Small goals for big change - Week 3

Week 2 update.

SUCCESS!!  I can't believe I went the whole week with only drinking "Real beverages."  Now I just have to keep it up.  I even passed up on Soda when my mom brought it over to the house.  It is still sitting on my counter devilishly calling my name but I did not open it up.  I also got my bookshelf and jewelery box cleaned up.  I plan on moving the table out into the living room but I haven't done that yet.   I also need a longer extension cord that will go behind the shelf.

New decluttering goal.

Moving on through our room I am going to work on the side of the bed near the closet.  Right now there is stuff falling out of the closet and pillows everywhere.  Please don't make fun of the fact that we only have a table tray for a night stand.  We have four kids, I don't buy myself new furniture. 

Week 3  100 days of real food challenge, meat. –

Here is the exact wording from 100 days of real food "All meat consumed this week will be locally raised (within 100-miles of your hometown). Meat consumption will also be limited to 3 – 4 servings this week, and when it is eaten meat will not be presented as the “focal point” of the meal. Instead meat will be treated as a side item or simply used to help flavor a dish."

    OK so I had a grand plan to make this happen this week.  Ray and I were going to go to a farmers market on Saturday where there is a local butcher and we were going to try local meats. I was going to do awesome meal plans so that I knew exactly how to tackle this challenge.   Then Saturday happened.  It was attack of the crazy three year olds.  The fact that I have three in the house makes it way worse.  Every time we tried to get them to change activities or get ready to go all three boys were throwing huge tantrums.  Well eventually we decidede it just was not worth it to leave the house.  That of course lead to more tantrums and the day just got worse from there.  So not only did I not go to get the local meats I also didn't meal plan or grocery shop.  When this happens the week is a mess. 

    So I am trying my best to at least try to not make meat the focal point of our meals.  That is what I am accepting as the challenge.  All week this week our meat at dinner is not going to be the focal point.  At least for me.  Tomorrow my mom is going to this fancy BBQ restaurant and bring dinner home.  If I told my husband he could not eat a gigantic pile of meat (which is what he is planning on doing) I am pretty sure he would laugh at me.    Next week I am going to try again with the well planed menu and buying local meat.  I am even going to try to sneak some vegetarian dinners in there. 

And even though they drive me absolutely nuts I still think they are cute so here are some pictures of the kids from this week.

Nick is the first to get his Big boy bike for Potty training

The three musketeers are getting ready for Halloween

Lilly leaning how to Sword fight with her Uncle

Small goals for big change - Week 2

Update from last week:

I think I will claim success for my week 1 goals.

Week 1 Food challenge: to have two different fruits/veggies each meal.   I did this all week long.  I can't say that my kids ate them at each meal but at least it was there and they tried some new stuff.  I will continue this except for at breakfast.  The kids are terrible breakfast eaters to begin with and when I offered two fruits with their oatmeal/cereal/toast they hardly touched it and I wasted a lot of fruit.  I will continue to offer one type at breakfast and two at each of the other meals. 

Week one clutter goal.  To clean up my bassinet which for months was no longer used for a baby but instead used for a collecting pot of junk and laundry.  Its pretty embarrassing but when I cleaned it out there was a bag of trash from the last time I had started to organize our room that never made it to the trash.  It seems so silly but it happened.  So now here it is all cleaned up.  I haven't seen the top of that dresser since we moved in a year ago.  And just in case you are wondering the pack and play is not going to live there permanently its just there for the weekend while Rays parents are here.  I joked with him about just leaving it up and having it be an even bigger junk collector than the bassinet.  He wasn't amused!

So week 2 here we go.
   As I said in my last post I am taking these from the blog 100 days of real food.  This week is "real beverages"    The only things allowed are coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice per week and wine in moderation.  Its an average of one drink per day and red wine is preferred. 
 
   This is going to be a tough one for me.  I am addicted to diet soda.  I also usually put Splenda in my coffee and tea. So this week its all gone.  I am hoping that after a week I won't want it that much but its very hard when I go over to my moms house and there is a ton of soda.  So I think I am going to make myself some ice tea before I go over this week so I am not tempted.  I don't' think my husband is on board completely. He likes his coffee sweet and he likes to have bourbon sometimes.  We'll see, maybe he will just cut back on the soda.  Also the kids get juice a little more frequently than once a week.  I still have to give James is Miralax in juice most mornings so its hard to take that out.  For me though I am going cold turkey! wish me luck.

My decluttering goal is to continue around our bedroom. I am moving into the next corner which has also become a place to throw stuff to keep it away from kids. So its time to clean up.  I am going to have to find a place to store all of our musketeer hats for Halloween.

And just because I think my kids are adorable here are a few pictures from this week.

It's the Lilly Monster, getting ready for Halloween.

Making her Daddy proud: that would be a rib that shes eating.

We are quite a sight when we take walks around the block

Small steps towards big change. Week 1

     I am starting to come out of the new born haze that most moms feel during that first year of a child life.  I'm not sure what causes it but I am pretty sure it has something to do with the inability to sleep for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time.  Now that the cloud of fog is lifting out of my brain I am starting to see all the things in my life that I have let slide for this year.  The two main things are; the way we eat and the clutter around our house.  So I am going to make 2 challenges a week one for the diet and one for decluttering.

   I have been looking on the 100 days of real food blog and I really want to make a change in the way we are eating.  I have been so overwhelmed by taking care of the four kids that I found myself buying tons of prepackaged snacks from Costco just because it was easier.  I don't think I can go cold turkey and cut out all processed food.  I am pretty sure that if I did that the kids heads would explode.  Instead I am going to take her 14 weeks of mini challenges.  I am not going to force anyone else to make the same changes but seeing as though I make the meals for the kids and most dinners I may be able to make some positive change for the whole family.

   So week 1: The first week is to eat a minimum of two different fruits/vegetables at each meal. Her website says organic but when I went to the grocery store today there wasn't a whole lot of options.  I didn't get a chance to plan out meals for all week but I got some easy staples that will go with whatever protein I try to make for dinner.  Today I was successful except for breakfast because I had not been to the store yet.  So hopefully this week goes well and I will incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our everyday diet.

Its just embarrassing

Decluttering week 1:  I am going to take a small portion of my house each week and clean it up.  This is an embarrassing thing to admit but my house is a mess.  I still have boxes that I haven't touched in a year.  We have lived in the house for a year and I still have not finished setting everything up the way I want.  So here is my first goal.  Lilly's bassinet as become a place to stash all things.  Right now it is housing a ton of laundry that needs to be put away.  There is all sorts of stuff behind it and under it and it just needs to go.  My motivation is that I want to try to sell the bassinet so if I clean it all up maybe I can get some money.  Always a good incentive in my opinion. 

So wish me luck hopefully by next Monday I will be a little healthier and a little cleaner.

Starting preschool

   Last week was James' first day at preschool.  I was both excited and nervous.  For almost four years we haven't had much on our schedule during the days.  Now three days a week we have to be at preschool at 9.  It's definitely a change of pace for me.  I was also nervous about how I was going to feel about sending my big guy to school.  I really didn't want to be the mom that was walking out of the room crying as I said my good byes to my son.  I am a crying type of person so it was distinct possibility that there would be some tears on my end.
    On Tuesday the school had an open house.  This was a day designed for parents to come with their children into the classroom and let the kids explore their new space.  Ray and I went with James and we had Lilly with us.  My dad stayed at home with the twins.  We got to the school and James was a little nervous.  It always seems to take him a little bit to warm up to new situations.  We played for awhile in the room.  I had to run to a meeting at the school but Ray stayed and played with James until the end.
    The next day, Wednesday August 29th, was his big day.  I had to go in and wake the boys up so they could have breakfast on time.  It truly does seem a little unfair that its only been about a month that the boys started sleeping past 6 sometimes into the 7 range and now I have to go in and get them up. 

James was not too thrilled about being forced to get up

    Everybody had some oatmeal for breakfast and got dressed and ready to go.  My dad came with us in the car so that I only had to get out with James instead of bringing the whole crew with me.  We had some time before we left to take a few pictures.

He held onto this sign until we got to school

I love his smile.

Nick wanted to go to school too so he got his backpack on and took pictures with James

     James did OK when we got to the class.  He did grab onto my leg and then try to run out of the class.  I walked him over to his teacher.  I asked if it was easiest if I just go.  She said "yes, say a quick goodbye and leave." 
    So that's what I did.  I pulled him off my leg and squatted down next to him.  I said "Mommy loves you and I will be back soon.  Have a great day at school."  His teacher came and picked him up so he wouldn't run after me and I walked out of the room.  I did feel some tears coming on but I managed to choke them back and keep my composure. 
   When I came back to pick him up he barely noticed I was in the back of the room.  He was running around with two other boys and having a great time.  It made me feel a lot better.  I knew that he would be fine once I left (he does the same thing at church) but it was good to see him having some fun.  He doesn't talk much about what he did but he is not much of a talker.  He mostly says that he played, read books and made friends.  He also told me his teacher is nice to him.  That sets my mind at ease a bit.

He is in the purple room!

   Now here we go.  We survived week one! ready to take on week two.