Posted on by cmartinmaas

Update on Life

Welcome back!

I’d like to say that I’m one of those moms that have everything planned out for each day and I have a schedule I stick to for me and my kids. But I’m not and I don’t. I’m winging it. Shit gets done though so I don’t think I’m going to change anything. Sometimes Michael will start on his homework right away in the morning and sometimes we don’t get to it until the afternoon. The day it was really nice out, he didn’t do any homework. Other than being inside to make meals and my classes I needed to be present for, we stayed outside. I loved it.

There are pro’s to being stuck social distancing right now. As much as being stuck inside drives me crazy, especially the days it’s not nice enough to go outside, I’m loving the time I get to spend with my kids. As we were sitting outside whatever day it was(they all blur together at this point) all I could think about was that those memories and moments never would have happened if Michael was in school and I was in school or at work. I get to be there for every new thing Willow learns and every roll she makes. She’s going to be crawling by the time this thing is over and I don’t have to worry about not being there the first time she does. One thing I always hated was that I felt like I was at work more than I was at home with Michael. If I wasn’t working I felt like I was failing him as a mom for not being able to provide for him. During this time it’s still super stressful trying to figure out how I’ll manage things but luckily there are things that can help me get through it and I finally get to spend that quality time with him. All the things that I didn’t get to experience with him when he was a baby, I get to with Willow.

But with every pro there’s a con.. Man I could use a break. Michael is starting to rebel and not want to do is homework or go to bed at night. He thinks he needs to be on his iPad all the time and I HATE when kids spend so much time on electronics. I have never and will never be that mom that shoves a phone in her kids face so she doesn’t have to deal with them whining. Michael can either spend his whole day throwing a fit about it or he can go play with his toys or go outside if the weather is nice enough. Back to the homework topic. I am doing terrible at turning his homework in. Mine is always turned in on time but I never think to get his in. I got a week behind before his teacher finally reached out to me and I forced myself to sit down and get it all sent in. It takes forever though! It’s the slowest process taking pictures of everything and each assignment takes forever to load and then even longer to actually go through. I do not recommend google classroom. As soon as I’m done getting all of his stuff loaded, Willow is usually mad for attention.

So as much as I love getting to watch Willow learn new things and grow, she is getting soooo clingy. Now is the time where it would be best for her to be in daycare so she learns that mom isn’t always around and that she can’t rely on the boob to sooth her all the time. She’s going through her “fifth leap”. I have an app that tells me when she is going through development leaps to know when to expect her to get fussy, TheWonderWeeks, I love it. Right now the leap she is going through is being able to tell that there is distance between objects. Which means now she can tell when mom leaves the room or isn’t two inches from her face. Since she thinks she needs all of the attention, I have yet to start and finish an assignment without having to stop and get her because she’s crying. I’m not complaining though, I knew what I was signing up for when I enrolled for school knowing I’d have a newborn.

Posted on by cmartinmaas

Social Distancing with Kids.

Hello! Welcome back.

I learned something very valuable while stuck at home with my kids. I could never be a stay at home mom.

Day one. It was pretty much like an extended vacation; we got to sleep in, no rush to get ready for anything, and we didn’t have to put real pants on. It was nice. Michael did his own thing switching between playing with his toys and going on his tablet, occasionally snacking, but mostly keeping himself pretty busy. Willow doesn’t really do much yet, just rolls around and demands to be fed every two hours. I debating getting all the cleaning and laundry done on day one so I could relax the rest of the time. I didn’t.

Day two. Michael was already starting to get restless and wanting to be anywhere but home and stuck with anyone but mom. Pretty much became a teenager and kept himself in his room all day with toys, tablet, and his Nintendo; only coming out for food, drinks, and bathroom breaks. Willow got a diaper rash and so I figured I would let her air out for a while. Laid out a mat and a towel on top then put her on it. Finally decided to do some laundry, while I was downstairs doing that, Willow managed to pee twice in two different spots on the towel and then get completely rolled off of it and then pooped all over the carpet and rolled around in it. I moved her out of it and back onto to towel while I went to get stuff to get her and it cleaned up. In the 6 seconds I was in the kitchen grabbing towels she managed to get rolled all the way over to it and in it again. Time to buy a baby gate. Other than that day two was uneventful.

Day three. With little sleep thanks to my lovely daughter cluster feeding all night, I was up way earlier than I wanted to be. Go downstairs to Michael on his tablet already, I’m about to take it away he’s on it so much. I can tell he is getting sick of being stuck at home with nothing new to do so by 10 am I was texting my sister seeing if there was room for him at daycare and off he went to play with friends. As if she knew her brother was gone and needed to take over his roll of stressing me out, Willow decided to be clingy. Which is a new characteristic for her, usually she’s pretty chill just hanging out on the floor by herself and with a few interactions here and there. Not anymore. She wanted to be held and fed 24/7. I got absolutely nothing done. Until I finally got her to bed at 9:30 and she’s smack dab in the middle of my bed while I sit here typing at the end of it hoping to not wake her up.

It’s still currently day 3 and I have no idea how I’m going to make it out of this social distancing alive. So many more events have taken place these past 3 days and I can’t even remember which day they happened to properly catalog them. It’s all one big blur and we aren’t even halfway done. Tomorrow I’m going to hide Michael’s tablet and make him go through his toys and do ‘homework’. Pray for me.