Changing it up a little

I am working on changing things up a bit - hoping this will give me some more motivation to blog.  I am staying up later than normal just to do these few changes.  I HOPE I can find motivation somewhere ladies, because as of right now, I cannot find the time, nor motivation to keep up with this blog.  I don't want to give it up though!  Where do you find the time/motivation to keep up?  Sleep means so much to me, and even with a sleeping through the night baby, I'm exhausted!  So, this is a short and sweet post, good night!

Cleaning Routine.....

 

So it seems as if my wish for a cleaning lady isn't going to happen.  At least not yet.  Tim tried.  He really did.  He wanted to give me a clean house for Christmas!  He made some calls, and did some inquiring with some "local" companies about setting up routine cleaning appointments and wouldn't you know it.....  No one that he's found actually cleans in our area.  BUMMER!  I was super excited at the thought of having someone come in twice a month to get to some of the things that seem to take us the most time, even if they aren't that difficult.

I still need to get these chores accomplished, and I want some things to get done weekly, and some bi-weekly.  So, I whipped out my excel spreadsheet last night and came up with this.... 

 

This is what I'm calling a two week rotating chart of tasks.  Tim and I will both get one job per day.  Let's talk weekdays first.  Monday - Thursday all tasks are the same....  They are short, sweet, and simple.  No task should take more than 20 minutes on a regular basis.  Sinks, toilets and floors are it the Monday - Thursday list.  Fridays and Saturdays have the more time consuming tasks.  And these are also the bi-weekly tasks, so we need to make sure to spend a little bit more time on these, since we aren't going to do them as often.  Sundays - well, we'll just rotate who does this task. 

There will still be the daily stuff that happens - kitchen/dishwasher/laundry etc.  These we do not have a problem keeping up with anyway, it's just the chores above that seem to cause us all kinds of troubles.

 

Question time.  Does your family have a "chore chart" or anything like this above?  How do you make sure to keep your houses clean and tidy with kids?  I know Holly stays up all hours of the night making sure her house is clean :-), but what do the rest of you do? 

 

Katy is SEVEN months!

I should say, Katy was seven months on 12/26/2013.... Mama is a little far behind. Or a lot, whatever....

You were 18 lbs 1 oz on December 31, when you went for your flu shot. Those chunky legs keep getting chunkier! You had your first bout with pink eye and your first ear infection that day also. We had to do eye drops and 10 days worth of antibiotics. You my dear, are not allergic to amoxicillin like your father and your other siblings, thank goodness! When your brother first took amoxicillin we had to get him into the ER, that was not fun....

Anyway, back to Katybug. Sleeping......You no longer wake up in the middle of the night to eat. Since Thanksgiving weekend, you've been sleeping like a dream. It's been quite nice! You do still get up and talk for a few minutes here and there, but otherwise you are a good sleeper!

Eating... Four bottles a day, somewhere between 19-30 oz a day, with a bottle (5-6 oz) and cereal some mornings, a mid-morning bottle (4-6 oz) baby food at lunch ( two tubs of first foods), a late afternoon bottle (4-7 oz) and a late dinner of cereal and bottle (6-7 oz) before bed. Getting to be such a big girl!

You are still taking good naps, a total of four hours on a usual day, sometimes you split them up in 4 different naps, and sometimes you take two. It doesn't seem to affect how you sleep at night thank goodness!

Katy still loves Cooper. That boy makes her laugh so hard! She is really a laughing fool when he is around. I hope they love each other like this when they are older!

Miss Kate is still in a size three diaper, and size 6-9 month clothes. She's really becoming a rolling fool, rolling across the floor to get where she wants. She's sitting up all by herself now, and really liking her toys. Especially the chew toys. I was so excited for you to sit up on your own, I knew it wasn't going to be long and the few days before Christmas it just clicked for you!

We took you to visit Santa, and you were a pro! That bearded guy didn't scare you a bit. You didn't smile, but I expected that.

Katy, your eyes are still blue, and we still haven't seen any teeth. You are still chewing on anything and you LOVE your Sophie the Giraffe that you got for Christmas. I suspect we'll see teeth soon! Your hair looks about the same this month as last, I sure hope that stuff starts growing or you'll have less hair at your first birthday than your brother had.....

Katy, your smile is enough to make a bad day great, and I am so thankful that mama and daddy get to have you in our lives!!! I'm also thankful that I remember to write down these milestones, otherwise I would mix up all these monthly details considering how far behind I am! We love you Kate. You have completed our family, and you're the perfect addition!

Love you to the moon and back baby girl!

 

to catch up or to continue to let it slip away??

 

This is the thought that I’ve been struggling with over the last few weeks.  I’ve not really blogged anything in a month, and not really anything significant to my life in over two months. Yes, I blogged everyday in November, but those were “thankful” posts and so there haven’t been any life stories for over two months now. 

On one hand, I miss blogging.  I miss reading blogs more regularly that I’m doing now, I miss commenting on them and talking to all of you.  On the other hand, my sleep has become very important to me, and since having Katy, I’ve been going to bed earlier than usual due to the fact that I’ve been up in the middle of the night.  But now that Kate is sleeping through the night consistently, I am STILL going to bed early because I get up in the middle of the night to pump – usually in the 2AM hour. 

This blog has never been about anyone else.  It’s been my way of keeping a journal of our lives for ME.  Selfish?  Yes, but honestly, I’m not in the business of trying to obtain new followers, make money, etc.  (NOT that there is anything wrong with either of these or any other reason for blogging for that matter) but my blog, has always just been a way for me to document and share with my family.   I have met some amazing people, made some great friends, lost a few friends, and learned a lot about people along the way.  I’ve had ups and downs, sure, but that’s really not been the focus.  Perhaps that is why I have let the blog slide – and why I’m questioning even continuing on. 

I sometimes just want to pull the plug on the blog, let the domain go without renewal.  So I might have to change my focus or add to my focus to allow me to make this little part of my life a priority.  I REALLY enjoy writing about what’s going on in my family’s lives, as well as documenting about my kiddos, but maybe that’s not enough.  I think I need to take my blog in a new direction.  One with purpose.  Now if I can only figure out what the purpose is!  I am definitely going to be saying a few prayers about this tonight and in the coming nights. 

In the meantime, so many things have happened in our lives.  I hope I can remember everything to write a post to catch up on some major items.  The biggest in my life personally is that I started a new job.  Since college, I’ve only ever had one real career, and I’d worked for my previous company for 9.5 years.  It still feels strange thinking of it as my previous company.  But I’ve finally moved on, and I’m really starting to love this new job.  I haven’t gotten very far into it.  Only about a week, but I’m liking the potential! 

If you’re still reading, thanks you for keeping with me.  If you have thoughts or ideas about where this blog should go in the future, please let me know.  Have a great weekend and Happy New Year!