Friday Favourites: Old School Blogging and Our Week in Quarantine
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I’ve decided to try something new. This could be my best idea yet, or it may only last for a few short weeks – only time will tell!
I’ve been writing this blog for about 8 months now. It takes up way more of my time than I expected, but I LOVE it.
That said, something’s missing. I’ve been reading blogs for a very long time. There are a couple of blogs that I’ve been reading for almost a decade at this point. And the reason that I keep going back is not because they give great advice, or are full of helpful tips, but because when you read their blogs you feel like you know them.
I’ve built this blog on a lot of practical tips and advice, with a mix of a few more reflective posts that give you a glimpse into my life. But I feel like what’s missing is you really getting to know me – and me getting to know you.
So that’s what this series is all about. I’m calling it Friday Favourites (because alliteration is very important in a weekly series). This series is going to be a round-up of some of my favourite things that I’ve stumbled across in the past week or so, as well as a more casual conversation about what’s going on in our life at the moment. I feel like this kind of blogging (without Pinterest graphics and SEO) isn’t as common these days, and quite frankly, I miss it.
I’ve toyed with this idea for a while, but keep putting it off because the idea of a weekly series stresses me out. Most of my posts are scheduled in advance, because I worry about “falling behind” when life inevitably gets crazy. I’m not going to put pressure on myself to get a post up every Friday, but I’ll do it when I can.
With that long-winded introduction, let’s talk about what’s going on right now. We’ve spent the past week in quarantine with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Somehow we managed to avoid HFM through 5 years of childcare, but this one spread like wildfire at our daycare. So far only one of our kids has been affected (*knock on wood!*), but we’ve had all three kids home with us this week. It’s been a bit of a bummer because we have family and friends in town that we’d love to be spending time with, but I guess there’s never a good time for this to happen.
The need to avoid going to public places, combined with avoiding spending too much time outdoors (we have terrible air quality due to forest fires right now), has forced us to be very creative to keep the kids entertained this week. Fingers crossed we’re almost at the end of this!
What I’m Loving This Week
Grandma. My Mom has saved us this week by helping us with childcare on a couple of the days when our kids couldn’t be at daycare. I’m sure every working parent will appreciate how HUGE that is. Thank you Mom!
Amazon. When I found out my older kids were going to have to be home with us, I hopped onto Amazon, because there’s nothing like the novelty of new toys. I ordered these and these, and both were big hits. I think I may have loved the water beads just as much as the kids did 🙂 I will also continue to sing the praise of these magnet tiles, which remain far and away the most played-with toy in our house, and bought us some peace and quiet this week.
87 Energy-Busting Indoor Activities & Games for Kids (because Cabin Fever is no joke!), from What Moms Love. I read a lot of kids’ activities blog posts, but this one is AWESOME. So far we’ve done the tape lines, some balloon games, a relay race, and a variation on the sticky note wall bop (I wrote each letter on an individual post-it, stuck them on a door, and then each child had to find all of the letters in their name). Pin this one for those winter days when you’re trapped inside.
Helping Your Strong Willed Child with Positive Parenting, from OohBother. I have a strong-willed child, and parenting him could not be more different than parenting his older brother. We butted heads for a long time (he gets many of his strong-willed traits from his mama!), until we started implementing some of the tips mentioned in this article. Positive reinforcement is huge for us – with three kids, we’re often in triage mode, but taking the time to notice and praise good behaviour goes a long way.
The Big List of Back to School Books, from Babies to Bookworms. Back to school is just around the corner (kids here go back just after Labour Day). Vicki has rounded up a huge list of 60+ back to school books to help your child prepare for their first day. If you’re not familiar with Babies to Bookworms, I highly recommend checking them out – they’ve got book recommendations for every occasion, and some awesome activities to do with your kids.
Hilarious Tweets from Parents of Twitter
Before starting this blog I had never used Twitter, but now it’s probably my favourite social media outlet. There’s a great community of hilarious parents who keep me laughing every single day. Here are some of my favourite tweets from the past week:
Welcome to parenthood. Every piece of trash in your house is now a makeshift toy that you are not allowed to throw out.
— SpacedMom (@copymama) August 21, 2018
Husband: Is the baby on track with all his developmental milestones?
Me: I don’t know, I think that’s more of a first child thing
— Mom Truths (@momtruths2btold) August 18, 2018
BEFORE HAVING KIDS: “I am NEVER making separate meals for my children”
4 YEARS LATER: “Let me repeat your order: tri-color pasta (al dente) with butter & cheese on a bed of string cheese on a fairy plate, cup of water with star-shaped ice cubes, yogurt two ways, Cheez-Its.”
— Bret Turner (@bretjturner) August 15, 2018
Childbirth classes should include useful parenting advice, like how to dispose of a kid’s artwork in the outside trash bin only.
— Walking Outside (@WalkingOutside) August 16, 2018
And some wise words about motherhood:
Being a mother is learning strengths you didn’t know you had & dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.
— Coffee Mama ☕️ (@snoozyjavamama) August 17, 2018
Our agenda for this weekend is very low-key, as we continue to avoid public spaces or exposing other people to this virus. Hopefully it will be out of our house completely in the next few days! What do you have planned for the weekend?
Sorry to hear about the hand, foot and mouth…we’ve never had it here (knock on wood too!), but friends have, and it doesn’t sound fun. Hopefully by this point everything is back to normal??
I just read the article about helping a strong willed child, and sent the link to my husband as well. Thanks for that recommendation. We are having some issues with our son right now, and this is great guidance. I feel like we’ve tried so many things and aren’t getting anywhere.
The weekly series is a great idea, and I’m looking forward to reading. I do “five frugal things” every week, and I love it. It is a way for me to incorporate a bit about our daily lives into a weekly post, and it’s fun to write. Good luck!
We actually got off pretty easy! Only one of our kids got it, and she had a pretty mild case. Thank GOODNESS!
I hope some of the advice in that article helps. The biggest thing we’ve found with our son is that he just wants attention. If he doesn’t get positive attention, he’s going to seek negative attention, so we notice a big difference when we take the time to stop and recognize his good behaviour.
Thanks for the encouragement on this new series! Yours is one of the weekly series that I’ve really enjoyed. I’m trying not to put pressure on myself to get a post up every week, but I’m really hoping I can keep up with this. It’s fun to blog just to write and not worry about graphics, SEO, etc.