Annual Review

With the arrival of my one year anniversary of staying home with all three kids I’ve decided to take stock of how I’m doing.

Starting with the obvious, I get an F- for keeping up on my blogging! The only excuse I can give you is that I got lazy. I decided that pinning was way easier than blogging! In defense of my supreme laziness, I will tell you that I have implemented many of the awesome ideas I’ve found on Pintrest from home decorating to kids activities and recopies (yummy!). If I can shake my laziness, maybe I’ll share some of the ones I have liked the most here (I hope you aren’t holding your breath, given my track record the last several months).

So, for how well I’ve done with everything else this past year, I took a look back at my first 41 entries. There are many accomplishments and insights that I have gathered throughout this past year:

·         I started off SAHM-hood thinking that I should be ‘all that and a bag of chips’; planning theme days, organizing crafts, etc. During the past year I’ve realized that I will likely never be ‘that’ SAHM (as much as I admire her). Instead, I’ve taken the lead from Maria Montessori and created self-directed fun while at home.  I have also decided that having help at least one time a week (okay, maybe two times!). For example: Instead of cutting sandwiches into letters myself, I bought a bag of 100 cookie cutters for $10 and let the kids pick their own shape on sandwich days. This makes the PB&J’s we eat at least 2x/ week much more exciting!

·         I really wanted to institute reading time into our daily routine, but quickly learned that my kids are just too small for this. J & L read with daddy every night and E reads with me before bed. Beyond that, the Library story time is about the only other time they get structured reading time now. It is awesome with either J or L sits and reads to E (usually ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’).

·         I’m still pretty much a Nazi-mom. Even E (who is now 15 months old) goes to time-out. I stand by the idea that kids crave structure and discipline. On the days where I am a slacker-mom when I let my kids get away with more than they should, we all pay. One day I might learn this lesson!

·         My kids still do chores. Everyone, including E, picks up toys. J has a new chore of running a small, cordless vacuum under the table after dinner and L has learned to help sweep with her new pink broom and dustpan!

·         My mommy time in the morning has become getting a few extra minutes of sleep while daddy fixes the kids that are awake breakfast. You will be happy to know (or maybe I’m the one that’s happy about it) that all of my kids now know how to sleep through the night! Reading through my posts last summer makes me realize how much I appreciate my uninterrupted sleep now (thanks kids!).

·         When I said that retail therapy didn’t really work when playing ‘hookie’ on my kids, I must have been reeeaaalllly sleep deprived. After a year as a SAHM, I still love me some retail therapy – although now it is usually at the grocery, Target, Kohl’s, or our local consignment store (Snooty Fox). Funny story: L had on a pair of dressy shoes which I had ordered some time ago for special occasions. J: ‘L those are pretty shoes.’ L: ‘Thanks, mommy bought them for me.’ J: ‘At Target?’ L: ‘No, Snooty Fox.’ Funny stuff!!

·         Being a Bengals fan was easier than I thought – we actually did pretty well last year. Already looking forward to the new season. (And, more importantly in our family, our local high school football team took the state championship for their 5th straight year!).

·         My knitting project didn’t really get off the ground. The pot holder that I started is about 2/3 complete – which is probably how it will remain. Maybe when the kids get older I’ll find time to knit something (for my grandkids maybe?).

·         The lost St. Patrick’s Day Library book (that we checked out in August) was $5.

·         And, for those of you wondering, I am still thinking about redecorating my laundry room!

I’ve learned a lot of lessons during the last several months:

·         “They” are right, the days are long but the years are VERY short!

·         It is easy to get lazy but lazy isn’t the easiest way to be a SAHM.

·         Blogging provides me with some good accountability and makes for a nice keepsake. I am hoping to keep at it!