Evaluating My Time

I recently started reading this blog Healthy Tipping Point.  I found it off my friend Randi's blog list on her blog and I really enjoy reading what she has to say.  She is a mom to a 5 month old (I think that is how old he is) and she lives a healthy lifestyle.  I find her posts pretty inspiring.  She also is a writer and has written three books.  Recently she posted about a book she has read "168 Hours:  You Have More Time Than You Think" by Laura Vanderkam.  I chose to read this book for my book club choice this month.  We are going with a Non-Fiction theme for November.  I started it on Monday night and have made it about 10% through so far.

The basis of the book is that the author believes you have more time than you believe you do and I think the rest of the book explains how to get the most of your week and looking at your life as not 24 hours in a day but 168 hours in a week.  I am really interested in this.

I have found recently that everyone talks about how busy they are and how they don't have time for anything...or at least anything meaningful.  I know there are times I will talk about the weekend and say how busy it was or how busy my week was but in reality it wasn't as busy as I thought and that it definitely could be busier.  I do know life gets crazy at times and some weeks are crazier than others but I do think that we are a society that puts value on how "busy" we are and then complain about how we don't have time to do read, excercise, etc.  I can't wait to read this book and see what this author has to say.

Part of the book is as a reader tracking your daily activities for a week and writing everything down.  Then after the week is over evaluating how you truly spend you time.  I am hoping to start this next Monday.  Here are my predictions on how I believe I spend my time.

Sleep:  I think I get at least 7 hours of sleep a night-it might not be uniterrupted but I think I get at least that much throughout the night. So that would be 49 hours a week.

Household Obligations:  This is cleaning, laundry, general picking up, house pojects, running errands etc.  this varies so much day to day so I think over the week I would say 20 hours.

Work:  My goal is to get in 30-32 hours of work a week.  26 hours going in to work and 5-6 hours at home.

Elsie:  This area would be all things Elsie, playing, taking care of her, feeding her, getting dressed, washign bottles, diapers etc.  I bet over the course of the week it takes 30 hours of my time.  The thing is we go for walks...is this Elsie time since she loves to go for a walk and be outside or is it my exercise time?  I would say exercise time.

Personal Care:  Exercise, eating and preparing meals, getting ready in the mornings, etc.  2.5 hours/day so 17.5 hours/week.

Leisure:  Doing things I want to do...reading, blogging, socializing, reading blogs, watching TV (something I rarely do on its own), internet stuff...well I guess this would be 21.5 hours a week.

So those are my predictions.  We will see how close I really am and how I perceive I spend my time vs how I really spend my time :) I am going to see if John wants to do it along side me and track how he spends his time too.  He is such a great help around the house, helping to take care of Elsie, cooking dinner, etc.  I don't know what my time would look like with out his help.

I can't wait to see the how it goes!

Halloween Trick or Treat-My Thoughts on This Holiday

So tonight in Iowa is what they call Beggar's Night.  This is when the majority of cities do Trick or Treating.  I am not really sure how the tradition got started but this is when they do it.  Growing up in MN we did the traditional Oct. 31st Trick or Treating.  I will be honest from the get go...this is not my favorite holiday.  I LOVE fall but really dislike this holiday.  I am not a fan of costumes and dressing up but now that I have a child I suppose I need to start to tolerate it a bit more.

When I first moved into my home I was soooo excited to get trick or treaters.  Growing up in the country we never had people come to our house.  Well after that night I was so dissapointed because of how rude the kids were, hardly any thanks yous.  It really saddened me how greedy they seemed to bed.  I had a coworker out at the camp that would compete with other families as to how much ground was covered and how much candy they got.  Really?  Do our children need bags and bags full of candy/sugar?  I am not sure about this.  Thinking back, I do remember trying to go the the "good neighborhoods" with my cousins to get the good candy but was I this greedy and competitive?  I don't know...maybe my parents can shed some light on that.  Well tonight is my first night passing out candy since that terrible first night.  Living out at camp we didn't have trick or treaters and last year I had my prenatal aquacise class so I wasn't home but had a bowl of candy out with a sign that said "Take One Please" and much to my surprise found a handful of candy left in the bowl.

We debated tonight what we are going to do with Elsie, stay home or take her out.  Well Brandi and the girls are coming over and we will go out on our street.  We have special treats to give to the neighbors instead of accepting treats from them since Elsie can't have the candy anyways.  Then we will go home and pass out our candy. (While we are gone I will do the bowl thing).  I hope tonight goes well and helps to change my perception of this holiday.

Here is my little Elsie Monster ready to celebrate the day at JoJo's.

The Pumpkin Patch

Two weekends ago we took a family afternoon and headed back out to Center Grove Orchard.  Elsie and I had gone with Bev, Brandi and the girls back in September but we never made it out to the pumpkin patch so we went out there just the three of us.  It was that Sunday that was absolutely beautiful, in the 70's which meant it was packed!!  We didn't really do very many activities except look at the animals and go on the hayride out to the pumpkin patch.  Elsie was a little scared of the pumpkins at first, she wouldn't touch them and would cry if she was put down by one.  Eventually I think she got used to these big orange things :)

Not sure what they were so intrigued by off in the distance

Perfect size pumpkin for Elsie

Finally, starting to be interested in them. 

It was a great day as always, spending time with my family!

Photo Blocks-My Completed Pinterest Project

When John and I remodeled our kitchen/dining room I was left with a huge empty wall.  I had no idea what to put on it and found this great idea on Pinterest.  Easy Art Blocks    So I try to be crafty but I really am not.  I am not creative or artsy in any way.  I thought I would give it a try.  It was relatively inexpensive.  The most expensive part of this was the 8 x 10 photos.  I used closet shelving for the wood behind, cut them in 12 x 12 squares, painted them brown, used spray adhesive to attached the scrapbooking paper and then used clear photo squares to attached the pictures so I can change the photos at any time.  

I am actually thinking of making some hoilday inspired ones to change out come Christmas time.  The shelving is super inexpensive (about $1/ft at Lowes).  I would just need to get different paint and new scrapbook paper.  All the other supplies I already have on hand!  Oh I also have to thank John for helping me cut the squares and hang the photos.  

Elsie Marie - 10 Months

Elsie Marie is now 10 months old!  I absolutely love this stage she is in.  I have enjoyed most stages but this stage definitely has it positives.  We took these pictures on 10/15 and the weather was absolutely beautiful as you can tell by her wearing a short sleeve top.  We spent quite a bit of time outside on this particular afternoon.  

Growth

Elsie had to go to the doctor a week or so ago and her weight there was 18 lbs 6.5oz so over the course of three weeks she gained a whopping 3 oz.  From what I understand that is pretty typical with how busy she is.  She is pretty much only 12M pants, onesies, and one piece outfits.  She sitll fits in some 6M shirts.  I love getting her dressed into her fall clothes.  I was ready to trade in the summer clothes for the warm ones.  

Eating

Elsie has been eating pretty good these days.  Her typical daily menu hasn't changed too much.  

6:00 AM  - 6 oz bottle of formula

7:15 AM - oatmeal or wheat cereal with fruit

10:00 AM - 4 oz bottle, snack 

12:00 -Lunch-yogurt and a veggie

1:30 - 4-6 oz bottle of formula

4:00 - 4-6 oz of formula, snack

5:30 PM - Dinner, this varies sometimes it is avocado and fruit, a meat/veggie blend, or just fruit and veggie

6:45 PM - 6-8 oz bottle of formula

She still loves her finger food and I have been trying to give her more of than but I did end up going to get more baby food.  We need to work on the more chunkier textures, she still kind of gags when we try things that has a little bit more texture to it.  We didn't get a lot of new food checked off the list this month.  One of the first things we tried was egg yolk.  Well on the third day after breakfast her face broke out in a rash, like a bad rash.  It was weird.  The pediatrician's off told us to wait and not give her any more egg yolk and try something in a week or two that has cooked egg in it such as egg noodles.  Then if she tolerates that try just a bit of egg yolk again in a week.  Well the very next week she broke out in the same rash on the side of her face that she put against Cinder.  I now believe that she is sensitive to Cinder or to something on Cinder coats because it was almost instantaneous and she hadn't done anything but wake up, drink her bottle and snuggle on the bed with us.  So it was not food related at all that time.  So we shall see.  Beside the egg yolk she has tried turkey and mashed potatoes.  This next month we are really going to be checking things off the list such as beef, noodles, blueberries, strawberries, egg noodles, peanut butter (I am nervous about this one), corn, and cinnamon.  Oh and maybe prunes-I bought them months ago and have never fed them to her.  

Sleep

Elsie's sleep habits have once again changed and this time it is for the good.  This has been a WONDERFUL month in regards to sleep.  Shortly after her 9 Month post she started sleeping through the night.  Like no wake ups and I contribute this change to the wonderful makers of the Halo Sleepsacks.  I was worried about Elsie being cold and she had started getting attached to having a blanket in her crib which I was not okay with so I went out and got a size medium sleep sack.  We used them until Elsie was about 3 months old and then stopped.  Ever since that first night she wore one to bed 4 weeks ago she has slept through the night (except 4 nights when she was sick and would wake up when she would cough).  She has been doing great at laying down for her naps and sleeping for a decent amount of time.  About 45-60 minutes in the morning and about 1.5 hours in the afternoon.  She just stopped waking up for a nighttime bottle.  She does sometimes still wake up between 4:30-6:00 so we will bring her to our room to sleep for another 30-60 minutes, however the past two mornings she has slept until 6:00.  This makes me one happy mama!  And to top it off she did this all while getting 5 teeth!  

Typical Sleep Schedule

4:30-6:00 AM - Wakes up, comes and sleeps with us and sometimes gets a bottle if she won't fall back to sleep in our bed either. Some mornings lately we have to wake her around 6:30 to get her ready to go.  The past few weeks when we are home it has been closer to 7:00 :).  

8:30 AM - Goes down for her morning nap-sleeps for about 45 min-1 hour

1:30 PM - goes down for her afternoon nap - sleeps for about 1-2 hours

6:30-6:45 PM-We start to get ready for bed.  Routine is still bath if it is bathnight, play in her room for a few minutes, change into bedtime diaper (Flip Organic Insert, Fleece Liner, and Flip Cover), then PJ's (onesie, either cotton or fleece sleeper, then fleece sleepsack, then we three books, sing a couple songs, say some prayers, and then her nighttime bottle.  If she is really tired I might do songs and prayers while she is drinking her bottle.  

Development

This past month has been so fun with Elsie.  She has so much energy is really into exploring the world around her.  She is looking into cabinets now, loves to play hide and seek and is pretty good and finding me under the blanket.  The other day I hid my phone under the chair in the family room and she found it.  One of her favorite activities is climbing up the stairs. Up until about a week ago all she wanted to do was climb up, now she wants to come down so we have been working on that.  She actaully likes to climb up anything.  She has been trying so hard to get up on the couch and is successful when she can find something to use as a step.  She tries to climb up her little walk behind toy and loves to push it around.   She is waving bye-bye more and more and claps her hands in excitiement but I found hates to do anything on demand haha.  I just can't get enough of her shrieks and giggles.  We broke out a new toy that we got from one of our baby showers and you have to put the ball into a hole and it winds down the octopus.  The first day I brought it out she didn't really know what to do with the balls, the second day she tried to put the balls in the hole and she was way off mark and by the third day she was getting really good at getting them in.  Sometimes though she doesn't want to let go of them. She stands on her own for extended amounts of time and can go from furniture to furniture without having a hand on something whole time.  We have also noticed that she enjoys to play with more complex toys.  

Speech

She is talking sooo much and is copying the sounds we make.  She says "woof" when I say that is what a doggie says. I love to hear all of her inflection in her "words".  The other day I swear she says hi when you put the phone up to her ear.  She says mama and dada all the time and when something is exciting to her she will say "oooohhh".  

Teeth

Elsie's first two teeth came in relatively easy, in fact I didn't even know she was getting them.  This past month she got in five more teeth.  She got four teeth on the top about two weeks ago.  They took forever to come in but we noticed very little symptoms.  She wears a Baltic Amber Teething Necklace during the day and I would like to believe this is helping ease the symptoms.  Other than that we haven't had to do anything else for her and she has been sleeping well at night.  Then this past weekend we found another tooth had popped on her bottom so her tooth count is 3 on the bottom and 4 on the top.  

Elsie absolutely loves to be outside.  I told John the other day how I always feel like she is so busy all the timne and doesn't like to sit still at all but then I thought more about it and we can go for an hour long walk in the stroller and she does great the entire time!  Same thing for long car rides.  In the picture above Elsie was trying to get to our neighbor who was mowing their yard.  She loves the vacuum and the lawn mower.  It was so funny the way she was crawling because she didn't want to get her knees on the sidewalk.  She LOVES her doggie (not just Cinder) but a stuffed one that she got from my parents last year for Christmas.  She enjoys carrying that thing around everywhere and she will go get it when I ask her where her doggie is. 

Here is her bunny picture for the month.  No more laying down for this.  

We were pretty busy this past month.  We went to two different orchard/fall markets, she spent her first night away from Mommy and Daddy, she got to meet her new cousin Piper, and another new friend was born this month.  Hunter Harold Briggs was born on October 7th.  We have gone to story time at the library a few times and have gone on lots of walks enjoying this beautiful fall weather.  We are looking forward to celebrating her first Halloween this next month!  

My Little Bookworm

Elsie loves to read, or I mean, she loves book and likes to listen to us read to her.  We read before each nap, at bedtime, and more recently she will sit to hear a book while she is playing.  Things have changed so much since she yet have stayed the same.  

Just a few months ago she would hardly sit still to listen to a book and all she wanted to do was to chew on them.  Then she started to sit still in the rocking chair while we would read stories to her and she would listen.  Then, she started to anticipate what would come next in the story, point to objects in the pictures, feel and touch the different textures on the pages, and lift the flaps on the ones that had them.  Now she comes to us with books, helps turn the pages, and the other day in one of the Curious George books I asked her where George was and she pointed him out.  It is so much fun and I just love watching her develop every day.  

Which one should we read first?

She even likes the little ones

Oh and don't mind her crazy hair! A little avocado makes a great styling cream :).  

Upset Tummy and 101 Market

This past weekend we traveled up to MN to visit my family.  It started out a great weekend but my early Sunday morning things had changed.  Poor little Elsie woke up with an upset tummy and after her 5 oz early morning bottle around 4:45 AM she decided she didn't want to keep it down and threw it up everywhere this continued  three more times over the next two hours.  I felt so bad for her...it is so hard to see your child sick and this was the first time she had thrown up. :(  The only good part about all of this (if you can find a good thing) is that my non-snuggler became a super snuggler and snuggled all morning.  John and I were fighting over who got to snuggle in the chair with her.  

We started her on some pedialyte because when she saw her cousin Piper get a bottle she was pretty upset she didn't get one so we did about 1/2 oz every 20 minutes for about and hour and half and then slowly increased it.  Then around noon we gave her 2 oz of formula and did that a few times throughout the rest of the day. The most she had was a 3.5oz right before bed time for a grand total of 11 oz.

Our original plans for Sunday was to head out to 101 Market early and then go visit our friend's Jason and Ashley and their 1 week old baby boy but of course the visit never happened :(  Super bummed but we will just have to do it the next time we go to MN to visit.  We did end up going to 101 Market but didn't get there until about 12:45.  And Elsie was still not her normal energetic self. Here are some photos from the afternoon.   

Elsie now is just not quite sure about these animals.  

She used to like watching them but now she gets a little scared.  

Even when Grandpa takes her out to see the horses she would rather 

look from a distance.  

All these goats were just waiting for Allie to give them some food.  

Baby Piper hanging out in the stroller.  

Corn Pit!  Daddy took her in this time.  

All three girls.  It was pretty funny.  Tami brought Piper in and started 

putting some corn around her to help her stay in place.  The next thing

we know, Elsie thought she should put some corn on her too and started

putting corn on her head.  

Tami and Allie playing around. 

Checking out the yellow stuff

Our little family

The three girls

Getting ready for the animal train ride. 

I decide to take Elsie for a ride on the animal train.  I think she enjoyed

it but it was pretty bumpy.  The whole time I kept thinking...do not throw up!

She was pretty busy chewing on her hand though.  She got another bottom tooth. 

Spider Web Fun!

A Day at the Orchard

A couple of weekends ago, Elsie and I joined Bev, Brandi and the girls for a trip to the local orchard.  It is definitely more than an orchard.  There were so many activities for the kids to do.  There was this corn pit that Elsie loved, a bouncing pillow, a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo, a giant slide, some bouncing horses, and so many more things.  We spent a few hours there.  Elsie did okay at the beginning but got pretty fussy after the first hour.  In fact, we had to take turns holding her because she did not want to go back in the stroller.  I would have to say this was the most fussy I had seen her in a long time.  Overall though we did have a good time. 

Thank goodness for the pacifier...it kept all the corn out of her mouth! 

She looks so tired here. She was all worn out from 

spending the night and Grandma and Grandpas the 

night before.  

The bouncy pillow

This is something we will definitely have to go to each fall...I can't wait until next year.  I think Elsie will have lots of fun when she is just a tad older.  

Pushing Along

Elsie has been having lots of fun pushing along behind her walking toys!  She loves it!! Here is just a short clip of her pushing along.

Playing at the Park

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day!! It was sunny and somewhere in the mid 50's. We decided late in the afternoon to go for a walk and we ended up at the park. There was no one else there so it was perfect to let Elsie play for awhile and try some things out. I have never really taken her to the playground before and she had a blast. We first tried the swing and she LOVED it. The we moved over to the main playground. I took her down the big slide a time or two and then took her to the little one. She had so much fun crawling back and forth through the tube to John and me and loved going down the slide by herself.

Crawling Through the Tunnel

(I think the white gloves were a mistake :)

Weeeee!

So sad to have to leave the park.