Fumes

Just the other day my Beloved commented on the fact that Zeke is now 4 months old. “Where did the time go?” he asked. He followed that up by saying, “Are we just running on fumes?”

To which I most assuredly replied, “Yes!”

I am not sure why it has worked this way but with babies #1 and #3 I seemed to bounce right back into the swing of things. I hit my stride, if you will, after a month or two. But with babies #2 and #4 it just feels like chaos reigns and here we are four months out and I still haven’t hit my stride. Yet. (Thinking positive.)

Part of the problem is sleep. Yeah, not getting so much of it again these days. I stay up a bit late with Zeke to get a feeding in. He has had some trouble with gas discomfort so often times he wakes up more than once scrim scrambling crying out in pain. Thus sleep time is not solid but broken up. Add to that Katie has taken to waking up early. By early I mean around 6ish. It would be irritating but she wakes up and comes down to the bedroom in the sweetest way.

“I waked up, Mommy,” she says in her little girl voice. She has her blanket in hand and her binks still in her mouth.

“Climb on in Mommy’s bed,” I tell her. She grabs a pillow and snuggles in the covers close to my side. She doesn’t sleep but does doze from time to time. What I most appreciate is that she isn’t a wiggle worm. She just lays there and snuggles and dozes. That gives me a little more time to lay there and doze myself.

Someday I keep telling myself. Someday we’ll get on track. The schedule of nursing every 3 hours will click with all else that we have going on around here. Someday. Perhaps on that day they’ll be some actual gas for us to thrive on. Until then I am afraid the fumes will just have to do!

Blessings 61-75

- a tank that still has fumes

- sweet little girls who snuggle in my covers with me

- babies who forget/forgive mommies for ugly behavior in the middle of the night

- older children keeping baby occupied so I can make lunch

- good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich

- 2 hours or so of quiet at home with just baby while rest of family went to church

- Husbandry allowing me to stay in bed when older children got up after a particularly rough night

- deal on cutest little shoes for Katie

- empty dirty laundry baskets

- no one is sick

- my Beloved doesn’t give me a hard time for coming home to find me still in my jammies and not showered

- long eyelashes (all four have them) to go with beautiful eyes

- children ‘seeing’ that not all kids live the way they do through Mission India’s My Passport to India

- math doesn’t seem to cause Kiersten anywhere near the frustration and boredom as it has previously

- seeing that Isaiah’s penmanship has improved from just 8 weeks ago

A Bun

Each Friday it is a mad race to get Kiersten ready for dance on time. It shouldn't be a big deal and yet it is. See the first week she came home after ballet she promptly informed me that Miss Jean said her hair needed to be in a bun.

Ta-Ta.

You haven't met Miss Jean but if you did you would be well aware she is a force to be reckoned with. If Miss Jean says that's what she wants than that is precisely what Miss Jean will get. Or you will regret it. Promise.

Oh, I don't mean to play her out as some mean lady. She isn't. She is just a person who knows how she wants things done and expects you to follow suit. She knows that what she does she does well. Know what I am talking about?

There is that and the fact that she is 80 some years old. You're getting the picture.

Anyhow, I am not a 'hair' girl. Never have been. I just have uncooperative hair with a mind completely of its own so I have never really taken to 'fixing' it all that often. And what I do consists of no more that 30 minutes tops, for a wedding or some special occasion, and 15 minutes on a regular day. To be honest I mostly just brush it after I shower and let it dry as it is with a bobby pin added here and there to keep hair out of my eyes. When it was longer it just went straight into a ponytail, wet and all.

This order to have Kiersten's hair in a bun had me panicked a bit. I seriously set aside 20 minutes the next week in order to ensure it would get done. That was before I realized that bobby pins fight back. I should have allowed for another 10 minutes.

Each week it is still a challenge to get her hair just so. I not only have to get it in the bun but need to make it so that it stays in a bun despite her moving around dancing. (Last week she came out of dance with a ponytail. Oh, the bobby pins were still logged in her scalp. Chalk that down as a win for the bobby pins and a loss for me.)

This week though...ah, I won. She came home with this lovely bun still intact. Bobby pins 1, Me 1. A tie. I hold no grand illusions. I know the bobby pins will win more than I will but each week I am determined to try hard to give my girl a beautiful bun that stays. Why? Because she feels like a ballerina and because it looks beautiful on her.

Blessings # 46-60

- learning the art of making a good bun for my ballerina

- children who have contagious giggles

- a girlie girl learning to apologize without it being asked of her

- babies who smile in their sleep

- a husband who loves to cook

- a husband who always thinks I am beautiful and often tells me so

- cousins who live close enough for sleepovers

- a little girl declaring, "I'm a princess!" at the top of her lungs because she is in a dress

- homemade caramel corn

- a soft, warm head nuzzling into my neck (a.k.a. a cuddle : ))

- coming home to a vacuumed living room 

- seeing 3 dressed up kiddos, all with tails (kitty, dragon and giraffe)

- clean sheets

- a stolen nap for myself when my energy tank was low

- the Lord wooing me once again

Blessings to you and yours as we head into the Thanksgiving season. : )