Category: One Step

It’s been an interesting week.  My baby has decided that crying from 9 pm to midnight is a lovely way to spend the evenings, and it’s set us all back a bit, especially when she wakes up at 1:30 a.m. and every hour afterward.  What happened to the 6 hours of solid sleep she’s been getting?  The kids had to wake ME up for school on Friday because I was so exhausted that I didn’t hear my own alarm.  Not good.

Because of the long nights and the sleep deprived fog that is clouding my brain, I expected to report a low number of steps this week, but the count is actually 51.  Wow.  Again, most of them are little things, small moments when I made the right choice as a mother in an interaction with a child (which is harder, not easier, when you’re tired), but weeks like this are exactly why I’m on this journey.  The to do list cannot be the only judge of my success.  The one step list reminds me that my days are not wasted, and that I am investing in a work which won’t pay off for many years to come.  Still, it’s the wisest and best investment I’ll ever make.

With that said, here are my highlights.  First, I’ve been making “green” shakes in the mornings for us to drink.  These consist of ice, frozen fruit, chopped dark leafy greens (swiss chard, spinach, collard greens) and some canned fruit all mixed in a blender.  No juice, sweeteners, etc.


I’ve been making them since the beginning of the year, and the whole family likes them.  I’m now starting to crave them.  I figure that’s a good thing.

Second, we’re making progress with this one.  Notice that she’s writing on PAPER!  We just might be able to cure her of her obsession with murals on my walls.


Third, I was able to get started on my project using these (more to come on this later)…


And last, which is most definitely the BIGGEST of them all.  This little guy just made my week by giving me the easiest, most peaceful potty training experience EVER. As in, he goes in the bathroom, locks the door, takes care of things and comes back out after washing his hands.  Not what I pictured, but hey, I’ll take it (especially when I check the bathroom afterwards and everything is fine).


He is oh, so adorable.  The other day we were in the car as the sun was setting when he said in his little deep voice, “Can SOMEONE move the sun, please?!”  He was tired of having the sun in his eyes.  Oh, we laughed so hard.  Cute kid.


Even cuter now that he wears underwear.  Thanks, little guy!

Well, the baby is screaming after a 20 minute catnap that I hoped would last for hours (it is 11pm, after all) so I’ll wrap it up there.  I have a busy week coming next week with 3 deadlines that I care a lot about, a fussy baby, and the kindergarten driving to do.  I hope it all comes together!  I’m sure it will, one step at a time.

I hope you have a great week, full of little steps in good directions!

Hopeful Homemaker

This week was a different sort of week.  I need to remember that the weeks when I’m the one driving the kindergarten mid-day carpool are very different (and not nearly as productive) as the weeks when I get to stay home, waiting for my daughter to step through the door.

This week I recorded 35 steps.  Most of them were in the area of nurturing, discipline, and home management.  While I do not feel that I gained any ground this week, I am grateful that I was able to at least maintain a few things.  My little girls still have a clean room, my kitchen has been consistently clean, and there has been no clean laundry piled in my bedroom.

For some reason this week was a little bit harder emotionally, a little harder to feel happy with myself.  One night as I was cleaning the kitchen, I overheard something that my husband said to our son.  They were watching a surfing video online (Mr. Wonderful is a surfer) and he said to our son, “It’s about using what the wave has to offer.”  Light bulbs went off in my head and I thought, “It’s about using what the day has to offer.”  My days offered different opportunities this week than last week, many of which I could have done without.  But I did my best to be cheerful and work toward my goals.  This was a week of learning more lessons instead of accomplishing tasks.

I do have two things worth mentioning specifically:


I uploaded 150 photos of our family from 2009 and had a photo book made with them.  It was so awesome to receive the book at the end of the week and read through it!  If I get no other memory projects done for last year, we have this, and it is a great snapshot of our family at this stage.

It was in beautiful condition for about 90 minutes.  I then left to pick up a daughter from gymnastics, during which time someone chose to eat a homemade granola bar while they read it, and left tons of crumbs in the pages of the book.  When I discovered it the next morning, there were oil spots and sticky spots in many places.  Bummer!  So, do I let myself feel frustrated with my children for misusing something that should last, or should I be grateful that they wanted to read it?  I considered both options, then shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

Second thing:


I stayed up late on Friday night to put together my first Rouenneries quilt top.  I’ve had this fabric for 2.5 months now, and decided that I deserved to break into it.  I love this fabric line!  Saturday night I was suddenly possessed with the urge to list my favorites of 2009 in the quilting world.  It was a lot of fun, and I’m excited to see what 2010 will bring in this fun hobby.

Looking back over the past 17 days, I realize that I need to give myself permission to sit down and pick up a good book.  I spend all my time working on things, but I’m not going to meet any of my goals unless I just do it.  I can’t keep saving books for when all my work is done.

So there’s my report.  I wonder what little steps will define the coming week….