Sunday, January 31, 2010

February 9 Update on FLYing



My Shining Sink

February 9: FLYlady in Sickness and in Health

I have been working on the babysteps portion of FLYlady, which is not really the all out program. It has made a drastic difference already, and I cant wait until I have my "control journal" finished so that I can start experimenting with routines more. But, today I found another indicator of out how much the system has been helping me. Yesterday I was feeling really horrible, and the house got a bit out of hand. This morning it was looking a little cluttered again (though the sink was still shining!)

I went about my day today, and just tried to get back into the swing of things. By the end of the day, the house was clean again with hardly any effort, and I had gotten some things on my longer term to-do list finished. I also decluttered my bedroom, which I had been putting off. It ended up taking about twenty minutes! I followed the FLYlady directions about taking a throw away, put away, and give away bad into the room. Well, I went around the room putting things into those bags and I was truly shocked at how quickly the floor became clean and the furniture uncluttered.

So, even with a sick day of being out of my routines, everything came right back together without a problem. I am loving this!


FLYLADY UPDATE:

I have been doing flylady now for about a week and I am a convert. Now I am getting as excited about FLY routines as all people in the crazy "testimonial" emails I keep receiving. It really is remarkable. The house is so clean and decluttered already that it is a little spooky. And I havnt really even put much time into it. How does it happen?

One of the purposes of Flylady is to declutter your whole house. I kept waiting to get to the part where she is going to show me how to do that, and then I realized these little fifteen minute "27 fling boogies" and five minute "room rescues"... thats it. A few minutes a day and a few routines and thats all there is.

Did you know Flylady got her name because she teaches fly fishing? How cool is that?


STARTING FLYLADY
I found a system of life organization/housecleaning online called "flylady." FLY stands for finally loving yourself, which I like. You sign up for an email group and get a daily "baby step" to follow every day of the first month, plus encouraging testemonials, etc. I have been deleating my testemonials because I am also trying to clean out my inbox... I just got below 3,800. I think if I clean out a page every time I check my email, I may get the box cleaned out in a few years or so.

The first thing you do is shine your sink. It is supposed to be a sort of touchstone bringing clarity into your life. Thus my shiny sink pictured above. Brandon is still skeptical about not piling dishes in the sink and doing a big wash at the end of the day, but we are giving it a shot for a week. It is fun to see it gleaming all the time, and if you just give your dishes a quick rinse and stick them in the washer every time you use them, it is not a bad system. And it motivates you to empty to washer right away.

I will keep you posted on how the Flylady system works for us.

Photos of Elijah Playing in the Snow





Elijah has enjoyed his first memorable snowfall this year. He has played in the snow making snow angels, throwing snowballs and sledding. This is a big snowfall for Tennessee. We have a good two inches of ice on the roads in our area right now and Brandon should have several snow days next week, hurrah!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Pictures of Beatrice, 5 months







Little Beatrice Rose is now five months old. Isn't she beautiful? She loves to laugh and squeal and try to be like her big brother. She is also still a little penut: she is not quite eleven and a half pounds.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Workaholics Anonymous Affirmations

Lets have three cheers for Workaholics Anonymous, one of the lesser known of the 12 step Anonymous groups. And three more cheers for affirmations; we all need more exposure to these guys for sure. Here are some of my favorite WA affirmations:

I refuse to rush; there will be enough time.

The slower I go, the more I do, the more time I have.

Think timelessness -- sip, not gulp.

Slow is beautiful and powerful. I move glacially.

Am I a human being or a human doing? Am I enjoying, or enduring?

I'm not livin' if I'm driven.

My life is full and underscheduled.

Rest is the best reward I give myself.

Success is the quality of your journey.

Enjoyment is my way of keeping score.

The goal is the excuse for the fun of the race.

Work is the highest form of play.

Put it on your not-do list.

I do everything easily and effortlessly.

There is no place I have to go, and nothing I have to do.

Even if offered the best, say "no" if you need to rest.

Simplicity means small and frequent pleasures.

Importance, not urgency; values, not goals; quality, not quantitiy.

I am more effective by beaing more selective.

The slower I go, the faster I grow.

My body is my friend and my temple. I bless and thank it daily and obey its signals.

Emotions are information. I honor their important messages.

You can't run your life on empty.

and my current favorite:
When you simplify, you're not subtracting: you're adding time and space.

**Taken from "Workaholics Anonymous, Book of Recovery."**

The Next Right Thing

Some days you feel on top of everything, and you are tapped into your inner super hero. Other days "super hero" seems absurd. Sometimes your parenting decisions are working perfectly and you are on a roll, and other times you are doubting and wondering if you are one of the worst parents ever. I think this is perfectly normal.

Today has been the second way for me. The little ones are sick and I am sleep deprived. I havn't ran in days and the nap routine is off. I found myself in the middle of the day getting bogged down with second guessing my decisions and fretting over what I should be doing and if I was doing it ok. I am thankful that I recognized that I was feeling not quite right (listening to my feelings!) and I prayed. The Al-anon saying, "Do the next right thing" came to mind. For me today that was check on the potatoes in the oven, start some more laundry, interact with Elijah, and make us some healthy food. As I began to re-engage with my children, my home and myself, my stress and anxiety decreased and my confidence began to return.

A superhero must slow down to "lift up her eyes to the hills" and hearken.

Super-Sleep

Since Beatrice Rose, (five months today!) has joined our family, we have been re-working our sleep life. At night I sleep on a full size matress with Beatrice and my husband sleeps on a twin matress with Elijah. Beatrice joined me all night from the time we brought her home, when she was only five pounds, and she still sleeps by my side and takes a nip whenever she goes through a light sleep cycle. I never had the crazy fatigue that I experienced when I brought Elijah home and got up to feed him when he woke.
Elijah has had trouble with night terrors. He went through a phase of waking up screaming, asleep with his eyes open, several times throughout the night. I have come to realize that he really needs a regular sleep routine with early bedtime and naps. He was functioning in a chronically overtired (and irritable) state for awhile, when I either had schedule conflicts that interrupted his nap and bedtimes, or just couldn't believe that he really needed that much sleep. When he was very small he went to bed four-thirty, and people would tell me that was wierd. Now that he is two and a half I have finally become convinced about the amount of sleep he needs and I have the determination and confidence to do what I need to do so he can get it.
We need to be home most of the day, and can't go out for more than about three hours, or one of the naps is messed up. With two little ones, it is not easy to get out anyway, so staying home is more appealing. Plus I can get lots done while they are napping.
There have been two times in Elijah's life when we have made significant sleep changes. The first was when he was about ten months old, and we night weaned him. We are in the process of the second change now, which is teaching him to go down for naps on his own. If you want to read about how we made either transition, see my posts on nap-teaching and night weaning. With Beatrice I am trying to start her early in forming more independent sleep habits than those her brother had. It has worked out well this way, because she is a more independant person, while Elijah has a high need for physical contact and "snuggling."
Now we are getting a sufficient amount of night time rest as a family, and the little ones are becoming happy little nap champs.

Breath-holding or Seizures?

Elijah, who is now two and a half, has had episodes in which he stops breathing until he looses consciousness. I am not sure if they are siezures or what is called "breath-holding." He had the first episode when he was about two months old. He has had a total of about 18 of these, though some were borderline. They usually come when he is under some type of stress, but not necesarrilly angry or scared. Sometimes something seems to trigger it, such as me walking out of the nursury, or him falling down, but other times there was no apparent trigger. He usually cries out first, but not always. I can tell when one is starting -- he becomes very stiff with an arched back, his face grows bright red, then purple. His eyes roll back and he stops breathing. Only on one occaision, he began to convulse at this point. (That time he was with my mother, and she called 911). After he has not breathed for a few seconds (it feels like much longer!) he catches his breath and begins to breath again, very shallow, and his body relaxes. At this point he becomes very gray all over and clammy. He will regain consiousness in about a minute, but is completely dopey -- as if he doesnt know where he is, but I usually hold him and nurse him at this point, and he will fall asleep for awhile.
Pretty wild, huh?
The good news is that he has not had an episode like this in five months, though he had a borderline spell where he seemed almost to go out about two months ago. I hope that the fact that he didnt go out then, and that they are getting more spaced out, means that he is outgrowing these.
He has seen a couple of neurologists, and when he was four months he had a MRI that didnt pick up any abnormalities, though that was before the worst episodes had developed. After his convulsive episode, we took him to the ER, and he had a normal EKG there. His doctors are leaning toward calling these "breath holding," but I think they are probably some wierd form of childhood seizures. Apparently, either way we can just wait to see if he grows out of them, since they are not so far interfering with his health or safety. I dont want to start any meds unless he really needs them.
Anyone have kids with similar experiences? I would love to hear about it.

Beatrice and Jack Frost

Beatrice and Jack Frost
Is there something on my head?