Considering Motherhood

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a great Mother's Day with my kiddos.  We enjoyed some simple home-cooked food, ice cream sundaes and some homemade cards and gifts.  Because of little Anna's feeding issues I didn't make it to church with the family, but enjoyed a quiet time of reflecting on motherhood and a sweet time of worship, aided by a great queue of songs on Pandora.  I was very put off earlier in the week when I heard a radio ad for a mall for Mother's Day with the basic message from a mom that it is "all about me".  I was disgusted by the selfishness and entitlement communicated in that short ad which rings true to our culture's mindset, but then considered how often I fall prey to wanting to be admired, celebrated, affirmed, given gifts, etc.  Truth be told, it is more often than I care to admit.  In reality, mother's day is every day.  Every day to serve and nurture, every day to delight in the blessing of a home filled with children, every day to die to self so I can become more like Christ.  And there are so very many opportunities to die to myself in this journey of motherhood!  I've half-jokingly mentioned to friends what a refining fire raising children is, and that is absolutely true.  Motherhood is changing me and requiring more of me than I ever dreamed possible, but it is such a blessing not only because children are precious but because this process is growing me.  May I press in to this calling, with all its joys and challenges, by His strength in the year ahead.

May Menu

We have been so blessed with lots of help and meals since our little girl arrived, but it is time to start being self-sufficient again.  Thankfully our freezer is very full right now so I made my menu plan based on what is plentiful around here to save me the time and money of going out for a big grocery run. Both resources are in short supply right now due to lots of medical and dental bills (and the birth hasn't even been billed yet..oy!) and our sweet baby girl is still not feeding well so we are working on that twice as hard for the same benefit.  Anyway, the rest of the family has to eat, too, so here we go.  I post this on our fridge and cross off meals as we go.

Dinners

Chicken mozzarella ravioli, spinach salad, three-cheese bread

Chicken pot stickers, brown rice, steamed broccoli

Homemade pizza, veggie tray (x3)

Hot dogs, homemade baked beans, potato chips, raw vegetables (x2)

Shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches w/ pickles & homemade sauce, baked beans, carrots

Omelets (cheese, ham, peppers, broccoli), cranberry orange scones, orange juice

Chicken pot pie, salad or fruit

*Meatballs, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans

*Lasagna, salad, garlic bread (x2-3)

Homemade macaroni & cheese, peas

Carnitas burritos (cilantro lime rice, black beans, sour cream, cheese,*carnitas, etc.), chips & salsa

Enchiladas, green salad

Spaghetti & meat sauce, peas & carrots

Orange chicken, brown rice, peas

Sweet & sour turkey meatballs, brown rice, steamed broccoli

Baked potato bar (cheese, sour cream, bacon, broccoli, etc.)

Chicken soup w/homemade noodles, biscuits

Out to Chick-Fil-A w/ gift cards

Rice pilaf & fruity dessert (to potluck)

Lunches – served with vegetables and/or fruit

leftovers

*Runzas (x2)

*pizza rolls

*Beef & yellow split pea soup (x3), rolls or biscuits

turkey sandwiches (x2)

macaroni & cheese

chicken salad sandwiches (x2)

Breakfasts – served with fruit and/or yogurt

oatmeal

steel cut oats

pancakes

banana bread

whole wheat cinnamon rolls

cold cereal

ham & egg bake

french toast

whole wheat waffles

Baking & Snacks

popcorn 

chocolate chip cookies

caramel corn

key lime bars 

chips & homemade salsa

* denotes frozen item ready to heat & eat

Sweet Little Girl

Introducing...

Anna Jane
Born April 6, 2012
7 lbs. 12 oz. ~ 20 inches

We thank God for this precious gift! The whole family is thrilled to have her here and it is especially sweet to see her siblings dote over her. She is an easy-going baby so far, but we're having feeding challenges which add stress to her mama. But we know she's worth it so we're pressing on with nursing and hoping with time and perseverance she will catch on. More details to come later.

Small Room, Small Budget Laundry Room Makeover

When we moved to our home more than 8 years ago, I was delighted to get a real laundry room that was more than a closet with bi-fold doors. Since we are on the verge of adding our 4th family member since that time, even that laundry room was getting really crowded and inefficient. The size of the room is about 6.6' x 5' with an extra 3.5' x 2' section at the doorway, so it is definitely not large. With the help of my husband we set to to work to make it into a more efficient and lovely space.

BEFORE

looking in - hooks on the right and left, window shade in need of attention, claustrophobic feeling from clothes hanging from both sides, beige

further in - mismatched set of machines (saved us more than $200 when we bought them, but I would really love a matching set at some point), drying rack stored on the side wall, too much stuff

yet more stuff

Improving the space:
- painted the room using some leftover blue paint from the adjoining hallway mixed with a fresh quart of white, tape & quart of paint = $16.99 The color is an almost exact match to Valspar Air Kiss which is the color I had picked out before I decided to just use what we had mixed with white. What a happy coincidence!
- removed the hooks on the left and all the wire shelving
- cut off the vinyl shade to remove the torn part and sewed a new casing for the rigid stick at the bottom to slide through
- added shelves using lumber, brackets and paint we already had from previous projects
- added a shelf with rails and hooks, TJSIG hat rack from IKEA = $32.24
- removed the blue curtain and added a shear patterned IKEA curtain from a set received for Christmas and hemmed the new curtain to the length we wanted
- spray-painted the flat-backed metal bin white to go with the fresh white/blue scheme, this is used as a small trash bin
- removed lots of stuff from the space and consolidated the contents of remaining bins
- repurposed bins from around the house to contain new categories of stuff, such as baby wipes containers to store extra batteries, a heavyweight disposable pan to corral the laundry supplies used on a daily basis, a wood tote to contain the first aid & hair cutting kits, etc.
- removed the door to allow easier access for the kids to get in and out to take their baskets to put away their clothing and motivate me to not let mountains of laundry collect
- painted the mirror unit (previously dark wood) in the adjoining hallway white to match the trim, paint = $4.81
- gave the whole room a good scrubbing, cleaned out the dryer vent, and put away all the laundry so I could snap the after shots

And AFTER

bright & fresh

I love the new space! It is so pleasant to do laundry now and because I really enjoy the room I'm motivated to stay on top of our laundry needs. Because of this makeover my laundry routine has improved and seems so much easier.

Total cost = $54.04 including tax
Yield = one happy mama

Simple Valentine Garland {Project #4}

I'm quite late in posting this, but since I just took the garland down yesterday, I'll go ahead and post it anyway.

After Christmas I found these sweet felt heart cut-outs at Target that were intended to be used as Christmas ornaments. The price was right at 50 cents for 3 and I loved the Scandinavian look to them, so I bought 2 packages of red and 2 packages of white. I had some white small ribbon on hand so I used that to tie on 11 hearts. For symmetry I decided to start and end with the same color to make the garland.

Then I simply hung it from the finials of our curtain rods. I'm not a big seasonal decorator, but I enjoyed having something up after having all the Christmas decorations came down. For 2 bucks and 10 minutes, how can you go wrong? And I love that to store it away until next year only requires an envelope or a ziplock bag. Simple and sweet...I think I'm finally defining my style.

Upcycled Diaper Bag or Purse {Project #3}

As I wait (impatiently) for our baby girl to arrive, I've been itching to do some projects I've had on my "to create" list for a while. We've been so blessed in recent months with lots of hand-me-downs for our older daughter and one item which came to us was this cute little reversible Gymboree skort. It was not quite long enough for her, but I loved the design so I kept it rather than passing it on. Motivation to make something out of it struck this week and in one hour it went from this... to this!
This is not a tutorial, but the basic process follows.
- With the skort fully open, I stitched the backside of the bag with our baby girl's initial with a decorative star stitch which mimics the little flowers on the front. (not shown)
- Next, I sewed some vertical seams on the overlapping part of the skort which makes a front pocket which is the perfect size for a travel wipes container or a sippy cup.
- Thirdly, with right sides together I sewed the bottom seam, then laid the bottom seam open to square off the corners to give the bag shape and give it a chance of standing up on its own rather than falling over when set down.
- To finish the bag, I sewed on a handle made of midweight white cotton canvas sewn into a tube (4 layers thick), topstitched the gingham ribbon onto the handle, attached the handle to the bag, sewed a loop of gingham ribbon onto the bag and attached a button to the front to create a simple closure.

I love the cheery, vivid green, the gingham, the flower motif, and the cute no-work lining that it has. And I love that it was free because the skort was free to us and the the other bits and pieces came from my creative stash.

Now I can't wait to use it for our little girl! And if I didn't have a need for a diaper bag right now, I would totally use this as a springtime purse.

The Pre-Baby Menu Plan

The countdown is on! 2 weeks until the due date and we are getting really excited! Maybe not ready, but excited. I figure if we have diapers and folks lined up to take the kids, we are good to go, and those two things are covered. On Friday I ventured out with my four kids to hit the gym (trying to keep my ankles from swelling by being in the pool a couple times a week) and then to the grocery store and Sam's Club. Because of a big purchase we made before Christmas getting the Sam's membership made sense, but let me tell you, I MUCH prefer Costco, but I'll save that for another post. Anyway, after that exhausting day out we are pretty well stocked in the pantry, fridge and freezer. I don't feel I have lots of energy to do much freezer cooking this time, but we'll see. So here's what I'm planning to cook for my family in the days before our baby arrives.

Dinners & Weekend Lunches
Big sub sandwich, chips, fruit
Runzas (bread pockets filled with ground beef/onion/cabbage), fries, apples (4 extra meals to the freezer)
Corned beef, red potatoes, apples (I've actually already fixed this and let's just say I will never be buying corned beef again...not a fan!)
Potluck at church - shredded salsa chicken, cilantro lime rice
Chicken wraps, tortilla chips, smoothies (x2)
Olive Garden inspired pasta e fagioli, garlic cheese bread
Goulash, green salad
Cheesy chicken, brown rice, steamed mixed vegetables
Chili & cornbread, fruit salad
Chicken pot pie
Vegetable beef stew, whole wheat biscuits
Chicken soup w/homemade noodles, fruit salad
Homemade pizza, veggie sticks (x2-3)
Carmelized garlic chicken, green beans, red potatoes
Date night in - we've got a great Outback coupon we'll use for take-out
Family night - coupons for free kids meals and it'll be nice to make it an outing since it might be a while before we have the chance again

Weekday Lunches
Grilled turkey cheese sandwiches, fruit
Snack lunch - meat, cheese, crackers, fruit, veggies
Quesadillas, green smoothies
Leftovers

Breakfast Items
oatmeal
steel-cut oats w/berries
cold cereal
yogurt
yogurt parfaits
scrambled eggs
smoothies
hashbrown casserole with eggs, cheese, sausage
English muffin bread w/fruit spread
cranberry scones w/orange glaze

Snacks, Sweets & Treats
oatmeal blueberry bars
chocolate chip cookies - made by our 9 y.o. for a Cub Scout requirement
homemade salsa & chips
popcorn
whatever else might satisfy the cravings of this pregnant mom...if we have the right ingredients on hand

Here's hoping this menu plan will last us through the birth of our baby girl. Though with my track record, I'm not exactly holding my breath that she'll be here on the due date.