What happened to nap time?

As the mother of two young children, I live for nap time. I've been known to use the time to catch a few winks for myself, but usually that only happens if I'm sick or didn't sleep the night before (hence my naps twice last week - the kiddos have been needing TLC in the wee hours of the night). Nap time is the time I reserve to wear my author shoes. You caught me - I don't wear shoes when I write, but you get the drift! The kids close their eyes and I know I'm safe to dive into my work when I hear the contented slurping of fingers (the thumb from my son's room, two fingers from my daughter's room).

But events from the last few weeks leave me in a bit of a panic. My daughter (nearly one) is content with just one nap in the afternoon (GASP!). To make matters worse . . . my son is now napping only EVERY OTHER DAY (double GASP!). That leaves me with just one opportunity for writing/reading others' work/researching/etc. a few times each week instead of my treasured twice a day gold standard. I fear this leaves me with no time for procrastinating or day dreaming because nap time is now more precious than . . . than . . . it is nearly as precious and rare as sleeping-in!

So now the work begins for me. My life-balance is out of whack and I'll be adjusting to find a new (and temporary, of course!) balance that will keep me working (books just don't launch themselves and my poor mom/business partner can't do it ALL herself!), the kids happy, the house hopefully out of the reach of chaos, my body healthy all the while maintaining my marriage so my husband knows I appreciate him and am still quite pleased that we found one another for this journey. I think that was a run-on sentence. Seeking balance sometimes does that to me - my thoughts get spinning faster than I can track them. Listing things is helpful in sorting it all out.

So, for the next few weeks as we figure out this new sleep schedule, you can bet that I'll be eyes-to-the-screen, fingers-to-the-keyboard every possible moment my children slumber. My blogs might be filled with to-do lists and adventures in figuring out how to sort through them. Stick with me, it means I'm problem solving and my brain is still functioning, slowly but surely. You can worry when the blog entries get sparse. It will mean one of two things:

- my son has given up naps altogether (it pains me to even type that, for fear it might come true!)
- the new speed of life has led me to establishing a balance that includes ME taking a nap on a regular basis

Either way, I'm up to my eyeballs in life's adventure looking forward to whatever comes my way! It will just be easier if I can somehow convince my son to keep napping . . .

Here comes the sun!

Now that we've lived in the Pacific Northwest for three years, I've developed a true appreciation for sunny days. The excitement over days like today that are crisp and clear, complete with a full blue sky is big. My three year old walks around the house humming "Here Comes the Sun" on days like today. He's content to sing "Rain, rain, Go Away" on our more-typical fall/winter days, but there's a special energy when he sings that famous song of The Beatles!

Even though both kids are down and out with ear infections (ugh!), there is something promising about today's sunshine. Here it is, the last day of 2007 and after countless days (literally, I can't recall the last time we had such a sunny day - all day, even!) it is filled with the promise and excitement of light and celebration. It is a reminder to me that these sick days will pass and we'll soon usher in healthy ones. The days of indoor play and longing for running through the grass will be replaced with hours and hours of outside fun.

Farewell, 2007 . . . thanks for a full year and the glorious sunny ending. Welcome, 2008 . . . I can't wait to see what you have in store for us!

The less-fun, but necessary, side of balance

What a day we had yesterday! Funny how being woken-up at 6:30AM doesn't seem so terrible when your three-year-old is bellowing "Santa left a trail of fruit snacks! He came!" We enjoyed living the day through his eyes, while keeping tabs on the little sister (not yet a year old, but close!) as she tried sampling wrapping paper, boxes, and crawling over/through/around the opened packages to make sense of it all (using all of her 5 senses). We also enjoyed many phone calls to family scattered across the country as we shared Christmas greetings, stories of Christmases come and gone, and thanks for love and generosity . We also reported our good fortune of having a white Christmas (not REALLY, but we did enjoy watching snowflakes fall for about two hours). It was a good day.

So yesterday's words were "fun" and "family". Today's words are "clean" and "juggle". I'm the one doing the cleaning - the bathrooms, the laundry, finishing cleaning the kitchen (my husband started this morning, but that job is just NEVER finished), getting gifts put away. My husband is chief-in-charge of the juggling, though I suppose I'm doing a bit of that, too. He's finishing a floor tiling job with my dad in our basement (thanks, Dad!), juggling our son (the "helper"), the dog who is happy to go outside/inside (repeat!), and some of his own cleaning as he works on the floor. I'm handling the other half of the time with our son ("I need a break - that's hard work" he reports), thank you notes (one at a time, which is as long as I can keep Ethan's attention to complete, or as long as I can sit before having to refocus Megan!), and our still-curious and excited daughter. Oh, and of course, there's that cleaning stuff!!

But as part of me wants to grumble (cleaning is not my cup of tea, but really who wakes up and says, "Wow! What a beautiful day, I think I'll go scrub a toilet. There's just nothing more satisfying than a clean throne!"), the other part of me realizes the reality of cleaning/chores is all part of what enables us to enjoy the "fun" and "family" part of life. Thank you notes are an essential part of the season for me. I like taking the time to reflect on the love and thought that went into the carefully chosen gifts people sent, processing the true puprose of gift exchange. And I hope that sharing those moments with the gift-givers helps them feel like they are here with us.

Oh, And I DO have to admit that there IS something satisfying about a clean bathroom, even if it isn't the force that drives my day.

Out of the Mouth of a Three Year-old

It is sometimes easy to dismiss the constant stream of words that gushes out of my son's mouth. From the time he is fully awake to the moment he finally gives up and falls asleep, his internal monologue is external. Truly. And I love him for that, but I don't always pay what he shares full attention (if I did, I wouldn't have a chance for thoughts of my own - really, this kid is on fire!).

Today his imaginary scene caught me completely off guard and even induced a few salty tears. It went something like this:

*shuffle, shuffle* "I'll get these ready so our visitors will know about Mama's book," he muttered to himself while swiping some of my business cards from my computer armoire. (to which I sighed, but didn't take action to retrieve)

*ding, ding, ding* (he fingered a few notes on the piano)

"Who eeees it?" he called out in a sing-song voice mimicing the characters from Jack's Big Music Show.

"Oh, a visitor! We have a visitor!" he announced, pointing to me as I sat on the floor in the adjoining room entertaining his little sister.

"Yes, I've come to see you," I played along.

"Oh, good! Thanks for coming. Do you know about my mom's book?" he inquired in a crisp, businessman-like voice.

"Your mom has a book?" I asked, playing dumb (I wasn't sure who I was supposed to be - usually he let's me know my character!).

He handed me one of my business cards and instructed me, "Here, you can read all about it on this card. It is about her book. It'll be ready soon."

"Thank you. Can you tell me about the book?" I fished.

"Oh, sure. It's about being a mama and all that kind of stuff," he said confidently while gesturing wildly with his hands, almost magically as if he would conjure the book to appear right then.

Since he was so focused and clearly dedicated about getting the word out about my book, I thought I'd use this opportunity to let him know just what the book WAS about, while continuing to be in character (still no further details about what character, though, so I just fell into step as my own idea of Visitor #1). "Oh, it says here that the book is about girls who love to run and girls who are strong. Wow!"

"Righ!" he confirmed. And then he floored me . . . "Just like you."

That's when the tears welled up in my eyes. And in true, Ethan-fashion, he darted back to the piano to make the "doorbell" ring again. Visitor #2 (a stuffed hippo) had arrived and clearly needed educating about his mama's book. Visitor #3 (Abu, the monkey) was close behind to get a business card and help spread the word about this great book that would be ready soon.