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November 10, 2002
Okay, first and foremost I think I’ve mislead some people. I am not totally organized! I’m really still working on it. I have come a long way and I have worked really hard, but I still have much to do and learn. I think I’ve quickly learned that just because you get organized once, it doesn’t mean you’ll stay organized (okay, that’s a no brainer, but I’m not real smart sometimes :o). I had our bedroom in tip top shape, well slowly over the past 2 wks things are creeping back in. I have a box sitting here that needs to be mailed, another one that needs to be thrown away and Macy’s suitcase is still sitting there where she left it a week ago. I think I’m learning that I have to stay on top of it everyday or it gets out of control again. Like I said, I’m light years from where I was, but I don’t want to give off the false impression that I’ve got this whole thing figured out, because I haven’t.
Several people on TTM have asked me for help. I try to help where I can, but I’m really no expert. I will still try and include any and all organizing tips I can think of my entries. I’m still a work in progress and I assume most of those reading my diary are too. But, hey, I’m trying!!! I have not thrown in the towel and I won’t!! I’m going to keep plugging away at it and little by little I’ll get there. So, thanks to everyone that posted and I hope I’ve inspired some of you to clean out the one closet to get that one pile of stuff in the kitchen cleaned up. I find that when I’m organized and my house is clean, I’m less stressed, I spend more time playing with the girls, I’m more relaxed when DH gets home and I sleep better at night. And I should add that being organized goes against my personality type, this will be a learned trait. There are some people that are just organized from the get go, I’m not one of them. And I will not let my organizing get in the way of raising my girls. I’m not obsessed with it. My children will play with their toys in the house, they will make messes, they will feel at home here and we will just deal with the messes when they happen. I have a friend that would freak if her child spilt something on the floor or tracked in dirt. She sweeps her kitchen at least 5 times a day (that’s insane to me. And I can say that because I’ve told her that and I know she won’t read my diary; she’s too busy cleaning!). I won’t and can’t be that uptight about a clean house. I just want an organized house that I wouldn’t be embarrassed if any of you stopped by for a visit.
A little joke about stopping by…. I went to a women’s conference and the speaker said she just left her vacuum cleaner in the middle of the living room floor and when people stopped by she would say “oh you just caught me in the middle of cleaning”. I want to be a little better than that, but you get the picture.
My amazing Macy…
She is growing up before my eyes! It seems like she’ll wake up one morning and she’s grown by leaps and bounds. In some ways it happens slowly, but in other ways her growth will happen in chunk. For example… yesterday I was getting ready to feed Erin. She comes in with her baby and says she needs to feed her baby too. She sits down next to me and feeds her baby, burps her (complete with burping sounds) and then says we need to take the kids for a walk. She gets her baby all dressed and ready. She buckles her into her stroller and we head out. She of course makes sure that her baby sister is always buckled in. We were in the driveway and I asked her to go back and close the door. She tells me to watch her baby. She runs and closes the door when she gets back she says “oh good my baby is fine”. She just chitter chatters away about taking care of her baby and how much she loves her. Her baby name is baby sister Erin. She just seemed so grown up in her little cardigan and red shoes pushing that baby stroller down the street. It just warms my heart to see all the people passing by just smiling at her. She seems so confident about where she’s going and what’s she’s going to do when she gets there.
While we were “feeding” our babies I turned the TV to my all time favorite show Mad About You (thank you Lifetime network) and Macy says “Mommy I think this is your favorite show”. Not that she knew it but not only is my favorite sitcom of all time it was my favorite episode any sitcom of all time. It was the season finale where Jamie and Paul almost separated. I love the dialog between them when they’re in the park and when Paul gets back home and sees Jamie laying in the bed, I still cry! I only watched the last 10 min of the show and it still brought me to tears. When he looks at her says “I just love you”, I just love it! And then the smile on her face when she gets the positive test is priceless. I have no idea why I like that episode so much, but I do. I have it on tape and every so often I pull it out to watch it. Anyways… I thought it was really cute that Macy said that was my favorite show!
My ear infectious Erin…
Yes, she has her second ear infection this month! I finished her antibiotic last Friday and Tuesday I take her to her 9 month well baby check up and she has another infection. I don’t think I would have known, so I’m glad they caught it early. She was really fine and we started another round of a stronger antibiotic.
I’m happy to report that little Erin is not so little and growing like weed. She’s 22.6 lbs (90%) and 29 in (95%). She’s doing what she’s suppose to be doing the NP was impressed that she could say 5 words. She did say that Erin has some skin problems. She has eczema on her chest, cradle cap (or crap, as I call it) and a fungus on her hinny (which I don’t really think is true). But, I got several medicines to put on her and everything seems to be clearing up. I think she got unlucky and she got my DH’s skin. Thankfully, she’s just so darn cute that nobody will notice her really sensitive skin!
She’s still not crawling up on all fours. She still does the army crawl thing. She is getting better about getting up on all fours, but she will only stay up for a few seconds and then fall down. Oh well… she’ll get there eventually.
Not complaining anymore…
I realized the other day that I spent most of my day complaining. Now, I’ve always complained a little bit here and there like most people, but I’ve always made an effort to not be a “complainer”. You know those people… every time you talk to them things are so bad and they just complain about every little thing. That’s drive me crazy! I really try to be positive, even when I don’t feel like it. Well, I had fallen into a trap of complaining and I’m really trying to get out of it.
And what do I really have to complain about it? I do think that I will look back on this year and remember it as one of the hardest years of my married life, but things could be worse. Yeah, DH is getting his MBA and basically gone all the time (but he is getting a higher degree to better care for his family). Yeah, he only sees the girls maybe 2-3 hours a week (thankfully, they are young and won’t remember). Yeah, I basically have a 100 lbs to lose and it doesn’t seem to be happening (but I’m young and I have my health and I am going to do something about it!!!!). Yeah, I’m struggling to keeping my house clean and staying organized (but I’ve come a long way and the girls are young, I will get there). And yeah, our lives are hectic and crazy (but at least we are alive!).
I have so much to be thankful for. DH has a great job, we live in a great neighborhood, no one is sick or dying of cancer in my family (there are so many people that face that), I’m able to stay home with my girls and raise them myself, we don’t really have any money problems (okay we could always have more, but who couldn’t. But, I have nothing to complain about. We have our needs met and most of our wants.). Our pantry and refrigerator are full of food. We have a great church and lots of friends. DH and I have a good marriage (albeit a little strained because we don’t get to spend much time together, but it’s still good). I have 2 of the most beautiful girls in the world calling me Mommy (okay, one of them still calls me Mama, but it’s still great!) and I’m living my dream; I always wanted to be a SAHM. So, the bottom line is I really have nothing to complain about. And basically I’m sick of hearing myself. So, I’m really going to make a concerted effort to not do it anymore!
A new exercise plan…
DH and I were talking the other day and I was threatening to get a part time job, so I could get out of the house more and get a break every so often. He flat said “no”. Most husbands want their wives to work; he’s not one of them. First of all he knows he would have to pick up more slack and he just can’t right now and secondly he knows I would really not be happy. So, I decided to need to rejoin the YMCA. I had a membership before I got pg with Erin and I was taking water aerobics until I was about 4 months pg with her. I loved going, but for one reason or another I stopped. I couldn’t put Erin the nursery until she was over 6 months old and I just stopped going all together. I really miss it. So, he said I could rejoin, but he was not to keen on paying the 175.00 sign up fee this close to Christmas. So, I prayed about it. Well, not even 24 hours later I got a postcard in the mail saying that for the first time the YMCA was allowing people to rejoin and they were waving the sign up fee!!!! I was so excited, I couldn’t believe it. So, I go next week to rejoin and I can’t wait!!! It will hard to get back into it, but I’m really going to try!
My new addiction – sewing…
Your read it correctly, I can’t believe I’m going to learn to sew. I inherited a sewing machine from my MIL and I’ve started trying to find someone to teach me. I have several friends that sew and they have offered to help. I don’t want to do anything fancy, but I would like to be able to make some curtains or sew the girls some simple dresses. What a valuable skill to have. So, I’m getting the sewing machine checked out and I’ve bought my first pattern and material. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Also, I got adventurous and I actually recovered our dining room chairs. We had inherited a beautiful antique dining room set from DH’s grandmother, but the fabric on the chairs was this lovely pink color. They didn’t match my dark red dining room at all. Plus, I figured I had watched enough episodes of Trading Spaces that I could do it myself. So I picked out a fabric, bought a staple gun and went to town. What a transformation! They look great!!! I’m so happy I took the time to do it. Now, my dining room will look great for Christmas.
My organizing tip for the week…
Okay, this one is hard for me to do, but I’ll share it anyways. It’s also a FlyLady thing and it’s one of their first basics. It’s the importance of having a night time routine. I have fought this one tooth and nail, but I just can’t get over what a difference it makes to establish a night time routine and stick with it. What I’ve been doing is after I cook dinner (and I try to clean a little as I go), I basically just leave the kitchen as is and I spend that time with my girls. I get them in their PJ’s and ready for bed. I love having a nice relaxed bedtime with them. And then when they are to bed I head back downstairs. I pick up the living room and put away all the toys as I head to my nice comfortable chair, then I collapse. I sit there for about 2 hours watching my nightly TV (sad to admit, but that’s what I do) and then around 10 PM (or during commercials). I get up and clean the kitchen, leaving it spotless before I got to bed. I sweep the floors, start the dishwasher and get a pot of coffee set up for the next morning. What a great feeling to walk downstairs in the morning to clean house. It makes all the difference in the world in how my mornings go. If I don’t go clean the downstairs before I go to bed, it seems like I spend all the next day catching up! And if it starts off clean it’s easier to keep it clean as the day goes on and it doesn’t get so out of hand. So here’s my nightly rountine…
I start dinner while the girls are down for their naps. I make sure whatever meat we are having is out and I double check to make sure I have everything I need. Then when the girls get up, I get Erin feed (this is around 5 PM). After Erin is fed, I put on a 30 min video and get dinner cooked. Dinner is usually ready around 6 PM. Macy and I sit down to eat and I feed Erin some cheerios (DH won’t get home until between 7 & 7:30, so we eat without him). Then after dinner I play on the floor with the girls until around 7 PM. Then we head upstairs for bathes and PJ’s. We come back downstairs and hang out with DH while he eats dinner. I put Erin to bed around 7:45 and Macy is next. We do her nightly routine of brushing her teeth, reading stories, prayers and lights out by 8:00 (DH usually puts her to bed). Then DH hits the books and I head back downstairs. I posted the rest of my nightly routine above. And that’s pretty much how most of my evenings go. So there’s my tip for the week… establish a nightly routine and only vary from it when you’re sick or you know you can get caught up first thing in the morning.
Okay, this entry has turned out to be way longer than I thought it would be, so I better sign off!!
Take Care,
Lara w/ Macy & Erin
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