I don't know about you, but I can't stand to be unorganized. If something in my life is messy, then it just eats at me. I want to be so organized that a perfect stranger could look in my drawers and closets without me feeling even a twinge of embarrassment (well, except for my lingerie drawers). Anyway, I've had a mess on my hands lately.
I was living out of storage bins in my closet. My drawers were overflowing. It made me not want to be in my bedroom (thus the lack of blog posts since that's the room where I blog). The reason for the mess was the "changeover." I'm gradually starting to wear less normal clothing and more maternity. The bins had all of my maternity clothes in them. I finally spent the time to get organized again and I'm a new woman. You're welcome to come over and check things out.
I'm not just this way about closets. Starting at a young age, I liked to pretend that I was being watched a la The Truman Show. I changed my imaginary audience and strived to be my best, not just for myself, but for my fans. I'd pretend that I was taking a driving test while parking, that my teacher was watching when I finished a book, that a cute boy was watching when I was laying out, etc. Looking back on it, I don't know how healthy that was.
I have a confession.
I still do it.
When I'm playing with my kids, I occasionally imagine the pediatrician watching. When I'm working out, I imagine my friends watching. When I'm picking up the house with an aching back, I imagine my husband watching. It inspires me to try harder. After all, I have an audience to impress and they have high standards.
Yes, I know that I don't have an audience. I know that my day to day life is really pretty boring. I don't pretend to have an audience very frequently anymore. It's more of a mind game to entertain myself. If I slack off, then the only person that knows is me. I figure it doesn't hurt to try for perfection though. Right? Are you judging me now?
Anyway, on to the kids. I don't know if I should share what they've been up to because you might think I'm making it up for my "audience". They've been absolutely awesome.
For example, yesterday I took the girls grocery shopping. They love to grocery shop. Mina typically pushes one of those customer in training carts while Charlotte rides in one of those obnoxiously large car carts. Charlotte wasn't having it yesterday. She insisted upon the training cart. I was scared that my normally peaceful shopping experience was going to be a disaster. It started off looking that way. I'm sure we were quite the sight with two little carts and a normal cart. We resembled a disorganized parade.
Charlotte got the hang of following along with her cart by the time we reached the bananas. Mina came up with a system to take turns getting to put things in their carts (thank goodness for a smart kid!). Charlotte was amazingly agreeable to taking turns and she stayed with us. They broke into song in the dairy department. Unlike my sisters, who sang "Mom's got a big ol' butt. Oh yeah!", my girls sang "I love my mommy, yes, I do!" Seriously? How in the world did I get so lucky to have kids like that? Both girls made it through the whole store with their carts. Charlotte's was overflowing by the time we were done and she had a big grin on her face.
By the time we made it through the checkout, I was near tears. Happy tears. The girls returned their carts and get this....they hugged. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. By the time we got home, I ran inside to use the restroom (since pregnancy is beginning to weigh on my bladder), and you won't believe what happened next. Mina unloaded the minivan. She carried in all but the two bags that were too heavy for her.
Where did this child come from? I give Mina a lot of the credit with Charlotte's good behavior. She's a fantastic example. She's so wonderful, that I'm excited that she won't be in school full time yet when the baby comes. I'll have two helpers to help with the baby instead of two babies like last time. I'm sure we'll have our moments, since even Mina isn't perfect, but she's really unbelievably awesome. Both of my girls are pretty terrific.
Charlotte had an interesting adventure last week. We've always used sleep sacks to keep the girls in their cribs as long as possible. Jon and I protect our time together in the evenings as much as we can, so that includes keeping the kids out of our hair once it's their bed time. Mina used a crib until she was almost 3 and she never climbed out once. Charlotte climbed out last Monday, sleep sack and all. We figured we were in for it and she gave us a run for our money on Monday. It was a tiring, frustrating evening of putting Charlotte back into her crib repeatedly. Jon did most of the work because my back was hurting. Yay, Jon!
I posted on Facebook about the disaster and got all sorts of sympathy (along with some scary stories). We thought it out, planned ahead, and we were ready for Charlotte on Tuesday. I talked with her about it during the day. I told her she should stay in her crib when it's time to sleep and that she could get hurt climbing out. I figured she wouldn't listen. But no, my sensitive child listened. In fact, she kept calling herself naughty (even though I hadn't told her she was naughty for exploring). She has only gotten out a couple of times since. She hasn't left her room even once. We didn't have to use any of our plans for her. She did what we wanted and all we had to do was ask.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe that fight isn't over. What kid is that easy? She's going to test us again. Maybe she's just trying to lull us into complacency...
Phew, my hands are getting tired from all this typing. Now that my closet is clean, I'll have to come back and post some pictures and get back on the ball with blogging. Next week we'll find out if this little baby is a boy or a girl. That'll be fun!
We went to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier on our first full day. Lots to see and do there!
