New digs, new schedule.

Hi.

I'm not blogging a lot. You may have noticed?

Well, I guess it's because I'm busy. But really, I don't feel all that busy. See, we're new enough here that it's not like I have a lot of friends and planned outings yet. But we do seem to find plenty to do to fill our days, most of the time. I'm finding that some days are more productive than others. But basically we're getting a bit of a "groove" that works for now...

Our schedule is somewhat flexible, but usually looks something like this:

6:30 - 7 a.m. -- Natalie wakes up. She's either rolled onto her tummy and can't get back over because she it the crib wall, or she needs her pacifier. Either way, I go in, fix her problem and she goes back to sleep for another hour or so.

8 - 8:30 a.m. -- Spencer wakes up, and then wakes up Samantha. Now that they're sharing a room, he feels it is his duty and privilege to wake her, lucky boy. Only, she's starting to resist, and has had her own little "sleep in" mornings a few different times this past week. So, then Spence wakes me up. Actually, I'm usually already awake and feeding Natalie by the time he comes in.

9 - 9:30 a.m. -- If he hasn't already left, Brian heads out for work. He sometimes slips out way early, before we have started the day. Either that or he has come in late, and doesn't have a "crisis" deadline to meet first thing, so he gets to sleep in a bit, which is nice.

10 - 10:30 a.m. -- Breakfast is over, and we're all dressed or hoping to get there. Natalie goes back down for a morning nap. That's when I lose track of what we do and eventually look up and it's 12:30 or 1 p.m. and I wonder, what happened to my morning?!? Anyone else have this happen? It's crazy. No telling where those two hours go, but Samantha's hair still isn't done by then. I guess I'm usually working on some "household" business -- laundry, cleaning, or organizing. Today I bought carpet runners on overstock.com for our hallways. Yay! Always something to do around the house, eh?

1 p.m. -- lunch time, usually sandwiches, pasta, or something else easy and boring.

Afternoon -- we usually try to do an outing, if it's not too rainy. We've made it back to the park nearby a couple of times, and have tried out a couple of other parks in the area as well. We've also visited CVS, Dunkin Donuts, and Chase Bank. Samantha has quickly learned all their logos and points them out at will when we pass them (on every other corner, nice.) Poor Natalie often takes her afternoon nap in the car, which probably isn't the best sleep, which leads to a crankier evening for her. Sorry, Nattie.

Evening -- I am struggling with the "three kids" thing in the evenings right now. We've had a few 10 p.m. bedtime nights lately, just because I can't seem to get it all done, all at once, all alone. Sigh. But I'm trying to work us back to 8 or 8:30 bedtime. It's just hard work sometimes. Natalie wants to eat her rice cereal meal right at the same time we're eating dinner... That means getting it all ready at the same time, dishing up kids' plates while I'm shoveling cereal in my baby's mouth, and trying to keep Spencer in his seat eating his food while I somehow squeeze in a bite of my own every now and then?

Kids' Bedtime -- Let's just say, I'm ready for Spencer to figure out how to put on his own pajamas, at LEAST! He's not potty- trained yet, and we're still doing the 5-6 poopy diapers a day. Fine. I'll deal with that. But the kid doesn't know how to dress himself at ALL. So, I'm simultaneously trying to change him, dress him, change Natalie, dress her, brush teeth, scriptures, prayers, .... bleah. If I could get him to be just a little more independent, it might help me feel like I'm not going quite so crazy??

My Bedtime -- still can't kick the late night habit. Brian is always working sooo late, and I guess I subconsciously hope that if I stay up late enough I might see him before morning. It's not smart, and I get very tired during the day because of it. But, well... I get things done at night. Like blogging. :)

Hey, whatdoyaknow? Brian just came in! (11 p.m.) Early night for him. yay!!

You know what that means? This post is over, and I'm going to talk to my husband. Sorry no pics... they're coming, as soon as I get our house a little more organized. Promise.