Friday, August 19, 2011

Embracing my OCD

When my first daughter was born, I was not on a schedule at all. She ate when she was hungry, slept when she was tired, if we weren't home she did it where ever we were. It worked so well I continued it with my second daughter who was born 16 months later. My 3rd daughter was a little different. She was still laid back but put herself on a schedule pretty quickly. She knew what time was breast feeding time and she knew when it was bottle time and would let me know she knew! Her scheduling was pretty good for me, I am a list maker, very task oriented, and I love to label everything! I had also just started my Master's right before she was born so it was good for me to feel like I kind of of knew what the next hour would hold.
Fast forward almost 2 years, Mackenzie is still scheduled but we can fudge it a little if need be, I am still working on my Master's and will be starting to home school Ainsley and Renah in the next couple of weeks. Scheduling is keeping me sane. I sat down with the girls yesterday and make a chores list for them and me as well as a laundry schedule. Today I labeled my laundry baskets accordingly. I cannot tell you how good that makes me feel!
I do not want to be so rigid with my scheduling that I miss opportunities, but just feeling as though I have some kind of knowledge as to what needs to be done and when helps me from feeling overwhelmed with keeping a family fed and in (mostly) clean clothes! I just know that this stage in my life is super busy and there are always things that need to be done, I can either get them all done or nothing done! So this helps my OCD tendencies to feel that there is a plan and it has been well labeled! What helps you?

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