The cleanup goes on

I need to get some after pictures up. The toy room is much more organized and the kids are having a much easier time keeping it that way. We still need more (inexpensive) storage though so we're looking into that. But paying bills gets priority so I may be finding ways to make do for a little while longer. What bothers me the most about this room is the blank walls. One wall is largely covered by the computer armoire, but there are two other small walls and one very long wall that sit totally empty. Since the room is completely visable from the living room, I've been hesitant to hang anything, but it's really time. I want something very kid friendly (it is, after all, a playroom) but nice enough for grown ups, too. Any ideas are welcome!

Here are the rest of the pictures.

 

Cleaning House

First let me just say that my house is often messy. I make no excuses, that's just life in my house. Since my hubby is a neat-freak extrordinairre, I almost always have it clean by the time he sees it. Yesterday was a sick day though - not just me, but the kids too. And it was raining and yucky. And I feel asleep on the couch without doing my last cleaning push before bed. So when I woke up this morning, naturally I went to the computer instead of jumping right in :> Turns out it was a good thing, though, since I read this from Chief Executive Mom. She has some great tips for Spring Cleaning that I'm going to be applying today. I thought before and after pictures would be a great idea. Very motivating. SO here are my big messy spots - the kid's playroom and my bookshelf (actually those are hubby's guitar magazine across the bottom, but the rest is mine) of stuff. So pray for me as I try to bring in some order!
P.S. My kitchen is also quite a mess, but there are limits to how much I'm willing to share.

Baby Jack and his quilt

My mom's friend, Betty, made Jack this beautiful quilt. It's got his monogram at the top and his birthdate and weight and the bottom - his full name is on the back - on antique fabric. It's just beautiful. The colors don't show up as well in the picture, but they're just gorgeous: pale blue, green and gold and white. Honestly, it looks like something a little prince would have:) He looks tiny in this picture, but he's actually growing pretty well - I only had to roll the sleeves once! 

Doing our best...

In my quest to do a better job taking care of my family, I've been searching for information and inspiration far and wide. This post of Lady Lydia's was a wonderful call-to-arms today.

Good News about Jack

The specialist found nothing physicly wrong with his nose or throat! I'm so thankful for that! We still don't know what's causing the noise, so of course I'm still concerned. But it doesn't seem to be anything severe. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers - it's really meant a lot to me!

I can be so ditzy sometimes.

At some point over these last few week, I accidently turned on the comment moderator! So all kinds of great comments were just sitting over there waiting on me for no good reason. And I was pouting because I figured everyone had forgotten about me! Like I said, such a ditz.
So... thank you all for commenting! And for being paitient with me:) I'm going back to comment on your comments now!

I haven't been around much lately...

I've been really busy with Baby Jack. He has what we think is larynomalagia (a "floppy" larnyx) causing him to make a funny noise sometimes when he breathes. He's actually done it since he was born - it's just becoming more frequent and more severe sounding. So there've been doctor appointments and chest x-rays and nights of me just watching him breathe. We finally get to see the pediatric ear, nose and throat guy in the morning and I am so...excited. That word seems so strange applied to a doctor's appointment, but I really can't wait to get a definite diagnosis and to know what I can do! I really pray that the doctor will have a diagnosis for us and that there will be something we can do - the mommy in me just wants to fix this! But more than anything I just want to rest in the knowledge that my God is good and He is in control. The peace He gives is so powerful - I panic, in my human-ness, and I can feel His arms embrace me. I can't imagine living my life without my Father.

Just A Mom

This segment on ABC's Good Morning America has a lot of stay-at-home moms really up in arms. The guest, Linda Hirshman, has basically declared that raising children and running a home are not worthwhile pursuits for an educated woman. That we owe it to feminism to work and that our place is in an office. That, in fact, staying home is not an option women should be allowed to choose.
This article is a very good overview of her position and of why she's just so wrong, so I won't go into all that right now. What I want to talk about is this quote. When confronted by women who say that staying home to be wives and mothers is the most fulfilling thing they could do, Ms. Hirshman has this to say...
"I would like to see a description of their daily lives that substantiates that position," she said. "One of the things I've done working on my book is to read a lot of the diaries online, and their description of their lives does not sound particularly interesting or fulfilling for a complicated person, for a complicated, educated person."
Let's nevermind for a moment that she's calling me "uncomplicated" (the educated woman's code word for stupid) and that she assumes her definition of interesting and fulfilling should go for everyone. What's so striking to me is that we do, as a culture, believe that "homemaker" is about as dull an occupation as there could be. We value home and hearth and family so little that this woman believed she could get away with calling for women to be unable to choose staying home. And she's gotten national exposure for this idea. Can you imagine Good Morning America doing a segment on someone who didn't believe women should be allowed to work? Could a person get on national television saying that women were letting down society by going to work?
But frankly I have to say that I'm grateful to Ms Hirshman, at least in some small part for opening my eyes. I guess part of me really thought that with so many intelligent, educated women of my generation choosing to stay home, that we were past the point where making a home and raising children was seen as a big dull waste of time. I thought at the very least we'd progressed to a point where most people viewed it as an equal option to working full time. But clearly the idea that I am "just" a housewife or "just" a mom is still going strong out there. So what do I do? Do I go door to door defending myself with studies that show children are better off when mom stays home? Do I turn on the moms I know who work - my own mom included - in an effort to make myself feel better? I don't think so. I don't have time to go around proving how fulfilled I am or fighting to make everyone take me seriously. And no way am I going to pretend that every minute of my day is mentally challenging and stimulating - no one who's ever swept the kitchen floor nine times a day would buy that anyway. But I can do all those things that make this a fulfilling profession instead of sitting around watching Dr Phil and parking the kids in front of Sponge Bob. And I can make sure I keep my own attitude straight. I can know in my head and heart that what I'm doing is worthwhile. I can really believe that my job is as noble a calling as being a missionary or brain surgeon or Supreme Court justice. And I can let my actions and my speech reflect that. Never again, NEVER AGAIN, will I say I'm "just a mom."