Peace

On my fridge is the Peace magnet my very thoughtful girlfriend gave me.

A visual reminder of an inner strength.

Peace is like love in this way, it has to be more of a decision than a feeling or you will rarely enjoy it. Baby B is up a lot at night leaving me and Sean exhausted and worn. To compound things, the more tired I get, the more my PPD seems to kick in. This week has been rough and so I am back to my barely eating/getting sick when babies cry phase. NO fun. I can't be the mom I want to be when this happens, but its hormonal/chemical so there isn't a lot I can do. Except try to choose peace. Pray and and choose it. Lean on my husband, my Jesus and my faith that it WILL pass as it did with the twins. Right now Sean is out (and took the baby) and the twins are actually taking their morning nap! So I am drinking my coffee and trying to soak up this quiet morning while it lasts. Thank you Father for providing me with much needed space and peace this morning!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesdays and Thursdays

We take the twins to daycare twice a week. yes we are both home while Sean is on paternity leave, but this is a good choice for our family for a few reasons.
1. It gives us quality time with baby Bennett who is often forgotten as he sleeps all day and the twins do not.
2. It gives the twins a change of scenery and others to play with without us around.
3. Hold their spot in daycare should I get a job soon.
4. SANITY. We are sleep deprived, they are wild monkeys, sometimes mommy and daddy just need a break.
5. Catch up- grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, and other errands can be completed in half the time!
6. Sean's company reimburses us for the cost, so it's basically free to us (twice a week cost).

As a bonus I can drink my cup of coffee while it's hot and read/blog. It's funny how these days go so quickly though. It's also nice to miss them a little. Gives me a chance to appreciate them more when they are underfoot and whining. OH THE WHINING. I guess this is a new"pre-toddler" phase as I have been reading about, but it has gotten old quick. I am renewing my zeal for signing and trying to get them to pick up a few new ones like"help" so they aren't so frustrated trying to express themselves to us. I have been reading to that most the time they are tired and/or hungry when whining so we are trying to feed them more and perhaps not jump to one nap so quickly.

In other good news, Benny slept 10-3 last night! Wahoo! Then he was up at 7am which is wake up time around here anyway. I am praying he sticks with this schedule-it's basically since have started Babywise (loosely) with him a few days ago. Say what you will, but my twins were sleeping through the night at 11 weeks and the "schedule" has saved my sanity. I always feed him if it seems he can't wait until the next feeding time, but so far we seem comfortable at the 3 hour mark. It felt good to only wake once last night! And now a few pictures from this weekend just because I got a new camera:


Grace Noel:


Benny Bear:

Tate with his goose egg from running into the wall earlier:

Tate's Hiding Place

Tater never ceases to amaze me. My dad and brother visited Monday and the twins flipped out per usual. They just freak when new people come over. ANYWAYS. To win their affections my brother took out his wallet and handed my 15 month old a five dollar bill. This says a lot about his experience with small children, but I digress. I would have bet said $5 that Tate would rip it into pieces or put it promptly in his mouth, but he did neither. Tate took the money as if knowing exactly it's worth and headed straight for the nursery. He tucked it safely in his crib next to his blankie and walked out! We could have died laughing and from the shock of it. Tate just looked at us like "What was I supposed to do with it? It's 5 bucks!" Since then several items have been deemed valuable enough to warrant hiding/saving in his special place: mommy's flip flop, baby brother's bib, and all burp cloths he can gather (he still loves to carry them around and does NOT like baby brother using them now). For now he doesn't notice as I remove his treasures before nap times, usually to their right owners and places -but that fiver is his, he's earned it.

So here's to my little boy growing up faster than I'd like and keeping us guessing and laughing every day.

I am alive

Just Barely.

After 41 hours of labor, Bennett arrived Tuesday at 6:50PM
8 lbs, 3 oz 19 inches

We are exhausted, but praying for God to pull us through the newborn-no sleep phase.

Thankful

Today was another one of THOSE days. I actually sat on the couch and cried in front of my kids which I have never done before. Long story short, there was bleeding, throwing of food, and whining (Oh, the whining!) and one exhausted mommy. Then God showed up.
Sometimes I don't feel like He will, at least not in a tangible way.
But He did.

Less than an hour later, my sweet friend showed up to drop off coffee for me and my husband walked in the front door early from work to help out.

Thank you God for showing up through people I love today. I really needed to see that.

Tick Tock

I need to have this baby before I kill my husband.

Last night-

Me: "I heard squats can induce labor, I'm doing some of those!" (start squatting as much as a huge prego can)

Sean: (eyes piles of folded laundry) "WAIT! Don't do that!" ( I'm thinking, oh honey, are you worried about me? How sweet)
"If you're going to exert yourself you might as well put away that laundry..."

Me: DEATH GLARE

Sean: mumble mumble something about housework and WISELY picks up laundry himself and runs to the bedroom to put it away.

Seriously, people. Barely escaped with his life.

Time to break out the duct tape

Sadly, I don't have any pics to accompany this post. Most of you have walked in on a similar incident in your own house anyway. 7am : Go into nursery and pick up babies.
7:01 am: Realize Tate is not wearing a diaper
7:02-7:05 am: Change diapers, settle babies in living room.
7:05 am: Wonder about wear the missing diaper is and worse yet, what is may have contained.
7:06 am: Fears confirmed-diaper mashed in corner and poop (I'll save you the gruesome details) everywhere else.

Thank goodness his hands and mouth were clean. I am NOT ready to handle that.

Also, I am very much STILL pregnant. Ugh.