I am SO excited for this week! Brady has a couple of days off for the first time in what feels like FOREVER!!! For a long while, we ran this lovely life of him working four-ish days a week, and it was so nice to count on having him around more than just evenings. We were very spoiled. Now, we’ve been spoiled in a different way, with Brady having TONS of work over the last few months. Its fallen at the best and worst time possible, since he’s basically been running like a chicken with its head cut off since a month before Solly was born. Six SOLID months of work that have kept us comfortable through our big move, higher bills, and having a fourth baby. But its also been so incredibly busy, trying to settle into life here, without him around like he used to be. Really, I can’t complain about either angle. We are so happy about how the last few months have gone. We just miss each other. Longer days and longer weeks make for an exhausted Hailey and Brady.

But this week, he has two days off, smack dab in the middle!!! We are both so excited for some days together to get a few things done. But as we think about all of the things that we should get done in those days, I’m getting discouraged. There are SO MANY THINGS! We could likely fit it all in, but there will be no rest, and very little togetherness. I don’t want Bradys much-anticipated days off to be scheduled out down to the half hour like his work days are :/

Thankfully, he has a shorter work day today! So before everyone gets all ready to go out tonight, we’ll hopefully sit down and make a bit of plan. We’ll pick and choose what needs to be done, and what can wait. I think I need to add “rest” to the physical list, so we don’t forget to include some downtime.

Tomorrow will come, and we’ll get our ducks in a line, but tonight, we trick or treat!! Who wants to see these adorable little ones?!?! They’ll be quite a weird, mismatched group, but now that Dekker isn’t so afraid of people anymore (thank you, kindergarten!) I think it should be even more fun than usual! Plus, we have Solly this year, so we’re up to four cuties!

PS Don’t be alarmed if at least two of the costumes don’t make sense. They don’t make sense to us either. Just go with it!

It was a good day today 🙂 My stress level was nice and low, and I slept amazingly well! I felt really good in the morning, and ready to take on the day!

Unfortunately the kids didn’t feel the same way. Dekker and Laela both seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, and were extra grumpy right from the get go. We were able to curb the grouchies with the promise of lunch at grandma and grandpas house, and they were very happy to head on over there.

Bad attitudes managed to make their way into lunch, and we did our best to combat them. Thankfully, our parents are gracious people, and understand that we all have crappy days, so we limped our way through the afternoon.

Once Rowan woke up from his nap, and Solly was needing another, we decided to head over to our house for the rest of the day, all together 🙂 Brady and I took the kids a few minutes ahead, and put Solly down for a nap. Then, we put all three grumpy kids into their beds for a 5-10 minute rest, just to regroup and be still for a few minutes. I’m always so pleased at how that turns out. Just a few quiet minutes to breath seemed to help the kids get it together.

For at least a few minutes. We carved a pumpkin and listened to music and all hung out in the kitchen for maybe a half hour. (I kept the seeds that are currently drying in a pan overnight. Any tips on how/what to do with them would be greatly appreciated!)

Once pumpkin time was over, we made a very fancy dinner of macaroni, fish, and corn. Classy, right? Doesn’t EVERYONE want to come eat at our house now?

The kids played a bit more but it got pretty grouchy, like more than a usual evening, so we called it quits a bit early, and the kids tidied up really well and went to bed. My parents hung around for another hour or so, and we had coffee and treats. You know all of those delicious bagged treats at Costco? We have four of five bags of different but decadent treats, and we all indulged and enjoyed some good chocolate together.

Now, they’ve gone home, and I’m heading for a soak! Sleep deep, all!

 

Solly: (wakes up)
Me: (makes milk, feeds baby)
Solly: (drinks entire bottle)
YAAAAAY!!!
*five seconds later*
Laela: IIIIIII feed baby Solly! (cries)
Me: (looks at small bowl of chips beside chair) Did you want to feed me, Laela?
Laela: Uuuuummm…Ya! Hahaha!
Me: (passes Laela bowl)
Laela: (shovels chips into my mouth one after the other after the other)
*five chips later*
Laela: Can I have one taste, please?
Me: Sure, Laela. Dekker, you can come have a taste, too. (passes one chip to each kid)
Laela: (continues shovelling chips into my mouth, faster than I can eat them)
Me: Laela! I can’t keep up, hahaha! LAELA! You’re so funny!
Laela: (stares past me, oblivious)
Me: (chokes)
Laela: (shoves chip)
Me: (eats last chip)
Laela:

I highly recommend this exact system when eating barbecue chips.

This morning, I was feeding Solly on the recliner while the other kids played around the living room. Solly has been a pretty crappy feeder these days, and it was a BIG accomplishment to actually be getting milk into him at this point in the day. But he’s not content when eating, so anything is distracting, and ends the feed. This is a somewhat impossible situation, because I have lots of little ones, and they are always running around and playing loudly, as kids should, but in turn they are always distracting Solly. Its not fair to ask them not to play, so we just struggle through this time, and thats ok.

When I officially gave up on the feeding, I tried to stand up to go put Solly down for a nap, and I was COVERED in toys. This tends to drive me nuts. A pet peeve, I suppose you could call it. They are everywhere, so I have to chuck everything off of myself as I try to get up, things inevitably get lost within/behind the chair, and I step on the sharp pieces of duplo as I walk away. Makes. Me. Crazy.

But I remembered back to earlier in the morning, when Solly was in his jumparoo. He was happy in it for a while, but eventually got sad. I couldn’t go to him right away, but I knew he was safe, so I left him in there for a while to fuss while I finished up the task at hand. By the time I got to him, the little seat was LOADED with every stuffed toy from the kids bedrooms, the few small ones we have out in the toys, and some extra receiving blankets. I was annoyed at first, having to pull out countless toys before I could actually reach my baby, until I saw all three of my other kids standing by, watching closely.

Me: Whats up, guys?
Dekker: We tried to help Solly feel better
Laela: Ya! Got baby Solly something soft, and something soft, and something soft…

Isn’t that lovely? I get it! And I mean, I got it before, too. But today it feels fresh, and I’m really glad for the refresher. Thats why they pack toys on me, too. To show me love, or to comfort me, or to comfort whoever is inevitably sitting on my lap.

Even just right now, as I write this, Dekker took an intentional dive at the floor and landed on blocks. That hurts. Before I could say anything, Laela gasped and offered Dekker his puppy. “Uh, ya, I guess so,” was his response. So she ran off to find his stuffed puppy, and gave it to him, rubbed his shoulder for a second, and went on her way.

Now, when I walk into the room and see Rowan pouring an old bottle all over Solly’s face, I’m going to see it for exactly what it is. Its not a mess. Its Ro trying to help out with Solly. Which is HUGE, considering Rowan is 1.5 years old.

These children are sometimes WAY more loving and thoughtful than I am. I should take a lesson from them.

I had some “busy” plans for this evening, but rather, we’re going to spend the evening with Jerilee NOT being busy!! Ok, there will probably some practical stuff thrown in there as well, but everything feels more relaxed with Jerilee around. How do you do that, friend???

I didn’t sleep much last night. Fighting anxiety pretty hard these days, but there is promise to feel better very soon, so I hang onto that, and the promise that God is in control of all things, including things that are small but feel BIG.

We’re going on day two of Solly eating maybe twice in the daytime. At most twice. I weaselled four ounces into him before putting him down for a nap around 12:30 this afternoon, so thats something, but I also put a call in and got his reflux prescription dosage bumped. I can tell, specifically in the morning, that he is NOT feeling well, and I don’t think his meds are carrying over. So hopefully we’ll see improvement there soon.

The little boys are napping, and Laela is watching some tv, taking aa brain break. I’m joining in the brain break by sitting at the table, eating a Christmas orange, and peeling paper off of broken crayons. Thank you so much, those of you who donated your crayon graveyards to me! I really appreciate it, and in the same breath, would love even more! Let me know if you’d like to send more our way!

I haven’t felt very overwhelmed with my kids in the way of busyness. We keep things pretty low key over ere, and we like it. It works well for us. I’ve had a busy week so far, and its going to be busy for the next few days as well, specifically in the evenings. And for the first time, that I can remember, I’m feeling like there are just not enough minutes in a day.

To be fair, I require many minutes in my day to be restful. I need rest once in a while. So I don’t like to go go go every day of the week. Its hard for me.

So. Its Wednesday. I haven’t done dishes probably since Monday. I put a load into the dishwasher today, and it wasn’t even half of what was waiting to be washed. So the kitchen is still a mess.

Laundry hasn’t been touched all week.

I won’t be able to be at Dekker’s pumpkin carving event at school tomorrow.

*remember to send pumpkin to school tomorrow*

*remember to send carving kid to school tomorrow*

*remember to put Dekker in costume tomorrow*

I really need to get to the city soon. Today, Brady is going to pick up some costumes that we’re borrowing from some family (THANK YOU!!) but there is more to be done. Formula is on sale, so we have to jump on that. I need a few things for Saturday, which I’ll talk to you guys about more on Sunday. I have to actually put a costume together for Laela, which will be super easy, but still needs to be done. Most of those things can be done in one shot, but I so badly want to be home today!! Rather than loading everybody up right now, skipping naps, putting on my big girl pants and getting stuff done, I’m waiting until Brady is off work and making him meet me so I can do some running into stores without all the kids.

Still this week, I have all evenings filled (except this evening – YAY!) and I want to carve pumpkins with the kids, put together Halloween costumes, and we’ve been talking about test driving a different vehicle. Also, Brady REALLY wants to put up our outdoor lights before more snow flies.

As I said, for the first time ever, I feel like there isn’t enough time in a day. Part of that is just because of how we do our life. We like to rock a relaxed pace, and we like to do things together. I want Brady there for pumpkin carving! I don’t want to just do it in the day without him, and I know he wants to be there too! But I’m gone all evening, so what else are we supposed to do??

I guess its good that the problem is that we want to spend more time together than we’ve been able to recently. It could definitely be worse.

I love my family. That is all.

This morning, I took Dekker to school. We walked hand in hand from the van to the school, and ran into one of his friends. We’ll call him Jeff Foxworthy, because this kid is funny, and so is Jeff Foxworthy.

Hey, Dekker!
Oh, haha, hi Jeff Foxworthy!
*opens his jacket* IIIIIIII got a bowtie!
Hahaha! That’s really funny, Jeff Foxworthy.

Interaction over. It was quick, and hilarious. Jeff Foxworthy did, in fact, have a bowtie, and was proud of it. More than I loved his hysterical fashion sense, I loved watching Dekker interact with friends. From a distance, I didn’t know which kid was greeting Dekker, but instead of Dekker’s previously normal “Uh…I’m shy,” he greeted him back. By name, too! I don’t know about you guys, but calling people by name always made me feel more vulnerable as a kid. Sometimes, even now. So I really loved seeing Dekker calling back to his friend, by name, because he was obviously comfortable. I also really love that he’s not self conscious about holding hands with me. Zero hangups with that so far, and I’ll hold that warm little hand as long as he’ll let me!

When I brought him to his classroom, he let go of my hand and took off inside. I ducked in to just make sure all was in order, and then called him back over to me. His first reaction was “I’m taking my backpack off, just a minute!” But then he ran over to me and we had a quick hug and kiss before he bolted back in to be with his friends. I love knowing that he’s happy to go to school. I told him this morning that his teacher was away for the day, so they’d have a different teacher, and he wasn’t phased in the slightest. Isn’t that great??? He has come SO FAR.

I think my favorite part of drop off is watching him run to be with the other kids, now that he does it on his own rather than cowering beside me.

My favorite part of pick up is easy. There is a group of us who wait in the hallway – parents, older siblings, etc – and the kids wait, totally bundled up, just inside the door. Usually a couple of kids try to open the door, but someone else always closes it up until the bell rings. Tidal wave!!! The hallway instantly fills with kids, kindergarteners included, who try to wade their way across the hallway. Dekker is never chomping at the bit to leave, so I hang back and wait for him to surface. He always does eventually, and breaks out into a nice big smile when he sees me. Then, he’ll do something goofy, like turn around and walk backwards to me, or something like that. When he finally gets to me – ready for the best part? – he reaches to give me a hug and just slumps on my shoulder. Arms tight around my neck, head down, all snuggled in, and he doesn’t move for a solid ten seconds. “Are you tired?” I asked him. “Ya…” is all I get back. When we do separate, he is smiling. I can always tell he had a great day, based on that hug. And that slump. I LOVE that part SO MUCH!

While I’m anticipating pick up, there is still much to be done around here, so off I go! Have a great afternoon, all!

I know I just updated everyone on Solly’s stats a week or so ago, but he keeps changing!!

We very recently moved him into 9 months sleepers, and they are already too short on him! Eek! The fleecy 9 month ones are still long enough, since they tend to be a touch taller than the cotton ones, but I’m pretty positive we’ll have to crack our 12 month jammies any day now.

Another new development around here is that Solly always wants to stand. And since I can’t hold him in a standing position every moment of the day…

The jumperoo is out!!! And its FUN! Solly doesn’t last too terribly long in it, but thats mostly because his head is huge and his neck is strengthening. If he’s on his tummy on the floor, or on our lap, he always has the wiggle room to lay his head down for a rest. Thats not as easy in the jumperoo so thats a new aspect to the toy. But when he’s just freshly in there, he LOVES it!

The other kids are also pretty enthusiastic about it, which can be both nice and incredibly overwhelming for Solomon. But they’re all figuring each other out. It was the same when Ro moved into the jumperoo.

All things considered, this kid is getting big FAST. I don’t remember giving him permission to be a toddler yet…

The last week or two have been so busy with Bradys work, and with other things going on in our life, and the week ahead is the same story. I’m feeling some anxiety about it today, to be honest. Brady and I have talked frankly about it, and we’re basically just coming to terms with the fact that we might not see each other too much. While I love my husband, and he will always be my partner in life and the one I choose, I really really like him, also, and I like spending time with him. The idea that I’ll barely see him this week makes me sad. I don’t like feeling sad.

I’m hoping the crazy busy schedule will peter out after this week. Don’t get me wrong. I am THRILLED that Brady still has so much work. We certainly feel blessed and are SO grateful that the builder Brady works for is still moving full force. It is truly miraculous. But I miss my husband.

There are a few extra things up this week that are bigger than our usual stuff, and there is more pressure resting on them. Prayers are appreciated!

So this is our ONE restful day in these three weeks, and we’re spending it quietly, at home, putting up some Christmas lights 🙂 I know, I know. “But its before Remembrance Day!!!” I know. But I need some “happy,” and this is how we’re getting it.

Chicken wraps for supper! Everything has been chopped and ready since noon. Yay!

Brady is working today. He doesn’t often work Saturdays, but when he does, it just feels like a super duper long week. I felt like we need to do something that was less weekdayish, so we ducked out for round two of shopping. We got most everything done yesterday, but there were a few things that we needed from Walmart, so I took the four kidlets out for a quick shop this morning.

For all of you beautiful, complimentary people who commented on my picture yesterday, be assured it was tough getting out the door this morning! I often love the process of getting everyone out the door, because I love dressing them in their cute little clothes, and watching them struggle (lol!) with their shoes and jackets. But today, Solly wailed through it. I can handle a crying baby, no sweat, but add to that Dekker and Rowan running laps around us (literally) and Laela “not waaaaaanting” the clothes I picked for her, I felt in very far over my head. But we did make it out, albeit choppier than usual. As soon as we started driving, everyone was happy.

We had a short list for Walmart but it included pumpkins. We’ve never does jack o lanterns before, but we’re going to this year!! Have you ever tried to pull those big pumpkins out of the bottom of the bin while wear a baby?! It is HARD. I highly suggest that, if you see someone in this position, offer to help them out! Hahaha! We got it done, but not without my shirt getting covered in pumpkin goo and making my baby cry. But we all recovered quickly and began the rest of our shop.

It was a pretty seamless shopping trip. We snagged a couple of the things we couldn’t find at Superstore yesterday, some pumpkin carving tools, work socks for Brady, etc etc etc. The kids got lots of looks and greetings, and Rowan specifically is SO charming when people talk to him. He puts his chin down a little, looks at them through his hair, and smiles HUGE. Its super duper adorable.

I’ll admit that I felt pretty wiped out after Walmart, even though it was just one place, so I drove further into the city to the single drive-thru Starbucks so I didn’t have to get out of my van, hahaha! I got my enormous drink, because “go big and go home.” Thats how the saying goes, right?? 😉

We made it home, and I put Rowan down for a nap right away. He was so ready. Then I fed Solly and put him down. The kids requested a popcorn picnic, out of nowhere, so its a “popcorn and granola bars for lunch” kind of afternoon. Mom win or fail? I’m going with win, lol!

This evening, we’re going to my parents for supper to celebrate Bradys birthday. Its a little late, but we were in Winnipeg for his actual birthday, and we haven’t had a celebration here yet. Should be a really good evening to wrap up a nice day 🙂

 

** Unrelated to everything, you may or may not have seen on Facebook, but I’m on the hunt for your old, broken, throw away crayons! If you have a crayon graveyard you’d be willing to let me sift through and steal from, please get in touch!!