Well here I am thirteen weeks pregnant, and officially in my second trimester. We’ve heard the baby’s heartbeat and I’m trying to eat well. I’m still completely exhausted and pretty queasy a lot of the time. But spring is certainly here in our corner of the world and that makes me feel better. I can open the house up, and the ground is warm enough that the kids can play barefoot outside on many days.
I mentioned my frustrations with the little ones a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t really found a solution for food stealing, though my oldest does seem to truthfully regret her part of doing it. But we did start our scheduled days full time and it really helps. I haven’t had a good schedule since my oldest was a toddler and my second a baby (just to note: I didn’t schedule his nursings as a baby but he did nap at certain times, when we napped). I went through the work of making a new one. And it is work. It’s tiring for me, especially right now. But we are getting a lot more done and the kids are pretty happy with it. I am continuously reminded that children seem much happier with a good routine. And one they know very well.
It makes it easier for me, in a way, being so tired. I don’t really have to think about what to do, I just do what the schedule says. The only time I have to think is if there is an interruption of some kind. Sometimes we finish something a little early, too, and in that case I usually let the children play a few minutes or I read them storybooks. They were delighted this morning when we finished some of our chores early and had time for two stories 
I’m still trying to work on “spring cleaning” but it slow going just doing bit by bit, day by day. I know I will feel a lot better once the clutter is reduced and the house feels more open. And I will have that much less to do every day
