I Forgot to Fill-You-In Friday #6

Whew! I'm way behind on my updating and my blog. The blog is still on my mind, it just can't seem to make it to the top of my priority list. I've had A LOT of "billable" work lately, and it's a huge blessing financially and as a reminder that I have skills outside of mothering. Go me! So, I've been working in my spare time, and in my spare-spare time, I'm trying to keep up with reading and exercising.

Last week I talked about balance, and how I struggle with it. Honestly, who doesn't? Everyone I know deals with something like this: If the house is clean, the kids are not having fun, if mom has herself together (well-rested, well-fed, exercised, socialized) the house is a mess and the kids are a hot mess. It's life. I just need some perspective sometime. It's a GOOD life. God willing, I know there will be many, many days years from now where I will wake up to grown kids and have plenty of time to do it all, and I will miss my sweet babies.

My new strategy for dealing with my "to-do" list is organization. Every morning I write out a vision for the day complete with color coding and prioritization. When I'm standing in my kitchen trying to make sense of my day because I'm short on good sense, I go to my vision and remember, OH YES, I really wanted to read 30 pages in my book, read a book with Eleanor, put together a new brochure for the ad campaign, take a nap, or put away laundry. Yes, naps make the list. They should make your list, too. I also promised myself to not put things that definitely won't get done on "the vision". Yes, we need to patch the wall where Eleanor ripped the curtain and the rod completely out, but c'mon. It's not getting done until at least May (maybe Christmas) and I'm not going to be the one to fix it, so why pretend?

A recap in pictures and words, because I'm long-winded:

 

 Eleanor got a haircut! I did, too. We both needed it. Isn't she beautiful?

 

Isn't SHE beautiful, too? She's sitting up AND eating solid food AND she'll be 6-months-old this month. She hadn't been sleeping well, and the caption on that bottom picture was something like "stealer of sleep, but maker of happy". We've been working on a "trading down" sleeping method, and it's uhhh-freakin-mazing. I've never been a proponent of cry it out, because I'm the one crying the hardest by the end of it. This approach is much gentler and has seemed to work for our family. (Please, don't take that statement as an attack on those of you who can cry-it-out. I'm from the school of "do whatever works for you".)

 She begged and begged to eat the "sucker that looks like a magic wand" that she got at Sunday School. I finally said "OK" and she took about 3 licks and decided it wasn't that good. Yessss. (I hate red dye 40 candy and limit it as much as possible.)

Eleanor and I ventured into the back yard with little sister. It was the best. Eve likes to swing, and Eleanor likes to push her. Speaking of swing, Eleanor magically developed the ability to pump her legs and swing by herself. Praise the Lord!

That was the fast and furious recap, and reminder that I'm still here, and still have blogging on the mind.

Mari