to find one near you. If you decide to consign at the Springfield JBF, let them know Kandice Mann referred you (I’ll make 75% on my sales if 3 first-time consignors sell 25 items or more).

Research and buy cloth diapers - I got my research done and picked out 5 diapers that I wanted to do a test run with. I’ve received 4 of the 5 diapers in the mail and have started trying them out. A series of posts are coming soon with my reviews and if I can figure it out, a calculator you can use to see how much cloth diapering can save you

Finish studying calculus- I’ve been working on this one for a long time and it’s still not done. Originally we were suppose to be going to Arlington, TX during spring break for a mission trip and I was planning on using the travel time to finish my studying.  Instead we went to St. Louis as a family vacation. Because there wasn’t as much time on the road, I didn’t get this one done. But I’m going to continue working on it.

Create a routine for the girls- I didn’t have this done for week 9, but as of today, it’s completed!

Start blogging more- I wrote an extra post in week 9 and didn’t intend to write any posts while on vacation. So far, so good on this one, but I’ll need to continue writing more posts to consider this accomplished.

Add drinking 8 glasses of water to daily routine- I scheduled this for week 10 because I thought that I would be working outside in Texas for a week. I planned on being thirsty and carrying a water bottle with me all day. But instead we were on vacation and at my in-law’s house. Instead of 8 glasses of water, I probably had 8 glasses of Pepsi a day. Yikes! I’ll try harder this week.

Looking Ahead

I’m creating a way to plan weekly menus and starting Kennedy on solids during week 11. I also plan on doing a blogging series on cloth diapering starting at the beginning of next week. I’ll explain the different types of diapering systems, how much each costs, then review the 5 diapers I’m trying out, and give you any other tips that I’ve learned so far in the cloth diapering process. It should be pretty interesting so be sure to come back and check it out.

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