Squeaky Clean

When Patrick turned about 10 months old, we determined that we should probably start bathing him more than once a week. I'm not sure what's normal but, before then, he didn't really get too smelly.

He loves bath time. Splashing in the water. Playing with toys. We have these foam letters and numbers and I've been playing with them with him in a variety of ways. We'll collect all the yellow ones and then all the blue ones etc. I'll put them up on the wall of the tub and announce "Red B" "Purple X" etc. My boy is so smart and I hope that he's actually learning when we do this. 90% of the time in the tub he is just splashing around and making a mess or drinking the water but, these shine moments give me hope:

A couple of weeks ago I was gathering the letters and numbers by color. I said to Patch "can you grab a yellow one" as they were all floating together on the surface of the water and by gum...he did it!

Tonight, I was putting all the blue letters and numbers in the blue bowl and Patch started repeating the word "blue" after me!!! Very exciting stuff for a new mama.

After Patch got out of the bath and dressed in jam jams, he crawled over to Scott who was memorizing lines for his upcoming show while sitting on the couch. Patch climbed up and Scott reached out and rubbed his finger on Patrick's back saying "EEEE eeee EEEE eeee" like the sound of squeaking on glass and said "Patch, you're squeaky clean". Adorable.

Golly I love these boys.

Having it all

I keep looking for a blog of someone who can provide me with inspiration to "have it all". All the same things I currently have coupled with all the things that I want. I don't really mean "things" in the literal sense. What I mean is that I'm looking for another woman in this world that is everything I want to be. That woman who manages to juggle a full time job and family while still making time to keep a beautiful home, host regular social gatherings (formal and informal), provide service to those around her, volunteers in the community with an organization that means something to her, enjoys hobbies, makes home cooked meals, and takes care of herself. This woman is not me but I REALLY want to be her and there are times that I feel close to making it all happen. In those moments I feel like this:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not feeling depressed about it or anything. I'm not after "perfection" because that's a dangerous chase. I'm after being amazing. I'm after feeling on top of a handful of things that matter to me. Am I destined to feel behind constantly? Am I destined to feel like I'm falling short of my goals? I'm trying to master an even smaller handful of things than that "have it all" woman I mentioned earlier and I'm doing ok:

*staying organized/ on top of the house

*focusing on healthy meals for my family

*regular exercise (3+ days/ week)

*keeping a close eye on the budget

I've been doing a decent job with these things but I want to make those my *****. I want to not only do the laundry but I want to have it folded and put away. I want to keep the house picked up and the floors clean. I'd like to be able to get to dusting (that one gets put to the side quite a bit). I want to have a collection of affordable family favorite meals that I constantly keep the ingredients stocked in the fridge. I want to have efficient and effective work out sessions that last no longer than an hour (including travel time to the gym/ exercise location). I want to have better systems in place for managing the budget. In short, I want to focus on those 4 areas and improve upon the work I've already done. On top of that, if I can squeeze in reading a book/ month this year, I would be thrilled. So far, I'm a little over half way through one book. Yikes. It's March. Looks like I'll be reading a couple of plays/ short stories to catch up. 

I'll mark my progress on the blog and hopefully, I can become that "everything woman"; the one who "has it all" and can teach others how to make it happen for themselves.