Me Woman: cleaning

Monday, November 28, 2011

Slowly but surely!

Here things are in full swing! The last week has brought some much needed energy along for me! I feel so "normal", it's almost scary, but it's also really nice.
After having an insane amount of things going on in the last few years, and with no signs of it slowing down in sight, I am sure happy that I feel an extra surge of strength!!
I do get occational reminders of how vulnerable I still am thou.

Last Thursday I ventured out to town. First time in a LOOONG time that I did this by myself! Felt really good. I had a maternity top that I wanted to return (tags were still on), but of course I did not have a receipt. Well, I figured, they might let me exchange it for something at least.
Well. They didn't.
"Sorry, if you don't have a receipt, we can't take it back!"
"But, I lost the baby, and I never had time to use it, and the tags are still on!!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that (she did look truly empathetic), but that's our policy!"
I felt like their policy had just given me a kick in the stomach.
I took it so hard, I was surprised.
Maybe because I told her about losing the baby.
It's a private thing after all.
I felt tears welling up, as I turned to leave the store, with my unused maternity top still in the bag in my hand...
"Bye!", she said behind me.
"Oh, yeah, bye" I said as I glanced over my shoulder.
I felt that this store had something against me.
It wasn't my fault that I had lost the baby!!

I called my Hubby, and told him how I felt.
He of course asked me not to worry about it.
No big deal if I couldn't return it.
I knew he was right, but I guess the feelings the situation had brought up, made me realize that I'm still quite sensitive.
He made sure I felt better before we hung up, and then I actually found a pair of jeans that fit me!
(I hate trying on anything in public changing rooms, and jeans are among the worst...)
This pregnancy made me gain more weight than I normally do, and now when there's no baby to nurse to help shed the pounds, the new "chub" is stubbornly stuck on me. Argh.
Perfect timing for Christmas to show up too! Yohoo!! (I admit to liking all the Christmas goodies WAY too much)

Well, I met up with a friend after shopping, and we went out for a late dinner.
It was really nice to just hang out and chat and eat (yummy pizza on ryebread!, and I wonder why I'm not losing weight??)

Well. Now it's all full tilt with the Christmas gears rolling!
I can't shop or decorate or bake before the house is organized and cleaned, so I have a LOT of organizing and cleaning to do, which is fine, since I truly enjoy an organized house. (there's still a ton of stuff to go through since we moved)
With 9 people thou, I will never ever catch up to what I would like to keep as my standard.
So... yeah, we did some decorating already! (or we might not put anything out before Easter, and that would look quite wierd...)
The kids also made a batch of gingerbread cookies, so that's a start I guess.
In the end it doesn't really matter if everything is not as perfect as I'd like it to be, (trying to remember to pace myself!!), what I want is a home that feels "good". That is cozy and warm and a good place to end a busy day. No matter what time of the year of course, but Christmas is extra special. It's that special feeling... This is the 1st year in this house, and things are not all done yet, but it's still "us" here. And that's what matters. And a clean floor of course! :)

Friday, August 5, 2011

Visitors, Birthday and Getting organized

Today our overseas visitors left to head back home. It's with sad hearts we saw them leave, but with happy memories sharing the space. We had such a great time together, and got to do many fun things. Our 2nd oldest and her BFF had a packed schedule, including shopping, swimming in the lake, taking saunas, picking berries, visiting with friends, going through an obstacle course and last but not least, the highlight of the trip, "Horsebackriding!!" They even got to try galloping a bit! After a few hours on the horsebacks, they came home with huge smiles on their faces. I'm so happy everything went so well, and now we wish them a safe trip back home to Michigan! A special thank you to BFF's aunt who made this trip possible. It was a pleasure to have you here, and our door will always remain open for you! Thanks for all the help as well, our Little Guy talked about you this morning! We will miss you both for a long time!

Our 4th girl turned 8!!!
Happy B-day dear "S"!! I'm looking back to the day you were born, and I still marvel over the fact that you decided to enter this world 10 days early, and not the same amount of days past due, like your older sisters did!! This made my pregnancy 3 weeks shorter, and I'm still thankful for that. My water broke at midnight, after an evening spent with lots of friends over at our house. I had seen my Dr the same day, and he figured this baby would follow my previous babies patteren, so he was pretty surprised to see me in the hospital hall about 12 hours after my appointment!! At 6.13 am our 4th little girl was born, weighing 6.13!! She was born on my older sisters 30th birthday, so we named her after my sister. This new addition was a quiet and content little soul, and that sure made our lives easier when our 3rd daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, only 3 months after our baby's birth. Our lives became increadibly busy, it felt like we had twins!!

The 1st year of #4's life is a blur to me, but from all the pictures we have saved, I can see "S" smiling, looking content and happy. She could sit, or lay, and play with toys for long stretches, this I do remember, since she was our 1st baby to do that! By 10 months she still didn't show any interest in crawling or walking, so I figured she'd be a bit later than average, but soon I discovered that when this lady puts her mind to something, she gets stuff done!!! So shortly after her 1st birthday she was walking.
She was the same way when it was time to learn how to talk. At 21 months she didn't say much, but by 2 years old, she spoke in scentences!! And that's the way she is. She's not in a hurry to be 1st, but when she wants to do or learn something, she gets the job done fast! We love having her as a part of our loud gang, just like all the rest of them, and I wish her a blessed year as an 8 year old! We all love you so much! xoxo

What else?? Well, this house is getting more and more livable for each day. My hubby and I have both been busy cleaning and organizing. Today I'm tackling some windows in the foyer, there are 8 of them, but they are tall and skinny so they go pretty fast. I WILL get a camera soon.... then I'll post some pictures. Here are a few that our visitor downloaded on our computer....