Blueberry Streusel Bread

I've enjoyed being home with my boys this summer. We've done so much and had so much fun. We've gone to: the Fair, Pretend City Children's Museum, La Brea Tar Pits, Adventure Playground, an Angels game, Tanaka farms, the beach, swimming pools, bike rides, play-dates, hiking and exploring, bowling, free library shows with bubble ladies and magicians, and countless hours just listening to them play with their friends, with LEGOS and Nerf guns. It's been a full summer already and there is still more before they go back to school. Still to come...an upcoming Grand Canyon trip and my youngest son's 6th birthday party. On mornings like these when I really think about the days and hours spent with my kids, I am thankful for being able to stay at home to take an active part in raising them.  I'm also feeling conflicted about having to go back to work this fall. 

I've been home for three years now and looking back, the first year was so painfully hard. Staying home with my kids that first year caught me so unaware, because I didn't think I'd have to adjust to not working outside the home. I mistakenly thought I could just assume this new role and do it well. Well, well...being a stay-at-home mom was literally the hardest job. I didn't know what I was doing to be honest. I was struggling with the day-to-day work that never got done. My kids were difficult because I was inconsistent and I didn't know how to fill their day and still be able to get anything done. I was scattered and frustrated and plain unhappy at myself for not enjoying being home with my kids. A difficult state of being for this task-oriented manager who wants to get the job done quickly and efficiently. After struggling that first year, I realized what my problem was. The problem was that I was not treating this "new" job, like a "job". What's the old saying in the corporate world? "Plan your work and work your plan!" (Light bulb on!) So that is exactly what I did.

I took control by planning my kids' days. I set up a routine and laid out what they needed to do everyday. (Structure and consistency. Duh? Isn't that what all the parenting books said? and isn't that what I did as a manager too?) 
It wasn't anything earth shattering, just this: Go to school every day, hang up your backpacks and put your shoes away when you come home from school, do homework right after school, playtime until dinner time, family time, pick up toys, brush teeth and bedtime. And you know what? It worked like a charm. The kids responded because they knew what I expected of them every day during the week. I didn't battle with them to do the littlest of things. It was quite an epiphany for me and a major success, because I began to really love my job.
Why was that such a mystery to me in the beginning? Because, admittedly I was holding the notion that being a stay at home mom was unimportant and in a way easier since your days were your own. You didn't have to report to work at set times so you had time to get stuff done while the kids are at school. Quickly I realized that you never get off work and time isn't your own. But isn't that the other edge of the blade. Days are your own, but they are days needing to be filled with productive activities for you and your kids. Plan your work and work your plan. Parenting is a "hands-on-job" always.

I'm taking this stroll down memory lane about my decision to stay home and my trials about being at home because I've come so far. I take my job seriously and I am enjoying it. I'm still learning new things everyday. As my kids grow, their needs change and I'm having to adjust my approach as a parent too. I am sad and worried if I go back to work while they are still this young, I will miss something great that my kids do! They will only be this age now, and I want to be a part of it. My work is important to me and gives me something more than any paycheck...memories of my kid's childhood! Once you work for someone else, it's inevitable that your priorities will switch to the job that's paying you. And I don't want to feel that kind of conflict of priorities. I'll still have 20 yrs to work when I re-enter the paying work force and I feel like I'm being laid-off from a great job that I absolutely love and being demoted and moved to some remote location with a 2 hour commute. :( Anyway, I'll make the best of it and find something that will work for me and strike a balance. I'll have to, for me and my kids sake. :) Thank you for letting me bleed a little on you today. I'm feeling a little better just owning my feelings and putting them down.

On the positive side, I have four more weeks of summer fun to enjoy and more great summer foods to blog about and of course then there is my favorite season of all, FALL!  Here's a great Blueberry Streusel Bread you can make when the weather starts to cool at summer's end and brings the promise of fall. Enjoy.

 

This recipe is a combination of a few recipes from my Betty Crocker Cookbook. The bread recipe is a zucchini bread recipe that has numerous variations, so I made it into a blueberry bread and I also added a streusel topping to it, borrowing it from a muffin recipe in the same book. :)

Blueberry Streusel Bread

1 2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom of two loaf pans.(I used a 8x11.5x2" baking dish since I didn't have two loaf pans and it worked out just fine)
Mix sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in remaining dry ingredients until combined and then stir in fresh blueberries. Pour into pan. Sprinkle the top with streusel topping.

Bake for 1 hour or until wooden stick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing.

Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Streusel Topping
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients until crumbly.