the MakeShift revolution

Posts Tagged ‘toys’

mothers of invention: laura

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

name: Laura

age: 35 (I think… I stopped counting after 30.)

current city: Memphis

living situation: I live with my husband John, our daughter Elinor (who turned two in October), two dogs, and five cats.

occupation: I am a full-time mother and homemaker. I squeeze in some sewing during nap time and at night so that I have a little spending money, just for me.

HomeGrown Baby Clothes and Toys

how do you structure your time and space: I keep us pretty busy everyday. I would be much happier sitting on the sofa in my jammies watching Oprah all day but I’m pretty sure that’s not very good for Elinor’s development.

Most days we are out of the house by ten o’clock and off to our various activities. Between eight and ten o’clock, I pick up the house, shower, put on something that matches and is mostly clean, and get the kid dressed (I usually only hit about 50 percent of this). We eat lunch on the road, either with other mom friends at a restaurant or in the form of a picnic. We’re home by 1:30 and she’s down for a nap by two o’clock. Then it’s MY time! I generally turn on Oprah and start sewing. I sell baby clothes at Trolley Stop Market in Memphis, and I also accept orders through email (laurakendrick@yahoo.com).

HomeGrown Baby Clothes and Toys

Some days I’m able to squeeze in a nap, and I always make dinner. My previous business was catering but I had to stop when I was seven months pregnant. Cooking and baking are other ways that I can be creative and keep myself sane.

Elinor usually naps until five o’clock, which is truly one of the most wonderful things about her, other than her hugs. John’s home by six. Then we eat dinner, walk the dogs, and put Elinor down again at eight for the night. I usually return to sewing or relax and spend a little time with John before lights out.

I am constantly dismayed and frustrated by how quickly time passes. There are never enough hours in the day, the piles keep getting higher, and I’m SO exhausted all the time. I keep hoping that someday it will get easier, but then she’ll be a teenager…

using the metaphor of seasons to describe the phases of women’s lives,

-what are the particular challenges and highlights of your current season? Elinor just turned two. Need I say more about the challenges?!

Right now my season is hectic and all-consuming. Elinor is opinionated, demanding, and bossy, which is everything I really want her to be to succeed later in life, but right now it’s making me a little crazy. We are together 24/7 since I’m not doing any parents’ day out or daycare. I keep thinking that I might want to start her in something, especially when she is really acting out. But then we’ll have a great day or week together and I’ll decide against it.

It’s also a time of great discovery and learning for her, so I keep us really busy in different classes and playgroups. I say this is for Elinor, but if I’m honest, it’s for me. The days that we do stay home, the house gets so torn up that I swear I’ll never let us spend the day at home again.

We take a weekly music class, a gymnastics class, and a fitmomma class, and the other two days are usually filled with playgroups. I squeeze in the grocery shopping when I can.

-what season(s) preceded this one? Looking back, the previous season was wonderfully calm compared to the current one. At the time I wouldn’t have necessarily said that, but I didn’t have a two-year-old then, so I didn’t havethe same perspective that I do now. Elinor was a REALLY good baby! She slept well from day one, nursed well, and could entertain herself for hours without needing me right there. My greatest shame is that I once thought that I was doing something right that other moms, whose children were screaming in stores, we not doing. Well, I’ve learned a great lesson over the last six months. NEVER judge another mom, because your day will come! Now it’s my child who’s screaming in the stores, and I’m the mom bribing my child with suckers and youtube on the iphone just so I can finish my shopping.

-what season(s) might your future hold? The season to come is going to involve a lot of patience, a different kind then I’m needing now. We are just about to submit our dossier for adoption of an Ethiopian girl. We don’t know if our child has been born yet, or will be born sometime over the next year. All we know is that we will be waiting for approximately nine to 14 months to be matched with our daughter. In the meantime, Elinor will be growing up and continuing to keep me busy. I’m hoping that by the time our new daughter comes home, Elinor will be a great little helper and big sister.

favorite family activities: We love going to the Memphis Zoo with Elinor. It’s a great place for her to just run and discover and be loud and be a kid. We’ve also been lucky enough to take her to Disneyland twice (my sister lives in San Diego so we’ve got a place to stay) and to travel a lot. And every night we eat dinner as a family and walk the dogs together.

favorite solo activities: Napping! I also love to sew and have really enjoyed starting up a new little venture making baby clothes. But my greatest luxury and gift to myself is going to the movies all by myself!

source(s) of inspiration: My mom is a great source of inspiration to me in my parenting. She raised three girls who were just a few months shy of four years apart in age. The fact that she made it through without needing to be committed gives me hope that I can do the same. For my sewing inspiration, I pour through magazines when I get a chance or go window shopping for new ideas for my baby line.

best MakeShift moment: There have been many, but the one that sticks in my mind the most is when I was in a store last December trying to find a last-minute Christmas gift for my sister-in-law. I was particularly stressed out about finding the perfect gift and was in a nice gift store in midtown. I had wisely strapped Elinor into the stroller before heading in, since I knew that I wouldn’t be able to afford the damage that she was capable of inflicting. But the stress over making the perfect choice was keeping me there longer than Elinor’s capacity for patience, so I handed over my wallet. She had a wonderful time emptying out every card, receipt, coin, et cetera, all over the floor. The store clerk was horrified, but really…did she want the alternative? It kept Elinor busy, and I got over the embarrassment that is my messy wallet.

contact laura about Home Grown Baby Clothes and Toys: laurakendrick@yahoo.com

HomeGrown Baby Clothes and Toys

[if you know someone who would make a good “mothers of invention” feature, check out the nomination process and questionnaire located on the sidebar to your right.]

Tags:adoption, baby clothes, ethiopia, full-time, HomeGrown, homemaker, judge, laura, mothers of invention, picnic, sewing venture, toys, two-year-old
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mothers of invention: jaime

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

first name: Jaime

age: 32

current city: Collierville, TN

living situation: We live in a suburb of Memphis, in a small neighborhood with many families. Our household consists of my husband, two sons, ages three and 16 months, and two Yorkies. And all our names start with J’s (even the dogs).

occupation: Registered Nurse

how do you structure your time and space? The beauty of my job is that I get to choose my schedule. It has taken about a year to figure out a schedule that gives us a good balance. I work three days a week, two shifts of 12 hours and one shift of eight hours. We have one weekend day together as a family, and three weekday evenings. One weekday evening is deemed mine to go out with friends or attend small group at my church. My husband also has an evening of his own. We don’t always use our “solo evenings,” but they are there if we want them.

Our daily schedule is a hodgepodge. With two kids on different nap schedules, someone is always asleep, which leaves little time for errands away from the house. I try to give the boys one-on-one time when one of them is asleep. And I involve my three year old with chores, i.e. laundry, unloading the dishwasher, and picking up. We recently hired someone to clean the house twice a month, as I prefer to spend more time with the boys. Also, I pick up toys one time a day, at night after the boys go to bed. Before, I found myself constantly picking up toys! So if you come to our house, expect toys on the floor. It maintains my sanity and allows for more play time with the kids!

We also use e-mealz.com for our meal planning. Meal planning was a big issue for us and this has made it much easier. Now we know exactly what is for dinner, and either of us can cook the meal, since the recipes are easy and already planned!

Our childcare situation is a great one. Two days a week, both boys attend Mother’s Day Out from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. These are days I do not work, so I run errands and do some things for me. The boys love it. We chose the days I work in order to keep the boys out of daycare. On Fridays, I work an evening shift, and my husband comes home early so I may leave for work. I also work Sundays when he is home. Then Mondays, our next door neighbor watches the boys until my husband gets home.

using the metaphor of seasons to describe the phases of women’s lives,

-what are the particular challenges and highlights of your current season? I am truly seeking a life of balance between being a working mom and a stay-at-home mom. All the while, I fight the urge to be super mom. Because I work weekends, I feel like I actually have two work weeks in one — my four days of staying home, and my three days of work. I try not to cram too much into the four days I am home in favor of fun activities for the kids and me. Some weeks I succeed in balancing, some weeks I don’t. The three days I work seem to run by in a blur and I miss the kids terribly. But work also serves as a break from that part of my life. That may sound horrible, but I enjoy my job and I look forward to working. (No, did she really say that? Yes, she did). I also enjoy the adult interaction (well, mostly adult — the occasional immature patient ruins that image) and the absence of phrases such as, “Please stop hitting your brother,” and “We do not pee on other people.” Although to be honest, I have said the last one to a patient!

-what season(s) preceded this one? My preceding season was a mix (summer to winter). It started with a dream job filled with five star resorts and celebrities and ended with a period of grief and clarity. I lost my father, got married, and finally figured out I was called to be a nurse, which necessitated my return to school. This season revolved around soul-searching and self-discovery, and it ended in the surprise that we were expecting our first child! This news urged us to restructure our couple-centered and career-centered life into an existence that would nurture a little one.

-what season(s) might your future hold? Once the kids are both in school, I will shift my work schedule to coincide with school, which will allow for even more family time. I also look forward to returning to golf on a regular basis, and even playing as a family. I see a future with four golf bags in the car, and the family headed to a golf destination for vacations. I am also considering returning to school to become a Nurse Practitioner. So I see spring coming in the future, a season of the blooming of seeds that have been planted in our current season.

favorite family activities: Going to the zoo (the zoo pass offers a tenfold return on the money invested), the park and the water park in the summer. We also recently joined a gym that has family activities and swimming. We have ventured to the driving range a few times with the boys and are hoping that becomes a favorite activity as they get older.

favorite solo activities: Yoga, blogging about work and home , and exercise. I would love to get back into knitting and painting unfinished wood (like rocking horses and stools).

sources of inspiration: People who are honest, real, and not afraid to admit their faults; Moms who blog; My dad.

best MakeShift moment: Showering does not happen before the kids get up, so I have a cabinet in the bathroom designated for them. In it are toys, a roll of garbage bags (that has been re-rolled MANY times) and an hourglass filled with colored water. All of these things entertain the J Brothers. Also, my older son loves his telephone, so he sets up his office in our jacuzzi tub and conducts business while I get ready for the day. I guess you could call it “Take Your Mommy to Work!”

And from my babysitting days, I once watched six children under the age of five. They were all fighting over toys, so I finally took all the toys with wheels (about ten), tied them into a “train” and pulled the train all over the house with a parade of children following. They were entertained for an hour and peace was kept until their parents returned.

find jaime on the web at www.nursegolfdiva.blogspot.com.

[i couldn’t help myself. jaime was my college roommate, and the last two pictures are evidence of the best random dormatory pairing in the history of higher education.]