Lest anyone think I have ghosted (or uhh, GOMI’d?) after the last two posts, I am popping in for a much lighter update today.
First and foremost:
1) GENEVIEVE SLEPT 7 – 5:30 AM last night, and I slept 9:20 – 5:15 AM. Honestly, I feel amazing, which highlights the fact that my ‘baseline’ lately is to feel like garbage. She has had a cough/cold for the past 2 weeks (no fever, thankfully) and it has been terrible. I am sure this added to my short fuse during my call week.
Sleep deprivation is not something I am ‘good’ at. While I wouldn’t say I need a ton of sleep, there is an enormous difference between 6.5 interrupted hours and a nearly-8 solid stretch. Genevieve is an incredibly sweet, gorgeous, bright baby and I am so happy to have her in my life. But she has not been terribly on-the-ball with the whole sleeping at night thing.
Combine that with pumping and feeling incredibly behind all of the time, and well — yeah. It has been a rough 6.5 months!
sometimes you just need a countdown
2) This li’l blog is getting a makeover! Through a plea on the podcast, I found an experienced self-described WordPress Pro and got an actual quote. It is a bit of an investment, but I have decided that I AM WORTH IT. I have spent, cumulatively, thousands of hours writing on this blog. However, I have spent something like 0.5 hours making it a user-friendly space that people a) can find and b) want to click on. I have decided that since I am dedicating some of my ‘off’ time to the podcast/this space for the time being, I’d like to up my game. Just a little.
I am researching other ad networks, too. I am not sure I am ‘big’ enough for some of them, but perhaps a makeover and optimizing other aspects will help get me there. I like to think I have something to offer on this site: honesty (which used to be a common thing on various blogs and sites, but things are so curated now that I believe I am a bit of an outlier in the new landscape) + ideas about planning/organizing (ie one of my favorite things in life).
I also clearly need to update the tabs above, which haven’t changed in many years. While we’re at it, I can probably take down my expired running PRs 🙂 Oh man. It will be a project and likely will take several months to complete, but I think it will be worth it!
3) I am taking a Six Sigma course for work today! I am intrigued by the idea of process improvement. I am also excited at the prospect of spending the morning in learning mode.
4) We had a lovely weekend (definitely didn’t pack in as much as Laura, but it was social / fun / full nonetheless). I will say I have reached a point however where my ‘getting things done’ time on weekends has really dwindled. I feel like I spent 50% of my time following G around, 25% cleaning up (not in any perfectionist way but just to prevent our house from being utterly trashed), and 25% on various big kid things including helping with an elaborate homework project (Annabel) comparing and contrasting school in China vs the US (this project seemed like a little much for first grade, but what do I know!?).
Josh and I coordinated well — he took the big kids on multiple outings while I was with G, and all 3 in the pool Sunday while I made dinner — but I still felt a bit spent and behind (on life maintenance + on sleep) by the end.
We managed to cram in:
– one workout each (both of us ran — one after another — on Saturday morning)
– a day each to sleep in (him Saturday, me Sunday! After feeding G overnight x 2 though so it wasn’t the most rejuvenating . . . )
– parenting book club (done as a dinner party, with wine, which is the best way to discuss parenting books). We dissected Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It was so much fun.
– organization/weeding out of the kid’s clothes (me)
– ordering of new kid’s clothes (me) including matching dresses from Tea Collection that I JUST HAD TO HAVE
I have never put A&G in matching outfits before but something about these just spoke to me
– play date for A on Sunday
– impromptu playdate Sunday afternoon (another family!)
– A’s piano lesson
I guess that’s pretty good! I did not get time to:
– write (and I had plenty of feelings stirring after my last post, but perhaps the break was a good thing)
– complete my weekly review (uh oh)
– answer emails (sincere apologies to everyone who emailed me, I WILL respond and appreciate it!!)
– bake
Maybe I need to process-improve our weekends — or just accept that the above is pretty great as is. Probably the latter 🙂
9 Comments
1)so psyched for your blog update!!
2)YES on sleep. I can barely remember what it felt like to sleep an adequate amount of hours.
3)Your honesty is always appreciated and it is a rare, real voice on the internet!
You have solved a problem of mine! I love my Erin Condren planner, but have not come up with a good way to integrate my rolling “to do” lists into it. I don”t like the dry erase dividers and I don”t like copying and carrying over every week. Washi tape for the win! Eureka!!
So, just wondering….you pump which means G also uses a bottle. Does your husband sometimes bottle feed during the night?
Ooh those a cute dresses! And honestly you could easily find a black and white gingham shirt for C as well and there’s your next family photo … 🙂
I agree about sleep. After a few months of sleeping through the night, B has gone through a rough patch recently (like 4 weeks+ of him waking up at least once a night, usually 12:30).
I’m looking forward to the blog redesign!
I actually did order a coordinating shirt for C, but I can’t tell if the plaid is the same size and whether it will look right or not!! I agree – PERFECT HOLIDAY CARD right there!!!
PS: Do you nurse him at night? How do you get him back down? I know you quit pumping a while back! I have no idea how to navigate nighttime wakeups without breastfeeding – I’ve never done it as both A&C were STTN by the time I stopped pumping.
This is an interesting and informative post. Thanks for sharing it.
Yes, sleep is amazing. I am reminded this every time I don’t get enough. Also excited about the blog update. If I had a girl-child, my shopping would be seriously hard to rein in. I see the cutest things!
I have a logistics question for you – when you/your husband sleep in on weekends, do your kids actually let the other parent sleep? My son is always asking for his Dad (one level home) so its hard to keep him from banging on the door calling his dad. If there is a way to make it work, I’d like to know! My husband would appreciate the extra sleep.