A lazy woman's version of nesting...

For the past two months an unused, empty cooler has sat silently on my kitchen floor next to the oven. On my bedroom floor lies a tube of Desitin diaper rash cream in front of the window trunk seat. And behind one of my bedroom curtains is a travel sized bottle of Johnson's & Johnson's baby wash. Lately I've had trouble keeping up with my kids. They get stuff out of hiding, look at it, toss it in a corner and move onto the next item. I've actually cleaned around the cooler, diaper cream and shampoo but haven't once physically moved them...and no one else has either. Kids make me very tired, especially the one I am carrying 24/7 for the next 7 weeks.

We tried our hand at homemade suckers. Crush lifesavers, scatter inside canning lids on a baking sheet and bake. They were a hit!

I've read and reread this great book called "Simplicity Parenting". It has helpful stories and advice on simplifying in order to quiet down the pace of life and really spend quality time with your kids. The book advises you to declutter, explore creativity, pare down meals, etc. I have followed a lot of the book's suggestions including getting rid of unneeded things. I've decluttered a whole lot of rooms but somehow new stuff continues to appear. But I can't exactly point fingers at my family because I've brought in plenty of unnecessary junk myself from the gleaming, attractive aisles of Target and the like. I mean really, how can a girl resist Target?

Playing dress-up. 

Playing cards with Dad.

I kind of think I've hit that illusive nesting phase of pregnancy. Unfortunately my tiredness catches up with the nesting and then I'm left with lots of waiting piles while my kids watch "Finding Nemo" and I blog about my laziness. Ha! (And yes, that is what is happening right now.)

 Playing cards with Mom.

Here we were playing by CJ's rules which means no rules at all.

I guess simplifying isn't a one time opportunity. It is a long road that travels through our kids' childhood until we are empty nesters. At which point we'll probably sit around in our spectacularly clean and boring homes missing the noise and messes.

So I've tried to think less about that baby wash on the floor, which I did happen to finally put away this morning, and instead sit down with the girls and play. They maintain their focus longer and we get to bond, even if I would rather eat the diaper rash cream then play one more game of Go Fish.

Playing baby. It's probably one of my least favorite games because of all the pretend crying but at least it keeps them entertained.

With another sweet baby on it's way I need to better adjust to messes. If I'm having trouble keeping up with two then three will really keep me moving. Kids sure make for good exercise.