Exhausted

My second trimester energy has come in full force, and I am thrilled, to say the least

However, just when I start to tackle one of the millions of projects weighing on my mind, my body goes and reminds me that I am, in fact, pregnant, and a wave of exhaustion hits.

As you know if you have been reading my blog for long, I am constantly looking for a good system for keeping the clutter in my house somewhat under control. On the day that I saw the positive pregnancy test, and I knew that baby number two was on the way, I determined to find a doable system before February.

Then the first trimester sickness hit, and I became permanently attached to the couch when my head wasn't hanging over a toilet. In the midst of that madness, the house practically buried itself under mounds of clutter and just plain mess.

While I was in Alabama, I was talking to Ann about the situation, explaining that I just couldn't figure it out. Here is my problem. I look at my mess of a house, and I determine to clean it, top-to-bottom, all in one day. I take a Saturday, begin the process, realize I am in way over my head, and I admit defeat as I go pour myself a diet coke and turn on an episode of Gilmore Girls.

This time, I am absolutely determined to start with small, doable steps that will turn into habits. And it's working. Every morning I begin by fixing Ada breakfast, and as she eats her breakfast, I get to work on the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher and making sure things are in order for the day. Then, after we are done with that, we move things upstairs, where I make up the bed, and I pile clothes from the dryer onto the made bed, and I fold and put away. These two habits that I am forming are setting the stage for a functional housekeeping system, and I am relieved.

I am also trying to slowly work in once a week habits, as I continue with the daily tasks. For example, Friday I stripped the beds and put on clean sheets. I hope to make this a Friday habit. Then today, we vacuumed all the heavy trafficked rooms in the house, and I scrubbed the master bathroom until it shined. (Which took quite a while. It was long overdue for a good cleaning). I plan to tackle the other two bathrooms tomorrow, which are not nearly as dirty b/c they aren't used as much, obviously. I have only been at this for a week, but already my house is looking much more "in order."

I now know what life is like with a newborn (unlike the shock of the situation after Ada was born). And though I have no real idea what life is like with a newborn and a two year old, I can slightly imagine, so I am determined to gets things under control before this baby moves in and rocks our world.

All of that to say, that tonight, I am absolutely exhausted from a hard day's work, but I feel so very satisfied with the state of my house.