Wife Without Borders: New Year Check-In

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah! Happy New Year! Happy everything. Wishing you all a healthy and drama-free 2017. I have many New Year’s resolutions, one of which is to blog more. Having some difficulties with internet speed here lately which means uploading pictures takes a bajillion years. Honestly, I am having dial-up flashbacks. So we’ll see. Other resolutions are to organize the house and donate/purge all of the stuff that isn’t loved or useful. Just because we have a big house doesn’t mean we need to fill every nook and cranny of it. The STUFF is stressing me out.

Today I asked Forest which toys he would like to donate and he said ‘All except the Thomas and Friends characters’. Harsh. We probably won’t be that extreme but will definitely be cutting back. I honestly find that he becomes more engaged and plays more independently when he has LESS toys to choose from. Keep it simple and all that.

I am currently reading 31 days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way by Sarah Mae.

SOURCE

I just love the title of this book. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Mary and Martha were a pair of sisters within Jesus’ inner circle. When he popped by for a visit, Martha was going nuts trying to do all the things that needed to be done- cooking, cleaning, setting up a guest room, etc and Mary simply dropped everything to sit at Jesus’ feet for a chat. I can just about imagine the eye roll and grumbling that I would have elicited if my sis was slacking on her responsibilities in that moment, and sure enough Martha complains to Jesus that Mary should be helping out more. Jesus instead admonishes Martha saying that Mary has prioritized correctly. (I'm paraphrasing. If you want the whole biblically accurate spiel it's in Luke 10: 38-24.)

But we can’t just neglect out house-making duties. The dishes DO need to be washed and the clothes NEED to be folded. But after hosting Christmas for Jonathan’s family I felt convicted that sometimes I did those things at the expense of quality time with family. That I stressed and fretted over food prep and clean up and that the anxiety and pressure I felt made those around me feel less like welcomed guests and more like a burden.

So how do we find a balance where we can get everything done around the house and provide food for everyone while still having time and energy to be present and pause for those we love? I have no stinkin clue. Hopefully this book will give me a few tips on how to accomplish this because it’s truly one of the big struggles of my “occupation".

In other news, we decided to finally phase out the pacifier about 10 days ago and Forest hasn’t napped since. Way harsh. Jonathan insists we stay strong but the overtired tantrums and hyperactivity make me feel so tempted to just re-introduce it. At least until he drops naps on his own. He was already on the precipice but the paci-extraction pushed him over the edge a little prematurely.

I know, I know. *Everyone* says a paci past age 3 is ridiculous but I’ve never actually been that stressed about it. The more I read, the more it seems like the long term damages are really not that extreme as long as they drop the habit by 4/5. That could be another 12 months of sleepy-time bliss.

Are the effects of chronic sleep deprivation (he's sleeping about 2 hours less per day than he used to) better than the possibility that he may need braces (75% chance he'll need them either way)? He's totally fine speech wise and hasn't had an ear infection in nearly 2 years. What am I missing? What's the big deal for him to use a paci to fall asleep? Guys I totally felt outside pressure to snatch it and I feel like it went against all my instincts which makes it hard to stick to my guns when he is currently NOT napping for the ninth day in a row.

But alas, 10 days in, I’d hate to turn back and have to start from scratch later. He said he’d sleep better if I got him the book ‘Llama Llama Red Pajama’ but since I’m currently resolved to get rid of stuff and not replace it with more stuff, I just don’t think that’s the golden ticket to nap time.

Well that’s enough rambling for this week. Here are some pictures from our Christmas celebrations.