A Day In My Life As A Mom And In-Home Daycare Provider

It has been a busy day!  This is just a glance at a normal day around our house.  It’s no wonder I am too exhausted to sleep at night!

First kids arrive at 7:30am.

Breakfast is at 8:00am.

Send two potty training daycare kids to potty at 8:20am.

Get Ella dressed at 8:30am.

Get Ella and Daycare child to preschool by 9:00am.

Back home.  Check email, Twitter, and Facebook. Clean up breakfast.  Send two potty training daycare kids to potty AGAIN.  Get Andrew dressed, make beds, spot clean upstairs.  Do some fun stuff with kids IF they are in the mood.  Sometimes they just want to play.

Snack time at 10:00am.  These kids eat every two hours between breakfast and snacks. (I don’t remember doing that when I was little!!)

Clean up snacks.  Send kids to potty again.

Check emails, Twitter, Facebook.

Pick up kids at preschool at 11:30am.

Lunch at noon.  Clean up.  Playtime.

Down for naps and quiet time at 1:30pm.  Hopefully sneak in an outside walk for about 20minutes.

Brian heads off for work and  I’m on my own for the rest of the day.  THANK GOODNESS he’s here during the busy time of the day to help me (or should I say…DO a lot to help me out!!)

I spend the remainder of quiet time catching up on emails, cleaning up, doing food menus, etc..

Kids up at 3:30.  Change diapers, send kids to potty, get snacks out.  Clean up snacks.

Kids start leaving by 4:30ish and usually gone by 5:15pm.

Start dinner, usually eat by 5:30pm.  Eat dinner, clean up, check emails, Twitter, Facebook, play.

Time for baths at 7:00pm.

BEDTIME by 8:00pm!!!!

I spend the rest of the night cleaning up, blogging and checking in with my fav blogs.

Throw in some grocery trips, doctor appointments and bank runs and my day is jammed packed!

Lordy….I am telling you!  I know that we are all busy, but I swear I am in a routine trap!  I do the same things day in and day out.  It works.  That’s why I do it that way.  The kids thrive on routine and it makes our day run smooth and less chaotic.

I know I would much rather wing it each day…but when I had my “routine” child, Ella…that all went out the window!

I look forward to summer when we spend most of the day outside.  We play outside, eat outside, do activities outside and I would take naps outside if I thought it would work!  Maybe I should try it this year!

What does your daily schedule look like or do you not have one?  Do you like to know what’s coming next or would you rather wing it and be more relaxed?

Leave me a comment and I’ll send someone a surprise gift!

Well, I’ll let you know what you’ll be getting before I send it…and I promise it will be something FUN and only for YOU!

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She Did It!

My baby girl sang at her very 1st Pre School performance, ever!  I am one proud mamma!

In honor of Veteran’s Day, the kids were to sing Yankee Doodle and I’m In The Lord’s Army, in front of their parents at a Spaghetti Dinner.  Ella was so nervous!  She cried about it, she got excited about it, she whined about it, she dreamed about it…she is my emotional drama queen. ( I am so in for some rough teenage years for sure!)  She practiced and practiced her little songs and hand motions and was excited and ready for tonight.  I really wasn’t sure if when the time came if she’d do it…and to be honest, I really expected her to not.

But, when the time came…her little friend took her by the hand and led her to the front of the room and held her hand tight.  It was so adorable!  Ella looked nervous, but sang her little songs and gave us some smiles and thumbs up!

I was so happy that she overcame her fears and she was so proud of herself for doing so.  My heart has been swelling with pride ever since!

Oh – and in case you’re interested…I have the whole 7 minutes on video. (they sung the songs twice!) That’s right…I’m going to be one of those moms and proud of it!  : )

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My Little MissMatched Girl

Just how adorable are those tights that Ella is wearing?!  I just love them!  They’re from this amazing company called Little MissMatched and I was lucky enough to have been given a pair to try out on my little dumplin’.

I am always on the lookout for some cute and fun apparel for my kids.  It’s so hard these days to find something unique  that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.  At just $18.00 a pair, these tights are affordable and well made.  You won’t have to worry about your child wearing them one time and that’s it.  These will last a long time!  Soft and thick and most comfy. (according to Ella!)

LittleMissMatched’s mission is to to: 1) solve the age-old problem of the disappearing sock, 2) transform everyday products into necessary accessories, 3) give kids of all ages permission to express themselves and 4) allow girls to be girls for as long as they want. And I think they’ve succeeded!

Ella wore them to Pre school, but not before modeling them for me.  She was cracking me up with all her little poses.  She was really into them!  What a fun way to start the day!

I had lots of moms and even Ella’s teacher ask me where I got these fun tights from.  I’m telling you, this is a great plus of having a blog.  I get all the cool, fun stuff for myself and my kids to try out AND get to share them with all of you!

Make sure to check out Little MissMatched for some  great holiday ideas.  They carry everything from clothes to socks to bedding, toys and furniture for children AND adults!

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Mums, Pumpkins, Apples and I

Today was my daughter, Ella’s 1st field trip of her school career.  We all headed to the Apple Barn in our town!  It was a lot of fun and really exciting to see the joy on the kid’s faces.  They really enjoyed it!  We had a great “show and tell” time by a fun, upbeat lady that called herself Hanna Banana.

We walked through blackberry patches and apple orchards and even headed over to the pumpkin patch.

We snacked on gala apples and fresh apple cider.  Which I might add was the BEST cider I’ve ever had.

After the tour was over, we had an opportunity to wander around and check out all the Fall items such as mums and pumpkins and squash and gourds.

We took pictures together and then found the fresh bakery treats.  I had an apple fritter and Ella and her friend Eva split a sprinkle covered, iced doughnut.  It was really a fun time!  I’m so glad that I am able to spend these special moments with my daughter everyday and look forward to the many more field trips we’ll take from here on out.

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New Beginnings

We’re into our 3rd week of school and Ella has really come around to leaving me each day.  She decided that she was going to be a big girl and walk into her classroom by herself without ME!  The first day she decided to do this, she looked really nervous as we entered the school.  She walked slowly and didn’t say a word.  We got to her classroom door and she quickly hugged me, gave me a kiss and walked away.  She was trying to be so big!  I was so proud and cried the whole way home!  The 2nd day was a little better and by the 3rd day of this – she practically skipped in the door and gave me the best goodbye hug ever!  She told me that she was proud of herself for being a big girl and not crying.  Her teacher even told me that she’s jumping right in and participating instead of hanging back and watching for a while before joining in. I’m so glad that she’s started enjoying school.  I knew that she would really enjoy it if she just allowed herself to.

Andrew has finally cut  that tooth that was giving him so much trouble.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  He would just sit and cry.  He’s normally the happiest baby, but was in real pain for about 5 days.  One day after his nap, Brian went up to get him and came rushing down the stairs,  “Kasey, his mouth is full of blood!”  I jumped up and ran over – and he was really bleeding.  It wasn’t the kind of blood where you get a little cut and it is watered down – it was real blood.  It immediately dawned on me to check his mouth where the tooth was coming in and sure enough, the skin had broke and his tooth was pushing through.  I had never seen this happen!  It stopped fairly quickly and he didn’t act like it hurt at all.  I’m sure it felt better from the pressure being relieved.  So, now he’s got another one on the way in.  I sure hope that we don’t go through this again!!

So, what do you think of the new design of All Things Mamma?  I love it!  I’ve taken my crack at personalizing it myself.  I was pretty nervous to mess with the stylesheet and codes, but I googled a lot of articles and figured it out.  I’m still tweaking it and I’m sure I’ll make some more additions. If you didn’t notice, check out my Video Intro to my blog over to the right.  I just got an awesome Kodak Zi6 and LOVE IT.  It’s so easy to use and has amazing quality.  I’m sure you’ll see a lot of vlogs out of me now!  : )

Let me know what you think of the new look!  Send me your suggestions for making it better and easier to navigate.  I’d love to hear what you think!!

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Wordless Wednesday – Preschool Days

My baby grew from this…

To This…

In such a short time!

My baby went to preschool this week.  Check out my post Preschool and Piggies on her 1st day!

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Preschool and Piggies

Well, we did it!  We made it through the 1st day of preschool.  Ella did much better than I did though!  I almost backed into a women as I left the school because I couldn’t see through my tears.  I know, it’s only 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. But, to me it’s a major milestone.

Being able to be  home with my baby girl since she was 18 months old has been a huge blessing for me and my family.  I never thought we’d be able to do it, but after loosing my job from a Chamber of Commerce who was going under, we figured out a way to make it work by becoming a home daycare provider and have been doing it ever since.  So, today when it was time to say good-bye to her for those couple of hours, I saw her grow.  I saw her grow up into a young lady right in front of my eyes.  She was so brave and so excited.  She got up this morning with a spring in her step and was the most perfectly behaved child. And she even endured me snapping a million pictures of her without one complain.

We rode to school alone today and as I drove, we talked about all that she would do during the day and when I’d be back.  She was so excited, I could see it on her face.  Though when we got there, she walked quietly into her class, took off her piggy backpack (that I’m sure my mom up in heaven who collected pigs, helped her decide on buying!) and her little coat and hung them up on the child sized coat rack.  She put on her little name tag and walked in quietly with me by her side.  We scoped out the toys as the room began to fill with the other 7 children in her class and their parents filed in.  They were also snapping a ton of pictures and I even saw one dad carrying a baby carrier in one arm and a video camera in the other as the mom took photos.

I informed Ella that it was time for me to go, but she insisted on making me a plate of pizza, ice cream and french fries to eat with chopsticks before I left.  After I “gobbled up” my yummy food, it was time to go. As I told her it was now time for mommy to go, her little voice trembled and told me how she didn’t want me to go.  I so wanted to say “OK baby…mommy will stay” or “OK, we’ll go home.”  Obviously that wasn’t an option, but in my heart as a mom, that’s what I wanted to say and do.  Luckily, the teacher noticed her fear and  heard her little voice tremble and distracted her by giving her a special job of putting out paper and paint for a project.  As I walked away, I turned to see her looking so brave as her little face turned red from holding back tears while she twirled her long red hair with her fingers. She looked so big.

The time seemed to creep by until it was time to go pick her up.  Andrew, who was sick and had slept in, got up and came down stairs looking all confused as he looked for his big sister. “Big sis is at school and will be back soon”, I told him.  And you know what, I was a little confused without her here too.  Yes, it was much quieter and relaxed at our house since my Ella is the most high maintenance, loud child I have here at my daycare, but I missed my little jumping, jelly bean. I couldn’t wait to pick her up.

I left the house 15 minutes early to go 2 minutes away.  I didn’t want her to not see me as soon as that door opened.  Thank goodness I did, because can you guess who was 1st in line to be picked up??  That’s right, My Ella Jean Jelly Bean!

I think she had a good day.  I think it will be an adjustment that will take a little time.  But, I know that once she is used to being without her mommy for a little while, she is going to LOVE it!  She’s already upset that she can’t go tomorrow.

I was so proud of her today as I watched her be so brave as I left her for the first time.  This was a big step in her little life and it was the hardest one she’s had to make, but it definitely won’t be the last. But, I do know that I will be right beside her every step of the way from preschool to college to marriage to babies to whatever comes her way in life.  I’ll be right here to help her get through it all because that’s what mamas do for their babies no matter what age they are.

Did your child start school last week, this week or maybe he will next week?  How did you your child adjust to being away from you during the day?  Did they jump out of the car before the wheels stopped turning in the school parking lot or did they have to be held back screaming as you walked out the door?  I’d love to know!  Share with me!

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