Happiness

I'm happy to say that my early hour awaking is a habit! I only slept in until 8 one day and that felt like such a treat :-) The disappointing part is is that Maddox has woken up around the same time as me 4 days in a row. Maybe I need to start getting up earlier. *gasp* I'm not ready for that!

The toys have even mostly been put away at the end of each day, too!

Hm..now it's time to incorporate something else. The next thing I'm going to tackle is after breakfast completely cleaning the kitchen. I tend to leave it half done because the kids need to be dressed and played with, etc. So, here's to completely cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast, including sweeping the floors and spot mopping! The same will go for after dinner. I don't just want the dishes done, I want everything wiped down and "company ready"!

Here it goes!

Pumpkin Patch

Chugging Along

7am doesn't seem to be coming quite so quickly and difficult any more. I'm actually starting to wake up on my own about then, so it's getting easier every day! I didn't let myself sleep in on Friday or Saturday! I will in a few weeks, but for now, I'm going to push through.

I've started drinking tea again. Nom, nom, nom :-) It makes my heart happy. I just need to remember to drink decaf or herbal after 6pm! We drank some with dinner at around 7pm the other night and neither of us could fall asleep. Oops. I need to go stock up on some new flavors for the winter. Does anybody recommend any?

I don't remember the last time I had such a full schedule, but I'm really thriving in it. Keeps me motivated knowing that I have places I need to be at certain times. I'm doing the Beth Moore Daniel study on Tues. at 10am with a wonderful group of women of all ages. I'm leading a small group with some high school girls one day a week, every other week I have play group at the church 2 mornings a month and that's a blast (the kids are actually playing SO well together this year because they're a bit older) and then one morning a month I have a Women's Ministry team meeting. A bonus is is that most of what I do have some great friends participating, so I get to see them 2-3 days a week!

Alright, off to shower before the kids wake up!

This is the Point at Which...

I WANT TO GIVE UP!!!

I have successfully gotten up early 5 DAYS IN A ROW and now, I'm tired and want to give up. I was tempted to let myself sleep in tomorrow, but I'm resisting the urge because I want this to be a habit and I don't want to undo what I've done the last 5 days. I know I'm just tired because my body isn't used to this.

It's an amazing feeling being completely ready for the day before the kids wake up. I love it! I have felt so refreshed all week in that aspect. Most days before bed I've gotten all the toys picked up, too. So that's huge for me, too.

Yeah for healthy habits!

Healthy Habits

I feel disorganized a lot and then I try to become more organized and run more effectively. On Sunday I make a list of how I want my days to run (wake up early, make beds, sweep floor, etc. etc.). Monday morning hits and I don't get my shower before the kids wake up and whammo, my schedule is out the window because I'm not 3 steps behind. I try to bite off too much new stuff at once.

I'm going to start incorporating one healthy new morning habit and one healthy new evening habit every few weeks so that over time I'm more where I want to be.

To start, I'm going to start getting up early and getting a shower before the kids get up. It's huge for me to get my day started off right. I'm going to start setting my alarm for 7am. I know it doesn't seem that early and it's not, but it's better that I set my alarm for 7am and have a chance to wake up instead of being woken up between 7:30 and 8 with a little 2 year old in my face. That makes me kinda grumpy.

My evening habit will be to have all of the toys put away before Maddox goes to bed. Again, not a huge thing, but it helps me to relax after he's in bed and it helps me to feel better when I wake up to a clean house

So, here it goes! 7am wake up calls and toys put away! If I find I need my wake up call to be ealier then that I'll bump it up in a few weeks. Gradual is good.

Life

Okay, I'm not good at this whole blogging thing...

I'm going to keep popping on here to do updates on the family only. I'm not a writer and I don't want to be...I just want people to know what's going on with the kids and us.

I just got home from a women's retreat yesterday and it was really nice. There were just 19 of us and it was perfect. Had a great time with everybody and the speaker was great, spoke right to my heart. She spoke on the callings that God puts on our hearts and how to have faith to slowly get there. Very refreshing, just wish I could have left Juliette home with daddy!

I've decided to quit reading blogs of people I don't know except a few that I read for good deal finding and healthy living. I think it's like soap operas and I get sucked into needing to know every detail of their lives and really it doesn't matter! Just a waste of time for me. It's hard and sometimes tempting to pop on to look at them, but I'm trying really hard not to.

The kids are doing great. Maddox's language development in the last few weeks has blown me away. He's says things in full complete sentences and is often saying words I didn't know he knew! He's starting saying "I love you, too" when we tell him that we love him. My favorite thing ever has got to be when he comes running up to me with arms open wide and says in the saddest voice, "I need a hug!"

Juliette is almost crawling. She's a very determined little girl and definitely wants things done her way. She's currently picking on her brother who is trying to sleep (he's on the floor, it's his fault ;-) .