worst time of day?

[ears73]

Mine is dinner time...
I used to be the queen of the 20 minute meal - start to set and good to go. Now I just can't do it efficiently and am usually not hungry anyway so I can't think of what to feed the gang. I am a veg, husband does not want to buy meat anyway and ds1 does not eat anything "weird". Luckily ds2 will try anything and ds3 breastfeeds!!

*sigh* I know I shouldn't complain, but last night dh made lentil burgers which took, no joke, two hours to get on the table.... We ate at 8pm!! And they were dry and picky son had to grab a peanut butter sandwich anyway. I can't think of what to make tonight which has become the norm and I am about to go on a meal strike and let them all eat total crap or whatever. I knew I was going to have to do everything, yet again, after having the baby... but come on.

[bethanyclaire]

Dinner time is the worst here, too! Ciaran usually cries from 6-8 and will start screaming at 5 if you don't pace the floor with him. Sitting down to dinner is awful!! He cries the whole time and DP and I just trade off holding him. I can generally cook if I wrap him or sling him and sometimes DP holds him while I get dinner started.

How about a crock pot or casserole dishes? The last week or so I have made dinners that I could start around 10am or 1 pm, when he usually naps. I can't put him down really at all but *sometimes* he'll nap for a few minutes in his cradle if I put him down when he is sound asleep. Crock pot meals go in at 10 and casseroles get made around 1 and go in the fridge until an hour before dinner. Then dinnertime goes smoothly and I don't have to do much besides set the table and make up a side dish. I know there are lots of veggie dishes that can go in the crock pot and veggie lasagna is a great casserole dish. I made lentil and barley stew in the crock pot yesterday and lasagna the day before.

Hope you find something that works... I know my DP is great but the poor man can burn water, so I've taken him out of the dinner equation. All it does is drive me batty to see him in the kitchen and, unless it is sandwiches, it wouldn't be edible anyway. A few weeks ago he burned Ramen noodles!

[Tattooed Hand]

Originally Posted by bethanyclaire

I know my DP is great but the poor man can burn water, so I've taken him out of the dinner equation. All it does is drive me batty to see him in the kitchen and, unless it is sandwiches, it wouldn't be edible anyway.

:Yeah

DD begins her crying jag anywhere from 7-8. We've discovered that she generally quiets down and drools semi contentedly if DH holds her lying down across his arm. It's a little tiring for him because she needs to be held like this for like 2 hours and totally screams if moved to any other position and if anyone else (except maybe me) holds her like that. But since he can't cook, that gives me the opportunity to deal with dinner or clean up. Then I nurse her down to bed around 10-11, which is when we get in the sack (since she won't stay asleep on her own in the bed).

We've managed to go to dinner in a restaurant twice now, but we have to go at 5:30 or 6, to miss fussy time.

Before the elimination diet though, she cried most of the time she was awake. And actually, after the last time we went out, she seemed to have more digestive pain. maybe the food was too rich, who knows. She's quite the sensitive babe.

[evinmom]

Dinnertime is the worst around here too. Everett ususually starts his evening fussy period around 5pm. That is usually the time DD is screaming about being hungry (she is ALWAYS hungry). DH hasn't been getting home until 6:30pm these days because he has been leaving so darn late in the mornings. I try to use the crockpot whenever I can. When I have time I prep the night before and then just plug it in sometime before 1pm. Those are my favorite days. Otherwise I have to wait til DH gets home and then either wait for DH to warm up something easy or hand Everett off so I can cook. My kids are used to eating by 6-6:30pm. Lately we don't eat until closer to 7:30pm which messes up bedtime.

ETA: Oh and the nights my kids have swimming from 6-8pm, forget it.

[ears73]

good to read that others are pacing around w/babe. I have to keep things moving constantly for my little guy. And the older ones were the same so I knew what to expect, but that does not make it any less tiring! I do try to wrap him up which helps. So far he only goes to sleep next to me as well so if it didn't get done by 10pm, forget it!

[doclegs]

Same here.... she gets super fussy around 6pm, and we try to get her to sleep at 7 and it's HARD. Mommy has to walk around with her constantly and we've had to try all our "tricks" (swaddling, playing music, etc) to get her to at least go down for the night by midnight or 1am. Last night Mommy just went to bed with her at 9pm and we went to sleep like that -- of course, then she was up at 6am, raring to go!

[evinmom]

Originally Posted by doclegs

Same here.... she gets super fussy around 6pm, and we try to get her to sleep at 7 and it's HARD. Mommy has to walk around with her constantly and we've had to try all our "tricks" (swaddling, playing music, etc) to get her to at least go down for the night by midnight or 1am. Last night Mommy just went to bed with her at 9pm and we went to sleep like that -- of course, then she was up at 6am, raring to go!

Everett won't go down for the night until 11pm. Then he's up at 6am after fidgeting from 4am onwards. I am so not a morning person. Evie is also an early bird. I sometimes miss the days when it was just Gavin and I. When Gavin was a baby he used to go to bed by 8ish pm and get up around 9 am. Then he would go down for nap by 11am or 12pm (later on when he took a 3-4 hour nap every day). I was sooo spoiled by him.

[beep]

Night is our worst time. We can count on 3-4 hours of crying between 10pm and 4am.

[ithappened]

I am SO not a morning person and DS wakes up at 630 on the dot, screaming- nothing soothes him then he falls back asleep at 8 on the button after a projectile spit up.. I still cant figure out what is causing it.

[Craftymama]

Evening times are that way around here too. I usually get dinner stuff prepped in the afternoon so I can instruct my older two or dh how to cook it. The crockpot is wonderful. Leftovers are even better...lol. I hear ya though...I could care less about figuring out dinner. Blech.

[ears73]

Jennifer, I need you here to help me with my older ones... they don't take instructions. But this month I am on a mission - one casserole type dish each week that can be put in the oven and cooked w/o prep at dinner time. It should get me in gear a little and make the dinner prep less taxing. I hope!

[carmel23]

our worst time is when I have to go and collect everyone from school. We get V from the bus down the block, which is a nice walk... but then getting in the car to collect T sometimes totally stinks. I just feel like I'm rushing and my older 2 aren't that cooperative then, because they want to play and not get in the car.

Then they fight in the car, and it drives me crazy. Add a fussy baby in there, and I verge on homicidal.

But otherwise, the baby is pretty mellow. I ate tomato soup one night, buy was that a huge mistake. I try to limit my intake of tomato-- but otherwise he is pretty content to be with DH or me during meal time.

It helps that my DH likes to cook, but often I need to feed the kids before he gets home. So we've had some weird meals, but overall its been fine. It helps to have something in the freezer/fridge just to shove in the oven.

And we haven't had a microwave for .... ever? Since we shared a kitchen with 25 of our closets housemates but I am seriously thinking of getting a microwave to reheat things... it might be more energy efficient then cranking out the oven/stove...

[mrskatiekuj]

nap time is my worse time of day.
Have to rock my 2 year old to sleep and hope that baby stays asleep or content during this time. Often find myself juggling both of them.

Plus my husband works close to home and insists on coming home for lunch to see us all. I often am not showered by this time and it is a totally stressed part of my day. I hate having him see me like that!!


As for dinner - can you get a crockpot recipe book - I've been using mine a TON lately!