I haven't been that inspired lately when it comes to writing a blog post. Or else when I have, I've been too busy doing other things to get to the computer and post. Nothing much has changed with life circumstances, I'm just keeping more on top of cleaning the house since we're hosting our small group here on Fridays. Plus I also decided to start using coupons again and have been obsessively looking for information and good sources in an attempt to cut our food and household costs while simultaneously sticking it to The Man.
Ben & Rachel are both joys and challenges. I'll take the challenges any day, since the joys are so sweet. Mom is still working on finding a better-paying job but seems to be getting by okay, and I know she's happy to have an apartment of her own again. As are we happy about that. It's been really nice being able to find our groove as a family of four without a watchdog constantly around, creating an atmosphere of oppression and stress. Ben does well with napping and being on a loose schedule. It's tough when he can't get a nap in the morning, so some things will be easier once he actually outgrows his morning nap. But until then, I appreciate the time to get things done around the house, work on budgeting or Bible study, or just play for a bit online.
I've been getting back into doing regular craft days and host them here. I often do scrapbooking, but others have made jewelry, polymer clay sculptures and cards, and recently I worked on printing out family photos to frame for the dining room and creating sailboats out of foam sheets for Ben's room. We haven't decorated Ben's room yet since we're waiting for the weather to warm up a little before we paint it, but I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together, and I've enjoyed the chance to be creative. My next thing is to work on a scrapbook of our Disneyland trip from September, figuring that it's still pretty fresh in my mind and should come together fairly easily. I bought so much stuff for it (papers, diecuts, stickers, etc.) that I'm sure we'll have to take another trip or two to use up the rest. I certainly wouldn't mind!
Weight loss is still nonexistent. I got in some extra bike-riding on Saturday while Ben was napping. I need to do that more often, and I need to have healthier snacks available and prepared so that when the munchies hit (as I know they will) and I cave in (as I know I will), there's something easy to grab that's not too bad for me. I also haven't been keeping up with reading through the New Testament, but it's not an insurmountable problem yet. I need to start taking a few minutes each day to read 2 or 3 chapters until I get caught up. I *am*, however, managing to keep up with the Beth Moore study of Esther I'm in and haven't missed any of the discussion/video sessions yet, so I feel good about that. It's been a wonderful study that has opened my eyes to so much more in Esther than I knew about before.
Life is settled into a basic routine, which is good. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I get Rachel and Ben up, fed and ready for the day, then Ben and I take Rachel to school. Once we've dropped her off, we either head home for a little play time and then a nap (for Ben) and chores/bills/web time (for me). We pick Rachel up at noon, then come back for lunch, Ben's afternoon nap, some TV for Rachel, reading together and other tasks around the house. Rachel often does a good job playing on her own for a while in the afternoons, which I appreciate. James comes home around 6, and dinner is on the way or about done by then, so we have dinner together, get the kids ready for bed, then get some things set up for the next morning before we head downstairs to the family room to watch a little TV together while riding the exercise bike.
Tuesdays are my women's Bible study in the morning. Rachel and Ben go with me and play with other kids while we're there. It's nice because Rachel gets a bit of a playdate, even if the other kids are all younger. I think the next oldest one is 3, and Rachel will be 5 in a few months. But she does well playing with them. Ben's getting less frustrated as he's able to get around more. There's another little boy there who's 4 months older than Ben, and I hope they'll play together once Ben is more mobile. Afternoons are much like afternoons on MWF.
On Thursdays, we usually have a more relaxed morning, then while Ben is napping, I get lunch ready and we all take lunch to James at World Vision. It's nice being able to see him in the middle of the day and visit with his coworkers a little, and when the weather is better, we sit outdoors at one of the picnic tables and enjoy the breeze and the sun, then take a walk afterwards. Lunch has been slower since Ben's arrival, but hopefully we'll get him up to speed and can take walks this spring and summer.
Saturdays are days to get errands done or for me to take the kids to visit my mom, or we work around the house, or visit James' parents, or do something fun as a family. One Saturday a month is my craft day. Ben stays here with me and Rachel and James have a daddy/daughter day. Eventually Ben will be going with them so that I can get work done, but for now it's been working pretty well to have him here, since he'll usually nap for a good chunk in the middle of the craft time. I have a few friends over, and we have some snacks and a light lunch while we work and talk. It's been a really nice social time and good for me to get back into doing something with all those photos I've been taking!
Sundays we have church, and I'm usually either in choir or on the worship team, so I'm there from 8:30 to 12:30. James brings the kids separately when that's the case; otherwise, they'd have to hang out for an hour before the service started, with no childcare, which doesn't start until the 9:30 service. Sunday afternoon brings a nap for Ben, household tasks and other mellow things.
So that's pretty much it. I fit in trips to the grocery store, vet, library (for story time on Fridays when Rachel isn't in school, or whenever we can to pick up new books otherwise), Target, clothes shopping for the kids and all those other regular tasks. It sounds a little boring when I write it out like this. But I enjoy being with my kids during the day - not that every minute is fun and giggles, but I'm glad I'm the one who gets to be there for all the little moments and that I get so much of them before they start in with full-time school and get "too old" to need me in the same way. There's also a certain satisfaction in a clean house, even though it's disheartening how quickly it gets dirty again, and I like that it's getting easier to keep up with things now that Ben is an older baby. I'm blessed with a wonderful husband who takes good care of his family and helps out quite a bit with household chores, lightening my load. We belong to a great church with solid teaching and a loving community, and we're thankful for the friendships we've formed there.
Washington's been a good place for us, and I'm a fortunate woman.
I just realized I forgot my evening routine things, like Rachel's dance class on Tuesdays at 5:45. It's becoming more of a challenge to entertain Ben during the class, but he's doing okay. Every other Tuesday, there's a women's fellowship and prayer time for the women of our Sunday School class, and that's been a nice time to get together and just talk and take it easy after a sometimes-long day. Thursday evenings I have choir practice and, on the weeks when I'm doing worship team, worship team practice. Fridays we have our small group.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the fall, we'll probably start Rachel in Awana at church, which is an activity for kids that's sort of like a Christian Girl and Boy Scouts. It includes Bible verse memorization as one of the areas where you could earn badges, or at least it did when I was young and was in Awana, and I'm assuming it still operates that way. I think she'll enjoy it if she can get used to being up that late on a school night (she's usually down for the night by 8:00), but I'm not looking forward to another evening being taken up. I guess that's just the way it goes when your kids hit elementary school - sometimes it seems like you're always running from one activity to the next. Hopefully it won't be quite that bad for us and we'll be able to keep schedules manageable.