First Super Mom! Ashley!

I'm so excited for our first Super Mom, my pal Ashley. My hope with this weekly feature is that we can all join together and support one another. I think we are comparing ourselves to other moms and in our minds they have it all together. Now once a week you can come here and see that most moms don't have it all together. We can also give each other tips on how to get it all done. So cheers to the Super Mom!  
Super Mom Questions  

Introduce yourself. How many kids do you have? What are their ages? Are you a stay at home mom or working mom? Anything else we should know?

 HI Meg's readers!  I am Ashley. I have been married to my Kiwi husband for 5.5 years. (that means he is from New Zealand).  We have one spunky daughter, Anika, and she is 19 months old.  She has been an easy child from the start...symptomless pregnancy, pretty easy natural birth and a happy baby. Before you hate me, I gained a RIDICULOUS amount of weight and it took me a ton of hard work and a year to get it off and Im still over weight.   I only wanted one child, but after her, I'm willing to do it all again (My husband really wants another!)  I work outside of the home in an office 40 hours a week. I don't look it, but I exercise 5 times a week- its my mental medicine.  We live in New Hampshire- pretty rural.

1. Do you follow a cleaning schedule? We want to know how often you mop the floors, clean appliances, windows, etc. 
I do not. The only thing I do daily is dishes and laundry. I will not go to bed if there is laundry to be folded and put away.  We cloth diaper so I wash diapers every other day and then I line  dry them (inside when its cold or rainy).  I have never bought a disposable diaper. We are pretty frugal.  The rest of the house, I just clean as I see things that need to be done or when I have time. Every night after my daughter goes to bed, I do SOME kind of cleaning- vacuuming, bathrooms, etc. I get distracted easily so Its usually just a little bit of this or that. My husband and I share most responsibilities. I do a lot more house chores though, because I NEED a clean house.  He works away during the week so he helps out a lot on weekends when he is around.  The cleanest room in the house is always Anika's. I have her pick up her room every night before she goes to bed. I LOVED that room after we made it a nursery,  while I waited for her arrival -it was so clean and peaceful, so I try to keep it that way, even when other rooms are messy.  I have Anika help me with chores. She helps put her clean laundry away and she puts her dirty clothes in the hamper. She helps hang her wet diapers on the drying rack if she is awake when I do it.

2. When do you do the following chores and where are your kids and what are they doing?:

a. Dishes- whenever we have dishes... Anika is usually in the kitchen with me/us.

b. Vacuum- usually after she goes to bed or on weekends when she is out playing with dad.

c. Dust and clean appliances (what products do you use?)  Eh, I hate dusting. I use a Swiffer duster when I actually do it. I use a water and vinegar mixture I made  for windows and mirrors. We have hard water so we get blue spots on the sinks- vinegar cleans that right up too.  I make an all purpose spray I use on counters. I have a little stainless steel wipe I use on the fridge.

d. Grocery store- I go grocery shopping every weekend. The store is 25 minutes away from where we live.  I ALWAYS bring Anika with me, even when Dad wants her to stay home. Due to the fact I am away from her all week, I like to do everything with her when I am not working. I still really enjoy taking her shopping with me. She is still my little buddy. As the tantrums start, I fear this will end, but I'm staying optimistic!

e. Other errands- Same as above- I love to do errands with her. I usually plop her in my sling when I'm in and out of the car and running into a lot of stores. We cant walk to stores around here.

f. Exercise- Monday and Friday mornings I do spin. Wednesday Mornings I walk/run on treadmill. Tuesday night I do Tabata and Thursday night I do a Tabata/Bootcamp class. (The truth is- I often skip Thursday nights :))  We are generally active on weekends just being outside.

g. Blog- Ugh, Not much anymore. I blog at night after Anika goes to bed, after my cleaning.  I started answering these questions Wednesday night this week and its now Sunday and Anika is out playing with dad as I finish these!

h. Relax- After Anika goes to bed...on week days I work on projects or watch TV on line. ON weekends, hang out with my hubby after she goes to bed.  We do go out to eat at least once a weekend (with Anika). ON weekends, my husband takes Anika to do things outside. This morning they took an hour long walk while I was sleeping. One day of the weekend, he sleeps in and I get up with Anika. The other day of the weekend, he gets up. He slept in yesterday and I took her out grocery shopping and errands. This morning, I slept in and he took her outside and for a walk.

3. Is your house always visitor ready? If someone rang the doorbell right now and wanted to take a tour of your house would there be any rooms you were embarrassed about? Take a picture and show us! Good or bad we want to see!
Right now- yes. Except my bed isnt made! I wish I made my bed daily. I am  trying to get in the habit. I want to set a good example for my daughter. I always had to make my bed growing up. My husband used to make his bed as soon as he got out of it...until he married me. ha.

4. Are you always visitor ready? If someone rang the doorbell right now is your hair perfectly styled, make up and pin worthy outfit on? Take a picture and show us! Good or bad we want to see!

UM, NO.  I barely get myself together for work. 

5. What time do you wake up? What time do your kids wake up? What time do you go to bed? I don’t want to know what time your kids go to bed because it takes me forever to get mine to go to sleep by 8:30!

My daughter wakes up around 5 AM every morning. She comes to bed with me (or us when My husband is home) and she nurses and I can get her back to sleep until 6:00 ish.  Even if I don't nurse her at 5 when she wakes up, she is still up (Ive tried), so I figure if I can at least keep her in bed with me while I half sleep, that's nice.  We get up at 6/6:30 on work days. ON weekends, my husband and I take turns as I said above.  I go to bed around 11. Should be 10.  I wont say what time she goes to bed, but I get a couple hours between her going to bed and me :)

6. When do you blog? When I can! I wish more!

7. When do you shower? I shower at the gym on mornings I go to gym, but only body showers. I wash my hair twice a week at home.  I shower most nights because that is how I bathe Anika. I shower myself, then turn down the heat of the water and bring her in. She likes practically COLD water! So lame. ha.  Our bathroom is RIGHT next to her bedroom so she plays in her room and then I call her in when I'M ready for her. Our upstairs is safe for her to be left alone while I shower. 
Sometimes we take baths. The last time I put her in the tub and I got in with her, the water went from her waist to her chest and she yelled "WHOA Mummy" and the look on her face basically said "Lay off the wine fat ass" 
Oh and a few weekends ago, I was putting on jeans and she kept saying "Mummy, TIGHT. Mummy, Pants, tight"   I kind of snapped at her and said "Yes, I know they are tight, the dryer shrunk them!" lol.

Nothing like a toddler to tell me I'm fat.

8. How often do you do laundry? Do you always fold and put away right away? - I don't always fold as soon as the dryer stops- but once I actually take it out of the dryer I really try to put it right away. Before I had Anika, I used her room as a walk in closet, haha. I let clothes pile up for A MONTH! It would take me forever to put them all away. I don't want those kind of piles in our room. Also,  Our washer and dryer are upstairs in the hall closet outside our bedrooms. That is why its easy to put clothes away right away. The house came with them there and I hated it! I wanted them in the basement. Now that we have Anika, I cant imagine not having them on our bedroom level.

9. How often do you make dinner? Do you eat together as a family?- When my husband is home, we ALWAYS eat dinner as a family. We have since she was 9 ish weeks old.  She used to sit on bumbo on our table with us (WE WERE RIGHT THERE- she wasn't going to fall- always an arm reach away).   On week nights, I make VERY simple dinners for Anika and I. Sometimes we eat at the table but shhh (Dont tell my husband) I often let her eat on the couch with me when its just her and me :)  When my husband is home, we usually make dinner together and of course we all eat together.  I grew up eating dinner as a family and I think it was really important. I do not make elaborate meals- I keep things simple. My most common dinner is Wild Salmon- Just baked with a few herbs. Fresh steamed veggies and rice or quinoa.  My husband will  make a cheese sauce often for the veggies because he is skinny and he can :)  I get organic veggies from a farm every week, so we eat A TON of veggies. I also juice a lot of veggies.  I make salads to bring to work almost daily.  I also pack Anika's lunches everyday. I also make a LOT of crock pot soups from my garden veggies. I have no issues eating the same thing several days in a row.

10. How often do you have fun with your kids? Park, out of the home activity, in the home activity?
How often do we have fun? Daily, I guess.  I only get a little time with her on week days, so I TRY To make the best of it. She helps me make dinner. I cut and I have her put the chopped stuff fin the crock pot or bowl.  I let her mix ingredients.  She makes a mess, but I TRY very hard to let that go in the moment. I've come a long way with my patience :)  We always do something on weekends- I get cabin fever and must get out of the house daily.  Apple picking, library, social gatherings, park, local town activities, etc.

I think I am finally done!!  I have known Meg since before we were pregnant. Her and Chase hold a very special place in my heart.  He is such a cutie and I love his smile. 
I also want to add that we live 25 minutes from my parents. My mom helps out A LOT! IF I cant get out of work to get Anika to an apt. she will take her. If I have to get into work early, my mom will take her early.   My mom really is the reason I can get all this done while my husband is away for work so much.  

Thanks so much for doing this Ashley! I think you have inspired me to get off my butt and clean and exercise more! You really are a Super Mom! When they gorgeous girl is a hormonal teenager you can always ask me to remind you of that!

If you would like to participate in Super Mom Thursdays email me or leave a comment!