12 Things That Get A Workin' Momma Through The Day

This working Momma is a busy Momma.  I have to try and keep myself as organized as possible to make it through the day.  Sometimes I feel like I'll never get it all done and there is no way that I will be able to keep up with the house, play with the kids, be myself and blog all in the few hours a day I have at home.

I need to run a tight ship {and truthfully I need to do a better job at it} but here are some of the things that help me keep my sanity while I am keeping my day job.  Nothing can make it EASY but these things sure help!!

1. THE most important thing I use during the day...My Medela Freestyle Pump.  This pump is the BIZZNESS!  Working full time and maintaining a 100% breast-fed baby is hard work and this pump makes my life considerably easier!

2. My Breast Milk Chart.  See a trend as to what I need/use the most?  I have a pretty {decor friendly} dry-erase board that helps me keep tract of how many ounces of milk I have and in what denominations they are split up in.  Every night I add milk to the freezer I mark it on the board.  Every morning that I take milk from the freezer, I mark it off the board.  LIFE SAVER.

3.  The Crockpot!  We have been eating a LOT of crockpot meals since I started back at work.  Number 3 leads me to....

4.  The CrockPot App for my iPhone.  It has sooo many recipes.  It goes outside of the box and isn't just Roast, Potatoes and Carrots.  So far we have tried Fiesta Chicken, Chicken Casablanca, and another one that I can't remember the name of.  They have deserts too!!

5. Along the same lines...the Pinterest App.  I. LOVE. PINTEREST.  I could spend hours a day on there looking at all the beautiful eye candy.  Having the app lets me check up on new and popular images while taking my break at work.  Spending 15 minutes a day on the app satisfies my "pinterest tooth" and that is 15 minutes that I have to do something else at home.

6.  Lotte's Craft Box.  In my craft area I have a basket with all of Lotte's crafty stuff.  She loves to color.  So when I have the kids by myself, and Mister isn't letting me put him down or I'm trying to get something cleaned or cooked, I break out her box.  It has coloring books, crayons, stickers, stamps and some other things she can play with without me holding her hand.  She loves sitting for a few minutes and just coloring and putting on stickers, and mommy loves the 5 minutes of her playing sweetly by herself.

7.  The Moby Wrap was seriously created for people like me.  I'm running around chasing a toddler at the park or the zoo is so much easier without having to push a stroller with Brother in it.  The Moby wrap is a God Send!  When he was newer and couldn't go to sleep, as soon as I put him in the wrap he immediately fell asleep and I was able to clean and get things done while holding him.

At the zoo with Brother in THE wrap!

8.  Our Daycare Tote.  My sweet aunt bought me a thirty-one mini organizer tote with our last name on it. I use this for our back and forth daycare tote.  It's so much easier than a diaper bag.  Every night I make sure to re-stock it with diapers, and thing of wipes, an extra pacifier for each kid, Brother's bottles and every morning I stick Mister's milk bag in it as well.  The tote is short so it is easy to see into when I pick up the kids to make sure everything is in there for the return trip home.

This is a pic from their catalogue.  Ours is in Mod Dot.

9.  Zantac.  I know it is horrible to have children on maintenance medications, but this is seriously a MUST for my little man.  His sister had acid reflux, but it was NOTHING next to his {my pediatrician said that it runs in families and is usually worse for boys}.  Having him on the Zantac has helped him so much.  He no longer projectile vomits, he doesn't get the hiccups every time he eats and he is sooooo much happier!  We tried to wean him off of it, but it was no bueno, as soon as possible he will be taken off of it, but not until he is better.

10.  Sectioned Plates/Tupperware.  This makes meals for Lotte super easy.  I know she needs 3 different varieties of food for her meals so I split it up and give it to her and BAM food is done.  For example: Breakfast she will get toast in her big section, blueberries in one of the smaller sections, and some plain yogurt in the second smaller section.   It also helps me to remember what she has had already that day so I can mix it up.

Terrible picture, but this is Lotte's Valentine's Breakfast in her section plate.

Heart shaped mini pancakes, heart shaped pears yogurt with heart sprinkles...

...that's how we do holidays around here.

11.  No Spill Snack Cups.  Lotte still doesn't grasp the whole tip-the-cup-over-and-all-your-cheerios-fall-out-on-the-floor concept.  So it is sooo helpful to have a snack that doesn't turn into a puppy snack by falling on the carpet!  Brilliant idea, wish I could have made a million bucks off of this one!  If only it could stop my daughter from grabbing a handful and spilling the ones out of her hand and into her carseat...sigh.

12.  The ONE thing that makes my life the easiest is having Moments Like This...

This is me HUGELY pregnant, horrible day...

I was crying for like 15 minutes 

and Lotte brought me all her baby dolls and tried to cheer me up. 

 It worked.

Snuggling on the couch with my newborn and my oldest baby!

A serious Seriously Sunday

For an entire week now I have been sick.  I thought I was getting better, but my dang ear is killing me.  I forgot how stinkin' uncomfortable ear infections are.  It makes me have a new found respect for my sweet little Lotte when she gets her ear infections (quiet often).  She is a grumpy bear when she has them, but now that I am afflicted with the same pain it makes me feel even worse for her.  I hate being sick, but I hate seeing my baby sick even more!

Today has been serious.  We didn't go to church like I wanted to because Brother hardly slept.  My head is about to explode.  We grocery shopped today (which is logistically much harder with 2 children).  And lastly and most horribly the Jayhawks lost.  I'm devastated.  It was a horrible game.  I was very stressed out the whole time.  I cried.  I'm not going to be a sore loser, so I really hope VCU wins it all.  Watching them play, they deserve the title!  Enough sad stuff.

Even though It's been a rough week, I was able to get almost everything done off of last week's lists.  I couldn't finish the window because it has been too dang cold to finish spray painting.  I have the spring bunting and garland finished, but I can't hang it yet because I need to spray paint the finishing touches.  And I didn't do a darn thing to my closet.

So here is this weeks lists...

{Food for Family}

Mon-Lasagna

Tues-Baked Chicken Parmesan 

Wed-Stuffed Peppers

Thurs-Lemon Chicken Bake

Fri-Left overs

{Cleaning outside the Norm}

My clothes

Sell/give Lotte's clothes

{Mommy's Magic}

Finish spray painting projects

Kissing balls

Wreath

Pin it boards

{Longer term Relationships}

More birthday planning

Easter goodies lists

Find dining chairs

Since it has been such a crappy day, I decided that I was going to look on the brighter side and see all my amazing blessings and remind myself of all the goodness afforded to me.  After dinner, Brother stopped crying long enough for Daddy and Mommy to enjoy a little Lotte time.  

We made smoothies!  Frozen berries, Bananas, Low Fat Vanilla Yogurt, and a little Orange Juice.  She absolutely LOVED it!

Here are the amazing pictures that I got!

I love pictures like these because it helps me remember common everyday moments that will mean so much when they are grown and too big to do those things with mommy and daddy (hopefully that is never).

After smoothies we went up to her room and were reading before she went to bed.  I couldn't help but tear up watching her sit in daddy's lap as he read to her the Little Golden Book About God.  She is so sweet!

Fun's OVER. Counting my Blessings Anyway.

No more fun.  Cold has officially taken over my head.  I'm actually surprised that I haven't gotten it sooner.  Both husband and Little Lotte have been contaminated in the past 2 weeks.  Now they are better and I have it.  Hopefully it steers clear of Brother, but being how "velcro" he is to me, I'm not sure how long he will be clear of the germs.

Not only is there this cold, but I have been having horrible headaches ever since I delivered.  I'm sure it's hormones or something, but dang. it. hurts.

So cold and hormones have been giving me a headache and so have our vehicles.  Flat tires on the car, and now yesterday we were driving home from the science center and the van just stopped accelerating.  Thank God we were close to home, not on a busy street, and I was able to pull over quickly and carefully.

Today I am going to count my blessings.  I'm going to make my seemingly crap-tastic situations and find the blessings hiding within.  And whenever I feel blue or down in this kind of way I'm going to name 10 things that are STELLAR in my life.

1. My husband stayed home from work today to take care of the cars and take care of me and the kids.  

2. I got to spend the weekend with my best friend and had some long needed girl time.

3. JAYHAWKS are in the Sweet 16!

4. My son is finally asleep after being gassy and up all day long=sleep tonight! *hopefully*

5. The weather was so nice that we were able to play outside a lot.  

6. My toddler had tons of fun today with her mommy and daddy.  

7-9. We crafted together (stickers and coloring while mommy worked on spring garland), we were able to play with sidewalk chalk for the first time, and we ran around and played with our outside toys.

10. And the best part of today, Mommy was able to get some AH.MAZE.ING pictures of Lotte playing.  

Check out a few of my favorites.

She looks so happy.

I love to see her and her daddy.  She is a Daddy's Girl 100%

Look at that pincher grasp!

That makes me feel better *cough* :-/