New Week, New Rhythms

I accidentally took a week off of blog-writing.  It's funny how that happens, about how busy life can feel. The added issue is that I am diligently attempting to get to bed in the 10:00 hour every night, and because my children typically go to bed in the 9:00 hour....by the time I have had a shower, prepared my tea items for morning, and brushed my teeth, bedtime is upon me.

The plus side is that I am transitioning to very early mornings (for me).  We have moved Annie from our bedroom to her own room, and my husband leaves for work around 4:30am (I don't get up then! but I get up not too long after).  So after he leaves, but before my children rise around 8:00, I have a delicious chunk of time all to myself. I'm so much fresher in the morning than I am late at night!  My new routine is to creep to the kitchen, prepare my tea or coffee in the dark, and then take it back to my room. I get back into bed and sit with my hot beverage, the lamplight, and my books and journal.  It is a blissful way for this introvert to begin her day, particularly as I revisit how to structure our home life to best fit the rhythms and needs of our priorities right now. In the past I have used very early wakeup calls for time on the elliptical trainer, but now I'm allowing myself some yoga at the most.  Morning is about nourishment/filling, not expenditure, during this season of my life.

Yesterday my husband surprised me with my Fifth-Annual-Spa Day. Since Annie was born, he has sent me on a spa day each spring, but I never know when it will be (or IF it will be! but it always is). This consists of going with my mother-in-law to breakfast, then going to a spa (generally: manicure, pedicure, and facial, but sometimes massage is also on the agenda), then lunch, then a movie, then home for a takeout-food dinner.  It is such a kind gesture that I deeply appreciate.  

Yesterday's spa day was so well-timed because at 11:38 last night, Finn woke me up with chills and body aches and a fever.  Thus commenced a few hours of feverish shivering in our bed, vomiting, and generalized misery.  Poor Finn!  His fever broke in the middle of the night, and he has alternated sleeping and sickness all day long.  I have been--what else?--rearranging furniture to keep myself occupied, yet available....

Supper tonight is leftover curried red lentil soup (best ever, a family staple) and leftover dairy-free spinach-artichoke dip. Easy, delicious, and warm on a chilly, rainy day of playing nursemaid. Here's to a new week....and I hope Finn is restored to health, too.