Worst mom, lifesaver.

 

 

I haven't blogged in a long time. Things haven't been great on my end. I also lost my mojo for a while.

I had to blog about this though because One; it is way too long to be just a Facebook post. Two because if it ever happens to another mom out there I don't want them to feel alone or like they are the worst parent in the world because I am feeling like that at the moment.

Today started as a pretty normal day. C: after being in meltdown mode for almost a full week was "okay" and the rest of the crew was fine.

However, for H it will turn out to be one to remember.

Let me start by saying H: is a daredevil if it "looks" climbable she will climb it. The girl has no fear.

On our normal morning walk, she wipes out because she was running with her shoes on the wrong feet and hurt her hand. It did bleed a little.

Today was our homeschool Splash pad/park play date. Mom finally gets to talk to an adult day. Everything was going well other than a few bumps in the road which can happen when you have a lot of different children all with different personalities.

At the end of the get-together, we are getting ready to go, only my lifesaver, myself and our littles. Suddenly hers and mine start yelling from the top of the equipment. Sarah makes it to the top before me. I am at the bottom of the slide. Staring up in disbelief and I figure Sarah has it. Nope H: has her leg stuck in the playset. She says to me "You have to come help".

My only thought as I climb the ladder is "I don't have any butter". I get up there and try to get her leg out it's a no-go she keeps screaming every time I try and get it out. I say to Sarah, no this isn't working, I am calling for a fire truck (This is my first time calling 911). I call I get a recording that says please don't hang up. Then I get a lady who says fire, ambulance or police. I say my child's leg is stuck in the playset I need a fire truck. The lady on the phone says okay I will send you over to the ambulance.....Ummmm that's not what I said. I am in a panic. I say to Sarah they are sending me to the ambulance. She says no we need a fire truck we need a saw.

I tell the ambulance lady I need a fire truck my child's leg is stuck in the play equipment. She asks for the address, I say I am at the town's only park and splash pad. She says well what is the address I said I don't know and she asks well does someone there know? Well, it's just me and Sarah and neither of us knows. Sarah says the same thing I did The only park and splash pad in this town of fewer than 1,000 people.

Sarah using her calm thinking brain sends her oldest to soak a towel and get her leg out while I am trying to figure out the stupid address for this park. Let the lady on the phone know and we end the call.

H: has been screaming and crying the whole time. Once she is free she stops crying and walks just fine....like nothing even happened.

I say to Sarah well things to remember to keep in the SUV for homeschool events.......a saw.

Can you say fluke accident?

Maybe for a week or so, H will not be such a daredevil. We can hope but I doubt it.


If you are out there and your child does, you are not alone. Once it was all said and done I realized I should have just used the sunscreen to get her out!!!

Reindeer poop

So many recipes to try so little time

I miss my drive to bake, I miss the energy I had to be in the kitchen all the time.

The kids LOVE being in the kitchen with me whether it is baking or cooking dinner they don't want to miss a minute of it.

This year I have been baking with each little one to make cookies for the cookie trays. For this, my OCD has to take a back burner which is hard for me to do. Years of baking cakes and so many other sweet treats for clients where everything had to be perfect will do that to a person.

No, I don't let the kids pick their own recipes only because they don't know enough about the millions of different cookies to make choices. For example, every time I bake with "H" she wants to make oatmeal cookies, that would make for some pretty boring cookie trays if they were only filled with oatmeal cookies.

This year I am winging the cookie trays, it will be whatever I feel like baking that day on each of them.

Thus far we have made oatmeal, oatmeal chocolate chip, what I call reindeer poop, confetti squares, and whipped shortbread.

The oatmeal, oatmeal chocolate chip, and reindeer poop all made it to the freezer. The confetti squares seem to have been eaten by our house hippos. We will be remaking those.


The oatmeal cookies are one recipe that I will never give out.

This is the recipe for the reindeer poop cookies. I LOVE these cookies and have been making them since I was about 12, it is a recipe my grandmother taught me.

Reindeer poop

What you need:

3 cups quick oats
1 cup flaked coconut (you can use sweetened or unsweetened)
2  cups white sugar
1/2  cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 milk
1/2 margarine

What to do:

1) Mix oats and coconut in a large bowl

2) In a heavy saucepan or a normal pot (I use a special heavy saucepan that is only used for baking) mix butter, cocoa, milk and margarine together. Over medium heat melt everything together. Bring to a boil and allow to cook for 2 more minutes.

3) Line a cookie sheet with parchment (I like when recipes tell me to do things like this while I am waiting for things to mix from step 1)

4) Once it has cooked for 2 minutes pour over the oats and coconut in your large bowl. Mix well.

5) By the tablespoon put scoops onto your lined cookie sheet and put in the fridge until hard. Eat right away, store in a container or freeze like what we are doing.

Let me know how yours turned!!! I would like to see pictures of your creations!



 

Morning Routine

This is our school day routine. Our weekend/holiday/strike day routine looks a little bit different and I will make a post about that later.

Being blessed to be able to stay home with the children is amazing. I am able to make sure there is always a parent here. I feel for a lot of parents who have to go to work and really would rather be home with their children. Personally I would say its both parents having to work that has lessened our family time and community.

My day starts before routine starts because I am up with my son around 1:30am when he wakes. Then I am up every time one of girls wakes even if they are just getting up to pee or whatever.

Blaine gets up at about 5:30am every morning. I am a horrible mom I give him my phone and curl up next to him and go back to sleep until one the girls get up. Then I send them to watch TV until 7am.

7:00am I get up start breakfast and making lunches for school. At this point I also start dinner.

7:15am Everyone eats, I finish making lunches, clean up the kitchen, empty the dishwasher, put a load of laundry in the washing machine.

7:30am I help pick out every ones clothes and they all get dressed. I fill back packs while they are getting dressed. Yes all 4 children even the ones who are not going to school get dressed at this point.

7:45am I start hair. I start with the youngest and work my way up to the oldest. Hair takes awhile round here because all 4 need their hair done for the day. Blaine only gets a pony with 3 elastics down it. Every one gets hair spray to limit their exposure to head lice.

8:15am I get myself dressed and my hair brushed. Clean up from doing every ones hair.

8:20am Every one gets their boots and gear on for heading to school.

8:30am We head out the door and off to school.

Here is where my morning varies depending on if my business partner is coming to work or not. If she is not then I take Blaine and the youngest girl to play group. If she is coming in then I come home set up my work station and work until noon with her.

Mornings are loud! because everyone is playing and getting ready but the process seems to work for us. It is streamlined. But if I sleep in by even 5 minutes then we are always behind and rushing.

Routine and knowing what is going to happen next is very import especially with children who are autistic. If the routine changes even on a weekend or we have to rush then its melt downs and sets them up for a horrible day.

Since having a routine the middle girls melt downs have lessened greatly and the school has noticed a HUGE change in her, which is wonderful!!!!

What do your mornings look like? Do you have a set routine? Are you rushed? Are you a working mom who has to balance work and home life? Are you a hard working stay at home mom with a to do list 6 pages long?

Night time Routine

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Our nights look a little crazy and go by really fast. It starts with the older girls getting home at about 3:20.

Sometimes I get "lucky" and one of the kids refuse to bath and things get done sooner. What has been even better lately is that the oldest girl doesn't fight with me to do her book in the bag so I don't spend many many hours at the table.




3:20pm Snacks and homework. Homework can last anywhere from 10mins to hours depending how well the oldest cooperates with me. Snack is normally many snacks because everyone is starving when they come home from school but barely touch their lunch lol.


3:50pm Free play while I finish making and plate dinner. Free play is a whole lot of yelling, running and being wild, I can not wait until the weather is nicer and they can play in the backyard.

4:30pm Dinner I am so glad I start this early in the day because even after many snack everyone is still starving and can't wait to eat!

5:00pm Walk the dogs. For us this gets the last bit of the sillies out before bed.


6:05pm Bath time starting with the youngest. Each child gets about 15 mins in tub.

6:20pm The youngest gets dried and dressed. and I empty and refill the tub.

6:25pm The second youngest gets in the tub.

6:40pm The second youngest gets dried and dressed and I empty and refill the tub.

6:45pm The second oldest child gets in the tub




7:00pm The second oldest child gets dried and dressed and I empty and refill the tub.

7:05pm The oldest gets in the tub

7:20pm The oldest gets dried and dressed while I clean up the bathroom and make snack.

7:30pm They have snack while I read 1 chapter out of a chapter book we are currently reading Aliens Don't Plan Parties, 1 story out of one the multi books like Bernstein Bears 5 Minute stories and 1 of the books they picked out from the library.

7:45pm I start brushing and flossing 4 sets of teeth

8:00pm I lay with B and sing our 3 songs and I lay with him until he falls. Connely sits in with the girls until they fall asleep.

8:30pm I get into the shower

8:40pm I tidy up and start working on client orders.

11:00pm I head to bed. Some nights when I have had more than enough I go to bed at 10pm. I am up at least once during the night with Blaine, and once or more with the other girls when I hear them getting up to go pee etc.

What does your night time routine look like? Is it busy? laid back? structured?

I think my favourite time with bedtime is reading to them and snuggles in bed with Blaine. Since the girls have arrived his one on one time with me is reduced so any one on one time with him I cherish.

Do you have a favourite thing about your night time routine?

Cookies

Yes its considered homeschool. Lets look at why.

Things they learn:

Measurements (Math)
Science
Patience
Fine motor skills
Cooking skills
and probably many more things that I just can't think of at the moment.

Today was the first time in Blaines little life he begged me from the moment he woke up to bake cookies. He hates getting messy, has a hard time focusing on one task and well has the attention span of a wet noodle (Yes I say that with LOVE).

Two days ago he found some cookies cutters I had gotten on sale at Micheals and was planning on using just for fondant.

I haven't made shaped cookies in so long, not for Christmas or anything. I used to make them all time but the past few years I have had no interest in them. (A lot has changed because of the brain injuries)

Because of the many many many years of baking for clients I am a bit of a control freak in my kitchen between no dogs, special clothes, hand washing etc. Well when it comes to children in the kitchen everything changes and tends to go out the window.

It took a lot of self talk to remind myself these are not for clients and that its okay if they are not perfect or not the way I would do it. JUST HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE MOMENT!

The butter didn't get quite mixed as well as I would have in the mixer so I worked on that while I just mixed it in when I rolled out the dough. They turned out awesome! Although a little miss shapened (which apparently isn't a real word but I am going to use it anyway.)

He was excited and actually ate 1/2 of one. Which is huge for him because well he will tell you he hates cookies other than oreos but who doesn't love oreos.

He had a blast and loved every moment of it, other then the few times he got flour on himself and he had to run to the bathroom to wash his hands (we have a sink in the kitchen but he has to wash his hands in the bathroom).

I know these things seem like normal everyday things but for a mom with a child who has ASD they are huge. Will it happen again, who knows but at least we have one memory of making cookies together.

And this afternoon we will taking our pumpkins to the animal farm because the animals there love them and I need out for a little bit! 

Summer bucket list!

Do you have a seasonal bucket list? I do, I write a new one each year in my bullet journal. Sometimes I get them done sometimes I don't but it is awesome for those days when you are not sure what you want to do. Kind of like a bored jar full of ideas.


When the weather is nice closer to late spring and all of summer I spend as much time outdoors as possible. I even work outside to get more time out there. When you live in Canada and the weather goes from 20 degrees one day to -5 degrees the very next day you tend to soak in as much nice weather as you can while it is here.

My summer bucket bucket list

--Beach!!!
We live in a city with water and beaches EVERYWHERE so not getting to beach is not an option. We try to go during the week so that they are not as crowded so we can enjoy it without being elbow to elbow with everyone in the city.

--Hike
Our Province has so many beautiful trails and green spaces if you don't hike you don't know what your missing out on. A few of trails I would love to either do again or do for the first time are: Flower Pot Island, Mystery Falls Trails, Killarney,and Frontenac.


--Weekly fun trips with the kids.
Some of the places we plan to visit we do as homeschool trips but the girls don't get to go with us on those because they are in school. Children's museum, Science North, Day out with Thomas, African Lion safari, Santa's village, Legoland, Niagara Children's Museum, Randos ranch and storybook gardens.



--Tent Camping!
I haven't attempted to take Blaine tent camping just yet so I am hoping this year I am able to.


--Drive in
We have one not to far from here and I have never been. It is something I have always wanted to do.

--Fishing
I love fishing and I am lucky enough to have a son who loves it too.


--St.Jacobs Market
This year will be the year I finally make it to the market EVERYONE talks about.



--Gardening
Not much to say here


--Visit every park in town at least once


--Visit all the splash pads everywhere


--Slow down and enjoy life more


--Do the Ontario Ice Cream tour

--Take lots of photos


--Visit family


--Paint slip and slide!


--Pick strawberries


And so so much more!!!

Do you know any secret trails?