High Hopes for Summer

We are SO excited to finally welcome summer! It was a long winter with several rounds of sickness, not to mention those murky and foggy early months with a new baby. We have emerged from the past 6 months all intact though and are looking forward to having a great summer! We already enjoyed a week together in Michigan with Chris' family. One of the best parts is that Chris took the week off himself and did no major studying! We enjoyed two dinner dates with friends (one without the kids!), a Tiger's game (thankfully, they won!), getting family pictures taken and a birthday party for Chris with his family. Last Tuesday, Chris, Simon and I headed home while Luke got to stay and have a big-boy stay with his Grandma and Papa. After having two kids - one of which is an almost-4 crazy boy, our precious little Simon practically felt like NO kids. :) He's such a doll and very compliant. Well, he could be a TEENSY bit more compliant and sleep straight through the night, but he usually gives me at least a 7-8 hour stretch. And sometimes he does go 10-11 hours. I guess I tend to compare him with Luke who was an amazing night-time sleeper since the age of 7 weeks. (Now he's a different story.) But Si is much more laid back than Luke every other hour of the day. Anyway, I digress.

So, we had four nights here at home before Luke came home with his Grandma and Maw Maw on Saturday (yesterday). The first day home - Wednesday - was sort of a loss because I had a little 24 hour stomach bug. I was able to just lay low and keep a slow pace since my energizer bunny was in Michigan going to petting farms, carnivals and swimming pools with his Grandma. Thursday I had a bit of a hangover from my sickness, but managed to get my Lea fix :) and wash some windows. But on Friday I was a MACHINE of productivity! I did so many little organizing projects that were dying to be done, one of which was beginning to organize Luke's toys in clear plastic totes instead of various baskets or containers that they came in. This streamlines the size of everything and provides more room while looking neat and contained. YIPPEE!!! I took a "before" picture and will take an "after" shot in a few weeks when I finish buying all of the totes that I need. (I gotta take it slow on this budget!)

My main objective while Luke was gone was to get all bills paid, paperwork filed, donations donated (I cheated b/c they're still in my trunk), extra "stuff" stored and finally full cupboards and a full fridge. Up until now I have felt pretty disorganized and "behind" since Simon was born. I am so tired of living in a reactive manner, and I want to be more proactive! Six months sounds terribly long to have just gotten over the hump, and it's not that we've been in survival mode until now, but we just hadn't gotten into a good groove, and I didn't feel like myself.

So, here are my summer times hopes, wishes and goals.

1. Go to bed EARLIER (by 10pm). This will help me achieve no. 2.
2. Wake up by 7 (if Si lets me sleep that late) and get showered and dressed right away. (I have a horrible habit of sporting my pjs for an hour two. Sometimes that's fun, but mostly it just makes me feel gross.)
3. Read my Bible and spend time in prayer as soon as I can. I will not set an amount of time or length of passage, because some mornings I might start knowing I'll only have 10 minutes, but that's ok. It's better than nothing at all.
4. Spend time reading the Bible with Luke before he watches any tv that day.
5. Focus on responding and reacting calmly and prayerfully with my sweet Lukie. This has become one of my biggest struggles and frustrations.
   
6. I am in dire need of regular exercise, and I recently bought a new sit-n-stand stroller (which I love!). Going on 3 walks a week doesn't seen unreasonable.

So, here's to a GREAT summer!