Holding Down the Fort While Mommy is Away

Photo by lrargerich

This is a guest post by Organized Mommy's husband, Mike (a.k.a. Disorganized Hubby).

Here's the tale of how I took care of the 9-month old and 2.9 year old for 6 nights while Josie was on a business trip. It certainly felt heroic, even though stay-at-home moms do it day in and day out.

Actually, it wasn't that difficult, mostly because Josie has created a truly ridiculous amount of structure to make life easy. I'll walk you through the routine and highlight the organized pieces.

The story comes in three acts: morning, evening, bedtime.

Act 1: Morning

Scene 1: 6am: Baby Wakes

Baby wakes up, crying and hungry. Grab the prepared pre-measured funnel of formula and the pre-filled water bottle from the dresser. Dump in, mix, and into the baby's room within 1 minute. (why a funnel? because I'm pretty groggy in the morning and have managed to dump half the formula outside of the bottle on several occasions without realizing it. No fear, the baby realizes that he's drinking mostly water and lets you know. Loudly. So now we use a funnel.)

Baby's fed. Change diaper on the diaper station (first grab toy from shelf above station to distract him).

Scene 2: 6:30 am, Toddler wakes. Straw cup of milk for her (no spills!), put baby in playroom with toys (in line of sight from kitchen), pack lunch for toddler (reserved portion from dinner last
night, TJ's applesauce cup, TJ's cheese stick, juice in 2nd straw cup). Hint: if your toddler is suddenly obsessed with color matching, do NOT say "the cup lid and cup body do not have to match". Otherwise your carefully optimized schedule will take a 5-minute hit for teary toddler soothing and then having to find and wash the matched lid anyway. So now I match the lid colors when taking the cups from the dishwasher.

What's organized about this?

1. Packing leftovers the night before into the little lunch Tupperware is a huge timesaver. Also, it's a quick like/dislike screen; if she enjoyed dinner last night, she'll like lunch.

2. There are 4 options for 'fruit cup': plain applesauce, berry applesauce, mango fruit cup, mixed fruit cup. They're all next to each other in the pantry and it's easy to cycle between them to add
variety (and reduce tears).

3. We cut our juice 3:1 with water. This is not to save money, but to reduce the amount of sweets that HB consumes. As a nice side-effect, it reduced the amount of juice that we consume by a factor of 3, eliminating a large, bulky, and frequent purchase. Oh and for variety, TJ's juices are fantastic: mango, cherry, black raspberry, peach; you name it, they have it, and the variety keeps HB entertained. Plus she can choose her juice colors: red juice, purple juice, or yellow juice.

Scene 3: The dreaded daily dressup, Toddler's room

Transition sequence: grab baby in one arm, shepherd toddler up the stairs. Try to prevent her from carrying ALL of the playroom contents into her room.

HB's outside clothes are all in one drawer, easily reachable by her. Yes, she has far more clothes than can fit in one drawer, but the week's contents are prepped ahead of time. Even better, Josie arranges little packs of matching pants/shirt/sweater, to prevent further outbreaks of what she calls "Daddy Dressed-me Days". I figure that there aren't any fashionistas at daycare, but for some reason Josie thinks that it's important for HB's clothes to at least match. In any
case, the little packs make it really easy to grab a set and give them to HB. These days, she picks her outfits by herself anyway.

Now the scene really wouldn't be complete without the baby crawling around the room and trying to pull open every drawer, and half-dressed HB running around singing the "I'm all naked" song.

What's organized about this? Mostly the weekly clothes cache, and the matched outfit packs, but also that we have some baby toys parked in HB's room so that the baby can play with those while we attend to HB. Oh, and the changing station is on top of the clothes drawer so that
it's easy to peel off the jammies and put on the outfit in one fell swoop. These days it's more challenging because HB wants to dress herself, but it used to be a good trick.

Scene 4: How to get ready for work yourself.

Get resigned to chilly showers. Got to keep the bathroom door open to keep an eye on the little monster and the tiny monster. Park the infant in a exersaucer (aka the Jail) right next to the bathroom door. Stick your head out of the shower and make eye contact every minute or so. Even then, his tolerance for being in jail is about 5 minutes, so get showered quickly.

Tune in next week for Acts 2 and 3: Evening and Bedtime

Welcome Work It Mom! Readers

Welcome to those of you visiting from Work It Mom!

If you would like to get instant updates of new Organized Mommy posts, you can subscribe in a reader (RSS) or by Email. It's free!

Go ahead and introduce yourself in the comments, and then take a look around.

Most popular posts:

• Essential Organized Mommy - Posts for New Moms
• Traveling With Your Baby/Toddler
• Baby Sleep Routines for 0-1yr
• Newborn Gear List
• Revamping the Playroom
• Organized Mommy Super Food Challenge

And the most popular categories:

• months0-3
  
• toddler
• organization
  
• playroom
• greenliving
  
• healthyeating
• workingmom

Enjoy!

Big Changes in Life and Blog

Photo by Jacob Bøtter

Last week, I alluded to some big changes in my life. I finally have a few minutes to sit down and tell you about it.

My husband and I both lost our jobs. That's right. Both of our companies went out of business and laid everyone off. It sounds terrible - and it is. But, we are totally fine. Really.

Having worked in several high-tech startups, we are very used to ups and downs. When we had kids, we decided we couldn't both continue to work at start-ups. So we adopted a "diversified job strategy". I would work at big stable companies, my husband would work at startups. This gives us the best of both worlds. Me -- a high stable income with good benefits. He -- maybe salary, maybe benefits, but a chance at a payoff if things pan out. (Regardless of what you've read about everyone getting rich off of big IPO's, 9 out of 10 startups fail, so big payoffs are not the norm.)

Around late November, though, things at my company were not looking good. So, I immediately started to look for a job. I provide the stable income and heath benefits for our family, so it is *not* OK for me to be unemployed.

I worked my network (thank you LinkedIn!) and found a job opening within the largest, most stable company in my field. My colleagues on the "inside" told me that I should "get in quick" because a hiring freeze was coming down soon. So, even though I had my entire family coming for Thanksgiving, I flew to California that week for an interview. It went something like this:

Sunday night - catch last flight out to California arrive past midnight, drive to hotel. Remember to pull interview suit out of suitcase and hang up before collapsing into bed.

Monday - an entire day of interviews from 8am through dinner in half-hour intervals. I felt like I was on the Amazing Race. They don't give you the interview schedule ahead of time. The person you are meeting with tells you the office number of the next person. It's up to you to decipher the map of the buildings and get yourself there. It was exhausting and stressful.

Monday night - take the red-eye back home. Arrive 7am Tuesday morning. Sleep for a few hours, get up and go to work. That's right. What working mom actually has accrued vacation time? It cost me my last vacation day just to take that interview!

Tuesday night, get house ready for guests. Make Thanksgiving shopping list.

Wednesday afternoon - food shopping and more house prep.

Wednesday night - Welcome family. Smile and play hostess even though I want to crawl up in a ball.

I was pretty sure I had nailed the interview, but there was still the question about the impending hiring freeze. Would I make it in under the deadline? In the mean time, my existing company had given everyone layoff notices.

It took the new company several weeks to get back to me with a formal offer. I was on pins and needles up until I got the letter in-hand. It feels awesome to have scored a job at this company. I know they will weather this recession, and so it is a good place to be for the next few years.

But, there's always a flip side. Longer hours, more travel, and a *much* longer commute. It's pretty brutal, actually.

In the midst of all of this, my husband's company also folded. Thank God. Otherwise, I don't know how we would manage. With my new commute, there is no way I can get home in time to pick HB up from daycare. So, he picks her up and starts dinner before I get home.

What about his job hunt? Well, he is going to take some time off to decompress. Startups are very stressful, and so we've found that it helps to take some time to clear you head before jumping into the next one. In the mean time, I am loading him up with all those nagging to-do's that I never got around to, and things I no longer have time for, given my new job. In fact, he's writing my blog post for Wednesday. :-)

As a result of these new changes, I need to revise my posting schedule for this happy little blog. I had an editorial calendar planned out for this year, but I will not have the time to execute it completely. I don't want to publish "fluff" just to keep up with a certain blogging frequency. When I write about something, I want to take the time to do it properly, and make sure it is well-considered.

So, I have decided to drop back to two posts a week, on Monday and Wednesday. I will still be doing the Super Food series on Fridays, on the first and last week of the month. But, there won't be posts on the remaining Fridays.

This is a great opportunity to subscribe to my posts in a reader (RSS) or by Email. That way, you will be notified of new posts immediately, and won't have to keep checking back to see if there is anything new.

Hang in there with me as my family transitions to this new schedule. There are already a few great insights I've gained as a result, and I can't wait to share them with you.

February Super Food Challenge - Wrap-up

Today marks that end of the second month of the Organized Mommy Super Food Challenge. Where we gradually incorporate new healthy foods into our regular diet!

February's super food was Oatmeal and Buckwheat. My goal was to eat oatmeal for breakfast three times per week.

So, how did I do? So-so.

I realized that I don't really like hot breakfast cereal all the time. Even in the cold winter, I really like cold cereal in the morning. I also realized that the milk I have on my cold cereal is often my only serving of dairy all day long. Having oatmeal in the morning meant that I would have to re-shuffle my habits to incorporate dairy some other way.

What I did instead is to eat granola a few times per week in lieu of my usual high fiber cereal. That way, I get my oats without giving up my daily serving of dairy. (Though, I like my granola with nonfat yogurt, instead of milk.)

My husband, on the other hand, loves his oatmeal. So, I still make a big pot for him on the weekend.

The granola I buy is just about the yummiest on earth, but a bit pricey to be eating every day. So, I am planning to try making my own. I found an easy and yummy granola recipe, and will try it as soon as I have time.

This month underscores for me the importance of making your healthy eating habits work for you. If you are forcing yourself to eat things you don't like, you are just not going to stick with it. It's about finding that match between things that are healthy and things that you love to eat. Find those things and fill your diet with them. Don't agonize about the rest.

Check back next Friday for the March Super Food!

How did you do with your healthy eating goals this month?

Feeling Overwhelmed and the Super Mom Myth

Don't you love it when an article finds you at just the right time? I was feeling pretty overwhelmed at some big changes in my life (I'll say more about this someday soon), when I read an article at Zen Habits about The Power of Gradual. (I know that's the second plug for Zen Habits this week, but I really, really needed some Zen lately!)

Writing an advice blog, I am always worried that people will feel overwhelmed with the advice I'm giving. That I'm subtly sending the message that you aren't "good enough" if your playroom is not perfect, your nursery not perfectly organized, or your eating habits not as healthy.

This is certainly how I feel sometimes when I read other people's blogs.

One thing that is great about the blogesphere is all the great advice and ideas. But, this is also the worst thing. It can perpetuate the "supermom stereotype" that we all know is unobtainable in real life.

I ran across a tweet that said, "All mommy blogs are a lie. No one is that organized, creative, or perfect."

Well, I don't agree. I think most most mommy bloggers are genuine, naturally helpful people who want to connect with other moms to share what they've learned, and learn more in return. The problem is that Mommy Blogs, taken as a whole, are not attainable in real life. You can't excel in *every* facet.

So, to dispel the perfect mommy blogger myth:

* I am not as gracious and genuinely accessible as Simple Mom
* I do not do things as beautifully as Design Mom
* I am not as enthusiastic as Org Junkie
* I do not write as eloquently or take photographs as beautifully as Dooce
* I am not as clever as Parent Hacks
* I am not as joyful and just plain cute as Just Plain Joy
* I am not as conscientious as Safe Mama
* I am not as knowledgeable as Mommy Docs
* I am not as happy as Gretchen Rubin

And while we're at it,
* I do not have the clarity of thought of Zen Habits
* I am not as minimalist as Unclutterer
* I am not as environmentally conscientious as Allie.

But I love each and every one of them for what they are. And I do not love myself any less because I am not them.

We each bring unique skills to the world. We have our own strengths and weaknesses. We can each make a contribution. Please try not to get overwhelmed by the collective.

My yoga instructor finishes each class with the following advice:
"Take in what you want. Leave behind what you don't."

I hope you will take that attitude with my blog.

Thanks for reading! I hope that you will find at least a few things worth "taking in".

Do you get overwhelmed when you read too many mommy blogs?

Book Review - The Power of Less

Leo Babauta from the amazing blog, Zen Habits, has written a new book called The Power of Less. It's a really great book!

From organizing your email and decluttering your home to motivating you to loose weight and start exercising, this book succinctly covers the gamut in just 18 short chapters spanning 170 pages. I love his big picture viewpoint sprinkled with tactical how-to's. Leo distilled each item to its essentials without leaving out the heart.

Leo comes across as such a humble guy, you believe him when he says that it's easy to build up to exercising 40 min a day 5 days a week. His final chapter, On Motivation, gives you some great insight into how he went from being an overweight smoker to a marathon runner in just a few years. He has me convinced that if we find ways to effectively motivate ourselves, we could all accomplish great things too.

While the book cover claims that it is written in the spirit of The 4-Hour Workweek, I think The Power of Less is a much better approach. While the 4 hour work week left me thinking that only way to prioritize my goals was to be a selfish jerk to people, The Power of Less gives you ways to say no without being mean or deceptive.

I would say that this book is more in the spirit of Getting Things Done, but with a stronger focus on personal well being rather than pure accomplishment.

While I originally borrowed this book from my library, I ended up buying a copy to keep. This is one of those books where you extract more understanding with each read through. I wanted to have it around to come back to again and again.

Generic Formula - Is it OK for Your Baby?

Photo by pfly

These days, we are all trying to find ways to save money. But, when it comes to our kids, we never want to save a few cents at the expense of their health and well-being. So, I asked my pediatrician about generic formula.

My pediatrician said that generic formula is absolutely safe. There is virtually no difference between generic and name-brand. She thinks that formula is one place that parents can safely save money by buying generic.

Given that AB is now weaned from breastmilk*, we are using an enormous amount of formula. So, I have gladly switched him to the Target brand. It is nearly *half* the price of Enfamil. Even with the $5 coupons that Enfamil sends me in the mail, the Target brand is still significantly cheaper. The only difference I have noticed is that the Enfamil powder is ground finer and mixes easier. The Target brand takes a bit more shaking to thoroughly mix. However, the protein and vitamin content is nearly exactly the same as Enfamil, and AB doesn't seem to notice the difference.

So, ask your pediatrician about switching to generic formula. You can save a ton of $$.

* Some of you may be surprised to hear that I am no longer breast feeding, since I am such an advocate of it. When I returned to work, my milk production declined and declined until there just wasn't any left. I was slightly under-supplied to begin with, but pumping three times a day at work just wouldn't sustain my supply. The same thing happened with HB. About 3-4 months after I returned to full-time, there was just no more milk. From what I hear of other moms, this is really common. How do I feel about this? Pretty neutral. I would have loved for nursing to be easy for me, but it just isn't. It was a struggle to keep up my supply the whole time. I am glad that I could do it for as long as I did. I don't feel guilty for stopping, and I am sure AB will be *just fine* on formula for a few months until he can drink cows milk.

Related Posts:
Essential Organized Mommy - Posts for New Moms

Limit Shopping to Save Time and Money

Photo by dougww

How often do you go to the grocery store? Target? Warehouse stores? Some people I know visit the grocery store up to three times per week! That seems like a huge time-sink and a waste of gas.

Could you save yourself time by going less frequently?

We have gotten our shopping down to 1 trip per week. Every other week, we go to Trader Joe's for groceries, and Target for everything else. Alternating weeks, means that we only go shopping once per week. This is a *huge* time saver.

If you run to the store several times per week, consider why. Are you constantly running out of a particular item (milk)? Are you running out to get a few items for that night's dinner? Do you go to multiple different stores to do your weekly grocery shopping?

What would it really take to get your number of trips down to one per week, or even once per two weeks? For us, there were several things we changed in order to reduce the shopping trips.

1) We would usually run out of milk. Now, we try to buy enough milk to last two weeks at Trader Joe's. If we are running low, I can pick up more at Target the following weekend. We also stock a few cartons of soy milk and almond milk in the pantry for when we run out. Lastly, we make sure to stock a few breakfast options that don't require milk.

2) We would run out of produce, or the produce we bought would go bad by the second week. Now, we buy fresh produce for the first week, and eat mostly frozen for the second week. In addition, we buy a few items which keep longer so that we have some fresh things for the second week. Good examples are carrots, apples, and bananas (if you buy them green). We also order a large fresh salad for take-out mid-week through the second week to get a burst of fresh veggies.

3) Meal planning. We don't really do meal plans per-se. But, we always have on hand the ingredients for a few of our "standard" dinners. That way, there is always something that we can make out of the pantry or freezer instead of having to run to the store. For some good options, see my easy Trader Joe's meals recipes.

4) Running out of non-perishable items (formula, toilet paper, shampoo). I just can't think of an excuse for making a special trip to the store because you ran out of a non-perishable item. They don't go bad; so there is no reason to not have lots on hand. Buy in bulk and always have a spare.

5) Order your regularly-used items through Amazon Subscribe and Save. Have them delivered to your house on a regular schedule with free shipping. We use this for diapers, and lots of other household items.

6) Sacrifice variety for the sake of saving time. There are a lot of foods we just don't eat because they aren't available at Trader Joes. Over time, that has become more and more OK with us. Most of the foods we used to buy at the other grocery stores were over priced and unhealthy anyway.

7) If you are a big warehouse store shopper, consider how frequently you really need to go. There are lots of temptations there, so limiting the number of visits can save you money as well.

Think of all the fun things you could do with your weekend if you weren't spending it running errands.

How often do you shop? What's the one item you are always running out of?

Book Review - It's All Too Much!

Peter Walsh from TLC's hit series Clean Sweep has written a book on de-cluttering your home. It's called It's All Too Much - An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life With Less Stuff.

If clutter is taking over your life, then this book is a must-read. Peter Walsh is the master at getting people to declutter by focusing on what things *actually* matter. Part professional organizer, part psychologist -- it's the reason we all love watching his show!

His advice is so common sense and practical that there are a lot of "duh" moments. Things that make total sense once you've read them, you can't believe you didn't think of them yourself. That's the simple genius that is Peter Walsh.

In this book, Peter walks through your home room by room to show you how to prioritize, organize, and maintain it once you are done. The main question to ask of any room is "What function(s) should this room serve?" It is simply in answering this question that you are halfway done. For each room, he gives lots of specific examples of common (and uncommon) clutter problems he has helped people solve.

Second, he has a simple system for approaching each organizational task:
1) allocate space (according to the function(s) you want the room to serve)
2) reduce your stuff until it fits in that space
3) one-in-one out rule for new things

Some great nuggets from the book:
"Everything in your home is there with your permission."

"Imagine the life you want to live. Your stuff should support that life."

"Getting organized for the sake of getting organized is a waste of time. Getting organized because it helps you live a richer, less stressed, happier, and more focused life, now that's a goal worth pursuing." I *love* this. I think I have found my new mantra!

If you are already mostly organized, then this book is worth a quick read. There are some good tips and tricks in here that can help you fine-tune your home organization.

My favorite is the hanger system for determining which clothes you never wear. Start the year off with all your clothes on hangers that are hung with the hook facing out. Every time you wear something, return it to your closet with the hook facing in. At the end of the year, anything with the hook still facing out should be gotten rid of.

I am giving myself an exception on this one because I was pregnant last year. Just give me another year to get back into my skinny jeans...

Relax with a Good Cup of Tea

Photo by St0rmz

At the end of the day, I love to sit and relax with a cup of tea. It's my reminder to take a deep breath, let go of all that happened that day, and turn off the go-go-go switch that seems to be in overdrive all day long. Sound familiar?

Oprah once talked about having a cup of tea at night to stave off late night snacking. She said that she likes to use a beautiful mug that John Travolta gave her. It makes it more special, like a small bit of pampering that she gives herself everyday.

While I don't have a mug from John Travolta, I do like the idea of creating a small daily luxury. A few minutes just for myself.

Of course, close to bedtime, I like to stick to herbal or decaffeinated teas. Here are some of my current favorites.

Trader Joe's - Pomegranate White Tea, Blackberry Fruit Infusion, and, of course, Bed Time Tea!

Yogi Tea Organic Ginger - great for digestion. I have this when I ate too much greasy food for dinner.

Tealuxe - they have over 500 varieties, or "bins" of loose-leaf tea. A good place to start is with the Teatender's Top Ten. Some of my favorites: #191, Monks Blend, #223 Organic Peppermint, #149 China White Peach, and #174 Sencha Green Tea.

If you are using loose-leaf tea, I love the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker. Way better than a tea ball!

So, sit down with a cup of tea. Take a few minutes of you-time. You deserve it! (Even if you don't have a mug from John Travolta!)

How do you decompress at the end of the day?

Cupcakes as a Subtitute for Mommy's Love? Discuss.

Photo by aubergene.

This week, I am away on a business trip. I thought it would be nice for HB to have a daily reminder of me each day I am gone.

So, last weekend, we baked cupcakes. We made heart-shaped cupcakes with pink frosting and white and red heart-shaped sprinkles -- very Valentines! They turned out really cute. She had so much fun doing it! (Oh, OK. I did too.)

We made 6 cupcakes -- one for each day I am gone. I told her that she could have one cupcake per day, and when she eats her last cupcake, then Mommy will be home the next day. It seemed like a really tangible way for her to understand when I would be returning and a nice treat for her while I was gone.

Then, on Sunday night, while I was sitting on the (delayed) flight, I had a sudden flash of horror. WHAT HAD I DONE?!?! I just gave the message to my little girl that cupcakes are a good substitute for Mommy's love. OMG! Am I laying the groundwork for her to have an eating disorder down the line?

What do you think? Is it OK to give treats as a placeholer in your absence?

Ask Josie - Babies Too Young to Travel?

Welcome to my new series where I answer reader questions...

Q: How young was your baby when you first traveled with her? We were planning to travel back to Europe to visit my family in August. But, that was before we knew we were pregnant. If we traveled at the end of August, the baby would be approx. 5-6 weeks old. Do you have any advice?

A: We did lots of traveling with our infant(s) starting when HB was 9 weeks old.

The main priority with a tiny infant is the risk of infection. According to my pediatrician at the time, 9 weeks old is when she was comfortable with us flying with HB. I previously wrote about our decision to *not* take HB on a trip to New York City when she was only 6-week old.

The problem is that they can't be vaccinated until 6 weeks and it takes several weeks for full efficacy (or so we were told). So, 9 weeks is really the first time that I would feel comfortable flying with my kids, especially internationally where they may be exposed to more varied illnesses.

Another problem is how quickly you can get a passport. In the States, you have to wait for your birth certificate to be officially filed (~2 weeks) and your social security card (~2 weeks) before you can even apply for a passport, which takes 6 weeks. I remember when we first
traveled with HB at 9 weeks, the passport came only the week before we left! Though there is an option to speed it up if you pay some extra $.

Finally, one question I would ask yourself is how will *you* be feeling at 6 weeks? I remember having a really tough labor with HB and feeling just barely back to normal around 6 weeks. AB was a different story, easy labor, back to normal after 2 weeks. Will you have the energy to pack and prepare the family for a long trip at just a few weeks postpartum? Or will you have helping hands around to help you out?

I guess you have to weigh the desire to visit your family with the risk to the infant (which I would discuss with your pediatrician), and how up to traveling you will feel that soon on.

I wish you best of luck in whatever you choose!

Readers, what do you think? How early is too early to take an infant on a long trip?

If you have questions you would like to ask, please email me: josie (at) organizedmommyblog.com

Related posts:
Traveling With Your Baby/Toddler

February Super Food Challenge - Oatmeal and Buckwheat

Photo by Aschaf

Welcome to the second month of the Organized Mommy Super Food Challenge. I hope you are following along with me as we gradually incorporate new healthy foods into our regular diet!

February's super food is oatmeal and buckwheat.

Heart-healthy oatmeal helps lower cholesterol, burn fat, and prevent cancer. It's no wonder that experts consider it one of the essential super foods. Buckwheat has been shown to have similar properties.

In order to get the health benefits of oatmeal, you have to use rolled or steel-cut oats, not the quick-cook kind. That's a bummer because the real stuff takes 30 minutes to cook. Not so easy for a working mom rushing to get out of the door in the morning.

My solution is to cook a big pot of oatmeal on the weekend, and divide it up into single-servings that I store in bowls in the fridge. On weekday mornings, it's just a matter of putting a bowl in the microwave for a few seconds.

I have a guilty secret to share - every weekend, I cook oatmeal for my husband's weekday breakfasts, but I never make it for myself! Yes that's right. It's the ultimate mommy stereotype - putting your family's needs above your own.

So, my challenge this month will be to make extra oatmeal for myself, and eat it three mornings per week. (Other mornings, I usually have a high-fiber cold cereal.)

Here's my recipe:

Hot Oatmeal with Buckwheat
(makes 7 servings)
9 cups of water
1 1/2 cup steel-cut oats
1 1/2 cup wholegrain buckwheat
4 oz dried blueberries

In a large stock pot, bring water to boil. Reduce to medium heat. Add oatmeal, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Add buckwheat and blueberries, stirring occasionally for another 15 minutes. When done, remove from heat and let cool. Spoon into bowls, cover, and store in fridge. To reheat, heat in microwave for 1 min.

Instead of blueberries, you can experiment with other dried fruits and seasonings. I like:
* 4 oz raisins, and 3 tsp cinnamon
* dried apple pieces and 3 tsp cinnamon
* 4 oz dried cranberries and a splash of maple syrup

How will you make Oatmeal part of your regular diet?
Please share in the comments!

I will follow up at the end of the month to let you know how I did.

Essential Organized Mommy - Posts for New Moms

Photo by Kekka

I started this blog when HB was a few months old. My sisters and friends who had babies after me were constantly asking me baby-related questions. Being an efficiency freak, I thought that starting a blog was the perfect solution. I could answer the question once and send everyone a link. There was also a purely selfish aspect -- I also wanted to document what we did for HB so that we could remember for baby #2. I have a terrible memory, so I knew that I wouldn't remember if it wasn't written down. Two-and-a-half years later, AB is now 9 months old, and the advice that I've written for myself has been given a second go-round with some good results.

This post rounds up all my newborn baby advice.

Before you have your baby, you should decide how you want to give birth. Please know that you do not need drugs to have a baby.

If you want to know what to pack for the hospital, see my Hospital Pack List.

About three months before the baby is born, you can start reading from my list of Newborn Reference Books. If you are only going to read one book, it should be the Baby Whisperer. However, if you can also get through The Happiest Baby on the Block and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, you will be all set! Hint: you only have to read the chapters pertaining to the first three months. Anything you read for beyond 3 months, you will not remember anyway. You will have time to read the rest on an as-needed basis.

Next, you will want to get everything all set up for you baby. I tried to keep my gear to a bare minimum. Here is my comprehensive Newborn Gear List.

You will also want to Organize Your Nursery.

When you bring you baby home, you will quickly wonder, "Will my baby ever sleep?!?". Please be assured that they eventually will, but the key is to getting them on a good routine.

Use Organized Mommy's Baby Log (free PDF download) to keep track of everything baby-related in a compact graphical format. This will let you monitor and modify your baby's routine to suit their needs. Sleep routines change rapidly in the first year. So, please read about sleep routines in the first year.

Speaking of sleeping, remember to use a fan in the baby's room.

Another favorite topic of conversation among parents is baby poop. (Yes, it's really that fascinating!) To cope with the hundreds of diapers you will change, please see my diapering tips.

As your little one grows, they will inevitably outgrow enough gear to cover a land-fill. Keep track of it all with my tips on tracking baby gear weight/height limits.

Hopefully, you will have an angel baby, like HB. But, if you get a colicky guy, like AB, there's hope for you yet! Run, don't walk, to my post on what to do if you baby has colic.

If you are going to be traveling to show off your little one to family and friends, please see my series on traveling with your baby.

Finally, for those of you who will be returning to work, here are some tips on returning to work and pumping milk.

For you experienced moms out there, what invaluable piece of advice would you like to pass on? For you soon-to-be moms, what are you most worried about? For you new moms, what are you struggling with? Please share in the comments.

Medici Effect - How to Foster Innovation in Your Kids

I'm sure Frans Johansson, author of the Medici Effect, never thought his book would be reviewed on a Mommy Blog. But, that's exactly what I'm doing. Please don't laugh.

Being an engineer, technical innovation is what I do for a living. So, I like to study innovation -- the history of it, and the future of it. Recently, I read the Medici Effect (by Frans Johansson), a book about the future of innovation. It's a fascinating book and really relevant to my career. But, as I was reading, I couldn't stop thinking about how it related to parenting. The ideas in this book were so relevant to raising kids, that I just *had* to write about it!

Mr. Johansson did a good job convincing me that success in many careers is achieved through innovation. Not just fields like science and engineering, but creative fields, like art, writing, and music, and others such as economics, marketing, and medicine. Innovation will be a key skill in the world of tomorrow. Well, if it's a key skill, than I want to make sure my kids have it! Reading, writing, arithmetic, and innovation! Sign me up!

The key idea of the book is that the next wave of innovation will not be incremental (like improving the efficiency of some manufacturing process by 2%), it will be intersectional - innovation at the intersection of several fields.

Assuming this is true, how do I incorporate this into my parenting? What skills can I give my kids to allow them to participate in the coming innovation revolution? This was the question my brain kept asking throughout the book.

Mr. Johansson, if you are reading, your follow-on book needs to be, "Child of Medici - Preparing your kids for the coming innovation revolution".

The book gives some great exercises to practice intersectional innovation. Here's my attempt at translating 5 of them for kids.

1. Reversing Assumptions
1) Think about a problem you are trying to solve. Write down the assumptions associated with this problem.
2) Reverse the assumptions.
3) Think about how to make those reversals meaningful.

How to apply this to kids:
Try to change the situation. Try to put a puzzle together upside down. Ask them leading questions, like "What if water flowed up, instead of down?". Kids are naturally very creative, so get them questioning how things work, and what would happen if they didn't work that way.

2. Create Constraints
When a yoga instructor broke her arm, she had to completely change how she taught, what poses she could do, etc.

How to apply this to kids:
Ask them to draw a picture using only straight lines, or only dots. What can you build with only 10 Legos? Dance with your right arm tied behind your back.

3. Creating Intersectional Ideas
Learn to connect seemingly unrelated concepts.
Take a new magazine (one that you don't normally read) and select a random page. Try to connect something on the page with what you are currently working on. If you can't find a connection, or the connection seems forced, flip the page. Repeat.

How to apply this to kids:
I think this one sounds fun as-is. Pick two pages on a magazine and have the child draw a picture that uses both things. Have them tell a story about the two things, or make up a song.

4. Geting Used to Failure
It's impossible to innovate at the intersection by flawlessly executing well-defined plans.

How to apply this to kids:
Let them know that it's OK to try things that might not work. If they ask for your help on something, encourage them to try it themselves. Let them experiment and make several attempts. Don't rush in with a solution. Praise the creativity in the solutions that didn't work.
Remove explicit rewards - they kill off creativity. Reward for the number of different possible solutions, the number of things they tried rather than the result.

5. Acknowledge fear, but don't be paralyzed by it.
NASA astronauts who acknowledged their fear suffered from less motion and stress sickness in space than their fear-denying comrades.

How to apply this to kids:
Use scary situations as a learning experience. Let them know that it's OK to be afraid, but it's not OK to let your fear stop you from doing things. Have them acknowledge their fear, and to have courage in spite of it.

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." - Mark Twain

What do you think? Is fostering innovation in your kids important to you? What ways do you foster innovation in your kids?

January Super Food Challenge - Wrap-up

Today marks that end of the first month of the Organized Mommy Super Food Challenge. Where we gradually incorporate new healthy foods into our regular diet!

January's super food was Sweet Potatoes. My goal was to incorporate two servings of sweet potatoes into my family's weekly diet.

So, how did my family do? Awesome!

We had no problem working in the sweet potato frites. HB ate them without a hitch. She didn't even realize they weren't "regular" french fries. After all, french fries for her are really just a ketchup-ferrying mechanism. My husband and I loved them with a splash of red wine vinnegar.

Thanks to a commenter who left a yummy recipe for roasted sweet potatoes. I couldn't believe how simple the recipe really was! I toned down the chili pepper and cyan so that they wouldn't be too spicy for HB. She ate them just fine.

Another week, I was pressed for time, and didn't have 30 minutes to let them bake, so I steamed them in the micro with a little water in a covered bowl for about 6 minutes. They ended up a bit mushy, so I added some milk and mashed them. Super yum!

What I've learned is that it's pretty difficult to mess up sweet potatoes. They taste really good no matter what you do. Given my lack of culinary skills, this is a good thing!

So, I think it will be relatively easy to keep using sweet potatoes as our veggie side dish 1-2 times per week. 1 super food down, and 11 to go!

Check back next Friday for the February Super Food!

Organizing Your Nursery - The Sleeping Area

Photo by peasap

a continuation of my posts on Organizing Your Nursery...

Finally, we get around to the "traditional" purpose of a nursery -- sleeping. This has been a hot topic over the past 13 years since the quest to eradicate SIDS began. Since then, the rate of SIDS has decreased by 50%! So this is a very effective campaign.

There are 10 basic rules for reducing SIDS. The most important rule is to place babies to sleep on their backs. Also, cribs should have firm mattresses that fit snugly with no gaps on the sides. Blankets, crib bumpers, and other soft loose items should not be placed in cribs. Instead, wearable sleep sacks can be used to keep babies warm at night (but not too warm, because overheating is another SIDS risk factor). For babies younger than 4 months, I like to use the swaddling sleep sacks. Swaddling helps to soothe babies. However, you should only swaddle the arms. Swaddling the legs for significant amounts of time can cause the hip joints to grow improperly.

Recent studies shows that using a fan in your baby's room lowers SIDS risk. There are also additional reasons to use a fan, such as using the white noise to soothe babies.

I realize this is a pretty unconventional stance, but we chose not to use a formal crib for our babies. I dislike large special purpose items (like changing tables, and high chairs) that you only use for a short period of time. So, we use a Pack 'n Play. We use the bassinet attachment while baby is small and then we use the Pack 'n Play normally when baby is bigger. Most people's objection to the Pack 'n Play is that the mattress doesn't seem that comfortable. We purchased a firm 2" thick mattress at Babies R Us that lays on top of the included thinner mattress. Our babies seem to be perfectly comfortable on it. I've not found an "official Pack 'n Play" mattress specifically designed for this, so be sure that the one you select fits snugly. If you have a tiny nursery like ours, foregoing a formal crib for a Pack 'n Play can save you a lot of space!

Getting your baby used to sleeping in a Pack 'n Play also makes traveling easier. I don't have scientific proof, but I think they sleep much better on the road the closer you can replicate their normal sleeping environment.

Once they have outgrown the Pack 'n Play, we transition them to a mattress on the floor. This avoids the "falling out of bed" problems that a lot of kids go through when they transition to a big-kid bed.

Whether you choose a Pack 'n Play or a formal crib, make sure to adhere to the SIDS guidelines when creating your baby's sleeping environment.

This wraps up my series on Organizing Your Nursery. What are your tips and tricks for organizing your nursery?

Related Posts:
Baby Sleep Routines for 0-1yr
Newborn Gear List
Your Baby Does Not Have Colic!
What to Do When Your Baby Has a Cold

Discipline - Are You Good Cop or Bad Cop?

Photo by Jason Clapp (CLAPP Photography)

Yesterday, we were at lunch with a friend of ours (who doesn't have kids). There was some minor issue with HB requiring a stern tone -- nothing out of the ordinary. Our friend watched as we dealt with this, and then asked me and my husband, "Which one of you is good cop, and which one is bad cop?"

I thought this was a very puzzling question.

I pondered it for a few minutes, and then said, "Neither of us are bad cop. The *rules* are the bad cop."

I really believe that children can be raised without psychological warfare. There is no need for good cop or bad cop. Nor would I want either of us to have to play the "bad cop"role with our daughter. How could we choose a discipline style which would require one of us to perhaps permanently mar our relationship with our little girl? How would you choose which one of you that would be? I really think it is unfair to your spouse to shun your disciplinary responsibilities simply because discipline is an unpleasantry that you are unwilling to implement. The days of, "just wait until your father gets home...", are hopefully long gone.

That's why, if anyone has to be the bad guy in our household, it's "the Rules".

"I'm really sorry, honey, but those are the rules." "I know it would be fun to stay up and play, but it's 7:30 and it's bedtime, and those are the rules." "I know that you're sad, but you threw your toy, and so now I have to take it away. Those are the rules."

This allows you to be empathetic to their feelings, yet still follow through on the discipline -- without playing bad cop.

Admittedly, this works really well because my husband and I are absolutely on the same page about discipline. The rules are the same whether you are talking to mommy or daddy. That's key!

A recent Momversation episode dealt with discipline and generated some good discussion. So, I'm interested to hear from you. How do you deal with discipline with your kids? Is it a team effort, or is one of you a stronger disciplinarian than the other? How do you feel about this division of responsibilities?

Related Posts:
Toddler Discipline
Be the Voiceover for Your Kids' Lives
Better Than Saying Goodnight

Easy Trader Joe's Meals - Chicken Quesadillas with Roasted Corn

... a continuation of my posts on easy meals made from ingredients found at Trader Joe's

Chicken Quesadillas with Roasted Corn
large tortillas (1 per quesadilla)
1 package shredded cheese
1 package Just Chicken (frozen)
1 package roasted corn (frozen)
1 jar chunky salsa

Heat chicken strips in microwave until just thawed (~2 min). Place tortilla on plate and cover one half of it with shredded cheese, thawed chicken, and roasted corn. Fold tortilla over and heat in microwave until cheese is melted (~2 min). Serve with salsa, sour cream, and/or Avocado's Number Guacamole.

TJ's has a variety of yummy salsas. The chunky salsa is a good basic salsa. The peach salsa is also very tasty. TJ's Guacamole is awesome! It's just as good as my homemade guac and a lot less work. It's packaged in two containers, so you can freeze half for later use. Instead of sour cream, we substitute non-fat plain yogurt. It's much healthier and tastes the same.

To turn this recipe into a burrito, add pre-cooked brown rice, diced tomatoes, and lettuce.

Organizing Your Nursery - Storage

a continuation of my posts on Organizing Your Nursery...

The key to managing storage in your nursery is to not have too much stuff. Keep baby items to a bare minimum. Scrutinize each item and make sure it is essential and/or serves multiple purposes. Having done this, you will find that you don't need much storage after all. Besides a dresser, we have 6 fabric bins, and a floor-to-ceiling shelf in AB's nursery. That's all. There isn't even a real closet!



In the dresser we only keep items that are in the current size. If it doesn't currently fit him, it doesn't belong in the dresser! For items that he has outgrown, we have two fabric bins labeled "Too Small". We also keep two bins labeled "Too Big" for items he has not yet grown into. When the "Too Small" bins fill up, we transfer them to a plastic tote in the attic until they can be handed down to his younger cousin.

Besides clothing, we use two of the bins for random supplies, such as extra diaper cream, hand sanitizer, etc. That way, we can buy in bulk when things go on sale and have a place to store them until they are needed.



All other baby items get stored on the shelf. We have a basket on the top shelf for holding medicines and extra toiletries way out of the reach of our toddler. Wire baskets hold extra flannel receiving blankets, sleep sacks, crib sheets, and towels. Another shelf holds a small variety of baby blankets. Since you can't use these in the crib, you don't need that many. We use them primarily as play mats and when traveling in the car or on an airplane. Another shelf holds our slings and baby carriers. There is one last shelf that I like to keep empty (but is currently holding some "Too Big" clothes that have overflown the two fabric bins allocated to them). Having one empty shelf leaves room for those unexpected windfalls, like a large bag of hand-me-downs.

If you keep your gear to a bare minimum, you will find that you can get away with minimal storage in your nursery.

Related Posts:
Newborn Gear List
Managing Kid's Wardrobes