Tackled Relaxation!

This is what I woke up to yesterday morning :(

Pregnant mommy had a narcoleptic moment and didn't hear the kids up playing. By the time my older daughter came to me she was saying "Mommy they're into your stuff". I asked her "what stuff?" and she said Mini was writing on things with a marker. Oh dear, "what things?". "The couch, the wall, your pictures."

"NO!"

Happy to be prepared for what my eyes would see in the next room I realized quickly that mommy probably shouldn't keep that sharpie marker so handy in her purse!

This obviously makes the things already in my purse free reign for scribbles!!!

This hurt, because last Tuesday's tackle I spent ALL day making this book of notes for labor couching!

Luckily she mostly only scribbled in places that made things still legible.

I only re-wrote one page.

But I did have a lot of previously blank pages to tear out. OYE! How long was I asleep!!!???

The spots on the couch weren't as bad as I thought they could be...

... the magic eraser will get them out...

... just like it got these marks off of just about EVERY picture on the photo tin I made!

Before the magic eraser...

After the magic eraser...

Praise the Lord for magic erasers!

And praise Him that Mini decided to leave my Bible alone.

And that she didn't write on the newer photo tin I just made.

This was not all I had to deal with yesterday - it was just an exceptionally bad Monday - the kids were not "normal". So I was really worked on relaxation for me and baby in the belly. I realized later in the day that So You Think You Can Dance on YouTube is a great distraction!!! :)

To see what others are Tackling, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

I Tackled!

I tackled ALL day yesterday and didn't get done till bedtime, so I am just blogging about it now :).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was only one task and it might seem minimal, but it was HUGE to me and I am very excited to have gotten it done! This is part of my plan NOT to set us up to fail.

"A failure to plan is a plan to fail."

I finally went back through my Bradley Birthing Method workbook we had from the classes we took before our first baby in its entirety.

The book is 120 plus pages and it has A LOT of information in it!

I read through the WHOLE thing yesterday. I tried to remember what all really worked for me in labor with my last 3 and what we ended up overlooking. I made notes accordingly.

Here is the book of index cards I made for my coach = my hubby...

Here is proof of all the work... I know it will be worth it...

... it was exciting to be refreshed on all this info. Now I am actually excited for my upcoming labor experience instead of scared or apprehensive like last time. Now I just have to wait another 7 weeks or so :).

Now here is my Tackle-It TO-DO list...

1. Pack hospital bag - STARTED...
   - Finish packing hospital bag.
2. Get kids to doctors appointments - SCHEDULED for June 17th.
3. Get birth certificates and immunization records - SHIPPED and waiting on shots.
4. Get a work-space built for homeschooling in the Fall.
5. Sign-up for general ed. - application COMPLETE and sent in - waiting on return info.
   

The stuff I finished completely...

1. Make labor index cards to help hubby coach - DONE!!!

Tackle it Tuesday

So I tackled for three weeks straight, then it looks as if I didn't tackle at all for three weeks after that! Really I promise I was getting stuff done, the progress was just VERY slow, or I was doing stuff that wasn't for my home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I have been slowly chipping away at the paperwork type things on my to-do list (below).

Why is it that paperwork is some of the hardest things for me to get done?!

My oldest daughter's birth certificate! REally CArolyn!?

I have been putting that off for 5 years and now that I need to sign her up for school I have a fire under my butt! She was born in a different county than I am currently in and I don't like the city that that county's recorders office is in. I've known that I could order online but I always made excuses! I finally got the application filed out and notorized this week (which TOTALLY was NOT a big deal) and her certificate is now on it's way :) FINALLY!

I also called her pediatrician from birth, her current pediatrician and made an appointment for a new pediatrician (since we moved) and got all the info I need to get her immunization records completed for school.

I even FINALLY printed out an application for my own schooling. I called the counselor last week and she said I should be able to do ALL my general ed. classes online - yippie!!! On the road to obedience I go! But I am not crossing things officially off my list until they are fully done and complete!

Like the packing of my hospital bag, it's only started. And the making of my labor index cards, lol, I only managed to BUY the cards so far... that's a start, right?

But I did manage to do ONE thing. I got rid of our old car that wasn't running :) I don't have any pictures to prove it like last time, but really I DID get it done :).

I even have a slightly funny blog post on all the cars I've owned :)

Now onto my running TO-DO list...

1. Pack hospital bag - STARTED...
   - Finish packing hospital bag.
2. Make labor index cards to help hubby coach - BOUGHT cards...
   - Start filling out cards.
3. Get kids to doctors appointments - SCHEDULED for June 17th.
4. Get birth certificates and immunization records - SHIPPING and waiting on shots.
5. Get a work-space built for homeschooling in the Fall.
6. Find online courses and sign-up to do my own general ed. - PRINTED application...
   - complete application and start enrollment process.

The stuff I finished completely...

1. Donate car.

Tackle it Tuesday

I tackled THREE weeks in a row!!!

That's so exciting to me - it means I'm getting stuff done! :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I got some more crossed off my to-do list (below).

I organized and pared down all the children's clothes I had in bins... actually 7 bins, 1 box and 1 garbage bag!

It's looked like this in my front room for probably a month. I kept telling myself that if I kept it all right in front of my nose I would be more prone to getting it done in a timely manner. Well I finally got it done...

This was part of the organizing process. I went from 9 containers of clothes to 3! All sorted by sizes...

I knew ahead of time that these three bins would fit under the crib, even though it doesn't look like it here...

... they do! :) and it's so nice to get them out of the way...

... I didn't take pics of it, but I was able to give 2 big trash bags of baby girl clothes to my friend and another 3 bags to the goodwill.

And with all that taken care of - and the hanging of my guitar - and a little rearranging - this is the AFTER shot! Much, much better...

I even got all my completed scrapbook albums out and organized them to go into the bottom-right cabinet the entertainment center pictured above.

I figured it was an empty storage spot and finished albums are meant to be looked through for entertainment purposes... so why not relocate them to the entertainment center? :)

I have 10 in all, but only 8 fit...

1. My old church camp album.
2. Our wedding album (the first one I ever made).
3. My husband's gift album of us before the kiddos.
4. Our oldest daughter's birth to 1 year / baby album.
5. Our son's baby album.
6. Our younger daughter's baby album (not complete yet - I have 7 layouts left).
7. Another album of the kid's layouts, but each each kid only gets 2 layouts a year.
8. And then it's our family album :)...

All very exciting organizing for me!!!

It's nice to to give everything a place to be. Even from last week's tackle with the bunkbeds, I had extra boards from the disassembled top bunk that had to go somewhere in my 2 bedroom apartment! So I slid them under the couch! :)...

Strange? Maybe, but it works. I also wanted to share another little trick that brings me sanity :). An unused scarf tried to the doorknob and the new bunkbed to keep the kids from opening and closing the door a million times when they are playing...

LOVE it!

Now onto my running TO-DO list - I got 2.5 things crossed off...

1. Organize and pare down hand-me-down clothes in bins.
2. Hang acoustic guitar on wall in front room.
3. Pack hospital bag.
4. Make labor index cards to help hubby coach.
5. Get kids to doctors appointments and sign-up for WIC.
6. Get a work-space built for homeschooling in the Fall.
7. Get birth certificates and immunization records.
8. Find online courses and sign-up to do my own general ed.
9. Donate car.

Tackle it Tuesday

I tackled two weeks in a row!!! :) And got three things off my To-do list (below).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We ordered a new bunkbed Thursday evening and it came Friday afternoon!!! So I tackled moving the crib out of the kids room and into the empty spot in my master bedroom.

Here...

I had to take it halfway apart to get it through the doorways and the hallway, but here it is all re-situated :)...

The kids played nicely in the front room while mommy was in the back rooms tackling...

I even got to put the baby's bedding in. And we picked up a chocolate colored mobile from our local consignment store when we got the safety bed-rail for my toddler ;)...

Here is the spot I moved the crib from, all empty and ready for the bunkbed to arrive...

And here is me with all the bunkbed parts sorted on the floor, ready to go... wait - I should cook dinner first, not ignore it...

While the lasagna was in the oven my hubby took the kids swimming to give Mommy some tackle time with the new bunkbed...

After dinner I worked right into the kiddo's bedtime and finally got it all done...

Thanks hubby for your help with those last couple stubborn screws!!! (And sorry for the attitude!)

The room had two bunkbeds in it. We originally planned to keep the brown one up because we bought mattresses for both top and bottom...


... but the mattresses were kinda ghetto! Anyone else have a flashback to their childhood?!!! Even without that though, they are WAY heavy, TOTALLY hard - like sleeping on wood, and when you move them you can hear the springs giggling around. And they are not a flat surface, they were rounded, weird, I couldn't sleep the night my son slept on his because I was just waiting for him to roll right off....

So I ended up taking the top bunk off the older bunkbed as part of my tackle as well We also got my son a better mattress (I would rather pay $100 for one good mattress than $100 for two ghetto ones :)...

Look, this is Mini sleeping in her "big girl bed" for the first time :*)...

And this is her Big Sissy right above her, not sleeping yet of coarse...

And this was her... all happy in the morning :)... so sweet!!!...

I also tackled some organizing of post office bound packages, but I posted about those HERE if you are interested in my victory :).

Oh, and I backed up my hard-drive!

Now onto my running TO-DO list...

1. Organize and pare down hand-me-down clothes in bins.
2. Hang acoustic guitar on wall in front room.
3. Pack hospital bag.
4. Make labor index cards to help hubby coach.
5. Get kids to doctors appointments and sign-up for WIC.
6. Back up hard-drive.
7. Get old scrapbook packages ready and go to post office.
8. Get a "big girl bed" for Mini and move her crib to master bedroom.
9. Get a work-space built for homeschooling in the Fall.
10. Get birth certificates and immunization records.
11. Find online courses and sign-up to do my own general ed.