Zero to Sixty

Up until week twelve of this pregnancy, I had just enough energy to feed myself and my children, and run the dishwasher on a daily basis.  On the days KJ did not have school, we found ourselves in pajamas until 4pm.  On days he did?  I returned to pajamas as soon as we arrived home from Preschool pick-up.  Occasionally I would find the energy for activities that did not involve dozing off on the couch while my children enjoyed tv marathons, but those days were not very common.  I was so terribly exhausted all the time.

Cue Monday.

As I started laundry on Monday morning, I decided to run upstairs and take a peek at what we had in Spring clothing stored in Jack's closet - either clothes I had saved from KJ, or stuff I'd picked up over the winter for him.  Once I finished sorting through the containers in Jack's closet, I couldn't resist going through KJ's as well.  I really do love cleaning out closets and dressers.  It's a sickness.

By this time I'd already doubled the piles of laundry waiting for attention in the laundry room, so I figured it couldn't hurt to sort through some of the Rubbermaid containers bursting with clothing out in the garage.  Which turned out to be fourteen of them.

I ended up going through all of my seasonal decorations, four sizes of kid clothes and two sizes of adult clothes, and I even located the container of bake ware I had been searching for since we moved. 

I washed something like sixteen loads of clothes, and found homes for all of it - be those homes dresser drawers or the multitude of bags packed for donating.  I figured I would just keep working until I got tired again, because it was amazing to have energy again.

But then yesterday?  The tired did not come, and I decided to work on a few more projects. 

First I ran out for paint, and painted the inside of my front door blue.  I knew from the moment I painted that room, that I wanted the door blue, and there was no better time than the present. 

I sorted through my newly discovered bake ware and decided what I really needed to keep, and what I didn't.  (I've told you how much I love my dishwasher, yes?)

It's amazing, after not seeing it for six months, what I found I really didn't need cluttering up the cabinets after all.

The boys were doing such a good job of entertaining themselves with vials of glitter, markers,

and paper body parts, that I moved on to yet another project.

For months now, I've been hating the way I originally set up the furniture and toy shelves in the family room, with an area for sitting and an area for toys.  It made sense at the time, but how it ended up was being an area we never sat in, and a constant toy disaster that was much less preferred to what was supposed to be the upstairs toy-free living room.  Both the upstairs and the downstairs were a constant mess, and what I had was not working. 

I moved the couch and chair to allow all of the toy shelves, baskets and miscellaneous stuff to fit together, creating a giant, usable area.  This way the kids can play or watch tv as they choose, and visitors who drop by are not met with Toys R Us the minute they walk through the door.  I removed every last toy from the upstairs living room, again, and made it all fit downstairs.

On the other side of the room, there remains a train table and ten thousand Thomas engines in my workspace, but I'm taking what I can get, and this new set-up really seems to be working.

Today I think I really will kick back and enjoy what I've accomplished, and it possibly wouldn't hurt being as how I've got a doctor appointment this afternoon.  Taking it easy this pregnancy?  Absolutely!

Comments

[Liza]

Can you come over to my house?

[Karen]

Nice job--I'm impressed! Loving the blue door...

[glamgranola]

Whoa. I'm tired just reading about all that work. Be careful though with the heavy stuff; You've got special cargo!!

[Stacey]

Awesome organizing, Molly. And you just HAD to sneak in a little painting, didn't you? And just for fair warning - spending the day in jammies for the first trimester? Just enjoy this energy filled second trimester because, um...Delaney is SEVEN MONTHS OLD and I spend more money on pj's than on any other category of clothing. Just sayin'. ;)

[Jessi]

Isn't it amazing? I couldn't believe what kind of energy I had after about week 13 or 14! There were days where I could spend the entire day going from room to room, finding projects to do!

Your house looks great - I don't know if I could do this pregnancy thing and raise two beautiful children like you have! :)

[Frema]

I love you, your family, Baby Zazu, your blue door, and your new zest for life.

Also, Samantha found out the sex of the baby. It's a boy! Now you've got dibs on my girl clothes AND the very pink bouncy seat--should the need arise. :)

[Erika]

OMG...I love a good closet purging post. And I admire how you can just up and paint a DOOR. In a day. Without angst and hand wringing and a giant blue spot on the carpet.

[Amy W]

Good grief, that made me tired.

I too have a sickness of going through drawers and closets. I have done it almost every weekend for the past month in anticipation for spring.

[Erica]

Please come to my house. I think between you and Stacey my house could really get organized. I love your door.

[Sarah]

All in one day? Wow. I'm ready for my surge of energy, please.

Your house is beautiful, by the way!

[SJ]

Oh my goodness....please come live with me. PLEASE?

And or share some of your energy / motivation. I need it.

BADLY.

You go with your pregnant self!

[Rachel]

Holy crap girl! I couldn't do all that in 2 weeks, much less 2 days!