Confessions of a Hangry Mama

"Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body" 

-Proverbs 16:24

I love being a mom. I always wanted to be one and now that I am one, I celebrate with my children every single day. I love every age and I look forward to enjoying my children when they are adults too. After converting to Catholicism this last year, I feel an even greater call to be a gentle mommy. 

"To a young child home stands for God. In it he learns to see and touch the gifts of God. If his mother is wise, she will make his home beautiful. She will copy the world's creator and make a tiny new Eden. She will bring in flowers and give the child animals and feed the birds. The food on the table will be clean and simple and good. It will not only taste nice, it will look nice. From all this the child will learn naturally that God did not make the hideous travesty that we have made of created things"
- Caryell Houselander 

I decided to take a closer look this Advent at my biggest stumbling block in my day to day parenting. 

Namely, the occasional raising of my voice. I do not value raising my voice. It was especially devastating to witness Peter start to copy it. I needed to quit cold turkey because the irony of the matter is that raising my voice at my kids doesn't even work. It doesn't calm me down, it doesn't make whatever situation I'm upset by go away, and it usually makes everyone else more upset.
Going over and assisting with calm authority when there's a toy dispute (instead of shouting "Peter! Do not grab the ball from Rosie!") always works out better. When I approach discipline in a place of calm authority, everyone is happier and whatever corrections I make are remembered and integrated better. The question kept coming back to "why?". Why could I handle Peter spilling his juice so calmly a half hour ago (helped inspire him to clean it up) and when it happened again just now I got flustered and whined (loudly) about it? Why did I slam down my coffee cup loudly when Rosie started to eat paper? There really was no call for that, it didn't help anyone.
Sure, I was feeling frustrated, but why?

It's hunger inspired anger. I'm hangry.

I've never been good at eating. I love good food, but I always forget to eat. I used to be able to get away with it when I was 110 pounds and working all the time, I lived off of chai lattes and salads. This was before my first pregnancy. I've been pregnant or breastfeeding for 3.5 years and I still haven't learned to eat enough! Even worse, the hungrier I get, the less I want to eat! Food actually starts to sound horrible. Something needed to change! Just as I prioritized daily: a solid hike through the forest; playing with my kids; praying the liturgy of the hours; and keeping a clean house; I needed to prioritize eating.
Here are my steps to keeping my blood sugar level:

1. Eat Like A Hobbit

If I'm praying seven times a day, I can manage to eat at least seven times a day. We eat breakfast around 7. I force myself to eat a second breakfast at 9 (usually it's packed snack style to eat on our forest walk). Lunch is at 11. We have read aloud tea and snack between 2 and 3. Dinner is at 5. Bedtime snack at 8.
I told my husband, "Please shove food in my face at first sign of crankiness...especially if I tell you I don't want to eat". He's usually at work though, so it's up to me to keep eating.

2. Protein and Good Fats

This is kinda a given, but my day always goes smoothly if I snack on avocados, hummus, sardines, goat cheese, nut butters, bone broth, sausages, green smoothies, and beans...not cookies, chips, and quesadillas. 

3. Make My Food Aesthetically Pleasing 

I love beautiful things. I get a lot of joy in making things look good and I love eating pretty things. 

4. At First Sign of Grumpiness, EAT!

For this I use The Everlasting Snack Plate, which is basically plate that keep refilling full of: hard boiled eggs, hummus, veggies, fruit, cheese, and crackers. 

5. Start Dinner First Thing In the Morning

I start dinner right after breakfast in the slow cooker. That way, when the afternoon slump comes (with all the kid melt downs) I'm not also trying cook a meal. I found that a lot of my low moments were while I was trying to get dinner on the table with a fussy baby on my back and a needy toddler on my leg. Starting it in the morning has changed our routine to afternoon read aloud and Latin chant practice shortly before I plate up dinner. I even prep our salad in the morning and store it in the fridge. 

6. Involve my Children In the Joy of Cooking

Because they love helping in the kitchen, and selfishly, when they are old enough to help with the cooking, there will be more people to preemptively shove food in my face.