Thursday, July 26, 2012

Time to Smell the Roses

Recently Luke has been growing up and maturing much faster than I imagined possible. Now, when we lay him down in the floor on his back, he instantly rolls right over to his belly. (At his most recent appointment for his crazy cry, the neurologist was amazed at how well he's doing. She said he is advanced for his age - like I needed her to tell me! Also, his cry is just crazy - he's perfectly healthy.)

With all this extra time he is spending on his belly, he's getting to practice using his he-man muscles. The other day I was playing with him in the floor, and literally his belly was almost completely off the ground. Then, a different time he get one leg under and dug his toe into the floor, essentially causing him to lurch forward and land on his nose. Now, I realize to non-parents out there, this sounds like nothing. But it is so amazing! Just think, if he combines these two new skills...it won't be long before he is creeping across the floor...getting into trouble!

He also is almost sitting alone. He just needs to master the balance part. I love playing with him...I realized today that this is the beginning of my favorite age with babies. He is still not able to get away from me and into trouble, but he is also starting to interactively play with me. I'm really excited for the coming months. (Can you believe he will be FIVE months old in a week?!)

The fun times are just ahead - which means I need to make time to be with my family and cherish these years. Honestly, Savannah grew into a little person right before my eyes. I need to stop missing it all! There are lots of things I want to do with them while they are still small...like hand print art...and cute photos...and creating Luke's 1st year DVD...and scrapbooking...and just all kinds of things.

I really want to get in gear and buckle down into a schedule for the house. We need a better bedtime routine which would then allow for an hour or two in the evening for me to work on things (like cleaning or laundry or dishes or crafts). I really want to get the Poland household in shape next week. The bedtime routine will start right away...and once that falls into place things should go a little easier.

I also want to plan our weekends a little better. I know we do a lot to help others, and that's wonderful, but I also want to make time to spend together. (Even if "together" is just a movie afternoon.) I want Sunday afternoons/evenings for us. That's where the dilemma lies. It seems like almost every Saturday is filled up (staining the deck, event for work, trips out of town)...so that would leave Sunday for other things. Church is of course on the schedule...so we get Sunday afternoons/evenings for the rest of our "to do" list. (How sad it is that my to-do list includes arts & crafts with my kids!) But we can't have our Sunday afternoons to ourselves. We have to make time for Carl's mom's grocery shopping...and she likes to walk with her cane, and visit several stores...which makes shopping trips much longer than a "quick trip to the store". There's always the possibility of Carl shopping with her alone, but even that proved problematic in the past...and then I'm home with two kids and it is hard to get much done when Luke wants held the whole time.

I don't know what I want...I wish we just had more time. As it is we don't watch television. We are rarely home on the weekends. We have several half-done projects. We are leaving for a small vacation (to coincide with Carl's job) soon and I feel like we don't even have the time for a vacation! We can't afford to lose a weekend...it is just so frustrating. I don't know how to stop the crazy train...

In the end I kind of know the solution...I just need to sleep less. Instead of trying to go to bed by 10pm (since I know I'll be up at 1 and 3 and 5:30), I just need to stay up until the 1:00 cry...that way I have 3 hours to work on that to-do list. I also think I need to push Carl to do more in the evenings. He is the master of beginning projects and never finishing them...and leaving the unfinished mess in my way (he cleaned out his car but then left all the stuff in piles in the garage and kitchen...he started a raised garden bed, but never created any kind of trelis for the veggies to climb, he's bought stuff for a rain collection barrel for watering said garden but all the supplies [$50 worth!] are sitting in the garage). So instead of putting on PJs (his own) while I get both kids into bed, he needs to be hustling his butt to get things done. He often says he is tired, but right now that hasn't really gone over well with me...at all.

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