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Monday, September 14, 2009

Domestic weekend…

I don’t have very many of these…weekends where the bulk of my time is devoted to being domestic.

It was such joy!

On Saturday I went to a Sip-n-see for my friend Heather who just had twin boys! I love how women can celebrate new life. I love how they gather to rejoice over the journey of 9 (or so) months, the passage of an infant from unknown into known, the utterly amazing existence of a new life (or two!) placed into our hands for care and keeping. Its one of the most amazing things that women will do – gather, celebrate, share, support and nurture new life.

In the afternoon, my boys were outside having just some fun in the beautiful weather. I intended to take a nap, but then couldn’t sleep. The list of things to be done before our little one arrives seems overwhelming…especially since I know that the final month will be spent trying to prepare for Christmas for a three-year-old as well as the birth of our son. Coupled with the fact that there is a general lethargy in my house lately around cleaning, changing, and getting important things handled in our limited time frame, the amount of tasks to be covered looms large and daunting. So, instead of taking a nap, I removed the wallpaper border from two walls the room that will be Jayden’s new bedroom. Just a side note: DON’T put up borders if you intend to EVER sell your house or change the look of a room. They are a complete PAIN IN THE BUTT to remove. The former owners of this house made VERY SURE that this border would never fall down…so…you can imagine why I only got two walls done in two hours.

On Saturday evening, Jayden announced to his dad “Its Saturday! You should take me to church!” Keeping in mind that he is still in the two-year-old room in children’s church and that it is largely about playing and exploring relationships with other kids his age, its still impressive that he wants to go. We should all have a two-year-old to remind us how we are supposed to behave. Scott and I worked in the nursery with the babies. Knowing that we are having one of those in a few months, it was a purely joyful experience. We had the CUTEST little girl, all smiles and blue eyes, an adorable little boy who wasn’t too sure of us at the beginning, but who warmed up and showed us just how clever and charming he was, and a little, little one who really just wanted to be held and have a cat nap until mama came back for him. It was an experience to be reminded of infancy – the fact that we could put them under the play gym and they wouldn’t move, the fact that they couldn’t talk, but could smile and intently investigate every object they got their hands on, the fact that they weigh something more like 10 pounds than 32! All a wonderful, and peaceful, reminder of what we have coming.

On Sunday, our little bug was up EARLY and he wanted to go downstairs to have juice and mini-wheats and a “show.” So…up I got…we had our breakfast, watched some “shows” and then we finished our pet rocks. It was a few very quite hours with just me and the bug. We don’t get much of that.

Then I made my favorite lasagna, only in the crock pot and made two loaves of banana bread. Some how the kitchen time helped me feel more in “control” although I’m fairly convinced that is a complete illusion. I now have a meal for later on in the month (a crockpot full of lasagna is way too much for the three of us!) AND had delicious banana bread with my coffee this morning. It seemed significantly fall-ish and satisfying.

Now…I’m off into another week…I have been considering a maid service for the next few months. I’m finding it difficult to keep up with housework and work and Jayden and Scott and…well…just the huge pile of tasks to accomplish. I cleaned the shower and the toilet this morning at 5:00 am. I was IN the shower anyway, so that was no big deal…and lets face it, toilets take less than 5 minutes apiece to get clean. Again – probably contributing to my illusion of control. BUT the oddness of cleaning a toilet at 5:00 am had me thinking – there has to be a better way to get this stuff all done and not go crazy in the process.

Have a peaceful day, ya’ll!!

2 comments:

Sam said...

If I could afford a maid service, it's the one "indulgence" I would truly love. I've even considered having someone come in on just a monthly or even quarterly basis to take care of the deep cleaning type stuff. I would love to use that time for more family oriented things (although, I suppose with older children there is something to be said for the family togetherness that comes with cleaning...although I doubt they'd agree!).

We did a bit of baking yesterday as well - my week seems so much more centered going into it with a little stash of cookies and pumpkin bread =)

**** April **** said...

I need a recipe for lasagna in the crock pot! :) I make a MEAN lasagna but it takes like 3 hours to prepare...then an hour or more to cook. It's only a special occasion meal but...I'd love to have a short cut to make it! :)

I'm glad you got a day of just domestic bliss. :) We all need one of those every once in a while!