March 17, 2024

Weekend Update with RachelinWales

It's been a weekend!

Highlights:
Lilah and I took a bus! We walked/rode to our local library (15 minute walk) then took the bus home after.  We arrived at the bus 20 minutes early (or 10 minutes late, depending on how you quantify arrival times for an every 30 minute bus) so bought a chelsea bun from the bakery and ate it on a bench.  It was very wholesome.
The bus driver gave Lilah a ticket.  He didn't even charge us for the ride because apparently a three year old taking a dolly on the bus for her first bus ride is too cute to charge.  It was all so wholesome.

On Saturday we went out for a long adventure to visit friends who live an hour away.  It was our longest trip out with babies and they did great and enjoyed their big adventure.  The kids enjoyed as well, we went and saw a very angry goose
Also, Lilah and Isaac saw a squished Frog and were fascinated. Lilah said it wasn't a real frog, which I thought was an interesting way of understanding a squished frog.  It was a former frog. Not a Real frog.

Today (Sunday) the kids made robot costumes, which is also ridiculously wholesome:

Besides lots of kid stuff, Andy and I each got an adventure morning.  Andy had Saturday from 8-10am for a bike ride, and I had Sunday from 8:30-10am for my own adventure.  I did Couch to 5K week 3 and then added a bit more jogging just for fun.  

It's hard to be both aware that we are in the super adorable wholesome stage right now AND that things will get both easier and harder.  

When I think of days like today, I think of this quote from Ann Patchett's Tom Lake:

There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows, and unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well, until one morning you’re picking cherries with your three grown daughters and your husband goes by on the Gator and you are positive that this is all you’ve ever wanted in the world.


Did you have a good weekend?  Did you do anything wholesome?

March 14, 2024

A Morning in the Life

Engie commented on my recent Routines post that she's interested in the logistics of big families and how things get done.  I know I posted a rather dire "night in the life" post when the babies were 6 weeks old, but I thought perhaps I would do a "Morning in the life" post today since it's 12:10 and I have up to 20 minutes before the babies wake up!

5:40 Hear five year old in bathroom, sneak out of bedroom and sit on stairs waiting for him to finish

5:45 Five year old gives me a hug in between doing his morning business and washing his hands.  Parenting is lovely.  Check that 3 and 5 year old are back in bed ok

5:50 come downstairs and do my time log, my daily plan/to-dos, my line a day journal, and some blogging.  Watch babies through monitor. Enjoy quiet time.

6:30 kids are up and building a new home playing with brio. Tell them to come downstairs to avoid waking the babies. Put croissants in the oven because we are having fancy breakfast (croissants, yogurt, fruit, eggs)

6:45 babies awake - feed babies.

7:00 come downstairs and eat croissant and coffee.  Leave babies playing upstairs because the non-rolling and non-moving phase is great

7:15 get babies dressed

7:30 get kids dressed

7:45 Start Laundry

7:50 get myself dressed in running clothes

8:00 Walk Isaac to school.  Run home to change into waterproof jacket as it's started to rain

8:50 finish run. Dry off, drink water, eat a handful of nuts

9:00 Start 20 minute core workout video. Do 15 minutes before.... 

9:20 Babies awake.  Andy watches them while I take a quick shower

9:45 Feed babies

10:00 watch babies while eating breakfast of leftover macaroni and cheese, then crackers and hummus.

10:50 put babies to sleep

11:00 Put laundry outside, make homemade hummus, make courgette fritters, chop veg for dinner. Eat a slice of cake and a decaf coffee

11:45 Finish thank you cards for midwives and drop off at neighbours house to take to the hospital.

11:50 clean up cooking mess. Start dishwasher.

12:00 start blog post

12:10 Answer call from Nursery saying Lilah has a low grade fever and seems sad.  Ask grandma to pick her up.

12:15 Call friend to cancel lunch plans

12:20 Babies are awake

12:30 Feed babies

12:50 Lilah is home, read her stories and settle her in bed

1:00 Stress eat a cupcake that is probably too old but it's been in the fridge so that's fine right?

1:05 keep writing blog post

1:25 Finish blog post.

Dinner prep, meals, the value of time and the value of food.

I started a line a day journal in 2021 (actually my first post was December 31st 2020, because I am sometimes a rebel).  It's interesting for noticing trends.  For instance - it appears that I don't like March 13th.  in 2021 I complained about Lilah's bad sleep (it was terrible!!) and then 2022 Lilah didn't have a second nap for the first time and in 2023 I wasn't sure about work and in 2024... well it was fine.  It was cold, it was rainy, I spent basically all day making dinner and watching two babies and doing 2 loads of laundry.

I'm still keeping my time log but sometimes I feel I am writing "baby, feed baby, laundry, tidy, dinner prep, sleep" on repeat.  I know I should probably aspire to more than tidying and dinner prep... but here we are.  

What I realised about dinner prep is that I value cooking and eating good food.  I haven't been cooking recently because we have been in twin survival mode.  At the same time, I haven't been feeling great about what we do eat.  On Tuesday I made a try of fish fingers, fishcakes, broccoli and carrot then stuck it in the oven and served it with steamed rice.  We've had this a lot recently, mostly without the broccoli and carrots.  That type of food is fine and serves a need, but I am tired of eating it.  I want food made from real food.  Not machine food.

It takes time to make real food. I'm not cooking fancy, but vegetables take time to prepare.  Yesterday I made burrito bowls for dinner (because kids hate eating anything mixed together, so this was an assemble at the table dinner).  Over the course of the day I made pinto beans, roast sweet potato, quinoa, corn, cheese, avocado.

Chopping sweet potatoes took 15 minutes.  Chopping veg for slow cooker pinto beans took another 15 minutes.  Making Quinoa was super easy but I still had to look up a recipe and measure the quinoa and water.  Grating cheese takes time. Chopping avocado takes a minute. Defrosting corn and putting it in a bowl was another minute.  Setting the table, putting out enough serving spoons, making sure the kids have water cups.  Nothing takes no time at all... and then I have to set the table too.  I probably spent upwards of 1 hour on food prep throughout the day.  Split across 4 naps.  

The dinner was good, although I ate it cold because the babies woke up for their dinner at exactly dinner time.

[6:18am Interlude - I can hear my kiddos coughing in bed upstairs.  How come little kids don't realise they will cough way less if the just BLOW THEIR NOSES!]

I do love the philosophy of "don't spend all day cooking and meal prepping and tidying" but I am also aware that our recent meals have not been in accordance with my values. I value good home made food for me and my family.  Unfortunately food/cooking time comes from other time... and I don't have a lot of leisure time.  So if I'm going to value nutritious home-made food, I'm going to value it enough to use my valuable time cooking it.

March 12, 2024

A Tuesday and some podcast thinks

It has been a Tuesday!  I did't feel particularly settled into today, but maybe that's because of the relentless rain.  Last Wednesday the sun came out and I felt ALIVE! Today it rained all day and I feel... alive. 

Anyways, I did get the house tidied for the cleaner this morning and she cleaned the bedrooms today and the house looks great and I feel much better for having a clean house.  

Also, sarah does super cute things like this on Lilah's bed.  Straight up cute:

I listened to a lot of podcasts today.  On an episode of Organize365 Lisa Woodruff was talking about burnout and how when people have burnout they're told to take a step back and focus on themselves and change the overwhelm.  And that raising kids is hard and then when your kids are in their teens or older and you feel like you can breathe again and you change things and take a step back and focu on yourself then it's called a midlife crisis.  I thought that was really interesting. I think parenting burnout is real.  

At least I know I'll be back in work in a year.  I am so amazed at moms who can do babies and then continue to do only babies and toddlers and kids.  That's impressive.

Second podcast thought was About Progress - Monica Packer was interviewing... someone. I forgot.  It was about planning and then planning a day as a mom and finding activities to fit into the small bits of life.  So instead of a daily time block (which is how I work best, but which is not possible) make weekly goals and then seperate by the time needed to do said goals.  For instance, "naptime goals" or "morning goals" or "out of the house goals".  I don't think I need that but it might be good for me to consider my daily goals in this way to make sure I'm not banking too much on naps.  

Speaking of banking too much on naps, one is awake from a nap now.  My day of 45 minute increments continues.  Happy tuesday!

March 11, 2024

Monday Thoughts - What does success look like?

Mondays are my hardest day - I have the twins and Lilah at home.  It's made easier by having my mom here, as she's taken Lilah this morning so it's just me and the twins.  Hence the blog! But still, I've been slightly fearing the trickyness of Mondays all weekend, and I've been trying to conserve my own energy for Monday.  This was all going well... untill Lilah woke me up at 10:30pm because her blankets weren't straight (??) and then she needed water and a cuddle and her blankets again.  Back to sleep at 11pm, then the babies were up at 12:30 and very angry... and somewhat hungry.  So an early feed and back to bed, before another wake up at 5am.  Which makes sense and is developmentally appropriate and I was still rather tired and annoyed.

Luckily Andy did the big kids this morning so I slept until 8 and let the babies sleep until.  I don't know what this means for the rest of the days naps/feeds but I decided I needed it.  The schedule the babies are in now is totally working for me and totally temporary, which is a tricky place to be! Soon their naps and feeds will shift and then I'll have to shift again.  My major consideration is whether I can shift their schedules around enough to make the £13 pilates class at 9:30am rather than the £20 pilates class at 10:30.  We will see!

I've been a big grumpy this morning but as I filled out my time log for last week I realised I actually have had enough sleep.  I'm averaging 8.2 hours of sleep per 24 hour period.
And suddenly I was less tired.  So I decided to do a quick blog post.  Then I'll tackle laundry (currently a load in the drier and 2 loads in the baby room), and I need to get dressed, text our cleaner, and then maybe read my book (authors note - this is why I am still on page 22 of my book)?  

I got out for a Mothers Day run yesterday and did a 15 minute core workout so I'm not feeling keen to exercise again this morning.  I also am coming around to the apple watch and finally figured out how to add strava!  So, my first recorded run:

So many PRs!  It's week 2 of Couch to 5k... and I feel I'm taking it adequately slow enough for recovery.  It feels weird but I am super excited for someday being in the woods for a 10k again.  Being on the streets for a 4k is good for now.

All this to say - what will make today a success?
  • Staying calm with Lilah (3 year olds can be a lot)
  • Having the house in OK shape for the cleaner tomorrow
  • Putting away the laundry
  • Taking the twins and Lilah to a friend's house for a cup of tea
  • Finishing Time Log and Line a Day journal
  • Writing a blog post
  • Going to bed early so I can wake up early for Rachel time
  • Eating one of these delicious cupcakes (old photo - there are only 3 left)
That all seems achievable to me.  And tomorrow it's my weekend!

March 9, 2024

Weekend Vibes - Mothers Day and kid adventures

It's the weekend.  Which means - hard work! Lots of noise! 

It's a very family weekend this weekend.  Today I took my mom to the garden center to get some plants for her garden.  She bought some daffodils.  I bough a random plant.  Someday I will think about how to have a pretty garden, but for now I like buying cheap plants, sticking them in the ground, and seeing what happens.

After the garden center we took the kids to the aquarium! And by "aquarium" I mean fish shop.  Cardiff doesn't have an aquarium, but the fish shop is basically the same right?

Heres two kids looking at some fish.

This afternoon Andy's parents are coming over for lunch.  Isaac is having a sleepover at Grandmas and ANdy has made a giant pasta bake for dinner.

Tomorrow we're hosting a Mothers day afternoon tea for my mom and a mom friend who often watches Lilah.  Mothers day in the US and Australia and Canada is in May... Mothers day in the UK is in March. I don't know why.  Moms like wet cold weather?

In the morning I'll hopefully get out on the bike for my own mothers day adventure.  On my first Mothers Day with Isaac I wanted to pretend I wasn't a mom and have a whole day for me.  This is my fifth mothers day and I've set my expectations lower - I'm going to be a mom who gets to go out for an hours bike ride.  And eat some delicious cupcakes.  

I think I'll end this mothers day more satisfied than with the first.  I'll definitely be eating better cake.

And then it will be Monday! The hard day! I will be using sticker book bribery on Monday, which she will get for her amazing potty training, but also because I need her to have something to do on Monday.  

Here's wishing you a happy weekend and a happy Mothering Sunday!

March 8, 2024

5 Food Things on a Friday

Here is a list of things I am loving.  I started this list before realising it's all food or food related.  Oops!

Dating Tupperware in the fridge.  I started using a chalkboard pen to label leftovers when they go in the fridge.  This is mostly because I instantly forget how old something is and I hate food waste.  Our family wastes almost no food (except kid half finished food, which I hated at first had to let go).  I consider it a personal failing if something goes off in the fridge - why didn't someone eat it first? We have so many meal times every week to eat leftovers. Nothing should go bad.

This also explains my penchant for dinner at breakfast.  4 day old chili is my breakfast buddy.  I would rather eat carbonara in the morning than have it go bad.  I also don't *really* like freezing food that is near its expiry because then I have to be careful to eat it quickly on unfreezing.  I am also probably laxer than most on how long I will let things sit before I eat them... so it's probably good I have some standards.  Andy's general rule seems to be a week, I am "before a week" which I know google will say is too long.

Decaf Coffee. I recently realised i like the taste of coffee.  I was sad because I was trying to stick to one coffee a day (there are no conclusive studies associating coffee with awakeness in breastfeed babies, but I didn't want to risk it.  The Emily Oster in my mind was telling me off for this sentiment).  But then I remembered - decaf coffee!  Same great taste, no caffeine.  Yum!  I have been enjoying a decaf (or sometimes half-caf) second coffee. 

This apple magic thing.  Slicing apples is boring.  This makes it easy!  How do I like them apples? I like them a lot.

Scooping spoon.  I eat a lot of peanut butter, especially now that I chop apples often.  Apple is a great vessel for peanut butter.  But as per the above, I detest wasting food.  Enter this scooping spoon! It gets into all the peanut butter jar crevices to give me more tasty peanut butter and waste less tasty peanut butter.
Really good cake.  Andy's mum used to bring us cake every Monday, which we would eat throughout the week.  She is an amazing cake baker. This was a great set up.  I did not realise how attached I had become to Monday cake delivery.  She hasn't been able to come lately and I am going through serious cake withdrawal.  

This weekend we are getting cupcakes for Mothers day, I am hoping that fixes my cake needs. I'm also wondering whether I need to just spend a week eating cake and see if that cures me? Whatever it is, no chocolates or biscuits are good enough to fill this cake void I currently have