The Hatch Clan: Where Babies Wear White Tuxedos

The Hatch Clan: Where Babies Wear White Tuxedos

Saturday, December 7, 2013

What Do I Want the Kids To Leave the House Knowing/Able To Do? A Game Plan.

Over a year ago, I sat down and thought out: what do I want my kids to leave the house knowing? In a perfect world, if I got to choose. I've added a couple things to that list, and dropped a couple others. But here's what I'd like my children to leave the house armed with the knowledge of.

How to clean
How to cook (basics, at least)
How to work--effort praised, rather than intelligence (watch this video, it's fascinating)
Healthy eating
Also, eating what's put in front of them
Exercise (healthy lifestyle)
Social Skills
Gospel Study
Service (or, Acts of Love)
What love and respect looks like, and how to treat others
(Along with that) Manners
Journal writing
Delayed gratification (Look up the Walter Mischel marshmallow experiment, and outcomes later in life)
Creativity: how to entertain themselves, and pursue hobbies and interests
Love of Learning
Patience/anger control
Some understanding of politics, finances

That's quite the hefty list, eh? Still. I was thinking: raising my kids will be the most important thing I do in my life. But I've been really lazy about it, as of late. It seems like I've just been...you know, existing. Not really moving in any direction...which I think means I'm probably moving in a negative direction. But when I was a young teen and a babysitter, I was awesome! I was so creative and engaging and seriously, just loved the time I got to spend with young children. I want that back, to be more like that. I also want to start treating parenting more like a job, than just...doing it. I mean when I taught pre-school for a short period of time, every day I had to have a lesson prepared, a craft ready, etc. I'd like to be more like that.
So here's my goal, of what we're going to be doing on days when we're home all day:
 I printed off eight different things that I think would be worthwhile ways to spend our days, and stuck them on the top part of the fridge: creative time (art stuff), active, 'intellectual' (numbers and letters for right now, mainly), acts of love/service, social time (I just called it friends, for Jori's sake), music time (singing), cleaning, and tv time (because if it's not a planned part of our day, it'll happen anyway and replace something else, and I'll feel guilty every day). Not all of them will be done each day--for example, Jori won't be playing with friends every day (I'm way too much of an introvert to arrange play dates for every single day). Some of these I'll just be happy with if we did them that week. But I'm trying to take into consideration what I want them to leave the house knowing/able to do, and start now. Because I don't think I can just put it off till they're 17 and then hope I can cram it all in and somehow, their habits of the past 17 years will disappear. But of course some things have to wait (politics comes to mind).
 I also have a small one for baths, and plan to stick it at the end of the day on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.
 Then I have each hour, from 8:00 AM (when we start our day) to 8:00 PM (when I want Jori in bed by) represented on the bottom half of the fridge, with room for all those top eight items to be placed in where they're done that day with magnets. That way, we are allowed some flexibility: we can do songs at 9:00 one day, at 5:00 another. Or we can do three of the activities in one hour one day, like intellectual, service and creative time, and do none of them for the next two hours. I'm not really setting a time limit, but I'll be satisfied honestly even if we only do these activities for five minutes each, each day. Or SOME of them for five minutes each, each day. I know it won't be perfect because I'm not, and change takes time.
A few things, however, are supposed to be at certain times and are taped there. These are mainly eating times (breakfast, lunch and dinner, with two snacks in between), and our getting up and going to bed routines. So I'm hoping in the morning, we will eat breakfast and read the Book of Mormon together as a family during it (that's what we're currently doing). Then we'll be dressed for the day by 9:00. So I have pictures to represent each of those things. Then, in the evening with Jori, we will clean up any messes starting at 6:45, change into pajamas, write in a journal (since she's two, we'll just ask her about the day and write down what she says for her in her journal/write any things she did that day that we want to remember), read stories, brush teeth, say prayers and sing some songs, with her in bed by 8:00. That's the goal anyway.

I know this isn't covering all the ground that could be covered, as far as teaching them what I want them to leave the house knowing. Like there's nothing in here that will necessarily teach them cooking, and healthy eating isn't necessarily addressed yet in here, either. But I've gotta take baby steps. If I try to do too much at once, it's going to fail. The hardest part starting out I think is going to be creative time--we don't have that many art supplies, and trying to plan crafts usually just gives me anxiety (if you've searched it on pinterest, you can see how overwhelming it can be!). So this is my first attempt. We'll see how it goes.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Creativity?

So, I joined pinterest in August of last year. Since then I've gone through these swings of pinteresting like mad. I get all excited about these projects I find...then I realize we have no money and/or lose interest, only to have at it again some odd months later. That's why I have a ton of projects in mind, but only a couple that have even taken off the ground and even those aren't completed. But I thought I'd share progress since...who knows if they'll ever be completed anyway. :P

(Weirdly, I've realized I wish I'd never gotten into pinterest, because now I feel like everything in my lil home is ugly and I should be on top of everything looking beautiful and it makes me self-conscious about inviting people over. So stupid. I wasn't before--wish I'd never gotten sucked in. Whatevs though.)

I got inspired from a few glider updates I found online, liking this one the best:
So I bought some camping foam from Home Depot for around 25 dollars, my mom gave me an un-used electric knife, I measured some things and created these:
 Then I covered the top and bottom (not the arm rests yet because I'm waiting to do the ottoman first and that is at a stand still)...with this adorable fabric:
Michael Miller Retro Forest Life Orchid I found online and bought with some of my graduation money. LOVE it. Unfortunately, apparently I didn't take a picture of the cushions successfully covered with removable covers...and Jori's asleep...so this is all I can show you. Surrey. Be grateful anyway k?
Before that, I got inspired by this:
The Art of Hanging Art by @Jenna_Burger: Tips for hanging art and pictures and Another pinner said: Use an eclectic mix when filling a hallway wall. This collection is easier to "see" than a wall of uniform shapes and matching frames aaannnddd#1 is the incorrect way to hang pictures above a couch, #2 is correct. Balance it with the height of a door frame. I'm clueless on things like this so love tips!, so after swiping some un-used frames from my parent's house, buying some at D.I., and finding a color scheme that I love: Love this eggplant palette I got cracking. (By cracking, I mean over the course of like four months these things happened:) I arranged all the frames into a layout I liked, figured out what photos would go in what frames, and painted them all the different colors in this scheme (except the two on the ends, I just did white instead). Then I put up newspaper on the wall to make sure I'd be hanging them correctly, and Sam put up the actual frames in their place.
 It's gotten to this point:
 Yeah, this high-quality pic was taken with my flip phone from my freshman year of college. (Did I mention how I lost my phone in October at the mall? yeah...)
Anyway that top right one, I ordered the wrong size pic, so it's been a gap in the square shape I was going for; the one on the bottom doesn't actually have a back; and the one in the very middle and to the right were going to be filled with family pics we took in the fall, which never happened. Oops. BUT. Look how close it is to being done, folks!! Atticus is in these pictures and he's only three months old! That's pretty dang impressive for me, speed-wise.

You know what I finally figured out the other day, though? I don't actually want to do all these projects, I just do like pretty things and love saving money. So I see a tutorial on pinterest for a beautiful bed spread and think "That'd only cost me forty to make, it'd cost a hundred sixty to buy!" so I buy supplies and then realize...man...I don't want to sew for ten hours. Blegh.

You know what I DO enjoy though? Organizing. At least, I once did. I think I still do. Odd, considering how un-organized a person I seem to be. But when I was younger at least, I got such a kick out of it. It was like a puzzle: making things fit well, and look nice. A challenge. I wish I could re-discover my love of it. I had a lot of fun organizing a couple of my parents' downstairs rooms when I was pregnant with Jori.

**Update 12/7/2013: Per request, here's what the glider looks like so far, though it still is a cream color and I want to paint it a gray that I have the paint for:
 And here's a better one of the gallery wall, thus far.

Children and stuff

I have two of them. They're great. Here's some updates before I forget:

  • Jori was a lion for Halloween, Atto was a bear (same as Jori 2 years ago). I have the cutest children on the planet, I'm pretty sure.

  • We blessed Atticus on November 10th, two days after Sam's birthday. Oh yeah! For his birthday, I got him a BIG 'ol TV. Funny because neither of us ever actually watch TV shows, other than the free ones I get on amazon prime that I show Jori (Super Why, Dinosaur Train come to mind). But he had said it'd be fun to have a big TV at some point for the movies we watch, and so I found a good deal on KSL and badda bing badda boom, we now have a behemoth thing in our living room. It's a little embarrassing, but fun too. 

  • We've learned that Atticus hates garlic like his Grandpa Hatch, or maybe just to the level of his daddy...either way, if mama eats garlic, it ends up in the breast milk and ain't nobody happy four hours later.

  • He also throws up when I eat eggs...I think. I was noticing he'd been throwing up a lot more than Jori did (but trust me, she was a serious spit-up queen so that's saying something), and then I noticed on one of his 'throw up' days I had had eggs that day for breakfast. So I automatically eliminated them...so it could be false but he hasn't really been throwing up since? Hurray! :P 

  • Jori continues to learn and grow. She's so spunky. She put on this headband thing like a Nephite (which is popular anyway these days) and said "I look awesome!" Yesterday.

  • We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho again (because all of Sam's siblings were going to be there and my family doesn't make as big a deal about Thanksgiving, it's more Christmas and New Year's Eve that gets the hoopla). While there, all the kids including Jori were playing downstairs one day, and Jori came upstairs, took her grandpa by the hand and started leading him downstairs. While on the stairs she turned to him and said "They're not being obedient." (Turned out there was an argument going on.) 

  • Atticus is a champion sleeper. He started 'sleeping through the night' at about 2 months, meaning in his case he'd go from about 8 till 5 without eating. Which has been AWESOME for me. (If you don't know, I get up for all feedings during the night since I'm nursing and it takes way too long to pump to be worth it.) He's got a cold currently though so that's been upped a bit, but hopefully once he's over it he'll go back to the long stretches again.

  • Jori says her L's really well. She says 'lovely' like a pro. She called her cousin Briel (born 2 1/2 months before Atticus) lovely when we saw her, over Thanksgiving.

  • Atto is a big boy, at least as of his 2 month appointment. I forget his exact weight...but he was in the 70th percentile for both height and weight. He weighed as much at his 2 month appointment as Briel did at her 4 month. 

  • She's also been saying "Thank you for the delicious *insert meal or food item here*, mama!" Also to daddy, grandma, etc. She said "Thanks for the delicious sweet rolls, papa!" When my dad brought some by tonight. 

  • I think Atticus might be developing a bit of a flat head in the back, so I'm going to take him to our pediatrician soon as they'll let us. If he's going to need a helmet thing I'd rather he get it sooner rather than later, to correct the problem before it gets worse. 

  • Jori's been hating nursery. WHAAAATTT. This is not normal for her. At all. There's more than one nursery though, and they switched her to the one she's currently in like a month and a half ago, so I think I'm going to ask them to switch her back and see if it helps. 

  • I caught the ball for two touchdowns during our Hatch Thanksgiving football game. :) Sam, we think, cracked a rib. Not quite as fun. 
  • I've kind of been down lately...I blame the weather. (It's been odd but the older I get, the more the seasons changing effects my mood.) Just only seeing the negatives: wishing I was better at about a billion things. But I have a few ideas in mind that I'm hoping will help. We'll see. 

Monday, December 2, 2013

Gymnastics! /introduction to sports

Back in September and the beginning of October, Jori got to be in a  5-week gymnastics class for two-year-olds. Good heavens, it was fun. :) I think I had as much fun watching her and getting her excited about the activities as she did! It was a little insane that we started when Atticus was 9 days old, but I wanted a reason to get out of the house and an opportunity for Jori to socialize. (I'm too much of a hermit to mind being home alone myself all that much...at least, lately. That and I've been watching like a movie a day. But Jori's no hermit.)

So it was a blast! But. Full discretion. I sound like an idiot in all these little clips. I never realize how annoying I must sound until things like this. In my (weak) defense, I was a bit overly enthusiastic in an effort to get Jori excited about all the activities. I do that a lot in my parenting, and Jori's usually pretty receptive.












Jori was lucky because the two other girls in the above photo, they were actually in our last Provo ward. So she had two little buddies, even at the beginning.





It was kind of adorable, honestly--I think Jori was the smallest child in the class. Like for the bar for example, they'd have to scoot the thing the others were standing on forward so she could reach it. But she was also a good participator--some kids were not all that willing, but Jori almost always was willing to try what the teachers were trying to get the kids to do.



It actually ended up being more than just a gymnastics class, it was a sports introduction class, too. So Jori practiced kicking a ball into a net, shooting baskets, hitting a ball off a tee, etc.




I love this one: all the little brothers, just chillin'. I mentioned how she had two little friends from our old ward--funny enough, both of their moms each had boys next, after girls first. Just like our fam. :)






On the last day, they had all the kids stand on this thing individually, and everyone (parents and the other kids) would cheer for that person.
 (My favorite teacher wasn't there on the last day--bummer. She was the one in the green shirt in the first pictures.)

I just may sign Jori up for the class again in January, since it was so great. We'll see!