Shelf Life

I crave organization in my life and sometimes the Middle Life is not the most organized place one can be. There are often many things that are so up in the air my entire life feels disorganized.

So I create organization! My house is my best place for this, With two little boys, toys galore, clothes being outgrown, a love of kitchen gadgets, and a home office there is pretty much always a little corner that could use some organization.

Recently, the top shelf of the least used cupboard in my kitchen has been driving me nuts (and trying to kill me - things often fall out of it on to my head!). It looked a lot like this:

All of those things are related to baking or kid art stuff.

One of my problems in taking on this space was the desire to not spend a lot of money. So I made a few of my organizers. The process is fun and adds a pop of color:

I was going to try to do this for all of the boxes, but I was getting impatient waiting for just the right sizes so I bought a couple things.

And now it looks like this...

And I am happy. And being happy is part of Thriving in the Middle Life!!

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Part 4

Isaac has taken to calling me "Sir". As in "could you help me, sir?" or "I would like some juice, sir."

It is terribly annoying....which probably makes him do this even more :)

And I blame that darn Fox in Socks...and Dr. Seuss himself, really.

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Part 3

Isaac and Joel were making a lot of very loud, typical little boy noises.

Isaac said, "Mommy, Joel is being loud."

Mommy: "Isaac, you are BOTH being loud."

Isaac: "Yes, but I am not bothering me!"

Isn't that how life works sometimes?

Imperfect Progress

Imperfect Progress.

I read that phrase recently and it really stuck with me. I think a lot of progress actually works that way and it pretty much is what I am holding on to right now in my Middle Life.

I haven't had a lot to say recently. The last few weeks have been hard. Lots of thoughts in my head, but not a lot of them making even remotely close to enough sense to write down. I keep thinking "two steps forward, one step back...and I am in the one step back part."

Why? Because we lost another baby and when you get to miscarriage number six there isn't a whole lot left to say. And none of it is nice.

So I got to practice, again, focusing on the land of the living...but it was HARD. It was imperfect progress. It was crying myself to sleep, but still getting up to love on my boys. It was saying "why this AGAIN??" while still taking my little ones for a walk. It was my heart breaking for my lost baby at the same time I was smiling at my silly toddlers.

It was imperfect. But it was progress. Because I made it through. Because I didn't just say "I hate the Middle Life". Because I did my best. Each day. I know I did my best.

I actually lowered my personal expectations/plans/household chores quite a bit. I reminded myself (ok, fine, my dad reminded me) that sometimes just doing the next thing IS thriving.

Sometimes Thriving is just not giving up today.

And it is still progress. Beautiful, messy, imperfect progress. 

I love you and naps

That basically sums up my relationship with my toddlers!

Or I guess it could say "I love you and YOUR naps".

I love my boys so very much. I love being home with them very much.

But a mommy needs a break. An introvert needs a break. Even from her own precious children. There is nothing wrong with this, and if I can get on my soap box for a moment, I think other mom's might also thrive a little more if they did this. too.

So this is one of the ways I have set up my life to Thrive. Since I started Joel on a loose schedule at a few months old I focused on making sure my boys napped simultaneously each day. Yes, there are days when they are sick or something crazy happens that this doesn't happen, but 98% of the time their naps overlap.

And I am certain the very happiness of our family is dependent on this.

When Joel was taking three naps a day, Isaac joined in for the middle nap. When Joel moved to two naps, Isaac's nap moved back to match Joel's afternoon nap. Now that Joel is moving to one nap, on those days, Isaac's nap comes forward, too. When they are passed the nap stage, this will be a quiet time in our afternoon.

This is all in an attempt to give myself mommy time to refresh. Some days, probably less than half the time right now (much more when Joel was a newborn) I take a little nap. Most days, I do something that just needs doing that is hard with tiny hands around, or I blog, or do some extra reading. But mostly, I just have time to myself. I rarely even answer the phone during this hour.

Because I want to Thrive and I know that I need some quiet space in my day for that to be possible.

And when they wake up? I am happy to have my cuddly little noise makers back for the rest of the day!!

Living

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living. (NKJV)
Psalms 27:13

A friend of mine shared this verse recently. It wasn't new to me...I have clung to it before as a reminder to look around and see what God is doing even when I feel hopeless.

I just hadn't thought of it in a while until last week when I realized it summarized how I had been trying to live in my Middle Life over the last few months. 

Last year threw me a few punches in an old fight I didn't even know I was fighting. Talk about unfair! 

It has taken some time to heal from miscarrying not once, but twice, in just a few months. I wasn't even thinking of new babies but I wanted them when I thought they were coming and, honestly, I still want them knowing they are so much safer in the arms of Jesus right now.

Keeping myself focused on the land of the living took effort through that grieving process. I know it took effort because a couple of times before in a similar grieving process (you get a lot of tries with 5 miscarriages) I didn't do well on this focus at. all. This time I wanted to be different and I was.

But I can't really take credit. The Lord has given me my focus on the land of the living. There are two living babies that are sleeping in my house right now. They are there smiling each time I look in the review mirror of my car (well, always there, just not always smiling, they are toddlers after all). 

These little boys show me the hope in the land of the living each and every day. On days it would be so much easier to pull the covers back over my head and cry "why" and "when will get to where we want to be", I remember that I believe I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. And when it is hard? God is Good...God has given me two of the most special reminders of this process I could ever ask for!!

So I continue to apply this and I am working to not lose heart in the Middle Life.

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Part 2

Isaac is an early riser, at least compared to the rest of our family. We often have to remind him to go back to bed at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning. However, he is wide awake and has some funny stuff to talk about as he is going back to bed.

Today's installment of that...

My name is Isaac. I liked to talk. I like to talk loud best.  I have so much to say. NanananaTHUNDER!

It is so hard not to laugh!

That last bit is his attempt to sing the song Thunderstruck by ACDC which happens to be his favorite song.

So I leave you with the video clip in case you, too, like singing along to ACDC...