This past weekend was one of those wonderful times we were able to accomplish a large amount while feeling relaxed. We did the grocery shopping, meal planning, laundry, and house cleaning. And, we still had time for some quality reading and television watching, as well as leisurely meals with both sides of the family. Would that every weekend were like that.
Things are finally starting to click for the kids and me. Noah is following a napping pattern, and even sleeping some in his pack ‘n play. He is sleeping better at night, as well. Monday he suddenly started sitting unsupported for long periods. When you combine all of that with the fact he enjoys playing independently on the floor, you get a mama who is starting to feel less tied down. It is so lovely.
That leads me to the new session of HelloMornings, which started this week. I haven’t participated pretty much since Noah was born, because I couldn’t get up consistently before the kids. I signed up for this session because I was determined to change our pattern, not because I thought things were going to get easier, but because I decided it had to happen. And the Lord showed Himself faithful, because – poof! – things got easier! I am so encouraged, and thus far really enjoying the session.
We’ve had a lot of activity this week. Noah and I have had book club and movie night with friends, and both kids went with me yesterday to visit friends and then take lunch to Andy. We got a tour of the new setup at Andy’s work, where he has a new, very nice, workspace. Then we came home and neither of the kids napped for some reason, and I started to lose my mind. 😉 But, really, it was all okay, because as I type this Aria is taking an extra-long nap. She’s such a peach – she always catches up on her sleep, leaving me able to do whatever I couldn’t do earlier. Like write a long chatty post about nothing in particular.
For some time now we’ve been going into our room every time we put Aria down for a nap or to bed at night, because her bedroom doors are glass and look out on our living room. I’ve known I needed to do something to cover the windows, but it seemed like too much work, pulling out the sewing machine and sewing a few straight lines on some fabric. Then the other week my father-in-law looks at the door and says, “You know, you could just put up a tension rod and hang some curtains on it…”. Oh. I feel pretty silly right now. Silly and happy, because with almost no investment of time or money we now have a curtain over Aria’s doors. In another display of how wonderfully adaptable she is, Aria has been fine with it from the moment we put them up.Â
Speaking of Aria, here are a couple of recent funny Aria stories:
She’s highly interested in counting right now. She’s not grasping the concept yet, but she’s getting there. A week or so ago she noticed my mom had an “owie” (band-aid) on her finger, and began describing that she, too, had owies. (Which is interesting, since she didn’t.) Mom encouraged her, asking, “You have owies, too?” Yes, Aria confirmed, “My have owies, two – not one, four, six.”
Sunday Aria was served soy ice cream for dessert. Apparently the adults around her noticed it looked like it was getting a bit freezer burnt, and after her first bite someone asked her how it was. She responded by waggling her hand back and forth like you do to indicate “so-so”, and saying, “Eh, it’s okay”. Toddlers, man.
I have some new projects at work about which I am excited. I work part-time as a marketer for a university. Some of the new projects include perfecting a website, and planning some cool events (umm, these are academic workshops, so they’re cool if you’re totally nerdy, which I happen to be). I’ve been feeling an underlying hum of frustration for many weeks now, between the weather and the kids’ neediness. This week, with its sunshine, and picked-up house, and kids who sleep more consistently, and many other factors, I am grateful to see we are moving out of that phase.
