Monday, Apr 13, 2009 | Blogging, Chores |
I’ve been reflecting on the public nature of blogging, and wondering whether it’s healthy to spill the ups and downs of my daily life live-to-air, so to speak; or, even more importantly, the lives of four children who have no say in the process. Ethics. Not sure. What do fellow bloggers think about this?
I’ve also figured out that my perpetually cranky mood relates to having too much to do, and not being able to do it to satisfaction; cursed perfectionism. Kevin sent me out for a solo walk yesterday afternoon, and while I was gone he organized the kids to fold laundry. That’s the pic above. I’m beginning to grasp that my future sanity is going to hinge on designating household responsibility, farming out some tasks, scaling back expectations, doing some ruthless prioritizing. Get a slow-cooker? Hire someone to clean weekly? Seriously. I need to entertain some alternatives. Suggestions welcome.
Saturday, Apr 11, 2009 | Holidays, Kids |
Saturday, Apr 11, 2009 | Sick, Sleep |
There are a bunch of good pics on my camera which I haven’t downloaded because they include a couple that aren’t so good–of some baby animals the kids found in the woodpile that looked a whole lot like newborn rats. I’m too squeamish to look at them.
So today’s post will be unillustrated. Next time.
I’m deep in the throes of sleep deprivation, and it feels so prolonged, so never-ending, that I’m feeling semi-defeated by it. Last night, I was cleaning up puke (another story, not so long; it wasn’t mine, it was a child’s), off and on till 1am, every hour or so till the source was declared completely empty, when finally I slept. Then was woken every hour till sometime after 3 when I managed to string two full hours of sleep together, then it was back to the broken stuff–in and out of bed, answering multiple calls. I’m a firm believer that to feel really well-rested, you need three consecutive uninterrupted hours of sleep. This has become so rare as to feel like a meaningless prescriptive. CJ still nurses twice a night, or more, and Fooey is often up once to use the bathroom, and last night … well, when the puking started I really thought I might suffer a nervous breakdown. This is the fourth time since December that someone (usually a solid family majority) has gotten “the barfing thing.” Look, I know that life with six people in one house is complicated. I accept this. Life generally is complicated. Bodies are vulnerable and imperfect. I get all of that. But I feel suddenly sapped of my ability to appreciate the fun. There is fun, right? Everything feels so damn serious. I’d like to appreciate, for example, getting dressed up and dancing. I’d like to rest, to let my mind slow down, to read a book all the way through, to stand still in the sunshine, to sit down.
To go and whine no more.
Thursday, Apr 9, 2009 | Kids, Music, Spring |
Walking to school this afternoon … thinking praise be for sunshine. We’re getting our roof done, and just learned our back porch is rotting away, like the front. Sometimes it feels like we’re just perpetually falling apart around here; yet I feel oddly bouyant. The bottom photo is of the older children’s folk music choir, after their performance earlier this week. It was moving to watch them gradually relax, lose some of the stage nerves, and sing from their hearts, even if they didn’t know every word. Though the expression on Albus’s face is kinda how he looked the entire time. When I asked him afterward what he’d been thinking, he couldn’t say.
Here’s a taste of the performance (I couldn’t get it to upload here).
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2009 | Chores |
What you can’t see is the cheering section in the front window (Apple-Apple even wrote encouragement on a piece of paper: “Be careful moving the leaves.”). Honestly, the whole family stood at the window, waving and grinning with such excitement, CJ shouting so loudly I could hear him through the double-paned glass–I felt heroic.
