Oof this month was a doozy! Much of the trials were known to us ahead of time due to some poor planning on our part: swim lessons 3 weeks T/Th at 6pm, Faith Formation Wednesdays 4:45-6:00pm, tennis lessons Saturday mornings, and the last week of the month started Sunday evening run club (all of this is for William by the way!). We pushed off doing his last set of swim lessons (rescheduled from a skipped summer session) from August to September because August is busy with back to school. I forgot to look ahead that September was the start of Faith Formation. We should have knocked out swim in August and then we would have only had Faith Formation during the week. Oh well.
To add to the mix the toddler’s sleep schedule is wack AND the 5 year old got sick the same week Will was out of town. Both of my kids went on a nap strike at the nanny’s around 2 and a half (no idea why, she worked hard to get them to nap to no avail). This means they pass out in the car on the way home, with William we would wake him up around 5/5:30 for dinner then back to bed at 7/7:30 (yes, that would work!). Well, Ale really only functions with 3+ hours of nap so waking him for dinner proved to be disastrous. Instead, we have developed a pattern of waking him around 9pm to pee/change into pjs and go right back to bed. He would wake at 6am for the day. Absolutely wild, but this makes the whole afternoon and evening weird. It’s a phase and we’re rolling with it.
The last 2 weeks of this month summarized how the whole month felt: the hubs was out of town for 6 days then he immediately got sick for 4 days, Sunday run club, Tuesday/Thursday swim, Tuesday after school soccer, Wednesday faith formation, all this with lots of random leftovers for dinner and surviving actually. Somehow I made it.
What We are Doing
Mid-month Will had the opportunity to go on an all expenses-paid conference in Kansas City for science fair directors. No way we were turning that down! He left on a Saturday morning and returned Thursday evening. The only way we can make this work is due to my mom’s help, especially getting Ale to the nanny’s house in the morning. To throw a wrench in the week the boys were DEMONIC during Sunday mass with my mom and I. I have rarely thought to leave mass halfway through but I seriously considered it that day. To make matters worse, we went to a different church because the boys slept over my parents house the right before so I could go to Universal with my sister-in-law, aunt and uncle. To add shit to the pile, William got sick the Monday morning and I ended up taking off work on Tuesday because I was up from 2:30-4:30am with one kid, while the other was up at 5am. Thankfully, on Tuesdays all my classes are co-taught with another teacher so our plans did not have to adjust.
Even with the shit storm the week Will was gone, I don’t regret encouraging him to go. My perspective has always been that whichever parent is gone had better be having a FANTASTIC time to balance out the misery the solo parent might be having. Maybe it’s weird, but it helps me deal when my kids are buckwild or sick when I’m solo. It’s a small consolation to think at least one of us isn’t miserable. lol
The rest of the month was more or less regular life, basically trying to drink from a hose on full blast. 🙂 But we did make one important decision that will help: we got a monthly house cleaner. Will and I like things very neat and tidy. We like the house clean. If you have ever met young male children you know those things are polar opposites. We couldn’t parent, work full time, do things we personally loved to do, have fun with our kids, cook, AND maintain a house at the same time. William started kindergarten this year, which meant we were no longer spending $400/month for VPK full-time care. In my girl math, I am taking that $400 and applying it elsewhere, thereby not increasing our expenses just relocating them. $250 to a monthly cleaner + $50 to a Peloton membership (Will bought the bike off of Facebook marketplace) + $45 for tennis lessons for William + $150 for 10 weeks of soccer in an after school program. We are always very conscious of our spending, and I am always conscious of “lifestyle creep” which can be ever worse with kids. We’re a two public school teacher household, which means not a lot of income growth, and I want to make sure every dime is accounted for.
What We are Cooking
We started off Labor Day weekend with our 6-times-a-year Costco shopping extravaganza. I think we have never spent less than $700 walking out of that place but when we go we GO. It’s the time to fill the freezer and pantry with food to last us until the next trip. I am trying to incorporate meals from my freezer/pantry more often and these Costco trips allow me with some creative ingredients to whip up some inventive, hopefully yummy and quick, meals.
- Not exciting but I managed to stretch baked potatoes for 4 dinners with different toppings (broccoli + cheddar, leftover shredded chicken, and pulled pork I found in the freezer)
- The fanciest and best meal we made this month was an Aldi’s seasoned lamb on the grill (courtesy of Will), Tahini-Glazed Carrots from the Saabaa cookbook, Arugula Burrata Salad with Pomegranate Dressing (my own creation)
- This beef and broccoli is saved under my favorite meals, I double the sauce to add for leftovers + blanch the broccoli and store them separately to keep them for getting soggy. I prefer serving it with rice.
- Minestrone Soup (minus the spinach) and Sausage Sheet Pan (both served with garlic dinner rolls on the side) got us through 4 days of meals while Will was sick.
- Not fancy but I made quick sushi shrimp burritos one night and sushi rice bowls the next night (mostly the same ingredients but in different formats). I first got the idea from the vegan cookbook The Kind Diet but since then Alicia Silverstone became crazy and anti-vaccine soooo…
Not cooking related, but William’s elementary school had a spirit night at Big Taco so I picked up some. I think they have one once a month, and as much as I don’t love eating out/take out, it might be a welcomed opportunity to help us out with the load on a weekday night. And while at Universal and Islands of Adventure for a day I obviously had a butter beer and a surprisingly delicious sausage roll and salad at the Leaky Cauldron.
What We are Reading/Watching/Listening To
This month we have watched more TV because William was sick. That kid will not slow down to rest otherwise. This month’s kids movies include: Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2, Pagemaster, and Fern Gully. I choose the movies, because if it was up to him it would be model trains or train documentaries. Nothing against documentaries but I also want him to watch things with storylines and things I like sitting through with him. William’s school has them completing IReady lessons for reading and math. We have him to 2-3 lessons a week at home on the computer but it is always tightly timed and with a parent present. We are really anti-screens for kids, but I’m not Amish, I understand they have a purpose in our world, we just want to closely monitor it.
I don’t watch much TV, usually only while folding laundry unless Will wants a movie night. We watched American Hustle and I was not expecting that kind of movie but it was great! This month I tried to listen to a podcast while folding laundry instead. I ran through a series of Stalin from the Empire podcast, jumped around interesting topics the Data Over Dogma podcast, caught up with the Arthurian legend episodes from Spirits podcast and mourned that it is the last season of the podcast Old Books with Grace (her episode on a rule of life got me thinking a lot on what is/should be out family’s rule of life and then I went down a rabbit hole on tertiary Catholic orders for families…as one does).
Reading books went pretty well this month, although my reads were not what anyone would call intellectual. However, I keep up with my daily political update in my email from Heather Richardson Cox – you should subscribe AND financially support her work! I finished the second Mistborn book and started the third; I also finished the Throne of Glass series. Between both high fantasy series, Mistborn is the “better” book for its character development and creativity, but if you are looking for a romantacy that isn’t overly explicit, then Throne of Glass is for you. Otherwise, much of my reading with the boys is more or less the usual favorites: Magic Tree House, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, 5 Minute Disney Pixar Stories, fact books about reptiles, and whatever William brings home from the school library.
JMF
