Being a Mother

I knew growing up that I eventually would fall in love and want to be a Mother. I vowed to be the best mom a kid could have, do all kinds of fun things, be super close to my children, and be the perfect mom. I have come to realize now that my oldest is going to be turning 5yrs old, there is no such thing as being a perfect Mother. It seems everyone tells you when your children are babies, “Oh things will get easier”, “Isn’t it the most wonderful thing to be a mom.”

First, let me say Yes, I am very happy I have my two girls and I couldn’t ever imagine not having them but having children is a lot of work. Everyone wants to sugar coat how great it is and how amazing and beautiful each day is with your child. I’m sorry there are a lot of good days and then there is a lot of challenging days. Kids don’t come with manuals, they are each so different, and if you are anything like me and want to be an active part in your child’s life and really work every day to be the best mom possible, it’s tiring. I’m not saying I don’t love my children because I do more than I can express. I’m just saying kids are a lot of work and it seems as soon as you get one situation or routine figured out they get a year older with a whole new attitude, behavior or whatever that you have to figure out.  

Maybe it comes down to me working too hard to be a good mother instead of just being me and being involved with my children (which I think stems from me not having a great mother growing up so now I try too hard to be a better mom to my children). Either way that’s a whole other story! Also I think society in general puts it out there that as moms we are suppose to be “perfect” moms, do everything, have everything under control all the time, etc.  I think sometimes we as moms feel we should be able to do it all and have perfect storybook children and everything be happy all the time like in the movies.

So here is my tidbit for today, there is no such thing as a PERFECT MOM! I love my children and I love being a mom to them but each day has its good moments and its bad moments. Being a Mother is the hardest job I have ever had and do; there is nothing else that compares. Each day is always a new adventure and I personally just strive each day to be there for my children and raise them the best way I can. I think it’s important to not get caught up in comparing ourselves to other moms and thinking they are better than us etc. I try to tone out those who try to constantly tell me what I should or should not be doing with my children. What works for them or you may not work for me or someone else.I do enjoy talking to other moms and listening and hearing advice, just not those in my past who think their way of parenting is the only way.  As I said before, they don’t come with manuals and each child is unique and different. You just have to do what you can do and be the best mother you can be and hope that it all works out in the end, which let’s face it, it all works out the way its suppose to in the end.

I am very grateful that God allowed me to have healthy children and allows me to be their mother. Each day is always a new adventure and I personally just strive each day to be there for my children and raise them the best  I can. So I want other moms to remember that, being a mom is a hard job and it’s the most important and hardest job you will ever have. It’s not always easy, there are tons of bumps along the way, and “stressed” some days is an understatement,  but just hang in there and everything will work itself out. When times get me down I always try to focus on the positive and remind myself that I have 2 beautiful healthy children and then I run over and tickle them to hear their giggles or lock myself in the bathroom for a few minutes to breathe (lol).

Hang in there Moms! You too will get through those tuff days. Just remember one phrase someone once told me; "this too shall pass"

Meal Plans 9/26-10/2

 

Here are the meals I plan to make this week! I must admit sometimes I change the sides around depending on how I feel for example; if I have rice as I side one day and potatoes as another, sometimes I will switch the sides around depending on how we feel. Hopefully soon I hope to add more recipes and figure out how to make that simple for you all to get to them. Enjoy.
Meals week 9/26-10/2
Mon.- Baked chicken legs, mashed potatoes and green beans.
Tues.-Veggie spaghetti (no meat or ground turkey, just sauce with mushrooms, olives, etc)
Weds- Breakfast for dinner
Thurs- Roasted chicken, rice and corn
Friday- Taco's ( I make homemade refried beans, recipe below)
Sat. Leftover chicken pot pie
Sun. Salmon, rice and zucchini grilled with olive oil and salt and pepper.

My Homemade Refried Beans
This is my very simple and easy recipe for homemade refried beans. One side note, I like trying to homemake as much as I can to control sodium and what goes in it. I dont have exact measurements because I go buy taste and what my family likes so have fun and experiment with it. Start out adding a little spice and work your way up to what you like.

1 can pinto beans (I have dried pinto beans to try but haven't had time yet to soak and cook them)
olive oil
chili powder
garlic powder
cumin

Drain pinto beans and add to food processer, I shake about a teaspoon of chili powder and garlic powder on them. Then I probably use about a tablespoon of cumin. I'm guessing on my teaspoon and tablespooon amounts, I usually just sprinkle it in but I do add more cumin than the chili or garlic powder. Then I pour Olive Oil in to wet the beans. Let the food processer do the work and keep using olive oil (or a little water if you dont want strong olive oil taste) to get the consistancy you like. I always taste and add a little more cumin as needed. I then to make it simple microwave them for about 2mins or depending on if I feel like doing another pan will heat them in a small saucepan on the stove.  When I make them on Friday I will try to get more accurate measurements and update this post to give you a better idea. Sorry if its confusing, enjoy! 

Meal Plans 9/19-9/25

So I am behind this week on getting my meals for the week posted as well. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I want to include the recipes but for now I will post them below. I usually dont like to do 2 cassoroles back to back on Sat. and Sun. but this week they just happened to turn out that way.

Meals week 9/19-9/25
Mon.- Hamburger Tarts
Tues.-Spaghetti
Weds- Homemade pancakes
Thurs- Baked chicken, rice, green beans
Friday- Homemade pizza night
Sat. Leftover chicken cassorole made with chicken, stuffing and broccoli
Sun. Tuna cassorole

Recipe for Hamburger tarts
Here is a recipe for the Hamburger tarts we made on Monday night. Of course, with any recipe I use it as a guide and just use what I have on hand. The recipe says it makes 18 I only got 12 tarts out of it.
(link where I found recipe http://cooking-out-loud.com/guest-post-hamburger-tarts )

18 slices of bread with crust cut off- (I only got 12 from recipe & used wheat bread)
1/4cup of margarine (as needed, I used my "I can't believe its not butter, olive oil spray")
1lb ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1/4cup bread crumbs
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 large eggs
1/2c diced onion (I didn't have any)
1 tsp minced garlic (Garlic lover here! I just sprinkled garlic powder over the mixture)
1 cup grated cheese of choice (I just grated what I needed and sprinkled on top of them)
BBQ or Ketchup for topping.

Preheat oven to 350. I browned my ground turkey and drained, then I mixed in all other ingrediants except for the cheese and ketchup. I pressed the bread in the muffin pan that I sprayed with my olive oil spray butter. Then I scooped spoonfuls into each slice of bread in the pan and topped with cheese. I only baked mine for 35mins. We then put a little kethup on top. They freeze well so you can pop them in the microwave for a quick lunch or snack. I served them with macaroni cheese and corn.



Hamburger tarts



Weekly Bible Verse 9/19-9/25

Uusally I post this on Mondays but I was unable to yesterday so I'm posted it today. Here is this weeks Bible Verse. Its one of my favorite Bible verses and perfect to remember in times when you are overwhelmed, stressed, or need reassurance.

Bible Verse 9/19- 9/25
"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" Philippians 4: 13

Also I want to continue to provide you with Kloves radio station website. As mentioned before we love listening to this station. http://www.klove.com/

The "S" word

Yes! The “S” word! You know that word, STRESS! So over the last week completely stressed out is an understatement. As a stay at home mom to two non school age girls I was used to really making my own schedule and not having to do something every day. Last week, mid-week, my oldest started preschool as I mentioned in another post. I was ready but didn’t prepare for the emotional and physical stress of being busy, getting up and getting moving every day. We are up anyway by 7am every morning but unless we have somewhere to be we would ease into our day. Not anymore!

Here is how my week looked last week, at a glance. Each day I still had to do the regular cleaning, cooking, caring for the girls, shopping etc. So Monday night I also had my monthly Bible study with a lady from church who comes over, Tuesday the girls started back at dance class in the afternoons, Weds morning Natalie started preschool and my youngest (3yr old) had her well visit with a vaccine, Thursday preschool again in the morning and then on Friday preschool with both girls having a dental cleaning in the afternoon. Our schedule was so much busier compared to what we are use to.

Let me get something straight, I am not complaining about this for a pity party, I’m just saying that as grateful as I am that I am able to stay home with my girls we have always had a certain routine and now that we have added something early in the morning, this schedule change hit like a brick wall. I so under estimated the adjustment to our schedule. I know it’s just getting use to a new routine and seeing this week isn’t as packed I think its going to be less stressful.  

I want to hear ideas of how others deal with stress in their lives. I have always been a worry wart and over think things so I tend to be stressed easily. I have got better with it over the years compared to even 2yrs ago, but like everything in life I’m always learning and readjusting. I know a lot of people say to deal with stress you need to get daily exercise, let’s face it, I’m lacking in this area. I just haven’t made that time for myself to do that daily.  So I am working on trying to get up a little earlier and fit that in.

So this was how my week went last week and that’s why I wasn’t posting as much. I was trying to prioritize and try to not add to my already over booked week. So here’s to learning to relax and deal with stress! Let me know what you do that you find helps you deal with stress; I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

I must add one thing. I'm so thankful that my husband did help with cleaning up dinner and playing with the girls so I could focus on what I need to do. I dont want others to think that he doesn't try to help me when I am stressed or overwhelmed.  I dont know if any other moms do this but I dont always ask for help from him with what I feel is my responsibility as a stay at home mom. This is something I am working on but I think Moms, working or stay home, think that we can handle it all and tend to not ask for help when needed.

1st day of Preschool

Today was the first day for my 4 1/2yr old to start Preschool. What an emotional moment for a parent when their children reach this stage. As a stay at home mom who never had a babysitter for my girls except on rare occasions I found myself a little anxious, ok, a lot of anxiety. I was always looking forward to the day when she would be old enough to start school and get to that point in her life. Although I don’t want her to grow up to quickly I have always had the attitude that school was part of growing up and its just part of getting bigger. So I never seen myself as the mom who would cry with tears running down my face as she walked away or at least I told myself I would not be one of those moms.

I found myself last night becoming really anxious for her. I even told my husband I think I am more nervous for her than she is about it all. Really that’s what it was about, I’m more nervous for her than the idea of not being able to have that watchful eye over her. Then again her preschool is only 2hrs a day 4 days a week with every other Friday a parent has to go in with her for a “parent evolvement workshop”.  So anyway, after not being able to fall asleep easily last night I found myself awake a 6am ready to start this new morning routine.

Thankfully I had got everyone’s clothes out last night and had her snack and juice box already to go in her backpack. I made my coffee and just took a moment to breath to prepare myself for this moment in her life when she begins to meet new friends, learn new things, etc. Lucky for us she is use to being around others kids in her dance class and also at Sunday school so she wasn’t to freaked out by the other kids standing all around her! As all of us parents stand there and watch our children wave by to us, with a grin on their face, as they walk into the school I feel a little lump in my throat. At that moment my 3yr old who is watching her best friend walk into school cries, “She didn’t say bye to me.”  I tear up and thankfully they didn’t roll down my face! I was determined I wasn’t going to cry.

So after getting home and having my youngest following me around like a lost puppy, I barely got anything done when I realized it was already time to go pick her up. She comes running out with a huge smile, tells me all the fun she had and how she wanted to go play with everyone on the playground before we go home, all while my youngest is holding onto her hand as tightly as possible determined she isn’t going to let go. Yet again, I admit to my husband, “I worry over nothing like usual” Then again as a Mom, don’t we worry about mostly everything with our kids?

Best Friends, Holding Hands.

My Relationship with Couponing (you can call it that)

I started to coupon about a month prior to the first episode of an “extreme” couponing show airing. I do find using coupons can save you money if you use them correctly. This is not going to be a post on exactly how to use coupons because honestly I don’t feel confident in my ability to teach others how to do that. I will, however, tell you where I get my coupons and include a list at the bottom of the websites that I use that have taught me coupon and that I still use to help me with the store matchups.

So with that being said this is how I use my coupons to help my family save money. First thing first, coupons can save you money at the grocery store but buying something just because you have a coupon for it doesn’t save you money. I only buy things that I would normally buy or things I know my family will use. What’s the point? You know.  I simply buy usually 1 paper on Sunday, 2 at the most. I find it silly when some people buy 5 or more papers!  At the end of the month does the cost of all those papers really save you that much? This is just my opinion but for my family 1-2 papers are enough.

Another question family/friends ask is, “where else do you get coupons besides the paper?” I get a lot of coupons online. I use different websites that post a lot of coupons (links at bottom), I go to the company’s website, and on Facebook companies are now posting a lot of their coupons there.  Also each month throughout the month www.coupons.com restocks their coupons and adds more. Most of the time, you can print 2 coupons per computer each month from Coupons.com.

So to sum it up; each week I buy my  Sunday paper, use websites that matchup the coupons with the sales that week, look online for coupons that I may need, make a list, and go shopping. I must say, I do two seperate trips to the grocery store; 1 with just coupons and then another for what I need that I don’t have coupons for. It helps me to stay focused on making sure I’m saving, etc. I also only go to my regular grocery store  when I have coupons and do most of my shopping at Aldi’s. We are lucky enough to have an Aldi’s in our area and they have great food and it’s so much cheaper than getting it at the regular grocery store.

Using coupons to save money at the grocery store is possible with work, is not easy and can be time consuming but it does help my family with our grocery budget. I am not one to have a huge stockpile in my house either! I simply have a 5 box rule, sometimes more if it’s something we use daily or use a lot of.  I have just one pantry and refuse to over fill it and store throughout the house. Below are the websites that I find the most helpful. I agree with parts of their sites but not all of it sometimes. You can be your own judge on them.

www.coupondivas.com, www.stockpilingmoms.com, www.thriftymoms.com, www.krazycouponlady.com, www.wickedcooldeals.com, http://www.mavenofsavin.com/

(These are the ones I use the most, I will add more as they come along. Also I dont use them all everyday and follow a lot of them on facebook to see the deals)

(Update: 9/28/11. I have to add to this post that I am not bashing those who buy more than 1-2 papers. Its just that I dont have it in my budget to buy more than the amount of papers I buy and my stockpile is very small simply because I dont have the budget to spend that much more each month to start a nice stockpile. So if you do buy more papers good for you and being able to spend that much in papers but I honestly can't and find the papers I buy are enough to help us save monthly on our grocery budget.)