Zombie Mothering

That's what I've been doing. Stumbling around like a sleep-deprived zombie teaching my children and doing housework. Somehow, we've gotten some stuff done and somehow, they are learning.

The girls are SO helpful around the house too. We've really gotten to a point when I can ask them to do something and they just bang it out. "Can y'all pick up the living room?" 4 minutes later....done. No complaining. They do everything fast so they can go play and that may not be the best thing but at this point in my life it works for me. I asked them to both help me clean up the very nasty kitchen last night and we were done really quickly. At 12 and 8 they can just do SO much.

Sweetheart made us blueberry pancakes last week for breakfast!

By the way, I re-read this last night. I just love Auntie Leila posts. I love how she talks. This one is great too.

But it makes me think of what all they could do that Mama won't/can't/doesn't-care-to-try to do right now. Like baseboards, for example. That's the kind of job I pay for. Keeping their room and their stuff picked up is a non-issue. I will not pay you for that. It's your job. But other jobs that Mama doesn't want to do herself but sure would be nice if someone would do them....that I'll pay for. (I do it all in 25 cent denominations--small jobs=.25 Medium jobs=.50-.75 Big jobs=$1.00) Wiping those baseboards down around the house is no big deal for their young selves. But for a 5 months pregnant 41 year old mom? Well it's going to take a lot more than some quarters to motivate me!

Little Bit helping cook at our Keepers at Home meeting.

And little bitty jobs like that really add up! Usually when I say "pick up the living room" I just mean get the stuff out of the middle of the floor and clean the couch off. But the details make a real difference. Twenty-five cents for someone to re-fold all the blankets that are currently piled in the blanket box in a mountainesque fashion. Fifty cents for someone to take the vacuum attachment around the edge of the room. These things matter. They really make the room look different. And the kids can get these little jobs done so fast and earn quarters right away. Instant loveliness and instant gratification. Win-win.

As for school, we did that in my bed yesterday. It was a nice change of pace. Reading, writing, and math is  mostly what I'm worrying about right now. If we get other stuff done--great! (and we do--several times a week but NOT every day) I realize we have about 3 months more of real school. I imagine in May nothing is going to happen so we're just plugging along trying to get what we can done.

Part of bed-school yesterday we spent finishing their plastic canvas bookmarks. 

Meals have been the worst. I haven't been to the grocery store yet this week because I've had other errands/things to do every day and I only have so much energy. Grocery shopping is one of those THIS IS JUST ABOUT THE ONLY THING YOU WILL GET DONE TODAY kind of things. Anyway, I ran to the store yesterday during our errands and bought ingredients for supper but when we got home, had no energy to cook. So, we went out again. Sigh. I don't even want to think about how much money we have wasted at restaurants since I've been pregnant, but at the same time I'm grateful. Still, this is one area I plan to do better in.

I don't know, reading Auntie Leila's posts has made me realize it's time to worry about basics and quit trying to live life like we did before I was pregnant. It's a season and things need to be different right now.

Meals
Laundry
School

These things matter and need to be at the top of the list. My girls need to continue helping more than they usually do. And I need to plan ahead and pace myself.

Any suggestions on making life simpler while you are pregnant?