Ready!

Right now I feel a bit like I'm floundering, mostly due to lack of routine and predictability in my life.  It makes sense, of course.  There's a 6-week-old baby in the house.  Nothing is going to be predictable, and adhering to a routine will be challenging.

However, after watching this very inspiring TED talk, I feel reinvigorated and ready to tackle life head-on.

It's also difficult to set a routine right now because we're moving soon.  Of course, where we're moving is contingent on which universities accept my husband, and when we'll get our household goods packed out depends on when my husband receives his final orders.  I hope we have all of this figured out by the end of March, because we are out of here in June!

I just can't live without some sort of basic routine, so I've come up with a really simple one that I think will meet my Type A needs.

Weekday mornings will continue to be for homeschooling and cleaning.  My mornings are really fast-paced and almost hectic, but it's what I'm used to by now.  Weekday afternoons will be for work.  Weekend mornings will be for genealogy and weekend afternoons will be for work.

That's it.  Nothing more detailed than that.  I also reserve the right to sleep in, when necessary, declare days off, and alter the routine based on my mood.  After all, if I'm not in the mood to write, it will be a struggle and I won't be productive.

I actually want to approach this idea with much, much more discipline.  I don't relish the idea of being so casual about things.  However, I'm going to take it slowly and see how things go before I try to go balls-to-the-wall with this.

My family and my own health come first.  If I have to make a decision between work and a shower, I'm taking that shower.  If I have to make a decision between genealogy and sleep, I'm going to sleep.

Homeschooling includes Rowan.  I want to make sure I'm doing all the things that are beneficial to a baby's development, and I'm going to try the Flowering Baby program.  It has daily activities for parents to do with their babies, toddles and preschoolers.  I could really use the simplicity of something that's already laid out for me in plain English.  It's been a long time since I had a baby in the house, and the only thing I remember is classic music is considered beneficial.

I'm thinking of taking baby steps - rewarding myself for 15 to 30 minutes of work a day right now.  Then we'll see about an hour a day, and so on.

Since Rowan is on a pretty decent sleep schedule of 4 hours from roughly 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., then another 4 hours from about 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., I generally get plenty of rest.

My challenge is more about finding time during the day to do things with and around the children.  That's why I think this will work.  Mornings tend to be completely family-oriented.  My afternoons are quiet and free.  I just need to make myself sit down and do the work, instead of finding a billion other little things to do.  ;)

Copyright (c) 2013 Wendy L. Callahan