Good Bad Habits
First off, thank you for all the well wishes on the sleep issue. An angel in the form of a 5'3" mother-in-law came to my rescue and took Kate while CJ and I napped. It was a great refresher. I've had lots of other offers to play with Kate, so thank you to all of you out there.
Now on to my next post. I have adopted a few bad habits that have proven to make life easier. While I probably wouldn't condone the practice of these bad habits under normal, non-newborn circumstances, I currently have instituted and rejoiced in my new bad girl lifestyle. Here are my top recommended good bad habits. (In no particular order.)
1. Run the dishwasher whenever you want. Don't worry if it is not full or the dishes are not in perfect order. It is so much easier to just have everything clean.
2. Don't sort the laundry, just throw it in the washer. If I let the laundry pile up it takes me days to sort, wash, dry, fold and put away. But if I do one large mixed load every couple of days then laundry doesn't seem as daunting.
3. Use paper cups in the bathroom. I like to have a cup in the bathroom for the occasional night time drink of water and after brushing my teeth. But I HATE that I need to change out the cup every day because it gets dirty. So I bought mini paper, disposable cups. Not the best environmental choice but it has made my life much easier.
4. Let your kid sleep in bed with you. I absolutely REFUSED to allow this when Kate was a baby. I didn't want her to get into the habit of needing mom and dad there in order to sleep. But with the second kid I have found that anything goes and she falls asleep SO MUCH FASTER if I just lay her in bed with us for awhile. Although I almost always try to sneak her back into her cradle after she falls asleep.
5. Buy a back-up pizza cutter. I haven't done this yet but we may have to because our pizza cutter is burning up. When you are tired and have had a long day, nothing tastes better or is easier to prepare than frozen pizza.
6. Use the bathtub as a babysitter. Kate LOVES baths. And she loves bubbles even more. Since having CJ, Kate has taken a bubble bath almost every night of the week. It is a surefire way to keep her in one spot and allows you to sit down while she plays in the tub.
7. Use Barney (or other cartoon characters) as a babysitter. There are times when Kate becomes so wild and CJ is screaming, and the only way to get things back in order is to turn on the tv. Barney is also about the only way I fit a shower into my day (or every other day). I find Barney horribly annoying but it has made my life a little simpler. Well, except when Barney songs run through my head all night long and prevent me from falling asleep. This has happened several nights now. Ugh.
So there you have it. I will try to post any additional good bad habits as I realize them but this is all I can remember at this point in my day. I hope you won't judge but will instead try them for yourself.
Now on to my next post. I have adopted a few bad habits that have proven to make life easier. While I probably wouldn't condone the practice of these bad habits under normal, non-newborn circumstances, I currently have instituted and rejoiced in my new bad girl lifestyle. Here are my top recommended good bad habits. (In no particular order.)
1. Run the dishwasher whenever you want. Don't worry if it is not full or the dishes are not in perfect order. It is so much easier to just have everything clean.
2. Don't sort the laundry, just throw it in the washer. If I let the laundry pile up it takes me days to sort, wash, dry, fold and put away. But if I do one large mixed load every couple of days then laundry doesn't seem as daunting.
3. Use paper cups in the bathroom. I like to have a cup in the bathroom for the occasional night time drink of water and after brushing my teeth. But I HATE that I need to change out the cup every day because it gets dirty. So I bought mini paper, disposable cups. Not the best environmental choice but it has made my life much easier.
4. Let your kid sleep in bed with you. I absolutely REFUSED to allow this when Kate was a baby. I didn't want her to get into the habit of needing mom and dad there in order to sleep. But with the second kid I have found that anything goes and she falls asleep SO MUCH FASTER if I just lay her in bed with us for awhile. Although I almost always try to sneak her back into her cradle after she falls asleep.
5. Buy a back-up pizza cutter. I haven't done this yet but we may have to because our pizza cutter is burning up. When you are tired and have had a long day, nothing tastes better or is easier to prepare than frozen pizza.
6. Use the bathtub as a babysitter. Kate LOVES baths. And she loves bubbles even more. Since having CJ, Kate has taken a bubble bath almost every night of the week. It is a surefire way to keep her in one spot and allows you to sit down while she plays in the tub.
7. Use Barney (or other cartoon characters) as a babysitter. There are times when Kate becomes so wild and CJ is screaming, and the only way to get things back in order is to turn on the tv. Barney is also about the only way I fit a shower into my day (or every other day). I find Barney horribly annoying but it has made my life a little simpler. Well, except when Barney songs run through my head all night long and prevent me from falling asleep. This has happened several nights now. Ugh.
So there you have it. I will try to post any additional good bad habits as I realize them but this is all I can remember at this point in my day. I hope you won't judge but will instead try them for yourself.
Comments
I feel like I'm moving out of survival mode and settling more into a "new normal". So there is hope! I saw that you won't be at MMO this week, but I hope to see you the next time. Can't wait to meet CJ!
P.S. I almost laughed out loud today when Emily was looking at the puppets at the library. She immediately recognized Curious George and Clifford, but when she picked up Barney she said, "What's this?!?" ;o)