Smart Habits Saturday

Things have actually been going really well here, this week, despite the fact that I am a day late on getting this post up. Jacob is still having a few outbursts every now and then, but for the most part we've been having a lot of fun. It's helped that I have been taking the time to do the important things like play with him and Emma, and going places that give me and him an outlet (like the gym while he plays in the childcare room). It's been a huge help.


And since school is starting here in 11 days (not that I'm counting or anything), I think it's time to start getting everyone acclimated to a smoother morning routine. I've made Jake a chore chart for the whole day, broken down by time of day (before breakfast, before school, before quiet time, and nighttime) so that he can see everything he needs to get done during the day. I'd like to get to the point where he can go on autopilot in the morning while I help get Emma ready. We need to be out the door by 8:45am, and we lately we haven't been ready until 9:30 or after.


The other thing I would like to do is get back into the habit of going to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. As a lifetime member, I am only required going once a month, but I find that I really do a lot better when I have that meeting to go to every week. I've been on monthly meetings since February, so this may take some getting used to!


Check out Lara's site for other's habits!


Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

Simplifying - getting better

Post to blog before vistiting others - struggling with

Limit kids TV time - not a habit, but doing well

11:30 bedtime - habit

Emma's bedtime routine - doing a lot better

Work before computer time - struggling with

8K a Day - I'm actually up to 10K a day!

Wear my pedometer - habit

R-E-S-P-E-C-T - getting better

Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better

Increased personal reading time - struggling with - just need to find a good book!

Limit personal computer time - struggling with

1 on 1 kids time - getting better

Smart Habit Saturday

So here we are again. If you read my post yesterday, you would know things haven't been going so well here. If you didn't read my post yesterday, let me tell you. Things haven't been going so well here.

What I need to start doing is simplifying, just like Lara talked about today. I need to stop trying to do everything perfectly and just start doing what I can. It does none of us any good for me to be constantly stressed out and unhappy. No matter how much I want to, I cannot fit everything into one day. My family needs to start coming first and everything else is secondary.

Here's a little list I compiled of things that will not cause the end of my existence:

1. Unmade beds
2. Unfolded laundry
3. Dirty floors
4. Dusty shelves
5. Crusty counters
6. Unwashed dishes
7. Checking e-mail only once a day
8. Excercising
9. Not blogging (GASP!)
10. Eliminating non-essentials from my to-do list

So with this list in mind, I am going back to square one this week. I will not be taking on any new habits. I need to really work on the things I already have, and I need to learn to pare down and not obsess when I haven't done everything on my list, let alone not done them perfectly.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

Post to blog before vistiting others - struggling with

Limit kids TV time - struggling with

11:30 bedtime - pretty good

Emma's bedtime routine - struggling with

Work before computer time - struggling with

8K a Day - struggling with

Wear my pedometer - habit

R-E-S-P-E-C-T - struggling with

Food Journal and Scrounging - struggling with

Increased personal reading time - struggling with

Limit personal computer time - struggling with

1 on 1 kids time - struggling with

Smart Habit Saturday

I'm posting from my wonderful husband's laptop so I have no nifty graphic to give you. But don't be fooled! This is my official SHS post (for what it's worth).


If I can be quite honest, this was a HORRIBLE week for me for habits. What with crazy giveaways and Dave being gone for a week, I was lucky if I showered every day....oh wait. I didn't do that either.


So I'm just going to pretend that this week didn't happen, umkay? I like to remind myself frequently that de-nile ain't just a river in Egypt.


Check out Lara's site for other's habits!


Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
Post to blog before vistiting others - LOL! I had no idea that I would be sucked in so easily to the crazy giveaways this week! Wait. Who am I kidding? YES I DID!
Limit kids TV time - struggling with
11:30 bedtime - habit
Emma's bedtime routine - habit
Work before computer time - struggling with
8K a Day - slowly returning to this
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better
Increased personal reading time - habit (and loving it!)
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - getting better

Smart Habit Saturdays

Seriously? A month? I can't believe I haven't been to SHS since June 30. Needless to say, my committment has been a bit...uh...lacking, shall we say?

I've done a habit checklist which I am not really keeping up with, but that's a habit for another week.

This week, I'm going to focus on getting a post on my own blog before I go galivanting around reading other people's stuff. I do so much better with my time management stuff if I do my own first instead of hurrying to try and fit it in at the end of the day. So we'll give it a whirl.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
Limit kids TV time - struggling with
11:30 bedtime - habit
Emma's bedtime routine - habit
Work before computer time - struggling with
8K a Day - slowly returning to this
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better
Increased personal reading time - habit (and loving it!)
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - getting better

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much better I feel this week after going to bed at 11:30 every night. O.K., almost every night. There was one where I stayed up until 12:30, and I most certainly felt it the next morning...as did anyone who had the nerve to argue with anything I said that day.

Being that it's summer time, I'm falling into the trap of letting Jake and Emma watch way too much TV. We should be out doing things. Instead, when Dave asks Jake where he went that day, Jake has every reason to answer "the couch".

So this week, I will limit the kids TV time to 1 hour. I already have a system set up to achieve this, I just have to follow through with it. Famous last words...

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
11:30 bedtime - habit
Emma's bedtime routine - habit
Work before computer time - struggling with
8K a Day - need to get back to
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better
Increased personal reading time - habit (and loving it!)
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - struggling with

Smart Habit Saturdays

Wow! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've checked in. Life around here has been a little crazy over the last few weeks, but it finally looks like it's starting to settle down just a bit. VBS is over which leaves me only 1 script to memorize so that's a big relief, but I've still been really tired lately.

Which is why my new old habit makes so much sense for me. I need to get back to a schedule where the lights are out by 11:30pm and the alarm goes off by 6:00am. I have been so exhausted lately because I'm staying up too late, and then sleeping in too late which makes me feel like I am just behind for the rest of the day. I really need the time in the morning before the kids get up to look at my script, too, so this habit just makes sense all the way around.

Because of the craziness, my other habits are slipping through the cracks again. But hopefully one more piece to the puzzle (not being tired) will start to bring the big picture back in focus. I'm going to start working on all my habits this week, too, so things can start getting back to some level of normalcy around here...whatever that means.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

Emma's bedtime routine - habit

Work before computer time - struggling with

8K a Day - need to get back to

Wear my pedometer - habit

R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit

Food Journal and Scrounging - working on

Increased personal reading time - habit

Limit personal computer time - working on

1 on 1 kids time - working on

Smart Habit Saturdays

While we were away this past week, I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do for my habit this week. That doesn't mean I actually DID think about it, I just had a lot of time to. LOL!

As I was putting Emma to bed tonight, I realized something. Even though she's 2 years old, I never developed a bedtime routine for her. Dave takes care of Jake's bedtime routine and they do a lot! With Emma, I pretty much put a new diaper on her, wrestle her for the toothbrush and put her in her crib. Good night!

Jake gets potty time, teeth brushed, 2 or 3 books, prayers, backrubs, noserubs, usually a little bit of tickling and then lights out. Emma gets zilch. I really need to change that!

So, this week I am going to make a habit of doing a bedtime routine for Emma. We'll do potty time, teeth brushing, 1 or 2 books, and prayers. Dave is on travel again this week, so I'll be happy if the kids get their routines in 5 nights (usually I just want to get them in bed because I am DONE by the end of the day).

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!



Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
8K a Day - habit
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - mostly a habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - working on
Increased personal reading time - habit
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - working on

Smart Habit Saturdays

I did really well this week with my goal of 8,000 steps a day. There was only one day that I didn't get 8,000 steps in, but the other 6 days I surpassed my goal. It's amazing how many steps you can get in when you walk in place while making dinner!

Tuesday is the last day that Jake is in school, so our daily schedules are about to change drastically. So my habit for this week will play off of that and my continuing effort to limit my personal computer time.

This week, I'm going to make it a goal to not do any personal computer time until all my non-computer and "business" computer tasks are done! This is going to be a HUGE excercise in self-discipline, so we'll see how it goes.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
8K a Day - habit
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - mostly a habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - working on
Increased personal reading time - habit
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - working on

Smart Habit Saturdays

Alrighty folks, I'm ready to jump right back in. And you know why? Because I have a wonderful husband. Last week I posted how my habit of 8k steps a day on the pedometer became an impossibility because my pedometer broke. While Dave got me this for Mother's Day and I LOVE IT!

It's actually an accelerometer instead of pedometer, but it counts my steps which is what I want. It is much more accurate (meaning it's less likely to count a good tackle from Jacob as a step) so I have a better idea of how much I am ACTUALLY walking a day.

I was SO happy about it, that I actually started marching in place today while I was clearing the dishwasher - anything to get those steps in. It's much more comfortable and has a lower profile than my old pedometer so I barely even notice that I am wearing it. Here are some of the best features:

1. It has a clock on it so it automatically resets my steps to "0" every night at midnight. I start each day without having to do a thing except put it on.
2. It has a 7 day memory so I can keep track of how much I walk each day. It also adds the steps up so I don't have to think or add or anything to find out my total steps for the week.
3. Besides keeping track of the number of steps I takes, it keeps track of the distance that I've walked.
4. It has an internal "stopwatch" that keeps track of the amount of time that I've been active (above a certain threshold) during the day; I've been wearing it for nearly 13 hours today, but it knows I've only logged about 43 minutes of true exertion.
5. It has a website where I can log on and keep track of steps. It even has online challenges and keeps a running total of the number of steps I take. I am currently in a challenge to see how long it takes me to walk the number of steps equivalent to walking the Pacific Coast Highway (784 miles total, I've got 777.58 miles to go).

Anyway, it's just about the coolest thing I've ever owned I just hope it doesn't fall in the toilet (not that that's ever happened to me...). That would be bad, very bad. So my habit for this week will be to walk 8,000 steps a day (EVERY DAY!)

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
8K a Day - game on
Wear my pedometer - game on
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - mostly a habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - working on
Increased personal reading time - habit
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - working on

So I did not do at all well with my habit this week, but I had a good excuse: my pedometer actually broke on Sunday. And since I wasn't about to count all my steps in my head, I kind of let this one go.

I feel like I've been struggling with my time management this week. And actually, it's something I always struggle with. I've never been very good at setting limits for myself. I put things off, and put things off and then try to do a mad dash of things at the very end of the day. I then proceed to feel crappy about myself because I couldn't get it all done.

So, this week, I am going to go onto autopilot. I'm just going to maintain what I've been doing so far, because I'm not sure that I can add one more thing to my plate. I'm starting to get discouraged with myself (and that spiraling, unsettling feeling of loss of control) which is usually the tell tale sign that I'm taking on too much. So I am going to stop and smell the roses this week, spend some good old fashioned down time with the kids and the hubby, and just slow down.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
8K a Day - on hold
Wear my pedometer - on hold
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - mostly a habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - working on
Increased personal reading time - habit
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - working on

Smart Habit Saturdays

This has just been a crazy, crazy week. Schedules were out the window, and evidently most of my habits with them. Ugh. Sometimes I wonder about myself. Talk about a long, lonely road...

Anyway, the only habit I did keep up with this week was the pedometer. I wore it every step of every day for a week and kept track of the info. Armed with that knowledge, my new habit for this week will be to walk at least 8,000 steps a day. All of this is leading up to some exciting news that (once I get permission), I will be sharing with the world. No, I'm not pregnant. Check out Lara's site for other's habits

Dave's parents will be visiting this weekend to celebrate the kids' combined birthday party, so it will be a very busy weekend. Everyone have a safe and wonderful weekend, and hopefully you'll get to enjoy a bit of the outdoors without the threat of a tornado siren blowing your eardrums out!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

Wear my pedometer
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Food Journal and Scrounging
Increased personal reading time
Limit personal computer time
1 on 1 kids time

Smart Habit Saturdays

I am actually quite impressed with myself with how I did this week on respecting myself. It was a hard week with Dave being gone and all, but I hardly yelled at Jake, ate a lot better than I have been and got back into my reading habit. By no means perfect, but that's not really the point, right?

I went to the gym today with a friend of mine and it is amazing how much better I feel (mentally and physically) after I've gone. How come that's so easy to forget? This week, I will start using my pedometer again and writing down my daily step counts in an excercise journal I already own (which has just been sitting there doing nothing, kind of like me!) Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Food Journal and Scrounging

Increased personal reading time

Limit personal computer time

1 on 1 kids time

Smart Habit Saturdays...R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Alrighty then.

I didn't write one thing down in my food journal this week and I ate off my kids' plates all week. There you have it. I can make all the excuses I want in the world, but there's no reason for it. I just didn't do it. As always, I am wallowing in self pity, plain and simple. So here's the new game plan...

Respect is the new buzz word in our house. We are trying to teach Jake (and Emma to an extent) to respect himself (brushing teeth and washing hands), to respect his stuff (putting caps back on markers), and to respect us (good listening, no hitting, etc.). You know the routine.

So I had another duh moment (or aha moment if you are the optimistic type), much like the one I had last Saturday that lead me to reinforcing my WW habit of keeping a food journal and not eating off the kids' plates: I need to respect myself. I can talk to Jake until I'm blue in the face about respecting me, but if he sees me disrespecting myself, well then what did I think the result would be? A sudden sense of sympathy from a boy who still occasionally eats yogurt with his hands? Sure. Whatever.

So this week for SHS, I will make a new habit of respecting myself with a 3 pronged approach (look at me soundin' all businessy):

1. To respect my body, I will journal my food and not eat off my kids' plates (I like to repeat "My body is not a trash can" when I feel tempted to eat their discards).
2. To respect my own authoritah, I will keep a level head and not fly off the handle with Jake while disciplining him (in through the nose, out through the mouth).
3. To respect my brain/soul, I will reinforce my reading habit.

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
Food Journal and Scrounging
Increased personal reading time
Limit personal computer time
1 on 1 kids time

Smart Habit Saturdays

O.K. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'm a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. I have been doing WW on and off since before Jake was born (they don't let you be an active member when you are pregnant) so going on 5 years now. I would lose the weight, gain a little bit back, lose it again and so on and so forth.

Well I finally hit my goal weight and became a lifetime member at the beginning of 2007. But I am by no means "in the clear".

For those who don't know, the WW system is based on points. Every food has a point value. The healthier food, the lower the point value. Each member has a certain number of points that they are allowed to eat in a day and staying within that point range helps you lose or maintain your weight. The little explanation is crucial to the next part of my story.

The other day when Jake had his meltdown, I didn't have time to eat breakfast in the morning. So after dropping Jake off at preschool I went through McDonald's drive-thru and got myself a Sausage Egg McMuffin w/ cheese sandwich and some of their new Cinnamon Roll bite things (whatever they're called). So I sat there and thought "there is probably enough points in one bite of this sandwich to bring me up to my daily total" and then proceeded to eat everything I had purchased. And it was then that I realized something very important about myself:

I don't have a weight problem; I have an eating problem. More specifically, I have a self-control problem. This point was driven home to me again today when I caught myself finishing my kids' lunches that they didn't eat. While polishing off the mac & cheese, I was also thinking about what my habit for the week would be. Being the intelligent woman that I am, I was able to connect the dots and come up with my new habit. Well, actually 2 that go hand and hand.

So my offical SHS goal for this week is:
I will start maintaining my food journal again and I will STOP eating off my kids' plates.

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
Increased personal reading time
Limit personal computer time
1 on 1 kids time

Smart Habit Saturdays (or so)

I am amazed and impressed at those of you who can create new habits ever week. I come up with these great habits in my head (future posts, no doubt), but then I think "Well, shoot. You don't even have the 2nd habit down yet. Why try to move forward?"

But I will anyway! I've been doing great with spending 1 on 1 time with the kids (and loving every second of it) and my new habit kind of goes hand in hand with cutting down on my personal computer time. I did pretty well on the computer last week (I went over my time on 2 or 3 days) so this week with all my new found time, I am going to work in some personal reading time to my day. That way, I'm killing two blogging birds with one stone because I can cross books off my reading list for The Spring Reading Thing at the same time. Go me!

Check out The Lazy Organizer for other bloggers SHS

Smart Habit Saturdays

Very late. Very tired. Therefore, very short post. I've been doing really well with spending time with the kids, so I think I can move on to something else. I created a daily routine for myself several weeks ago, but I still haven't been very good at actually following through with it. One of the reasons is because I'm on the computer alot. So, this week I am going limit my personal comupter time to 1 hour per day. I'm going to need all the encouragement I can get on this on!!

Not so good..

Well, I failed miserably at my first SMART Habits Saturday. I only spent time with Jake and Emma on one day. Lousy.

So I am recommitting myself this week to spending 15 minutes of TV-free time with each kid.

Things are settling down at the house this week. My husband's play will be over tomorrow so life can start to get back to a little bit of normal...whatever that means!

O.K. So this is my first Smart Habit Saturday. Head on over to Lara's site at The Lazy Organizer to find out more, but basically it's just like it sounds. Every Saturday (or so), I will pick a new habit and then blog about my progress.

This week, I will spend 15 minutes a day of uninterrupted, no TV, joyful time with each of my kids. So that's 15 minutes alone with Jake, and 15 minutes alone with Emma. The time with Emma might be a little harder because, well, Jake is always there. And he doesn't like to play by himself at all. He's very social. But I'll give it a whirl.

Dave and I were talking last night about why Jacob does the things he does and why he is so aggressive and can be quite disagreeable. And we think it all comes down to attention. And I am sad to admit that it hit me last night that I don't pay too much attention to Jake. I am always with him, but I am usually focused on other things (cleaning, laundry, Emma, etc.) and when I do pay attention to him, it's to point out flaws and punish him for them. And then I read Lara's post today and she includes the quote "We cannot teach principles that we do not know and that we do not live. Who we are and what is in our heart are discerned by children more quickly than we think." How can I teach Jake to hold his temper and to look for the good things if I don't do it myself?

I had started to read a book a while back called Parenting the Strong-Willed Child, and this habit comes directly from the book. I started to put it into practice but as soon as I saw improvement in Jake, I stopped. And he has regressed, so it's time I start being more proactive instead of reactive. Hopefully we'll get along a little better! Wish me luck!