Now, my husband swears that things are probably never going to go wrong.  He says he’s been living here for decades and has never had much of a power outage, never had a bad blizzard, and that tornadoes and flooding aren’t going to come anywhere near here.

Me, well, I trust my hubby.  But I also like my own peace of mind.  Besides… my kids getting sick, me getting sick, him getting sick – and nobody being able to make it to the grocery store for a week… I can see that happening.

So whatever the “what-if” I like to have some supplies on hand.  I found an awesome website that has step-by-step “baby steps” that walk you through getting your supplies together.  It doesn’t matter what level of preparedness you’re looking for – a brief power outage, a week-long winter storm, or even a layoff where you need to draw on a few month’s reserves – these little “baby steps” will help you to accomplish those goals.

The 7 Day Challenge

The girls over at Food Storage Made Easy also just ran a “Seven Day Challenge” and I can proudly say my family survived it.  Ok.  With a long list of “to-do’s” at the end of 7 days, my family survived it.

The gals set up a different “situation” each day that we had to go along with and the kids and I had a blast.  It was challenging, to say the least.  But very fun.

Day 1 – Flood!

I was ready for this! I’d already gotten backpacks set up for the family with 72 hours worth of food in them.  I had a list of almost everything I needed to grab.  We had 1 hour to pack the van and “evacuate” and we got our stuff packed and ready to go in under that!  Yay us!

I did realize I needed to add several things to my “grab-list.”  And that I needed to figure out where we would evacuate to… I think my MIL’s house is most likely.  In which case I need to print some directions to her house because I never pay attention enough to remember it with my hubby driving

I think this was one of the best days.  You may not get caught in a flood situation, but there’s no way to tell when you’re going to lose electric service for awhile and need something to eat (or do… I had coloring books for the kiddos!)  It’s really very practical there’s something on the shelves (or in the bag) that can be grabbed and eaten quickly.

Day 2 – Pandemic!

Well, given the uncertain state of affairs in world health, we could be facing this issue very soon.  I felt pretty good about this one too – I’ve been working on our first aid kit quite a bit.  I changed out all the outdated things and restocked what needed to be restocked.  It’s a pretty comprehensive kit.  We made homemade chicken soup for our “sick” boys and Cassidy and I took good care of them.

If there were really a pandemic situation I’d set up an actual sick room and care for them a little differently.  There was also a link to an excellent “Home Care of the Flu” guide I found very helpful.  You can download it here.  Another gal doing the challenge posted that link – I’m very grateful for her!!

Day 3 – Dinner Guests!

This was an “every day” emergency and it was TONS of fun.  The situation was that my hubby called home to let me know that he and his boss would be there for dinner in an hour – his vegetarian boss!!  I had to have an appetizer, main course, two sides, and a dessert made… and I could not go to the store!

Well I managed to pull it off, though I lucked out because we had a box of fresh veggies from our CSA farm.

I made a platter of fresh veggie slices with a homemade veggie dip (fresh sour cream base) for our appetizer.  I made Jamaican Beans and Rice (from Nourishing Traditions) as our main dish, though I did use canned beans instead of dried, and canned chilies.  We had a big salad full of fresh veggies as one side and steamed broccoli as the other side.  Our dessert was an oatmeal/pumpkin bar thing I found online because I knew I had canned pumpkin!  I had to substitute canned coconut milk for milk (we were totally out of milk, even if the veggie boss would have been ok with it).  Anyways, the dessert came out very tasty, so I’ll actually make that again!

The kids helped me clean the house up while the food cooked, and we all got changed into fresh clothes and I had time to teach them a little bit about how to answer the door politely!  Needless to say when my hubby actually walked in the door the house looked pretty nice.  I was proud of myself and I’d like to think I could deal with real last-minute guests as gracefully.

Day 4 – Money is Tight!

I can say that this day wasn’t terribly challenging because I lived this for a long time – never being able to do anything and having to watch every penny because it was a choice between buying food or losing power.  (life is very different now, read my story for more on that!)

This day involved no cable (which we don’t have anyways), no internet (oh no!!), no cell phones…. and water service got cut off!!

Now the “no internet” is hard.  I’ll admit that, well, I do a lot online.  I do, after all, run a website.  Scott and I also play a game together online.

The one big surprise for me on this day, though, was just how hard “no water” was.  I have quite a few gallons of water stored, but it takes an amazingly large amount of water to wash dishes when you have no running water!!  Scott said if we ever actually didn’t have water due to disaster that he would go to the bay and bring back water in buckets for us to boil and use for cleaning dishes.  We had plenty to drink, but washing wasn’t easy.

Day 5 – Earthquake!

Uh oh.  No water again today.  And no power…  I decided I should add some paper plates to my “pantry essentials” list!!  We raided the 72 hour kits again.

The foods in our freezer were supposed to be good still (they hadn’t spoiled yet since power went off).  So we were able to have a cooked meal on the grill outside.  I’m glad the weather was nice, and I’m glad we had the grill.  Especially since my hubby did the cooking

Another thing about the earthquake day – a beam fell onto the computer.  This could be a huge issue for many families because it could virtually destroy all their data (think about all your pictures!!)  Luckily there are quite a few solutions to data storage.  I personally back my computer up to a remote server as well as an external hard drive that stays here at the house.  The peace of mind I get from this is incredible.  I was all set for this aspect of the earthquake

Day 6 – Healthy Lifestyle

Well this emergency wasn’t an emergency at all for us!  A family member gets very ill from having a bad diet.  We already eat very healthy food because of many food sensitivities and intolerance in our family.  I did differ a bit from the challenge because I don’t believe that eating “low fat” is really very healthy for us.  I was able to share some links and thoughts so maybe someone else in the challenge benefited from some new information.  (Read my nutrition info for more about good eating)

The one “healthy lifestyle” thing I do think I at least need to do more of is getting outside.  The kids tend to spend a lot more time outside than I do.  I need to join them more.

Day 7 – You Need What?!

By Day 7 everyone, including the gals at Food Storage Made Easy, were very tired.  It really was a big challenge!!  So this day was “easier” in that we just had to make a dessert with what we had at home – and no milk, eggs, or butter.

This worked out perfectly for me.  I just picked our oatmeal/pumpkin bar recipe again

Summing it Up

Perhaps what made me the most proud about the Challenge was the part of it that went all 7 days – we couldn’t spend any money for 7 days!  Since the first day of the challenge landed squarely on the day I was supposed to go to the co-op for milk, cheese, and butter it truly was a challenge.

But we made it.  I spent no money at all for 7 days.  It’s amazing to think about just how many small opportunities to spend money come up, or how much I take for granted a run to the market on a given day.  Lots of food for thought.

I came away from the challenge with a long to-do list and a great appreciation for what we have.  I feel good because I’m sure that we could handle it if anything does knock our power out for a few days.  I really like that peace of mind   And I’m so grateful for blessings we have now.

I’ve written one post where I described how I planned out my meals and how I went about the actual day of cooking.  Since then I’ve been asked about the recipes I used and how everything turned out.  In other words, was the food good?

There is no doubt that having the meals in the freezer was helpful.  Scott thought it was an awful lot of work for me to go through (spending an entire day cooking) – but it was very, very worth it.

And, on the whole, the food turned out well.  I think this was greatly helped by the fact that I picked proven freezer recipes. I knew they had “passed the test” in other kitchens.

The biggest issue I came across was the portions not being quite enough for our family.  Related to this was when my mom was here; I hadn’t counted on an additional person for some of the meals (and I hadn’t considered her preferences… Mom isn’t as much into things like pate as our family is :p)  That got a little stressful for me.

Next time around I will increase the amount of meat/beans in some of the recipes.  I’m not sure what I’ll do about the guest situation – I may plan to reserve “crowd-pleasers” that come in larger quantities (like soup or spaghetti) for the days I know we’ll have guests.

I decided the easiest way for me to share my recipes and meal plans with you was via a complete menu plan for you to download.  I’ve tried to credit where the recipes came from in the recipe file, though many of these recipes have been gathered together over time and I’ve forgotten exactly where they came from!

A Freezer Meal Plan for Postpartum (or any time!)

“Right click, save as” to save your own copy!

I use a lot of canned tomato products and I use a lot of canned coconut milk as well.  I also use canned chicken or tuna if I need a quick meal and I like keeping canned beans on hand to throw together a meal in a pinch, or add some protein to a meal.

And I like having a decent supply of food on hand so I won’t have to run to the store if someone is sick, or if something were to happen like a big storm.  It’s a little security feature for me to have a full cupboard

So what I’d really love is to have a great way to organize my canned goods.  Preferably something that will keep my Brennan happy too… and amazingly, I’m not alone.  I’ve found something that would be 100% perfect.  On Friday I have a chance to win one – and so do you.  I thought I’d share the wonder that is the Shelf Reliance Harvest unit.

You know those marble toys you played with as a kid (or jealously watched your brother play with as you got yet another pair of plastic high heels)? You dropped the marble in at the top and watched it roll down the levels.  Well the Shelf Reliance shelves do that for your cans – keeping them neat, and automatically rotating them so you’re using them in a “first in, first out” order.  It’s very nice!

Go to the Shelf Reliance Blog and enter to win this wonder of human ingenuity for yourself.

And in the meantime, you can see what the kids and I have been rigging up for a summer project – homemade can rotating racks   Scott got inspired and built us a wooden one too, which will probably last long after our cardboard ones.  But it’s fun and the kids are loving it.  If only they were front-loading like the Shelf Reliance System :p

So I often find myself learning new things and teaching myself how to do things.  I’ve developed a way to help myself learn things more quickly and thoroughly, and I thought I’d share with you.

I pick up new skills and knowledge through periods of intense focus.  I actually got this idea from a male blogger.  He takes the strategy to the extreme – spending time focusing on what he’s learning and ignoring everything else for whatever his period of time to learn is (days or weeks).  It works well for him.  That strategy just does not work for mothers.  We have too much that needs to be done every day.

If you’re a work at home mom like I am, you have even more that needs to be done each day.  But you can’t just dump parenting to take time to work on a project.  You can’t forget that your children need three meals a day while you spend hours devoted to your sewing project.  Your meals just won’t get planned and your grocery list won’t get made if you’re devoting weeks to a project and decide to chuck everything else.  I think this strategy could work very well for a single person, or for someone who is not the primary caretaker of children and home.  It could probably work if your children are in school during the day, too.  But for me homeschooling my older children and caring for preschoolers the “pure focus on one project/area of study” just won’t work.

However, I’ve found a variation of it that’s very effective, even while you’re a busy mother and/or work-at-home mom.

My strategy is as follows: first decide what you want to focus on.  Then devote your time to learning just about that focus.  Where you may have read a novel or two, a book on gardening, a book on parenting, and a book on having a well behaved cat all in one month, you’ll now choose just one focus.  I did this right after Christmas and through the first several weeks of January with our nutrition.  I got a stack of books on nutrition I wanted to read.  Then I devoted my free time to reading about nutrition or working in the kitchen to implement what I’d learned.

This may sound like a really simple concept but I’ve found it works tremendously well.  Most of the focus of my free time to read was on nutrition.  Since the books I was reading were similar in subject I found I could move through my reading more quickly.  I could skim over bits that I was already familiar with from another book because the information was so fresh.  I could quickly compare what I’d read in the different books.  And I could try out many different things in the kitchen throughout the course of those few weeks, refining my time in the kitchen and my family’s good nutrition.

The strategy of focusing intensely on one subject of interest worked really well for me.  I’m doing it again right now as I go through several books on parenting and family rhythm.  Reading all the books one after the other is allowing me compare the ideas and thoughts each author presents.  It’s helping me to look at our day-to-day life and my day-to-day outlook and figure out where to make changes to be more effective.  It’s also allowing me to work out a plan for changes that I want to make in our daily routine and my parenting.  I can work out my plan now and revise that as I work through all the books.  Then I’ll be able to work through the plan and see how things go for us – rather than continuously changing things around as a read a new book on family issues here, and then another one there, and so forth.

As with the nutrition study, I feel like my mind is focused on what I’m reading now and I can quickly increase my knowledge and work through things in my own mind.  It’s very nice.  During my focus on parenting I’m also keeping a notebook of things I glean from each book – my hope is that when I’m done reading I’ll have my own “parenting book” full of the wisdom I gleaned during my time of focus.

I plan to use this approach throughout the rest of the year with each area that I decided to work on this year (mostly issues having to do with home management and family life, as is evidenced by nutrition and parenting in my examples!)

If I have novels I want to read I’m planning to do so between my times of focus.  Scott says I don’t read enough novels or books just “for fun” but alas – I have a lot I want to teach myself and I really want to continuously improve my mothering and my household management.  That just doesn’t leave much time for fiction!

I’ve also found that picking focuses that are highly relevant to my life currently helps me to spend more time working with what I’m learning.  Since I’m in the kitchen at least five times a day anyways, experimenting with what I learned during the nutrition study was pretty easy to do.  And parenting and family life issues… well I get the chance to work on that every day – day in and day out (isn’t one of the joys of mothering that no matter how bad you mess up one day, there’s still the next day, and the next day, and the next day to try again)!

If you’d like to read the article that inspired this one, it’s Steve Pavlina’s article on rapid improvement – I think it’s a good article.  I do, however, disagree with a lot of what Steve Pavlina writes and I want to say that I’m not endorsing him in any way, shape, or form.  I do find some of his articles to be thought provoking, this being one of them.  And I’m sure he’ll appreciate the link. :p

Low milk supply seems surprisingly common in modern societies.  There is heated debate about whether this was so in more traditional societies – I haven’t seen any answer convincing enough to allow me to weigh in on any side of the issue.

(Note: please allow me to clarify that “seems” means that it appears common when you talk to many women. However, professionals believe, and I tend to agree, that low milk supply is actually quite rare in our present day, even among mothers who are not getting good food. I have participated in a lot of heated debate about this issue and I’ve known this issue to come between women before. The reality, I think, is that it is not common – however many women worry – needlessly – about the fact that it does *seem* common. )

However, a few women struggle with low milk supply and I do know some ways you can boost your milk supply through nutrition. Others may want to boost supply so they can pump and store extra milk or donate to a milk bank.  Remember, if you’re truly struggling with supply issues there are many other strategies you should be trying – such as increasing frequency of nursing. Get more ideas from Dr. Jack Newman.

The “Supplements”

One of the first things you’ll hear when you mention struggle with milk supply is “oh my friend used (insert food, drink, or herb here) and it really helped her milk supply!”

There are some things that have been shown to boost supply, and you can use them as a supplement to your diet.

• Oatmeal has been known to boost milk supply.  A bowl of oatmeal daily, or even oatmeal cookies, may give you a greater supply.
• Quinoa, a grain, has been used by traditional societies during lactation and is said to boost milk production.
• There are various milk teas on the market.  No, these aren’t teas made with milk.  They’re made with herbs that are supposed to boost milk production.
• Fenugreek is an herbal supplement you can take which many women have found helps boost milk production.  You know you’re taking enough when your sweat smells like maple syrup.

Your Diet

Though the above are nutritional strategies that can work, I believe if you’re suffering from low milk supply you should examine your diet.  Experts say poor nutrition doesn’t cause low milk supply.  However, poor nutrition can eat up your own nutrient reserves, causing stress and exhaustion for you.

You have heard that it really doesn’t matter what you eat, you’ll still make milk for your baby (and it’s still better than formula!)  Well, that’s true – but a higher quality diet makes higher quality milk*.  And a high-quality diet can help you to have abundant milk.  There may really be times when milk supply can’t be improved – but improving diet is one of the most basic steps to try and will benefit you no matter what the outcome.

Fats are Vital

The first step to take is to examine your fat intake.  No, I’m not going to tell you to cut out the fat.  In fact, I’m telling you the opposite.  Make sure you’re getting enough fat.  Be sure you’re eating good fats – “good fats” are traditional fats like coconut oil, butter, olive oil, tallow, and lard.  Avoid new “industrial” oils (such as corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated oils) like they’re a plague… they are!!

Use butter liberally to enhance the flavors of your foods.  Select full fat dairy products and don’t trim all the fat off your meats.  Drizzle olive oil on your salad greens.  Enjoy your food will full flavor.

How Much are You Eating?

Next up… are you eating enough?  Read through my nutrition pages to be sure that you’re eating well.  The late Dr. Brewer, the Weston A. Price Foundation, midwives, and other professionals all advise continuing your pregnancy diet during lactation.  Don’t obsess over pounds – just be sure you’re getting what you need for your baby.  Pregnancy and nursing do cause nutritional stress on your body.  You are growing another being.  You’re not going to be able to eat as if it were just you.  You left those days behind when you conceived your child!

Cut out unhealthy foods.  Processed foods, sugars, excessive carbs.  Get rid of those things if you feel like you need to “cut back” on something.  But eat healthy foods liberally – to satisfaction.  And don’t lie to yourself.  If you’re still hungry after supper have a small snack at bedtime.  If 3 meals a day aren’t cutting it for you (they don’t for many nursing mothers!) have snacks between your meals.

Eating plenty of food, and getting plenty of fluid, will help boost your milk supply.  You would not believe how many mothers I have ask me about milk supply who admit, when I ask them about what they ate that day, “oh, I had coffee for breakfast, and a small salad for lunch.  I’ll probably have a little bowl of pasta for supper.  I just don’t have time for anything else.”

Mama, make some time!  I confidently tell Galen “Mama needs to eat, or you don’t eat!”  There are lots of foods that can be easily prepared while your baby is in a carrier, in a bouncy seat, on a blanket on the floor, or being entertained by someone else.  I know it’s important to be attached to your baby – but your babe will not suffer because you’ve taken 10 minutes to prepare a meal!  Take a look at my pages on managing motherhood for more meal tips.

Eat Properly Prepared Foods – and Eat Some Raw

This next advice could get really broad, so I’m going to keep it to a summary.  You should prepare your foods properly.  This is primarily talking about grains, legumes, and seeds, which may be hard for your body to digest if you just eat them “as is” or simply cooked.  A soaking overnight may help make them more digestible, which in turn will make it easier for your body to utilize them and leave more energy for milk production.

Things you should soak are wheat, oats, rye, and other grains.  Nuts and beans (legumes) should also be soaked.  This is as simple as dumping your food into a glass bowl, adding some whey (the watery stuff that collects in your yogurt) or lemon juice, and setting the bowl in a warm place overnight.  Just add salt to nuts.  For flours (wheat, rye, etc.) you can soak with part of the cooking liquid.  The next day just pick up where you left off in the recipe.  After your nuts have cooked overnight re-dry them in a warm (not hot) oven.  It’s pretty easy and could help improve your digestion and help a fussy baby.

Also enjoy some foods raw.  Easier-to-digest vegetable salads are great with olive oil and raw wine vinegar drizzled over them (some veggies, like spinach, are best served cooked).  And enjoy at least some of your animal products raw.  In our world the easiest way to do this is to eat raw milk cheese, which is legal to buy at stores.  You can also make a number of raw meat appetizers (please use grass-fed animal meat) or enjoy soft-boiled eggs (please use pastured poultry eggs).  Or if you have access to it you can drink raw milk, or have raw milk yogurt or kefir.

That brings me to raw, cultured foods – which are very good for you.  I have noticed the absolute biggest boosts in my milk supply after I began to add extra cream to my milk, added yogurt with live cultures and lots of butter to my morning oatmeal, and began having a fermented vegetable condiment consistently each day.

Sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and chutneys are all cultured condiments when prepared traditionally.  You can find many of these items at your normal grocery store – make sure they say “raw” or “live cultures.”  These foods aid your digestion.

An Overall Effect

These dietary improvements are all beneficial to your overall health.  They’re not a miracle cure for low milk supply.  But by taking steps to improve your nutrition you are well on the way to creating better health for you, and good diet often directly correlates with the quality of milk you make for your baby (even if you’re not at a place where you can make dietary changes right now, your milk is still better than formula).  I know when we committed to a better diet in January of this year I noticed within the first week that my milk supply became more abundant and my milk was much richer.  Galen could hardly keep up!

Enjoy the benefits of improved nutrition for both you and your baby.  For more information on cooking techniques or the “whys” of what I have recommended check out the books listed at the bottom of this article.

*If you pay no attention your nutrition whatsoever you are still going to make milk for your baby and it is still going to be the best choice for your baby.  When I had my first baby I lived far, far below the current poverty lines and I couldn’t afford expensive organic foods.  I could, however, learn about nutrition and cook basic, healthy foods.  My baby thrived on my milk.  So even if you feel that you have little money to spend for food, know your milk is tailor-made for your baby.  Breastfeeding is best no matter where you are in relation to the poverty line.

I still strongly recommed that all mothers study nutrition and do what they can to improve their family’s nutrition for their own health’s sake and that of their children.  There is a wealth of resources at your fingertips for the best price out there – free.

Get more great breastfeeding how-to’s from these other bloggers participating in the Motherwear Carnival of Breastfeeding:

• Motherwear’s Breastfeeding Blog: How to help your baby kick the nipple shield habit
• Marketing Mama: How to pump successfully at work
• Mama Saga: How to breastfeed (or just look like you know what you’re doing)
• BabyReady: How to get baby to take a bottle
• Strocel: How to get breastfeeding off to a good start
• Baby Carriers Down Under: How to breastfeed hands-free
• Blacktating: How to treat a cold while breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding Moms Unite: How to become a breastfeeding support professional
• Breastfeeding Mums: How to wean a breastfed toddler
• Mama Knows Breast: How to get a spouse to help with breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding 1-2-3: How to teach your baby nursing manners
• Zen Mommy: Using YouTube to stop nosey questions!
• Happy Bambino: How to deal with unsupportive family members
• The Bee in your Bonnet: How to be comfortable around nursing mothers
• MoBleez: How to naturally increase your milk supply – try seaweed
• Milk Act: How to care for a sick nursling
• Maher Family Grows: How to to increase milk supply using supplements
• Tiny Grass: Tandem Nursing – how to do it without driving yourself and your nurslings crazy!

It is possible to “go green” for your kids on a budget – first off, by shopping used. Used clothing may not be “organic,” but it’s already here. It has been manufactured (or lovingly sewn by somebody!) and chances are, it hasn’t been worn out. By buying used clothing (and dressing your kiddos in hand-me-downs) you’re choosing green.

Does this mean your kid is going to look scruffy and unkempt? Not at all! Like I said, I like my children to look nice. I have an idea of what I want when I go into a second-hand store. I look over clothing carefully. You can usually find great clothes. I can almost always find knit golf shirts for the boys in great condition. I usually choose name brands because the quality is (usually) better. These shirts cost around a dollar each!

Another option is a children’s consignment shop. We have a Children’s Orchard in my city and I love it.  They have a “playclothes” room where tops and bottoms are usually just $1-2 per garment.  Again, I can often find knits or button-down shirts for the boys that are in great condition and name brand for a great price.  I also like the consignment shop because I can find nicer looking girl’s clothing there.  I’ve had better luck with appropriate girl’s clothing at the consignment shop than I do at the thrift store – but both places can be good.

My favorite option for cute playclothes for a litle girl, however, is one I just recently came upon.  It’s an idea for making a little girl’s dress with a cute top and a woman’s skirt – or even a large bit of scrap fabric.  I was able to use a knit turtleneck top I found at the thrift store for an early spring playdress for Cassidy.  I took an old pink women’s skirt, cut a wide strip of it, and sewed it to the bottom of the knit top.  I used gathers to give a cute look and match size.  It took almost no time at all, and Cassidy has a really nice looking little play dress (it took so little time that I won’t be devastated when it gets all muddy :p)  I really liked this idea – I’m going to use several of my skirts that are worn out around the hemline to make Cassidy some summer playdresses.

Fabric scraps and old adult clothing can be used to make a lot of children’s clothing.  Old adult shirts and sweaters can easily make baby and toddler pants – or diapers.  Those ugly knee-high socks you’ll never wear can make cute legwarmers for baby.  I made Asher and Brennan pajamas and was able to use the small amount of fabric left over to make Galen a matching set.  A set of worn-out flannel sheets has gone to make absorbent trainers for Galen.

An idea from my mother, which is not really clothing, but I like anyways, is to take old shirts your child outgrows but still likes to make a “quilt” for your child to keep.

Not only does shopping thrift stores and consignment shops (and yard sales) help your budget – it also helps to reuse clothing, and re-using is a very good way to go green.  And remaking something old into something new is not only a good idea, it’s fun and creative too.  You might just make something your child will treasure!

Get more ideas at Thrifty Green Thursday!

Despite first trying to convince myself that I don’t actually need sleep, I realized that I needed to acknowledge that this is just a really tiring time in my life.  I know I’m not alone in any way, and that you and many other moms are dealing with the same problem (though the causes are varied.)  A lot of us are just plain exhausted.

How do You Function?

That is an essential question for an exhausted mother.  You ask yourself “how am I supposed to function on so little sleep?”  At one point in my life I could go to bed at 3am and be up again at 7am with seemingly no ill effects…but long gone are those late nights as a theatre techie…  For some reason dealing with all the issues that crop up as a mother are much, much harder without sleep.

It’s important to come at life with a plan when you’re so tired  – and it’s also good to know just when you should chuck the plan. In this article I’m going to focus on some strategies to help you while you’re sleep-deprived.  I won’t focus on how to help you get more sleep because in many situations that’s just not going to happen.  You have to make your way through a tired season of life.

One tip I will give, if you’re up with a baby often, is to sleep as much as possible when your baby sleeps.  As a mother of four, my days of this luxury are long, long gone ;p

In most instances having a simple schedule will help you greatly.  In addition, a well-organized kitchen and meal strategies can help greatly.  Streamlining your cleaning can be helpful.  And know when to forget all of the above.  Detail on all of this below.  I’ll also cover outside commitments, and how some grounding and centering time for yourself can be helpful.

A Simple Schedule

I’ve covered scheduling pretty extensively in previous articles on managing motherhood.  I really believe that having a regular daily routine can help you a lot.  For bigger families like mine, a more organized and detailed schedule can be helpful.  If you just have a baby or only very young children a guiding routine can be sufficient.

The reason having a scheduled day helps when you’re absolutely exhausted is you don’t have to think.  Relieving yourself of the burden of decision making is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself in a time of little sleep.  Decision making can seem overwhelming and requires energy you would rather put elsewhere.

A set schedule or routine allows you to know exactly what is coming.  You know when you get up you make breakfast, then you wash dishes, then you and the little ones take a walk.  You have some outside play then come in for a snack.  Then some stories and playtime and it’s time for lunch.  After lunch a short time outside is followed by a nap.  And so forth.

You know what is going on when, you don’t have to decide what to do when.  It can be really beneficial when you’re tired.  It’s also good during times of grief when life seems tough (such as when you lose a loved one).  A set schedule helps you “go through the motions” so to speak, to keep everyone cared for even while it’s harder for you to plan.

This also helps you ensure that you are able to spend time with your children doing the things important to you – such as reading to them daily.  Sometimes in the stress and tiredness of life these things get forgotten.  Then another common mothering issue – guilt – surfaces.  By having a storytime, or tea party time, or vehicle play time, set into your daily routine you assure you’re able to be there for your little ones.

Kitchen

Ah the kitchen – every mother’s favorite.  You need to feed your family, but the last thing you want is to be stuck in the kitchen when you can hardly keep your eyes open.  This is a big issue for me too; I feel so tired and it takes a lot satisfy my family.

Simplify Breakfast and Lunch

I’ve learned some tricks that will help you, however.  First, pick a breakfast and stick with it.  Oatmeal is a good nourishing breakfast.  We have oatmeal and scrambled eggs most mornings.  Another breakfast idea is sourdough toast and peanut butter.  This breakfast can be served on paper towels for easy clean-up (or on coffee filters – an idea I learned volunteering in a special needs preschool.)

I recommend a similar strategy for lunch – pick a lunch for each day of the week and use that every week.  For instance, bean and cheese burritos every Monday.  Tuna salad every Tuesday.  Chicken and rice soup every Wednesday.    Or if your family is small enough to have sufficient leftovers you could plan to have leftovers from supper most days.

These strategies again eliminate the need for decision making and the benefits are the same as I described for scheduling.  You help to relieve yourself of stress and uncertainty.  It also simplifies the grocery list and helps you know what to stock up on during sales.

Supper Strategies

For supper you can do something similar – have the same meal every night of the week.  Perhaps plan different meals on the weekends.  Or repeat one menu for four weeks – I did this while I was a single mother and after we made an inter-state move.  I planned on week’s grocery menu and then repeated that for four weeks.

A variation of this is to plan certain types of meals for certain nights of the week – Monday is always Mexican food.  Tuesday is always some sort of roast.  Friday is always homemade pizza night, etc.  Then your recipes are varied but ingredients are similar and a “theme” helps you narrow down the food choices.

A crock pot is a great addition to the above ideas, and even more important if you don’t want to repeat meals.  Crockpot meals can be virtually effortless and let you put the ingredients in then forgot about supper.  You can toss together a quick salad just before it’s time to eat (or open a bagged salad if it will save your sanity) and you have a delicious meal ready to go.

Other easy choices are quick-to-put together casseroles and “one skillet meals.”  Try and choose healthy basic meals over processed food – you and the kids will feel better for it.  But processed food every once in awhile isn’t going to hurt.  Jarred spaghetti sauce and ground meat, canned beans added to rice, and taco kits with ground meat are some quick choices that are healthier than other processed foods.

If you have a recipe you can easily double go ahead and do that, then freeze the doubled (or tripled) portion.  This gives you a good, home-cooked meal on a day that you have absolutely no energy to cook.

Cleaning

Ok.  So far as cleaning goes I believe in letting it go when you really need to.  Cleaning should be the first thing you drop if you’re feeling exhausted.  In fact, if life is incredibly overwhelming I’ll be the first to tell you go buy some paper plates and plastic utensils – it doesn’t matter how un-natural it is.  Sometimes your sanity is worth it.

But, if you’re like me a clean home is a home that makes you feel better.  Here are some strategies that can help:

First, clean as you go.  If you’ve just emptied a pot or pan in the kitchen, wash it right away.  Running a bit of warm water and soap in your sink as you get your meal started can help with this.  Throw packaging and food waste away (or put it in the compost bucket) as soon as you generate it.  If you spill something on the floor take a moment to wipe it right down.

You can also look for quick cleaning opportunities.  This is a habit I’m trying to develop in my own life.  Keep a bottle of natural spray cleaner (or your own home made bottle) in a cabinet in the bathroom.  When you take a bathroom break take a moment to spray the counter and wipe it down quickly.  The next time you come in do the same with the toilet seat and rim.  Quickly sweep the kitchen or bathroom floor just before you leave the room.

These quick cleaning sessions will help you keep on top of things, and keep that little sparkle and shine in your home – which helps you feel better.

One of my favorite tips for handling kid clutter is to have a “clean up basket.”  I prefer to have my kids put their toys away into separate baskets/tins/bags for the toy.  For instance all our blocks go into one basket.  Cassidy’s horse toys go in another.  The boy’s toy vehicles go in another.  But this can seem overwhelming when there are toys all over the house.

This is when you grab a sturdy basket and walk through the house, picking up all the toys.  Then you and the children sit down and sort them into their appropriate place from the basket.

Teach them to help

Speaking of children, I recommend you begin to include your children around the house early on.  Even a small child can be given his or her own cloth to wipe a counter after you.  If you sing a “clean up song” as you work at putting things away it will help your small child to enjoy the activity.  If put a few blocks into his basket, then hand your young child a block, he will naturally imitate you and put his block away!  Take advantage of your young child’s natural drive to imitate, and his enthusiasm, to help you

My favorite cleaning routine (outside of day-to-day things that I try and do as soon as is needed) is taking a morning to clean.  I use Friday mornings to first take care of our family’s finances and then to clean – I clean the bathroom, the bathroom and kitchen floors, vacuum, and do an overall straighten of the house.  Other mothers prefer to do one of these areas each day throughout the week.

Another thing that may work for you is to do your cleaning while your partner is home.  Each of you can take a couple of areas of the cleaning to manage, then take a nap and enjoy the afternoon in your clean home.

Chucking All of That

I’ve given you some good tips above.  Having a set routine, simplifying and advance meal prep, and bite-sized cleaning tips can all help make life go more smoothly for you.  These things also tend to help keep the children content.

However, there are going to be some days when you are too exhausted to manage.  You may have been up every night with the baby.  You may be early in pregnancy.  For whatever reason life may just be overwhelming.

There are times when you should just chuck everything.  If you feel like you need to just let things go I recommend you plant yourself on the couch or in the bed with a bunch of storybooks and just read to your children.  Crayons and paper can also help.  Or if the weather is nice take your child to the park (or back yard) and just sit and watch while they run and play.

Always keep your children with you if you’re tired.  If you are resting on the couch, have them with you in the room.  Don’t let them be in another room where they could get into something.  If they are in the room with you, you can keep a sleepy eye on them.

If you absolutely need a break this is a good time to call eager and energetic aunts, uncles, godparents or others who will be happy to chase your young children around.  Grandparents are also a good option

When You Get Sick

Sometimes when you’re “running on empty” you end up getting sick.  This is a lot more likely if you have older children – but it can happen even if you’re just tending the baby.

If you get sick go ahead and follow the suggestions above.  There are also some other things you can do.

If you need to sleep and you have young children you may want to create a baby-proofed space in their bedroom.  Put up a baby gate, have some toys, and you lie down and rest as much as possible while they play.

Running a shallow bath and putting them in to play while you sit and relax in a chair in the bathroom is a good option for a few minutes of not having to chase children around as well.

Again, as I said above, keep your children in the same room with you.  You will immediately see if they do something they shouldn’t.  You don’t have to worry about them getting into something in another room.  If there are sibling fights or bad attitudes you will have seen what happened and be able to address it immediately.

Outside Commitments

I am a firm believer in staying close to the home with children.  One playgroup a week, if that, is sufficient for a small child.  You can your children need to have a living, breathing rhythm at home.  Modern culture may tell you that you need to have your little ones involved in sports, art classes, dance, preschool, and various other extracurricular activities but the reality is your little ones will become bright, inquisitive children just by being home and helping you with daily life.  A trip to the grocery store where they are involved is a thrilling learning experience.

Say “no” to many outside commitments.  Pick one playgroup with mothers you enjoy and playmates your child enjoys.  Spend the rest of your days in a comforting routine at home.  Don’t drag your child all over town on errands if you can help it (I know sometimes you just can’t).  A trip to the market once a week and a playgroup can become beloved parts of a child’s routine – things they look forward to.  But otherwise young children are content to be home helping you (unless they have been taught to expect constant entertainment.  If that is the case I humbly recommend you change your expectations and help them change theirs!)

You will feel better if you are not “go, go, go” each and every day.  I constantly evaluate what we do.  In our city there are lots of playgroups, classes, and lessons I could take the children to each and every week.  There’s a lot that I want to do.  I find myself saying “no” to a lot of it, however.  I get stressed and the children get stressed when we’re always “out and about.”  I try and pick the opportunity that best fits me and the children, and stick with that.

It’s hard to say “no” and it’s hard to put aside things we want to do (go to the bookstore or mall) but there are times when it’s best for our children that we do just that.  If you’d like to go out it may make sense to wait until your spouse or a relative/friend can watch your children and you can browse the bookstore in peace

Spiritual

I don’t want to leave this off because I think it’s important.  Beliefs are varied and different and those that you and I hold may be different.  Ok.  Political correctness aside, keeping yourself grounded from a spiritual perspective can really help.

My own beliefs help me get through the roughest days.  Even when everything feels like it’s going wrong and I feel like I’m getting absolutely nothing done, I know that I can remain calm and work through the issues.  I have this peace because of the grounding my beliefs give me.  And if I absolutely blow it (which I do sometimes, being human) my beliefs also allow me to bring myself to apologize and move on.

The time I take to read and study, even if it’s just minutes here or there, also help me greatly.  They allow me to live past my own emotions and be the mother I want to be – not ruled by frustration and anger, which are very burdensome emotions to struggle with as a mother.  It’s far better to have freedom from those and taking the time to grow in my own faith gives me that.

I encourage you to examine your own beliefs and find the strength you can in taking that time for you – and pray if it helps.  As mothers it’s oftentimes the only thing we can do

Realize that letting go of your emotions is often better than being chained to them.  Let go of frustration and anger – and self-pity.  They don’t control you

In summary

This has been a really long article!  I considered breaking it down and decided against that.  I may in time elaborate on the various sections.  But a comprehensive picture on how to function while you’re worn out is helpful.  Take what helps you in this article – it’s written from a lot of personal experience.

Last of all, remember that even though this time in your life is tiring, enjoy it.  You will only have children for a set period of time, and then there will be more full nights of sleep, mornings to sleep in, and hours to sit reading or daydreaming.  Once that time comes, you’ll probably spend your hours daydreaming about those sweet days when your children were little.  So do enjoy them while they’re here, even though life is very tiring right now!

I’m a work at home mom.  I like that.  Life gets frazzled sometimes, yes.  But I think this is an awesome life.  I’m able to be here with my kids, right through all the ups and all the downs, and all of everything.

I made the choice before I had my first baby that I wanted to be home with my kids.  Like I said on my “about me” page, people tell me I’m lucky.  Well I’ll tell you that “luck” has nothing to do with it!

Part of why I’m able to be home is this website.  It brings in income every month that helps our family out – and secures my position here at home.

My website also helps you and other moms out.  To me it’s a win-win situation.  I get to write about something I love and help other people out.  I get emails every week thanking me for the site and giving me ideas for making it better.  And it helps me to stay at home and be a wife and mama – what I really want to focus my life on

I couldn’t have made this resource without my site building program – it guided me step-by-step: everything from choosing a topic to write about (one that I love!), to building my site, to figuring out just how to make an income from it.

This program is called Site Build It! and right now there’s a Valentine’s special going on.  Buy one SBI! and get the second for a huge discount.  So you can start your own business as a work-at-home mom and share the love with someone else – your husband, your teenager, your mother… or keep it for yourself to make a second site (have I mentioned I’m beginning to wish I’d purchased my SBI! site when I could get another one for such a steal?  I have a million ideas for a second site!!)

Anyways, this special is great and I wanted to be sure you knew about it.  Are you wanting more information about becoming a work-at-home mom?  I just finished reading a great ebook and thought I’d share.  It has tons of stories from moms just like you and me

“Right click, save as” to download the WAHM guide!

For more information on how I got started you can read my story; I get a lot of questions about SBI! – read my answers to the most common ones.  And of course: Learn more about the special!!!

I missed Real Food Wednesday last week So I wanted to be sure I didn’t miss it this week!  This week’s carnival topic is “Rookie tips from You” – dedicated to helping you get started with better nutrition.

All moms spend time thinking about how to improve nutrition.  And I think it’s safe to say the thought overwhelms you.  It overwhelms me and it’s one of the things I’m most passionate about (besides birth and babies!) I thought I’d share some simple tips for getting started, and some things that have helped me:

• Switch to real butter for flavoring cooked veggies and soups.
• Use olive oil and red wine vinegar on your salads if making your own dressing is intimidating.
• Switch to coconut oil for sauteing, or a coconut oil/butter mix.
• Buy fermented foods if making them scares you   Real lacto-fermented sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles can frequently be found even at conventional grocers.   You can also buy yogurt and (unsweetened) kefir.
• Learn to love your crock pot.  You can make delicious real food in your crockpot easily!  You can also cook beans in your crock pot overnight.
• Roast a whole chicken in your crock pot and use the bones to make chicken stock.  This is very, very easy to do and a great basis for better nutrition.  You can even make the stock in your crock pot if you need to be away from home.
• Use your home made chicken stock in soups throughout the week.  Soups are really easy to make too.
• Soak beans and grains you’ll need for the week all at once, then store in the fridge.  This one tip has helped me a lot over the past few weeks as we’ve been eating a 100% traditional foods diet.

And a couple of tips related to children:

• Feed your children lots of fat.  At least 6 tablespoons a day is good for young children.  Give them whole milk, whole milk cheeses, whole yogurt, and butter.  If you give them salads dress them with plenty of olive oil.  Flavor their veggies generously with butter.
• Feed your children at regular times throughout the day.  Children like routine and they learn to understand that they eat at meal and snacktimes – not around the clock.  Do nurse your baby on demand!
• Do not be a short order cook!  Teach your children that what is served is what they have available to eat.  Encourage them to at least take one bite of a food they think they will not like.  Teach them to thank the cook and show appreciation for food even if they don’t care for it.
• Please see the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome if you have a very picky eater; it gives helpful advice on teaching children to eat good foods.

Get more information on how to get started with better nutrition by visiting Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

We did have a point this weekend where I had to give in and allow the use of corn tortillas from the store.  I had no other grains or beans ready to go, everyone was hungry, and my family is not satisfied with a meal that doesn’t include either grains or beans to give some sort of carb illusion.

The moral of the story – always have beans or rice or something that is properly prepared in the freezer.  Actually, I always need to have meals in the freezer that can be pulled out and cooked.

The real issue was I was exhausted.  As I’ve mentioned in my blog posts the past couple of days, last week was completely exhausting for me and by the weekend I could hardly function.  I felt like I was walking around in a fuzz and I’m just thankful I don’t have to “go to work” like Scott does.  I’m not sure how I’d manage that.

So last week highlighted again the need to have good, nutritious meals in the freezer, or the ingredients to put together quick meals with minimal preparation.  This week I’ve planned to double most of my main dishes so that I’ll have that freezer supply.

Now that Galen is here it’s going to be awhile before I can do a marathon freezer cooking session like I did to have us supplied with meals (and yep, we’ve eaten all 44 meals) – but I can double or triple recipes relatively easily.

I don’t feel burned out like I did after the first 7 days of our trial.  Last week’s issues were mostly unrelated to meal planning, and the strategies that worked to help streamline in the kitchen really have helped.  I still spend time in meal preparation – around 20 minutes for breakfast, 30  minutes for lunch, and an hour for supper – but on the whole I feel it’s going well.  I’d like to get the time spent on supper down further, and think I may try to start doing some of the prep at snacktimes.  I found that helped last year before Galen was born.

Overall we are feeling good.  The “big boys” Asher and Brennan came down with colds last week, but the rest of us didn’t.  Their colds went pretty quickly too so their bodies cleared whatever was needed to be cleared.

The big kids are all pretty cheerful and content, helpful, and strong.  Galen has been cranky the past few days and drooling a lot.  It’s early yet for teething but maybe there’s something going on down deep?  He has been going to bed easier most nights.

I’m feeling great (other than tired) and feel like I’ve been able to spend a lot of time being productive.  This is a good thing because I start to feel like I’m going crazy if I’m not “being productive.” :p

Scott says that he’s feeling good and that makes me happy.  I like providing good food that makes my family happy.