Changing things up!

This week has been a good week. I may have mentioned this before (I tend to repeat things sometimes :-D), but I have felt the need/conviction to change some of the daily routines we've had here at home. Since I had Isaac in late January, I feel like I've been in kind of a haze. The first 3 or 4 months, I was not getting nearly enough sleep due to repeat ear infections and day/nights mixed up on the part of my sweet boy. I was always tired...laying on the couch in the mornings while Sophie watched PBS and usually didn't get out of my pjs until after noon. I've been doing that for quite a while. I have been feeling sluggish. I started feeling a little guilty about that. Sophie was becoming a TV zombie. Barely answering my questions while she was staring at the tv. Anyway, I could go on and on, but basically I felt a personal conviction to change our family routine. I started listing out some things that I'd like to start doing with Sophie. Monday was the day we got started. I woke up at 8:30am (this is early for me, believe it or not...and it's before the kids get up!), got dressed, made up the bed, got breakfast for myself and had my quiet time. Just to do these things is pretty amazing in itself! I haven't had a morning quiet time in I don't know when! Then I heard the kids stirring around 9:15, so I started getting them up, got them dressed, and got their breakfast. By 10:30 we were finished with breakfast and we were off to play outside!! Something we have also not done most of the summer. I have been so consumed with trying to clean the house, come out of my sleep coma, etc. in the mornings that we just end up staying inside. Well, it was high time to start going out more. We did and it was wonderful! The cooler air really helped, too. I got out some patio furniture my parents gave us, cleaned it up, and put it under the carport, which I also cleaned up. I did a lot of much needed housekeeping outside. Sophie found a little Barbie car that some friends of ours gave us about a year ago (it's been sitting in our storage house in the back yard) and I cleaned it up and she loves it! She's just the right size for it now. She can't get enough of it! We've been coming in and eating lunch around noon, have a little down time, and then we've been having "rest time" at 2. Even Sophie has been resting in her room! Unbelievable! I have also been able to get a nap every day at this time! Praise the Lord! Then we get up after about an hour or so and have a snack, then get ready for supper. Then the rest of the night we either have some kind of church thing or playing in the house. We've been doing this almost all week. Wednesday we hit the Goodwill and I got some awesome deals! It made my day! Sophie got to do a special art project with our children's director at church during this time. Today we had to do our big Walmart trip, so that took all morning. But tonight Sophie and I made homemade pizza for supper and we all sat outside on the patio furniture and ate supper! It was so fun! I feel like God is working through this new routine. I've seen a change in me and the kids. Sophie doesn't sit and zombie out on me during the day. She even turns the tv off and plays more. I know this is a long post, but I was so excited about this change. Please pray for us, that we'll continue this routine! God is also helping me accomplish the cleaning tasks that I didn't think I'd have the time for, although it's taking a little more time than it used to. Thanks so much and God bless!