This is another slowcooker one. I find slowcooker meals to be the easiest for me to do. This recipe is adapted from 101 More Things To Do With a Slowcooker.

At our house, we have a cleaning policy for cleaning up a mess--"Everyone Cleans." This isn't something we thought through and planned on doing, but now that it is part of our family policy, I am so glad it is where we landed!

This is a summary for Brinleys 45th. She was 44 weeks old.

Once you have your first child here, your next big decision is when to attempt to have the next one. Some couples are able to space their babies rather intentionally while others learn to accept what comes their way (whether that means closer or further than planned).

After my post on Managing Dinner Prep Time earlier this week, a reader requested that I share quick and easy recipes I use. So this is the beginning of a new series--Feed Me Friday!

• 4-6 Boneless Chicken Breasts
• 1 bottle (about 16 ounces) of your favorite BBQ sauce. Our go-to is KC Masterpiece brand, but last time we used Famous Daves and liked that too

Making baby food is really quite easy to do! There are entire blogs and large books published on the topic, so this will not be an inclusive post on how to make all baby foods, but rather a post that breaks it down into the basic steps so you can see how easy it is and consider venturing into the world of making baby food. You can see my post "In Action: Making Babyfood" for more information and for reasons why I think you might like to do so.

People are stressed. They are stressed for time because they have a lot of things they want to do. They have a lot of commitments they have made, little time to accomplish it all, and it brings on stress. There are more good things a person could do each day than could possibly be done, and that can really bring on the stress.

Many voices from the world in which we live tell us we should live at a frantic pace. There is always more to do and more to accomplish. Yet deep inside each of us is a need to have a place of refuge where peace and serenity prevail, a place we we can reset, regroup, and reenergize to prepare for future pressures.
- Richard G. Scott

There it is! The double digits. This is a summary for Brinley's 44th week. She was 43 weeks old and turned 10 months old this week.

I thought I would show you how I planned out my summer schedule.

Falling Asleep Problems

I first heard the term “over-correcting” in reference to driving. Imagine driving down the road when you’re suddenly distracted by your toddler attempting an escape from the car seat. You gradually veer to the left as you attempt to keep the fugitive strapped in. When you realize you are heading towards oncoming traffic you quickly jerk the wheel to the right and, instead of the straight direction you were on previously, you’re now headed right fast and in danger of running off the road, into a ditch, or into the pole holding up the McDonald’s sign. Hey-ho, that’s where you were headed anyway, right?

 In parenting, over-correcting is when we change our current course drastically in the process of troubleshooting. It often makes it difficult for us to determine the cause of the current issue and is rarely effective.

A prime example of this happened a few months ago when my oldest daughter was 24 months. “All of a sudden” she started taking an hour or two to get to sleep for her afternoon nap. That is, if she took one at all. That time is when I normally work from home so after a few days I was fit to be tied and popping blood vessels all over the place. She stayed in her crib the whole time, but I knew she needed to sleep.

So, I started to put her to bed at 6:30 or 6:45, about 45 minutes earlier than her normal bedtime. I was fearful she would get used to the lack of sleep and like it so I wanted to keep her well-rested. This went on for a few days and then something wonderful started happening. My 24-month old and my 13-month old started to sleep until 8 or 8:15am. I knew it wasn’t the best habit, but did I care? No. Why? I was pregnant and exhausted. I started thinking Babywise was indeed a sleep method from heaven and counted my lucky stars. Unfortunately, it was short-lived.

Naps continued in a bad fashion until the time change came around, about a month into this bad napping phase. Then, finally, a light bulb went off. She was taking an hour or two to get to sleep therefore having a shorter nap. But, I was putting her down almost an hour early for bed and letting her sleep almost an hour later in the morning. In short, I had increased her nighttime sleep and weaned her of her nap. Accidentally. For shame! I stopped putting her to bed early, started getting her up at 7:30am as per the previous norm, and voila, naps came back to normal. I felt stupid for my mistake, but I was too busy celebrating to care. 

Thoughts on over-correction.

  (1) In the food department. Another area we’re in danger of over-correcting is with our babies and toddlers diet. We can give enough food at snack time that they won’t eat at mealtime. Then, because we want them to sleep well, we give them a big bedtime snack. The baby may fight the breast during the day (as mine did when I became pregnant and he didn’t like it) so I tried to keep my milk supply up by feeding him at night long after he was sleeping through. Not wise. They may fight the veggies at dinner so you compensate by piling high the yogurt. Does that help teach them to eat what you serve them? No, it teaches them that when dinner isn’t good they’ll hit the jackpot with dessert. If they refuse something at the table (and I mean as a matter of habit, a mom knows the difference between a preference and a picky eater) then don’t over-corrrect by stuffing them full of what you know they’ll eat. It’ll only prolong the agony.

  (2) Matters of stimulation. I often think that our house is boring. I’m not a noise, a TV or a radio person. We wake up, play, go outside and do an activity or two and then have independent playtime. When my oldest got old enough that she actually needed some good physical exercise and a change of scenery, I started to up the ante. However, because I’m Type A and can’t stand to wait (raise your hand if you’re with me) I just started her doing all kinds of things. Result, too big an adjustment for her and inability for her to calm down and actually rest at naptime. I didn’t “wear her out” so she slept well, I overstimulated her brain so she didn’t.

  (3) Being harsh with discipline. I’m a firm believer in first-time obedience and I always mean what I say. No matter who I’m saying it to. With my first I thought – for some odd reason – that I needed to sound firm and slightly angry when instructing or correcting so my daughter would know I meant business. Later I realized she responded even better and quicker if I spoke firmly but kind with a sparkle of love in my eye (yes, I am a sappy mother). Enter the behaviour phases. You know what I’m talking about. All of a sudden they act like they don’t hear you. They look you dead in the eye and turn over their plate of spaghetti on the floor and say “uh oh.” Then I started reverting to being harsh or angry. I’d demand this or that and give a look that would kill the neighbor’s gerbil. Again, instead of simply being consistent and kind and carrying on per normal realizing she would align back to proper behaviour, I over-correcting by becoming Mean Monster Mommy thinking that was what she needed. This quickly turned into a “what not to do based on my bad experiences” post, but that’s okay. I’m not proud. I think that if you’re a Babywise mom, and if you’re concerned enough to regularly read parenting advice and tips then you’re enough like me that you can probably relate. We don’t like to troubleshoot one thing at a time because that could take days…weeks… We want to know the issue and we want to deal with it quickly and efficiently. “Wait and see” or “give it time” are phrases reserved for – dare I type it – attachment parents. However, as is the case with life, sometimes we just have to calm down and keep trotting along steadily. Tweak a little here and a little there and maybe even one thing at a time. It could take a while to figure it out and they could be out of that phase by the time we do, but over-correcting pretty much never gives us the results we want. We want instant success, not instant confusion.

 Keep truckin’, mamas, and when you think you just can’t take it anymore… well, keep taking it. It will pass and we’ll remember these days fondly.

Rachel blogs at A Mother Far from Home on parenting, discipline, routine, the spiritual life with children, travel, household management and more. on Facebook page and her RSS Feed for all insights and mishaps.

We are coming up on one of my favorite weeks. This is Babywise Success Stories Week! All week long, I feature posts written by you, the readers. These are posts you have written that share your success you have had with Babywise. With all of the people out there on the Internet who insist Babywise is awful and no good can come of it, I love to have this week where we hear from real people who have really read the book and have really implemented it and really love it.

This is a summary for Brinley's 43rd week; she was 42 weeks old.