Lists, Lists, Lists... 5 Ways to Keep Them From Overwhelming You

 

Have you ever had a day where you have a constant never ending to do list running through your head? If you're a mom your answer to that question was most likely yes and probably looks something like this:

• Load the Dishwasher
• Start the Dishwasher
• Start a Load of Laundry
• Color with the Kids
• Make Breakfast
• Empty the Dishwasher
• Change the Laundry
• Play Playdoh with the Kids
• Load the Dishwasher
• Fold Clothes that are in the Dryer
• Etc.
• Etc.
• Etc.

If you nodded your head at anything on that list than don't worry you are not alone.

Along with our long daily to do lists, thanks to Pintrest, we now have endless "want to do" to do lists(try saying that one five times fast) of recipes, crafts, kids activities, home décor ideas and so much more running through our heads all day. All of these lists, which can never truly be finished, can become very overwhelming and can start to make us feel like we are going a little bit crazy. So since this is something that happens to me on occasion I thought I would share some ways that helps me cool down when my lists start to become a bit too much.

1. Write down your list. No matter how long your list may be, even if it is endless, write down as much of it as you can until you start to feel that weight lifting off of your shoulders. Then do one or two things from that list and put the list away. Take the rest of the day to play with your kids outside or in their rooms and forget the list for now, there is always tomorrow that you can clean the kitchen.

2. Take a second just to breathe. This may sound silly but it helps me a lot if I just find a comfy place to sit and all I think about is my breathing. Take long deep breathes and don't think about anything else. Just clear your mind of anything list related and instead count your breaths or think about something you know will calm you.

3. Delegate. Do you have kids? Do you have things on the list that they can help you with? Let them! I know very well that most kids do not like doing chores but my two year old loves helping me with anything I need help with. This is great because I get a helper and we also get to spend that time together just her and I. You can also ask your husband. I know that as wives we like to let our husbands relax after they get home from work but sometimes it is ok to ask them for help especially when we are having a particularly rough day. You could even have them take the kids and play with them in their room so you can have a few quite minutes to finish some of the items on your list.

4. Set Priorities. Do you have a long daily to do list? Decide at the beginning of the day what is going to be your priority. Is playing one on one with your kids going to be the priority over cleaning the kitchen and starting some laundry? Or are you going to decide to pick up the clutter around the house instead of weeding the garden? No matter what it is, decide before you start anything, which things are more demanding of your attention that day than other things.

5. Be ok with not getting to everything. This is the most important of the five. You will not get to everything no matter how hard you try and because of that you have to be fine with having to go to sleep with a dirty kitchen or a load of laundry still in the dryer just this once. If you stress over it you will be right where you were, overwhelmed and over stressed. It is ok to have some dirty dishes waiting in the sink, or have unwashed clothes sitting on the floor, as long as you tried your best, even if your best didn't feel good enough, you will survive.

I can't believe they did that...

So I was looking through all of the reviews and giveaways that I need to get up soon and I was trying to decide which would be the quickest and I decided that I would just put up a quick and funny post that I have been wanting to do and I am too tired to think hard enough to write a review so I thought this post would be a safe one to write at 10 pm!

I Forgot where I got these but I was looking at a website that showed company fails and these four I thought myself and you guys reading this post would most likely be able to relate to or think they were the funniest so here we go!

 This is a UK based toy where your baby's baby is pregnant with a baby. I guess the makers intentions was to show girls what pregnancy was about, well a few of the effects, but I don't think this is something I would ever buy Savannah. A couple of the doll's designs is that it has stretch marks and it's water breaks. Strange I know but I guess these are the toys they like over in the UK...


The next two go well with each other and apparently show where men still think women belong...

I don't know whether to be offended or to laugh at the phrase, "Get Back To The Job That Really Matters." Don't get me wrong I love Mr. Clean products especially the eraser but I don't think this job is more important than being a mother or a wife...

So my husband thought this one was very funny but jokes on him the toilet is his job so now I know what I am getting him for the next Father's day!

This is wrong and weird and I don't know what to say about it!

I'm sorry if this post was confusing at all or vague but I am so tired but I hope that at least one of the pictures above makes you laugh!

Let me know of any company fails that you know of in the comments!

Day 3, My Views on Drugs and Alcohol

So for this post I will try not to get heated or too emotional. My stand on drugs and alcohol is that I will not consume them. They are bad for me and I know better ways to make myself happy.

Above is my uncle Aaron. My dad's youngest sibling. I love him so much. He is only 7 years older than me so he always felt more like a cousin. When I was younger we visited my grandparents in Canada. The whole summer I remember that I would follow Aaron around every where and I am sure he got sick of it fast but he put up with me and tried to include me as much as he could.

In 2005 on July 5th my family and I went to an amusement park in Connecticut called Lake Compounce. We were waiting in line for the log ride and my dad answered the phone and told us he had to step out of line for a few minutes. The rest of us proceeded to the ride and had a fun time getting soaked. When we got off the ride my dad was off the phone but I knew something was wrong, I could see that his eyes were red from crying and he never crys. My mom went up to him first and talked to him but we couldn't hear anything he was saying but I knew it wasn't going to be good. He then turned to my sister and I and told us that our uncle Aaron was dead.

All I could keep thinking was how it was not fair. He was too young, he was only 19. He was my young, fun uncle but he let drugs and alcohol get to him. He let them take over his life and then they took his life for good.

I love him so much still and I miss him everyday. I especially missed him on my wedding day and during my whole pregnancy and on the day my daughter was born. My brother was only 4 when our uncle passed away but he already loved Aaron. Before Savannah was born he would tell me how he wanted to be a fun uncle just like Aaron and that he was going to have Savannah call him Uncle Mike because thats what Aaron called him. I hope that Michael will be a great uncle like Aaron but I also hope and pray that drugs and alcohol will never play a part in his life like how they did in Aaron's life!

I will never drink and I will never do drugs because I am too smart for that!

Packing for travel and for moving

Before we moved and went on vacation I saw a couple pieces of advice for packing for both kinds of situations on pintrest and I tried out both of these tips.

The first tip is for packing for a trip. The tip was a tip for packing clothes for babies and children. When looking at the tip I really thought it was a good idea and I was excited that I had seen it before I had left.
The tip is to pack your children's outfits all individually in gallon plastic ziploc bags before you pack them into the suitcase. This was really helpful because instead of it taking me 5-10 minutes to find her outfits every morning all I had to do was reach in our bag and find a plastic bag and I had a full outfit all ready for my baby girl.
The downside of doing this is that it does take up more space, well it did for me because I had a duffle bag and then I switched to a backpack halfway through my vacation to downsize. With this you have to pack all of their clothes in the main part of the bag you are packing in but normally I would pack socks and head bands and jewlery in the side pockets instead.
Although it did take up a little more space I would totally do this again because it was a time saver.

The second tip is a tip for packing clothes for a move. I hate moving because it sucks to have to pack up all your stuff and lug it to where you now need it and then unpack it just knowing that you will probably be packing it back up again in only a year or two so when I saw this next tip I was ready to see if it would really make things easier for me.
This tip is to put a plastic garbage bag over your clothes that are hanging up in the closet so you only have to take the bag off once you get to the new place and then put the already hung up clothes in the closet. This tip looks like this:

The good thing about this is that it does make it so you don't have to unhang and then rehang all of your clothes. The downside is that it takes time to make a hole in the top of the bag and put it over the clothes and with how many clothes my husband and I have we would have used so many bags and when packing this in the car it takes up a lot more space than stuffing all your clothes in a box.
So I would not do this again, I actually ended up only doing this to these clothes and all the rest of my clothes I just took off of the hangers and put in a box and then hung up when we got to the apartment and it took a while but I did not have to waste so many plastic bags.

These are my thoughts for today, let me know what you think about these ideas or if you have any other packing ideas by commenting below.

http://kimmccrary.blogspot.com/2012/05/traveling-with-young-children-tip-1.html#.UX2fWcqJ08p

Parenting and Discipline

I wanted to stray away from my original kind of post and I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. This topic that has been on my mind is discipline and how I am going to discipline and when I am going to discipline. Believe me I know that punishing Savannah is not going to be an easy thing to do especially because her eyes are so beautiful but I know that in the long run it will benefit Savannah.

When I was growing up my parents did not take any crap from me and I thank them for that. I don’t think I would be the same person I am today without the structure that my parents set up in my life and it makes me appreciative for the way they chose to raise me. I know that that discipline is the reason for why I am so honest and the reason that I have so much respect for others and that is something that I was to instill into Savannah’s life.

I found 10 ways of disciplining children that I agreed with, and notice that there is no spanking on the list, I am not for spanking because I think it just makes the child fear their parents and I always want my children to know that they can trust me and come to me about anything even something they did wrong and that they don’t have to be scared to do so. The list below I found at LiveStrong,com and if you want just read them over and think of the ones you would like to use in your parenting styles.

Time Out

“A time out is an extremely common technique that can be used anywhere. It’s wise to choose a certain corner or chair at home so kids know to go directly there when issued a time out. “Focus on the Family” recommends assigning one minute for each year of the child’s age because too much time assigned minimizes the purpose of sitting alone to think about whatever wrong choice landed them there.”
I like this technique because it gives both yourself and the child sometime to calm down before you talk to them about what happened but something both my husband and I agree on is that children should never be sent to their room for timeout especially if they have toys or electronics in their room. (Having electronics in a child’s room is also something my husband and I do not want to happen because it is just a disaster waiting to happen.) It will not be a punishment if they can distract themselves while they are supposed to be thinking about what they have done wrong so a time-out should be somewhere like at the bottom of the stairs or on a dining room chair.

Distraction

“Distracting a child or removing them from the situation is very helpful, especially for kids under two. Until their second birthday, children cannot quite understand consequences, so distraction is key for the little ones. If your child keeps pulling papers from your desk, you simply need to move him away from the desk and distract him with another toy or snack.”
I think that knowing this will keep me from getting frustrated.

Grounding

“Grounding kids from their favorite activities is a huge motivator for good behavior. Young kids can be grounded from playing outside for a few hours while older kids can be grounded from leaving the house for a few days.”
One thing that my husband is big on is meaning what you say like if you give your child a warning that if they don’t listen they will not be able to go to their friends house and then if the child continues to not listen than you have to go through with the punishment or the child will know that you are just full of words but no actions and they will not respect you but I know that this will be a hard thing for me to do because I don’t like to upset people especially those who I love but I know that in the long run it will be good for my relationship with my children.

Deny Privileges

“Taking away privileges is a technique along the same lines as grounding; you simply “ground” a child from her favorite toy or activity in the house. Taking away television time or video games motivates kids to make the right behavioral choices; just be sure to “choose a meaningful privilege that your child will greatly miss,” according to “Focus on the Family.”"
I think this is a good punishment because it teaches children that the objects in their lives are privileges and they earn them with good behavior and that they do not have a right to things.

Natural Consequences

“Teaching children about natural consequences helps them learn that there are rules not only in the nuclear family but also in the whole world. If Timmy refuses to do his homework, instead of taking away his television time, you can allow him to choose not to do it while explaining the trouble he’ll face in school. If he still doesn’t budge, allow the failing grade or the scolding from the teacher to serve as a reminder of the consequences of his actions.”
These are important consequences because they teach children that there aren’t just consequences to their actions at home but there are consequences to their actions every where.

Logical Consequences

“This technique is recommended by “Focus on the Family” to show kids that they have to be responsible for their choices. For example, if Anna kicks the soccer ball in the house even though it’s against the rules and breaks a window, she has to help clean it up and work off a certain amount of money to replace the window by doing chores around the house.”
I like this too because it teaches children responsibility and to take responsibility for their actions.

Model Good Behavior

“When teaching a child between right and wrong, many disciplinary actions can be avoided by modeling good behavior to your children. In his book, “Bringing Up Boys,” Dr. James Dobson writes, “there is no substitution for parental modeling of the attitudes we wish to teach.” If siblings frequently get in trouble for yelling at each other, make sure to keep your temper and your yelling under control to demonstrate what you expect from them. Discipline is about teaching rather than punishing; any form of instruction motivates children to behave.”
This is so important because children do watch everything we do and especially with yelling, you need to teach your children to communicate in a healthy way but if you are always yelling to communicate with them than that is how they will communicate with you.

Positive Reinforcement

“Many parents forget about this technique of catching children in the act of being good. If little Jack is playing nicely with his toys in his room while you fold laundry, peek your head in and tell him how much you appreciate his good behavior. Children love attention and will be motivated to make their parents proud if they sense their proper behavior gets them noticed.”
I also think that this technique is a great way to help your child’s self-esteem go in a good direction because they will know that they are not the only person who sees them do good but other people know the good things they can do instead of only getting negative reinforcement which will teach them that they are bad children and can do nothing good.

Ignore

“Although it can be frustrating, ignoring a whining child can sometimes be the easiest way to get her to stop. Children learn very quickly that simply annoying you for a period of time may get them what they want. Rather than give into their fits, ignore their pleas for attention. This also works well for sibling arguments; unless one or both are at risk of getting hurt, let your children figure it out themselves.”
I have never heard of this one being taught especially during a fight between children but it is something I will consider trying with my kids when they are older because it sounds like something that might work especially if they are throwing a tantrum because they want something they can’t have.

Rewards

“Reality host of “Supernanny” Jo Frost is a firm believer in rewarding kids for their good behavior. She uses all kinds of techniques like sticker charts, treat jars and the accumulation of television time to motivate children to make the right choices. Understand the fine line between reward and bribery; you should not say, “If you stop whining for this cereal, I’ll buy it for you.” Whining is not a reward-worthy behavior.”
I love Supernanny because it teaches me so much and makes me think so much about what kind of parent I want to be and sometimes it is easy for me to convince myself that I am just going to be their friend but children need someone who can be their friend but who can also be the boss.

I took a couple child development classes and I have watched a lot of the Supernanny shows but I know that I am no expert at parenting so you can decide to either take or leave my advice.  I think that it is a lot easier to learn to be a parent from experience more than reading a book and my 3 month old does not need much discipline (I don’t discipline her at all just in case you were wondering) right now but I am hoping the things I know now will help aid in my future disciplining so that I can keep order in my house and in my children’s lives.

It’s sure going to be hard to punish this beautiful little girl!