difficult day!

difficult day!

Ugh! Today was a difficult day. Savannah refused to nap – I laid her down two different times, and both times she was quiet for about 20-30 minutes and then started screaming from her crib. *sigh* And then, to top it off, she didn’t go to bed until 10:30! Again, every time we tried to lay her down she would just cry. I gave her some Tylenol because she is teething (her upper incisors) and am wondering if that’s why she’s been boycotting naps recently. Maybe she’ll sleep late tomorrow morning. :-)

I am proud of myself – I swam three times this week! I have been aiming to swim 1200 yards each time. I usually get tired around 800 yards and have to push myself for the rest, which is a good thing I think. I know it probably doesn’t sound very far (it’s like 3/4 of a mile, I think), but I am so out of shape! I usually alternate between all the strokes except butterfly, which definitely helps pass the time. I get bored doing lap after lap of freestyle. :-) Swimming definitely gives you some thinking time… but if I think too much then I lose track of where I am. I need some sort of lap counter!

I went grocery shopping for the week last Monday, which is significant because I tend to be an every-day shopper. I have been trying to force myself to cook. Consequently, our kitchen is slowly being cleaned (finally). You can always tell who cooked the meal by how messy the kitchen is. :-) I tend to clean up spills and wash dishes as I go along, and Paul is the opposite. We don’t really have a good place to put our pots and pans, so we keep them on the floor of the kitchen, which means we have to wash them before using them. That doesn’t give us much motivation to clean them after using them! I’ve decided we should keep them on the dining room table. I mean, we don’t really use it for anything else. :-p

Today a friend of a friend came by to observe Savannah. She is currently studying to be a toddler teacher at a Montessori school, and she needs to observe kids of different ages in their home environment. She came and watched Savannah, and took notes. I tried to peek to see what kind of observations she was making, but I couldn’t read it fast enough. :-) I realized how often I leave Savannah to play by herself in the living room while I go do housework, like cook dinner. I felt kind of bad that Savannah isn’t a “normal” 18 month old – she doesn’t move like a normal kid, but her development is about normal except for perhaps her talking (or lack thereof). Paul said that every kid has something “wrong”, and it’s probably good for her to see kids with all sorts of issues/delays.

Tomorrow, the carpet people are coming back. They put new carpet in our den last June, but Ebony had a urinary tract infection and peed all over the place. So the carpet people are coming and replacing the pad. I hope this does the trick! They said that they’ve had people have similar issues, and it’s hit or miss if just replacing the pad works. The carpet is still in great shape, so I really hope we don’t have to replace it!! I am looking forward to getting the smell down in the den back to normal.

Well I should go help Paul take everything out of the den. I don’t think we fully unpacked from last time we did this, when we got the carpet cleaned in December. Which probably shows what we can sell/give away. :-)

9 thoughts on “difficult day!

  1. I love reading your posts because they’re very honest. I struggle with similar things…I have a difficult time keeping the house “perfect” with all the goings on and lots of little kids. It’s tough! Have you considered taking one room at a time for a week and getting it completely in order, organized and cleaned? Do you have a lady in your Church that’s good at these kinds of things that would be willing to come help you out for a week? Young woman that could watch Savannah for you? Don’t let it slide by….the more kids you have the HARDER it is to stay organized and neat. I wish that I had developed better habbits before we had kids…though the apartment was always neat….it was not organized or “tidy” and wouldn’t you know…it continues to be my struggle in a 3bd 2ba house! :p Just thinking out loud here…There’s nothing worse than the frustration of your house….I’m realizing that more as I study Titus 2 in our Ladies Bible Study.

  2. I’m with Kesed that I appreciate how refreshingly honest your posts always are :-). I’m sorry you had such a rough day! Hans had only a handful of words until he was 21 months (Mommy, Daddy, thank you, and a few more) and then all of a sudden something clicked and he started talking quite a bit more. Don’t worry, it’ll come!

  3. Well she woke up 1/2 hr early today. :-( For some reason, I’m exhausted! It must be the swimming. I’m not sore, but my muscles all feel tired.

    I’ve never been organized when it comes to housework! That’s why it’s so significant that I’ve been cooking and washing dishes! Hopefully I’ll figure out a way to make things a routine. I tell people, sometimes the ONLY thing that gets done is the diapers are washed. :-)

  4. I feel ya girl…I really do! It’s frustrating as can be! I mean I set up goals for myself like vacuuming the carpet every other day and cleaning the bathrooms twice a week and laundry daily but I get so bogged down with the special diets and baking/cooking/meal planning/shopping it’s exhausting! (why did we have kids? :) Sometimes I just want a day to be able to get out and chill….but they never come. Are there any young ladies at your church that would be willing to be your “mother’s helper?” so you can get things done while Savannah is occupied OR so they can do things you want done while you spend time with Savannah? I would totally take advantage of young women that want to serve…unfortunately because of my “special needs” kids….they don’t take well to people and I’m really not able to have a helper in the home….but I think you should TOTALLY look into it…. :)

  5. Yeah there is someone I can call… And she does great with Savannah! She helped me out in December when I was crazily trying to get everything together with some ministry stuff and going to Orlando last minute. I just feel like I need a *reason*. I mean, my biggest problem is lack of motivation to do things, like dishes. :-) (Versus not having time.)

  6. LOL well your house IS a “reason” and I know what you mean about motivation….I’d MUCH prefer sitting at my computer :p BUT, I also can’t STAND a mess….sigh. If you lived closer I’d help ya out! :)

  7. Getting all your grocery shopping done at once, and getting out to exercise is great! You’re ahead of me in that regard :) I’m wearing my 12.5 lb baby a lot, does that count as exercise? And, hooray for a new carpet pad! I really hope that helps matters.

    I was proud of myself that I got all the laundry and diapers washed AND put away yesterday, and ran the dishwasher (Josh ended up doing the dishes in the sink and emptying the dishwasher). The rest of the house is cluttered, but I’ll take what I can get. I’m using as my “excuse” that I’m trying to work 40 hours this week from home with no childcare. Next week I’ll have help with Elliott, and after that, Josh will be home, so hopefully keeping up with the house will get easier.

    For us, the key to keeping up with things is teamwork- I do what I can & Josh does what he can, and eventually everything gets done.

  8. Yeah when I was working I NEVER had a clean house, heh. You’d think it would be easy since I wasn’t home all day! I think no matter the size of the house, I struggle to keep it tidy. Paul definitely picks up the slack (makes dinner most nights, but he’s TERRIBLE about cleaning or noticing that things need to be cleaned), but I can hardly expect him to do all this stuff when he gets home from work, when I have all day to do it. :-) Besides, I like it when he takes Savannah when he gets home.

  9. Monday is my shopping day, and by the end of the week it’s slim pickin’s around here. I would think it’s much simpler to go one day, rather than be running out every day of the week. Of course, there may be a bit of planning involved to get a one-day-a-week grocery list made, but it can be kinda fun picking out recipes. I usually end up sticking mostly to favorites (pizza, quesadillas, pasta), then adding something new (soup, something with a different kind of meat, etc.). I also like playing around with baking and trying healthy ingredients.

    I often feel guilty for not being more hands-on with my kids. I prefer it when we’re doing things alongside each other, rather than my having to entertain them or do everything with them or on their level. Pretend play can be really fun to observe, but I get sick of it really fast! It’s nice to get my housework done while the kiddos are doin’ their own thing. And I think it’s perfectly fine! It just doesn’t always work out as nicely as I’d like. :P I also find when I DO plan something – like Gwen’s activity books, something slightly more educational – she loses interest fast, I get impatient, then I’m annoyed that I pushed it. *sigh*

    Sorry Savannah has been so testy lately. I get SO frustrated with Josiah when he refuses to nap; even more so if both my kiddos go on strike! I NEED that break during the day. There were a couple times recently Josiah just didn’t sleep, and would end up screaming at the side of his crib. I think it may have been a bout of just not feeling well, but then he got used to me coming to get him, and soon was just crying for me to come and pick him up, rock him.

    You’ve probably tried all sorts of things, but have you tried changing her naptime? When Josiah dropped his morning nap, I decided to put him down for his afternoon nap earlier since he would still get really tired. A good time seems to be right after lunch, around 1/1:30. If I wait any longer, he just stays up and makes noises in his crib, then stands up, ready to play and whining to get out. I also started putting Gwen down about a half an hour after him; this way, she gets some alone time with me to read books, and they’re both up before dinnertime rather than right when I’m in the middle of trying to make dinner. AND they’re nice and tired for bedtime.

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