Restoring Order

I'm going to be taking a little break from my blog for the rest of this month. I'm still going to post on the 2oth of this month, and then I'll be back after Kaitlin's birthday (Feb 6th), but for the next several weeks I have some work to do. Then I'll be back. I love this blog. It's my perception of our little life...I love keeping this up. It'll be hard for me to commit to this, but there are some things that need to be addressed around here that will require all of my spare time.

Each January I usually clean my house out from top to bottom. Every drawer is emptied, wiped down and organized. Every cupboard, every closet. It keeps us from accumulating too much stuff and it keeps things clean below the surface. I didn't do it last year because I was 8 months preganant and preparing for Kaitlin. Our life in the last year was such a whirlwind that many things had to be left undone. (This is not a complaint in any way. Just the reality of our situation). Put in a bag or a box and left for "later". It's now later. I have accumulated many piles in corners that are driving me crazy. I try to camoflauge them by making them neat piles. But they are piles. I hate piles. I hate clutter. It probably sounds crazy but it affects me mentally. It really got to me before Christmas and so instead of preparing for the holiday I got a little headstart on the places that were bothering me the most. Matthew helped me tackle the children's craft cupboard. Diane, these photos are for you..... :)

Cleaning is my favorite form of therapy, so I'm looking forward to this.

So that's task number one. I also need to get the kids back on a good routine. I've always kept a very consistent routine with Matthew and Andrew and in the last year things have fallen apart. I'm seeing the results in their behavior. I've also gotten into some bad habits with Kaitlin that need breaking...so I need to focus on my little ones and get us all back on track so that we're the happiest version of ourselves.

I'm also preparing for Kaitlin's first birthday party, trying to put a video together of her first year, and getting things organized for the new year. We need to get our files cleaned out, our budget for the year set, and goals established. I find that if we don't set any goals for the year then time passes and we don't experience life to the fullest or improve ourselves in anyway. Dan and I sat and came up with a start but we need to finish it...day trips we want to make, which activities the boys will participate in this year, different projects we want to complete around the house/yard, church, health goals....We never do all that we set out to do, but that isn't really the purpose. The purpose is just to keep us moving forward. I've done this since I was a teenager. I have many lists of "goals" for the year. Dan and I even have a list of things we hope to accomplish in our lifetime. I looked at it the other day and saw many of them have been done. Many are still undone. We need to revise it and add/take away to accommodate how we've changed. But I love having goals and to always be working toward something.

Before I close for a bit, a few photos of our goings on....

Matthew has "quiet time" each day while Andrew "naps" (something else we're working on). During that time he does quiet activities in the guest room. Lately, Matthew has worked SO hard on these dinosaurs. (Mom they are from the book you gave him at Christmas). He LOVES to build things. He assembled these all by himself without any help! (Isn't it fun how your child's accomplishments seem so amazing? :)) I was really proud of him. We sat together today and put together the scene just as it was pictured in the book. He was really excited to see it come together.

A cute thing he said today at lunch (we met Dan who was doing some consulting close to home). Matthew was observing Kaitlin and remarked, "Kaitlin can't talk." Then he paused while he thought and said, "I can't hold my voice that long." No love, you can't.

Andrew is just being sweet Andrew. I went to Gymboree yesterday to do some shopping. He sat in the little chairs there watching a show. I went to collect him and he was sitting next to a small child (perhaps 20 mos?) with a bag of potatoe chips. The child had the bag, but Andrew was eating the chips!! I started to correct him, but the Grandmother was right there saying it was fine...I just smiled because it's SO Andrew. If you have food, you're his friend. He looked at me with utter delight and said so happily, "the baby was sharing with me!!!"

On a side note, I think Andrew might be a lefty. He consistently uses his left hand to eat as well as write in pre-school. Time will tell, but if you put the pen in his right hand he switches it to his left. Dan is quite pleased for the sports application.

Most recently, he woke up today with a barking cough that tells me he's coming down with his second case of croup for this season. It's going to be a long night tonight. I'm hoping the others are spared. Our last round led into all of the children getting ear infections.

Here he is having Root Beer floats with Grammie this past weekend. (She and Grandpa came and helped fix our vacuum system--thank you!)

And then there's the Bugaboo.

Mom, here's the sweet sweater you bought for her while I was pregnant. She's big enough for it now...it's precious.

Here's Dan poking fun at me last night. He gets the kids ready for bed each night--baths, etc. He called to me saying, "Kaitlin is ready for bed!" I came out to see her in her PJs with a bow in her hair....I'm not THAT bad. :)

And we've entered this stage....

>

She's exploring table tops and climbed into this drawer in the bonus room. She's something else. It's so cute though when I say "No, no touch, thank you." She'll shake her head no and sometimes stop touching. (Sometimes not). It's so fun to see her starting to recognize words.

And we're in this stage too....

Where there is stuff scattered all over the floor, all the time as Kaitlin joyfully empties the contents of drawers, etc.

I'm not good with this stage. I think the age is adorable. They do the cutest things. But I find it quite exhausting.

Air Hockey anyone?

And just a photo I liked.

So there's an extra long post. If anyone is still reading, see you on the 20th!