finally hitting a stride

For much of this month, I've felt like we weren't quite back to normal. But finally, finally, this weekend seemed to help me get back right. I'm not sure what it was, maybe moving our dining room table back where its supposed to be, the flurry of cleaning and putting away I did on Sunday, or maybe it was just that Gwen seemed more settled too; but whatever the cause, I'm happy that the effect was a more centered me. While I've come to the conclusion that no matter how much I sleep, I will never feel rested at 5:30 - 6 a.m., Monday morning (after my shower) I actually felt energize and ready to take on the week (a feeling Gwen seemed to share, as it was one of the easiest mornings in memory!). A good thing too, since work yesterday was busy busy.

I still feel the need for a good week off of work with nothing on my plate but cleaning, paring down, and reorganizing... but as that isn't going to happen anytime soon, I'll do what I can in doses, and just enjoy what has been done. 

So, this weekend! Saturday we hit up my parents. I had a hair appointment, and Gwen enjoyed playing with her Nonnie and Papa. Trav was a Willy's again for more cleaning, what a process. After our trip home, I got some quiet time to read, since this happened:

Sunday we headed into the city to the Academy of Natural Sciences. There were tons of animal displays, a section on dinosaurs, and a butterfly room. 

Gwen had a great time. She especially loved the area where you could dig for fossils.

It was a fun way to kill a few hours.

That night I finally got a insatiable urge to be in the kitchen. I feel like I finally "woke up" in the kitchen, which was a relief after a few weeks of having no inspiration/ideas for cooking, and therefore some very boring menus. For dinner we tried a green curry sauce from Taste of Thai that we really enjoy over chicken and rice, then after Gwen went to bed I set about putting together a chicken corn chowder (enough for two meals this week, plus I froze enough for a meal plus a side). It was pretty easy, and damn delicious (chicken, corn, bacon, chicken broth, cream, wine, carrots, bay and rosemary... mmmm). I think I like it even more then my last hardy corn chowder!

I also gathered the ingredients for a batch of lasagna (which will be portioned and frozen, to be taken out as needed), so this is shaping up to be a pretty tasty week!

Hopefully your week is a tasty one as well!

Holiday Recovery

Welcome to the January 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Recovering from the Holidays  

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about how their families get back to normal after the holidays are over.

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Gwen and I love spending time together, and when we have extra days off, we enjoy it all. We also love the holidays, and this Christmas was especially fun, given how much more she "got it" this year.  But the change in routine, the complete break from her normal schedule, and the absence of her friends for 5 days for Christmas, then 4 more for New Years, with only 3 days in between was hard for her. Especially when throwing in the additional excitement factor of Christmas! and visiting with Nonnie, Papa, and Uncle Epie! and Santa! and Auntie Babs! and an extra late night!

By the end our girl was a little cranky, a little crazy, and would alternate between "I don't want to play with you, I want my friends," and, "I don't want to go back to school, why do you have to go to work?!"

On top of that, by New Years, our house was quite a mess. The tree pushes the dining room table over, which means half the chairs are just shoved against the wall, and while we tried not to go overboard, we still haven't found great places for all the gifts.

But now it is January, and time for a return to a semblance of normalcy!

First up, we returned to our regular schedule... the tried and true one that we set by following our daughters cues, the one that gets us all out the door when we need to be, eating dinner when we need to be, and in bed in time to get the sleep we need. It involves weaning her from the too much TV we ended up watching by the end of our little "winter break." Which leads me to...

Secondly, laying on the patience thick. She's overwhelmed, overtired, over TVed. We have been and will continue to gently remind her of how we do things normally, and try to be understanding when we need to remind her again 90 seconds later.

To help all this along, we took down the Christmas decorations. No more rearranged dining room, no more chairs all over the place, and even if the presents don't all have permanent places at this moment, they at least are now all neatly arranged on a formerly empty shelf.

I think these worked as Gwen is already asking about when Santa is coming back!
Oh baby, Mama needs those 343 more days!!


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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting this March!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Pinterest Inspiration for Easier Winter Holidays Shannon, writing at Natural Parents Network, shares inspiration for having more relaxed winter holidays from their Handmade Holidays Pinterest board.
• Seven Recipes for Beans - Post Holiday Cleaning — Destany at They Are All of Me shares her favorite bean recipes that she hopes will help her body recover from overindulging her sweet tooth during the holidays.
• The Recovery in the Change — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen made changes in her life and attitude throughout 2012 and was pleasantly surprised at how those changes impacted her holiday recovery!
• Could this question change your life for ever? — To get your new year off on the right footing, Mrs Green of Little Green Blog is challenging us all to love ourselves with commitment and discipline. She asks you to focus on a simple question which might just bring you back in balance...
• Holiday Recovery — Meegs at A New Day talks about how the holidays can be overwhelming for a toddler, and how she's helping her 3 year old recover.
• 5 Ways to Detox After the Holidays — Brittany at The Pistachio Project gives a few ways to help you detox and get back on track after the holiday season has passed.
• 3 Simple Ways to Establishing Rhythm After the Holidays or Any Time — Sheila at A Living Family shares 3 simple ways to reestablish a rhythm of connection and calm in your family after holidays, visitors, travel or any time.
• Gemstones For Holiday Hangoverss — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama delves into the power of gemstones as an often overlooked means of dealing with the holiday letdown.
• Getting back to Healthy — Bess at A Warrior Mom talks about the struggle of getting young ones back to eating healthy after several days to weeks of getting more candy and sweets than normal for the holidays and gives some suggestions on how to get them back to eating healthy in the new year.
• Post Christmas Juice Feast — Sam at Love Parenting explains why she has created a new tradition of juice feasting, and how she includes her toddler when detoxing.
• The Java Monkey On My Back — Christy at Eco Journey in the Burbs realizes it is time to kick her cup of Joe habit as a first step toward detoxing.
• Minimalist Holidays — Jorje of Momma Jorje doesn't find much need for recovery after her minimalist version of the holidays.
• Do something for you — Lauren at Hobo Mama urges you to find a silly and indulgent reward of me-time — and she has hers.
• do we recover? — Kenna at Million Tiny Things wonders what recovery really means in the context of the tragedies of this past holiday season.
• 37 Easy Ways to Save Money — Shannon at GrowingSlower is sharing these money-saving tips to help get your budget back on track after the holidays.
• A Two Year Old's Resolutions — That Mama Gretchen is putting the holidays behind her with a spin on traditional resolutions — New Year's goals for her two-year-old! Sound crazy? Read on for an explanation!
• How to Find Balance after the Holidays — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells her favorite ways to start a new year with hope and calmness.
• Fresh Awakening — For Luschka at Diary of a First Child, the new year has coincided with a return to restful nights. With sleep, she's found new directions in life, but while she can't make too many changes to her life right now, she's inspired and excited about the future.
• Learning to slow down after a busy Festive Season — Stoneageparent describes the joys and lows of this year's festive season, as well as her New Year's resolutions.
• Detoxing' Your Toddler After the Holidays — Does your family suffer side effects from the holidays? Join Christine from African Babies Don't Cry to learn how she detoxed herself and her toddler off the treats and festivities of the season.
• Scheduling is OK! — Jaye Anne at Wide Awake, Half Asleep explores the possibilities of the — SCHEDULE!!
• We're Saving their First Christmas for Next Time — Mercedes at Project Procrastinot takes it easy after moving with her husband and new babies to Scotland.
• A Vacation from the World — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children retreats with her family at the end of every year in order to recuperate and enjoy one another.
• On the Road to Recovery — Dionna at Code Name: Mama isn't just recovering from the holidays, she's recovering from a lifestyle.
• We Never Left the Grind — Erika Gebhardt compares a typical day pre-holidays and post-holidays.
• Remembering and Recovering from the Holidays (One day at a time) — Emily at S.A.H.M i AM is recovering from holidays slowly--taking one day at a time--while trying to remember all the sweet moments that passed too quickly.
• 5 a Day — To get back on track Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy needed a simple system to help her family learn new values.
• Holiday Detox & Healing: Bieler Broth — Megan at The Boho Mama shares her secret for a gentle, whole-foods-based post-holiday detox: Bieler Broth!
• I'm Mama Not Supermom — After a year filled with changes Angela at EarthMamas World has to remind herself that she does not have to be supermom while recovering from the holiday chaos.

tgif

I'm so glad that its Friday. This week was long, and I'm tired. Had a great lunch out with one of my girlfriends, which was a lot of fun and broke up the day nicely, but it was a big lunch and I think it made me even more tired. So I tired that I left one of the most important checks out of the deposit earlier, so now I get to make a second run to the bank.

Have I mentioned how tired I am?

I think Gwen was feeling the length of the week too. She was alternately amazingly loving and sweet, and talking like such a little adult! And whining, fussing, and being a royal pain in the rear. Thankfully we have fun, but very low-key things planned for this weekend. I plan to kick it off by going to bed early.

Less then an hour to go. Hope your weekend is lovely!

Randoms

Random annoyance:
Thinking of selling my old 3gs, so was going to wipe it clean. Took a look though and realized I have 300+ songs on my old phone and only 100+ on my new one. They are all the mp3s I had on our old computer, which I imported to my old phone, but they aren't on our current computer. Even though I completely backed up my old phone and restored from there, they aren't there. Other then trying to pull out all my old CDs and ripping all the songs again, any suggestions tech savvy friends?


Random laugh:
Recent web search that somehow lead to my blog, "boobs in hockey window"
I daresay they were disappointed when they got here.