I Have a Problem...

                                                                  (photo credit)
I stay up way, way, way too late at night!!! Last night I went to bed at something like 2:30. I know, it's crazy. I like surfing the web, what can I say? Plus, it's nice and quiet and no one interrupts me. But right now I can't do that anymore. I need to be awake, happy and patient for my husband and my baby. So I've made a star chart for myself and I'm going to check off the days I make it to bed on time (12ish). I have a trip to Chicago coming up at the end of June, so if I go to bed on time for most of the days till then, I'm going to reward myself with a mani-pedi. And maybe a massage if I'm super good. I will keep you posted on how it's going!
Anyone else have this problem? What do you do about it?

I'm back on the blogging bandwagon!

...More to come!

Lazy Thursday

I can't believe it's already Thursday!!
Today is one of those days.
The ones when your house is cold and you don't get out of your pj's and your house is a mess and you have Important Stuff to do but you just don't wanna.
Baby Ray is napping in her swing and I am surfing through the big, wide Web. But I'm gonna go now and do my Important Stuff. Yay me. Hope I'll actually do it. Maybe I'll come back here and let you know.

Keeping My Baby's Clothes Organized- WFMW

When Baby Ray was born, we got a TON of clothes. I mean a TON. Gifts, hand-me-downs, two first time grandmothers and THREE first time great-grandmothers makes for a LOT of baby clothes. To keep them all organized, I have a set of hanging shelves in the closet of Ray's room. Each shelf is dedicated to one size, and the shelves are in age order. So right now at the top I have 3-6 (Ray's upcoming size), the second shelf holds 6-9 and 6-12, the third 9-12, etc. For the bigger sizes, which I have fewer clothes for, I combined shelves, so the bottom two hold 12-18 and 18-24, and 24 mos and up, respectively. This way, everything stays organized and separated, and if I'm going shopping I can just glance at the shelves to see what I still need in which size, in case I find something cute. If anything comes on a size-labeled hanger, I keep the item on the hanger so I can easily see what size it is without having to shove away all the other hanging things.

Keeping Ray's Clothes organized works for me, so I'm linking up to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family

Container Heaven

So I was trying to explain to my husband the other day why The Container Store (I'm lucky enough to have one fairly close by, even though I haven't been there yet) is so cool. It went something like "Well, a woman always wants to make her home more organized. And once you have a container for something, it's automatically much, much more organized. So a store that has containers for everything is awesome."

He still didn't get it.

Silly Bandz and Nursing - WFMW

If you go back to my first post, take a close look at my wrist. Yes, that is a SillyBand. When my baby was born, I could not, for the life of me, remember which side I was up to for nursing. And, as anyone who has nursed knows, messing up the 'system' can be extremely uncomfortable, and a very leaky mess!! I really needed to come up with some sort of system. I once heard of bracelets that you could order online, with little tabs on them that you could move along numbers printed on the bracelet, to remember what time you had last fed the baby and what side you were up to. But I needed something cheaper, and something I could get right away. Hellooo, Silly Bandz! They are cheap and come in packages of many, so it doesn't matter if I break or lose one, plus I always have more when that happens. They aren't tight around my wrist like hair elastics are. They are perfect! Each time I start nursing, I just switch the band to my other wrist (it took me a couple of days to make this a habit) and voila! no more uncomfortable mix-ups.

Silly Bandz work for me, so I'll be linking up to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

Remembering to be Happy to be Home

(Found at makeminepink.com)

At seven A.M., I don't envy the mob

Who rise, shine and shower and go to the job.

In rain, sleet or storm, whether snowing or blowing,

I stay home and savor the joys of not going.

Cheers to you dears out fulfilling yourselves.

I'll bake me a cake, and I'll straighten my shelves,

I'll write some light verse and I'll practice some Bach...

If my neighbor drops in, I'll take time for a talk.

I'd rather have a family than fortune or fame;

I don't think my apron's a Red Badge of Shame.

You're welcome to banking, computers and math,

Guns, plumbing and business. I'll take a hot bath.

Art, music, letters--the good things of life

Are no less my own, since I'm mother and wife.

If I scrub, mop or dig in the garden, I'm free...

Remember, the choices were all made by me.

Helene Lewis Coffer 

I found this poem at homeliving.blogspot.com and I really like it. I've been a stay-at-home mom since before my baby was even born. I finished teaching in June and that was it- Baby Ray was born in August.  It took me a while to realize I was struggling with my identity as a SAHM. Not that I'm a workaholic, powersuit type at all, plus, I knew I was going to be a SAHM and I want to be one, but going from working to staying home required a total re-evaluation. At home, I feel like I have endless time. I feel like I have endless work. I feel like what I'm doing doesn't count as work, even though I know full well it does. I feel like my husband doesn't think of it as work, even though he does. I know that I am incredibly lucky that we can afford (just barely) for me to stay at home, but I still miss having a place to be in the morning. Before, housework and cooking and errands were crammed into the few hours I had at the end of my day, almost as an afterthought. Now, these things, plus taking care of my baby (and the babies to come) are my day.

I recently toured an infant class at a preschool where I was thinking of getting a job. It made me so sad. There was a row of bored looking babies, swinging in their swings and sucking on their sussies. The room had that pee-and-apple-juice smell. I think of that and it makes me feel so lucky. Lucky I can hug and kiss and play with my baby all day. And lucky I can be there when she is crying and cranky and driving me crazy. Every time I need to summon my patience, I think of that. And I remember that I'm happy to be home.

Are you happy to be home? Does it get hard or lonely sometimes? How do you stay sane? What was your adjustment/transition like?