My To-Do List

My girls - one with a face full of jam!

I'm a list maker. I'm task-oriented. I get some strange satisfaction in marking tasks off my ever-growing to-do list. I've even been known to add something to the list that wasn't there before just so I could check it off. Weird, I know. Anyway, lately my list is getting longer and longer and the things I can mark through as completed are fewer and fewer. I knew to expect Chloe Grace to need me. I went into this planning to hold her when she needs holding and to just be there when she needs me. I've done that, at the expense of my list. I'm coming to terms with that. Several adoptive moms have said when you adopt an older child, you can't base your days on the chronological age of your child. It's like having a newborn. She's only been home with us for 2 weeks. I'm told to expect this phase to last 4-6 months. I've tried to remember those days from when my older kids were newborns. Nothing was done...laundry piled up (once Steve's mom even took our laundry to her house and worked on it for me), dishes stayed in the sink for days, stuff piled up everywhere. With each of my older kids, my mom came and stayed for 2 weeks after I'd had a baby. She took care of everything and all I had to do is take care of myself and the new baby. I can't imagine not having her there. Knowing we were bringing home a child that was almost 5, I didn't expect to be back in that place...yet here I am. So, I'll share with you my revised to-do list.

Breakfast - check (does toast with jam and potato chips count as an adequate breakfast? If not, I'm in trouble!)

Dress kids - check (as long as they don't have to be dressed before lunch)

Lunch - check

Dinner - check (most nights, anyway. We have ordered in more than usual. I have a roast in the crock pot this morning. We may be having just meat tonight!)

Dishes - not usually done until the next morning. I keep hoping the kitchen elf will come during the night and I'll wake up to a spic-n-span kitchen. So far, that hasn't happened. Where's Dobby when you need him??

Laundry - Maybe the kitchen elf can bring the laundry elf with him???

Bathe kids - check (although I only have to bathe one, the others are pretty self sufficient in the tub)

Bedtime - not on time, but at some point it happens. The past few nights Chloe Grace has cried at bedtime and that's a new thing. Last night I don't think she felt well. This too shall pass!

So, as you can see, my bathrooms haven't been cleaned, my floors haven't been vacuumed and I just got my suitcases unpacked from our trip to China. But I've stopped whatever I was doing to hold Chloe Grace when she needs me and I know that's what is important right now. I'll have lots of time to clean house and do laundry when my kids decide they're too cool to be around me...and I have a feeling that's going to happen much sooner than I'd like.