Thriving is Elegant: Changes... They is Happening

Wow! It's amazing to me that it's been almost a year since I blogged regularly... a year of challenges and learning to accept limitation. In August of last year, Daddy Turtle started back to school. So, not only did he work during the day, but he would then go straight to school. Four nights a week it would be 11pm or later before he got home. That was challenging.

I still wonder how we survived those early days. Turtle was so small and often times didn't want to be put down, so I would wear her most evenings in order to even get our stuff carried in from the car. I lost count of how many bowls of cereal I ate standing up and bouncing her.

It seems like a million miles away.

Now, a year later we still have the same schedule, but life is so completely different. For one, I've learned that I cannot do it all.

It wasn't easy!

Mama Turtle is my name, over-achieving is my game! And it almost killed me!

But slowly and steadily Turtle became more independent, even sleeping in her own room! The new-found space allowed me to think, and I had a revelation... a revelation of precisely how many hours we as a family have together in a week. And that number was scary small! So, I decided that I needed to focus on what made us all happy. No more wasting time on obligatory non-sense. No more worrying about the tidiness of a house we hardly spend any time in. This is our family and our family time and I have a right to guard it!

This doesn't mean that we don't spend time apart. I just took over leadership of the local babywearing group and I'm becoming more involved in other groups and activities that make me happy and bring me joy. Daddy Turtle loves his monthly Cars and Coffee car meets. But I look at everything differently. I evaluate my commitments differently. Time is a finite resource in our family. So, my questions are always, "Is this a good use of our time? Do we have the time and energy to participate in this activity? How will this activity impact each family member? Have we planned adequate time to rest and recharge?" Doesn't mean we always get it right. Some weeks we do better than others. But the shift in perspective has helped me see that often times, when our family gets crabby and unhappy, it's because we are being haphazard with our time.

I won't say that I'm going to start updating this blog on any regular schedule (although I hope to), but I will say that it's good to be back. :-)

And because I hate wall 'o text, picture-less posts, here are some of my recent Instagram pics to hold you over.