Slowing Down...

I feel like I've been going non stop for weeks now...probably because I have been.  Getting Sophie signed up for school, getting the "must haves" on her new school list, moving the necessities to my dad's house, getting his house settled for 5 more people there (I'm not lying when I say it's the size of an apartment. yikes!), getting our stuff semi-organized, cleaning and vacuuming daily because of the disgusting cat that Judy has, making lists, more lists & more lists!!! I feel like there is always something that needs to be done and never enough time to do it.

I'm about halfway done with my doula coursework, but don't have "me" time to complete everything right now. I'm so bummed about that. I just want to finish and only have to wait to support a mama to have her baby (I need 1 more birth to meet the certification requirements). All in due time, right?

Oh, and I know I need to start planning ahead for Christmas projects, so I have time to get them done. That will be the key to our Christmas this year...slow and steady so we can afford things and so we won't be scrambling at the end like last year.  Luckily, I was smart enough to pin some things on pinterest this spring (when I had time apparently!) for Christmas gifts, so I have an idea of what all I need to get done.

And then there's the meal planning! Oh how I HATE planning meals! I don't like cooking meals. I just don't.  I like, no, love baking!! Just not cooking. And these people want to eat every day! Jeesh! So I've been trying to plan meals out for more then 2 days at a time and am doing a crappy job at it so far.  I need to find something that works to feed 4 adults & 3 kids around the same time everyday and it still be healthy/affordable.  Does anything like that exist anywhere?  It needs to!!

And Sophie started school last week too!  She LOVES it! And has been counting down the summer to go to school. Heck, she's counting down the days this weekend until she can go back. Only my kid would wish away vacation so she can go learn! :op But boy does that throw a wrench into things.  She goes from 12:30-3:30 roughly, so I have a small chunk of time in the morning to feed the kids twice (breakfast & lunch), get them ready, do some small chores/errands and then off to drop Sophie at school.  Maddy & Noah cried so hard when we dropped her off the first day, so we went to the park afterwards and now they expect that! lol! So if we don't do the park, we have a short amount of play time, naps (hopefully. They've been taking totally crappy naps lately! And super late in the day too. ugh!), mom gets some more small chores done or *gasp* has time to check her email!! and then it's time to wake the littles up and walk to the bus stop to pick up Sophie. Walk back home, snack time, Judy gets home, think of something for dinner before dad & Brian get home, get dinner cleaned up, baths for the kids, books and bed.  And by that point, I'm exhausted too and want to go to bed, but stay up too late trying to catch up on everything else and squeeze a chapter of my doula book in if I can.  I hope we can get a better routine figured out soon so I can make better use of my time. If I get up any earlier, I'm in everyone else's way (3 adults getting ready for work in the morning w/only 1 bathroom gets hectic!), so I just hope & pray we settle into a better routine soon!!

I am SO ready to SLOW DOWN! Even just for a day or two.  I'm kinda looking forward to winter for that reason, but am trying hard to not wish the beautiful end of summer and fall days away.  This is my favorite time of year and I want to somehow cherish it too. Getting pulled in every which way is just getting so dang tiring! But the show must go on.

All in due time...all in due time...