Daylight Savings Time: A Survival Guide

Spring Forward. Fall Back. Catchy little phrases, no? Well, I have a new one:

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In my pre-baby life, I had a love/hate relationship with daylight savings.  Springing forward was not my fave because of the lost hour of sleep but it was quickly forgiven by SUNSHINE AT 8 PM.  Falling back was momentarily fab due to the bonus hour of sleep but then you drive home in the dark and that is just plain awful.

But then. Then you have a baby.  And listen, I saw people posting on Facebook lamenting their daylight savings woes with children and I always brushed it off. Never really got it.  “It can’t be that bad” I thought. Bless my heart.

And since I know I have friends that aren’t parents yet that read this, let me provide you with a list of why daylight savings and children are a terrible combination.

  1. Their sleeping schedule is basically the only thing that matters and daylight savings comes in like a jerk and messes up the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS.

End of list.

Kids just don’t get the memo.  They will not go to bed early when it is time to spring forward. They will not sleep an hour later when you are falling back. Enjoy your extra hour of sleep in the fall, ye people without children. I no longer live that life.

So having been through both springing forward and falling back last year I realized that Daylight Savings is essentially the Biannual Torturing of the Parents.  I’m not sure when it gets easier…when she’s in college, maybe?

But this year I had a terrific stroke of luck. J and I had plans on Saturday night and G spent the night at my parents house.

Which brings me to my Guide to Surviving Daylight Savings Time With Kids:

  1. Send your children to another house for a slumber party.

Thus concludes the Guide to Surviving Daylight Savings Time With Kids.

Sure I still lost an hour of sleep, but ya know what? G wasn’t here to wake me up at 6 am so I just…wait for it…slept in. 

Don’t say I’ve never posted anything useful here.

Daylight Savings ends on Sunday, November 1st.  Hello, Halloween sleepover? You have 6 months to schedule your night off play date.

Just try to not utter the words “fall back” to the victim host.

 

 

 

 

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Weeknight Sanity Saver: The Dinner Bin

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I’ve touched briefly here on my desire to find balance in this whole working momma deal.

And lemme tell you, there’s nothing better than a life hack to find some life balance.

Enter:  The Dinner Bin

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Ya’ll, this is so simple it’s stupid. I did this on Sunday.  And it took me less than 30 minutes.

(The picture quality is pretty “meh” here because, real life, I don’t do this during daylight hours – this is a post-bedtime task in my house)

I found these bins at Wal-Mart but it looks like Amazon has them HERE as well.  They are great in that they…

  1. Are a decent size. I can easily fit all ingredients I need for a meal into one bin
  2. Have those dry erase board fronts. I can jot down what is inside – easy peasy.
  3. Fit into my fridge perfectly.

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I cannot tell you how much time is saved in the evenings by not having to rummage around in my fridge for ingredients.  I am able to walk in the door, grab a bin, and get dinner going within 5 minutes.

I go one step further than just adding ingredients for the meals we are having to the bins, I do my darndest to prep everything ahead of time.  Chicken gets put in a bag with marinade, veggies get chopped, etc. etc.  This week we are eating some leftovers & things from the freezer, Those went in the bins as well.

The other great thing about chopping ALL THE THINGS ahead of time, and at one time? You are only dirtying your knife and cutting board once. Chop away on Sunday evenings and then put it up and be done with that nonsense.  You can even chop extra veggies to add to salads or eat as a snack if you’re feeling fancy.  I find that if I don’t wash & cut up my produce on the weekend then it tends to go uneaten.

And throwing away produce makes me le sad.

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That’s store-bought chopped red onion.  Because as much fun as I have pretending I’m in a cooking show, there’s little I hate more than chopping onions.

(Anyone have any advice on chopping onions so that it’s not a terrible life experience?)

Oh? And those baggies with chopped veggies?  I add olive oil + seasoning directly to the bags and hand them off to my 1 year old to “mix” for me. Keeps her occupied long enough for me to get whatever else I need to get done, done and away we can go. Also, I totes count that as sensory play for her. Pinterest would be so proud.

Superior parenting right here

Superior parenting right here

I really try to make this as dummy-proof and fail-proof as possible for myself.  Doing this keeps us from resorting to take out AND adds time that I can spend playing with G to my evenings.

Win-win.

 

 

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Step by Step

It all started so innocently.

A week or so after G turned one I thought, “I bet she could stand on her own if I just showed her.”

And so I propped her in front of me and did my best to let go of her hands without her noticing. And then clapped and cheered like a maniac when, lo and behold, she stood! It was for an entire 3.5 seconds but still, that counts.

For about a week, this was her favorite trick. She would stand on her own, waving her hands as an expression of pure joy and excitement and squealing with delight.  My husband and I are dutiful cheerleaders, we would applaud and say “Yay G! What a big girl!” All the while feeling those pangs of wondering where our baby went and marveling at how unnatural it seemed to have her standing alone with nothing to support her.

After a week or so, that solo standing business was dullsville for our little explorer.  She  pulled herself up on a chair, then turned around and took 3 steps right to me.

I nearly died.

We’re now in this fun in-between phase of moving from crawling to walking.  She still mostly crawls – because she moves faster this way and efficiency is important when you just HAVE to break into that cabinet that you’re not supposed to play in.  And she’ll walk to me when when I hold out my arms and tell her to “come get me”.  Although that walk is like a “step, step, TRUST FALL” where she just lunges forward and hopes for the best, depth perception be damned, I’d better be able to grab her and keep a bloody nose from happening.

But every once in a while, when she REALLY wants to get to something, she will take a few shaky steps.  She has this great little excited sound she makes when she’s walking – something I’m sure other parents will nod their heads at – but it’s like a laugh and a pant all at once. And it is the best sound in the world.

She is so proud of every. single. step.  And – truth be told? I am too. She takes those steps and I think, “Okay. We made it this far. We can keep doing this. We can keep moving.”

And move we will. Because ready or not, here she comes.

Or, rather, there she goes.

vivi

 

(100 imaginary internet points awarded to those of you who know the 90s sitcom referenced in the title. 50 additional points to anyone who now has the theme song in your head. I’m sorry and you’re welcome.)

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