A Weekly Plan

Today's tip is about organizing housework in a way that works for me.



Lately, I've been going through a phase where everything in my life is overwhelming to me- work, housework, keeping in touch with family and friends, tweaking baby's schedule for the beginnings of weaning... somehow emotionally (and probably hormonally), I've just been feeling a little bit overwhelmed. So last week, one day I finally decided to sit down and do something about it- to get organized...at least in the housework area... :)



Before I had Z, I used http://www.flylady.net/ as a jumping-off point for organizing my housecleaning. This website is very helpful, but very detailed. Just the thought of getting back into it was overwhelming me. But finally, I had to do something. So I just sat down and made a list of all of the chores that need to be done each week, and then organized them into lists of what I should do each day. Following is an example of my weekly plan:



Monday: Relax with hubby (Monday is his day off)

Stay caught up on dishes & laundry

Water Plant

Tuesday: Microwave

Fridge & Freezer

Vacuum

Clean Both Bathrooms

Wednesday: Weight Loss Group

Store, Library & Post Office Errands

Thursday: Sweep All Floors

Wipe Kitchen Floor

Thank You Notes

Wash Sheets/Towels

Friday: Dust

Cobweb

Wipe Down Bathrooms

Scrub Tub



Every day I do dishes, laundry, and sweep the floors, in addition to my daily cleaning. I take Saturday off, since I'm usually working at camp all day, and Sunday off for church, and Monday pretty much off because of my hubby's day off being Monday. Wednesday morning is always crazy, getting ready to go to weight-loss group, and I work in the afternoons, so Wednesday is sort of a 'buffer day' that I can use to get extra cleaning done if I end up having time.



I was dreading getting back into a schedule, because then I'd be bound to it & feel guilty if I didn't get it done, but I'm actually finding that it's easier for me now that I have a schedule. Because if one week, I don't have time to dust on Friday, I know it'll get done the next Friday for sure, or I use my weekend as a buffer zone to get it all finished.



Before I had a schedule, I just had this impending sense of doom, a cloud hanging over me saying, "your house is dirty...when was the last time you dusted/scrubbed the tub/etc....do you even know?" And now I do! :) So I guess having a housework schedule works for me!


Head on over to Shannon's place to see some more Works-for-me-Wednesday tips!

Crying to Sleep Works for Me

Well, not me. My baby.


This is a fairly controversial topic, I know. If Dr. Sears and his 'attachment parenting' philosophies were to read this post, he would probably disapprove. But I'm going to go out on the proverbial limb here and say that it is GOOD for babies to cry themselves to sleep. Not FUN for the mommy. But GOOD. Just like vegetables. Let me tell you about my recent learning experience with letting my son (now nine months old) cry himself to sleep. Keep in mind that every baby is different, and since I only have one so far, this whole idea is based on my single just-nine-month experience in baby-rearing.


After I had Z, we had help here for the first two and a half weeks or so. My parents were here for a week, and then Hubby's parents were here for a little over a week. It was wonderful. I got sleep, and baths, and food prepared for me, and Z got held & loved on constantly. He was hardly ever allowed to cry for more than 30 seconds without being picked up. I actually didn't know that babies have to learn to lay by themselves sometimes, and I thought that parents were supposed to pick them up anytime they made a peep. Anyway, after our parents left, I was trying to hold Z constantly, and get things done around the house, and get some sleep occasionally...and I was exhausted and totally overwhelmed. Of course, that's normal for those first couple months, but really. It was terrible. At night, Hubby and I would take shifts. Z would eat, then he would get changed, and then he would need to be held until he drifted off to sleep. Sometimes he needed to be held for between twenty minutes and an hour. And then, if you THOUGHT he was all the way asleep, but he really wasn't quite ALL the way out, when you put him down in his car seat (where he slept for about the first seven weeks of his life), he would wake up and cry, and then you had to start ALL over again with the sitting and holding and waiting and watching his eyelids to see if they were still twitching.


So, at his one-month appointment, we asked the doctor about putting him down in his bed and letting him cry himself to sleep. And our doctor said that we should start that sooner rather than later. But then we went on vacation to see our families, and by the time we got home, he was about 6 weeks old. So we started putting him down in his bed. And letting him cry himself to sleep. For about two nights, it was pure torture (for all of us). We used the Ferber Method, where you go in every few minutes to check on them and let them know you're still there. At some point during these two days, we read somewhere that sometimes babies like to have their crib mattresses elevated, so we put some books under one end of the mattress, and that night, there was hardly any crying. He woke up in the night, ate, and then we would put him back down and he would cry a little and then go back to sleep. It was wonderful. Best thing we ever did.


THEN. A few weeks later, he started screaming, refusing to eat, waking in the night screaming...etc. The dr. said he had acid reflux, so we put him on Prevacid. Two weeks later, it hadn't worked. I remember one night in particular, he was up every half hour. All night. Hubby & I took turns sleeping on his floor, so we could just get up and put his binky back in when he cried. Two more weeks later, after that much time on Axid, he was doing MUCH better. But he was still crying at night. Hmmm...maybe because now he was used to us going to him at his first peep again??? So since we knew he wasn't in pain anymore, we decided to start letting him cry to sleep (and cry back to sleep) once again. And again, within two nights, he was back to being put down, crying for just a couple of minutes, and drifting off to sleep on his own. Shortly after this (around the time he turned four months old), he started sleeping through the night, and other than a few nights here and there (maybe one every two weeks or so) and when he's sick, he still routinely sleeps through the night. Now he is so good at putting himself to sleep that he hardly ever even cries. He just plays in his bed for a few minutes, and then all of a sudden, all is quiet, and he's asleep.


To hear him cry, even for a few minutes before a nap, is still hard, but for us, it's just so necessary. Now he knows how to put himself to sleep (and back to sleep in the middle of the night), which is an important skill. And I think he sleeps better because of it. And I know Hubby and I do.


I know everyone has their own opinions and perspectives about this issue, but for us, We just have to let our baby cry himself to sleep, because it works for us! Make sure to check out other Works-for-Me-Wednesday tips over at Shannon's place!

Bottle Strike! Help!

My son is a picky eater. Well, only as far as milk goes. He will eat any kind of cereal, fruit or vegetables I throw at him. Not that I throw things at him...but I digress...

He's 8 months old. He'll be 9 months on Friday.

When he was first born, he would only eat from a bottle. He wouldn't nurse for six weeks. But I hung in there, reviewing the costly nature of formula and all the arguments for mother's milk in my mind every day...and pumped (and pumped and pumped) and finally, at six weeks old, he decided that it would be okay to nurse.

So then everything was grand for a few months...he would take a bottle if I wasn't there, I could leave him in the nursery or with a babysitter, and if I was home, he would nurse, and it just worked out perfectly.

And then this summer, we got busy with camp, and I just nursed him, and didn't think about giving him a bottle because I was always with him... and then all of a sudden, he's 8 months old, and he will NOT take a bottle. Or a sippy cup of mother's milk. I can get him to drink about an ounce of formula out of a sippy cup, but he thinks it's gross, and that wouldn't be enough to keep him happy with a sitter for a few hours anyway.

So...does anyone have ANY tips on getting him to take a sippy cup or bottle? It's not a big deal to just nurse him most of the time, but I would like to start weaning him off of a couple of his nursings here in the next couple of months...and if he won't take milk from a sippy cup or bottle, I won't be able to do that! Help!!! :)

To see the dilemmas that other people are asking for help with, head on over to Shannon's place for the Dilemma edition of Works for Me Wednesday.

Edited To Add (4/09): I notice a lot of people are finding this post through Google searches, and if you're here looking for help, please read the comments - there are SO many great tips there! If you've already tried everything, and your child will NOT take a bottle...well, what ended up working for us is that I just stopped trying with the bottle/sippy cup & nursed him exclusively, until I started introducing whole milk along with the nursing, at 11 months, weaning him at 12 months. I know 6 months sounds like a long time to never be away from your little one, but, oh, it goes SO fast. I look back now & wish I'd even nursed longer. :) So hang in there, moms, and SOMETHING will work out. :)

The Most UN-Scientific Recipe Ever

Warning: if you are methodical, or like to know the exact amounts of ingredients to put in your recipes, you will probably get disgusted with the way I am sharing this recipe. If you are like me and just like to throw things together by look and taste (probably also the kind of person who gets somewhere by landmarks rather than by road signs), forge ahead and enjoy!


Chicken with Stewed Tomatoes & Mushrooms


This recipe sounds wierd, but is actually delicious. Think chicken with spaghetti sauce...sort of...but chunkier. I suppose this recipe is probably only going to be enjoyed by people who like tomatoes & mushrooms. But we love it, and it's SO easy. And it's so versatile- if you can find chicken, any kind of tomatoes & mushrooms in your cupboards (well, hopefully the chicken's in the fridge), you can make this recipe.



Ingredients- Oil, Chicken, Stewed Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Italian Seasoning (sometimes).



Incredibly Ambiguous & Possibly Confusing Directions:


Put some oil in your skillet. (Such scientific measurements, I know)


Brown your chicken (I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you could use diced chicken or whatever you like) Anyway- brown it in the oil for 5 minutes per side, or until the meat is white on the outside with some browning on each side.


Then add some stewed tomatoes. I stew & can my own with oregano & garlic salt, but the store-canned version should work just fine, too, although you may want to add some extra Italian seasoning, especially if you only have un-seasoned tomatoes on hand. Fresh tomatoes will work, too, if you add Italian seasoning and a little extra water, and just make sure you simmer them in the pan until they're soft.


At this point, also add your can of mushrooms. (I use one can for three chicken breasts.) As far as the amount of chicken & mushrooms you use, it just depends how many you want to have left to eat with your chicken, or if you want to put them on rice on the side.


After you've added your tomatoes & mushrooms, put a lid on your skillet, and let it simmer on medium-high heat for about 20 minutes. Check it every few minutes, to flip the chicken so it gets done all the way through, and also to make sure your stewed tomatoes aren't losing all their water- you may need to add water if this happens.


When your chicken's done all the way through, your recipe's done! I like to serve this with a baked or mashed potato, or with rice. If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Need an easy recipe with five ingredients or less? Check out Shannon's place for more great ideas that work for us!

WFMW: Pot Scrapers

Works-For-Me-Wednesday:

Here is a tool that I use all the time in my kitchen.

It is a garden variety, plastic pot scraper. (On my ivy tablecloth. You're welcome for the expert photography.) You can purchase them at all kinds of different stores, mine I found for about 50 cents at a local Amish 'variety store'. They're also sold with the Pampered Chef stones, as the recommended tool of use for cleaning stoneware. I use it for all kinds of different things.

1) The first thing that I use it for, surprise of surprises, is scraping dishes. It works great for skillets with burned on eggs, burnt on cheese on pizza pans, (anyone noticing a pattern here??? ...no wonder my husband is always saying, "I'll make dinner, you just feed the baby") and melted cheese on plates. And of course I use it to scrape the aforementioned Pampered Chef stoneware, since I use my pizza stone at least once a week.

2) Another thing that I use the scraper for is scraping my sink out... If someone happens to drop some cheese in the sink or something else gets stuck to it, just a quick swipe with the scraper gets rid of it- and since it's plastic, it won't scratch it like a knife would.

3) I think the best use for the pot scraper is to clean off the counter after you make biscuits, cinnamon rolls, or any other kind of dough. You know if you use a wet washcloth or a green scratchy pad to clean your floury, doughy counter, all you get is a bunch of goop all over your counter and you have to keep wiping it over and over. Well, when I get done making biscuits, I just grab the pot scraper, scrape all the remaining dough & flour into a pile, and throw it in the garbage, then wipe off the counter with the wet washcloth. This works really well for laminate countertops & also wood butcher block countertops. I would say the pot scraper is probably the easiest way to clean wood butcher block countertops overall.

Well, I hope all this rambling has been useful to somebody! Head on over to Shannon's place for more Works-for-Me-Wednesday tips!