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A Plug to be Unplugged

Alright, alright. I know I already posted about how using screens should not inflict guilt, and I stand by that 100%, BUT I want to share something AWESOME that happened in our house a couple weeks ago!!

Maybe I was feeling particularly strong, or maybe my kids had watched a little too much of a very annoying kids show which shall not be named, or I just wanted to be a #meanmom, but I decided to say no. No TV. No iPad. No old iPhone with kid apps on it.

At first the fight was frightening, the wailing and moaning and thrashing on the floor.

But then it stopped! It didn’t even last that long, probably because I deliberately ignored it (woohoo! I usually am not that tough), but really, we were out of it within an hour.

The rest of the day, my kids played so well! The next day, they woke up and went straight to the Lego Duplos where the built towers and cars and, my personal favorite: Mickey Mouse Clubhouses of all shapes and sizes. They worked together and they played pretend for hours. Their “need” for the devices had disappeared!

It was such a nice break from the constant asking for one screen or another. And all it took was me to be emotionally well enough to say no and to calmly deal with the backlash for maybe an hour. It also helped me realize that kids are so resilient, and I haven’t ruined them yet! We can always change things up and improve, no one has to keep life the same day in and day out.

The babes have since gotten sick, and in an attempt to keep them in one place, I put the iPad in front of them for hours, so we are back to square one.

But hey, one day at a time!

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Moms of 3

How do you do it?

When things were going well, and my kids decided to behave and play well and eat their food, I thought I had figured it out!

But then the last 5 days hit. Daddy was gone a lot. Baby hit a growth spurt and was CONSTANTLY hungry. The two year old learned to hit and he does it a lot. And the 4 year old realized that mom can’t discipline while nursing the baby.

Motherhood is such a rollercoaster. Somedays I just can’t believe how truly incredible my kids are! Seriously, they have hearts of gold and just exude love and kindness and helpfulness.

And then all of a sudden (like the last few days) they are something else.

Today I crashed, emotionally. So, I took myself on a date. Just before dinnertime I handed the baby over to daddy and drove away, not really sure where to go but knowing I needed something.

Roaming the aisles of Hobby Lobby, dreaming of all the things that I would love to have, I tried to be inspired by all the sayings they have on their decor.

It didn’t take long before I realized I wasn’t actually feeling all that inspired, because when I though about what things would FIT in our house, I realized nothing did today. Do we feel “so very blessed” or do we “choose joy?”

I would love to say yes. But today I didn’t. Today I got angry. I yelled. I slept. I didn’t make breakfast or dinner. Each time I looked at one of those signs my eyes rolled just a little bit.

However! The signs that stood out to me the most said “Let’s Stay Home.”

And even after this no-good, terrible, very bad, bad day, that sentiment is one I feel in my soul!

I love my home. I know my family loves our home. Being with them is still the best place I want to be!

So tomorrow will be better. I know it will.

Affiliate link (I receive a commission) to the sign in the picture: https://amzn.to/2RGgdMi

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Buttah buttah

Want a great activity for you kids that takes time, burns energy, and ends up with something useful?

Have I got the activity for you!

HOMEMADE BUTTER.

That’s right! You can do this at home, with stuff you probably have. I remembered doing this at some point during elementary school and thought it was fairly simple. When I looked it up last week, my memory was correct! This could not be any easier.

Instructions:

  • Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to 2 cups heavy cream.
  • Shake, mix, churn, dance, etc. until it becomes butter!
  • Pour off the liquid whey and
  • Enjoy!!

I decided to try a ziplock bag but then thought that a ziplock bag might not be able to hold under the strength of a 2 year old boy, so I put his back in the carton for mixing.

It was so much fun! It took up quite a bit of time, and the kids loved tasting it at the end.

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Mom needs a nap

Or a shower. Or 5 minutes of alone time.

If you’re like me, you’ve had to go straight to screen time for you kids if you want any of the above. If you don’t, disasters strike, like this:

But then there’re the apocalyptic fits they throw when it’s time to the TV off. And every time you look at Facebook there’s another study telling us we are destroying our kids brains with screens, so there’s also a load of guilt.

Is the shower even worth the fight and guilt?

Short answer: YES!! It is worth it. And so is the nap! Those are the little things that can fill our mental/emotional cup. They can provide moments of peace, free from distraction where we can hear the Spirit and our minds can just rest.

If we are constantly running, helping and fixing others, our own minds struggle and one of the ways our minds respond to that neglect is depression and despair. Just like our children: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And just like the rest of our bodies, where there is pain we tend to fix it.

So, we need rest. Drop the guilt. A little bit of screen time, or a lot a bit, won’t harm our kids as much as an absent mother will harm them. Get well. Be present! And they will be just fine.

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Pretend Church

STROKE OF GENIUS. Or just the Spirit. Probably the Spirit.

My little lady is MASTER of pretend. She plays pretend for hours! If you don’t call her by her pretend name you either get no response or a quick reprimand: “I AM NOT LINA, I AM MARY.”

So when we were deciding how to better incorporate Come, Follow Me this year it hit me! PLAY CHURCH!

So now, we are going to play pretend church every Sunday and each have a role. This last week dad was the bishop and speaker, I gave a testimony, and the kids prayed and taught primary. Podiums and microphones are a must. Oh yes, and a nursery for the rowdy children.

It was the most successful family home evening I think we’ve ever had!

How have you incorporated gospel learning in your home? I’d love to hear it!!

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Nesting

You know how, thanks to the nesting phase of pregnancy, the nursery is usually all cutsie and put together before the baby is born? Or at least dreamed about. Yeah, that did NOT happen for us.

Two months before my baby was born I was still praying fervently for us to find a better, cleaner, safer place to live. We closed on that house 8 days before I was to be induced.

So all that time nesting I focused on purging all the excess rather than getting what I needed for the baby. In fact, when he was born we did not even have a bed for him, just a rock and play. I think we got the crib 2.5 weeks later.

It’s been two month now and this week is the first his room has even resembled a bedroom. He gets the privilege of sharing his room with our “office” so up to this point it has been full of boxes we didn’t get around to unpacking and SO MANY PAPERS that had no home. As well as stuff we shoved in there actually for him.

Last night we moved his crib in there (more so my annoying cough would stop waking him up than anything), and it feels so happy to me! He has a space now! We still have some work to do, but that one step made me smile.

It is surprising to me what things can bring happiness, they truly are the little things!