I've been thinking a lot. Which could be dangerous, LOL.
The Chef and I are working on making an setting a budget for the New Year. We're in the process of reading and learning Dave Ramsey's method. We know quite a few people that have had success with that. And we're to the point where we should be getting rid of most of our debt in the next few months, so we figured it would be a good time to start.
In looking at and crunching the numbers the looming question has been if I should go back to work full time. I haven't technically been full time since Chunk was born, even though for almost a year I was working 2 part time jobs.
So we plate with and crunched the numbers. If I go back full time, right now, the 2 biggest goobers would have to go to before school care 3 days a week, and after school care once a week. Plus Cute Boy would need daycare in the mornings 3 days a week (he's in afternoon kindergarten) and after school one day a week...and Chunk would be full time in daycare. We priced it out using our options of in school before and after school for the big boys and our sitter and our daycare, and no matter how we crunch it, I'll need a very very well paying full time job.
If I stay home, it saves us the money for child care. Yes, Chunk goes 3 days a week to daycare, but he LOVES it there and he's doing great. Plus it allows me to be able to go into school and help a lot which the Goobers love. (And for the most part works out to be when the baby is at daycare!). I actually like being home (surprisingly!) and like that we have family dinners 4x a week, and that even the other 3 nights the boys and I have time together (chef works until 8pm 3 nights a week)
When we worked out the numbers, no matter what way we did it, for the most part we just get by. If I'm working, most of that money goes to childcare.
So where does that leave me? I'm going to invest more time in developing my Thirty One business. I love the company and the products, and they spoil their consultants! And it allows me to make my own schedule. I'm also doing some part time stuff behind the scenes at the repair shop. Which is good because I love the shop, and miss it sometimes!
And the upside to all of this, which I realized today as I sit here with a Chunk who didn't go to daycare because he pulled an all nighter last night? I get to be here for my kids. I loved working full time, but for me, at this point right now, even though they drive me insane, I'm right where I want to be.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The sleep battle...
I dread bedtime in our house. Sleep has always been a rough spot in our house. Spawn has never been a great sleeper; Sweet Nut is a great sleeper if people leave him alone and let him fall asleep; and Cute Boy and Chunk take f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to go to sleep. Throw the 3 goobers all sharing a room into the mix and it's a recipe for disaster.
One of the things Spawn's doctors were looking at trying to figure out why his asthma medicine wasn't helping much was how he slept. How long it took him to fall asleep and how many times he woke up at night. Thankfully with the removal of his adenoid we got the night wakings down to almost none. But there was still the hours long battle to actually fall asleep.
I'm not a great sleeper either, so that might be part of it. I have battles with insomnia and a few years back I was told about using relaxation and meditation to go to sleep. Using you tube videos, I found what ones worked best and most nights that's how I'll fall asleep-headphones in my ears and the iPhone or iPod next to me.
I thought about it back when I started using them for myself to let the kids use them, but don't know why I never did.
Then someone brought up the idea to me the other day. I looked for videos that were geared more towards kids and found some that I thought were worth giving a shot.
We tried them tonight and, seriously, Spawn was almost asleep at the end of the first one. All 3 big boys were out by the end of the second one and it was only 9:20. Unheard of in my house, in 9.5 years that all the boys, and most importantly, Spawn were sleeping that early.
We've tried the early bedtimes, split bedtimes etc. Nothing worked. So I'm hoping that we've finally found what works. Spawn tends to instigate and wake up the other 2 if he "feels lonely".
The first video we used was this one:
It's a Progressive Muscle Relaxation for kids. I love this type of relaxation and use it often...when I'm tired, when I'm stressed...whenever I need a few minutes to myself. The best part about this one is once you have an idea of how it works you can do it anytime, anywhere. Basically what it does is have you works groups of muscles, tightening them and then relaxing them multiple times, which strangely enough really relaxes them. Most of the ones I've used start with the hands or feet and work their way around the body. This particular one is geared specifically for kids and starts with the hands. It has them pretend to squeeze the juice out of lemons. Then it works the face by having them scrunch their nose and foreheads to make a fly go away. Clench the jaw by pretending they are biting on a jawbreaker. Pull their neck into their shoulders pretending they are turtles pulling their heads into their shells. Pretend they are lazy cats stretching in the sun etc. It's an almost 14 minute video, and by then end of this one, the boys were still awake, but you could tell they were calmed down. They took a bathroom break and when Spawn climbed back into bed he has some very heavy eyelids.
Then we moved onto this one:
This guy is a hypnotherapist, and this is a guided sleep relaxation video. Guided relaxations are just that. Where the person basically takes you to a place, in this case to the castle because the kids are princes or princesses. The beginning they have their eyes open and watch, and they loved seeing this little guy from a video game. After a few minutes he has them close their eyes to begin the journey. This video, unlike the previous has no direction to open their eyes at the end, because hopefully, as a sleep video, they are asleep by the end of it. This is just over 8 minutes and by the end of this, Sweet Nut was snoring, Spawn was out like a light and Cute Boy had just fallen asleep.
This was only our first night of using these with the kids and I have to say, I'm happy with the results. I'm looking through other sleep relaxation videos to change up and see what ones work best. For me, longer ones work and I can't use the same one over and over because I start 'reading' the script in my head. I tend to stick with certain types or certain voices though once I find one that works.
Oh, and you might wonder how we did this. I just brought my iPhone into their room, turned off anything that made noise (fan included) and had them lay on their backs in their beds. The first video talks about them sitting in a chair (it's made to use in school) but they had no problems following along laying down.
Hopefully, I'll be able to update in a few days that we've had continued success and I'll post other videos that work for us as we find them. It's easy to find though, just do searches on you tube.
I'll have another blog post geared towards adults with some videos soon!
Sweet Dreams!
One of the things Spawn's doctors were looking at trying to figure out why his asthma medicine wasn't helping much was how he slept. How long it took him to fall asleep and how many times he woke up at night. Thankfully with the removal of his adenoid we got the night wakings down to almost none. But there was still the hours long battle to actually fall asleep.
I'm not a great sleeper either, so that might be part of it. I have battles with insomnia and a few years back I was told about using relaxation and meditation to go to sleep. Using you tube videos, I found what ones worked best and most nights that's how I'll fall asleep-headphones in my ears and the iPhone or iPod next to me.
I thought about it back when I started using them for myself to let the kids use them, but don't know why I never did.
Then someone brought up the idea to me the other day. I looked for videos that were geared more towards kids and found some that I thought were worth giving a shot.
We tried them tonight and, seriously, Spawn was almost asleep at the end of the first one. All 3 big boys were out by the end of the second one and it was only 9:20. Unheard of in my house, in 9.5 years that all the boys, and most importantly, Spawn were sleeping that early.
We've tried the early bedtimes, split bedtimes etc. Nothing worked. So I'm hoping that we've finally found what works. Spawn tends to instigate and wake up the other 2 if he "feels lonely".
The first video we used was this one:
It's a Progressive Muscle Relaxation for kids. I love this type of relaxation and use it often...when I'm tired, when I'm stressed...whenever I need a few minutes to myself. The best part about this one is once you have an idea of how it works you can do it anytime, anywhere. Basically what it does is have you works groups of muscles, tightening them and then relaxing them multiple times, which strangely enough really relaxes them. Most of the ones I've used start with the hands or feet and work their way around the body. This particular one is geared specifically for kids and starts with the hands. It has them pretend to squeeze the juice out of lemons. Then it works the face by having them scrunch their nose and foreheads to make a fly go away. Clench the jaw by pretending they are biting on a jawbreaker. Pull their neck into their shoulders pretending they are turtles pulling their heads into their shells. Pretend they are lazy cats stretching in the sun etc. It's an almost 14 minute video, and by then end of this one, the boys were still awake, but you could tell they were calmed down. They took a bathroom break and when Spawn climbed back into bed he has some very heavy eyelids.
Then we moved onto this one:
This guy is a hypnotherapist, and this is a guided sleep relaxation video. Guided relaxations are just that. Where the person basically takes you to a place, in this case to the castle because the kids are princes or princesses. The beginning they have their eyes open and watch, and they loved seeing this little guy from a video game. After a few minutes he has them close their eyes to begin the journey. This video, unlike the previous has no direction to open their eyes at the end, because hopefully, as a sleep video, they are asleep by the end of it. This is just over 8 minutes and by the end of this, Sweet Nut was snoring, Spawn was out like a light and Cute Boy had just fallen asleep.
This was only our first night of using these with the kids and I have to say, I'm happy with the results. I'm looking through other sleep relaxation videos to change up and see what ones work best. For me, longer ones work and I can't use the same one over and over because I start 'reading' the script in my head. I tend to stick with certain types or certain voices though once I find one that works.
Oh, and you might wonder how we did this. I just brought my iPhone into their room, turned off anything that made noise (fan included) and had them lay on their backs in their beds. The first video talks about them sitting in a chair (it's made to use in school) but they had no problems following along laying down.
Hopefully, I'll be able to update in a few days that we've had continued success and I'll post other videos that work for us as we find them. It's easy to find though, just do searches on you tube.
I'll have another blog post geared towards adults with some videos soon!
Sweet Dreams!
Changing things up...
So while I was leaning before towards a homeschooling blog, obviously plans have changed.
I've decided to head in a more general mom blog direction with special areas for ADHD (and what works with our kids) and Class Moms (because there are great ideas everywhere, but not many places where you can get all the stuff in one spot.) I may eventually branch these off into their own blogs, but for now, everything will be here.
We still do some Tot School with Chunk, so those posts will be sprinkled throughout, and who knows, maybe one day we will be official homeschoolers.
I've decided to head in a more general mom blog direction with special areas for ADHD (and what works with our kids) and Class Moms (because there are great ideas everywhere, but not many places where you can get all the stuff in one spot.) I may eventually branch these off into their own blogs, but for now, everything will be here.
We still do some Tot School with Chunk, so those posts will be sprinkled throughout, and who knows, maybe one day we will be official homeschoolers.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Updates on the goings on here...
Soooooooo...it's been awhile. And you know how it can be here...totally insane.
Anyways, update on us. Spawn had his adenoid taken out just under 2 months ago. He's doing better, no more snoring, no more night wakings, so we're hopeful that we get a good report when we head back to the immunologist. Chunk has done better since we changed his meds, but we still have some random fevers and he's had a rattle in his chest that we need to follow up on.
School wise, ugh. The Ex completely flipped a week before school started and refused to help or support Spawn and homeschooling. Spawn and I talked it over and we decided to head back to school, for now. We were able to meet his teacher the day before school started and had some time to chat, and she seems to be a great fit for him so far. He still wants to homeschool and mentions it every once in awhile, but is doing ok.
Sweet Nut LOVES his teacher. It's the first time he's had a man teacher, and so far he's doing great. He somehow convinced me to become class mom, so you'll be seeing more from me with things I'm doing. I'm also one of 4 class moms for Spawn's class. Oh boy.
Cute Boy LOVES kindergarten. He has the same teacher the older boys had for K and he's doing ok! We need to work on letters but nothing to worry about yet she said.
Chunk also started school! He took Cute Boy's spots at daycare 3 days a week, and while he's not so sure he wants to be dropped off, he loves it there.
Chunk had been staying up to 12ish each night, and I have no idea why. It's killing my sleep though, I had problems with insomnia before, now it's just like really? Sucks,
Anyways, there's the quick update. More to come later.
Anyways, update on us. Spawn had his adenoid taken out just under 2 months ago. He's doing better, no more snoring, no more night wakings, so we're hopeful that we get a good report when we head back to the immunologist. Chunk has done better since we changed his meds, but we still have some random fevers and he's had a rattle in his chest that we need to follow up on.
School wise, ugh. The Ex completely flipped a week before school started and refused to help or support Spawn and homeschooling. Spawn and I talked it over and we decided to head back to school, for now. We were able to meet his teacher the day before school started and had some time to chat, and she seems to be a great fit for him so far. He still wants to homeschool and mentions it every once in awhile, but is doing ok.
Sweet Nut LOVES his teacher. It's the first time he's had a man teacher, and so far he's doing great. He somehow convinced me to become class mom, so you'll be seeing more from me with things I'm doing. I'm also one of 4 class moms for Spawn's class. Oh boy.
Cute Boy LOVES kindergarten. He has the same teacher the older boys had for K and he's doing ok! We need to work on letters but nothing to worry about yet she said.
Chunk also started school! He took Cute Boy's spots at daycare 3 days a week, and while he's not so sure he wants to be dropped off, he loves it there.
Chunk had been staying up to 12ish each night, and I have no idea why. It's killing my sleep though, I had problems with insomnia before, now it's just like really? Sucks,
Anyways, there's the quick update. More to come later.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
2012-2013 Curriculum Choices
So, it's that time of year. The time of year where Spawn is super excited to start homeschooling and I'm ready to run to the hills screaming in fear.
Well, maybe not. Although, the thought has crossed my mind.
I'm having those thoughts that apparently every home school mom has at some point. You know the ones. I can't do this. I must be crazy.
Terrified. At least I have a month left.
So since I'm working on the paperwork that my district needs, I figured I might as well lay it all out here, right?
So here's the plan for this year.
Spawn is 9.5 years old and going into 4th grade but is working at a 3rd grade math and reading level, per our elementary school.
Math: Saxon Intermediate 3
We started with this not long after he got out of school, very laid back about it. We're a few lessons in and it seems that it works for him. He's understanding concepts better now and he enjoys it, for the most part.
Reading: Read Alouds/Reading for comprehension. No real curriculum for this, going for fluency and learning techniques so he remembers what he reads. We have a recommended reading list for 3-5th grade from the state, so we'll be working on books on that list.
Spelling: A Reason For Spelling C
Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting C or D
Grammar: Easy Grammar
History/Geography: Story of the World Vol. 1. He wants to learn about the ancients and the founding fathers, so I'm not sure how that's going to work. He's a bit over ambitious. :D
Science: Still undecided. Most likely Apologia.
Health: Horizons 4th Grade Health Program
Art: He's signed up for a 11 week program through a homeschooling group we are in, and then after that we will be using HomeArtStudio
Music: He learned the recorder last year in school, so I think this year we'll be taking it to the piano. We'll also study some composers and pieces that they have written. We're going to rotate music and art throughout the year.
Physical Ed: Our home school group has gym/park days, so we'll be making it to as many of them as we can, and he wants to sign up for flag football at the rec center.
I've also borrowed the idea of a calendar notebook. He wants a morning meeting time with the calendar and all, so we're doing it big kid style. It's got the usual date, weather, days in school, etc, but we also have journal prompts and a number of the day sheet. Once I have it all set up, I'll post pictures and links.
I think that's everything. Until we start using it all and change it up :D
Linking up to the Not Back to School Blog Hop!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Going cra-a-a-zy!
We haven't disappeared, I promise!
We're just been keeping busy...keeping goobers occupied...and doctor appointments.
I have a blog post to do, but haven't gotten around to it...hopefully this weekend if I can find some time between the carnival being down the street from our house and getting ready for my trip to Atlanta to meet up with some friends and go to my first Thirty One National Conference.
Oh, and I'm in full swing getting things ready for September.
Yep. Cra-a-a-azy.
We're just been keeping busy...keeping goobers occupied...and doctor appointments.
I have a blog post to do, but haven't gotten around to it...hopefully this weekend if I can find some time between the carnival being down the street from our house and getting ready for my trip to Atlanta to meet up with some friends and go to my first Thirty One National Conference.
Oh, and I'm in full swing getting things ready for September.
Yep. Cra-a-a-azy.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Moments to Remember
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After a late night of fireworks and fun this is what I woke up to in my bed. Chunk has been sleeping with us since he's been sick and Cute Boy apparently climbed into bed sometime after Chef left for work.
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