living the freeman life

I started this blog back in 2008 to document life with Caleb, who was about 6 months old at the time. (Curious?  Check out the very first post here)  I thought I would change both the look of this blog (the jumbled look of the template reflects how jumbled our life can be sometimes!), and the topics.  Yes, a lot of the posts will be about the kids, but sometimes, I've wanted to post about a recipe (which I do on my recipe blog here) or talk about our travels as a couple (like Eric and I did last year on our trip to Italy), so this is going to be a multipurpose blog. :)  Our family has changed a lot since I started blogging...we've moved twice, Caleb started preschool, we've had another child, we've lost a cat, and we've gained a cat.  Both kids are growing up faster than I can keep up with.  As much as I would love to have a routine, I don't.  Each day is different than the last.  As much as I like to plan, I realized that trying to plan out my days just isn't practical for me with kids.  Example: I used to say, "Ok.  I'm getting up at 8am (this was pre-kids...can you tell?), walking for 30 minutes, meal planning for the week, going to the grocery store (after I've clipped my coupons), putting away groceries and prepping stuff for the meals for the week, keeping the house clean and decluttered, laundry folded, until Eric gets home at 5pm, and then we'll eat, watch a movie, and go to bed."  Once kids came along, I tried to keep up that plan. I would get more and more frustrated about how much stuff I was NOT achieving.  Eric would come home to a sink full of dishes, dishwasher NOT unloaded, laundry still in the hamper- waiting to be sorted and washed, and yet, he'd never complain.  I do confess that there has been several times that he has meekly said, "Um, if you get a chance today, could you do a load of whites?  Because, um, I'm wearing my last pair of underwear." To which I reply, "Ok, honey, but you help me sort the socks when you get home."

My life, right now, revolves around the kids.  Not so much in the "making sure they are always perfectly happy" way, but between preschool, playing with them, and trying to bring them up in the way God has prompted me to, life just isn't about keeping the house perfectly spotless or meals perfectly planned. I've recently discovered a way I could balance doing housework and playing with the kids. If I neglect one of them (meaning, either the house or the kids), the other one begs "take care of ME!". About two days a week, I take a morning and I set a timer for 30 minutes. During that 30 minutes, I tell the kids that I am going to be working around the house, and that they are now responsible for their own fun. When my timer goes off, I stop/finish what I'm doing and set it again for 30 minutes and play with the kids.  I alternate back and forth for a couple hours and it helps me get even just a little bit of housework done, and it also shows the kids that there will be an end to my housework. :)  It's worked great so far! 

*looks back at blog*  

Wow...what a long, rambling post...can you tell I don't talk to many adults during the day? :) Now to update you on the kids...but that is another post.