Odds and ends

Whew!  What a busy few weeks it's been...  Wrangling a toddler, newborn, and recovering from a c-section is full-time work.  No joke.  Thankfully Shayne took a week off, then my mom came by on the days he was working to help me keep it together.  And then, about 3 weeks postpartum, I suddenly felt normal again.  It wasn't a gradual recovery; one day I was tired and sore, then the next morning I woke up and felt great.  I can still tell I've had a major surgery, but I don't feel crummy and exhausted like I did.  I feel like myself for the first time in over a year, and I'm loving it.

With my newfound energy, I'm starting to really clean and organize the house.  It was never dirty (I do have some standards!), but it has certainly gotten cluttered.  I'd also not been able to keep up with some of the things that get cleaned only occasionally, like the windows and baseboards.  But it's starting to come together.  Last week, I completely cleaned and reorganized the dining room.  The buffet and secretary are clean and organized, and all surfaces are clutter-free.  I also finally came up with a storage solution for our laptops (cloth-lined basket under the secretary), so it's a snap to clear the table for dinner or company.  I even had a friend unexpectedly stop by last week, and I didn't have to cringe over the condition of my house.  How's that for progress?

I still don't quite have it together enough to cook every night, so the meals I put in the freezer have been a lifesaver.  It's so nice to be able to just thaw something on the days I'm stressed or exhausted.  I definitely need to keep up on the freezer stash; it has almost entirely kept us from eating out, which has really helped us live within our new, tight budget.  We're still dipping into savings a bit here and there, but we've been on our "austerity measures" for less than a month, and we're still working out the kinks.

I still think daily about returning to work.  I'm so happy and busy here at home, but I want to move so badly.  It will be very, very hard to find the money to finish our renovations with any sort of speed unless I go back to work.  But going back to work means other expenses too, like childcare (for two!) and meals eaten out.  I'm not sure it makes complete sense once everything is factored in, but it's hard to shake the logic of two incomes meaning more money.  I still have 7 months to figure it out, so I'm trying very hard to just let it be.  It's not working, but I'm trying.  I'm hoping that once we get used to our new budget, we'll still find ways to save.  I'm also hoping that we'll find time to work on the house ourselves, saving the expense of hiring out work.

There will be bumps in the road, but for right now I'm very happy to be right where I'm at.  Everything else will fall into place.