Screen time has been a point of my motherhood journey where I’ve probably felt the most “mom guilt” for. That’s probably because I’ve never followed “the rules”. Part of the reason I haven’t is because I had access to basically unlimited screen time growing up and I like to believe I turned out okay. I still chose to play outside, had a normal attention span, got good grades, etc. Now I don’t plan to ever give my kids the same access to screen time that I had but I definitely have gone over the recommended amount of screen time with my kids, especially during seasons that were harder (read: pregnancy and newborn life).

I have since gotten more secure about the amount of screen time I allow my kids to watch but I would be lying if I said that I didn’t question if I was doing the right thing every now and then still. I think that’s a healthy thing to do with anything in our lives though because things change of course and sometimes our “rules” need to change with them.

I thought I would first share what our screen time rules used to look like before we got to where we are today. I’m a little hesitant to share because there have been seasons where we have allowed a lot more time than is “recommended” but I have decided to share still because the whole point of this post is that we are allowed to decided what is right for our families. Nobody else should be shaming us for choices that we have decided is right for us. Ourselves included. Please don’t allow yourself to feel shame for something that you have thought through and have decided is right for you just because is isn’t right for someone else.

Screen Time As A Tool

Before I share our screen time rules over the years I wanted to share my mentality of how I view screen time in general. I’ve always used screen time as a tool. I’ve always weighed the pros and cons of it in regards to things that I need to get done vs. the (theoretical) negative consequences of screen time.

So for example, sometimes I really need an hour to myself as a mental health recharge. I sometimes will spend that hour reading or resting. Usually though I will use screen time to get things done that will be significantly more difficult to do with kids interrupting me.

These situations change daily and so for the most part the amount of screen time can change day to day too. More recently I’ve had to learn to follow my gut and to pray through each option on an individual basis rather than just following even my own rules. I’ve learned to have grace with myself. One day they may watch only an hour and on a particularly rough day they may watch three or four.

Our Screen Time Rules When Shane was One:

When Shane was one we started out letting him watch an episode or two of Word Party, which if you haven’t seen is definitely created for one year olds. It teaches kids the names of different categories of things. For example: transportation, body parts, foods. I felt good about it because even though Shane was “too young” according to the AAP, I tried to pick a quality show that taught him things rather than just entertained him.

When he was around 15-18 months or so we started allowing him to watch an episode of Little Baby Bum. Which is basically nursery rhymes that have video. If you aren’t familiar these are about an hour long so still technically much more screen time than “allowed”. Occasionally when he was around 18-24 months we would allow him to watch a second TV show around 15-20 mins in the afternoon too.

Our Screen Time Rules When Shane was Two:

From the time when Shane was 24-30 months, the standard time we allowed for TV was about two hours. He usually watched a movie in the morning and a 25 minute show in the afternoon.

Things changed yet again when he was two and a half because this is when Riley was born. For a short season (about one or two months), Shane was allowed to watch two movies a day or about 3 hours of TV. I look back on this time and have to remind myself not to feel guilty because it was a short season of survival mode. I was nursing Riley a lot and felt bad that Shane was left alone by himself so he was allowed to watch some extra TV.

After we got into a routine with Riley around two months or so we went back to about two hours of TV time and have since stayed that way. For a good while, (probably from when he was about 2.5-4.5) he watched a movie in the morning and another show in the afternoon.

Our Current Screen Time Rules:

So that leads up until now where Shane is four (turning five in January) and Riley is two. We try to keep the limit to be about two hours a day still. We do currently have a newborn again but now that they have each other I don’t feel as badly when I need to spend extra time with the baby.

The one thing that has changed though is that I try to have them watch more quality shows instead of watching a movie every day. Some days we still do watch movies but they are now more reserved for days where I was up late with the baby or something like that.

Some quality shows that teach and are not as stimulating that we love are:

-Wild Kratts
-Daniel Tiger
-Hero Elementary
-Veggie Tales

In the morning we watch 1-3 of these shows (that are about 25 minutes). Then in the afternoon I allow them to watch a more “entertaining” show, such as Bluey or Spidey.

A Disclaimer:

There have been many days and still are sometimes where these limits go out the window. If we are sick I usually allow the TV to stay on most of the day. Other times I really need to get something done that I can’t do with the kids constantly interrupting me so I will occasionally allow them extra screen time that day as well.

Some tips for figuring out how much screen time is right for your family:

1. Pray about it and ask God to help you come to a limit that is right for you.
2. Talk to your spouse about what they think is an acceptable amount of time for screen time and decide together so you don’t have to feel the weight of it all on your own.
3. Remember that these limits are there because the main thing is that it’s most healthy for kids to have enough time to play outside, use their imagination, and interact with you. So the way that I see it is that if they are doing all of these things, it doesn’t matter quite so much the exact amount of time that they spend watching TV.

I know that these limits will change again in the future. When we have more activities out of the house I will likely need screen time less as a tool.

How do you set screen time limits? What do you consider when deciding what is right for you and your kids? I know it is such a personal decision but I’d love to hear from you if you would like to share!

O N E

This sweet girl turned two months old on Monday! I can’t believe it’s already been two months since she’s been born. I actually just posted her birth story yesterday and it equally feels like her birth was yesterday as it does that it was so long ago.

Melanie is doing so well though. She’s starting to sleep pretty well. She will sleep most nights until 2-3ish and then wake up again around 6. There are some days still though where she won’t sleep unless we are holding her for naps and those days are quite challenging. Thankfully though, they are starting to become more spaced out and hopefully she will outgrow them soon. I still can’t figure out what is causing them though.

I actually spent $40 on pacis this week trying to find one that she will take to try to try to help her be able to self-soothe. In the past few days though she has actually started sucking her thumb! It’s quite possibly the cutest thing ever!

T W O

We started the In The Jungle ‘Gather Round Homeschool curriculum last week and it’s all about learning about animals in the rainforest. Shane has been absolutely loving learning about all of the animals. We bought this map and sticky tack so that we can hang the animals we are learning about on the map where they live.

The map has actually been something Shane has been really interested in all week. I hung it really low so that he can look at it whenever he wants. He has loved looking at the map and learning about where the countries are. It’s even teaching me a lot about where countries are located. It’s for sure been a favorite of ours this week!

T H R E E

We went apple picking last Friday and it was the best. The weather was unseasonably warm that day (70 degrees!) and we had so much fun enjoying the weather and picking apples. Now this week we just need to make our favorite apple pie!

F O U R

We had a very eventful week for us and on Saturday we went to Tommy’s cousin’s wedding! It happened to be only 15 minutes from our house so I was able to even sneak away without the kids and spend a fun night out with Tommy. It’s always difficult when breastfeeding to get away for too long (especially because I hate pumping) but it was worth the stress of making it all happen. I even ended up really loving my dress, which was unexpected because the first time I tried it on I didn’t like it. (LOL)

F I V E

As I mentioned in my last Friday Favorites, homeschooling has been going so well. I read the book Wild + Free last year and really liked how one of the beauties of homeschooling is that we can follow our kid’s lead on what they are interested in and learn more about that. During the week we ended up learning about stick bugs because we found one outside. It made me excited to see how much excitement the boys had to learn and it was fun because it was so spontaneous.

---

I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika today! Also some links are affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my little blog!

Let’s start this story back around 37-38 weeks pregnant. I was sure that this baby was going to come early. So sure. I went into labor with my last baby, Riley at 39w3d so I was pretty confident that this baby was going to come before he did. Oh boy was I wrong. Melanie didn’t decide to grace us with her presence until TWO DAYS after my due date. I was very, very ready and expecting her to come around 38 weeks. Let me just tell you the last two weeks of my pregnancy were excruciating because of this. Not to mention Melanie was my biggest baby (you will soon see) and I was so very uncomfortable.

For the last few weeks of my pregnancy I was experiencing pretty intense contractions here and there. I was just waiting for them to become more regular. The last two weeks or so at night I would get quite a few but never anything consistent. When I would feel them overnight I would get up and sit on the couch and wait for them to come again and they never would. It was so frustrating.

Then the day after my due date I was having contractions on and off all day. Still nothing consistent though. That night the baby was moving around SO MUCH. She was doing this the two nights before too and it would cause pretty intense contractions. I was hoping it meant that labor was starting but at this point I wasn’t getting my hopes up because I had been let down so many times thinking I was going into labor.

I had told Shane that night when I was putting him and Riley to sleep that night that I thought the baby might be coming. I asked him to pray for me. He told me he would pray now and said, “God please help mommy to be safe and strong and healthy and please help the baby to be safe and healthy. Amen.” 😭 Isn’t that just the sweetest?!

Around 11pm the contractions were coming about 15-20 mins apart but they were really strong so I felt like I was really going to go into labor this night. I was worried to call the on call doctor though. I was scared she was going to tell me to wait until the contractions were closer together.

I really wanted to go to the hospital as soon as I knew I was really in labor though because one of my biggest fears during this pregnancy was that I wouldn’t have time to get the epidural. I finally decided to call the doctor and she said I could go in. The contractions were getting to be closer together at this point too. About 5-10 mins apart.

We got to the hospital around 12am and they didn’t have a room for me so we were put in triage. This was a strange experience for me because I had never been put in triage before. The nurse had a hard time finding my cervix because it was still very high up but when she finally did she said I was about 4-5cm.

At this point the contractions were very manageable. Mostly because they were about 15 mins apart or so. Around 1 am everything started changing though. They started getting a lot more painful and started getting a little bit closer together. I started getting worried because I was still in triage at this point. The nurse had told me a little after we got there that the anesthesiologist was in a c-section so I had to wait to get an epidural.

Around this time I start asking her again if he will be done soon and if there will be a room for us. They finally moved us to a room at 1:30 but my nurse told me at this point that not only was the anesthesiologist still in a surgery, but that there was one more person ahead of me for the epidural as well. As you might imagine I was very panicked. Like I mentioned earlier, one of my fears during this pregnancy was that I wouldn’t be able to get an epidural in time and I started thinking that this might actually happen.

From 1:30-3:00am I was in excruciating pain waiting for the anesthesiologist. The contractions were about every 2-3 minutes at this point and were lasting about 2 minutes! That was the part that was making it so painful. I also didn’t get much relief in between contractions either. I was still in pain. To try to manage the pain, I was grabbing onto a chair that was next to the bed as well as this thick cotton pad under me and pulling as hard as I could to try to distract myself from the pain. (Side note, I still have back pain from this!) I was also begging Tommy to pray that the anesthesiologist would come soon, ha!

I was so scared at this point that I would have to give birth without the epidural and I literally didn’t think I could do it.

Right before 3am, the anesthesiologist finally came in and it took about 20-25 mins for him to set everything up and for the medicine to start working. By 3:10-3:15 I felt much better. The nurses came in at this point and checked me and I was at an 8. They also started prepping the room for the baby to be born.

From 4-5:30 I tried to sleep as much as I could because at this point I had been up all night. I was able to sort of doze off here and there but I was extremely uncomfortable. I kept expecting the nurse to come back and check me but she never did. I think she was waiting for me to call her and tell her that I was ready to push but when I have an epidural I get so numb. I can’t ever feel the pressure that they always expect me to be able to feel when it’s time to push.

I’m pretty sure I had been ready to push for a while but during this time I also started to get just a little bit of feeling back and I got scared that when it came time to push that I would start to feel everything. I decided to push the epidural button but I later regretted that because it made me way to numb.

Finally around 6am I called the nurse in to check me to see if I was fully dilated because it had been so long since she left and I was confused why she hadn’t come back already. I was also so uncomfortable. I asked her to check me and she basically asked me why (??). She checked me and she was like oh yeah her head is right there.

So she called the doctor and the doctor got all dressed up and I started pushing. Which was kind of difficult because I was so numb. But after about 5-10 pushes, she was out! Thankfully I didn’t tear or anything either. She was born at 6:10am! Our sweet Melly girl!

Her middle names are super special because they both have ties to Tommy and I’s Grandmas. Tommy’s Grandma’s name was Carmela and my Grandma, Mom, and I all have the middle name Marie. A special name for a special girl! ❤️

O N E

On Sunday we took our annual fall family pictures and while I actually hate preparing and taking the pictures, I absolutely love having them to document our family over the years. Let’s take a look back at each year and how our family has grown. 🙂

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Aw it makes me so emotional to see these pictures and how much our family has grown! I don’t take a moment of it for granted. I’m so thankful to have this sweet family of mine.

T W O

Another favorite this week, and always, is Shane and Riley’s love for Melanie. They are so sweet with her and are completely obsessed. It’s so much better and more special than I could have ever imagined. The only downside is that now that it’s fall and winter season, I’m worried about how to keep her healthy. This year and last, colds have been at an all time high. RSV this year is crazy. I can’t keep these boys out of Melly’s face, which is so sweet but also so scary because it seems impossible to keep their germs to themselves. We are really trying to figure out how to navigate this this season. Melly has already had her first cold and she’s only 8 weeks old. 😢 Please pray for us for wisdom and health this season. ❤️

T H R E E

Dressing this girl up has been for sure a favorite of mine! I’m not what you would consider a girly girl. But dressing her in adorable clothes has been so much fun after having two boys. I didn’t even know what to buy for her before she was born because I’ve never dressed a baby girl. I quickly realized she was going to need some adorable cardigans and tights so I quickly took to Amazon and found these really good quality tights. I also bought these cardigans from H&M because I just couldn’t resist! I’m enjoying how adorable she’s looking in dresses, bows, and all of the floral. I love the floral.

F O U R

My organizational heart is loving these binders and getting to put them together for homeschool. We started the Gather ‘Round Letters and Numbers curriculum and we are absolutely loving it. It’s perfect for where Shane is at developmentally and he loves learning about the different animals every day. I love it because it has all of the subjects included so I don’t really need any other curriculum. I probably will add in some math eventually but for now it’s perfect. Shane is even really interested in the bible lessons, which I love. It’s written in such a way that is very engaging for 3-5 year olds.

F I V E

Fall time and these boots. The temperatures here have gone back up (?) and I’m so thankful because it’s been so nice and so beautiful! I’m so not looking forward to winter this year. These boots are so cute though and they’re only $40. I had a pair from Payless (does anyone remember that store?!) that I had for probably ten years before they finally started falling apart on me. I knew I had to replace them and went to Amazon to see what I can find and found these ones and they’re almost identical. They’re honestly just better quality. They do still need some breaking in but I’m so glad I found them. I’m also really eyeing this simple fall sweatshirt and miiiight just have to buy it. Also who doesn’t need another cardigan?? I love the buttons on this one. You can never have enough in my opinion! The ultimate fall fashion.

---

linking up with Andrea and Erika today!

O N E

With my last two pregnancies, my feet grew about half a size. After I came home from the hospital after having Melanie, my sneakers didn’t even close to fit anymore. I’ve been wearing them for a month and my toes are absolutely killing me. I was planning on waiting until Christmas and asking for a new pair then but since my feet actually hurt, I don’t think waiting two months for new shoes is probably the best idea. So when I got an email from Honey during the Amazon Prime sale that my sneakers were 50% off I snagged them in a size up. I hadn’t realized how worn out my old shoes were until I put the new ones on. It’s like walking on clouds.

T W O

This fall weather has just been amazing. It got colder a lot faster than I was hoping for this year but it’s warmed up just a little bit and we’ve been able to get outside a little bit and have been thoroughly enjoying the crisp air and those picturesque views. 😍

T H R E E

I’ve been really enjoying reading a bit more the past week or so. This book has been really good so far even though it might not be the right season for it. I’m not even really into the meat of the story yet. I can already tell that once the story really picks up I’m not going to be able to put it down. I also read this book last week and I think it only took me 48 hours to finish. So so good.

F O U R

We are slowly getting into a rhythm of homeschooling. Today we did this painting projects from the Target dollar spot for a little art project. I’m taking things very slowly since Shane is only four and we did just add a baby to our family. I’m trying to keep the pressure low but also trying to be disciplined as well. Homeschooling is a bit overwhelming at first but I’m looking forward to settling into more of a groove as time goes on. I’m really looking forward to so many things about it.

F I V E

Speaking of taking advantage of the weather, we have gone fishing a couple times the past two weeks. I’m hoping to continue to make it a regular thing until the weather doesn’t allow it anymore because we all have been really enjoying it. So thankful to live right down the road from this little lake.

---

Linking up with Andrea and Erika. This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support!