Mamas Tell All: Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle [a linkup]

during one anti-sleep phase, Rodgers would sleep on the couch
and let Nate play in the living room. Nate would end up
crashing somewhere like this eventually. Always entertaining!

...when you have children.

The three main components in physical health are sleep, nutrition, and exercise. The problems with being healthy when you have kids are many. Here's how I deal with them!

sleep 

Kids don't sleep when you need them to. They eventually start sleeping through the night, then have sleep regressions due to cognitive development, teething, illness, name it. Both of our kids had their last major sleep regression around age 30 months (2 1/2 years). Now they may wake up during the night occasionally, but for the most part we sleep through the night.

After Nate was born, we started going to bed way earlier to make sure we got enough sleep. Rodgers wakes up before dawn, so he tends to take a nap in the evenings. I am not a good napper, so I have to get all of my sleep overnight. I sleep until the kids wake me up, which is usually around 6:15.

It was obviously much harder with infants. However, since they were bottle fed, we had the freedom to split the night feedings. If it was before 2 am, Rodgers would get up. If it was after 2 am, I would get up. (Or was it the other way around? I don't have a clear memory from those time periods...) That way, even if we both woke up when the baby woke, one of us could go back to sleep, and we each got at least half a night's worth of sleep.

nutrition 

Either you have no time to feed yourself and go hungry or you end up eating too much, i.e. all of your toddler's leftovers because they keep saying they're hungry, but are "done" after a bite and a half. It's hard to eat well!

One of my time savers is to prep produce as I put it away. Fruit will be cleaned and put away ready to grab and eat. Veggies will be cleaned, blanched, and frozen, ready to add to a quick recipe later. I don't always stay on top of this, but snacking well and cooking meals are so much easier when I do! We keep healthy snacks like yogurt, boiled eggs, and nuts, too. We also enjoy some not-so healthy snacks in moderation.

exercise

With kids, I feel I have neither the time nor energy to exercise. I've never really liked exercising anyway. However, in the interest of health, I try to stay active and exercise for real a few times per week. I rely on the internet. I don't have time to go to a gym to exercise. I also don't have childcare. My gym is my living room floor, and my trainer is YouTube. I'm not strict about it, though. If I am genuinely tired (or if it's too hot - we don't have a/c), I will skip exercising. It works for me!

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end of year!

Today was the first kindergarten graduation ceremony for Nate's school. They did presentations/performances and gave awards certificates for each class before the actual graduation. It was actually lots of fun! The kids had learned a lot of songs and poems to present, and Nate recited a Bible verse all by himself, as well as participating in several of the group poetry recitations. 

We spent a lot of time waiting between different parts of the program.
Here we're keeping Ben occupied with chewing gum and taking pictures.

Teacher Leah gave him a balloon.

And Rodgers read the newspaper

During one of the waiting times, they started up a game of Musical Chairs
for the parents! Rodgers was selected to play in the first group.
He did not win, unfortunately.

Nate's 3rd from the left in this pic, getting set up to recite a poem together!

Nate was not in this one - it was a very cool Giryama folk song and dance.

I was called on to present award certificates for "Best in Language"
for each class. Nate got the award for his class! Rodgers was not
fast enough to take a picture of us, but there we are from a
distance, while they were still getting all of the kids on stage. 

Nate used to go to dance class on Wednesday afternoons, but one day they told us, "Nate says his body won't dance right for dance class. He's in chorale now instead." I thought 'choir,' singing. But actually they memorize and recite poetry as a group. In addition to the chorale verses, each class recited something as a group and sang a song. Also, some of the kids recited poems or Bible verses on their own.

They begin each presentation by saying "On the stage is [either the class, the individual's name, or "Bright Beginnings Kindergarten" if it's the chorale group], ready to recite a poem, entitled ________. Welcome (with a bow)." Then they recite. At the end, and this is my favorite part, they bow again and say, "Pleasure!"

Chorale (with some extras, I think!) learned "I Will Forget" to recite at a music festival in June. We were in Texas, so Nate missed it. However, he got to recite it with the group today! Nate's by the microphone on the left side. The poem talks about letting students learn at their own pace, in their own style, rather than forcing them to learn by rote.



A smaller chorale group (I think this may be the Wednesday group?) presented "6 O'clock," which is a cute poem about a bedtime routine.



KG2 class presented "Education." Education is like an orange situated in a desert, and I am a traveler. Those are oranges they're holding, and even though they're green, they are ripe.



Towards the end of the presentations, Nate got to recite John 1:1. He didn't even seem nervous. I'm so impressed. There were about 100 people watching him.

Thanksgiving in Kenya

In the US, we share Thanksgiving with our family. The menu is arranged in advance, everyone brings something, and we all eat together. Here, we share Thanksgiving with friends. Each year, we invite different people to eat with us. Sometimes they will bring something to go with the meal, but as for my favorite Thanksgivingy foods, I cook it all by myself. This is a big undertaking with an American kitchen. With a Kenyan kitchen, it takes meticulous planning. First, let me show you what I'm up against.

I have four burners on my stovetop. However, I've never been able to use all four of them at the same time. Here it is with a 12" skillet and a 2 quart saucepan. I could fit my tiniest saucepan on the front left, but the back right is completely un-usable with the skillet there. I don't even have a big saucepan for the stovetop because it's easier for me to cook multiple things in smaller batches than to cook one thing at a time.

   

The oven is super small, too. It's difficult to take pictures inside a black oven, but here it is with a 13x9x2 pan. (I'll explain the thermometer in a minute.) You can see better in the picture on the right that the pan is not sitting on the rack. It's suspended by its own handles along the next-level guides for the rack.

These are the controls for the oven. This is the reason for the thermometer. How hot is big flame and how hot is small flame? Well, it varies: the longer the flame has been lit, the hotter the oven will be. Since it doesn't maintain a temperature on it's own, I have to monitor it constantly, adjusting the flame size, cracking the oven door open if it gets too hot or closing it if it cools off too much.

Then there's this little guy. I call it an electric roasting pan, but it's so much more. It's a slow cooker, a deep fryer, a skillet. I can bake in it, roast a chicken (or a beef roast), make soups/stews/chilis/beans, stir fry, deep fry. As long as the power is on, there's not much I can't do with this. Plus, it's bigger than all of my pots for the stovetop. AND it doesn't heat up the 80-degrees-on-a-cool-day kitchen.

Back to Thanksgiving. My plan has worked pretty well the past couple of years, though my menu has evolved.

Menu

• veggies and Ranch dip (this is ambitious of me because I have not been able to find dill in any store, but I have found seeds and am attempting to grow some to make dip with)
• tortilla chips with guacamole
• creamy parmesan green beans
• dressing
• turkey
• chocolate pie (with optional sweetened whipped cream topping)
• buttermilk pie

T-2 days (i.e. 2 days before Thanksgiving dinner)

• make pie crust dough, put in fridge to chill overnight
• bake cornbread (in the oven or electric pan - I don't like the texture of cornbread in the electric pan, but since it's for dressing, the texture is moot)
• make Ranch dip

T-1 day

• bake the pies
• make the dressing

T-6 hours (start time, but the last items are done just before we eat)

• put turkey in electric pan to slow cook
• prep veggies for veggie tray
• make guacamole
• whip cream
• cook green beans on the stovetop
• reheat dressing

Who's hungry?

Mamas Tell All: Making Time for Mama [a linkup]

Based on my own unprofessional, unofficial observations, mom burnout is very common. However, it has a simple remedy, and we all know what it is: taking some time for ourselves. This is not profound. It's not news. And yet, for some reason we often feel we have to be busy 100% of the time. Taking care of our kids is immeasurably important. Taking care of our homes is an endlessly repetitive to-do list. And then all of the other things we do...well, we wouldn't be doing them if they weren't important. Can we justify taking time for ourselves?

Jesus himself sets an example of going away to rest. He is God. And he needed time to rest. His work on the earth was infinitely more important than anything we could do. And he took time away from it.

We need to refresh our bodies and minds. Jesus did. He told his disciples to rest with him, depsite the very important and urgent things they had on their to-do lists. We are no different. Next question: How?

Really, how do I take time for this?  How can I work it into my day? It is a discipline, and I have to be intentional about it.

I rely very much on my husband's help for this. My kids aren't old enough to fend for themselves. If I'm going to have time to myself (more than a few minutes), he has to be with the kids. There are a few ways I try to work this in.

5 minute pick-me-up

If Rodgers is not home and I really need some time, I turn on the TV and/or give the boys a snack. I tell them that I need to take a break and go to my room. They understand by now what this means. I may read or just zone out. I introvert for 5 minutes. It's a similar concept to a power nap. The boys can handle being alone for that amount of time. And it helps me keep going.

30 minutes to an hour break

If I need more than just a few minutes, I tell Rodgers, "I'm taking a break," almost as soon as he walks in the door. This is hard in practice because after a few minutes, the boys still come to me asking for things. We both have to constantly remind them that Rodgers knows how to fix snacks, help with toileting, or put superhero capes on, and I need to be left alone during my break time.

A day off

Rodgers is very understanding of my need for time to myself, and he can even recognize the signs that it's time! Every now and then (maybe 4 times per year) he will take the boys on a guys' outing, leaving me home alone for up to 8 hours. It is glorious. I am always so refreshed and energized when they get home! 

How do you make time to rest?

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Mamas Tell All: Never would I ever... [a linkup]

Nate doing his favorite exercise

I learned my lesson with this early in life. Don't say "I'll never..." because that is exactly what you're going to end up doing! I was never going to be or marry a missionary or someone going into vocational ministry. Look where I ended up.

I try not to say/think/feel "I'll never" as a parent, too. Not all people, families, or situations are the same. You never know what's going to work this time with this kid. Rodgers and I try to be open minded and creative in problem solving with our kids. We experiment, we change things up, we try something new. We end up doing things that I never thought about doing, not because I didn't want to do those things, I just never considered them.

We recently started trying something new, which I initiated on a whim. It seemed to work, so we stuck with it. I noticed that often, when I have to repeat instructions, it's because the boys are too active, too distracted, and too energized to even hear the instructions, let alone stop what they're doing to follow said instructions. I try to be realistic in my expectations of them. They should be able to be still and listen for short periods of time, even at their ages. But they have all of this crazy energy, and they need to do something with it so that their ears and minds can work.

Therefore now, if they don't listen and follow instructions, they have to do burpees or jumping jacks (their choice).

It is so much less frustrating for me to say "do 5 burpees or jumping jacks for not listening" and give the instruction to listening ears, than to repeat myself and keep being ignored. The boys like it better, too. They think burpees are fun, and they don't feel like they're in trouble because I'm not cross.

This has also been successful (or even more successful) when I use it preemptively. When the boys are especially wild and we're getting ready to do something quiet, they have to do 5-10 reps, depending on their level of energy. It helps get the wiggles out so that they are capable of being still for a few minutes.

See what other moms said they'd never do. Visit the linkup:

Also, find more tricks for dealing with high energy kids in this post. These are more "day long" solutions while the exercise trick is a quick fix.