A Day in the Life of... A Stay at Home Mom! (Calleen)

Today we see what a day is like for stay at home mom Calleen and her two kids Daniel-4 and Reagan-2 as she balances day to day activities with specialist appointments.

6am

My day starts with the ringing of the alarm clock; my least favorite sound in the world. Why my husband can’t turn it off on the mornings he doesn’t have to go into work is something I just can’t figure out. Every 8 minutes afterwards it continues to go off. Shut the darn thing off!! At 630 he finally does.

7am

I’m almost back to sleep when I hear the door open to the kids room. It’s Daniel and he wants his morning glass of milk. I’m lucky this morning that he has slept this late. I get him a glass of milk and convince him to lay back down for a little while. 

A Day in the Life Of... A Stay at Home Mom! (Tammie!)

Meet Tammie, a busy stay at home mom with four! There’s J.J-11, Fisher-8, Babette-4, and Gesina-19 months. Check out what life is like for this mom as she juggles life at home while her husband Jeramy works for weeks at a time out of town.

7am

The alarm goes off, OMG how many times did Gesina nurse last night? I don’t think I got any sleep. It's time to get up and wake up the boys. SSSSHHH!! Don’t wake up your sisters! I argue with J.J for 15 minutes about why smelly 11 year olds must take a shower. He slams the bathroom door and wakes up Gesina. I physically drag Fisher from bed while Gesina screams in my arms. Super! Now Babette is up too! I head downstairs with crying girls to make breakfast.

730am

Breakfast this morning is cereal because I can’t make anything else with two crying girls hanging on me.

A Day in the Life Of....A Stay At Home Mom (Renee!)

Today we take a look at what 24 hours is like for Stay at Home Mom Renee and her family! Renee’s got her hands full with her fabulous family including Kaden-3, Riley-2, and her step daughter Kiana-4. 

530am

Third time waking up. Woke up twice during the night thinking that I heard Kiana yelling for Daddy. She really is yelling this time. My hubby Chris goes and gets her and brings her down to our bed. I really hope I can go back to sleep. Ki talks for half an hour or so. I try to get comfortable on the 6 inches of queen sized bed left for me. Just as I start to drift off, I hear the boys start to squeal. Check the clock….630. They’ll be fine for a little bit, right?

7am

First Alarm. Hit snooze.

730am

Okay, I’m up, I’m up. Riley is not a very happy kid in the morning. Kaden on the other hand; I wish I had his energy and optimism! I probably would if I slept as soundly as he does. He gets 12-14 hours each night!

A Day in the Life Of... A Stay at Home Mom! (Jess!)

And so begins our first "Day in the Life Series"! 

 Today we’ll take a look into a day in the life for Jess! Jess is a stay at home mom to her three growing boys! There’s 3 year old twins Ben and Sam, and their 8 month old baby brother Jack. 

Take a look at what just 24 hours in their house looks like as Jess juggles preschool, nursing, lunch, naps, laundry, and everything in between!

3am

Sam, one of our almost 3 year old twins, wakes up screaming and crying. He hasn’t been sleeping well lately (and because of this, neither have I). I give in and just throw him in bed with us. Oh the pain! Can you say “ENGORGED”?? I decided to cut out our 8 month old baby’s 11pm feeding last night and now I am totally paying the price.

630am

Ben, our other almost 3 year old, wakes up for the day, comes into our room and now the entire family, except baby Jack, is up for the day. Still engorged! OWIE! And now I’m starting to leak through my shirt…GREAT!

7am

Nate feeds the twins breakfast and I actually get a chance to take a shower (how many days has it been since my last shower anyway?). Maybe the steam from the shower will give me a little relief/release until the baby wakes up for his morning nursing.

730am

Nate leaves for work. Muah, kiss goodbye, and I set the twins up with a little Backyardigans action and dig into my morning coffee before Jack wakes up. A shower and coffee in peace? This day is starting off GREAT!

There's no way I said that! Did I???

I think there has been a time for each of us when we've had to look back and see just how hypocritical we really can be. Before we had kids we thought we knew it all right? Well, then we had kids…

Here’s a list of just some of the things I know I said before I became a parent.

“Hunny, we’re totally going to be those cool parents. I mean, we know what new songs are out, we wear decent clothes, AND we play video games! Our kids are going to think we’re awesome!”

Ummmmm…. Is it even still cool to say awesome? Or even cool for that matter? Is Fall Out Boy still relevant??? When’s the last time I bought something other than a tank top? 

Twirly Whirly Tutu Giveaway!

***This giveaway is now closed***

That's right, we're giving away a fabulous tutu!

What girl doesn’t love a twirly, whirly and oh so girly something special in her closet?

I know I wanted one for mine so I popped over to my local fabric store and stocked up on tulle to make an adorable tutu for my little one! Of course I didn’t want you (well, one of you) to be left out so I made sure to get enough to make a second!

This tutu is white and blue with a hint of gold. It features an elastic waist making for a comfortable and long lasting fit!

Of course I can’t take all of the credit for this wonderful and girly creation. I created it with the the help of some inspiration from places like here and here, and some wonderful tutorials from sites like this, this and this. 

This fabulous project took no time at all! And the best part is, it’s so easy that 1) You could probably do it to so make sure to hop on over and check out the tutorial’s I linked above, 2) I made two of them last night all while watching TV! Now that’s what I call a relaxing, instant gratification type of project! My fave!

Click read more for how to enter!

Trail Mix Muffins

Healthy and delicious CAN go together with wonderful ingredients like organic agave and white whole wheat flour. Add in things like carrot, apple, nuts and seeds, and you’ve got yourself a treat that’s both kid and husband tested and approved!

Click "read more" for the full recipe!

Are you stuck in a Stay At Home Mom state of mind?

I’ve heard a lot of talk lately about people assuming a stay at home mom has tons of free time. I’ve also heard a lot of talk FROM the stay at home moms about how annoying it is that people assume that. The majority of SAHM (stay at home moms) are always talking about how they wished people could just see what it’s really like. They want people to know that there’s barely enough time to breathe never mind have actual free time. There have been times where I’ve said those things myself! But all of this got me to thinking, while we SAHM definitely do have a lot going on, is it really as much as we want/need people to believe? Or are we just getting stuck in a stay at home state of mind?

What's so wrong with just one?

All my life I pictured myself getting married and having kids. Yup, that’s right kids, with an ‘s’, as in plural, more than one. Then I got married, and I had a baby. 

I LOVED being pregnant. Seriously, loved it. I never had morning sickness, I didn’t have to work so I got to spend my days sleeping and watching sleazy daytime TV. Flavor of Love? Yup, watched every episode. Rock of Love? Yup, that one too. From the moment I first felt her kick I loved just sitting around poking my belly.  I could tickle her feet and feel her move them away. I could spend all day counting her hiccups. Delivery wasn’t too shabby either. It took me 9.5 hours from water breaking to baby holding. I wussed out around the 5.5 hour mark and opted for the epidural (which I wish I didn’t, I really wanted to go natural!) which in turn caused me to literally laugh my daughter out. Now any of you who’ve had a baby knows that laughing a baby out is a VERY BAD IDEA. Very bad. This brings me to the only part of having a baby that sucked for me. My recovery was terrible. I was extremely uncomfortable for weeks; I couldn’t sit down unless I did it very slowly. My six week go ahead got extended to eight weeks, then ten. It took nearly a full year until I felt close enough to my pre delivery self to get ‘close enough’ to my husband. 

But that’s all an entirely different story. I just wanted to post a little background before anyone wanted to say “was your pregnancy/labour/delivery/etc just hard and you don’t want to go through it again?”. To you I say nope, I loved every second of my pregnancy/labour/delivery/etc and I would LOVE to do it again, I just don’t want what comes from it, another baby.

Welcome To The Crazy House

Welcome our very own Alaska's Kids organizer Jamie as she gives us a candid glimpse into her life as a (brave!) mom of three!

Welcome to my crazy house, with 3 kids under the age of…..4.
Don’t worry about taking off your shoes because the floors are dirty and they'll keep your foot protected from little toys. Just throw your jacket on the pile of clothes on the couch, at least they are clean. I’m sorry the dog is begging for your attention….she gets “pet” by the kids.

Sigh. It’s one of those days that all moms dread, crazy day! Let’s just say that today I’m easily aggravated and pissy, but no sleep does that to me. It seems the kids always jump on my lack of sleep. They are annoying me! Ugh, I just don’t want to be touched!

“Kaden, leave your sister alone!”  
Don’t say it Jamie..... 
“What is wrong with you Kaden!?”
But for now I will relish in the crazy house and I will feel the love. 
Tomorrow will be a different day, I’ll learn from my mistakes and become a better mom.

Are you an Alaskan Mom Blogger?

Because we're new to the blog scene, and because we wouldn't be here without first seeing some of the other amazing Mom blogs out there, we'd love to link your blog to ours!

If you're in Alaska, a parent, and you have a blog, comment here or send us an email with your blog address and we'd love to link you under our "Fellow Alaskan Blogs" list!

New Website is Up!

Big news everyone!
The brand new Alaska's Kids website is up and running!
Jamie and Myself have been working really hard on it to make sure that we can have the best possible Alaskan Kids site ever!
The new site is easy to navigate, has great links for resources, our favourite local businesses, info on becoming and Alaska's Kids Member and more!
Be sure to hop on over to www.alaskaskids.com and check it out! Tell all of your friends!!

Thanks!
Charissa :)

Here's What We're Looking For!

So I thought I'd do a quick post today about the kinds of things that we plan on posting about, as well as the things we'd love to hear from all of you about! We're really looking forward to posting all kinds of things having to do with parenting, raising kids, living in Alaska, inspirational families, and the list goes on and on! We want to be sure that we cover all sides of the story, any issue, and remain unbiased!
Does your family love to hike together? Do you have a favourite spot in Alaska that you're family loves? Did you have struggles in your pregnancy that you want to share? Have a breastfeeding story you want to tell people about? Let us hear them!

Email us at alaskaskids@gmail.com !!

Welcome To the Alaska's Kids Blog!

So we finally did it! We've crossed over into the land of blogging!

We're really excited to have started this blog and hope that you all get as much out of it as we hope to! Our plan is to feature stories about life with kids in Alaska, as well as offer up reviews and even giveaways!
You'll have to bare with us while we get the first few posts rolling but we hope that you'll enjoy things once we do! Keep checking in, there's a lot to come!

If you yourself would like to be a guest blogger then drop as an email at alaskaskids@gmail.com!