Meal Planning

This morning I was listening to the morning show on the Word FM, the hostess, Bobi, was discussing how she recently read an article about how to spend $100 or less on a family weekly food budget.  I turned my attention to what she had to say because hey, I’m always looking for a way to make the budget work out–even though I am proud to say that even with 5 kids, I’m already not that much above $100 a week on my food budget.

Bobi said that the primary way the article reccommended to keep a budget of $100 or less was to Continue Reading…

Works for me Wednesday - Getting enough sleep

From college, to single life, to married with kids, getting enough sleep has always seemed to be a difficult thing for me, mostly because I tend to burn the candle at both ends much too often.  But as I age, I have found that I tolerate lack of sleep less than I used to.  So being able to sleep well with an infant in the house is very important to me.

For me to sleep well, one thing that is imperative is that I don’t get out of bed in the middle of the night.  Since infants tend to need attention in the middle of the night, that means that my baby sleeps right next to me.  For some people this would not work because they wake with every little noise the baby makes, or baby wakes with every noise that the parents make (tip to new parents–do NOT allow your house to be quiet every time your baby sleeps, or you will just train your baby to NEED quiet in order to sleep.  Wash dishes, vacuum, or turn on a radio when you put your baby down to sleep.  In general, let household noises continue!  Newborns are used to being in a noisy environment (the womb) and will sleep just fine with noise.).  But, it WORKS FOR ME.  Thus the theme of this post. 

No matter where your baby sleeps, it is important to keep the environment safe.  This is fairly simple to do, but attention should be paid.  In my case, we have an Arms Reach Bedside Cosleeper for our baby to sleep in, and keep that free of blankets & pillows.  I have a cousin who took the drop down side off her crib, and pulled it along side her bed.  Other people will keep the fully assembled crib or a Pack & Play in their room, but not right next to the bed.  

When my baby is in bed with me for nursing, I make sure to keep my pillow and blanket away from my baby.  Further, I have a head board that does not have cutouts that a baby could get trapped in, and I make sure to keep the night stand close enough to the bed that a baby can not get wedged between the nightstand and the mattress.

Finally, a few little details do make a difference for my night time sleep.  Those details are a night light in the bathroom, and the positioning of my alarm clock.  The night light is important just in case I need to get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Having a night light that can be turned on rather than the overhead light helps to keep me from fully waking up, which allows me to go back to sleep easier.  For the alarm clock, I turn it around so that it does not face the bed.  The red glow alone can be something that draws me awake if I happen to see it in a light phase of sleep, but even further, the psychological impact of knowing that I am nursing at 3 a.m. is much greater than if I am just nursing and enjoying a quiet moment with my baby, unaware of what time it is.

Now nighttime sleep is often not quite enough…so I’m a big fan of naps.  But not wanting to make my bed twice a day…I simply will lay down on my bed on top of the bedspread, and pull a “throw” from the living room over me.  Aaaahhhh….a nap after lunch is wonderfully refreshing, and makes me a better mom for the rest of the day.  Unfortunately, my 5 year old son does not do so well with naps.  So we have found that my nap time is a great time for him to play some computer games.

And this…works for me! 

Don’t forget to swing by We Are That Family for all the other wonderful participants!  Today’s theme is “Frugal Living.”