One Day at a Time

I've been thinking about how it is I'm managing to juggle everything in my life right now. All my goals at home and at work, doing the whole Airbnb hosting thing, being in two shows (and JUST added a third-I'll be playing Fiona in Shrek the Musical in August), and keeping my little family happy, healthy, and sane. Well, sanity is actually thrown out the window. We're a little crazy and that's ok. So, I'm feeling pretty good about things in general and while I'm behind on my reading goal this year...the other things are in place. How am I managing it? One day at a freaking time.

I wish I could say that I'm so super organized that Tuesdays are countertop/ surfaces days and Wednesdays I do floors, and Thursdays I do shopping errands. I'm not super organized but I have found myself doing some things on the regular that have helped me:

I dedicate time every day to just play with Patch. No distractions. Just toys/games/ a book/ exploring outside together. When I've gotten in that concentrated play time, I feel more at ease to pursue other tasks.

I do my makeup in the car most days and I've started timing myself. Not while I'm driving people. I just do it real quick in the parking lot or maybe at some red lights. I don't allow myself to take any longer than 10 minutes.

I take my phone in the shower with me to check in on our finances and bills while my shower warms up/ while I wake up. Patrick has come to accept the time I'm away from him in the shower and I try to not be on the phone in front of him so, these 3-5 minutes allow me to send off a quick bill or two/ check into my bank account.

I shop for groceries once a week. I'm toying around with using the Walmart app to have my groceries picked up for me so that I can just drive by and get on my way. Patrick does seem to enjoy sitting in the cart and people watching though. He especially loves Costco because we often get extra samples. Since we shop at about the same time every Friday, some of the sample ladies are starting to recognize him.

If I use the restroom at work, I look up recipes for dinner on my phone and don't allow myself to piddle around on Facebook. This forces me to spend some time planning for meals and thinking about what groceries to buy later in the week/ what foods to make with what we have on hand.

I get out in the garden with Patch at least 3 times a week to pull weeds. We're trying to stay on top of that as much as possible.

I put EVERYTHING in my calendar on my iPhone as soon as the appointment is set. I look at my calendar twice a day to make sure I'm not forgetting things. While I'm not perfect at this either, I'm improving and doing a much better job of not over scheduling myself.

I never leave a room empty handed. This is critical to keeping the house picked up for our Airbnb guests. Patrick has even started to learn about cleaning up messes. We've got a long way to go with him. hehe.

The fact of the matter is that I also got me an awesome husband. He works so hard to help balance our life and is the perfect man for the job. He's an amazing and involved dad. He's super handy around the house. He is an excellent chef. He's always engaging me in current events and conversations about politics. He's just absolutely wonderful.

I guess these are my tricks/ tips. We're making it happen and this is the life I've always imagined. It's every bit as crazy and fun as I'd hoped it would be.

Lately

If this were a travel blog I would talk about our trip to Miami.
If this were a beauty blog I would talk about how for the last two months I've done my makeup in the car Monday-Thursday.
If this were a gardening blog I would tell you about how I've enlisted the help of my parents and Scott's parents to weed the garden and finally get some starts planted.
If this were a family finance blog I would announce that we've reached a huge savings milestone and now have over 3 months of funds sitting in an account ready for a rainy day.
If I even knew what "kind" of blog this is, that would be cool.

Sometimes I post long lists of "we did this and then we did this and then we did this" which is a way for me to quickly document what my family is up to. Sometimes I write about something specific from one day or one afternoon.

Tonight I put Patch to sleep and then I got to tidying the house. We have another Airbnb guest coming in tomorrow and that is always motivation to keep the house clean. It's amazing how quickly we destroy cleanliness. I was busy with cleaning and dishes etc for about an hour before sneaking into Patrick's room to put some things away. Usually I just leave things at the top of the stairs but tonight, I walked in. He was resting along the front side of his crib; sleeping on his side. He's started to insist on having fuzzy blankets with him in bed. When I put him down, he pulls the corners of the blanket under his chest and usually breathes a deep sigh as he sinks into sleep. He's a sweet little thing.

Work is going well for me. I've got to stay focused so that I can hit my goal this quarter. I'm dangerously close and there is a chance that it will slip between my fingers. Eye. On. The. Prize. Say some prayers. Burn some sage. Hug a tree. Whatever it is you do, do that for me will ya?

Scott and I are both in rehearsals for more shows right now. He's playing Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid this summer. I'm doing a benefit show in Montana and I'll be playing Jane in Tarzan. It's a busy busy time but so far, things have worked out perfectly. I've only had to bring Patch to one rehearsal. We've had a surprising amount of time to be together in the evenings and on the weekends. So much so that our yard looks half way decent this year. We will be laying more sod though and arranging it so that maintenance is even easier :D

In March, we started welcoming guests into our home from Airbnb. My cousin was living with us temporarily and we got Patrick sleep trained in that time so we figured, having someone stay in the basement wasn't bad at all and now Patrick won't wake them, lets try it. We'd toyed around with the idea of Airbnb for a while and just never pulled the trigger but after having a little extra rent come through from my cousin living with us, we liked the idea!!! I believe that humanity is generally good and decided to give "strangers" a chance to prove me right (and try to make some extra money). We started off pretty slow. We had a guest who was in town for ComicCon with her mom and she gave us free passes for the event (SCORE). We got a few more requests and a few more reviews and now, we're booked pretty solidly through September.  It has been AWESOME. One girl stayed with us for 5 days and we even went country dancing one night. I'd HIGHLY recommend it. Unless of course you live down the street from me and will compete for my business. :)

On Motherhood

Today we celebrated mothers. We got to church and Patch was dressed all dapper in suspenders and a bow tie. I wore a dress that I haven't worn since before Patrick was born (yay for almost having my body back) and Scott was in all blue (my favorite). We sat in the back section where there is room for Patch to play on the floor and such. That boy was practically running up and down the aisles at church; coming back to me only momentarily to grab handful after handful of dried blueberries. He would take a handful, stuff them in his mouth, and walk off to explore again. He was smiling the biggest smiles and greeting everyone. Meanwhile, talks were being given...whoops!

I finally felt it. That thing where my heart is so full that it felt like it would burst. Don't get me wrong; I've had joy and love in my life beyond measure since welcoming Patch to our family but, I hadn't felt that overwhelming joy just yet. The kind that you hear mothers talking about all the time. Today it happened. Tears started to well in my eyes. I looked at my sweet boy who is just so full of life and already such a reflection of me and his amazing father.  I can't wait to have that feeling wash over me again and again as he grows and I get the pleasure of being his mother.

Spring 2016

I've been spending a little bit of time in the garden almost every day. Patrick practically begs us to go outside so, I'm happy to encourage that behavior and take a few minutes to catch up on the weeds/ pruning and make way for all our pretty perennial flowers to bloom. Someone planned our garden very well because everything seems to bloom in stages so that all spring, summer, and even into fall we have something new and beautiful popping up. First we have the tulips, then the mulberry tree, then the big purple round flowers, then the clematis, then the peonies and finally the roses. It's lovely.

This afternoon, Patrick and I went outside mostly because he was being grumpy and he seemed a little cold. I just finished making a berry (and chocolate) smoothie for the two of us to snack on and he got the shivers. Initially I took him upstairs and we sat in the rocker with a blanket on him. That took the chill away and he was LOVING my stories with silly noises. He hardly ever sits still but, for the stories and the noises...he didn't move a muscle. He just looked up at me and giggled. When I brought him downstairs he got a chill again and was acting rather upset about it so, that's when I decided we should go outside. We started sitting on the bench with a blanket and the book Skippy John Jones. He was a little distracted by all the people walking by etc. So, he popped down onto the grass and was just catching some rays. I sat still for a moment soaking in the sun myself. I watched the wind blow through his fuzzy baby hair. I admired my overgrown grass, the small patches I've gotten weeded, my over pruning, and my boy.

This is Patch getting into things...everything. I'm ok with it. I mean, how can I not enjoy that Mr. Sweet Face?

Also, Patrick is officially walking as of this week. Like, very regularly. Heaven help me.

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. 

Our Hawaiian Vacation

Scott and I just returned from a family vacation to Hawaii with the Moores and it was an absolute blast. Heres a quick travel log and then PICTURES :D

Saturday: Arrived at about 6 AM. Went to Starbucks in the airport as we waited for our Turo rental car to be ready. Patrick fed himself yogurt. Made arrangements to meet up with Ted and Melissa. Drove to their house. Had a second breakfast. Headed to Koa Lina beach area (right by the Disney resort) and splashed around in the waves. Maddie and Eva loved playing with Patrick. We made an aquatic dance together. Scott fell asleep. Drove to Costco and picked up lunch stuff for the week. Headed to the North Shore to meet up with the Moore family. Ate at Kahuku Grill.

Sunday: BBQ with Ted and marine friends at Bellows Beach. Brought a big rack of ribs from Costco to contribute. Yummy snacks and LOTS of meat. The waves were perfect and Patrick crawled right to them. Sunny sunny day. We mostly sat in the shade so as to not get burned. Maddie brought a fruit bar to share with Patch. Ted's friends made fun of his titles. Went back to Turtle Bay and met the family at the beach there. Sat in the spa and had dinner at North Shore Taco.

Monday: Spent all day with just Scott on his favorite beach Waimea. The waves were huge and the life guards were saying lots of warnings. I got in the waves and bobbed for a minute. Patrick played in a large hole Scott dug in the sand. Went back to the place for lunch and to let Patrick nap before heading to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the luau and night show. Food was great. Entertainment was even better. The show was AWESOME and Patch clapped and smiled and sang and loved every second.

Tuesday: Sharks cove snorkeling. I asked some man who had a bird tied to his wrist if that was "his bird" with the objective to really find out if he was charging people to take pictures with it or if it was just a pet that he took out everywhere. I asked if it was a "working bird" and everyone thought that was pretty funny...including me. Snorkeling was pretty good and Doug was in heaven. Got to read on the beach for a while as Patrick stayed asleep in his carseat for some time. Snorkeled with Doug and Gary. Scott and I packed lunches that day so when the rain came and everyone headed off the beach for home/ lunch, we headed down the east side of the island to see if we could find sun/ check out the sights. Showed Doug and Heather Crouching Dragon. They hiked for about 30 minutes while I stayed with Patch in the car and snacked on Cheerios and nursed and such. Had dinner at Teds Bakery with Doug and Heather.

Wednesday: Pearl Harbor/ Waikiki day for everyone. Chill with Mel and Ted day for me. Melissa was home sick from work so, I convinced everyone to head to Waikiki and do all the "stuff" out that way. We started the day at the Pono Ukulele factory. Scott was a good boy and didn't even ask for one. Headed to the swap meet. I walked around for a bit and then Mel came to pick me and Patch up. We grabbed sushi with Ted. Patch was a nuisance at the restaurant. Me and Mel went for a hike. Met up with Moores in Waikiki right along the beach. Ate packed lunch. Splashed in the waves for a couple of hours. Walked through the Royal Hawaiian. Drove to Nikos for dinner where Ted, Melissa, and the girls joined us. Yummy seafood and live music.

Thursday: Scuba dive. Packed lunches again and enjoyed two dives. Saw sharks, turtles, and an eel. Drove back home in the convertible. Tried to eat at Kahuku Grill again. No macadamia shrimp so we tried Papa Oles. Yummy food similar to Ted's.

Friday: Hunama Bay. Drove Ted to take off for his overseas adventure. Met up with family at Kailua beach. Everyone LOVED watching Patch splash in the waves. He was a brave little adventurer.

Saturday: Hike in Kahana Valley until a little after 2:00. Met up with everyone at Kahuku Grill again but we packed lunches and ate them so, we grabbed Patch some food and headed to my favorite beach to squeeze in some time there before heading home. Melissa met us there with the girls. Splashed in the waves for a few hours and packed it up as the rain got really heavy and Patrick got cold. We had our bags packed and ready to head straight to Melissa's at that point. Showered there and chilled with her and the girlies that evening.

Sunday: Aloha Hawaii...Salt Lake bound bright and early. A quick but memorable stay.