3 in 30 Update

How I've done with my February goals this week:

• Back exercises. I've done well with this. Assuming that I do my exercises today, I will have done them five times this week.
• Playing outside. I did well with this one, as well. I took my children outside three times, and their babysitter took them outside one more time.
• Unpacking boxes. This one was a big fail. I didn't unpack a single thing from any box. Can I blame it on my husband who forgot to move the box for me? No? I didn't think so. I know that I could have taken some things out and moved it myself. Oh, well. There's always next week.

I think that two out of three isn't bad, but I hope to do better next week. How are you doing with your goals?

Busy, Busy

I'm sorry that I don't have much for you this week, but it's been busy around here. There's actually not much going on except for the normal activities of life, but for some reason, they seem to be eating away at my computer time. I've got lots of ideas for blog posts but no time to write them.

I do, however, have some fun posts planned for this weekend and next week. Daniel's birthday is coming up, and we're having Rachel baptized on Sunday. My parents are coming down for the weekend, and we're so excited to have them here. Hopefully, John's mother and her husband will also be able to make it.

I just wanted to let you know what's going on around my house these days!

Accepting Help

Mary is fussy. She fusses a lot during the day, but all of my children have at this age (not quite two months old). With my admittedly small sample size of four, I think all babies at this age are fussy, so I don't worry about it. At home, we deal with it by putting her in her bed where she fusses herself to sleep in five to ten minutes. When I'm out, however, I can't do that.

On the rare occasions that I go out, usually it is to church, a church function, or to MOPs. And while there, Mary cries. And cries. And cries. She usually refuses pacifier from me; often she won't even nurse. And I cannot quiet her down. I just can't, no matter what I try. I feel like such a failure when I cannot calm down my own child.

Sometimes, a kind soul will take pity on me and take Mary from me. Guess what. They usually have more success in quieting down Mary than I do. Do they know more and better tricks? Maybe. I really don't know.

My point here isn't complaining about how fussy Mary is. That's life, and after four children I know it's not personal.

My point is that sometimes you have to accept help when it's offered. I am a very independent person; I do not like to ask for help. If I want something done, I'll do it myself. If I am unable to do it, well, it's likely to be left undone.

This independence is not a good thing, I know that. And I think that God is using Mary's fussiness to show me that I am part of a family, a family who cares about me and wants to help me. But sometimes they don't know that I need help. A fussing baby is pretty obvious, but other things are not. As my family in Christ, they would be more than willing to help...if they only knew what I needed. I'm learning this lesson, and it's hard. Like I said, I don't like to ask for help, but I think it's time that I learned.

How independent are you? How hard is it for you to ask for help?

Finished Object Friday

I'm so glad that I've got something to share finally! I'm not getting nearly as much crocheting done as I would like, but I guess that's what happens when you have a baby.

a close-up so you can see the pattern a little better

John rarely asks me to make a blanket, but he asked me to make this one for one of his friends who is having a baby. I made it a little smaller than the pattern so it can be used in the bassinet or car seat. I had been wanting to make this blanket for a while, but I just never got around to it. Actually, this blanket was one of the few that I could make right now. Since we don't have a yarn store in town (and even WalMart doesn't carry yarn here), I can only use what I have on hand. I hate to order a couple of skeins and have to pay shipping. But I think this blanket turned out nicely. And I love the fact that it didn't cost me anything since I was able to use yarn out of my stash!

What have you been working on lately?

For more Finished Object Friday, head over to Fresh from the Chari Tree.

3 in 30 Goals for February

I've been reading Aurie's blog Welcome to Our Good Life for a while, and I've watched her set and achieve her monthly goals via "3 in 30." I decided to join in. These goals will be different than my New Year's goals; those are bigger, yearlong goals which may not be fulfilled, like hospitality: when are you actually done with that?

Anyway, here are my three goals for February:

• Exercises for my back. I can tell that my back is weak, and if I don't work on it, I'm sure that I will hurt it. And I really, really don't want that! I plan to do exercises five times a week to strengthen my back.
• Taking my children outside to play. This one is hard because there is so much to do inside. But we should really take advantage of this lovely, warm Florida weather and go outside. I hope to take them outside three days a week (out of the five weekdays).
• Unpacking the remaining boxes. I've still got a few boxes that need to be unpacked, and I really want to get those done.

Is there anything you're trying to get done this month?

January Review of New Year's Goals

As I have said before, I don't see the point of making goals if you never go back to review them. I like to post them on my blog so that you can keep me accountable. Here is the review of my New Year's goals for January.

• School. We started back on Monday. So far, so good!
• Reading. I have read two books this month (the reviews are upcoming), so I guess I made my goal. But I really would like to read more. There are so many good books out there that are calling my name.
• Losing weight. I've lost five pounds so far!
• Run a 5K. Since I don't plan to start training for that until April, I'm doing well!
• Hospitality. I've been thinking about it. I hope to start having people over again sometime later this month or in early March. We really enjoy having people over, and we miss practicing this type of hospitality.

After making my list, I realized that I needed to add another goal: getting my Florida pharmacist license. Getting all of the paperwork done was a nightmare; now I just need to take the law part. But I'm waiting for Mary to get a little bit older because I'll need to leave her with John when I take the test.

How are you doing with your goals for the year?

Tuesday's Tip: Having Children Help with Laundry

I have three laundry baskets in our laundry room: one for kitchen towels and dishrags, one for white clothes, and one for darks. I do this to make sorting the laundry easier. One day, Sarah Beth asked me about it, and that day my older children started sorting laundry.

The white clothes go into a white basket, and the darks go into a blue basket. When my children get dressed in the morning or put on their pajamas at night, they are able to put their dirty clothes in the correct basket with just a little bit of prompting. They have learned what clothes go into which basket which makes my laundry job a little bit easier. Right now, Sarah Beth and Daniel are the ones who do the sorting, but Rachel has watched them enough that sometimes she puts her clothes up, too. I probably should start working with her more now that she's two years old.

Yes, I still have to sort the dark clothes again before washing them. If my laundry room were bigger, if I could fit more baskets in it, I would certainly try having them sort the darks even more.

Daniel and Sarah also help me fold clothes. At times, it feels like a free-for-all as I train them how I like things to be folded, but it's worth it. I definitely want to encourage their desire to help, and I have to admit that I look forward to the day when I can turn the clothes folding over to them.

I know that some people actually have their children run the washer and dryer, but my children cannot reach the controls. And they can't read them. So I haven't gotten this far yet in training my children to do laundry. Besides, I'm a little particular about how the laundry gets washed, and it can wait a couple more years until my children are better able to do it.

Do you have your children help with laundry? What do they do?