Recalculating...

Do you have an annoying GPS that talks to you?  You hear that woman (or man's) voice after you drive past the turn you should have taken calling out to you "Recalculating..." and then they suggest a U-turn or a redirection.  This is where I am in my life.  Chaos has taken over and swung me quickly down the road in a direction I never wished to go.

At the beginning of this year, I was sure that I would get to work hard to make life a little more simple, a little more manageable.  Apparently, that was wishful thinking...

It has been non-stop crisis after crisis, chaotic event after chaotic event since then.

I am definitely not going to chronicle all of those events here, but I am writing to say, "hello!" and that I miss writing. I cannot believe it has been seven months since I have posted!  Writing is always so cathartic for me and I have truly missed it lately.

As I have read over some of my previous posts, a list from this post stood out to me...

My list of changes to make in 2014.
1. Return to pumping and quit using formula (as much as possible) for the twins for the times I am not around or they need a supplement.
2. Get serious about saving money for a down payment on a new house. 
3. Take time to unplug from the TV and the computer more often.
4. Make our home organized and presentable.  (Clear out the clutter that has accumulated from being pregnant and adjusting in life and finally get good- or at least better- at cleaning and tidying.)
5. Make myself organized and presentable. (Return to making lists, wearing make-up at least occasionally, wearing real clothes rather than house clothes, etc)
6. SLEEP MORE and choose health over convenience.
7. Take time for God, service to others and fellowship with my church community.
8. Spend more time with Christian.
9. Get out of the house!! Both alone and with the whole family. 
10. Find more ways to stay positive and relaxed.
11. Let go of mommy guilt!
12. Prioritize items of importance on my to-do list, not just the urgent ones.

I quite literally don't know that I have achieved or even had a chance to focus on even one of these goals this year so far.

The first item on the list can be crossed off as I was forced to quit nursing this summer when I had to take antibiotics that I could not take while breastfeeding.  The rest of the items I have not even thought about.  It has been a difficult year.

If I look closely though, I think I can boil those 12 items into three main areas that I want to really improve upon. 

1.Take Good Care of Myself

2.Be Mindful in the little things

3.Prioritize Faith, Family, Work and let the rest go...

Maybe I can start simplifying my life by simplifying the goals I have for myself. :-)

Have you taken time to evaluate your life lately?  To refocus your energy and heart on the things that are worth your attention?  Have you kept any New Years Resolutions?  Had some that didn't work out?  Feel free to share here!

In His Grace,

Rachel 

Oh the Irony...

So I guess you should never write a post about how your goal for the year is to get past survival mode, or life, in it's irony will try to defeat you at every turn.

Shortly after I wrote this post about my grand goals for 2014 our foster son was hospitalized for 5 days due to complications with an illness.  He came home on an n-g feeding tube and refused to take a bottle for a total of nearly two weeks.

Since then we found an opportunity to move to a much larger house for a very affordable house that suits our needs, so we moved two weeks after our foster son's hospital incident. 

After the hospital, Peanut also lost his ability to sleep on his own.  We spent weeks rocking him to sleep for every nap and nighttime snooze as well as night time wakings (which suddenly there were a lot of).  While rocking babies/toddlers is a sweet time, it also presents logistical issues when there are two out of three other children who also need your presence to fall asleep.

We did our best and pushed through though and I'm happy to report that about a month later, Peanut dropped the rocking to sleep thing all on his own and went back to going to sleep with no problems.

Now we are in the midst of birthday season (which also happens to be Blog Anniversary season for Common to Moms also) and I am recovering from a fairly severe corneal abrasion as well as participating in competition season with the dance studio where I teach.

Every second seems full at the moment, which explains why things have been quiet here on the blog.  I will probably continue to be quiet until things settle a bit for us in our new house and through birthday season.  I am still here though and will return to writing as soon as I can.

Until then...

Cheers!
Rachel

A Plan for Taking Back the House!

In the past, I have tracked habits here at Common to Moms.  I've done this partially because the public forum is great accountability for me and partially because watching someone accomplish something is great motivation for others. 

This year- 2014- I am planning to make A LOT of changes in my life.  Mainly, my goal is to move past survival mode and choose to live in a more peaceful and complete way.

I'm happy to report that the process has already begun.  In the last week or so, I have already begun to do things like use my calendar to plan my life at least a week in advance (this helps to quell the chaos in a life full of doctors' appointments and therapies), taken back grocery shopping and meal planning, cooked a little, saved receipts (to soon use to do some budget tracking) and made a plan for how to take back my house from the chaos of twin pregnancy and almost a year of  3 children 3 and under.

Today I want to break down my plan for taking back my house and share it with you. 

First, I feel the need to clarify that although I have needed to improve my habits on cleaning before, this is not the only thing crying out for change in our current life circumstances.  It's more that while I was busy nursing, changing diapers and changing toddlers, stuff began accumulating in the corners of  our home.  And while some things grew, other things began to get lost in the shuffle.  Showers, make-up, clothes that fit, quality restful time all began to dwindle while chaos increased.  Life was hardly ever completely crazy, but neither was it truly complete.  Satisfying? Yes.  Fulfilling? Almost.  Complete? Not really.  The start of the new year has me realizing that what will get lost in the chaos of babies and small children (if I'm not careful) is peace at home and a respectable me. 

"Taking Back the House" to me means getting rid of clutter, working on cleaning habits AND adjusting our home to function for six people instead of four.  Let's face it- almost DAILY I run into problems trying to squeeze a six-person-life out of a four-person-home. I have been reading a lot about organization, cleaning and home management (as well as a little personal soul searching) so I have come up with a pretty comprehensive plan (at least I think it is!) for how I'm going to tackle taking back the house.  And as I mentioned before, I think its both helpful for me and inspiring to others to share it here on the ole' blog.  Consider this a life over-share and if you want to join me as I attempt to conquer some major disorganization and lifestyle adjustment, then I can only say thank you!  Any and all support and encouragement are welcome.

Without further adieu- here is the plan to Take Back the House.

1. Divide my home into three zones.   

Zone 1- Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen & Laundry
Zone 2- Master Bedroom
Zone 3- Kids Rooms and Bathroom

Admittedly, I have chosen the hardest zone to tackle first- mostly because if I can conquer these areas of my home then I can DEFINITELY continue on and conquer the rest!

2. Chose a starting point within Zone 1 - The Dining Room!

3. Make a list of every stitch of clutter or randomness in that space and what I need to do about it.  The goal here is to check things off the list until the area is completely clutter free.

4. Keep this area CLEAN.

5. Celebrate my clean and de-cluttered space by changing things in the space to better fit our family including but not limited to changing or updating decor.  This is definitely the FUN step!

6.  Rinse and Repeat to the end of a zone, then take time to reflect and re-evaluate the process.  Share on the blog and keep moving forward.  Taking the entire year to complete all three zones is definitely allowed- it will be no small task!

So that's the plan in as much detail as I can predict!  Stay tuned for my Dining Room Over-share Post!

Till Next Time,
Rachel

A New Year's Post: Looking Forward to 2014!

This post is difficult for me to write since the last year of life (or more) has been truly about surviving.  When I take time to assess my life over the last year, there are a lot of wonderful memories as far as life events goes... the twins being born, my grandparents' 80th birthday bash, Peanut's amazing progress in the last month, Melody growing and beginning preschool and dance, seeing my family SO much in comparison to other years, seeing how much people care about our family by how they have helped us this year and so much more!

However, there is a part of me that has definitely grown tired of the surviving aspect of the last year. 

At the end of the twins pregnancy it was difficult just to walk!  Then I recovered from a c-section, Peanut started having surgeries, Melody started school and dance and I jumped back into a part time job.  Fast forward to today and I have grown weary of nights without sleep, days without showers, months without wearing make up and a full year of feeling like making it through the day is an admirable goal.

It is time.

2014 is when I get my life back.  When I start living my priorities again.  I know there will still be days where the goal is just to survive, but I simply cannot live that way as the rule anymore.

I don't plan to change this by sheer determination (though that will be a part of it).  I sincerely am prayerful that God will carry me through this year and mold me into a better ME than I currently am.  I know I don't have any reason to feel guilty about where I am- in fact, there is probably good reason for me to think it could take MANY years to return to feeling some kind of normal under the circumstances.  But something in me is yearning to regain my lost dignity a bit, and I long not to feel defined by the needs of the current moment constantly.  Changing this will take time and effort, but as I said before- this is the time.

So without further adieu- in no particular order:

My list of changes to make in 2014.

1. Return to pumping and quit using formula (as much as possible) for the twins for the times I am not around or they need a supplement.
2. Get serious about saving money for a down payment on a new house. 
3. Take time to unplug from the TV and the computer more often.
4. Make our home organized and presentable.  (Clear out the clutter that has accumulated from being pregnant and adjusting in life and finally get good- or at least better- at cleaning and tidying.)
5. Make myself organized and presentable. (Return to making lists, wearing make-up at least occasionally, wearing real clothes rather than house clothes, etc)
6. SLEEP MORE and choose health over convenience.
7. Take time for God, service to others and fellowship with my church community.
8. Spend more time with Christian.
9. Get out of the house!! Both alone and with the whole family. 
10. Find more ways to stay positive and relaxed.
11. Let go of mommy guilt!
12. Prioritize items of importance on my to-do list, not just the urgent ones.

Unlike typical New Year Resolutions, I know that this is a list that will take time to tackle.  It would be ridiculous to attempt to change all of these things about my life at once!  Yet, at the end of next year, I hope to have made significant progress in many or all of these areas.  After all, when I look back at my life this time last year, we have come a long way! 

So tell me, what changes do you plan to make this year?

Wishing you the happiest of years in 2014!

Love, Rachel