Go ahead, count them.
There's FOUR of them. I was struck by this sight the other day as I fed the kids lunch. Yes, it was frozen pizza, don't judge me. And I know you're not supposed to put blankets by babies. Whatever, he likes the blanket by his face. So there. I can't believe all four of them are mine.
Then the other day my awesome (NOT!) dog got ahold of Andrew's pacifier and destroyed it. I believe I texted Ben something like..... "I want to kill our dog" I had TWO total pacifiers (which I refer to as pipes, anybody else?! Ben thinks I'm nuts), and I couldn't find the working one.... Soooo, we had an emergency situation on our hands. It was almost nap time for EVERYONE, and I didn't want to have Drew freaking out. I sentenced my dog to his crate rather angrily and told the kids we were going to the store together.
I was pretty crabby about having to run out with everybody (I mean, Drew was maybe 2 weeks at that point) and had to apologize to my kids once we got to the store about my stinky attitude. They are quick forgivers, and we all promised to have a wonderful time in the store together (my attitude was rubbing off on them). I wish I had a picture of us entering the store because I felt like a mother duck. I held Drew's carseat in one hand and Caleb's hand in the other. Caleb held Anna's hand who held Grace's hand, and somehow we ended up single file as we crossed the parking lot. HAHAHAHA.
Anyway, once the kids were all loaded up in the cart, I started laughing. The circus came to Jewel!! That's what it felt like anyway. They all did great, I must say, and we were able to get in and out fairly quickly with our much needed pacifiers. Oh, and ice cream... (it was on sale of course).
I went garage saling last weekend because I'm still needing a few things for Andrew for this winter, and I find driving less overwhelming than being home with everyone ;) Anyway, I found this sweet tent. Well, it was really fun for a while, but then everyone kept getting hurt and it seemed like all the kids turned into wild maniacs. So, I threw it downstairs, and THAT'S where they can play with it. I can't handle the chaos in my main living area. I just can't.
Remember how I wanted to kill our dog? Well, when I feel that way, sometimes I look at pictures of him being really sweet to get over it.
Anna went in for a kiss here. She's perfectly content to let Kedzie slobber all over her face. (EEWWWW! I COULD NEVER BE LIKE THAT)
And here's Grace smothering him. He is such a good sport. A few minutes later she tried standing on him to jump onto the couch.... so I had to put the kibosh on that.
My kids have been playing with the neighborhood kids EVERY day. They all love it and have a blast together. Notice Anna Sue out there? She was having the time of her life with the big kids.
I made a planner for myself in a binder with free printables off the internet to try and stay a bit more organized since I forget nearly everything. Anyway, when I first started filling out my August sheet, I decided this would be a worthy focus. So far, so good.
The kids have REALLY taken well to the new baby. They are eager to help with him and no one seems to have a jealous problem. I'm so thankful for that. I love this picture of Grace and Caleb. Grace has been awesome lately. She's really dominating as a big sister and being a great little helper for me.
Here's little man. I CANNOT get enough of him.
Especially the open mouth sleep. It's the sweetest thing ever.
So in the last few weeks Caleb has started READING. Like, he can straight up read. I would love to take credit for how hard I've worked with him to reach such an accomplishment, but I can't. I did nothing. He also started riding a two wheeler. THIS I take full credit for. Want to know why?! I turned his bike into a balance bike by taking the pedals off (unfortunately we somehow managed to lose the pedals and still can't find them....). I had him ride that for a while to learn balance, and BOOM, one day he could just do it! I didn't have to break my back holding on to the bike running down the sidewalk! I know, he's kind of old to just be learning-- but we were lazy and he was uninterested.
I just bought Grace a bike at a garage sale. See below.
It was $2. (!!!!!!!!!!!!) I was so happy when I found it because it's the PERFECT size. It looks a little junky up close, but hey, we're not picky! I was hoping to take the pedals off this bike and have Grace riding around on a two wheeler in no time, but since she's having such fun pedaling, I thought I'd wait.
I found THIS website and love her character charts! I was motivated to look for that because I started reading "Shepherding a Child's Heart" again and have been extremely convicted. Ouch. If you haven't read it, it's mind blowing. I've read it before and still my mind is being blown. Parenting is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy harder than I thought it'd be. What I need to do is become like Susanna Wesley and pray over an hour a day for my kids with an apron on my head. Amen?!?!
That's all I've got for now!
-Melanie
No comments:
Post a Comment