Cherry Blossom Adventures

Week 19 was all about routines. I think some people LOVE routines and others hate them. I am definitely all for them especially for my kids- I think that we have a good sleep routine with them both because we have done the same thing over and over again. I understand that sometimes you have to be flexible but I am pretty inflexible when it comes to getting my kids into bed.

As they are getting older I would love to set up a routine chart for them so that they know what is coming next {although they really already know}.

Their usual afternoons look like this

2:30pm: Usually around this time they wake up from their naps. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later. They will usually have a snack around 3pm.

3:00pm: If the weather is nice we head outside for an hour or they play inside if we are home bound. I play with them during this time.

4:00pm: I start dinner prep. If they are happy then I leave them to it- if one or the other or both is causing issues or crying at the kitchen gate then I usually put a dvd in for them. Most of their dvds run for 40-50 minutes and this gives me enough time to prep dinner and get all of the prep done for baths {PJs, nappies upstairs, fill the bath} and also bring in the laundry.

5:00pm: Usually around 5:00pm we eat dinner. It is early but it works for us. If the kids had late naps then the rest of the schedule, including dinner, gets pushed back about 30 minutes. Also on the weekends it is usually about 5:30 or 5:45 by the time we eat dinner.

5:45pm: Head upstairs for bath. Brush teeth. Get dressed into PJs.

6:00pm: Play downstairs while I clean up the kitchen, put Shun`s dinner on a plate and make his bento for the next day. If the kids are happily playing then I use this time to check my facebook/blog.

6:45pm: We clean up the toys together and then the boys choose some stories and we sit on the sofa and read for 15 minutes. Sometimes we read 3 books and other times it is 10 or more- it just depends.

7:00pm: The boys head up to bed. We put Noah in his bed first. Shion likes to climb in with him to say goodnight. Noah likes the light on while we say goodnight and then I turn it off as we are leaving. I have to make sure he has his cushion, froggy and spot. Next I put Shion in his bed and say good night making sure that he has his lovies as well.

I usually do not hear from either of the kids til after 6am the next morning. Sometimes Shion will wake up and call out and I go back in, give him a cuddle, find his lovies and lay him back down.

Routines work for me and my kids! That said- I don`t think they are for everyone and I don`t think everything can be made into a routine.

This week I worked on our household binder- it was on my goals list for this year as I was sick of having paperwork everywhere. I wrote down my cleaning routines as this house is so much bigger than anywhere I have lived with Shun before and I didn`t want it to get on top of me so I broke down the chores into daily, weekly, monthly and laminated it {well our daily and weekly} and put it on the fridge {so that I can check off things if I want}. There is another copy in the house binder. All the menu planning sheets are also in there as well as copies of our insurance cards, schedules for different things for the boys. It is a work in progress but it is done for now! Into the weekly routine for keeping the house running smoothly I worked in our menu planning.

Next step in routines, for us anyway, is setting up our finances better including an automatic transfer out of our account for our home loan and setting up another transfer into another account for when we have land taxes etc. Shion also needs a savings account. I also will need to set some routines in place to make sure I meet my weekly exercise goal of exercising at least once a week [hopefully more!}.

Some other changes I made was having an inbox for our mail/paperwork that I need help from Shun to fill in or take care of. Often I put things here that I know need to be kept/filed but I need him to tell me a little about what is about so that if he asks me for it at a later date I know what he is talking about {My Japanese reading skills are not so great}. Sunday nights are the nights that Shun will go through this and we sort it out.

I also made a cubby hole/basket for my handbag and WIP things {like things for packages I need to send, letters I have to post, my handbag, schedule book. Shun has one too for his work bag. On top of this is our housebinder, a container holding pens/scissor, my daily medications, ipad, address books, insurance cards/boshi techos and medical things in small pouch and a box that holds a file folder with receipts and other paper work we are likely to need often and envelopes, note paper and address forms for EMS postage and also for the takyubin services . The inbox mentioned above is next to that. My vision board that I made earlier in this challenge is up on the wall above that.

I guess you could call this area the “command center” of sorts! I know that this kind of system does not work for everyone but I definitely feel for me, while I have small kids, that working things this way is the best for us and my family.

I am blogging week 20 together with week 19 because it is about revisiting goals and also a bit of a catch up week in the challenge. I am proud of myself for getting this far in the challenge and making the effort to do each weeks challenge even if I am a little bit late sometimes. I am also so happy that I have seen some of my goals reached and that I am working towards others. I have to remember that it is better to focus on one or two things at a time instead of trying to accomplish everything at once.

I made some mini goals when I wrote my last SYL post on procrastination about 10 days ago.

The three goals were

1. blog 3 or more times {I blogged 3 times last week!}

2. Start a home binder {Done!}

3. Focus on my health {exercise, eating better and growing out my nails}. Last week I did a bit of exercise on three days as well as a fair bit of walking, I ate better and cut down on my chocolate consumption and upped my veggie consumption  as well as drank as much water as possible, 3-4L most days and my nails are looking quite good at the moment except my thumbs!

So planning can help you achieve your goals! I haven`t decided yet what my next focus will be- I am going to enjoy catching up this week on some other stuff just for me!

So did you make new years resolutions or goals for this year or even goals for the month of April or May? If so- have you kept them? Why or why not?

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Procrastination. We all do it. Some of us have it worse than others. Some days for me I procrastinate a lot and then other days I manage to cross everything off my to do list by 10am. For me my energy to get things down definitely comes in spurts….and is more likely to happen if I have enough sleep.

Shion now sleeps through the night {It only took 16 months!}. Not having him in our room anymore definitely helps as well as if he does wake up he knows we are not there and goes straight back to sleep. Sometimes he wakes up and needs a cuddle but that might only be once a week. So- as long as I close the computer at a reasonable time then I usually get enough sleep resulting in more productivity the next day!

There are still things that I procrastinate on a lot-

Going back to my goals & intentions for the year It is glaringly obvious to me where I have procrastinated and where I need to go now. More than 1/3 of the year is over…already. This in itself is so hard for me to comprehend…

Three things {There is more than three BUT these are the three I am going to stop procrastinating on for the next couple of weeks} I have put off in recent months {since writing the goals}

- Blogging three times a week or more.

- Starting a home binder

- My health {On my goals list was maintain current weight or lose weight= so far a fail, exercise for 30 minutes a week= another fail, and grow out my nails again= yep, you guessed it, fail!}

These are three things that I am going to work on starting from NOW!

The good news is though that:

I have been a lot better about writing my daily goals list and staying on top of “house” things. I also finished unpacking the last of the boxes today {except for my books- waiting to buy  a bookshelf} and am feeling quite proud of myself for managing to get it done during Golden Week while Shun was off work. I am also finding that for the first half hour after the boys go down for a nap or at night that I am doing all the things I can`t necessarily do while they are awake or didn`t get to instead of procrastinating on facebook or the like. I still have my down time but I can do it  guilt free knowing that I have gotten things done before hand. One of my goals for the year was to declutter all of our stuff and get rid of at least eight large garbage bags. I managed to do this AND a ton more. I think in total I got rid of 15 or more bags of things and I am feeling like the house is quite organized, for now, at least!

Time to start decorating the house now by the way- the walls are very blank. Any inspiration or places to look would be helpful as I am really bad at this kind of stuff in general.

So, what do you procrastinate on? Are you like me and find that different things impact on your productivity like lack of sleep or something else? Do you have any procrastination busting tips? What is one thing you have been putting off in recent weeks or months?

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So with a trip home to Australia and then coming back and almost immediately moving house {yes we are in the new house!} I have fallen behind with my Simplify Your Life 2012 challenges but I have not forgotten and it has been at the back of my mind as I have run around chasing two toddlers trying to pack up and now unpack our life.

The last four weeks of the challenge have all been about getting organized, prioritizing and making decisions. The topics I missed were planning, priorities, slowing down and focusing and decision making.

Now I am usually actually a pretty organized person but what I often lack is motivation or drive. I do have motivation but it comes in spurts and often NOT when I need it most. Some people say they get less organized after having kids but I think I am either the same amount of organized I was before or perhaps a little bit more. I think having two kids so close in age has made me quite a stickler for routines and staying organized but that doesn`t mean I don`t drop a ball now and then. Or sometimes a whole basket.

Take blogging over the last six weeks! It was definitely put on the back burner.

Anyway….

Week 14: Planning

Deb, from Home Life Simplified, said that it didn`t matter how you plan {ie digitally or by putting pen to paper} but that essentially you needed three things. A calandar/dairy, a way to capture new information {and way to burst my bubble but apparently post its are NOT good for this! LOL. I am queen of post its. I have them everywhere….mainly stuck to my computer. Or in my dairy. Or sometimes to the fridge} and a master to do list.

I have a new schedule book and so far I am loving it. At first I was afraid it was too bulky but it actually works well because now I can keep all my “paper” in my handbag together in one place. The little purple notebook is my new information book {and it has post its inside it. Just in case!} and my new master to do list. I often have mini master to do lists in my purple note book. Or on post its. But I have been meaning to put a proper list together and finally got around to it. I write my shopping lists and stick them in my planner, my menu plans are often scribbled in there {or on a post it stuck to the Monday of the week!} and in the schedule part I record all of my work requirements, play dates, plans and any “classes”  “appointments” or “play kindy days” for the kids. Sometimes I put birthdays and other things but more often than not it is just appointments/work etc. I don`t use the day plan section as much but I know I should….

Week 15: Priorities

The challenge for week 15 was to conduct a time audit and see if what I currently have planned reflects my values and goals.  Time management, as it was pointed out, is not about trying to fit MORE into your already full days. Deb posted an example of  Stephen Corvey`s Time Management Matrix. Basically it breaks things down by importance/value and urgency. Ideally you should spent most of you time working on not urgent but important things {catching them before they become urgent} although of course with two toddlers urgent things do pop up- like having to feed them, change them, and play with them {The playing might not always seem urgent to me but often is for them!}. The important non urgent tasks include things like self care/exercise, relationships, planning and preparing, work {although of course this is also sometimes in the urgent category}.

I journalled a little about this and don`t feel the need to write down my thoughts on this here but ultimately I think while I spend a lot of time online and watching TV that most of my time is spent on my family, happiness, our home and this reflects my original values and goals that I wrote for this challenge.

One thing I need to get into a habit of doing is writing my to do list for the following day the night before- I often do this but a lot of time I forget if I think I have nothing planned. The days I have nothing planned though would be the perfect days to tackle some of the things off our master to do list.

There are a couple of priorities that have been put on the back burner the last month or two and I need to start putting more focus on these- two of these things are my health {including exercise/diet} and more planned family fun time. I think after Golden Week is over {we have a week of holidays this upcoming week} that we have to schedule some fun family stuff especially now as the weather is warming up because come July we will NOT want to go outside as it will be TOO hot by then.

Week 16: Slow down and focus

I multitask a lot. Sometimes multitasking is okay – like I rarely watch TV without doing something else at the same time whether it is folding washing, unpacking boxes {in the last couple of weeks at least!} menu planning, or writing my schedule for the next day. Often though I will be doing something and think “Oh crap, I have to do that” and drop what I am doing and move onto something else and then end up all over the place trying to be 2-3 places at once.

This is why lists REALLY work for me. Some people are probably great at keeping on track and remembering all they need to do without writing themselves reminders but I know that I get a lot more done {a lot more done that I actually needed/wanted to do I mean} if I write down what I need to do. Sadly, sticking what I need to do {Yep, more post its!} on my computer is also a great thing because it is often the first place I go when my kids are sleeping or happily entertaining themselves but hey, if it works!

In order to have the energy to concentrate on the things I really need to do though I do need to have down time. My day to day down time is usually spent blogging, checking facebook, watching TV but I definitely need to add a bit more “activity” into my down time whether it be walks alone or some form of exercise. In week eight I wrote a happiness list and about keeping a gratitude journal. Unfortunately I let writing down the things I was grateful for fall down my list of priorities but I would like to bring it back into play- I think it should relate back to the happiness list as well!

Week 17: Decision Making

Deb wrote “Let go of perfectionism in favour or progress” and this definitely stuck with me. I have friends coming to stay tomorrow night and they will be our first overnight guests in our new home. Very very close friends who I know will not care in the least that their are boxes still unpacked or that the floors might not have been vacuumed in a couple of days but it still has me stressed out because the house is not “perfect” yet.

I think that I put off doing my weekly challenges for this challenge because I was also stressing too much that my responses were not going to be perfect or completely thought through because to be honest the last few weeks have been crazy and I simply did not have the time or brain power to think through it all properly. I could not make a “decision” about what to write and how to write it and so this post was in my drafts and at the back of my mind for weeks until all of a sudden I am 4 weeks behind and not much closer to actually FINISHING the post.

It felt wrong to write about organization when I still feel in such a disarray because the house is not unpacked and we still do not have all the new furniture we need or the rooms all done.Not everything has its home yet and this has been causing me some stress but I know that with each box I unpack and for each thing I find a home for that it is bringing me closer to having it all done and I am finally realizing that the progress I am making will eventually get me there in the end.

The last 4-5 days saw me get some things crossed off my to do list that had been on there {in the urgent column!} for a week or more and I started to feel more in control again. A bit like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

I can`t promise I won`t get behind in this challenge again but hopefully I will be able to stay on track, continue to cross things off the master to do list and get closer to finding the balance I need!

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Dealing with change was the topic for last week and for this upcoming week we needed to check in on our progress with our goals from week 6. I don`t deal with change well. Some things are fine but things I am not expecting can send me into a panic and I am already an anxious person to begin with.

Noah takes after me a lot in this way where as Shion is definitely more easy going {although can be clingy to me}- it took Noah a few days for him to get used to his bed that he is using here in Australia and the bath and definitely the food. He ate virtually nothing the first 24 hours because it wasn`t the same as “HIS” food. Today we went to my Aunt`s for lunch and he didn`t want to sit at the table because it wasn`t his chair so he stood up and ate at a smaller table while standing up. I bought him some new shoes before we left Japan because it is hot here right now but he had no summer shoes that fit yet and he doesn`t want to wear them as he doesn`t see them as his shoes yet. He only likes to drink from his cup and not any other type of cup. He just takes a little while to come around on almost anything. This is no doubt part of his ingrained personality but also very much the norm for a 2 year old as well.

Personally I do not think I am that bad but sudden changes in schedules, unexpected visitors/phone calls, not been able to buy what I want to buy when I want to buy it can all cause me to get a little bit distressed. I like to plan though, I like to try to be organized and sometimes if I am put in a situation where I do not have time to plan or get organized then I can get quite agitated. No doubt some would refer to me as a control freak!

I am sure my control type nature no doubt has had an affect on Noah to a certain extent which is why I am trying to handle unexpected changes better so that I can in turn help him learn the skills he will need to deal with change. So I am definitely working on this.

Deb, from Home Life Simplified, talked about how when faced with changes you could look to your vision board for calming and when I thought about this I think it would work for me. I have things like deep breathes and relxing words as well as a photo of my family and knowing I need to calm down for them helps as well.

As for positive or wanted changes I think I deal well with them because I have planned them or wanted them to happen so it is a completely different thing. Fear {of failing} however has stopped me from doing some things in the past but I need to persevere and just start them!

In week six of the challenge I listed some goals. I broke them into categories – personal, family, home & financial & health body and beauty.

The personal and family goals are going well- I have gotten the extra work, am reading more and more for myself and blogging 2-3 times a week most weeks {although unfortunately not all} and I have continued on with the SYL challenge which makes me very happy!

Family goals are also coming along well- Shun & I are spending some quality time away from our computers on the weekends with each other and talking more, I read to the boys without fail everyday and did a fair bit of Tot School stuff in the weeks leading up to now before we came to Australia.

It is the home & financial goals and health, beauty and body areas which need more focus and so the plan is to focus MORE on these once we are back in japan and in the new house. In particular I need to actually exercise and not just say I will. I did manage to reduce the food bill a little in the last month or so before we came here and hopefully can continue working on that. Other things I basically did nothing towards them yet BUT I have not forgotten about them and am still planning to get to them. I did manage to pack a little bit for moving and in doing that got rid of one large box of stuff to a friend plus 2 different children`s walkers and 3 large garbage bags of stuff with more to do the week before we move once we get back so at least some of the decluttering is underway!

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Last week I wrote about my fears of imperfection and how recently it has been holding me back from starting on things that need to get done. This week Deb asked us to focus on gratitude. I already touched on this in week eight and shared some of the things I had been grateful for in the week leading up to the post. I jotted down a few things each day and it really did help give me a positivity boost!

This past week though I am not sure you could say I was as grateful as I could and should of been. I need to refocus on it a little.

I did help a friend though- a couple perhaps. I also gave away some stuff we no longer need but that others can certainly use. I also organized a busy bag swap with some other mama`s here in Japan and I think it was a success and everyone was happy with the outcome. It was nice to organize something that I know will bring a little extra brightness not just to my kids days but for some other mama`s as well and their kids. I am grateful for the other mama`s that participated and helped make the swap a success! In general I am really grateful for the foreign women community that I have here in Japan.

I need to work on letting things go. I had hoped to work on it this last week but to be honest I haven`t. I will be trying to focus on it more in the future. Expressing thanks- also something I do on a daily basis, naturally, but could do more of. I try to make a big deal out of thanking my children for things- I try not to force them to say thank you or “ta” but instead say thank you to them a lot. It makes Noah especially happy and he will often do thumbs up and say “good” if I thank him for something.

I had meant to write a daily gratitude journal- just a couple of things each day but I didn`t but I was definitely grateful for a calmer outlook {which in turn made me a calmer mama }, lots of reading for myself and to the boys, managing to pack close to 20 boxes in a week and fantastic in-laws who baby sat for us on Saturday night so we could go to a friend`s wedding party. Of course these things are small but it is the small things that add up that made being grateful such a powerful thing.  Thinking of just one thing to be grateful for on a certain day {which you might be thinking is quite crappy} could help turn that day around. You never know!

Most of all this week I am grateful for a husband who doesn`t mind that we are going to Australia for three weeks without him- grateful for his twice yearly bonus`s that help make a trip like this possible even though I am not earning a full-time income.

We fly out tomorrow!

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