Knowing Your Worth

Just for fun, this morning I decided to work out how much I am worth as a stay at home mum in terms of money.

 I know many mums sadly can't afford to stay home and must go work, I understand that would be so hard - you're all rockstars!!

I also know that it's difficult to feel like you aren't contributing to the financial struggles of the family if you stay home.
So with that in mind, I decided to add up an average of how much my services would cost if they were performed by someone else, to give me a sense of my financial contribution so to speak.

This is only the things I do during 'work' hours..

If I'm being very conservative, I would say I do one hour of housework a day during work hours. At $25 an hour for 5 days - that's $125

Childcare on average for children 0-3yrs, 5 days a week comes out at $500 each. For for the 'average' family of two, you're providing $1000 of care each week!

So, based on only doing minimal housework, the 'average' stay at home mum of two is earning a whopping $58,500 a year! That's higher than the average single full time salary right there without even looking into all the other things we do!

For me, knowing my salary worth gives me a massive sense of self worth and I feel as though I too am financially valuable to the family even if it isn't coming in to my bank account each week.

Basically, what I want to reinforce is that whether you are a working mum or a stay at home mum, your time is so valuable and you are making a huge contribution to your family financially.
Go you good thing!!

Double Trouble? No. Double Snuggles.

Last night my poor little Miss I was in pain and having trouble falling asleep.
 She is so different to her twin sister, she needs more touches to fill up her 'love bank' and requires a much gentler approach in general. As I sat next to her bed, waiting for her to drift off and I was thinking about just how incredibly lucky I am.
I get double kisses, double cuddles, double love.
I have two beautiful, kind, stubborn, loving, strong-willed and spirited little twin girls.

This morning I was reflecting on how important those moments are.
The quiet moments, the loving cuddles.
They make me really appreciate my girls.
So many strangers unknowingly make hurtful comments about twins - "double trouble", "you've got your hands full!", "better you than me!".
The more you hear these things, the easier it is to think this way.
Remember - Twins are a blessing.
  am so thankful for my girls. Double trouble? No. Double snuggles!!

My Mission in Life - Minimising Housework

My house can look immaculate one minute and like bomb has exploded the next. In order to maintain some degree of sanity, these are the things that I have started doing.. 

Every person is allocated one cup, one plate and one set of cutlery to last each day. After each use, they are quickly rinsed and placed in the dish rack until the next meal or snack. The dishwasher only then gets packed and run each evening. Otherwise, I would need to run the dishwasher 3 times a day. Literally. 

Mini hand held vacuums are extremely handy. I only got one recently and I LOVE IT. It means those little messes that appear after every meal take a mere 20 seconds to clean up, and prevents them from spreading all through the house. 

It also means that the vacuuming at the end of the day takes half the time!

Use your little helpers. As frustrating or stressful as it can be to have 'help' with the housework.. If you give them the right jobs, it can reduce your stress and your work load.

 My kids love cleaning with spray bottles and cloths. This is a job that they can do independantly and is hard to make big messes. They wipe down the tables, clean the windows, cupboard doors and occasionally the floor (if I just need to occupy them for a bit longer!).

All the while they are learning life skills,  burning energy and having fun!!

Have a 'tidy up' time at the end of the day with your kids. Before horror hour hits, put on some music and tidy up together. By the time the kids are two, they are perfectly capable of helping put the toys away. I'm the first to admit that I forget to do this most of the time. But I am going to do my best to make this part of our routine.
I think it is both beneficial and important for my kids to be a part of tidying every day.

Please God, make the wind stop.

Growing up as the daughter of a primary school teacher has affected me in many ways. I have strong opinions about names, I am very conscious of spelling and grammar, and I love lists.

One of the many things I learnt from my mum was that children behave terribly in windy weather.. Although, I never understood how she came to this conclusion... Until today.

Today is incredibly windy and my children are acting as though they have been eating red frogs all morning, haven't slept for two days and hate everything in the world.

I am getting through today minute by minute and trying my hardest to love my children through their many, many tantrums. Most importantly, I am resisting doing what I feel like doing - yelling, crying and drinking wine.

I was so mortified when this happened on the weekend..

I knew this day would come. I just never thought that it would happen so soon. 

One of my children was 'that' child at a party. 

So, here we are at a friends house, celebrating a birthday with a relaxed Sunday evening Aussie barbecue. There is another family with four kids there that we had never met before as well, all the parents are having a chat on the back porch and the mobile kids are running around having a ball. 

Next minute, Mr X has punched a child twice his height and age in the face. 

Yep, not ideal.. But we made him apologise and hoped it was just excitement and being overwhelmed so we could move on.

 A few minutes later, he hits another child. 

By this stage I was praying that the ground would open up and swallow me to save me from my embarrassment and shame. The other parents are being nice, smiling and shrugging it off as 'kids being kids' to try and comfort me. 

At this point I should add, that all the other children are playing beautifully together without incident.

After a stint in time out and an apology, Mr X was warned that another incident would get him a ticket out of the party and straight into bed. 

A mere ten minutes later a little girl could be seen crying and running away from a stick-wielding Mr X who had just hit her in the face. 

My wingman swooped in and took our little boxing boy home to bed. 

I was absolutely mortified and spent the rest of the party choking back tears and apologising over and over.

Note - Mr X is going through a stage where he expresses his frustration through violence. 

We have been talking to him about it and been very strict with our discipline so he knows very well that this is not an OK way to deal with your emotions. This is the first time he has been violent towards someone outside of the family and I trust that with our consistent and calm discipline, he will grow out of it soon. 

Gay? So What?

Today my gorgeous sister-in-law and her lovely girlfriend were over for a couple of hours helping me to get in front of the housework and giving me a chance to visit the bathroom solo (WIN!).

Their relationship is relatively new and has never been announced or explained to Mr X. He has just come to understand that they are together on his own.
I've never had to have a conversation with him about the fact that his Aunt is with a woman and not a man.
He has never asked.
He just sees two people that are happy and in love and accepts that.

I love how simple things are in the eyes of my three year old.
Love is love.

Mr X shocked me today when he took defiance to whole a new level..

Today my beautiful grandmother came over to help me with the children.
The kids already have a strong association with their Mimi and sweet treats. She always has an abundance of home-baked deliciousness when we visit. Today was no different, she came bearing biscuits, cupcakes and dinner - bless her!

Mr X had already indulged in quite a few cupcakes and biscuits when he came to me and asked for yet another cupcake. I explained that he had already had too many and didn't need any more sugar.
Up until now, this would have resulted in a rather dramatic sigh, head drop and pout combo followed by an "Oh.. Ok.." And that would have been the end of it.

Today, a few minutes after refusing him, I noticed Mr X emerging from under the desk with pink icing all over his face and an empty cupcake wrapper.
The little rascal had snuck a cupcake off the bench and hidden under the desk to eat it!!
This is certainly a new level of defiance in our house.
I think I will have to be much more vigilant with any sweets in the house from now on!