Jon gets in tomorrow afternoon after having been in St. Louis for our denomination’s National Convention. It’s been a better week for Daniel and I than it was last October.

— 1 —

I’m actually making an effort to see people. I did Morning Prayer with someone two mornings this week, I went to Breakfast Bunch (usually the senior citizens of the church getting together), and I led Bible study on Thursday. I also had someone coming over to help with Mt. Dish Pile on Wednesday even if I spent the rest of that time by myself with Daniel. Even this little introvert needs to see people.

— 2 —

Daniel is in summer school. It actually freed me up to get things done that I wasn’t having to entertain a three year old for 14 hours straight minus any therapy times. School is 4 hours and it makes him tired enough that he needs a nap. That gives me about 2-3 more hours to get things done at home. We also have a set routine down so I don’t have to worry about him going to sleep. Jon calls and I put him on speakerphone so he can pray with Daniel which is the cue for the bear child to hibernate.

— 3 —

I know certain things about Daniel that I didn’t know then. I didn’t know how much Pediasure 1.5 would make him throw up so I ended up cleaning up kid barf multiple times. Now I know that I need to space out any cans of it that he drinks. I know how to keep him entertained now (especially as I don’t have to do it for 14 hours straight) and we’ve got more at our fingertips than just our worn-out Winnie the Pooh DVD. (God bless Netflix!)

— 4 —

I’m getting better at self-care. OK… I’ll admit that I didn’t get a shower until Wednesday night again but it was because I forgot rather than I couldn’t leave Daniel to do it. I have also been keeping up my habit of retreating to the living room after he goes to bed to work on web things and just have some “mama time”. The only downside is that I keep falling asleep in the recliner after I pray and waking up with a stiff neck.

— 5 —

I’m less concerned with making everything perfect. I’ve lost my perfectionist streak when it comes to life with Daniel, mostly because I just end up making myself overly fatigued and there are so many things that just don’t matter. Daniel ripped off his diaper and shorts? He can run around bottomless for a few minutes. I fall asleep in the recliner? The living room and hallway are Daniel-proofed and he’ll hand me his wet diaper if he needs it changed. (He’ll also hand me his sippy cup, snack cup, and whatever else he wants fixed.)

— 6 —

I have some projects to engage my mind. I’ve been crocheting and working on a Bottle Challenge as part of Brett’s Blogathon 2012. I also led Bible study this morning and working on that gave my mind something with which to engage itself. (It was Acts 17, one of my favorite passages.)

— 7 —

I have some house help. We’ve been helping out a young family in our parish by paying them to help with yard work, housework, and stuff like that. It doesn’t amount to a lot of money in the long run and it helps me out tremendously on days when moving is painful. The mother called yesterday and asked if she could come work for me and I told her that it was fine as long as she stayed and hung out a bit afterwards. She did all my dishes (we had a ton of them to do as we entertained over the weekend and don’t have a dishwasher) and did cat care stuff. It was worth every penny I paid her not to have to deal with those things while my joints were achy yesterday.

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