This Is Kristin

I am a major multi-tasker. It’s almost a challenge for me, I begin the day with a to do list and fill up an entire sheet of binder paper and try to highlight each thing off by the end of the day. I love to do craft projects, and try to squeeze those things in amongst all my other “to do’s.” The problem is, that the more kids I have the more things pop up, un-planned through out the day. I get frustrated that my things aren’t getting done, or that I am up late into the night, and I end up having a lot of unfinished projects.

Someone told me the other day that they needed to have five paintings done for a show in a week. When I asked how that was going, they said that they’d started three. It was obvious to me, for them, that they should’ve been focusing on one at a time, because one finished painting is better than three half done ones.

It also hit me the other day, that when God created the world He did one thing each day. He didn’t create part of the ocean, and part of an animal, instead He focused each day to a specific creation, and then took a full day to rest.

I have been trying very hard recently to focus on one thing at a time, and if that is my child talking to me, then I will stop what I am doing and look them in the eye, and I will listen. I am trying to look at the interruptions throughout the day, as opportunities, and that they have a point. Whether it’s a chance to teach my kids a lesson, or hear something I would normally ignore. My point is, that I am trying to be more aware of my priorities, that crossing off the to do list is not more important than listening to my kids, and also that I am pointedly having less on my to do list in order to focus on one thing at a time.

~ There are so many re calls going on right now for toys, mostly affected with lead paint. I checked out the list and found a few that my baby had been chewing on and got rid of them. Check out Consumer Product Safety for the list of toys, and they advise always allowing your doctor to test the child for lead.

~Also in the news is the recall of Infant Cough and Cold Medicines which at least is coming out before cold season is underway!

~Anything else anyone has heard about lately??

Of course I think my kids have a natural talent to be artistic, because everything they do I think is amazing! I started realizing how much I love kids’ art in general and checked out this book that is a design book for kids, and the creations are by kids. I think I love how unhindered children are with their art and designs, they are not thinking about what someone else wants to see, they are creating from their own imaginations.

~My favorite thing that my sons have made was a painting they worked on together, and I just sat and watched their different styles. My oldest had large and quick brush strokes taking up most of the canvas while my two year old stuck to a corner and painted little circles and dots. The end result was a collision of many colors and two satisfied little boys.

~What is your favorite creation by your kids?

My friend Jessie and I were asking each other one day about how we find time to do housework. We talked about how it’s moved from doing housework to have a nice, clean and lovely home, to only doing housework for necessary, and cleanliness reasons, because of lack of time. Because it has to be done sometimes, and it has to be squeezed into minutes of the day that don’t really exist most of the time, we were talking about tricks to get it done more easily.

Here are some things we talked about:

*First we were talking about how we have to accept that we can’t spend an entire day cleaning the house, and if we do, it won’t all be perfectly clean by the end of the day, because we are sure to face many interruptions. So doing housework chopped up, and squeezed in, seems to work best.
*For bathrooms, She was telling me that one of her friends cleans her bathrooms when the kids are in the bath, which I have recently tried and it works very well, and seems to go faster.
*She also was saying that she will spend one entire day doing the laundry, and wait until the end of the day to fold it all, while watching a movie or something fun.
*She also had tips on storing the folded laundry. One idea is to get laundry baskets for each family member and put the folded laundry in there, and have them help put away. Another idea is to have bins for kids instead of a dresser, and put all their pants in their own bin, shirts in their own bin, etc. etc.
*For my own kids, I have little buckets with rags, brushes, and a squirt bottle of water and vinegar. I show them what they can spray and wipe down. They love it and actually ask if they can “clean” sometimes. Mostly it just buys me time .
~I have a previous post on this same topic, with some good comments.

~So do you have any special tricks or tips to fit in your cleaning?

~First of all, let me say that this section of my blog regarding parenting- intimidates me-, even though it’s possibly the topic I care most about. I feel so inadequately equipped at being a mom, and it’s the thing I want to be best at. If I fail at everything else, but my kids know that I love them and God loves them, I will feel I succeeded. I don’t feel like I have a bunch of tips and advice to give, because I am usually the one asking for help and advice. My constant prayer is that “through my weaknesses, he’ll be strongest,” in my parenting and now in this section of the blog as well. As always, you are completely welcome to comment, and share things that you know and have learned. I respect your opinion, and advice is heeded. This section will reflect things I have read, learned from other parents, or be questions to you.

I’ll start out by using this quote that I heard in a mother’s bible study:

“You are on assignment from God to pray for your children. You may be the only person on the face of the earth who is! And if you aren’t, then probobally no one else is!” ~ Elizabeth George

I picked up this book in a pocket size version, and it is full of paragraph long prayers for parents to pray for their kids. It’s a helpful guide, and easy to take along somewhere.

~What kinds of things do you pray for your kids?

Kat is in search of good parenting websites and resources, and so am I. I have found a good website, with good articles and resources called, Compassionate Kids, but nows your chance to point us to some other good books, websites etc.!

*Good teething tip: Buy one of these net feeder things, and put some frozen cut up banana, mango, or even ice in it, and let your baby gnaw away. Also, if they suck on a pacifier, put it in the fridge for awhile. they will appriciate that.