Thursday, August 8, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Fourth of July 2013
We headed out to Pilot Point for 4th of July this year. We had an awesome time with Gram, Grandpa, and Matthew. We arrived after lunch on the 4th and played awhile.
These boys are 2 big handfuls of BOY!!!
For dinner we had the yummy American classic, good ol fried chicken (with Gram making all the yummy sides!!)
When it was time, we headed out to the next town over for a truly amazing fireworks show. There were so many people there, and live music- it was just cool. We’ll have to go earlier next year! The fireworks show left NOTHING to desire. It seriously ranked up there with all the big cities. Way to go, Tioga!
When we got to the field to watch the fireworks, we had a fun little (chaotic) photo shoot. Gram had bought a bunch of patriotic bandanas that we all proudly wore!
Molly had seen fireworks the night before at the drive in theater (unplanned fireworks but still cool!) Both days, she just sat and watched. She blinked her eyes at every boom, but they didn’t bother her at all.
(Have to be real and show the chaos too!!!)
I think Molly just fits right in 
Of course my firecracker Aunt Jan was on my mind, as she is always loved and always missed on the anniversary of her passing and all other days in between!
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Molly: 7 Months!!
Our sweet girl is growing up too fast.
Before our crazy week of moving started, this is what she and Daddy did all day:
(Just kidding!!!)
We have pictures of both Shelby and Coleman at this age standing up holding my hands so I wanted to recreate the same “pose” with Molly. Seriously, how can you pick just one? SHE’S SO HAPPY AND ADORABLE!!!!!
So what is Seven Month Molly up to these days?
She is sitting on her own. She will roll all over a room. She can go from laying down to sitting on her own. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks. She can move forward a few feet like that. She has just recently pulled up on things (while we’re right next to her) but needs to work on her leg strength because they give out on her. I remember our other babies always bouncing when you held their hands to stand up, but she doesn’t do that. She just stands. When she’s sitting or laying she’s ALWAYS kicking. Her legs never stop, especially when I’m nursing her. She’s quite restless and interested in everything else going on in the room besides eating. This is probably why she still gets up twice at night to nurse, so she can catch up. We have a pretty good routine down though, laying down together, so it doesn’t affect my sleep TOO much.
She is loving all kinds of food that we give her. We are not doing purees or baby food, and are following something called “Baby Led Weaning” with her, where baby eats what we eat (following some guidelines of course) They learn to chew before they learn to swallow and she is becoming a PRO now at chewing and then swallowing. We started this just before she turned 6 months. She has had toast, pork chops, scrambled eggs, peppers, apples, pears, plums, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, avocados, kiwi, grapes, blueberries, chicken, potatoes, cheese, and I’m sure many more things. This is just of the top of my head. She is still 100% breast fed and gets most of her nutrients from that. She takes a bottle when I’m at work and has no problem transitioning from nursing to bottle and back (thankfully!) She loves drinking out of our water bottles, and even sipped from Aunt Millie’s straw yesterday.
She is happy ALL THE TIME. Through teething, out-of-routine days, everything. When she gets sleepy, she fusses and we go lay her down in her bed. That’s it. Fast asleep on her own.
This girl is always smiling but I’m not sure anyone can make her smile bigger than her big Sissy and Buddy.
She swam in our pool at the new house for the first time on Tuesday and she was kicking and splashing and loving the water.
We LOVE this girl who has completed our family like we could have never imagined!!
101 Dalmations- Shelby’s first play
Last night Shelby’s theater class from College for Kids had their performance of 101 Dalmations. It was so amazingly cute, I had no idea how good a group of kids that age (with no prior experience) could be on stage!!
Shelby was “Patches” and had a few lines, and she did GREAT!
Monday, July 22, 2013
Enough.
Yesterday our sweet Coleman boy turned SIX AND A HALF. He was counting down the days and told us that we NEEDED to get him a new bike (because his is too small for him now.) We didn’t really do anything special for him besides when I reminded him in the morning that he was now 6 and a half, and he grinned and said something about the need for a new bike again. Realizing that, I feel a little bad. We don’t celebrate half birthdays in general, but he seemed to care about this one so I probably should have acknowledged it a little more. Like I missed out on an opportunity to make something special for him. It’s a stupid guilty mom syndrome that pops up now and again. He lost his third tooth last week only to wake up the next morning upset that the tooth was gone and there was no money. Worried that the tooth fairy was busy that night, I went in to check and "WHADDAYA KNOW?!” I found $2. (I think the tooth fairy did forget.) I’m pretty sure his thoughts were, “Woopty doo.”
That about explains how this summer has gone. Woopty Doo.
There’s only so much that can fit in my mind, so much that I can take care of and be present for. I feel FULL… I am not unhappy or stressed or anxious or anything like that, just crazy full of thoughts and tasks and waiting and to-dos, and waiting some more. I feel like I’m always on the brink of something, but can’t quite do anything at all. I know this comes from the house situation, but it makes me feel so moody and uneasy and out of control. Jeff has been off work and doing very well at taking care of the kids each day, and I have been working, and we both just inexplicably feel restless, but overwhelmed. It’s weird. We are displaced from “HOME.” We are so blessed and thankful to have a place to stay between houses. It’s like an awesome vacation. But still, it just puts everything out of whack for a family of 5 (and probably Nonnie and Poppy too, bless them!!) Molly cries during the night but I don’t feel like any kind of sleep training when many other people are in the house. So I feed her twice a night usually, getting 2 sets of 3 hour “naps” most nights. The kids…aren’t excited about the new house. I think they’re just sick of waiting and are more in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” mentality. I think the kids’ attitudes are also affecting my mentality more than I knew.
We haven’t taken the kids ANYWHERE this summer like it seems other families are doing ALL the dang time. And I feel silly saying that sentence because why is that the expectation? I should be saying what a great and blessed summer our kids have had. No water parks, though we do swim at Nonnie and Poppy’s house almost every day. No Six Flags (and maybe never again after a woman fell out of a roller coaster and DIED this weekend!) No jump houses or zoos or birthday parties. BUT. Coleman went to a basketball camp and a baseball camp, and spent a lot of time with his friends Elijah and Brayden during June. Shelby, in turn, has spent a ton of time with our “temporary” neighbors Bella and Allie, and is in her last of 3 weeks at College for Kids with her “BFF” Ella this week. They went to Vacation Bible School, where they each took at least 2 friends with them. We’ve visited Gram and Grandpa, and had a week with Mimi at our house, and lots of time with Nonnie and Poppy, Anna and Zach, and have seen TyTy several times too. Coleman spent two special nights with just him at Gram and Grandpa’s house. Daddy has taken them to check out books from the library. We went to their first drive in movie, where they got to see 2 movies and stay out until 1 am. And now Millie is here for 2 weeks, which we are all elated about. We have played countless games of Life, Yahtzee, Monopoly, War, and Slap Jack. (But not enough to satisfy Coleman.) 
So why do they still beg to be entertained? Why do they whine that they’re bored? Why, if we refuse to allow friends over for ONE DAY do we encounter a sulking, begging, unhappy little girl all day long? I have NO DOUBT that our children have plenty of attention and love. I feel like there is no appreciation of the here and now- what we DO have. I have always made an effort to encourage them to play alone, to play together, to entertain themselves. To read. We have never given into their every whim, and have never thought it necessary to entertain them every moment. So right now, I wonder where they get this mindset. Is there any good explanation…maybe it’s just a phase? Are they just feeling just as “out of whack” as their daddy and I are? I hope that’s just it. OR, is the expectation to be entertained, to go, to do, to spend….that nothing is ever ENOUGH… just so out there in society around us that we cannot set different expectations for our own children?
I don’t have any answers, just questions today.
TODAY. Today we can walk into our new house that is all ours, and no one else’s anymore. It is finally here. I hope this week, though busy and frantic and whirlwindy, will bring the calm after the storm. We will give our kids a “new” home base and remind them that this is all enough. That we don’t join the race others seem to be in for more, more, more, more going, more doing.
It is impossible to be a parent without second-guessing every single thing. Things that I am so sure of, I still have that moment where I wonder if I’m doing it right. I think you really have to re-center, and remember what it’s all about over and over. And in doing this, remember that we’re not perfect, and neither are these sweet children that God has given us to love and to teach. And to mess up with and to teach again. Because we’re all learning together, but one thing we must be sure of:
Our Heavenly Father. Family. Friends. Helping each other. Talking, reading, being quiet, listening, Loving. Together. THAT IS ENOUGH.
