Just a quick thought

It's only when we forget our total depravity, forget that we are born complete sinners, that we begin to believe we have free will.  We are born enslaved to sin, we aren't free in any way.  It is only through God's grace that we can ever be set free from the bondage of sin.

Family Moments

 Yesterday we purchased and installed a large section of synthetic grass in our tiny backyard.  It looks fantastic, and we got to enjoy it for a good while in the evening.  It helps with feeling like this is home, not just a place to stay until we can figure out how to move on to the next thing.

 I also found out that Andrew is a way better photographer than I (he took all these photos).  And he knows how to capture some great moments of the kids.

 Oliver never gets tired of showing us where his head, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, belly button, and heart are.  And he gets so proud of himself when he accomplishes things.

 Wynter is just gorgeous, we all adore her so much.  There is no doubt that she is loved in this family.

Today it is cloudy, cold, and rainy and so we can't go enjoy the outdoors in our back yard, but we are looking forward to a great many days of doing just that when it is warm and sunny.  (Now we need a grill...)

Finding my housekeeping groove

After Oliver was born it took me almost a whole year to finally feel like I could keep up with housework and errands without overwhelming and exhausting myself.  It's been 10 weeks since Wynter was born.  I've repeated a few of the mistakes I made before, like trying to do too much, or focusing on one area every day and neglecting everything else.  We tried some new things that didn't work, like doing the bare minimum during the week and manically running errands and cleaning house on the weekend.  After a month of feeling like we constantly had too much to do and not enough time, and never any time to truly relax and enjoy a day (or even a few hours) of rest we realized some changes still needed to be made.

One of the first things we decided was that we needed one day each weekend that was dedicated to resting, enjoying family time, taking naps if we could, maybe even staying in pajamas all day if we wanted.  We had 2 days to choose from, Saturday and Sunday, and we chose Sunday because we literally do not have anything we have to do that day.

The second thing that needed to happen was finding a way to keep up with chores throughout the week so that we weren't spending all day on the weekend cleaning the house.  I'd previously tried to stick to some sort of cleaning schedule, or to do list, but nothing was working so I wasn't sure how to make it work other than just doing my best each day to clean what was messy.  Then, I think Wednesday of last week, it came to me and I created a cleaning schedule that actually works really well!  It's generalized so that there is some flexibility, and it doesn't take a ton of time or effort, and it will keep the house somewhat clean all week although definitely not perfectly.

Every Day: Keep the kitchen, living room, and bathroom tidy (this doesn't involve really deep cleaning on the living room or bathroom, but the kitchen does need to be thoroughly cleaned every day just due to meal messes)

Monday and Thursday: Clean the bathroom (this is when the toilet, counters, sinks, mirrors and tub/shower are scrubbed down, and the floor swept)

Tuesday and Friday: Clean the bedrooms (this includes anything except for vacuuming)

Wednesday and Saturday: All the vacuuming (bedrooms, and front room and dining area)

No extra chores are scheduled for Sunday, and yet everything that needs to be done gets done throughout the week.  And each days specific chore doesn't have to be done perfectly every time.  Maybe on Monday I'll wipe down the toilet and counters and mirrors, but not get to the shower, so then Thursday I'll focus on the shower and if the mirrors don't get cleaned, or the counters are left untouched it's not a big deal because they were done earlier in the week.  Same with the vacuuming, although the living room does need to be vacuumed both days, the bedrooms really don't.

Today I got the bathroom chore done before 7:30am (we were all up by 6am), and I am cleaning up kitchen messes as I make them.  The living room will get straightened during Oliver's nap, and again before he goes to bed which is when we ask him to help us pick up his toys for the night, so with a little work, and very little of my day spent on cleaning, the housework is reasonably kept up with and the weekend isn't over run with loads of cleaning to do.

My next undertaking is figuring out a non-stressful way to do laundry during the week too, maybe just 1 load every other day, so that I'm not doing 5-7 loads over the weekend (which is actually what happens and is not an over exaggeration).

I'm glad I'm finding my housekeeping groove so very much sooner than before.  It's nice to feel like I'm able to do what needs to be done without overworking myself or stressing out about how much there is to do.  Errands still get run on the weekend, but if we aren't also trying to clean a disastrous house then that's okay because it only takes a few hours of our weekend leaving plenty of time for other things.