Thursday, February 17, 2011

systems in place

At 4 months and 1 week post-partum, we have generally settled into the semblance of a groove.
There are parts of our groove that I love, and there are parts that I'm rather mortified over, but so it goes.

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Our gentleman has agreed to start sleeping more like a mortal-sleep-requiring-being and I usually get at least a 4-hour stretch out of him at night.  So come 7am, I am capable of peeling myself out of bed.  (That doesn't mean it's pretty).
I try to get my mandatory shower in before all 3 kids are awake (this works about half of the time), I fight the battle of "you will make your bed and get dressed before breakfast" which never seems to get any easier.  My mornings are a blur of changing diapers and wiping noses and digging out from under messes while my kids make new messes for me.  Our gentleman lately stays in the same outfit day and night until he renders it unfit for use via either orifice.  We go through enough laundry without changing his clothes just because morning or night have arrived.  I check email or read books while being nursed and count myself blessed if nothing expensive is obliterated before lunch.
Lunchtime means I can put the Captain down for a nap, and be amazed at what a difference there is between parenting 2 kids and 3 kids. Most blog posts are composed in that brief interlude.
Late afternoon finds me scrambling through my bag of tricks and then gritting my teeth and bearing the 4 o'clock and 5 o'clock witching hours.  The closer I get to 6pm, the more the clock seems to stand still.
Other adults coming home doesn't actually mean I get a break, but it's true that a change is as good as a break, and the dynamic of home changes considerably once everyone is gathered in.
Sitting down to dinner together is inevitably the crowning event of the day, even when it is an exasperating ordeal.

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Dinner is followed up by wrestling the boys into the tub or into PJ's.  A good game of hide and go seek is had by Mr Renn and the ambulatory boys.  Then we sing.  We read.  We pray.  We read some more.

That is followed up by the inevitable 101 reasons Sir O needs to get out of bed.

But eventually, all 4 of my boys fall asleep.  (Mr Renn is usually the first, I won't lie).
Then I decompress a bit and more often than not, I don't feel terribly productive about my day.
So I set some goals and make an ambitious to-do list for the following day - and try really really hard to stratify what matters most in the life of little-old me.
Which inevitably leads to parting with ideals I formed in the ignorant bliss of burgeoning adolescence.  And being rather sad about it.  But also happy about where I am and what I'm doing - happy in a deeper seated place than I anticipate.

Finally, I read.  I pray.  I try really, really hard to fall asleep in time to have rested before our gentleman needs me next.

Then,

I do it all over again.

3 comments:

--jeff * said...

em,

i'm about to write you an email.

that's all.

Brittany said...

Eloquently put. You re such an example to me. The way you manage to keep it together (even when you think you're not) and the way you are able to write so beautifully, and take the time to read and pray and be uplifted. Sometimes I forget to do that, and it shows. Thanks for being a great example of a woman, friend and mother. Even if you think you're not!

hairyshoefairy said...

I like the glimpse into your day. It makes me think perhaps I should write what a typical day for me is, too. Hmm. Maybe next week.

I'm glad the Gentleman is giving you a bit more rest. You really are a great mama. It's a tough job and I think you do it well, even if things aren't always perfect or ideal.

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