Monthly #momlife

Today I was thinking to myself about some of things that have become a part of our routine, and have made being a family of 5 just a little easier? Or smoother… I don’t know. But, out of that spawned the idea that I could share these things, and also have them written down for the times I forget and stop doing said things. So here we go… in no particular order, with no rhyme or reason. These thing could be useful even if you don’t have kids or are single. Like the first one!

Home Made Dishwasher Detergent

Last month we ran out of dish detergent, for the dishwasher. I usually order Shaklee from a friend, but I spaced, and would have needed to get something to hold us over… a family of 5 goes through a lot of dishes and I would choose my roll away dishwasher over hand washing any day (thankfully Matt does most of the hand washing…) So, I did a quick google search to see if I had anything on hand I could use. This is what I came up with:

• 1 cup washing soda
• 1 cup baking soda
• 3/4cup of salt

I use vinegar as a rinse aid. We are so happy with how it works, I made a double batch and we are running with it. Plus side, it’s cheap. I gathered that the salt can be adjusted based on the hardness of your water.

Meatloaf Mondays

Meatloaf Mondays have been reinstated after the holidays. I must say, I love knowing what I’m making for dinner, and my family LOVES meatloaf. Win Win. I serve it with a side of root vegetable (potatoes or carrots) a hot vege/and or green salad. The recipe is so easy, you may want to try it.

• 1/2- 3/4 cup of oats
• 1 egg
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup of chopped onion
• salt, pepper and garlic to taste
• Mix, put in loaf pan and bake for 45 mins at 350F

Coffee Timer

This is one I need to do more. I love getting up and the coffee being made, Matt is the coffee maker in our house… but with Matt putting in more regular hours at the Space, he is often out the door before coffee. If I know he isn’t going to be around I try to use the timer, because truth be told Matt likes making coffee in the morning. I am a total non morning person, so between nursing my baby and getting some type of second breakfast for the boys, coffee in the pot is like my little happy start for the day… the one thing that isn’t talking to me.

Laying down to Nurse

This is something I started doing with Finley because of her lip tie. She always seemed to get a better latch side lying then any other way. Now that she is 8 months old, and distracted by everything, I love that this is part of our routine. When we are home I always go into my room to nurse her. I get 10-15 minutes of being horizontal (she is a quick nurser) and we get some quiet time. I may or may not surf pinterest or close my eyes on occasion 😉 (When Finley was born she had a severe tongue tie. I’m so thankful our doctor caught it immediately and took care of it when he checked her over right after she was born. Thankfully she outgrew her issues with her lip tie, and all is going well)

Food Things

As I reflect, a lot of the little things that make my life easier relate to food. My boys both have 2 hollow legs, and my husband is a meat and potatoes guy. We have a hot lunch most every day, and I kind of feel like I’m cheating when I give the kids pb&j. I feel like I spend a lot of my time preparing and serving food. So, here is a quick run down of food related things…

• Make leftovers and double baking recipes. (I used to be able to freeze half, but these days a batch of a dozen muffins last maybe a day or 2 in our house)
• I put a Tupperware of veges on the table before lunch or supper when my kids are whining about how hungry they are. I am totally fine if they fill up on veges, and it reminds me to eat more veges too!
• Meal plan, the same weekly plan for 4-5 weeks. This makes it really easy to do meal prep.
• Send Matt a grocery list. The more kids we have, the less grocery shopping I do… because shopping with my 3 kids tuckers me right out, and I always end up deserting the last 20% of my list due to crying… or pending melt downs.

Being a mom is some kind of strange, wonderful, all consuming, non consuming sort of anomaly. Sometimes its really smooth. Other days I swear my left eye will explode if my kids wake the baby one more time, and I step on another piece of lego, while staring at all the pieces of baby clothing stained with explosive poop. Most days my kids have no socks, and wear the same clothes 3 days in a row. Sometimes I am putting on a mitten and having an inner dialogue to talk myself off the ledge of losing it at the OCD of my kids and the life ending reality of a twisted sock in a boot or the fact that I didn’t dress them in their snow gear in the right order.

Writing about the seemingly mundane successes makes me feel a little bit like the hero my boys say I am. That is when they aren’t telling me they don’t want to live with me anymore because I won’t let them eat candy before lunch. (ok… that’s totally G, because E is six and knows it would never fly.)