Daily Grind (Part 1)

Life continues and I’m tired-The daily grind is tough.

So I’ve been optimizing our life’s logistics.  I’m doing all this because I have the luxury of not having to cook dinner; This won’t go on forever so I’m planning to cook too.  Don’t be scared-I know my way around a kitchen.  This is all a time management thing.  I’m not sure how I’ll maintain dinner at 5 pm.  I may have to do the cook-the-evening-before thing.  I’m still experimenting.

This past Monday night, I actually cut coupons and went grocery shopping.  I’ve never done that before.  It was actually fun to save the extra $4.75 but an inefficient use of my time.  I think I was at the store an extra hour just looking for all this discounted coupon stuff.  It’s been a long time since I made $4.75 and hour.  I really need to organize the coupons to match my route through the store; A bit contradictory to our new time-efficient life.

My most stressful times of the day are focused around Jllian’s sleep schedule.

Getting our dear Jillian up and dressed is not easy.  She’s definitely not a morning person.  With my clothes organizational system, the actual clothes selection and dressing can be done in just a few minutes but that assumes Jillians cooperation.  I try to be patient and thus far, haven’t gotten angry.  But her “…No, No, No, No, No, No…” yelling in the morning can be a bit much on my nerves.  I like to start my day emotionally slowly-it’s always been my quiet time.  Now I jump right into the stress.  By the time I get to work, I’m already worked up.

In the evening, Jillian is very picky about her sleeping arrangements.  She ususally wants to sleep with Grandpa and recently, Mommy.  Daddy is not an option if anyone else is around.  Jillian needs someone to lie with her until she falls asleep.  Only then can they leave the room.  The Grandpa option is ending soon as he will be leaving in just over a week to be with my Sister’s new babies up north.  Hopefully Satomi is feeling up to it.  If not, Jillian will go to bed upset until she get’s used to the idea of sleeping alone.  That is our ultimate goal and, to be honest, I think quite achievable with a bit of tough love.  The idea of tough love with a 3-year old doesn’t seem really appropriate but I’m not sure what other options we have.  Admittedly, my energy level wanes about 1/2 and hour before the girls go to bed so I am not the most patient parent.

I did some online research and read an article about getting kids ready in the morning.  One of the suggestions was to bring down one kid at a time, get them ready, and then get the other one.  I tried it this morning.  I brought Kandice down at 6:30 am, dressed her and got breakfast together.  It went quite well.  I went upstairs to get Jillian at 6:45am.  She was as grumpy as normal but at least I could focus my efforts on her.  Dressing went quicker and I had her together before 7:00 but there was a problem-She was obviously upset.  The morning routine went so quick that Jillian didn’t have time to really wake up.  Maybe she’s like me and needs quiet time in the morning.  On other days, I get all this done by 7:15.  Those extra 15 minutes make a big difference in the mood of a groggy 3 year old.

I’m working this problem and will eventually solve the Jillian quandry.  I have other ideas.