Let us give thanks

Life has it's moments around here. My friend Leslie calls them highs and lows. Moments that I'm not so happy about and would like to hit the rewind button on and then moments that I want to hold and treasure forever, someone please find me a pause button.

We had a moment a few days ago. Messes, huge messes, were made... All over the kitchen floor, sink, counter, coffee table, stains on the carpet, couch, and throw pillows. Almost simultaneously in the pursuit of one thing... A low was reached. Not a good low or a pleasant reaction.
I was so tired and tired can translate into angry some days.
In the midst of frustrated orders, "wipe of that water, pick up all the apple peels, put all the strawberry tops in the compost bucket, get the mop, wipe up the mess, take off the slipcover, get every dish and bowl out of the living room...." I felt a little pat on my leg. She's looking up at me, me so angry...so upset, telling her "Do you understand me???" and she says, "momma, I just want you to be happy."

Stop. Take a moment. Breath. Be thankful.

We'll try again tomorrow, expectations lower, kids knowing that eating strawberries in the living room = not a good idea, patience and smile intact, praying for grace, remembering to give thanks in everything.

(that night I had a dream that my mom didn't like the way I was talking to my kids so she sent me to my room for time out. The room was ugly and full of 80's style furniture. I got mad and threw a full blown 2 year old style temper tantrum complete with tears, stamping feet, and slamming doors. I decided that since I was an adult and could drive I would steal the family car and run away from home, then I discovered I couldn't fit through the window. So I rearranged the furniture instead and sorted through tubs of hand-me-down baby clothes for Samuel and Sadie-Rose. Random I know, but I felt much better when I woke up except I was still kind of upset at my mom for sending me to my room.)


Good things, beautiful moments, highs happen around here too. 100's made on a spelling test, homemade hot chocolate for lunch, blueberry muffins, thank you cards being written, small little Valentine's crafts being made, curly little girl piggy tails. Last night was one of those "pause" moments. Dinner was in the oven, Samuel was asleep in his bouncy seat, the girls were painting together at the table sharing so nicely, Mike was reading Mother Earth News, Vivaldi's Four Seasons was playing quietly and I was able to sit with them all and finish cutting out letters for a V-Day banner. Bliss.

If nothing else, I know that being a stay at-home-mommy will teach me that every day requires prayer...lots of it. every.single.moment. Sometimes moment by moment. Hitting my knees to plead for grace and peace, for patience and joy, learning that most times I can't carry this on my own. Learning and re-learning that it's not my strength, but His. Turning these kids over to Him and remembering that He's in control. Theses days may be hard, but they are short and sweet and ever so blessed and worth every sleepless night.

Who's "she?"

Last night when Mike came home from work he told me that he finally felt tired. All the nights of broken sleep had finally caught up with him and he was so thankful for his thermos of chai tea, several packets of Emergen-C, and for taking his B vitamins at lunch, otherwise he apparently wouldn't have survived the afternoon. All I could do was look at him and shake my head.

Sadie-Rose is still working on this new adventure of sleeping in a big girl bed.
For awhile Mike and I were getting up to comfort her 5-6 times a night.
(This did no include baby boy feedings and changings and burpings and crib lying downs.)
We thought we had come up with a clever solution
by having Olivia slip into bed with her after she had fallen asleep.
It was working rather well
and we were only getting up 1-2 times a night with her,
until last night.
(The novelty of sleeping with another person in the bed had worn off
and Olivia has fallen back into her bed-hogging ways.)
Around 11:30 last night I was woken from a dead sleep
by the heart-broken cries of a little girl.
I reached over to wake Mike and all I could say was,
"She's crying."
His response was, "huh? Who's 'she?'"
I lay there for a second and several names ran through my head
but I knew none of them were right
so I looked up at him and said,
"I can't remember her name."


And that my friends, should be enough to let you know how little brain power he and I are functioning on right.
Pray for us...
or more for our kids! :)

January wrap-up

This month was a busy one for sure! Here's a little run down of all our big (and small) family doings of Jan.

- bought the family "Be a Tourist" pass for Charleston and visited The Aiken-Rhett House, The Charleston Museum, Children's Museum of the Lowcountry, Drayton Hall, H.L. Hunley Museum,
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Middleton Place, and the North Charleston & American LaFrance Fire Museum.



- Sadie-Rose had her 1st dentist appointment.

- We cold turkey took away the pacifier and after 4 nights, she was fine without it.

- We had a baby boy on 1-11-11!


- Mike took off the first 3 days (and the weekend) to stay home and take care of us.

- My mom came to stay with us when Samuel was 3 days old and went home when he was 10 days old. Such a blessing! We loved having her.


- We had a house showing when Samuel was 11 days old. Our 1st one since Sept.

- We discovered that you can't really figure out a new carseat and install it in your car in less than 15 minutes.

- Samuel's 1st outing was to Italian Bistro where we ate a late lunch while they showed our house. He slept through the entire meal and cried all the way home.

- We have been working with Samuel on EC'ing and so far it's been great and we're seriously impressed. Even Daddy.

- Olivia only took off 4 days of school and then we were back on it. Except for math. I haven't been ready to tackle math yet.


- We are 3-4 weeks away from being done with school books for this year. (Except math, for reasons stated above.)

- Friends brought us meals for 2 weeks straight! Another huge blessing!

- The girls have bunk beds now.

- Sadie-Rose has been a trooper and put up with us moving her out of our bed into a trundle bed beside us (for 10 nights) and then moving her into Olivia's room and the bottom bunk with amazing grace for her bumbling sleep-deprived parents. All without the comfort of her pacifier. (Thank the Lord and a friend for big sister flower essence!)


- Samuel has been amazing with his desire/ability to sleep in the crib in our room. The only one of our children to do so! He naps in it during the day and sleeps good portions of the night in it as well.

- Olivia went back to Awana after only one weeks absence after her brother was born. Daddy, Mommy, Sadie-Rose, and Samuel hung out at B&N.


- The last weekend of Jan. we took the kids on 1 house tour, the Children's museum and Earth Fare on Sat. then a plantation and garden tour, Awana, Costco, and Publix on Sunday. Samuel only fussed a few times. We were totally exhausted, every one of us.

A full month for sure. A small snippit of what this year might be like? hmmmm...we'll see.