The Truth About My Day

I have made this wonderful schedule for my family and this is what it looks like:

6:30 I wake up and exercise, do my devotions, take a shower, and start a load of laundry
8:00 Kids wake up, get them dressed, make beds, brush teeth, Breakfast
8:30 Clean-up, empty dishwasher, kids chores, start laundry, Nurse baby, big kids do a table activity
9:00 Husband wakes up, eats breakfast and exercises, Kids and I start school work, baby plays
9:30 Outside time (unless it is too cold or raining)
10:00 Laundry, school work, baby naps,
11:00 Kids play with Daddy, while I start lunch

My Attempt

11:45 Lunch,
12:30 Kids chores and clean up toys, dishes, Nurse baby
1:00 Nap Time, laundry, play time with baby
2:00 My and baby nap time
3:00 Husband leaves for work, laundry, computer time
3:30 Kids up, snack, play time
4:00 Nurse baby, laundry
4:30 Make dinner
5:00 Dinner
5:30 Chores
6-8:30 Free/Play time for kids, I clean and nurse the baby
8:30 Clean up toys, straighten up the house
9:00 Bath time
9:30 Story and Bible time, Nurse baby
10:00 Bedtime, and computer time for me

* My husband leaves for work at 3pm and comes home by 1am, so our schedule is adjusted based on our current situation. It works well for us to have our kids go to bed so late in order for them to wake up as late as they do. This gives my husband the most amount of sleep as well as the most time he can with us. He works Friday-Tuesday, so our schedule is really for those days, while Wednesday and Thursday is more like a weekend for us.
 We also do a big lunch and sandwich type things for dinner, about once a week I will try to cook something that we can eat off of for a couple of days to break up the sandwiches.

I am willing to admit that my day goes more like this:

I am woken up at 12, 2, 4, and 6 for baby to nurse
Sometime between 7:30-8:00 my kids wake me up and I sleepily manage to get them their cereal, while we are all still in our jammies
8:30 I manage to get the breakfast bowls to the sink and nurse the baby while the big kids play (only to be too loud and wake up daddy again, sigh)
9:00 Kids and I do a little school work, I might start some laundry,
9:30 Kids play while I empty the dishwasher
10:00 I stop to play on the computer and nurse the baby
10:30 Baby sleeps, I might do some more laundry, play with the kids
11:00 Start lunch
11:45 Lunch
12:30 Nurse baby and the big kids go down for their nap
1:00 Laundry, try to clean up the kitchen some, get distracted by the computer
2:00 nurse baby and pass out
3:00 wake up in time to kiss my husband goodbye, laundry and play on the computer
4:30 make dinner
5:00 dinner, nurse baby
5:30 clean up, chores, kids play, work on some projects around the house, kids play
7:00 sit down to nurse baby and get distracted by computer
8:00 try to get to whatever my current project is under control
8:30 clean up-house, toys, get the dishes in the dishwasher, finish any laundry
9:00 Bath time
9:30 Story and Bible time, nurse baby
10:00 Start the dishwasher, wipe down table and counter, usually find (with my foot) the one small toy left out on the floor, put away any laundry I did not put away during the day and start a load that I should have earlier, maybe take a shower, crawl into bed and try to continue writing the same blog post that I have been for the past two days...
11:30-12:00 pass out- sometimes I wake up when my husband gets home, but quickly go back to sleep

As you can not only is the nice clean schedule I made not working, but I am having trouble implementing it. I am convinced the more organized I make our home the more I will be able to organize our time. When there is disorganization around us our thoughts and time become disorganized as well.

I am continuing to work on organizing our home, and tweaking our schedule to make our day flow well. I know when there are three children 3 and under there is almost always a mess, an boo-boo, an emotional break down, a tantrum, a dirty diaper, and someone who is hungry........but we can still make it above survival mode. I will persevere!

Priorities

Cheering on Alabama for the Championship

This is a word you will find us using a lot more around our home lately. Most of Americans have their all wrong! Quite a few of the girls I attended high school and college with are envious of stay-at-home moms. I feel for these girls. Some of them I am sure are working because their husband's income is just not enough, but I am fairly certain that most of them have bought into the wrong priorities.

Priority means: precedence, something that comes first, a superiority

We have TVs, but no cable. This is a HUGE shock to most people! In a world of mixed up priorities it is more important to watch a game than to play one with your family. It is more important to relax by watch a TV show that is turning your mind to mush, than to read a book (I am totally guilty of this though, but I have been working on it). There is a couple of things I would enjoy watching if we had cable, like the Duggars or some Hallmark movies, but we cannot justify spending money we do not have (that is another blog post in itself) on something we would rarely use. Not to mention bringing something into our home full of things we do not approve of.

We currently have internet of our phones, but plan on getting rid of it in the next month. It again is something that is not a priority. It is something that takes time and attention away from my family. There very useful things we have access to because we have internet on our phones, but more often I find myself caught up in social media, checking blogs, among other things when I could be engaging in conversation and play with my children or husband.

We buy in bulk, and make many things from scratch. We buy only a few (every once in a while) convenience type foods. Yes, it would be nice to use a box to cook for my family, but if we can save some money to spend on something fun for our family, why not?!

We don't take big elaborate vacations we have to borrow to pay for. We would love to take our children to Disney World (having grown up less than an hour from it and going multiple times a year, it is part of me)! We are hoping to take them there later this year, but we will not go into debt to do it. If we do not get to go then our lives will still be the same. The world tells you that you have to take your family on so many vacations, and you should spend so much.

Too many Christians have bought into the lies of the world. You have to buy this house, send your kids to this school, wear this kind of clothing, and "keep up with the Joneses." Unfortunately these have become priorities in Christians lives and because of this many women have left the thought of being able to work from behind them. If they would prioritize many could cut budgets enough to be able to stay home.

I know that many women desire to be home, but cannot. I was one at one time, but if they prayerfully consider where there money is going I think that God can make a way. There is even a song.....

Oh, God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me

He will be my guide
Hold me closely to his side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way
 by Don Moen

What Have I Been Doing

I have been.....failing! I am one of these people who cannot ask for help. I try to juggle all of these things in the air, and when I drop one I let them all fall only to pick them back up and try again. Now I am not saying that it is not honorable to "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," but sometimes you cannot do it all by yourself.....there I said it! I have been trying to be a good wife, care for my husband and three children, keep the house clean, nurse an infant, cook, working on projects, laundry, potty training a two year old, and recently I added exercise and counting calories. Guess what I can't do all that, and I am willing to guess most of us can't (I applaud any of you who can!) I realized the other day that something has got to give.

I had to sit down and prioritize what was most important. Caring for my family is always the most important, but in this case I had to ask my husband for help. My husband is not one to help in our home (too many times in the first couple of years we were married when he tried to help I would tell him he was not doing it right, so he just stopped-cannot blame him). Now when I want help I have to ask him, and he sweetly does whatever I ask of him.

Then I still needed to figure out something I was going to have to let go of. My projects are important right now, because they are bringing peace to my home and making it a place where my family wants to be more. Prior to me working on organizing and purging we wanted to do things outside our home more than we wanted to be there, so it is important to make it a place everyone loves and enjoys, a place we can be a family. Exercise is important, but I learned that trying to lose weight while nursing does not work. I may be able to lose a pound or two, but there is just no way to lose the 25-30 pounds I would like to lose and still be able to nurse Cathy Belle for a year. No more dieting for me until she is weaned (but I am usually pregnant again by that time, so I may just have to learn to love those extra pounds). Also, potty training a two year old who seems to have no concept of when she goes to the bathroom until she is standing in a puddle or smells it.....well it is just not working.

I still have all these balls in the air, but they are more manageable thanks to my willingness to relinquish some control, and putting some things on the back burner for a while. I am hoping to blog some more too soon, when I can add that to my juggling ;)

New Year's Resolution

At this time of year everyone is making resolutions, and sadly most will be failed and forgotten by this time next month. However I am hoping and praying I can really apply mine to my life and not just 2013. My resolution is:

To become better at the job God has called me to- a wife, mother, and homemaker

I struggle at all three, and my problems with depression some days are hard. I need to be more faithful in taking my medicine. I am also beginning to learn where I am weak in each of these areas.

I want to be a wife that my husband to be proud of. I want to have a home and children to be proud of. We also need some time just for us. Something we have not been focusing on. My last date with my husband was Valentine's Day (10 months ago!).

I want to be a mother my children will love. I want to be point them towards God. I want do more crafts, play more, teach more, laugh more. I need to enjoy the blessings God has given me more and to do a better job of raising them. I want to leave a legacy!

One of my Christmas presents was an amazing book called Large Family Logistics. I am hoping it can really help me in the area of housekeeping. I am a terrible housekeeper! Now with 3 children (3 and under) in a 900 square foot apartment, I need help with how to keep up on things and get organized. A little while back I posted aboutthe projects I am working on. I am hoping as I complete each room I can post pictures.

I am hoping to write more posts on how I accomplish these goals, so I hope you will come along for the ride! Tell me some of your resolutions.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! While we enjoy our time with family remember the baby who came into the world with the only purpose to die for our sins.

Also, remember to pray for those who are without a family member today, whether that family member is away in another part of the world or has left this earth, they need comfort on holidays.

6 weeks old

May God bless you on Christmas day! (and for those of you down south with me stay safe through these storms!)

Blog Title

My blog is called "Not Taking It For Granted" because I do not ever take one minute of my time with my family for granted. I think the sad Events of Today only make us more aware that we should take nothing for granted. The Bible says "life is a vapor" and it is never more true than when a child dies. These times remind us to hold our family close because we never know when ours (or sadly a family member's) time may be up. Pray for these parents and families who are healing.

May each of us....Not Take It For Granted

That Amazing Moment

Up until about a month before Cathy Belle came I had been "homeschooling" my two other children. Now when I say homeschooling I mean 2-4 times per week we were working on things like learning the alphabet, counting, colors, shapes, and other concepts. I have a strong desire to homeschool my children and I am hoping to learn what works and does not work for us before it really counts. My son was my main student (Emmie has just turned 2 in August, so she was learning what she caught) and he knows shapes, colors and counting. Recognizing the letters and numbers, oh my, was hard. I felt like I might as well be teaching the cat sometimes.

We tried games, flashcards, chalk, paint, activity books, coloring pages, and anything else I could find. Nothing seemed to work, and I was beginning to doubt my ability to homeschool and whether or not my son would ever learn. He started to pick up on a few letters and I would get so excited at the thought of progress, only to be disappointed again.

The other day we were at my in-laws house and my mother-in-law had found some alphabet flashcards. Ray-J decided he wanted to play with them, so we pulled them out and he begins to look at them: "A for Apple. B for Ball. C for Cat. D for Door. E for "Elphalet". F for Flower. G for Goat. H for Hat. I for Ice Cream. J for Jack in the Box. K for Kite." At this point he got bored and started putting the cards all over the floor, but we quickly made him pick them up (because, of course, that is not how we treat our things), and as he was picking them up we identified the rest of the letters. Yay!!! I was proud of my brilliant son, and I was also having a proud mommy moment. I imparted knowledge and it stuck!

I will admit in the past week I have felt well enough to do some school with him, but I have not for a couple of reasons. One, it is so close to Christmas I feel like learning about that is more important. Second, I was discouraged about his learning and my capabilities as his teacher. Now I am ready to go, we will spend the next week learning about Christ's birth, and making our traditional Birthday cake for Jesus, but after Christmas has calmed down we will be back to doing school :)