I have added to this since first posting it, please don't feel obligated to read it. It is just as boring as the first draft, just more detailed :)
This is the first full week of school that Eden and Andrew have had with 'normal' 2-day weekends on both sides. I love my kids and it's fun to have some extra days off to do fun stuff, but I have been craving a routine and a little more quiet. The hiccup-start to school that we always have here was really wearing on me. At the end of last week, I made a sort of schedule of what I would try to get done each day of the week. For better or for worse, I got the idea from Pinterest (an awesome place for inspiration in all aspects of life, but also an awesome place to feel inadequate in any area of life), and my goal is to spend 15-60 minutes focusing on certain areas of the house.
Monday- kitchen
Tuesday- living room and family room
Wednesday- masterbedroom and bath
Thursday- home improvement/organization or whatever else i want to get done around the house (this week I rearranged furniture in the girls' rooms)
Friday- blog or scrapbook
Daily, as needed- laundry, dishes, vacuuming (clean floors are a higher priority now that Charis is crawling)
It looked so easy on paper, and it did go pretty well. But, it is really amazing how much life {especially life with 3 kids and a baby} can get in the way of my "To Do" List! Anyway, I stuck to it, and now, on Friday, I get to spend some time blogging.
My typical list each day has exercise, scripture reading, and laundry. These things are pretty much habits, but it's nice to have a couple things that are almost guaranteed to get checked off every day :) Then there's any commitments me and/or the kids have (appointments, activities, play-dates, etc.) Next comes whatever house-cleaning I'm going to try to get done that day and any other tasks that just need to be done (like mailing our voter registration- finally got that done this week). I can get by a day or maybe two without the list. But, any longer than that, and I completely lose track of things. I joke sometimes that at least half my brain is on the family calendar, sticky notes, and (now that we've updated) my smartphone. It's kind of funny, in a pathetic way, but it's absolutely true. Even with all these helpers, I still sometimes forget appointments and other tasks.
I never would have believed it before it happened to me. But since I've had Charis, a few people have actually said how "4 was the hardest". I'm kind of starting to think it's part of some joke by the universe to convince people to have more kids. However many you have, people will tell you that number was the hardest, implying it gets easier to have more kids. Up until now, people always have said 2 or 3 was "the hardest". I've decided that having another child is hard no matter how many kids you have. It is crazy trying to balance a baby's needs and schedule with the rest of the family's schedule. But, it is definitely worth it.
Now, the stuff that's not on my list:
Our school-day morning schedule starts with family prayer at 6:30. My goal is to be up 15-30 minutes before to get dressed (usually in exercise clothes), make, my bed, do my personal prayers and "get my head in the game", but Charis has recently decided that night time feelings at 12 or 3 or both are a good thing, and I am dragging in the morning. So, family prayer at 6:30 or 6:45, then kids (especially Eden and Andrew) get ready for the day (make beds, pray, get dressed) and I get breakfast ready by about 7am. I eat breakfast then get lunches ready, then clean-up breakfast. Eden and Andrew take turns getting the piano practice done, and also brush teeth, pack bags (if it's not already done the day before, and are out the door to school by 8am. {I LOVE THAT THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH TO WALK BOTH WAYS BY THEMSELVES!}. Again, it looks pretty awesome on paper, but it is usually at least a little hectic and intense with a child or 2 or 4 throwing tantrums, whining, arguing about something at some point.
While the school kids are gone, and after I finish cleaning up breakfast, I work on my list while also taking care of Charis and supervising Jake's activities. I have no problem with my kids watching tv, and Jake watches quite a bit more than the others (Eden and Andrew watch very very little during the school year). But, he gets his own responsibilities and chores done, and lots of digging in the sand, riding his scooter, jumping on the trampoline, trips to the park, cutting, gluing, coloring, reading lessons, and quiet time too. He also goes to preschool 3 afternoons a week, which has been a good thing for both of us.
When the school kids get home, they have might have some activities or they might just have homework and chores before they can play outside. (Having time to play outside is the goal anyway. We are working on helping them realize that all their responsibilities and chores don't typically take a lot of time, but throwing fits, whining, or arguing with mom can use up a lot of time.) We try to have dinner at about 6 then quiet activities, including family scripture study and book reading until bedtime, which ranges from 7 to 8:30 or 9pm depending on the child and the day and how tired I am :)
I realize this is pretty boring, but I wanted to document how my life is right now. Hopefully in 20 years I won't berate myself too much for not taking more pictures and marking more milestones (Charis started crawling a few weeks ago, about 7 months and got her first tooth right at 8 months!) because I will have this reminder that we were just really busy LIVING, and sometimes the recording of it slipped through the cracks. At the same time, I do want to have some record to show of our lives, so my goal now is to work on blogging and scrapbooks (yes, I still have some catching up to do from our pre-digital camera and pre-blog days) once a week. I've made goals before, but I am realizing that I need to make it a higher priority if I want it to get done. We don't have time for EVERYTHING we may want, but we can always make time for the things we decide are truly important to us.
