Dec 31, 2010: Looking To The New Year

I did not make any resolutions because I learned early on that making a resolution for me is the quickest way to stop whatever habit the resolution required FAST.  So at the beginning of this month I took some time to reflect back over 2010 and if I had to sum the year up with one word, it would be: chaotic.   The biggest contributor to chaos in many homes would probably be kids.  So many things need to be organized for kids.  For Annelies, I tended to go with the flow of our therapists' schedules, fitting my work around them and not looking for better options (like, scheduling something for when Aaron was around).   With most therapists, we did not have a 'standing' appointment, so often at the end of the appointment I would have to work with them to find a good time/day for the next one.  Just thinking about this process made be break out in a cold sweat, because it is so hard to book an appointment with an already over committed therapist!  It also caused me to decline one hour of warm water therapy per week for Annelies, because I just did not think we could fit it in!   
Mondays were tough: 
1) Bring Marco to Rancho Cordova for school (1 1/2 hour round trip in rush hour traffic on the way there), 2) Be back home in time for ST with Annelies at 9:00 am
3) Annelies to Monday Morning play/therapy group at 1:30 am
4) Coordinate drop-off/pick up for Annelies
5) Back to Rancho for work
6) Marco up at 4:30, go to class at 6:30. 
By the way, I am sharing this not for sympathy reasons.  Parents (special needs and/or SAH or not) are Just.Plain.Busy.  Being that the kids at toddler age need more supervision and help doing things (potty, dressing, eating, etc) makes it even more so. 
So early December when I thought things over, I figured it would be a great idea to set up all Annelies's therapies for set, weekly times.  And I proceeded to call each therapist and do just that.  Within a few hours of talking on the phone, we now have a steady appointment schedule for Annelies!  Also, one of her Physical Therapies (Warm Water) she will mostly be able to attend with her Dad, and I love having him involved with her activities!  I also arranged with one f her therapists that she will either come to our house, or my Mom's house, depending on where Annelies is.  The appointment time will remain the same, I will just send one email at the beginning of the month telling her where to be.
One other load off will be that Marco will attend preschool and daycare in Loomis.  He will go to ST once a week, on either Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, with Aaron.  With this therapist, I arranged that Marco and Aaron will attend on the day Aaron does not work (he never works both Tue AND Thu, and I can let her know in the beginning of the month what days they will be there!).  As I was arranging this, knowing my desire for regularity and organization in the Fisher household, I did freak out a few times.  What if I can't do it?  But I kept at it, and voila!  Done! 
In the physical-organizational-sense, Aaron installed shelves in our little bonus room (we have an 8 X 6 lighted room at the back of the house for storage (or time outs...KIDDING!).  Up till now, we just threw things in there, and it had stacks and stacks of boxes and crap from our move (because when you move, you find all kinds of stuff you forgot you had.  Stowing it away in a dark corner of the house will actually create the illusion that it is still not there and we don't have to deal with it.  Right?!?  Anyway, when I looked at that room/closet with the shelves, I asked Aaron:  Where is the rest of the stuff?  He began laughing and told me:  It is all there, just easier accessible and much less messy!  This prompted me to clean out our coat closet, which is now Annelies's favorite place to open door and go in and play (there is now room for her to do so, and I don't have to be afraid that something may fall on her due to the way things were packed in there, too.)
Who knows, maybe all this organization will give me enough energy to do AMAZING things next year.  Just kidding, I am really just looking forward to a less-chaotic year! 

And I wish for you all the same; not-so-much chaos but LOTS of Love, Happiness, Health & Compassion in 2011!!!