This past week I took a day to declutter in anticipation of a visit from my mother-in-law and just simply because I've begun to get very frustrated with anything in excess. I think having a baby has made me want to simplify my own life and belongings as much as possible. I can't really control, nor does it bother me, that Olivia has a million things all over the place at home but me and my husband's clutter is stomping on my last remaining nerve!
So, I started in our office. As I've mentioned before I am learning to sew. Our house is a small starter home so there are not many choices for a sewing area. We decided to donate the PC that was on my desk to someone in need and give the monitor to my brother since it is nicer than what he has but looking around the room I knew there was no space for a new hobby without some major purging.
Up until having Olivia I have always been an AVID reader. When we got married I sold most of my beloved books in yard sales since we were merging our homes. However, I kept a full bookcase of those I couldn't part with. But, on this day I realized it was time to let go of old things if I wanted to have some new things. So, I parted with things I NEVER thought I would! Specifically, I shredded all of my personal journals and my written-in bible studies. Even just typing that out is making me have slight heart palpitations!
When I was single I journaled like a mad woman....I had stacks and stacks of notebooks filled with my thoughts, dreams, prayers and of course all my hurts and disappointments as well. In an instant I just knew it was time to get rid of them....and the bible studies too. I have done more Beth Moore bible studies than anyone I know, some I've done two and three times! I had them all on my bookshelf...reminding me of what a wonderful spiritual person I used to be. Truth be told, since getting married, I have really forsaken my relationship with God. I haven't become a heathen or anything like that but I just have stopped making time for Him in lieu of all the other stuff that seems more pressing. In some ways I think that holding onto those bible studies somehow still made me feel like I was the same person who made time for God first. But the truth is that I am not and I need to come to grips with where I am now, let go of the past and make a new present and future. I need to truly start putting God first, then my husband and then my child.
November 24, 2010
November 23, 2010
The little booger is sick....
So many things about being a mom are hard but I think the top two must be not knowing why your baby is crying and seeing your baby sick. Olivia has been just beside herself for the last several days. She is always a fussy baby but even she has her limits! This past weekend was extremely traumatizing. She screamed, screamed and screamed some more. She wouldn't eat and then would be starving. She was incredibly congested but wouldn't let anyone come near her nose. And the worst of all, she was totally exhausted and would barely sleep. I knew something was wrong with my baby and not knowing what was hard.
PPD runs the gamut in terms of how it manifests in each person. For me alot of it is feeling like I'm not good enough, not a good mom. Feeling like she would be better off without me. Some of this stems back to issues I've battled for many years thanks to an ex, some of it comes from being a new mom and not knowing any better and some of it is just plain hormones or lack thereof. Either way, for someone fighting off irrational thoughts it is really hard to have days on end when you can't seem to comfort your baby.
So, today was finally the time to go see the pediatrician. I knew something was wrong several days ago but without getting into all the details I knew we needed to see a specific pediatrician in our practice so I delayed the visit until he was available. As usual Olivia was just flirting away with the pediatrician - she is such a funny little girl - and my feelings of failure as a mom were put to bed when he informed us she had an ear infection. I had begun to suspect that towards the end of our wait but up until the point an actual illness was confirmed the voice in my head was telling me not-so-nice things about my abilities as a mom. So, the little booger is sick and is starting on antibiotics for 10 days. Poor baby - but at least now we know what the problem is and can fix it! And, once again I am reminded that I am a perfectly good mom.
I'm really glad that we got in to see someone today so we can nip this in the bud before Thanksgiving and also because my sweet baby girl is starting daycare next Monday and I'd hate to have to delay her due to illness. I am so excited about the place we have chosen. There is a much longer story here but being that this is a public blog I'm just going to skip that part. The new place will have lots of stimulation for her and lots of communication for me. I will even be able to watch her live online if I want to! The location is in our neighborhood and right next to our gym which will also make it convenient to start working out again. I am really looking forward to a more structured environment for her and one in which I can be more involved.
PPD runs the gamut in terms of how it manifests in each person. For me alot of it is feeling like I'm not good enough, not a good mom. Feeling like she would be better off without me. Some of this stems back to issues I've battled for many years thanks to an ex, some of it comes from being a new mom and not knowing any better and some of it is just plain hormones or lack thereof. Either way, for someone fighting off irrational thoughts it is really hard to have days on end when you can't seem to comfort your baby.
So, today was finally the time to go see the pediatrician. I knew something was wrong several days ago but without getting into all the details I knew we needed to see a specific pediatrician in our practice so I delayed the visit until he was available. As usual Olivia was just flirting away with the pediatrician - she is such a funny little girl - and my feelings of failure as a mom were put to bed when he informed us she had an ear infection. I had begun to suspect that towards the end of our wait but up until the point an actual illness was confirmed the voice in my head was telling me not-so-nice things about my abilities as a mom. So, the little booger is sick and is starting on antibiotics for 10 days. Poor baby - but at least now we know what the problem is and can fix it! And, once again I am reminded that I am a perfectly good mom.
I'm really glad that we got in to see someone today so we can nip this in the bud before Thanksgiving and also because my sweet baby girl is starting daycare next Monday and I'd hate to have to delay her due to illness. I am so excited about the place we have chosen. There is a much longer story here but being that this is a public blog I'm just going to skip that part. The new place will have lots of stimulation for her and lots of communication for me. I will even be able to watch her live online if I want to! The location is in our neighborhood and right next to our gym which will also make it convenient to start working out again. I am really looking forward to a more structured environment for her and one in which I can be more involved.
November 18, 2010
Organizational Tools
I want to share some things I've been finding online to help me get my home/personal life better organized. I have just recently come across these materials so I cannot yet comment on how user friendly or useful I find them but I plan to post in the future and share my thoughts on them. I just love sweet folks I only encounter online who create these routines and forms and then make them available for free. I believe that is an example of focusing on your gifts and sharing them with others.
- FLYlady.net is helping me to build routines into my daily life that keep my house going (we have also decided to hire someone to help clean our home until we get it under control and I can manage it myself again!). I am signed up for her daily digest email which contains all of the emails for the day in one. The emails include basic plans for each day, special challenges and testimonials.
- Awesome free printables for planning everything from Christmas gifts to weekly menus to instructions for babysitters to birthday lists and on and on
- Free Thanksgiving Your Way 2010 eBook which contains recipes, traditions, craft projects, decorating suggestions and has links to free printable planning sheets at the end
- Free Christmas Your Way eBook which contains tips for organizing and simplifying Christmas with links to free printables planning sheets at the end
November 17, 2010
A few memories from Labor Day vacation
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| Olivia's first time for toes in the ocean water! |
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| The gorgeous view of the sound from the back of our rental house |
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| Daddy feeds the munchkin outside the aquarium |
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| Olivia's favorite activity on vacation - laying on the couch! She takes after Mommy! |
November 16, 2010
FLYing projects - beware!
Here are a couple of FLYing projects I am working on - truth be told I've been working on them for weeks and haven't made much progress but I thought if I blogged about them it might help me get embarrassed motivated enough to work on them again!
So, here is a corner of my kitchen. Can you see why I need help???? I am a hopeless clutter-holic! I hate clutter yet I cannot seem to keep it out of my home and often I am as much the culprit as Mark. I should add that Olivia's things also seem to be contributing heavily towards the clutter ratio as well.
And here is a cabinet where we store Buddy's stuff (our dog).
And the top of the cabinet where all sorts of stuff seems to gravitate.
So, here is a corner of my kitchen. Can you see why I need help???? I am a hopeless clutter-holic! I hate clutter yet I cannot seem to keep it out of my home and often I am as much the culprit as Mark. I should add that Olivia's things also seem to be contributing heavily towards the clutter ratio as well.
And here is a cabinet where we store Buddy's stuff (our dog).
The only thing I've made progress on so far is the inside of the cabinet - below is the AFTER photo. I'm going to make it my goal to post an updated photo of the other areas by the end of the month.....stay tuned!
Deals, deals and more deals!
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| Harris Teeter - Super Doubles Trip #1 $8.57 |
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| Harris Teeter - Super Doubles Trip #2 $2.49 |
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| Target - $0.15 |
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| Kroger $16.93 And lastly, my favorite deal, which I do not have a picture of, was at Walgreens - 1 toothbrush, 2 flosses and 1 hydrogen peroxide for $0.57 |
Where in the world is Shannon?
I've not been posting much lately and I thought I'd share some of the reasons why with you today:
-I cannot seem to find time to download the photos I want to include in my blogs but I don't want to write a blog and leave out the photo(s) either so today I have downloaded all the photos/videos and hope to catch up quickly on the happenings of the past few weeks.
-I am exhausted! Olivia has been going through the "4 month sleep regression". This is a term given to the period of time somewhere between 4 and 5 months when there are so many developmental changes occurring that a baby actually regresses in their sleep patterns. She went from regularly sleeping 10 hrs per night in her crib to maybe 1 or 2 hours at a time. Towards the latter part of this experience I figured out that if I moved her to our bed and cuddled close to her she would go back to sleep and stay that way til morning. The other change I noticed was how upset she would be in the morning when she woke up - prior to this she would normally be happy and giggly in the morning. So, this regression has been going on for the last week or so but last night, the 10th night, she returned to her normal sleep pattern - woo hoo! I have to admit that as tired as it has made me I kind of missed our snuggle time last night but when I saw my giggly girl this morning I was so so very happy!
-I have taken two sewing classes in the past week. My Christmas gift from Mark is a beautiful Brother SE400 sewing and embroidery machine. He was kind enough to get it for me early so I could learn to actually use it before Christmas. So far I have taken a 2 hour basic machine class, a 6 hour garment sewing class and I am scheduled for a 2 hour sewing fundamentals class in a couple weeks. I have already bought the patterns, fabric and other materials for the first few projects I want to do. The biggest question is WHEN will I have time to sew?! LOL!
-I cannot seem to find time to download the photos I want to include in my blogs but I don't want to write a blog and leave out the photo(s) either so today I have downloaded all the photos/videos and hope to catch up quickly on the happenings of the past few weeks.
-I am exhausted! Olivia has been going through the "4 month sleep regression". This is a term given to the period of time somewhere between 4 and 5 months when there are so many developmental changes occurring that a baby actually regresses in their sleep patterns. She went from regularly sleeping 10 hrs per night in her crib to maybe 1 or 2 hours at a time. Towards the latter part of this experience I figured out that if I moved her to our bed and cuddled close to her she would go back to sleep and stay that way til morning. The other change I noticed was how upset she would be in the morning when she woke up - prior to this she would normally be happy and giggly in the morning. So, this regression has been going on for the last week or so but last night, the 10th night, she returned to her normal sleep pattern - woo hoo! I have to admit that as tired as it has made me I kind of missed our snuggle time last night but when I saw my giggly girl this morning I was so so very happy!
-I have taken two sewing classes in the past week. My Christmas gift from Mark is a beautiful Brother SE400 sewing and embroidery machine. He was kind enough to get it for me early so I could learn to actually use it before Christmas. So far I have taken a 2 hour basic machine class, a 6 hour garment sewing class and I am scheduled for a 2 hour sewing fundamentals class in a couple weeks. I have already bought the patterns, fabric and other materials for the first few projects I want to do. The biggest question is WHEN will I have time to sew?! LOL!
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