Hi, friends!
Man, this has been a rough week. I got a sinus infection, and I was down for the count. I've been just trying to make it through every day, I feel like at this point I've been sick FOREVER. I was sick two weeks ago, then I had some bad allergies, which have now turned into a sinus infection. Man, our house has been on the struggle bus, but I'm hoping I've turned the corner with some antibiotics.
I've been living on my instant pot chicken noodle soup. This stuff is the best because it's so good and easy to make. Save the recipe for the next time you need it. I actually tried to eat some canned chicken noodle and was disgusted, now I'm a homemade chicken noodle soup snob. Good thing the IP makes it so easy to make even when you feel like death.
I hope I'm getting better quickly here because May is busy, as you know! We have two birthdays in May, too! Both KK and NJ have birthdays this month.
On another note, thank you so much to those who left kind comments last week and emailed me. We did decide to enroll the kids in a program down the street, and I'm very excited about it. All three kids will go three days a week starting this summer, which will be great for them. I have about 100 reasons why I love this place, and I know the experience will benefit them. It's one of those places where the kids rotate through different building areas and activities with age-appropriate activities in each room they are in (even the 2-year-olds get to rotate!) So they will be engaged and appropriately stimulated during the day. No food is allowed outside of the facility, so forcing them to eat there will open up their palates a bit. KK will get a jump on Pre-K since he will go into the Pre-K classroom. KJ will be able to continue reading practice and have fun activities. On the other two days of the week, we will likely go to the gym in the morning and swim after the baby girl wakes up from her nap.
I love our current nanny, but as many of you could tell, I was overwhelmed with the setup and the constant chaos. The good news is I may have gotten my nanny a job in the summer camp section (she interviewed today), so she will have something consistent until she takes another opportunity in the fall.
Having kids out of the house for the first time in six and a half years will be weird. And I don't believe any child care situation can ever be 100% perfect. But I firmly believe it will be as good for them as for me to have consistent work hours, etc. Until they get sick, but that's just part of having young kids.
What you may have missed this week:
New FREE meal plan live in the library of resources!
Chatbooks
So I've been doing chatbooks for a long time, but man, I am behind! I love them for our random photos each month, but I also like creating special books with our family photos or events. When I went to print this year's family photos, I realized I never printed a book after we did baby girl's cake smash, so I finally got on that!
I really love our little photo album memory section, and when we are in a more permanent housing situation, I have ideas on how to display them! I love that I can print them to have, but if something, God forbid, like a fire ever happened, the books are stored online. It offers a lot of peace of mind!
I've also used Chatbooks to create photo albums of artwork from preschool, but it is time-consuming and a bit expensive. I've seen ads on IG for services you can send the artwork to, and they send you a book. That seems easier. Has anyone tried it? Would love to hear your experience!
Birthday Lists
I've been keeping my Amazon cart full of birthday gifts.
I'm all ears if you have suggestions for a four- and two-year-old. We are up to our eyeballs in toys and sets that I can barely keep track of. So I'm looking at a bigger Strider bike for KK he loves his but has outgrown it. The bigger version goes up to an inseam of 22 inches and has a pedal kit you can attach. And he's too big for the bike we got for KJ around this age. But all together that's around a $300 bike for a four-year-old, so anything else he gets will be really, really minimal. I'm okay with it because he LOVES his stridor so much, and hopefully NJ will use it too, but I've found that kids are variable with their approaches to balance bikes.
For NJ, she LOVES dolls - baby dolls and barbies, She has dolls but not barbies. So I'm looking for minimal doll accessories (like I think she would like a bottle for her baby), but not one with a million pieces. Forever trying to stay on top of sets of toys is the bane of my existence. My MIL was good at helping me when we lived in Arizona, but now it's just me trying to keep it all together, making me less inclined to buy them. LOL Just the truth. I even put away all the toy food that came with the shopping cart NJ got for Christmas, until she's old enough to identify the food she doesn't need to drag it all over the house.
So my hesitation this year with two birthdays in a row, trying not to be up to my eyeballs in toys, is probably like anyone else with any number of kids.
Fitness
Fitness is not happening. I'm too sick and I've got weird injuries popping up, probably from being sick. I need to wash my hair first, then I'll think about fitness again.
Friday Flashbacks
Sarah says
Coming from Phoenix, allergies may be new to you. So many people in North Texas have allergies to stuff in the air. It seems that we get all the things at different times of the year. I don't have specific recommendations on what to do because, I'm super lucky that allergies aren't a problem in my family. But most of my friends and their families have allergy issues. Unfortunately, allergy issues often turn into sinus infections around here.
I hope you just have the one-off infection and hope you start feeling better soon. But just in case, be on the lookout to see if this is a thing for you.
Sarah says
Oh, man! Feel better soon, and I hope the new childcare works out great!