The ducks are slowly, but surely, getting in order. I felt like a post on our progress was in order, perhaps more for my own sake than anyone else. The days fly by and it's easy to get swallowed up in the "tyranny of the urgent" - with three little guys everything is urgent and most things can't be put on hold.
We have made progress, though, and things feel more orderly as a result. The following areas of our home and lives have been revamped:
1. The Laundry - we have a system! Two designated days each week (and one emergency day) Claude puts the laundry in the machines before work and the kids and I finish it up throughout the day. On a good laundry day everything is folded and put away before another load has accumulated in the basket. I've even worked out a way to get some exercise while folding laundry - thank you, Abigail...all 18.5 lbs of you!
2. The Music Area, Storage Closet, and School Area - praise the Lord for two small shelves! Claude found a couple of small shelves waiting for the garbage truck to pick them up. They're in good condition and have served us very well. Because of they're addition to our home, we were able to better organize the school area, move the kids' books and puzzles to their own shelf which made room for our music to finally be put on the big book shelf. And with the boxes of music finally cleared out of the storage closet, I was able to better organize it so that we can easily locate and retrieve cleaning supplies and toiletries. There's still a lot of work to be done in that storage closet, but what a change already! The music area has been enhanced by the addition of a keyboard as well.
3. The Cleaning - I'm not sure how our current cleaning system evolved, but recently it became clear to both Claude and I that whatever we were doing was not working. So, we prayed and had a chat about it and the following has come into place: two Saturdays each month we have a quick clean, the alternating Saturdays we have a full clean. Quick clean is something we heard about from another family. For us it means that we clean the high-traffic and always-messy areas of the house - the toilet and the dining room. Our full clean Saturdays include cleaning each room of the house and vacuuming and mopping all of the floors. So far it's working well - at least we're all on the same page and the system allows for the kids to be involved as their ages permit.
4. The Daily Routine - Since Abigail was born in September, we've been running on an ever-changing daily routine. We fall into a routine that seems to work for about two weeks and then a few weeks go by when that routine fails to help us through the day. Then we fall into another routine and the cycle continues. Three small changes seem to be helping. First, Abigail is getting into a regular morning nap which coincides (on most days) with rest time. The second is a more concerted effort on my part to have school activities ready for Joshua and Hannah (including exercise, music, and phonics). The last change is in my perspective. If all I do during the day is take care of the little guys then I've done the work that is set before me and all of those tasks waiting to be checked off of my to-do list don't make the day any less productive.
The organization is coming slowly, but it is coming - praise the Lord!
