2) Mattress. We ended up buying a Casper. I have no thoughts on it yet as we have not set it up yet. We just got our new bed today (bye, finnicky IKEA bed frame!) and are planning on letting our Casper “off-gas” (apparently this is a thing?) before using it. But I’ll let you know how it goes when we try it. If it’s hot, it’s going back.
3) Kids’ eating habits. Woah, several of you had pretty strong reactions to the link in my last post! I feel like I owe it to you all to freely admit that we have not figured it all out either, but I do think Brittany‘s ideas are sound. My kids LOVE sugar (would probably subsist on it alone if left to their own devices) and A in particular has become somewhat picky (insists her pizza be plain, refused to try the delicious Indian takeout we had this weekend, etc). So yeah. I don’t think there are magic ‘right way’ rules either, but I believe in what she wrote.
4) Push up app. I had a reader ask me about this – at the end of June I started with one of those “100 pushups” apps and am doing 3 pushup sessions per week. Each session has 5 sets of pushups in escalating quantities; each set has 60-120 seconds rest in between. When I started, session #1 was 5, 5, 6, 5, 3 = total 24. Yesterday (session #12) I did 13, 14, 13, 11, 8 = total 59. So it’s definitely helping! I however have had to progress more slowly than the app suggested (repeated Week 2 and also Week 3 workout 1). My goal is to do 100! And to like my arms more 🙂
5) Dinner routine. Typically I have been eating late-ish most nights, usually after the kids are in bed. Our nanny gives them dinner and I come home right after they have finished at around 6 pm. I am really kind of sad that Josh’s late schedule means that family dinners on most weeknights are not going to happen. But maybe I should start eating with A&C. I hate waiting until 9 to eat some nights — I end up going to bed like 45 minutes later (thankfully I do not have reflux). The worst = waiting and then eating alone anyway, or eating 39823 snacks while waiting for him to come home and then not being hungry for dinner anymore. I assume that at a certain age, most parents eat with their children (unless there are sports practices or other evening activities). When does that typically happen?
(Side note = dinner was this strawberry chicken salad, served with farro. SO GOOD!)
6) Shoes. I got these two pairs at Cole Haan after much deliberation to replace the falling-apart (but comfy!) shoes I had worn to work every day for the past 3 years. And now I have a blister. Agh! I am hoping that they just need some breaking in time?
7) GTD/BUJO topics. Oh man. I have a post in the works on my fave tools (pens, paper, etc). But I need more mental energy to write a post that does justice to my precious collection. Somehow it feels easier to share via the Insta than writing out a full post, but I promise more will be coming.
8 Comments
We eat dinner together every night and have since Landon was about 18 months old. It was an adjustment with him- I was used to feeding him right when I got home and then waiting to make a "real" dinner with James when he got home, but it mattered to me to sit down and so we adjusted. Then it was no issue with Claire and Cora because eating together wasn’t up for debate. We eat about 6:30 or 7 because we wait on James, but if he got home later (like your husband) I would probably eat with them and then maybe have a glass of wine with James when he got home. I really think it matters so much. Random things come out over our dinners that don’t seem to come up at other times I spend with them during the day and I’m so grateful it’s already part of our routine now that they’re older and the random things they have to say have more import. I also think it enormously adds to their patience and good behavior at restaurants, other people’s houses, when we travel etc. For as long as they can remember they have had to sit at a table and eat and stay there until everyone is done. It’s just part of life and a super fun and happy one :).
(Also your handwriting still kills me. So perfect. So soothing.)
We eat together most nights (5 of us), between 6 and 7, depending if I have to cook fresh or we have leftovers/something I cooked ahead. It helps that DH and I pick up the little kids around 5:30-5:45, so everyone gets home around 6; the teen gets home at 4 and has afternoon sports at varying times, so he sometimes eats later, but usually someone will sit with him and keep him company.
I’d recommend to eat with A&C as often as you can, or join them at the tail end of their meal, so they can stay and hang out with you as you finish your food. IMHO, the sitting and chatting together is the most important part of dinner rituals.
I meant to mention in my original comment about the Casper – I tend to run very warm when I sleep (I prefer the room to be about 55-60 degrees for maximum comfort, if that tells you anything), and I’ve had no issues with the Casper being hot. When I picked up a new mattress pad for it (since our old mattress was nearly double the thickness), I DID buy one that claimed to be "cooling" – but it was like, $19.99 at Marshalls, so I don’t think it’s some ultra high-tech cover, and it’s likely not doing much 🙂
No-S has definitely been working for me. I was surprised at how much I was mindlessly snacking (oh, my kiddo didn’t finish his snack…I better finish it…) and how often I wanted a treat during the week and ended up eating ice cream or some other sweet after dinner (way more times than I realized). I had a birthday party this past weekend, so during the week I was so looking forward to the cake and ice-cream and the anticipation was really fun. Then once I actually ate a slice of cake and some ice-cream I felt kinda ill. A few bites of each would’ve been more than enough. It’s definitely helped me be aware of bad habits I had gotten into and I’ve found changing them fairly easy and I feel a ton better.
As for eating dinner, we try to eat with our kids some of the times, but as someone mentioned above, it’s not really quality time. It’s feeding the baby, keeping her entertained, picking up toys she dropped, while telling the pre-schooler to stay in his seat, use your fork, not dump food on the floor, etc. I think it’s important to model good eating habits and good manners, but sometimes, I just want a quiet meal with my husband. Even if we do plan to eat after they go to bed, we still try to sit with them most nights. I have found the best quality time with my preschooler to be taking walks with him. He seems to focus a lot more on conversation then instead of at dinner time when he’s often fairly exhausted and focused on eating.
From the smart commenter 😉
Not necessarily a modification to no-S; I’d call it a customization. This is straight from the nosdiet.com main page:
The No S Diet has a little known loophole just for you. If you look closely at the site, you’ll notice that nowhere does it specify the actual *number* of meals. Now most people will make a certain assumption, and most people had better stick with that assumption.
And suddenly I can comment again from my work computer! I may give the no S diet—with the loophole, a try! Push-ups=ugh. But I can do a bunch of them now, in perfect form, so I know they are effective. I look around during my work out class and I see lots of people with terrible form during push ups and planks. I think its easy to forget to keep your body straight.
Re: dinner—we started all eating together when B was about a year old, seriously. I was pregnant so I appreciated eating earlier, and we wanted to do "family dinner". The reality of it is pretty meh most nights though. Like I said above, there are NO conversations happening. No one is sitting calmly in their seats (kids get up constantly or start wriggling around and we are up and down fetching more water or more food, cleaning up spills, etc…)
August 1 I am going to re-embrace No S for real – if you want an accountability partner 🙂 Seriously. (I’ll email you too!). As for the pushups I do feel like my form starts to somewhat suck around the 3rd set. But I still feel like I am improving a lot.
Sigh about family dinner. That’s how Cameron is. Annabel I could actually see having nice conversations with (IF she’s not complaining about the food which we get a lot of too unfortunately).
I think kids will not be able to be so picky if their parents don’t succumb to giving them other meal options. If A didn’t want to eat the Indian food, then I feel the appropriate response is "That is dinner." That’s what we did, and you and your sister ate almost anything we served you and appreciate most (well-prepared) food today.
-Mom