Balance With Children

I am finding it really hard to balance the needs of a newborn baby with two children – why am I so surprised?

While baby and I are alone together throughout most of the day, things go smoothly. Its when the children come home mid afternoon, that it all falls apart for me. So many needs and wants from everyone!

Combined with minor sleep deprivation, a husband who has been away two nights this week and when he is home tries his best, however also contributes his own brand of chaos, I feel I am going up the wall!

So, how do I find a new balance?

1. I have been managing to get the house “tidy” before the family comes home. So, I am at least at ground zero with laundry, tidy floor, kitchen etc

2. I need to have a stricter bedtime policy. They are running rings around me at present with delaying tactics. Pyjamas and teeth much earlier before stories etc.

3. Today, I started cutting way back down on their TV – none today. They complained they were bored a few times, however ended up outside and playing with the neighbours. I am going to be stricter here, as when I was in the late stages of pregnancy, I let them watch far too much just as a way of getting some peace.

4. Finding time for them – stories and board games in the evening pre-bedtime. I need to start this pre-bedtime routine about 45 mins before bed.

5. Miss 7 has a far amount of homework most nights, so we get that done almost as soon as she comes home or it becomes a problem later on. Middle son doesn´t like the attention I need to give to her while doing homework and starts attention seeking tactics. Need to be calmer…. I try to get him to sit down and do his own “homework”- must try harder.

6. Other things – piano practice and keeping their rooms tidy. Eating more raw vegetables and fruit.

Yes, I need to be stricter. One day they will thank me! (lol). Well, at least they might thank me for not having a mother that went bonkers.

Filed under: Home Matters

Minimal Baby

I started sorting out mountains of baby stuff today – I feel after three children, I should have a handle on what it means to be minimal with children. A handle on what I do need and don´t. There are a lot of things I bought for the other two, and resold again on ebay nearly new – at least I have those mistakes out of the way.

I also know that I can make do with what I have and don´t need to buy a new solution for every problem. I rushed into buying a lot of things in the past thinking they were going to “change my life/ my parenting” and they didn´t of course

I have a washing machine, its spring and things air dry quickly so I don´t need thirty or forty outfits for him at this age. Nor twenty blankets. Nor twenty or thirty rattles and baby toys. I wonder where they all came from….the answer – most of them were in storage and a few things received as gifts. However, I can honesty say to people that I don´t need anything and mean it

I feel positive about continuing to declutter even with an extra body in the house – I can run a tighter ship, I can, I know I can

*********************

Baby is jaundiced and we had a very distressing blood test today with another one scheduled for Thursday morning. Hopefully the reading is better in two days so we don´t have to do it again. Otherwise all is well – he is very chilled and so am I

Filed under: Family, Home Matters

Packing Light

open eyes (a bit) at four days old….

For once, I did pack light.

I am a notoriously known (in my family) over-packer. I always have way too much luggage and way too much hand luggage – and that´s only on the way “there” as with all my purchases where ever I am, the journey home is fraught with anxiety – will I get my baggage through the check in without extra fees, will I get my hand luggage onto the plane, will I be able to carry it all?

I actually made it to the hospital “packed light” – one toiletry bag with only one of each kind of item (or multi purpose items – the only thing I didn´t use was the blush (blush)), some clothes (but still more than I needed as I did not factor in that I would spend nearly three days in a very sexy backless hospital gown), and one book for each day (necessary!, but boy I can´t wait till I can get a electronic book reader of some kind).

What I didn´t pack that I usually would have on any trip – hair styling products, hair dryer and straightener, glamourous going out makeup , high heels , exercise clothes

What I packed but didn´t need – ipod, extra clothes

I hope I can learn from this “trip”, not a holiday, however a six day packing experience to learn from in any case. It of course helped that my wardrobe is fairly limited at present anyway… however I still had to remove things from my bag before I left the house last Sunday – like a big woolly cardigan and a tracksuit jacket that I certainly wouldn´t have needed.

Capsule Packing List:

- Multi purpose products for face, hair and body
- Less clothes than I think I need
- Less shoes than I think I need
- A lighter way to carry reading material hopefully in the future

And I didn´t buy anything on this trip either! Just coming home with a wonderful gift

One thing I find that helps when I pack for a big trip, is to do a preliminary pack anywhere from a week to a few days before and then repack everyday again leading up to departure- and- here´s the secret- take some things OUT each time you repack.

If I didn´t do this already I would have been in worse strife than I was before!

I find I pack more too if I am not sure I can “get things” where ever I am heading. Or I panic about being able to do laundry. But, you know what – you can usually always “get things” and also wash clothes where ever you are. I am learning…slowly….slowly.

How about you – any packing secrets?

Filed under: Home Matters

Do You Cut Open Tubes?

One of my perhaps only previous thrifty actions was the cutting open of tubes- hair products, makeup, moisturisers, all cosmetics, body washes etc. I was surprised recently to learn that many people don´t do this. I think I was always motivated to do so because I like “the good stuff” and wanted to squeeze every drop out if I could possibly hack into it with a pair of scissors.

Though at the same time I also had the money to buy whatever I wanted and if something didn´t grab me after a few uses, it would sit on the shelf to be replaced by some other new wonder product. So, I amassed quite a collection- some of it I passed onto my mother and sister, some of it just got old and some of it I still have- particularly makeup.

Now I take pleasure in using things up. I love it when I can toss an empty cut open tube in the rubbish – or just anything I have used up! And then before thinking of replacing I check throughly among what I already have to see if something is shelved that can do the job.

I have even in the last few months narrowly avoided buying two lipsticks (one plum, one red) only to find when I got home, I had almost exact colours at the bottom of my “misc” basket!

The only things I am replacing now on a regular basis are cleanser and moisturiser. My stockpile keeps me going otherwise… and for now I don´t feel deprived and look forward to the day when my bathroom doesn´t look like I am a makeup artist in my spare time

Filed under: Home Matters, Wastage

Keeping the Kid´s Stuff under Control

I am still struggling with this on a daily basis, even though in the last two months I have done two total “clean ups” of their bedrooms.

When I say “clean up” that means I have a charity bag for clothes and toys, I throw away wads of paper (there is the odd thing I keep in a folder, however I am well past that stage of keeping everything that my darlings have scribbled on), I throw away Kinder Surprise egg toys (in pieces), I re-sort all lego, cars, playmobil, barbies, ponies etc into the correct buckets. I throw away craft projects which have had their day (egg carton trains, chocolate box computers etc) and I tidy their bookshelves. I end up finding loads of utensils in their rooms to be returned to the kitchen.

My hope after the last big clean up was that they (Miss 7, Mr nearly 5) would somehow keep everything tidy! I was clearly delusional…. and yes, I do “make them” clean up their rooms, however its not being done on a voluntary “I like to live in a clean bedroom” basis. In fact, I think my son is better at this than my daughter- she doesn´t seem to care about the state of her room at all, which doesn´t bode well for the teenager years!

Additionally, even though they have two rooms to play in, they prefer to play in our living room/dining room, so there is a request from me at least once a day to take “everything” back into their rooms. I suspect this is not uncommon however for children to want to play where the heart of the family is- though I draw the line when things start to end up in my bedroom!

The things I think I am doing right are:

- They have plenty of separate storage for different toys (cars, trains, lego, playmobil, barbies, ponies, dolls clothes)
- They both have a bookshelf
- They also have storage for their much loved stuffed toys under their bunk beds
- They have adequate room for their clothes

Wrong:

- Still too many toys, too many choices….do I just keep decluttering down to the bare minimum of toys or do I accept that this is the way children´s bedrooms are? They do use what they have though, I truly believe its not excessive and when I secretly get rid of things, they seem to notice and want to know where “x” is within a week…

I think I perhaps need to be very Zen about this and “let go”….. though on a final note, my husband says “they have too many toys” without having any suggestions or helping in any way. And that gets my back up because I am really doing my best.

I kept most of their baby toys too, which will be making an appearance in the next year- heaven help me!

Flashback to photos of their bedrooms on a good day

Filed under: Decluttering to get my life back, Home Matters

Cleaning Out the Spice Cupboard

This morning I made some shortbread for my kids to have when they come home (yay! it´s Friday). I am a complete novice at shortbread baking so while I took a photo of it cooling, I am not sure how it is going to taste.Then I remembered that I was going to make Lentil Dahl for dinner and saw it as a good excuse to clean out my spice cupboard.

I took everything out, wiped the cupboard over and then evaulated each of the 35 items in there. I was able to ascertain that I had no cumin (which I suspected) and toss about 8 suspect jars and sachets. Then put it all back in tidily of course!

I keep everything in a cupboard, not a spice rack as it is supposed to preserve the colour and flavours better if they are not exposed to direct sunlight.

When I go out to pick up my kids later, I will pick up some cumin from the corner store and then I have this very pretty packet of white lentils I bought last weekend to experiment with- normally I prefer red lentils. I have onions, garlic, turmeric, coriander and soon cumin. Anything else I am missing?

Filed under: Decluttering to get my life back, Home Matters

A Little Bit of Sunshine and Drama

Boring white wall to stare at from our bed….

Some ceramics from our travels in the south….

I am really quite proud of myself for managing to get them up, I couldn´t even find the hammer so I used a wrench to bang the nails into the wall and I managed to sort of get them all hanging straight and evenly spaced as well.

Our bed faces this wall and I am really happy that we have something pleasant to catch our gaze in the morning with happy memories attached.

I didn´t end up putting up the Venetian masks in the bedroom after all. The only space left in the end was above where the baby´s Moses basket will be and I decided they were too scary looking.

I ended up putting one at each end of our living/dining area. They are a souvenir from Carnavale many years ago.

Filed under: Home Matters

Decorating on a Zero Budget

I am trying to do the above for the time being due to economic circumstances. The situation for my husband at work means it´s simply not a good time to buy anything- we have our fixed living expenses, food and some entertainment (like taking the kids to the swimming pool, ice skating, movies etc) and that´s it.

However, the good thing about being a clutter bug is that I have plenty to decorate with already if I look hard enough, which kind of makes me giggle! Like shopping in my own closet- which I will be doing later this year as (hopefully) the pregnancy weight comes off- I can also shop in my own kitchen, china cabinet and storage areas!

Today I have decided to take six ceramic plates I own from Spain and Turkey and two Venetian masks which were sitting in my kitchen and on top of a wardrobe respectively and put them up in the master bedroom. Putting things up on the wall kills two birds with one stone- frees up space and brightens my life.

I have already got all the tools out and some wire to thread into the backs of the plates (where there were holes already). Hopefully nothing is broken in the process and I don´t make too much of a mess.

Filed under: Home Matters

Bamboo Steamer and Dumplings

Somehow we acquired another kitchen item this morning (blush), however at least it is not a repeat buy!

When we woke up this morning it was snowing and miserable looking, so we decided to make a bit more of a trip out for our grocery shopping than usual. We wanted to have something especially nice to look forward to for dinner, so took a U-bahn trip to the other side of town to the huge Asia Feinkost Haus which has plenty of variety in dry goods, frozen goods and fresh Asian greens and herbs.

Asian food is pretty ordinary here- in so far as we can´t get a takeaway like we are used to, everything has been Germanised and is fairly bland. So, you need to make it yourself if you want something that tastes different and the ingredients aren´t easily accessible as they are in everyday supermarkets in Australia. Not to say that there aren´t excellent restaurants here however its not feasible for us at present cost-wise to visit them with or without the children.

In the end we came home with lots of rice paper wrappers, frozen dumplings with shrimp, meat and vegetable fillings, sauces (hoisin, sweet soy sauce, satay), coriander, spring onions, frozen prawns, spice mixes, other dry goods and fresh vegetables.

So we have the ingredients now to make steamed dim sum/dumplings with different dipping sauces (tonight´s tea) and Vietnamese rice paper rolls with shrimps and crispy vegetables (tomorrow). We also have sufficient rice, lentils and spice mixes (butter chicken, masaman curry) for meals next week.

And the bamboo steamer doesn´t take up much room…..honest!

Filed under: Cooking, Home Matters

Niggling Things

Thinking of the future, as well as finishing off my old list, there are some more niggly things that I need to do:

1. Get the light on my bicycle fixed so I can cycle at night again.
2. Look at what I can do about rust patches that have appeared on my nearly new (but kept outdoors) bicycle.
3. Find somewhere else to put the CDs…..as I wrote that I decided to move them off the china cabinet to the top of the DVD cupboard- much more appropriate as I would like the top of the cabinet to be for family photos. done 5 March
4. Clean a sticker off a window in the living room my son put there. done March 19
5. Sort out all the small bits of playmobil from my son´s room and put everything that is not pirate related away, as it is extra clutter he does not play with. done March 15
6. My daughter is not tidy and there is too much in her room to encourage this. I think I can help her be organised by removing some things from her room. My little pony things and excess drawing materials spring to mind. done March 15
7. Take all the photos out of the drawer where they are dumped and store them more neatly. Dream one day of actually filing them or putting in albums…. I stored these in a plastic tub for the time being. I have the drawer space back now for baby things. Done March 16

There are other things that are niggling me too, but they involve spending money (carpets, curtains, blinds) and at the moment I just don´t have any to spend, so everything I will do above (except maybe fixing the bike light) will be free!

Filed under: Home Matters, Media storage, Things the children and I have done