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 . . .

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.

Running with the boys

For the first time in a long time, it was our daughter who woke up the family this morning. Usually it is our son, the early bird, who announces the numbers displayed on my husband's alarm clock and insists that it is time for us to wake-up - even if the first digit is a 5, or even on occasion a dreaded 4. Much to my surprise, the numbers told me it was eight-zero-zero (as Ethan would read), about an hour later than Ethan EVER lets us sleep! Of course, he was up a few times over the course of the night, but I finally convinced him to settle in and rest by creating a "cozy bed" for him on the floor at the foot of our bed. There is something magical about that space for him. He slept there peacefully from four until eight (if you leave out the incident where our dog thought the space looked pretty cozy, too, and layed ON TOP of Ethan, resulting in Ethan shouting out "Bad Albus! No, no, no! This is MY bed!").

Since we were so late in prying ourselves from the bed, attending church was out of the question for us. We go to the early Mass only, as Ethan just doesn't have the right balance of energy, calm and curiosity for the later Mass. Though David and I decided last night that we'd both like to get in a run today, it just wasn't looking good. Then the phone rang. A phone call at 8:15 AM isn't always the most welcome, but this was by far the best call we've received before 9AM. My mom wanted to deliver a plate of her homemade cookies on her way to her church (of course, Mom, bring them right over!) and then suggested that she take Ethan and Megan to the service with her so they could enjoy watching my dad play with their church band (of course, Mom, I can have them ready whenever you'd like and I'd even be happy to put little Megs in a dress!). She suggested that David and I head out for some breakfast (knowning that sleeping in was a RARE thing and breakfast on our own is even more rare!) together while they were all at church.

We kicked around the idea of a breakfast outing for abut 2 minutes. We immediately knew that this was a chance for us to enjoy a run together outside and that it would be great, even if it was snowing. So, we got the kids fed and dressed, buckled them into their carseats in my mom's car and didn't look back to watch them pull out of the driveway. We were going for a run - together!

Our dog, Albus, loves to run, too. As we got dressed for the run, he immediately recognized the signs - clothes from the bottom drawers, white socks, running shoes . . . with each item his tail wagged faster and his eyes darted between each of our faces to see which of us would acknowledge that he was invited for the event. His running is the same style as David's - full speed ahead. It helps that Albus has four legs and David's legs are LONG. This speed is not my favorite, so Albus doesn't often get to join me when I run. BUT since David would be going, he received the much anticipated nod that he could come, too.

So, there we were, the three of us, running the hills of Duvall at 9AM. While the treadmill has kept my legs strong, it does have the drawback of keeping my lungs from getting the same experience that hills and cold air provide outside. Even with the few walk breaks I requested, it was a good morning to run. We waved good morning to our neighbor has he strung their outdoor Christmas lights - a festive picture, if not the ideal conditions he would choose for such a chore. The wind changed direction with each of our turns, encouraging the snowflakes to fly into our faces and stick on our eyelashes. I can't remember the last time we went for a run in the snow, which means it has probably been a few years. We'll definitely do it again . . . and maybe even give it a try with the kids in the double jogger, if need be.

Thanks, Mom, for sharing your morning with us all. We hope running around with the kids was as satisfing as our run around Duvall!