The Doctors Wife

Small Things

When I have a project, I tend to want to complete it start to finish. While sometimes that is a very good thing, since having a second child, I have found it to be much harder to find the time to start and finish any kind of project. This means that I have all kinds of things to do, but I put them off because I don't have the time to do them. Well, I am trying to break things up and find ways that I can have smaller projects that allow me to have the start to finish feeling. One thing that has been driving me crazy for several months has been my kitchen. The cabinets and pantry have been such a mess and I have really needed to clean them out, purge and re-organize. Since I know that the likelihood of me having the time to completely empty out my kitchen is slim to none, I am taking it one cabinet at a time. (revolutionary thinking, I know) So the other day while David napped and Hannah worked on a project, I cleaned out one side of my kitchen island. It is home to sippy-cups, cook-books, take out menus, etc. and it was a mess! I forgot to take a before picture- but just imagine too many cookbooks stuffed in, lots of loose recipes and take out menus, pizza coupons and appliance manuals all over the place. Here is the after:

Ahhh much better. The two pink notebooks on the middle shelf hold take out menus and recipes. You can see how I organize loose recipes here. I use the same method for take out menus, they are divided into categories, Italian, Chinese, etc.  And perhaps the best part is I got rid of a ton of cookbooks that I never use. I am trying to take it a little at a time and get my kitchen back under control, and thought I would share my progress. I love seeing before/ after pictures from others, and it always motivates me to get something done at my own home- now if I can just remember to take before shots!

Rainbow Fun

One of my goals for this year was to be more intentional about my time with Hannah and David, and more specifically having a short devotional with them each morning. So far we have really enjoyed it, I usually print off a color page or two that has to do with the devotional and the kids color them while I make breakfast in the mornings. Last week, one of the devotions was about rainbows and God's promises and I decided to take it a little further and add in a few more rainbow related activities for Hannah in the afternoon while David was napping. 

 We mixed colors using this page.

Hannah had a good time with this- she loves to paint, and there is a Max and Ruby episode where they mix paint colors and she mentioned that she was mixing colors just like Ruby- so cute!

We also made a rainbow fan- we actually made two because I love the idea of demonstrating how there are many shades of each color. Hannah can definitely be a little stubborn on things like this, she is very much a black and white thinker so I loved that this was a fun activity that showed (in such a visual way) how there can be many varieties of the same thing. 

I got the idea for this here.

We had a really fun afternoon and David took a nice long nap so we were able to get in some good one on one time. I love it when we have these easy, teachable moments!

Other color/activity pages we used can be found here.

 

 

Lighten Up

As a new year begins and I am assessing the last year and looking at the year ahead I have several goals for the year. Since we are anticipating a move in the next 6 months, I know that this year will likely be a year of big changes, and I have tried to keep this in mind when setting goals for this year. Two of my goals are to lose the last of the baby weight, and to "lighten up" our house in anticipation of moving. David will be 2 years old next month, and I think it is fair to call extra weight baby weight until the baby turns 2, then it's just fat. And I don't want the extra weight- so I have a first weight loss goal set for David's birthday, and a second to finish off the "baby weight" by Hannah's birthday. I am not a believer in traditional dieting and I think most diet foods cause more harm than good and I am not a fan of calorie counting. (I think that when you are a mother of little girls you have to be especially careful about dieting and calorie counting as it is modeling behavior to our daughters in a world that has absolutely lost it's mind about being skinny- it is a tough balance of modeling a healthy lifestyle with healthy attitudes about food, weight and body image) So my plan is to watch my portions and get my rear in gear and start working our regularly again. I have not worked out regularly in ages and I know that aside from helping me shed a few pounds, it will help me feel so much better. Right now I am thinking I will be alternating going to the gym and working out at home on the Wii. And as the weather allows, getting the kids out for more walks- that is one thing that I loathe about winter, being all cooped up inside! 

My second big goal is to pare down and get rid of a lot of stuff in preparation of moving. Not only will this clear up space for when we are showing our home, but it will make packing/ unpacking much easier if there is less stuff to deal with. I have a huge garage sale pile in the making, and I am hoping to go through the entire house, closet by closet, cabinet by cabinet and get rid of things that we don't/or rarely use. My tolerance for things with occasional use has gone down dramatically since our last move, and I think there will be a lot of stuff that doesn't make the cut.  ; ) So, those are my two big goals for the year, hopefully 6 months from now me and the house will be much lighter!

Getting In A Groove

Or more aptly titled, "Trying" to get in a groove! Now that the holidays are over, and the Christmas decorations are put away, the grandparents have gone, and homes for all of the new toys  have been found, I am trying to get back into a regular (or somewhat) regular routine. Late Sunday night David woke up with a second round of a stomach bug, thus thwarting my attempts of starting the week off with a normal routine. Luckily he has made a quick recovery and is feeling much better today and is back to his  rover-y self, however we will be staying home today, and probably tomorrow too, just in case he has a relapse or Hannah ends up sick. I am hopeful that by the end of the week, we will be ready to resume all of our normal activities. As this year is on track to be a year of big changes, I am really trying to have consistency as a goal, and am making more of an effort of keeping up a regular routine/schedule. As I have been trying to layout a basic plan, I am amazed at how quickly our days fill up and I often wonder how some of you fit in all that you do! This time of year always feels particularly busy due to both Mike and David having birthdays at the beginning of February, and Hannah's at the beginning of April. David's party is all planned, invitations ordered with just a few details left to wrap up, and I am working on a surprise for Mike. (and I won't say anymore on the off chance that he reads this!) So that is what I've been up to- I lead an exciting,  glamorous life, I know. ; ) Since we started off the new year with a sick Rover, I feel like we can only go up from here! Happy 2011!