Tag: mommy

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3 years and beyond University Study

Bed is calling me

Why is it when you have a million things to do you are not feeling your best. This just makes what you have to do, harder and more annoying. Maybe I should have done more university work before now. It is hard fitting it all in being a busy mummy; however I probably could have done more than I have done. I have an assignment due on the 2nd of April and just between you and me, I have done some research but not put much of it together. More reading and time spent on this needs to happen this weekend.

I have told the husband that I need to be left alone to do university work, and that was met with, he needs to sleep in, do the lawns and get his hair cut. Understand that these things need to be done and he has had a big week, so catching up on sleep is great. So hoping that when he is up it is my turn to be left alone to get on with what I want to do. He can look after the girls like I had to when he had a presentation to do for work.   I just fear that I will end up looking after the girls till about 1-2pm and then I will get nothing done.

Currently I feel terrible, tired, and achy, the beginning of a sore throat, and just generally out of sorts. I would really like to go back to bed; however this cannot happen with kids in the house.

Today the goal is to get some of my assignment done and my tutorial questions. Once these are done, or at least well on the way to being complete I will feel much better about university and the situation.

Now the other goal is to be left alone to complete this task. Maybe daddy might take the kids out to get his haircut and leave me alone?  You can only hope.

Have you had things you need to get done, but it is hard when you are not left alone to do them? I know I have some extra days due to pre-school, but I tend to get some housework done, shopping and try to fit in university study. The issue with university is that you can take hour’s just investigating one issue or looking up an article. Then there is a matter of reading it all to understand what it is you are doing. So the day that you had goes and you don’t feel like you have done anything.

Does your partner/husband help you have time to yourself for study/time out/hobbies/anything else? It is really hard to fit it all in. Next week I am using pre-school days for me, not the house. Send in what you do to fit it all in? What tips and tricks can you share with us all?

Update: Finally now on my own, it is 11:40am, and feel annoyed most of the day is gone but pleased to be getting a start on my work. Now getting a hot cuppa tea and to get stuck into it. In the end I have organised the format for the assignment, now need to read all the articles and put it all together. Wanted to do more, however after lunch I felt terrible and decided to rest.

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Recipes

Helping did not make them eat

To help the girls get more involved, and maybe eat more, I included them in making dinner tonight. We were making pizza. The girls got very involved as you will see with the images that I took. I asked them what they wanted on their pizza. Both girls agreed to the following topping: bacon bits, cheese, tomato, cabanossi and carrot. I thought this would be a winner.

I read and heard about two ingredient pizza dough. It consists of yoghurt and self-raising flour, and I was keen to give it a try. They picked the ingredients, they both helped and they tasted some of the ingredients, so it was a winner in preparation, however this enthusiasm did not translate over to eating the pizza. Both girls did not eat any of it and was not interested at all.  I was very upset and disappointed, especially after all the effort that I went to. Oh well, I suppose I just have to find other ways to interest the girls.

Again, I explained that this was their dinner and I would just feed them a small amount of milk and off to bed they went.

The pizza that I made for the girls was nice, however the one for us ended up better. I gave ours more time in the oven and it seemed to work out well for the dough. I was very impressed in how easy this is to make and how tasty it is to eat.

If you want something that is easy to make, good for you and is a simple meal, I would give it a go. Do you have any quick dinners that might tempt toddlers? If so send them in.

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3 years and beyond

Not this dinner mummy!!!

Last night’s dinner was not a success as I had hoped, although deep down I expected this. I cooked the girls chicken and vegetables with noodles. I did not have much in their bowls and thought that they might pick at the chicken and eat some noodles at the least.

The reaction was tears, screaming and yelling. “No, Yuck!”  And, “No mummy we are playing outside, we will eat later” This ended with the girls realising that there was no other choice for dinner and if they did not eat this they would go hungry.

Lillian after while caved in and had some chicken and noodles, not much but it was a good try. She got rewarded with a chocolate koala and then had milk.

Julia was not interested and very stubborn. She decided to have a temper tantrum and stayed in the kitchen yelling, screaming and crying. I thought since whatever I said was making things worse that I should just leave her to calm down. I could see her crawling on the floor and her head was poking around the corner, until I saw her face and then more tears and she did not want to look at me. I am the bad parent for making her eat the dinner and not offering her other things.

Daddy got home early and Julia went to tell him that I was not feeding her and that I was being mean to her. I did tell Julia if she just ate a bit of the dinner then she can have a treat and milk like Lillian. She refused so I refused.

After a bit of cuddle time with daddy and telling on me to daddy, she seemed willing to try again if she had the pink bowl for her food and of course not with me. So organised the pink bowl and she ate quite a lot of the chicken and I think some noodles, not sure. At least this is a good start. She then got a chocolate koala and some milk. Finally a smile out of Julia, I hugged and kissed her and told her what a good job she was doing.

It is hard being the bad parent and having the kids hate you, but if it means that they eat more food and get more variety, I suppose it is worth it.  How have you gone with temper tantrums at dinner and what has the outcome been?  Is there ways to make the tantrums end sooner than carry on? Do you know how, if so share your special secret ways with us.

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3 years and beyond

Fussy eaters

I have 2 fussy eaters. Julia seems sometimes better than Lillian and Lillian does not eat as much as Julia; however they are just about the same when it comes to new foods and eating a family meal. I have tried so many different things, but each child does the same thing. They decide they hate it even before they have tired it. They will not try something to see if they like it. They seem to be stuck in the same foods they have eaten for ages.  I know that I need to make a bigger effort and there are times that it has just been easier to just stick with what is easy and works. However I would like to change this and make the girls have more of a range in their food and experiences.

I read with interest “The four dreaded dinner words” the essential kids article written by Dr Joanna McMillan, which is about fussy eaters. I totally agree with this article.  A while back the girls were recommended to go to a dietician at Katoomba Hospital and that was good as they helped with ideas of what the kids could eat and I could introduce. However some things I have tried quite often and it has never taken avocado, salad, peanut butter, and much more.

The girls are putting on weight well, although they are still small. I think due to them being born 6 weeks early, being twins and maybe genetically they might not be big people. I am pleased with the growth, their development, however was hoping that with this they might want to try more and explore more food options. If only they would just try a new food. I do know that you need to expose the child to the new food several times. I have tried this with dried apricots and dried banana chips in their lunch boxes, however for weeks now they just come back not touched. As they don’t eat a lot, I have figured that I will put in what they will eat and add some new things to try. This has not worked out well although I will continue.

Vegemite and honey sandwiches, Weet-bix, Nutri-Grain, milk, juice, yogurt, cheese, crackers, water, carrots, spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, chicken, ham, bread rolls, cheese, scrambled eggs, and bacon bread rolls, and things like this seem to be their staples. I feel that if one child likes one food and wants to finish it and then the other child thinks it is bad, then it influences the other. If this happens, no one will eat.

I feel that we need to go back to the dietician, for more advice. I am not sure that there is one at the hospital as the one we were seeing left, will ring to find out and see if they can recommend someone if we cannot get in there.  Do you have a fussy eater? Do you have twins who are fussy? Do they decide before they see or taste something that they will not like it? What do you do? I have taken to putting the vitamins back in the girl’s milk to make sure that they get what they need. I also think it helps ward of illness with them at school.

Send in your tips and tricks to help kids eat.

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3 years and beyond

I am bigger than you

Yesterday while at lunch with the family, the girls found a playroom for kids. This playroom was not much at all. It was small, and only had 2 things to play with; a toy house, and big Lego blocks.

In this playroom was a bigger kid who was about half an arm taller than the girls. This boy decided to tell the girls that he was bigger than them. Julia and Lillian told him that they were bigger than him. This kid did not like this and was not looking very happy.

James and I have told the girls that they don’t need to be scared of the boys at playgrounds, indoor centres and the like. We have told them that they just need to stick up for themselves and all will be o.k. If things get too bad, we have told them to come and get us.

Julia came and told me what was happening. I went in to make sure that everything was fine and no child was getting hurt. The boy walked up to me and said, “They say they are bigger than me”, I said “You are a big boy, and the girls are big girls”. This did not help his cause too much.

One thing that made me giggle was when the boy jumped on an ottoman, while saying, “I am even bigger now I am standing on this”, and then Julia jumped on it and said “I am bigger than you.”  I could sense the boy’s frustration. The girls think that when you say that someone is bigger than them, that they are not big girls (by big girls I mean, more grown up and not babies); they took it as an insult.

Have you had a situation that your child/children have told someone they are taller, bigger or something that they are not? How did you deal with this?

 

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3 years and beyond

Tired and naughty seem to go together

Do you find that on the days that kids are elsewhere, in school, being looked after by family or at friends, that you want to achieve so much. I find that I have many things that would like to do, but realise that my day is short. This is due to dropping kids off and picking them up and the realisation that I don’t have a full day, only the time between 9.15am and 2.45pm. This is a small window but a great moment to have the time to be by yourself and get some things done.

These things that I would like to get done is the following: Sewing, cleaning, tiding, university study, watching scary shows that I like but the kids would not, shopping for food as it is easier without kids, appointments if needed, exercising, catching up on missed sleep, and probably more should be on the list that I have not listed.

So yesterday as mentioned I managed to do some housework, go off for something for me (Yippeee) and also iron some shirts. Then just in time to get back in the car to pick up my lovely girls, although this lovely moment is short lived due to the lovely girls changing into naughty creatures, when I am reunited with the girls it is like they are just jumping off the walls, not listening and this makes me get very annoyed. They seem to have hit the naughty button and are firing on all cylinders.

I thought I was just over reacting about this change in events. I mentioned my thoughts to some friends on facebook, friends at playgroup and family. The consensus is that the child/children are relaxing by being at home and showing you their true self, this is also is not helped by being tired from a day full of school and action.

It is so hard to deal with the girls after school, I am saying NO! so much, making sure that they listen when I say NO, as they think it is all fun and games. I have had to take away chairs, carry little people out of rooms and take things away from them. Threaten an early bed time, tell them that we will finish the milk in the room while I read stories rather than watching the end of their favourite good night television show. Oh, how this is draining and stressful.

If you say don’t get another busicut they take matters in their own hands. Both girls work together, getting a chair, and making sure that it goes to the right spot, then one gets on the chair and hands the goods to the other. You get the idea. Very clever, but naughty.

Currently we live in a smallish house so no room to separate the girls, so the fact that they have each other keeps the action happening. I have also tried to separate them recently again when they were being very naughty and it did not work. I put Lillian in the lounge room and she managed to get out of the door, While Julia was working herself into a terrible mess for hours. I ended up letting Lillian back into the bedroom and Julia was hugging and kissing her. There is such a connection, Julia was pinning for Lillian and it goes the other way as well. On the whole they are good kids, I just feel that they get too revved up and it is hard to calm them down.

I do see that the girls are exhausted, so try and do things quietly, however that backfires when they run at such a pace all around the house and the yard. Today we were not in school, but had playgroup instead. They were all over the shop and I am very happy and like the fact that they are now sleeping. They did have a fun day, playing with toys and in the sandpit, just so active.

Do you find it difficult after you pick kids up from school? Are you counting the hours or minutes until you can put them to bed? What are your secrets for having a great time before kids go to bed? Do you have some great ideas – send them our way so we can all learn.  I am now off to sleep as I have had a very long day.

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