Its not been a secret that the last week or two have been challenging. But today, our family drove back to what we now call “the old house,” took some pictures, dug the sign out of the lawn, and left our keys. It is officially no longer ours. Its a big but wonderful transition. For the most part, anyway.
The kids seem to be handling the whole thing well in general. No concern about the old house, or where all of their stuff is. They like exploring the new place we’re renting, and the fact that just about everything is still in the sitting room, so there are tunnels and empty boxes and all kinds of fun stuff to get into. I, on the other hand, am going a bit nutty about how much stuff is still out. Its all part of the process, and with me body being so wrecked at the end of the day, there is very little I can actually do about it, which is hard to accept. Plus we’ve been out every evening since we got here, tying up loose ends or getting other things done. So I’m feeling a bit crazy, and I know the kids are feeding off of that to a degree, but they’re thriving in other ways 🙂
Rowan’s eating is getting better and better! He’s been a bit of a challenge with his reflux, mostly because he is always a little bit hungry, and not especially settled. Its actually been a relief in the last little while, as he’s getting better at actually eating solid food, I am able to satisfy his hunger. When he cries out of hunger, I feel more like I’ll be able to help him. I felt pretty helpless before, but this is easier. Today for lunch, he had a good serving of rice and mushroom sauce, and I even managed to teach him a bit about a sippy cup. I think he’s going to take to a different kind than Dekker and Laela did, but I’m on board with whatever he wants. He liked cold milk out of it too. It surprised him, but he took to it quickly. There is hope!
Laela is learning SO much these days, as she and Dekker are playing more together in tighter quarters with fewer toys. (Just for the moment, anyway. We haven’t unpacked all of their stuff yet.) But she is suddenly picking up everything!!! She recognizes lots of colors, she counts a bit, she knows lots of little concepts, like tall and short, light and dark, etc., and she can verbalize it all. Animals and their sounds, everyones ages, and polite manners. I know its not “ahead of the game” for her to know these things, but suddenly she can say so many things! She speaks pretty clearly, too. Not about everything, of course, but if you spent any time with her at all, you’d pick up on her dialect pretty quickly. She’s a total peach. She even makes jokes. Like, funny, goofy ones that pester her brother and make everyone else laugh. Its a cool stage of development for her.
Dekker has embraced this change pretty smoothly. He has his moments, of course, where he scraps with his siblings and just does wrong thing after wrong thing. But that also might just be a stage he’s in. So I’ve struggled a bit with him in this time, just because I feel so out of order, and I desire order, and sometimes he just makes it harder to achieve. But some fabulous things are ever-present in my beautiful four year old son. He is SO helpful. He is so eager to help with any job I can give him. For this reason, I have set up the kids dishes in a place where he can reach them, and he sets their spots at the table. If I sit down to change a diaper and find poop, he offers to go find the wipes. Nothing is where it should be yet, and we have a few opened wipes bags floating around, but never in the same place twice, and let me tell you, he goes on the hunt for some and he brings back wipes every single time. And then this evening. We had run errands, and had gotten home late. Brady was unbuckling the kids while I headed towards the house to unlock the door for everyone. I grabbed the diaper bag and Dekkers backpack full of emergency potty stuff before I left the van. And as I walked away, I heard Dekker call after me “Thanks so much for carrying my backpack, mommy!” I felt so warm from that. My son is not entitled. He recognizes what I do. And he loves me. It helps a lot to see that after these last few days. I’ve struggled, and he’s struggled, but we’re still in a very good place with each other. He is a complete champ.
Baby four has blessed me in the last week or so by being so very mobile, making his or her presence known undeniably. That is all I can ask of this child, that is for sure, but it has made the few moments that I have to just lay still that much sweeter.
All of our beautiful children are tucked in to bed, and Brady is up in the kitchen putting his lunch together and doing a couple of little things around the house. Its hard being so unable to lift and haul, but its just the stage we’re in, and I know I need to accept that. I’m VERY thankful to have a hunky hubby to take care of me and ours at this time.
And God. Because he covers us all.