so, where to begin? our little sprout is 4 months old, I'm back at work, about to launch into part-time childcare for Nina (something I'd never really envisioned...), and trying to figure out how to simplify our life, weave together the experiences and needs of one pre-existing child with my priorities for our family, and not spend so much of that time on the internet!small accomplishment: I have knitted a couple of cloths for Nina, which were to be washcloths, but seem to be little lickie cloths at the moment. I made them with red yarn from a never-completed sweater for a friend's son. son is now 15. (!).
I just may follow my friend Casey's lead and start ordering a weekly vegetable delivery from Boston Organics -- which seems like a compromise between a CSA which hasn't been the right mix of veggies for our family, and going to a farmer's market, which just isn't in the cards yet due to my still trying to navigate my life.
the hard part: Hali was single for several years before we met, working full-time and going to school, and Jo has Cerebral Palsy and is (basically) an only child (she has 2 older half-sisters, but they're grown and in the world. As a result, Hali became accustomed to Jo watching a lot of junky TV -- it was the only break Hali had to do things like make dinner and such -- and we also own a Wii. Apparently the Wii is, in theory, good for Jo to work on strengthening her muscles and coordination (she uses one with her OT), and as a child who is sporty -- and an only child, and one with CP, and therefore not so easily able to play sports with other kids -- the Wii makes some things possible that wouldn't otherwise be an option without a tremendous effort of time, money, and/or expense, none of which we have at the moment.
So what do I do? I don't want Nina growing up with iCarly in the background. Probably I mostly need to chill the heck out, but I'd love others' perspectives on becoming a simple-living family. Hali does support my interests for the most part, and TV watching has gone down, so perhaps I need to be more patient and put more energy into what I can do and less into what others are or are not doing, and go from there...
