wednesday already?

the lack of blogging must indicate a busy week so far and it is only wednesday - wow. my big kids are home today because of parent/teacher conferences. i have already been to the school and back for ours. jamil was able to go into work late and i was able to get early morning back to back conferences with our teachers. these days off are a balancing act. the kids have off of school yet they can't come to the conference with me. could you see that, trying to hold a serious adult conversation with four kids in tow? no way.

too bad it isn't nicer here today, i guess we will be inside for the most of it. it is only suppose to be around 50 degrees and cloudy - yuck. i am ready for consistently warm spring days!

my girlfriend's getaway was a great time!! what a nice break. i did have jaelyn with me and she didn't sleep so great that night, but we made it through! it was wonderful to be with a great group of friends and have meaningful conversations. when we are together we don't lack in that area. and our conversations are very fun, deep and challenging. unfortunately, i did not get a picture, not even one. i took my camera it just never made it out of my bag. i am so bummed. there were three babies there and we didn't even get one shot of them together - so sad. there is a great dinner picture on my friend, heather's blog, you can check it out here.

during my 24 hours away, i did a lot of thinking during our conversations and during my drive to and from. i returned home feeling very challenged and knowing i had some decisions to make and things i wanted to change about myself. i just love how God works even on a trip away!!

last week, i started going to the ymca to work out. i have not been there to work out since i was about 20 weeks pregnant. yeah, wow, so like 10 months. at the ymca, they offer a class called moms on the move, it is for prenatal and postnatal moms. i started in that class when i was pregnant with joshua - nine years ago. i have taken the class during all of my pregnancies and for some time after the births of my babies. the instructor, heather, has always been the same. when she saw me last week after not seeing me for 10 months, she was glad i was back and ok. she was worried something might have happened since i didn't come back for so long. that is unlike me. but life just got ahead of me and i made no time to go. anyway, i am back to going to that class twice a week. once i make that consistently perhaps i will add another day to work out. i always love how i feel when i am working out (minus the initial soreness) - i have such a tremendous spurt of energy!

yesterdy, i attended the work out class and i went to aldi's. that is a big day for me. i haven't been grocery shopping since before jaelyn was born. we have been using the express lane/online shopping at harris teeter, which i love. but i have such a strict budget and we don't get as much food as we do when i hit aldi's. you can not beat their prices. there are a few items, like their bread and macaroni and cheese that i don't care for. but most everything else is fabulous. this morning i ate a bowl of crunchy granola raisin bran from aldi's. oh my gosh it is fabulous!!

i am not a breakfast eater, but i do like cereal. one of the things i have been trying to do for myself in addition to working out is to make myself eat something in the mornings. there are days that go by when i have had very little to eat. and that has to change because by the late afternoon i am grumpy and hungry. and i am sure it can't be so good for my milk supply with a nursing baby. so i have been trying to eat better and drink more water.

speaking of my sweet nursing baby, i have been working to get her into a better schedule. i have been really laid back and just letting her do her thing. which has been great, i have enjoyed every second of holding her and loving on her. but now that she is going on six months (sob!!!) i thought i would start letting her go to sleep on her own and be more conscious of her nap and bedtime schedule. jaelyn is such a good and easy baby!!! she is doing great. i will post more about her schedule later, probably on her blog!

i anticipate the rest of the week will probably fly by too! i really need to get some things done around the house, i have several projects that i want to complete and i really need to deep clean my house!! i am so ready to open up the windows and clean away. now, i just need some sunshine and a day to do it!! it is so hard to balance every day chores with big projects to be done as well as keeping up after four kid's, a hubby and their schedules. so, as i close out, i am wondering how do you all do it? what are some tricks that you use to be able to get things done?? please leave a comment with your balancing techniques!!!!