Feelin' Good

Finally, about 6 months after having Susannah, I feel like we're "back to normal" - or at least a new normal - fairly consistently in the household. And since I've said this, something will probably change next week and we'll have to discover a whole new "normal" :P

Last week was the first time that I actually cleaned (or did some cleaning in) each room in the house. EVEN THE BATHROOM! I did have a burn-out day on Friday, but Saturday I knew I didn't want the week to end without finishing, and being so close to my goal, I just tackled the bathroom with full force and scrubbed it top to bottom.

It felt good to know that I had worked hard all week and had a cleaner house, too (meaning that it's not that I wasn't working hard before, it's that working wasn't isn't always working at cleaning!). And this week, I'm still doing all the regular cleaning every day and it's nice to start out with things a little cleaner :) That's kinda the whole point to daily maintenance... to keep stuff from becoming an enormous mess.

Insert: I started this post yesterday, and guess what!? Something has been thrown into the mix, just like I figured it would! Susannah developed a runny nose last evening (teething?) and woke up four times last night frustrated about not being able to get her paci back in + not being able to breathe well + probably just not feeling so great. Today didn't get off to quite the same "normal" start :)

One thing that has helped tremendously has been my bedtime and wakeup time. I'm going to bed earlier, trying to be in bed no later than 10:30, and getting up somewhere between 6 and 6:15. This allows me to get some things done in the kitchen before Susannah wakes up (supposed to be 8am, but with our getting up earlier, it seems she's wanting to wake up earlier too! I'm trying to work with her and plan to get her back to her regular wakeup time.). Getting that head start on the day helps me feel like I can take the time to go for a walk most days. Susannah enjoys the stroller ride, and hopefully the exercise will help whittle some more baby pounds off of me :) It feels good to be walking again.

Since things are winding down for the summer - at least calendar wise - and winding up for the winter, I'm glad to have things mostly under control.

And for the fun of it, here's a picture of my little laundry helper, helping me hang out the wash one day last week. Sorry, it's not a picture of us at the beach - that really is what our "lawn" (hahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!) is like out there at the washline.