On My Mind

* I have a sick baby today. Or a teething baby. In any case, he started getting stuffy-nosed last night, and today has a runny nose, doesn't want to be out of arms and is having a tough time staying asleep. Sick babies are always a sad thing, but there is something unique about a baby's first illness. I know it isn't exactly a loss of innocence, but it is... something. I can't say that I like it.

How I am spending most of my day. Babywearing to the rescue!

*School starts on Monday along with the beginning of a new Liturgical year. Elizabeth and Anastasia are so very excited about preschool/pre-k.I can hardly believe that I have a child who is 4-and-a-half and who is interested in learning how to read. Seriously, how did that happen? I have lots of feelings about it including excitement, a bit of nerves, some apprehension, a dose of confidence.

Part of my nerves are due to the fact that this is likely the start of something very long term. I may well be educating children at home for the next 18 years. Longer, if God wills we should have more children. While I say that we will be taking our education decisions year-to-year, I don't imagine that we will give up homeschooling unless something big and changing happened in our lives.

Like any novice, I am in the process of figuring things out. My main goal for the first part of the year is to establish a daily and weekly rhythm for our family including prayer, circle time, rest time, tea time, and plenty of free play. Nothing to it, right? Unless you're one who has never had an easy time sticking to a schedule let alone creating one. That's my own personal challenge.

I have many more thoughts about home education, but they will need to wait until later.

*I am one who responds well to words of affirmation. Familiar with the various love languages? Words of affirmation is one of my top languages. Today, while I was sitting on the couch holding the sick baby, Wyatt made a comment about how when I am unwell (or am caring for an unwell child) he particularly realizes how much I do around the house on any given day. It was nice to have some verbal recognition for the work that I do just to maintain a level of comfortable chaos as opposed to out-of-control chaos in the house. My house is rarely fully pulled together-- the last time that was the case was two days before Jameson was born-- but it is small enough that if it is cluttered and untidy it quickly becomes uncomfortable to remain in. I'm thankful that my man knows me well and loves me enough to tell me words that uplift me. Knowing that he appreciates and notices the work I do around the home makes it easier to bear loading another load of dishes, or to throw another load of laundry in the wash. I try to always thank him for the work that he does, often, around the house as well. That man does a particularly great job of cleaning the kitchen.

*Speaking of laundry, I do an amazing job of getting clothes washed. The problem of laundry comes with the sorting, folding, and putting away. My tendency to wash four loads in a row and then take a week to get them put away drives Wyatt crazy in a bad sort of way. It's something I'm working on.  I really need to get the currently clean loads put away so that I can do the next several loads. It never ends.

*Rest time. It's pretty neat. We've been building a routine of daily rest time the last two weeks and I think things are getting better as far as the girls knowing the expected behavior (stay in your room, play quietly or rest in bed, etc.). Anastasia has managed to put herself to sleep about 4-5 times in the last two weeks. I can't tell you how great this is.