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Things I should be doing right now instead of writing this blog post

sick sophie

The house is unusually quiet…unusually isn’t even the right word. The house is NEVER this quiet when there are people in it, but right now, my sick Sophie is snoozing on the couch, Jonah is napping in his crib, and Joshua and Bobby are out doing work at his dad’s. So I’m curled up in my big recliner with my laptop because I can’t take breaking the peacefulness by doing…stuff.

But I have a lot of stuff to do. And in my motherhood-induced-ADD-addled brain, there are tasks and lists swimming around and fighting to get to the forefront of my gray matter. Tasks that keep me hopping and stressing such as:

  • Getting on Pinterest to get ideas on how to work with Jonah on speech
  • cleaning the dining room
  • Switching the laundry from the washer to the dryer
  • Writing a review of my amazing new garbage disposal
  • Doing my makeup
  • Clipping coupons for tomorrow’s planned drugstore run
  • Calling Emily to tell her the 1,000 things I didn’t get to talk to her about this week
  • Putting dinner in the crock pot
  • Reading my new WWII book about women in the French Resistance
  • Working on my resume in the pursuit of some more freelance writing work

All these things need to be done. Some of them yesterday, or at least five minutes ago. But I can’t bring myself to break the stillness, to violate the quiet, or to make any noise that might wake my sick snoozing girl.

So I think I will close this note, curl up in my chair, and close my eyes for a minute. Take a deep breath, and then another one, and breathe out thanks for the stillness, for the quiet place. Maybe I’ll shush the sound of my own voice in my head and just listen  for a still, small Voice instead.

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My Swimmers

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We’re about halfway through summer swim team season, and I am going to be sad to see it end. This is the fifth summer Kate’s been on the team, and the first year Sam’s gotten to participate – officially, anyway.

I say “officially,” because with swim team, the entire family participates. Needless to say, I’m not doing laps of the butterfly, but we really are all involved. Whether it’s setting up our little campsite, volunteering as a timer or a cat-herder (otherwise known as clerk of course), or making sure no one misses an event, we’re all a part of the team. That’s what I love about swim team more than anything else – it’s a family activity.

Swim team takes a lot of time – there are practices every day, and the meets last for hours. It’s a whole bunch of hurry-up-and-wait – I remember calculating the time Kate actually spent in the pool vs. the time we spent AT the pool at last year’s championship meet, and the ratio was something like 2.5 minutes : 12 hours. But during all the time that we’re sitting around waiting, we’re spending time with each other and with dear friends. It’s a few hours of screen-free (ok, I have my phone with me at all times, I will admit) outdoor time for all of us, and I love it.

And I really, really love to watch my girl swim.

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Tips for a Healthy Summer

Organic Vegetable Boxes

We all know why our kids need healthy meals – it’s hugely important for their health and development – but many times our focus on that can slide during the summer. Crazy schedules with sports, camps and activities can get in the way of regular meals cooked at home, and, worse, millions of low-income kids who benefit from lunch programs during the school year just don’t have access to healthy meals during the summer. In fact, most kids don’t eat the recommended servings of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains – and they exceed the maximum daily intake of sodium.

Fortunately, the Walmart Foundation has made a commitment to providing 1.7 million children access to free meals and nutrition education this summer as part of their commitment to help fight hunger in America. They’re providing $14 million in grants to these five nonprofits:
o Alliance for a Healthier Generation: Increase access to healthy food and nutrition education for children and parents outside of school in eight U.S. cities.
o Food Research and Action Center: Increase access, participation and awareness of nutrition programs that provide meals to children across the country during the school year and summer months.
o National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education and Families: Expand after-school and summer nutrition initiatives and implement yearlong feeding programs for more than 25,000 low-income children across the country.
o Texas Hunger Initiative: Expand sponsorship and locations for summer and after-school meal programs throughout Texas, while increasing participation by 583,000 children.
o YMCA of the USA: Expand the YMCA’s Summer Food Program at more than 2,300 sites to provide children with access to meals outside of school year-round.

I will be the first to admit that we’ve gotten off the home-cooking bandwagon in the last few months, but it’s time we get back on. Here are some tips from Dr. Michele Borba, a children’s health and development expert, to make meal time fun and healthy for everyone.

• Preparation: Kids Can Meal Plan Too
o Pick recipes for the week and talk to your kids about ingredients needed
o Ask kids to help with the grocery list
o Bring kids to the grocery store
o Visit a farmers market or local farm

• Storage: Color-Coded Foods
o Color coding cuts down on “nagging”
o Green: Eat all the time
o Yellow: Eat sometimes
o Red: Eat once a week
o Make healthy snacks visible and easy to grab on the way out the door

• Meal Time: Enjoying a Fun, Relaxed Time Together
o Make meal time “unplugged time”
o Introduce new foods in quarter-sized portions for picky eaters
o Connect with other moms and cook healthy meals together
o Start a family kindness box to open at each meal

How are you working on keeping your family healthy this summer?

This post was sponsored by TheMotherhood.com.

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