Kicked to the Curb

Several things around here have been kicked to the curb. And each one has brought significant life changes....for the better. Let me go in chronological order.

#1 SADIE
No we have not packed her up and shipped her off. Well at least not very far. We have simply moved her out of our room. This occurred about a month ago and words cannot express how much better life is around here. The only reason she was in our room for so long is because I couldn't figure out how to configure the room-sharing to make it work. I finally decided that Sammy and Thea were ready to share...temporarily until Sadie is ready to share with Thea. So we moved Thea into Sammy's room along with all of her toys and they have been doing great. It is fun to listen to them talk and giggle at night before they drift off. OK, back to Sadie. The benefits of her having her own room are amazing. First of all she sleeps at least an hour later each morning. She is napping better and is happier because of all the extra sleep. Now the benefits on my/our end are even greater. I am more organized, more on top of household duties and I have my life back. When she was in our room, my duties basically came to a halt when she was asleep. Some of the undone duties include: putting away laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the bedroom, cleaning the bathroom, bathing the kids or myself, any paperwork, organizing anything in the bedroom (including the closet, desk and clothing). I had to schedule all of these duties around HER schedule and things just never seemed to get done since her waking hours bring its own set of obstacles. Now that she is in her own room our desk is fully functioning and I am on top of paperwork, our bedroom is clean. Oh here is a funny story. One of the tasks I completed when she left is finally removing the 2 inch layer of dust on our ceiling fan. About a week after that Sammy and I were laying on my bed and Sammy said "Mommy, where is the spider web?" I said "what spider web?" He said "the one on the fan." It had been there so long he thought it was just part of our own personal ecosystem. I have cleaned the window sills, baseboards, dusted regularly and brought back our fancy bedding. I can vacuum during naps and actually put half the laundry away during naps too as opposed to it sitting in the laundry basket for 2 days. I can read in bed at night, I can dress and shower in the morning at my own leisure. Mike and I have a place to talk without the kids being right in the middle of our BIDNESS. We even had a business meeting the other night while the kids watched a movie. The kids can play outside and BE LOUD and not wake her up. So, do you get it? Life has begun again. I feel like the fog has lifted. AHHHHHH!!!

#2 MIKE
No, he has not physically been kicked to the curb, but as indicated in my previous post, he was laid off. I realized I should have given an update long ago, but I have been too busy organizing and cleaning ;) Mike's getting laid off has brought life changes obviously but you may be surprised to know they have been mostly positive. Wait make that ALL positive. Mike has returned to carpentry and is sooooooo much happier. God has brought many jobs his way. He has been busy. And life is nicer since he controls his hours and has mostly had a 5 minute commute. :) He gets to sleep in until 5:30 rather than 4:15 now. And he chooses to get up that early. He could sleep in until 6:45 if he chose. We have health insurance lined up and the BEST part is we get to go back to our old group of doctors and most of you know how much I LOVE and have missed that group. God is good even in the little things. We are currently working on actually incorporating Mike's business and I have started to work for him. So far so good. Unsure as of right now if and when he will return to the formal engineering world. Truth be told, we didn't particularly like working "for the man". It was quite a transition for us. Only God knows what lies ahead and we are OK with that.

#3 DIAPERS (well at least the size 4 kind)
Yup. Thea is officially potty trained. WHEW!!! We started kinda impromptu on the Saturday before the planned Monday start date. We had no plans and she was begging to wear her new "unnies" so I figured why not. And the great thing is she was done by the time Monday arrived. It went MUCH quicker than I had thought but it certainly was not without frustration. But I am glad to say it was not at all the battle of wills that I had anticipated. She was very willing. It was just a matter of her mind and body beginning to communicate with each other effectively. Other than the 2-3 trips to the restroom at stores that we now need to make, it has been wonderful.

#4 FORMULA (kinda)
Sadie is sooo not into her bottles anymore. She will drink some and then lose interest. The doctor said it is fine to drop them and formula and introduce milk. I received this info about 3 days after starting a brand new can of formula so I am determined to use it. Sadie will drink a full bottle when I mix it with milk. So as soon as this can is done, we, the Rohrers have officially kicked formula to the curb. WOO HOO!!!