Here’s a glimpse into my day on Tuesday, January 31:

 9:00 :: I wake up to two sleeping boys, Paxton snuggled up beside me and Weston in the bassinet. I move Weston onto the bed to snap a picture. Paxton hears me moving around and wakes up. I go get breakfast for Paxton and myself and then come back to bed to nurse Weston. After Weston nurses, I change diapers and dress everybody!

10:00 :: Time to start a load of laundry. I do a load of laundry almost every day to keep up with it! {It should be noted, there’s no fancy sorting, just colors, whites & the occasional delicate load!} After the laundry is going, I head to the kitchen. I start white beans in the crock pot for dinner and to freeze, red beans that will be frozen, cook rice and make bread crumbs. I move the laundry to the dryer and then head to the office to edit my blog post for the day.

11:00 :: I finish editing and publish Tuesday’s post. As soon as it’s published, I nurse Weston. After he’s finished eating, he’s very fussy so I just hold him, after a few minutes, he falls asleep. Paxton is playing in his room and then comes into the office where I am updating finances. He brings his instruments in there so I strum a little on the guitar and then he plays drums.

12:00 :: I have a content, sleeping baby on my chest. Since Paxton is playing happily and not begging to eat, I continue with working on finances, closing out January and updating our budget. I run out to the mailbox to mail a card and am surprised it has already run. I come back inside, fix Paxton’s lunch and make rice milk. Once I finish the rice milk, I fix my lunch.

1:00 :: We’re still at the table! Paxton is still eating and Weston is hungry so I nurse him. When Paxton finishes eating, I wash his face and hands, read him a story and put him down for a nap. I start washing dishes but Weston is fussy so I attempt to console him. I finally put him in the Baby K’Tan.

2:00 :: Once he’s in the Baby K’Tan, he settles down within 2 minutes and then falls asleep. While I’m wearing Weston, I finish washing dishes, make snacks and go dump scraps into the compost barrel.

3:00 :: Paxton’s naptime is over and I take Weston out of the carrier so I can nurse. Weston quickly realizes he’s hungry and starts crying while I grab  a few books to read with Paxton while nursing. We read three stories together and Paxton actually sat still and listened to all three! After Weston finishes eating, I put him in the bassinet and Paxton and I go get a snack. While I’m in the kitchen, I chop up an onion to put in the white beans. I finally go get the laundry out of the dryer and fold it.

4:00 :: I bundled up the boys and we headed outside. It was just slightly cool outside and we all needed some fresh air. Paxton enjoyed running and exploring and Weston seemed to settle down from his fussiness. After 15 minutes of playing, we go back inside. I start a load of diapers and then reply to a few blog comments. Weston is napping and I let Paxton play on the iPad while I finish up my study for Mom’s Group.

5:00 :: Daddy’s home! Paxton eagerly and excitedly greets his daddy! Daddy takes Paxton outside to play and help him work. While they’re outside, I nurse Weston. While I’m nursing, I check my Twitter stream, answer e-mails and just relax.

6:00 :: I get the diaper covers out of the wash and hang them on the drying rack. I start washing the diaper inserts and prefolds. Paxton is asking to eat so we eat dinner. {How nice it was to have dinner ready with little work thanks to the Crock Pot!}

7:00 :: After dinner, I begin cleaning the kitchen. I put away clean dishes and wash the dirty ones. When I’m finished cleaning, I nurse Weston. While I’m nursing, John David is getting Paxton ready for bed. Once his teeth are brushed and he’s in his jammies, they come into our room where I’m nursing and John David reads Paxton’s Bible story to him and we pray together.

8:00 :: Paxton is in bed and Weston’s belly is full and his daddy is holding him so I take a nice, long, hot shower! After my shower, I join hubby in our room and just relax. We chat and play Words with Friends.

9:00 :: Both boys are sleeping! We talk about our budget, Craigslist sales and chickens {we’re seriously considering getting a couple}! I put the inserts and pre-folds into the dryer and begin picking up the house. Weston wakes up and I nurse him. We then head to our room for the night, talking some more while I do a little blog work.

That’s how I spent 9 am to 9 pm on January 31, 2012. A lot of laundry, fussy babies, feeding and time in the kitchen. During this season in my life, I’m focusing primarily on keeping up with the laundry, keeping diapers clean, preparing meals, keeping the kitchen clean and making sure my children are clean, dry and loved! You’ll notice I didn’t note any diaper changes, that’s because they happen all day long, it’s just part of life with 2 babies!

This was somewhat of a typical day, I normally don’t spend quite as much time in the kitchen but on this day, I was prepping a few things for the freezer which meant more kitchen time. My husband is off on Mondays so Tuesdays through Friday are typically very similar, with the exception of attending Mom’s Group on Wednesday morning and a late night for my hubby at church on Thursday night {he typically arrives home around 9 pm on Thursdays.}

My life certainly isn’t glamorous, it’s full of dirty diapers, lots of laundry, an endless sink of dishes and fussy children but I’m honestly living my dream. I’ve always wanted to be a mama and I am so thankful that I’ve been blessed with an amazing husband and 2 beautiful sons and that I am able to stay home with them!

 

Linked to: A Day in the Life of… at Simply Rebekah

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I love setting goals and achieving them! I enjoy the challenge some goals present as well as the accountability that comes with having them written down.

I’ve been thinking about my goals for 2012 for a few months now. Knowing that I’m starting the year as a mama to two, I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with a ton of goals. I decided to keep things very simple this year but if I achieve each and every goal on my list for 2012, that will still be quite an accomplishment!

Goals for 2012:

Personal:
1. Read 1 book per month.
2. Memorize 1 verse/passage of scripture each month.
3. Write at least 8 blog posts per month. {I want to be more consistent with blogging this year!}

Family:
1. Read 6 parenting books with my husband.
2. Daily family devotions and prayer.

Financial:
1. $8,000 towards the principal of our mortgage.
2. $1,750 towards car savings.
3. Set up a legal will. {I believe this has been a goal for 3 years now! 2012 will be the year!}
4. Start college savings accounts for the boys.

So that’s it, they’re fairly simple this year and completely do-able! The financial goals make me a little nervous. Mathematically paying $8,000 towards the mortgage and $1,750 towards car savings, doesn’t work with my husband’s salary but with my transcribing, selling things and being creative, we hope we can achieve these goals!

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My husband left on Sunday afternoon, leaving me alone for 3 days with Paxton {I wasn’t excited about being left all alone with a moody teething toddler!} I usually dread him leaving but I’ve found that keeping a positive attitude combined with keeping busy is the best way to make it through these days.

I made a lofty to do list and started working! I accomplished a lot by using nap time wisely and once Paxton went to bed each night, I spent time blogging. {There will be posts coming more frequently on this somewhat neglected blog!}

• I started Sunday afternoon on the big project I wanted to accomplish, painting our bathroom cabinets! I painted the bathroom cabinets black. I applied the first coat Sunday afternoon and finished up Monday morning during nap time. The cabinets look great. {Pictures coming soon once we get some of the hardware updated.}
• I stayed up several hours past bedtime Sunday and Monday night writing blog posts! I spent the bulk of the time writing a series titled “Our Financial Story,” which I’ll be posting once John David has a chance to read over it and gives me the okay for sharing some of the personal details.
• Monday evening I made curtains for both bathrooms! The half bath has a simple white curtain and I made a black and white curtain for the bathroom! {I’m so excited about finishing this mini bathroom makeover and sharing with you!}
• Tuesday morning was nice and cool so Paxton and I headed outside to vacuum and de-clutter our car! He played in the drivers seat while I vacuumed. A vacuumed and clutter free car looks so much better!
• During nap time Tuesday, I finally made laundry soap. I’ve been out for a month and was lazy and bought a container of detergent! It was easier to make than I remembered and I was kicking myself for wasting money on detergent when I had the supplies for homemade detergent already at home.
• I spent Tuesday afternoon lightly de-cluttering. We’re planning a yard sale in a few weeks and I want as much of the excess clutter gone as possible! I went through our hall closets, Paxton’s closet, toys and dresser and my craft chest. I have a box full ready to go out to the yard sale pile in the garage.
• And I did the usual, playing with my sweet boy, changing diapers, washing diapers, doing laundry, washing dishes, going outside to play, snuggling with Paxton in the mornings and many more daily joys!

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We’ve been using Charlie’s Soap for a year now on our cloth diapers and love it. However, I’ve found that it’s perfect for fighting stains!

A few month’s ago when Paxton was learning to walk, he fell and busted his nose resulting in blood all over his white bodysuit (it is white, forgive the picture quality.) It just so happened it was the very first time he wore this new bodysuit and I did not want it to be permanently stained.

The solution: a soak in Charlie’s Soap!

I put about 1/4 teaspoon Charlie’s in a large bowl, filled with cold water and stirred until the Charlie’s soap was melted and then placed the blood stained bodysuit in it to soak overnight.

The result:

Stain free! You cannot even tell blood was ever on this bodysuit.

That’s a victory to me!

When Paxton was exclusively breastfed and had blowouts while wearing disposables when we were out, Charlie’s Soap was great for preventing poo stains!

Even if you don’t cloth diaper or don’t want to use Charlie’s Soap for your laundry, it might be worth getting to prevent stains (and save money since you won’t have ruined garmets.)

*And no, I was not paid to share about Charlie’s Soap with you! I just wanted to share this stain fighting tip!

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I’m really still here and we’re happy and healthy!

I’m sure some of you might have thought I had a breakdown after to my most recent post, The Lack of Togetherness, that was not the case! All joking aside, I was blown away by your sweet words, encouragement and suggestions! I’m striving towards making our home a more orderly and peaceful place but learning to be content with the imperfections and the constant mess a 13-month-old can create!

The week I posted The Lack of Togetherness, John David worked late every single night so I was playing single mama and there was not much free time at all!

We celebrated our 5th anniversary on May 27th {and my husband didn’t arrive home until 11 that night…but he came home with cheese sticks and a milkshake from Sonic! Yum…and super healthy for 11, I know!}

On May 29th we left for our anniversary trip to Banner Elk, North Carolina, which we’ve been planning for over a year! We left Paxton with his grandparents Sunday and Monday night. This was my first time away from him overnight and we both did just fine!  I left milk with him and brought my pump and everything was great!

We celebrated John David’s 25th birthday on May 31st with Paxton and John David’s parents. We stayed in North Carolina until June 3rd and had a wonderful relaxing time filled with yummy food!

We returned home on June 3rd and I began deadline week for work as well as making preparations for John David’s trip to Ethiopia. We enjoyed a nice weekend just spending time together in the swimming pool!

This Tuesday John David left around 1:00 for Ethiopia! He safely arrived Wednesday afternoon!

I’ve been keeping busy with deadline week (which I finally finished my last transcribing file about 30 minutes ago…yay!) I had my mom’s group over yesterday to swim, Paxton and I sold a few clothes at a local consignment store today and had a mama/son date for lunch!

Hopefully all of this explains my absence! I haven’t logged into or thought about my blog for days and I do apologize for that! I should be posting more regularly in the next coming weeks!

Thank you so much for being such wonderful and encouraging friends to me!

{And that is the most recent picture of our family, taken Monday! Doesn’t Paxton look like such a big boy?}

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I have a desire to “have it together.” I’m not seeking perfection just balance and an organized and orderly life. Most of the time I have it mostly together but lately there has been a total lack of togetherness!

I suppose moving throws a big wrench in routine but it’s been nearly 2 months since we moved and I’m struggling with establishing any routine {other than sticking with nap times and bedtimes for Paxton.} And, my ability to get things done is really lacking!

I have this long to-do list of things that we need to do for our home. {And it follows me around like a dark cloud!}

We need to paint patio furniture, clean off our deck, paint all the doors in the house, build raised beds for our garden, hang up our clothesline and purchase a rug for Paxton’s room {just to name a few!}

I need to edit cloth diaper videos with my husband so we can post them here.

I need to meal plan consistently {if you noticed, I have dropped sharing a glimpse of our May grocery budget. Why? I’ve not meal planned in weeks and our grocery shopping has been sporadic!}

I need to set a date for a yard sale so we can get rid of about 1/3 of the stuff in our garage! {The yard sale stash is huge!}

I suppose we all have seasons where life just seems incredibly disorganized! {And when you add in an active and curious toddler it makes it even more disorganized!}

Honestly, many days I’m just amazed that I fed my family 3 meals, kept up with the laundry, washed diapers and managed to sweep the constantly dirty floors!

I’ve got it somewhat together when it comes to the bare basics of managing a home, it’s just all these other projects and a good routine that have me feeling behind and completely not together.

So, there’s a glimpse into my not so together life right now!

What about you? Do you feel a lack of togetherness or have you figured out some magic system of getting things done, staying on top of things and establishing routine? I’m open to I need suggestions!!

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