The Schedule that is Mighty to Save

Well, a week on from leaving the States, there are three things we've done in abundance as a family:
1) eat.
2) sleep.
3) enjoy Jubilee-themed entertainment and relaxation.

...Oh yeah, and clean. We did lots of cleaning up in this joint. The Husband got to the car, the pushchair, and his bike. I did several loads of laundry, put away suitcases, vacuumed, let Ethan play with the vacuum (it's his favourite household appliance, hands down), and did my ritual Dust-All-The-Things marathon. Basically, it made us feel just productive enough to excuse the days of sleeping until noon or 2 in the afternoon, and to forgive the marathon watching of Game of Thrones and The Office that habitually takes place in our home.

But now, with the long weekend officially over and done, it's time to get back to normal...or at least what passes for normal around here. And that means - as I'm sure you already guess, you clever pigeon, you - getting back to The Schedule. We must repent our sins and follies, and forsake the willy nilly errand-running and restaurant visiting of days past. We must shun the late-hours visits of family and turn away from the ignominy of naps snatched in 10-minute segments in a car seat and return with humble hearts to The Schedule.

A baby without a schedule is like a pencil without a point...bloody frustrating. After two days I was done with Ethan staying up until midnight - or even 10:30. There would be no more fits of crying at 4 in the afternoon because someone had been up without rest since 8 am. No ma'am. I wasn't going to have it. And so today we began again. Up at 7-something to play with Daddy. Back to sleep until about 10. Nappy change; play; lunch; walk; nap whilst walking (giving me a chance to catch up on some of my podcasts!); more playtime; errands; chores and book-reading, and now a much-needed second nap. Technically this second nap should have come earlier, but I'm working with what I've got, here. I was lucky to convince him to go down at all. Apparently, the trick now is to lie him on his side in my bed and sing, rather than the tried and tested method of holding and rocking him whilst singing. That is now his old favourite.

Really, I think the walk is my favourite part of getting back into our routine. I've missed walking by this old church and its attendant graveyard. It's cute. It's picturesque. Now I need pictures of the cute houses and the pub with a thatched roof that I pass all the time to really explain why this is such a lovely part of my day. Especially now that our dreary English weather is starting to clear up just enough to make daily walks a bit more realistic. But mostly, the schedule just means that my days (and me) stay a little saner, and E stays a little happier.

Oh - tangent: so today I discovered that it is no longer safe to leave my son on the couch. I put him on his back with his head toward the back cushions, as per usual if I need to turn around for a second and get something off the computer desk, or spool up an episode of Grey's Anatomy. When I turned around 30 seconds later, Ethan had rolled over and scooted himself down so that his feet and legs were dangling off the couch. Like he intended to get off and go walking around! Lord help me, I think a mobile baby is lurking around the corner...I may need to start baby-proofing the house now.

Of course, coming home means another thing, too: the return of my DIY fascination. I'm thinking of making my last birthday present to myself an indulgence of my long-overdue plan to paint our hallway with an interesting colour/pattern. Yup: I'm thinking of doing a stencil.

something like this from YHL would be awesome-sauce.

Once I actually get somewhere with this project beyond hoarding paint chips from B&Q, I'll let you know. It's time to get back to being awesome again...