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Fell off the wagon a bit

I know myself pretty well. And I know that I'm really really bad at keeping up with cleaning, unless I'm in the right mood. Well, my desire for a clean house is still there, but it's kinda gotten stalled a bit.

You see, shortly after I started my cleaning kick, our apartment was broken into and we had a few things stolen (a couple things kindly replaced by Chris's boss). But when you get violated by that kind of thing, you desperately want to change things. Since getting an alarm system is out right now (we're not paying to secure a cheap apartment that we were never planning on staying in for long) we figured now is an opportune time to think about purchasing a home. But, as Chris said one day, "Why bother cleaning/decluttering if we're just going to have to pack it up soon anyway?". At the time I told myself "NO! Declutter now! Then the new home will be clean and nice and you won't have to do it there!". Unfortunately, the apartment is still cluttered and there is very little progress on the house buying front (due to lack of time).

I'm not entirely to blame, I've had a lot on my plate this past fortnight. Annie Jr went up this past weekend to sold out houses. It's so successful we're adding another matinee this Saturday. In addition to the "stage manager hat" that I"m wearing for Annie, I also have to put on my "board member hat" and make sure brochures are there (should have done a bunch of other stuff, but didn't think of it til today). Plus, we catered the stamp show this weekend. And lest you forget, kind reader, I also have that all important "mom hat". Gerenerally other hats kinda just get stuck on top of it, but it's had to be cast off for short periods of time becaues the hat hair was causing some forgetfulness problems. Enough with the hat metaphor though, I should be cleaning right now, right?

So yes. I need motivation. I think I have set a goal (just need husband approval). If I can get all the paper piles taken care of, then I can purchase the books patiently sitting in my amazon shopping cart (about $60 worth, all related to theater stuff). Let's hope Chris agrees to that!

I'm on a roll...

Since I'm so excited about this new cleaning thing, I've been on a major roll. Last night after shining the sink I could barely fall asleep because I wanted to clean so much more. I restrained myself however and finally managed to fall asleep. Grace awoke me at 6:15, normally not a problem, but since I have to go to 10:30 mass and she didn't go back to sleep until 7:45, I did not go back to bed (I'm still slightly bitter about that). Since I really couldn't go back to bed because I'd only be able to sleep for about 45 minutes, I started on a cleaning spree! Here's the list of what I accomplished so far:

• Put in a load of laundry
• Washed all the dishes still left over from last night
• unloaded the dishwasher
• completely cleaned the bathroom
• made a pot of coffee
• switched the laundry
• cleaned off half of the kitchen counter

And I'm currently enjoying my coffee and a bowl of cereal before I hop in the shower and make myself look pretty.

Now the only question is, What should I wear today?

My vocation is calling

So, there's a lot going on with me right now, internally speaking at least. I'm really feeling that I'm neglecting my vocation. How? By not keeping my castle clean. So I'm starting to work on it, slowly so that I'm building habits instead of just crisis cleaning (although there's a bit of that right now). I'm utilizing a few things: the book "A Mother's Rule of Life" (more on that in a later post) and the site flylady.net.

The Fly Lady is pretty spectacular, check out her site. Her first baby step is to shine your sink, and that's what I did tonight! I really want to share more of this journey, but it's late, so for now, I leave you with some before pictures as well as a shot of my good-as-new sink!

And here's my new, shiny sink!

Over the river and through the woods

Later today (well, more like tonight) Chris, Grace and I are going to be hopping on a plane and jetting off to New Hampshire. Chris's sister is graduating high school and the family needs to meet the littlest member so now is the perfect time to head out there. I'm rather freaked out about the trip for about a million reasons. Firstly, packing alone is stressful. I've got some good lists and it is almost done (Grace's stuff just has to get put in the suitcase and mine will be easy). Next, we don't have an actual boarding pass for Grace. I really hope that's right, cause our confirmation email has her listed as a traveller, but she just doesn't have a pass (I suppose because she doesn't have a seat). Then there's been all these plane crash stories in the news. What a way to make a mom start freaking out!

Last night though, I managed to make it to the local young adult ministry for some socializing and an hour of hardcore praise and worship before the Eucharist. Even though I still had Grace with me, being able to praise the Lord and focus on Him was fantastic. Mass is great, but getting extra time in during the week really helps to boost me up.

I wish I had some profound thing to say, but right now, I should really go finish packing so that I clean around here. Let's hope I'll be able to so that I can come home to a clean house!

Me and my baby

Trying to get into the "mom groove" is proving to be difficult. Back in my carefree bachellorette days or even my simple newlywed days I tended to be, well, lazy. I much prefer reading a historical novel while sipping coke and eating chips to cleaning and cooking. Now I feel like I need to truly be Super Mom (much like my own mother). Trouble is, I have a clingy baby! We're listening to Cake now and I have found the perfect song to describe her desire to be close to me.

Stickshifts and safetybelts,
Bucket seats have all got to go.
When we're driving in the car,
It makes my baby seem so far.
I need you here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
I need you to be here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
But when we're driving in my Malibu,
It's easy to get right next to you.
I say, "Baby, scoot over, please."
And then she's right there next to me.
I need you here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
I need you to be here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.

Well a lot of good cars are Japanese.
But when we're driving far,
I need my baby,
I need my baby next to me.

Well, stickshifts and safetybelts,
Bucket seats have all got to go.
When we're driving in the car,
It makes my baby seem so far.
I need you here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
I need you to be here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.

You see, someone sincerly does not like to just sit in her bouncer or her swing. No, Mommy over on the other side of the room singing to her is not close enough. It's a very good thing Mommy has a sling and a snugli, cause otherwise this poor poor child would be all alone.

Oh but wait! No, sitting on Mommy's lap while she goes on the computer isn't sufficent for this girl! She needs Mommy's full attention and prefers to dance about the room singing.

Oh well, she is super cute. And maybe dancing about with my baby is more important than a clean house. Yes, I think it is!

The days are slowly warming up

And I am slowly getting adjusted to motherhood. This was always the natural role for me, but it's always a different thing when it's your baby. Gracie is growing nicely, she's six weeks old today and on Monday she weighed in at a whopping 10lbs 2oz. She is a little on the short side, at birth she was 19in and she's only up to 21. That's ok though, although now she's too big for newborn size and swimming in 0-3 months.

Right now, we're in a comfortable groove of getting up, sometimes taking Dad to work or staying at home and chilling at many different locations.

I'm trying to remember that while she's my first priority right now I can't forget about me or Chris. Right now, I've got the theater to keep my mind busy (plenty of drama and work to be done) and Chris makes sure that if I'm getting sleep deprived that I can get a few hours in a row. The only thing that I really need to focus on is me and Chris. It's hard to even get time to talk to each other since we're usually either doing something (usually with my family) or are just too tired to do anything besides watch tv. Hopefully we'll start planning some date nights soon, whether they include Grace or not!

I think someone is going to be wanting to eat soon, although her uncle Lukie is kindly playing and singing with her right now! And on that subject, good news! We are slowly weaning off the nipple shields for nursing. Gracie can be much faster and more efficient with the shield, but she is able to nurse without it, which pleases me to no end. Hopefully soon she won't need it ever again!

Here's to hoping this 70 degree day is the coolest for a while! We need a chance to wear our sleeveless outfits!