Hiding the Crap

You read right. It's well know that with kids comes a load of crap. Literally and figuratively. This time we aren't talking dirty diapers. We're talking toys.....toys and more toys. Then there's the necessities of life, diapers, wipes, bottles. Random shoes and socks that surface, blankies. SO. MUCH. STUFF.

Unless you have a superhero cape around your neck and are probably delusional there's no way to keep the house picked up all the time. Well....until now. I have a saying in my house, it's about the illusion of clean. Basically you're house doesn't have to be totally clean to look clean. So, what's the trick right? Decorative storage. Yep. Hide the crap. :) This isn't perfect parenting remember. It's REAL parenting. We have got to quit comparing ourselves to our neighbors. We all have them, the one that always looks like a million bucks, house is always spotless, kids are dressed better than our best. So what have they got that we don't? Either money to pay a housekeeper and a nanny OR the ability to hide it all.

Example #1
It appears my hallway is so clean. Right?

Haha! Think again. I just found this awesome collapsible box at Walmart for like $10 and behold.....

All the crap.....hidden away.

Again.....Where on earth are all the videos, game systems, books, any other crap that needs a home? Looks like a perfectly clean living room right? That's cause today I have my Wonder Woman cape on. No, not true. I don't even have a cape of any kind and I have no time for Wonder Woman between work, mental breakdowns and failed crafting.

Yes, that's Timmy Turner. It's after school snack time, what do ya want?

It's by no means an organized cupboard but it is the perfect "I don't have time to clean but need my house to look organized" storage place.

Seriously folks, in that cupboard is every movie you could ever imagine on VHS and DVD, the Wii accessories, my husbands record collection (yep, records), an old pillow, some books, a few CD's. Last but not least what used to be the toy dump bin but is now transformed into our electronic cord storage container......(and of course, the color coordinated basket on top for my yarn. remember? failed crafting?)









 

Seriously folks, don't waist all that precious time with your family cleaning and tidying. The thing I especially like about our storage solutions is that my kids can clean up the mess and there's no way to put it away wrong. Keep your eyes open for a sale. Don't ever pay full price for things like this if you don't have to but if you can find the right item at the right price it can simplify life so much. No more feeling guilty, just tuck it away and wait for a rainy day. Once every so often you can go through and throw out or reorganize your "hiding" spots but it makes the day to day SO much easier. 

I'm not a slacker. I swear!

I wish I could say that I haven't posted because I've just been that plain lazy. Not true friends. With that said I hope you all had a GREAT holiday season and that the beginning of 2012 has been kind to you. It has been almost to kind to me. :)
With the addition of cleaning to the business we have seen such an increase in customers it was hard for a little bit to keep up. But never fear! We're back online ready to share not only the knowledge we've gained through all the fun parenting success and failures we've experience but I have a whole new take on cleaning. Be prepare for some of the AWESOME stuff I've learned and come across. It's never easy to manage a household and a family and a job but it is possible and in the coming weeks I will be sharing with you some tips to help you succeed as CEO of your family.
Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Thanks again!
Missy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is having a safe and blessed Thanksgiving. It's a great time to come together with those you love and care for and to remember all that we have been given. Express your thankfulness to those around you as you never know when life might change in an instant. Here are just a few of the MANY blessings I have been given.....

The opportunity to own my own growing successful business.
Chances to meet amazing women and care for them, their children and their families.
The most amazingly wonderful caring forgiving selfless handsome fantastic man. I love you babe!
Two of the most precious things in my entire life. Kayla and Kade, I do everything I do because I love you, I'm inspired by you, I'm proud of you and I'm so blessed to have you.
Freedom.
My Savior Jesus Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
My "full time" job at the hospital where I get to care for women and their precious bundles ever week.
Cleaning supplies. :)
My loving and supportive parents.
Health.
Health of my family and loved ones.
Turkey.
Dogs, specifically Speedy, Tank and Cabela.
My in-laws. Parent in-laws and all of my husbands siblings and spouses.
Sunshine.
Prozac.
Lemon oil.
Jobs for me and my husband.
The ability to provide for my kids.
Clothing.....

The list could go on and on and on and on. What all are you guys thankful for?

P.U.R.P.L.E.

P--Peak of crying. The worst crying tends of occur around 2 months of age and decline from 3-5 months

U--Unexpected. The crying often come on and stops for no apparent reason.

R--Resists soothing. The baby is often difficult to soothe.

P--Pain-like face. The baby may appear to be in pain even if they are not.

L--Long-lasting. The crying may go on for several hours a day.

E--Evening. The baby often cries more in the late afternoon or evening.

November is national Period of Purple Crying awareness month. Purple is not refering to the color but it is an acronym for the above. Check out all the info at purplecrying.info there's tons of fantastic info on there. What's normal, what's not. Suggestions for soothing your fussy baby. My favorite part of the website is the link that says, "How to save your babies life." I was intrigued, I clicked and I found a plethera of coping stratagies. One of the questions that we ask our patients before they go home is, "will you have the help you need when you go home?" Everyone needs someone. Sometimes the daddy's aren't as helpful as they think they are. If that happens, find someone else, hire someone. I don't know, just get help.

I was lucky in that my husband was extremely helpful. His mother came to help and she really was helpful. My mother came a couple of weeks after my baby was born and she was really helpful. Thank goodness cause I had one of those totally refluxy, fussy, spit up tons, cry more than any one kid should, not sleep at night babies. The kind that make you feel like a total failure as a mother. The baby that you JUST. WANT. TO. QUIT. CRYING. Ugh, thank goodness for the helpful arms and patience of my inlaws and my mother. Thank goodness they had the good sense to send me out, away, and down for a nap. I had no idea what the Period of Purple Crying was back then but I'm positive now that we were in it. It was purple all around. I was purple, she was purple we were just one big egg plant. Don't be an egg plant. It's not a pretty color. Not on me or on my baby girl anyhow.

The good news is, I'm not a failure as a mother. Not because of that anyhow. I love my daughter more than life itself. The Purple time of our life was short and painful and it's over. It's another one of those times that I told myself "this too shall pass" and it did. You are a woman. You are a mother. You are strong and capable and you can do anything. Take it one day at a time. One hour or one minute. Remind yourself of your worth and the worth of your child. Hold onto the love you have for that baby.

An apple a day....

Am I getting really old? Please tell me you all know the saying, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Frankly, I don't know if it works or not but this year I may just give it a try. I am SO sick of illness. I hate it for me and I hate it for my kids. If only we all had the immune system of my husband. Man never gets sick. He's probably had surgery (bad knees) more than he's had a cold. So aside from apples what can we do? Mom's, we never have time to be sick. Frankly, no one does our job for us so by the time we are better the kids look homeless and the house condemned. Lol. I'm trying a little of everything this year. My kids are the ones I worry about the most. They have to wallow in that petri dish we call public school every day. I try to stress hand washing and mouth covering but if you've ever been in an elementary or jr. high school, you know it's a waste of effort. Don't get me wrong, my kids are totally the ones with pocket hand sanitizer and a box of tissues all their own. It's the daily Vitamin C and lots of hand washing and water drinking once they get home. We've been somewhat successful in the past but it'd be great if I could save the small fortune in copays and prescription cost that I pay out a few times per winter per person. :) This year I have assembled a new list. It's in addition to my previous list. It's for all of us, young, old, big, small.
1. Flu shot. Yep....I stand by my medical background. Get it. It doesn't make you sick. That's a lie and a silly coincidence that fate plays on you.
2. Hand sanitizer. Keep it EVERYWHERE. I have some right in side my front door and YES, people use it and are strongly encouraged to use it. I have it by every sink (I don't trust my kids to sing the ABC song) and I have it in their backpacks, my purse, and our cars.
3. Drink. No, not vodka. Although I'm sure it's crossed each mother's mind. Lol. Water, water and more water.
4. Here it goes....essential oil. Educate yourselves. There are so many that can do so many things. My favorite and cheapest are probably Lavender and Lemon. I think as far as respiratory illnesses are concerned they are good or so is Eucalyptus and peppermint. (and yes, you can buy them from me) If you want you can email me time4momcare@gmail.com and I will tell you how I made my own SUPER CHEAP way to diffuse the oils into the air.
5. Take a multivitamin. Get on for yourself and give your kids a Flinstone.
6. Seek real medical advice when needed. While I truly believe that the oils can help you stay healthy and fight of certain illnesses there may come a point where modern medicine needs to step in. The oils work and that's why they used to use them but....we live in a day and age where there are all kinds of mutant viruses and we would be naive to believe that they perhaps don't need modern treatments.
7. Last but not least. Eat an apple a day. LOL. Idk, I'm gonna try it. Maybe you should too. :)

Good luck and stay healthy! Protect your little ones, don't be afraid of offending people by asking them to stay away when they are sick or to use hand sanitizer or to wear a mask. You are your greatest advocate and you are your child's #1 advocate. Here's to a happy, healthy winter for all of us.

Essential Oil....

Don't shut down! Not yet anyhow. I sat and thought the same thing, really I did. Then......I got some free lavender. That from a fundraiser I was involved in and then a script from my Dr. for steroid tape. Apparently I can use either one to treat my son's GNARLY scar that he got from turfing it on the driveway and refusing to be taken to the Dr. (I know, I should have taken him. I know.) Turns out the Lavender was free to me and the steroid tape was $80! Holy crap! No way could I pay that! So we tried the voodoo. My husband so affectionately calls it...snake oil. Whatever, either way all I know is the boy would put it on and do it himself 2x a day AND that it was significantly cheaper. A move I took out of desperation turned out to be the start of something I NEVER thought I would explore. The world of essential oils. Who knew? Well, I'm sure many people did, but not me. I was so surprised to find out what you could treat with different oils and what they were good for. The next time I used my oil was about 4 months later. My daughter gets migraines occasionally and this night was one of those nights. I had her take 2 Excedrin migraines and an hour later still NO relief. Really? Again, desperate, I went to the the Internet and what would before my wandering eyes but appear? (What? Not in the mood for Christmas yet? Ok. Fine.) LOL The suggestion to use Lavender Oil. Hu. Ok, worth a try, my baby girl is suffering and while I'm sure the meds have got to be kicking in they don't seem to be providing relief yet. So I took a couple of drops of Lavender Oil and rubbed it into her temples and then placed a cool wash cloth on her forehead. It was only like 5 minutes and you could feel her body relax and in no time at all she was falling asleep. It was crazy cool.
So, this is my invitation to ya'all. Join me as I explore this world. These remedies used to be common place where now modern medicine has taken over. I am soooo grateful for modern medicine but am even more excited to explore this new world. Will it ever replace most of the pill bottles in my house? Probably not. Will it become my first option of treatment now? Probably so. Just as you wouldn't ever think about NOT taking medicine when needed why would we completely quit using something that worked so well in the past? If you wanna message me with questions feel free. If you wanna try a couple of things check out my website at www.doterra.myvoffice.com/melissabeckstrom

Potty Training Preparedness!

Oh friends....I have been incredibly busy between the family, my job as a CNA and Time 4 Me. Time 4 Me has added cleaning to our list of ways to give you mom's a break and it seems that many of you are taking this opportunity. I love it! The down side is it seems this blog has been slightly neglected. Until now. This is a story worth waiting for.

I was work as a CNA a couple of weeks ago. I work on the postpartum unit at the hospital and we take care of new moms and their babies until they go home. I was helping a family and their new addition as they left the hospital and headed for home. Mom, Dad, new baby and I took the elevator down and just as we were getting off Grandma was there with the couples 2 year old son. This family didn't want to miss a minute of this memory and as you can imagine it took us no less than 10 minutes to get from the elevator doors the 20 feet to the front doors of the hospital. Once there Mom, newborn and I stood just outside the double doors and enjoyed the fresh air as Grandma was a few steps behind us and 2 year old son was running in and out of the double automatic doors. Those are like magic to a toddler. He was having so much fun. Dad went to pull the car up and when he got back Grandma really wanted him to take a picture of little man 2 year old playing in the doors. Like I said, this family didn't wanna miss a moment. Dad proceeded to take pictures until till he was able to get that PERFECT action shot of little man running through the doors.
Do you feel like this story isn't going anywhere? Ya, just how I felt. Lol. So finally we are ready to round up the troops, load em up and move em out. Little man 2 year old takes one last trip through the doors, into the hospital. Turns and starts to run back out and stops, HUGE smile on his face, right between the set of doors. The family called the young man on but he stood motionless, smiling, then what before my eyes should appear? Out of the shorts of the little 2 year old falls a TERD the size of a tennis ball. NO KIDDING! How on earth something that large came from something that small, how it got out of his unders unless he was flying free under those shorts I will never know. So where is your lesson in potty training? Grandma, was slick as a whistle. From her purse she pulled out a zip lock baggin in which there were 2 wet wipes. She took the wet wipes out, turned the baggie inside out and scooped up that poop just like you would if you were walking your dog, cleaned the carpet with the wet wipes and then zipped it all up and threw it away! It was hilarious and amazing. One of those times where you aren't sure you just witnessed something so hilarious. So, thank you Grandma. Kids or no kids I will be sure to pack my baggie and wipes cause ya just never know when you may need them.