A Very Long Post About a Very Long Night

You know, for the most part, (thus far) I don't think that having four kids is a lot more work than having three -- or almost even two. As you have another baby, the older ones keep getting older. Thereby, requiring less of me as they become more independent and also they learn to occupy and entertain the younger ones (Elsie, in particular). There is definitely more mess, with more children -- more toys, more laundry, more dishes -- but mess is inevitable. I've been cleaning up "mess" for a LONG time - LOTS of it - and what's more laundry or more dishes? I already hate doing it - having one less load wouldn't change that. :) So, most of the time, I haven't felt that this transition has been too dramatic.

There are, however, a couple of exceptions to this rule. Shopping and Bedtime. These are times when having more children ABSOLUTELY makes exponentially more chaos. Especially with a newborn. Now shopping? I can learn to live with rarely going to the store. I can learn to make due with what we have in our home, even if it means using baby wipes instead of toilet paper or a day or so -- or even having every person in the family eat something different for dinner because we don't have enough of any one thing to feed everyone the same. :) However, bedtime (unfortunately) cannot be bypassed.

Case in point.

Tonight Nels is with some friends filming . . . whatever. The details of what he is doing are really irrelevant, aside from the fact that this is more of a recreational activity. - Not work or necessarily money related. I'm glad that he's having fun. So Nels is gone for the evening. His parents are in town and we spent the evening with them swimming at their hotel pool. Nels needed to meet up with friends as 7:15, we didn't get home until 7:20 and he still needed to get ready. The girls were tired and hungry.

I immediately began figuring out dinner with three little people hovering around me (and the refrigerator) wondering what and WHEN I was going to feed them. We settled on tacos and I shooed them out of the kitchen for the tenth time in as many minutes. Violet was still snoozing blissfully in her car seat as I began cooking hamburger and kissed Nels goodbye. Fifteen seconds after he drives off, the girls are once again circling around me at the stove and Violet begins howling from the next room.

I am faced with a decision here. Do I stop making dinner right now? Delaying the feeding of my ravenous little beasts - to feed their sister? Who could, quite possibly decide to take the next twenty minutes nursing before she will allow me to finish dinner. Twenty minutes of nursing, twenty minutes to finish dinner, twenty minutes for girls to eat dinner. At least an extra HOUR until the girls can get in bed and it's already 7:45 -- Hazel has school in the morning and she's already exhausted. OR do I NOT feed my starving Violet, finish making dinner, and then feed her while the other girls are eating -- thus combining activities and getting my girls in bed about half an hour earlier?

Poor little doll screamed her little head off - strapped into the front carrier - the entire twenty minutes that it took me to finish the tacos and get them dished up for everyone. :(

As I'm sitting at the dinner table, discreetly feeding Violet while also "gently encouraging" the other three "starving" children to please eat and stop poking, talking, picking, disassembling, etc., Elsie proceeds to sit up on the back of her booster chair and inform me that she needs to use the potty. As I'm instructing her to get down and go do so, she proceeds to empty her bladder right then and there - filling up her booster seat and overflowing onto the floor.

I get her down, one-handedly take off her sopping drawers and shoo her to the the toilet. Hazel finishes eating at this point and I ask her if she thinks she can manage putting a "nighttime" diaper on Elsie while I finish feeding Violet. SURE! sure . . .

The next ten minutes are spent still "gently encouraging" Lilie to stop picking apart her tortilla and spilling out its contents all over the pee-covered floor, while Hazel chases Elsie screaming around the kitchen and down the hall.

Lilie and Violet both finally finish eating. I capture the Streaker, instruct Lilie and Hazel on the specifics (for the billionth time) of brushing teeth and using the toilet in less than 45 minutes, put nighttime diaper on said Streaker, and sit her back down (in a different chair, of course) at the dinner table to finish her taco.

Hazel and Lilie actually brush their teeth AND use the toilet in record time, we have "family prayer" without Elsie, and amazingly neither of them throw a fit when I kiss them and send them to tuck themselves into their beds.

Elsie spends the next twenty minutes demolishing and slowly devouring morsel after morsel of her taco, while I once again feed Violet who has decided that she is still hungry. All the while, I keep reminding Elsie to stop talking and keep eating. She eats one black bean or one piece of cheese. "Eat your taco, Elsie." "What you want me to do?" "Eat your food." "This food? You want me to eat my food?" "Yes. Eat your taco." "Okay. Eat it?" "Yes. That food." Picks up small piece of tortilla and eats it, then starts trying to get down. "Eat your taco, Elsie." "What you want me to do?" "Eat your food." --- And the conversation continues in this cycle for the next twenty minutes. She and Violet finally finish and I then get the disgusting opportunity to clean up the pee-filled seat and pee-smeared floor, while Elsie "helps" Violet "stay asleep" while erratically swinging her back and forth in the baby swing. (No harm came to Violet whilst on the receiving end of this sisterly love -- beyond being woke up.)

Ten minutes later, Elsie was FINALLY in bed.

The dishes are exploding out of the sink, I just started the washer to RE-wash a load of laundry that I forgot was in there two days ago, the basement is covered in forts, dinosaurs, wii remotes, and dress up clothes, I have an unfinished library book that's due tomorrow, a bank account that hasn't been balanced for three weeks, and my body is still covered in chlorine from this afternoon. But you know what, now that I've recorded this night for future laughs, I'm going to cuddle up in my bed with my snuggly little baby (who will want to eat again in half an hour) and watch The Biggest Loser. Dishes, Laundry, Cleaning, Balancing, and Showers will all still be there and need to be done again tomorrow.

Bedtime is not my favorite time of the day . . .

She's Done

Okay, Violet is officially my best eater yet. When she was born, she weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. Today at her two week check up she was 8 lbs. 15 oz.!!! That's nearly a pound and half in two weeks! Weigh to go, Vi! ha. ha.

Conversation between Elsie and I while feeding Violet this afternoon. Elsie was asking me to do something for her.

Elsie: Come with me!

Me: I can't sweetheart. I'm feeding Violet.

Elsie: She's done.

Me: No, she's not. She's eating.

Elsie: She's done. Go put her in her crib.

Me: No, honey. I'm feeding Violet. She's not done.

Elsie: You go put her on your bed.

Me: Sweetie, I'm feeding Violet. She's hungry.

Elsie: She's done. Where's my daddy? I want my daddy to come home and hold me and jump on the trampoline.


Needless to say, I think Elsie was feeling a little neglected today . . .

Two Weeks Old

I can't believe Violet has only been a part of our family for two weeks! It almost seems like she's always been here. She is such a sweet little addition to our family. Thus far, she has been a very calm and happy baby. She LOVES to eat (as I'm sure will be confirmed at our doctor's appointment today) and has already started to "fill out". :) Something that none of my other children ever seemed to do till they were three. :) (Elsie, at two and a half, is STILL only about 24 pounds.) Who knows if she'll end up being a chubby baby or not, but she is a much heartier eater than my other girls were. 

She loves to be held and snuggled. She is very patient (thus far) with her sisters' "help". Especially Elsie's -- who loves to snuggle and hug and kiss and poke and point and "keep her warm". :) She also sleeps a lot and has been sleeping in slightly longer stretches at night. We'll see if that lasts.

I don't know that she looks significantly like any one of her sisters, but she looks similar to all of them. She mostly just looks like "one of ours."

I cannot seem to believe that I have FOUR children. Four seems like a lot more than three. I feel like we have moved into a different family bracket. "The Family that No Longer Fits in a Sedan" Bracket. We aren't a "Little Family" anymore. Four kids in less than eight years of marriage. I'm not even 28 yet. (Is it weird that I've thought that I'm at least 28 for the past 6 months or so? Is it weird to mess up your own age when you're only 27? I kinda think I have brain damage.) However, my mom was only 26 when she had me (#4) and my dad was only 29. So we're not that young, right? (yes. we are.)

Anyway, regardless of that random weirdness of having four kids, we are so happy! I'm so thankful to have four beautiful and fun little ladies. I love being a mother. And someday, I will once again enjoy having a clean home and clean laundry again. :) Someday I will enjoy wearing my clothes again. (But, hey, I can now fit in TWO pairs of pants. Hallelujah!) Someday I will get back on the cooking bandwagon. But for now, we are loving this stage. I love my little newborn.

Friday's Five

1. I have a new baby. What could be more fabulous? She is the sweetest, softest little bug. She eats well, she sleeps well, she loves to snuggle with me, and she's very patient with all her sisters' loves as well. :)

2. Upon arriving home the other night, we found that our upstairs bathroom floor was covered in water. The tank on the toilet had cracked and was steadily leaking all over. Not fabulous. However, Nels was able to get it fixed the same night and we only had to buy a new tank, as opposed to the entire toilet. That is fabulous.

3. I have wonderful friends who are so willing to help me out. Whether it's dinner, offering to watch my kids, talking to me on the phone, coming over to chat, or holding my little baby for me while I get my dishes done, I have been so very blessed by those around me.

4. Along with having my mama here with me last week, my sisters and SIL all came up last weekend to meet their new little niece. It was so wonderful to have them come! I wish that they lived closer and could come more often. I miss my family. I have such an awesome family.

5. Home. Home is fabulous. As Nels just said, "I love our home." Me too. I love the feeling here. I love that it is filled with my sweet family. I love that Nels works so hard to allow me to stay here and be a homemaker. What an awesome title. Home Maker. I make home. Not a house, but a home. That's cool. I love my job.

The Dino Finder

Nels started a new tradition on Hazel's last birthday, and Lilie has been looking forward for six months to making a movie of her very own with her daddy! It makes me so happy to hear them collaborating together and planning their "shots". :) So glad that he's willing to do such a special thing for his girls. - Something that they will love and enjoy for a very long time.



Not entirely sure why Lilie's hair didn't get fixed before her close-ups :) but she's adorable, even behind her stray hair! :)

This Month is Such a Special One . . .

Spring is a busy time of year in our house -- birthday-wise. Adding Violet, we now have three birthdays within a month and mine in April. The past month has been slightly busy and I've been a little preoccupied, but I'd like to post about the other two special days that we've shared together in the past month.

Nels

Nels' birthday this year was SUPER relaxed. Not much fun, I know, for a thirtieth birthday, but when you're married to me, that's to be expected.

That's one crazy looking birthday cake, no? :)

The week before Nels's birthday the girls and I were in Utah, so come Valentine's Day and Daddy's birthday, we were pretty wiped out. Hazel didn't have school that day, Nels decided to take the day off from work, and we all stayed happily at home enjoying the day together. Nels got to sleep in to his heart's content, play games with his girls, and generally just get to do nothing. No "honey-do's" or appointments or outings. :) Just together and happy. He said it was exactly what he wanted to do for his birthday and said repeatedly that it was perfect. -- So I'll take it and believe him when he tells me that he's not disappointed that I didn't throw him some elaborate 30th birthday party. 

See, he looks happy, right?

I love my husband so much. He is seriously the best. I can honestly say that there has not been one day in the past nearly 8 years that we've been together that I have not been happy with the decision that I made to be with him. That I have not been thankful that HE is at my side. That I have regretted or longed for the days that I was single. Not one day that I haven't been able to look into his eyes and see and feel the love that we share. He is my best friend. 

Lilie

For the first time in several years, Lilie did not request a blue birthday cake.

My sweet Lilie turned FIVE YEARS OLD this past Saturday. I cannot believe that she is FIVE. I still feel like she should be three. But oh, what a wonderful five years it's been! My Lilie is filled with spunk and fun. She is brave and she is so very strong. She is a loving sister and a forgiving daughter. There are few sounds that I love more than Lilie's laugh - so free and full (and loud). :) She is looking forward to warmer weather, because she is determined that she is NOW ready to learn to ride a two wheeler (something that she was easily ready to do last year, but had decided that she needed to be five first . . . ).  

I can't believe that she will start school this year . . . . I truly don't know how I feel about both my big girls being gone to school. Lilie seems too little to be all on her own like that. She still has a lisp, for goodness sake. :) However, she is definitely ready and asks OFTEN when she gets to go to school. She reads . . . nearly as well as Hazel, can easily count to 100 and 100 (that's what comes after 199), and is independent and so clever. This coming year will certainly bring many new challenges and adventures into her life!

Two of her new birthday dinosaurs and one cheesy birthday smile! 

Not only did she get to enjoy a brand new baby sister for her birthday, but Grandma Moon got to be here, as did 4 of Lilie's aunts. Melissa, Wendie, Kelly, and Genny made their way up from Utah that day to celebrate with us. She got to enjoy a special date with Grandma on Friday, going out to lunch and picking out a present at Toys-R-Us. Grandma even took her and Hazel to a movie that night! What a lucky girl! 

Violet Emily Chick

Violet Emily Chick

March 9, 2010 - 5:27pm

7 lbs. 8 oz.

19 3/4 in.

Our little Violet finally decided to make her debut in the world this last Tuesday and we are all SO EXCITED!!! She is beautiful and healthy and LOVED. She's got a fuzzy head of dark blonde hair and fuzz just about everywhere else too! :) On her back, her ears, her cheeks . . . so cute and soft.

I'd been having contractions -- for weeks :) -- but all weekend particularly. When I went in to my midwife appointment on Monday, I was dilated to 3 cm -- a huge improvement over the week before -- and my midwife asked if I wanted to have my membranes stripped -- to see if that helped move things along. Of course I did and then had nice, hard, regular contractions throughout the remainder of the day. However, as the night wore on and we were getting the girls to bed and preparing to mobilize the troops and go to the hospital, they slowed down considerably. By about 10, they were about 7-10 minutes apart and not nearly as hard as they'd been earlier. Exhausted and frustrated I finally went to bed, with contractions remaining at about that consistency throughout the night.

Needless to say, the next morning, I was TIRED and . . . irritable (read Sleep-Deprived Maniac). I called my sweet mother to cry for a while and then got on with the day, continuing to have less than promising contractions. Finally around 11:30 I called my midwife again to ask her what she would be willing to do for me. :) I'd wanted to go natural with this baby, but was afraid that if I continued along the road I was presently on, by the time I actually went into "real" labor I would be so exhausted I'd not be able to go through with it. Sweet woman that she is, she told me that if I had dilated to at least a 4 in the last 24 hours (which was very likely), she'd break my water for me and admit me to the hospital. She said to bring Nels and my bag and just plan on staying. HALLELUJAH! My mom arrived to stay with my girls and we were off.

We arrived at Helene's office around 2:30, she broke my water at about 3:00, and we were admitted and in a room at the hospital by 4:00 with instructions to call her as soon as I felt like I needed her help. Contractions were hurting quite a bit by this point, but I didn't want to jump the gun, so I decided to go sit in the hospital's jacuzzi tub for a while before calling. :) It felt wonderful, but I still spent the next hour or so trying to "be in the zone" - or something. :) Mostly trying to listen to my body, zone Nels out, and trying to not want to kill the nurse every time she'd peek her head in to ask me another question or want to check the baby's heart rate again, right in the middle of another contraction. All the while, wondering if I was making the right decision and could I really do this. Nels assured me (when I wasn't telling him to be quiet :) that I could, that I already was doing it, and that if I decided not to, he was absolutely fine with that. **He's such a wonderful husband.** 

After about an hour, I came to a point where I felt like every time I twitched a muscle, I was having another unbearable contraction, with no breathing room in between. I was exhausted. I concluded that I, in fact, could NOT continue to do this and I didn't need to. I was going to get an epidural and go to sleep --- if only I could get out of that darn tub without ripping into a million little pieces in the process. LOL! After what felt like one long, unbearable contraction all the way from the jacuzzi to my room, we made it. We were followed in by my midwives, who'd just gotten there. After another contraction, I turned around to greet them and told them that I didn't want to do this anymore -- I didn't think I could. Helene smiled sweetly and said, "That just fine. Let's see how far along you are." In the time that it took us to have this two sentence conversation, I started having another contraction and realized that I knew EXACTLY how far along I was! Just kidding about the epidural, I think she's coming RIGHT NOW! Three or four pushed later, our little Violet was welcomed into this world by a STUNNED mother and a SHOCKED father. LOL! Thank goodness Helene and Karen hadn't waited until I called them!!

I just couldn't believe that I did it! And the midwives told my dear friend who had an appointment with them the following day, that the look on Nels's face was priceless. :) It was just SO FAST! None of my labors have been long ones, but this one was definitely a very different experience. :) Nels asked me about half an hour after she'd been born if I'd do it this way again. I told him that my opinion at the moment was more than a little jaded and to not ask such questions for about six months. :) However I can say, even three days later, that I would absolutely do it this way again. It was such an incredible, empowering experience. Intense and painful and like nothing else on the planet - but one that I will never, ever forget. The only thing that I would have done differently is to have had the sense to call my midwife earlier, so that she could help me understand better what exactly my body was doing. That during that period of "every muscle twitch is causing me to have another contraction" - it actually meant that I was pretty much done. :) She told me afterward that generally by the time women (who have had more than one baby) get to the point that they think they can't do it and want drugs, they are already done and ready to push. :)

I am so thankful for my sweet Nels. He was there for me just as I needed him to be - even when I was telling him to be quiet or to stop touching me or to stop making me laugh. :) He is my best friend and confidant in every way. I'm so thankful to have been blessed to bring another child into this world with him at my side. FOUR KIDS!!! Holy cow. We are not a "little" family anymore!

Isn't she so beautiful?! We love our little Violet!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

In an effort to encourage this little baby here, we took a little family stroll in the cold and grey. Unfortunately, frigid Idaho afternoons don't aren't very enticing. :)

Oh, What a Fabulous Friday!

1. Since my last post, the remainder of the week has gone considerably better. :) It's amazing what a little attitude adjustment can do. :)

2. I have not changed a diaper in more than a month! That is something to celebrate! This is obviously something that is soon coming to an end, but I don't think we've gone this long without changing diapers since Hazel was born!!!

3. We've even seen the sunshine a few times this week. The girls were able to play outside with friends yesterday for several hours. It was wonderful! And even though it snowed last night, it's all but melted what it put down. Spring will come.

4. I have less than a week until my due date! Even though the last two weeks have dragged on a bit, I can't believe how fast this pregnancy really has gone by. I'd really like to have this baby this weekend, but if that is not the case, the end is definitely in sight.

5. Babies. I love my new babies. I'm so excited to bring a new one into our lives. I can most assuredly say that I am not really a baby person. I never really enjoyed babysitting -- I still don't "love" babysitting other people's children (if I don't know the parents fairly well). I love my nieces and nephews. I love my friend's children. They could live here all day, but I definitely am not the kind of person that would ever want to run a daycare. :) I don't swoon over every baby that I see. BUT MY babies? That's another matter entirely. :) I'm so excited to bring home this little baby. To wrap her up and snuggle her. To give her baths and scrub her little hair with baby soap ----- speaking of which, I don't have any baby soap . . . hmmm. I can't believe how much our lives are about to change - again. And I know that when they do, I won't be able to remember it being any other way. I won't be able to remember life without her in it. I'm really looking forward to all that the next week (hopefully the next week) will bring. :)

IF MAMA AIN'T HAPPY, AIN'T NOBODY HAPPY

Wow. My three hundredth post. I have had a lot to say in two and a half years!

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I sat down last night to write a post. My three hundredth. The past few days had been such . . . inconsistent ones, that I decided I needed to think about the things that I'm grateful for. However, as I sat in front of my computer, trying to feel grateful, I was having a really hard time. Nels and the girls came into my room, ready for prayer before getting in bed. I knelt down and among the fiasco that is family prayer at our house, I totally lost it. Sorely tempted to grab my keys and leave the house. I got myself under "control" and helped him finish getting the girls in bed. For the remainder of the night Nels kept asking me if I was okay. (Of course I'm fine! Why would you think any different???!) Needless to say, I never quite felt like coming back to my "grateful post". Another thing that obviously doesn't need to be pointed out, but I will anyway, is that hormones, excessive sugar, lack of sleep, and anxiety don't really bode well for anyone in our house.

This morning I woke up to sun shining through my bedroom window. Not the gloomy kind of sun that is shrouded by grey clouds, but bright, cheery, yellow sunshine. As I held the door open for Hazel and Nels as they left for work and school, I could see the little green tips of my daffodils, just starting to push their way to the surface, through the snow still covering my flower beds. And I felt like singing. And I did. And I cleaned the kitchen floor. On my hands and knees - doing a good job of it for the first time in months. :) (Don't think that I don't clean my kitchen floor regularly. With three children, that would be disgusting. But I usually use a mop.) (Also, please don't give me any well-meaning encouragement about nesting -- I've been "nesting" for more than a month now. My floor was just really dirty and I was feeling up to it this morning. :) Even though the yellow sunshine is no longer shining, but is now shrouded with those yucky grey clouds, the temperatures are still reaching toward 40 (!) and it has been happily sprinkling all morning. Not snowing! Oh happy day!

Spring is still probably more than a month away for us here in Eastern Idaho, but the end is in sight and it will come before we know it. I think I could learn a few things from my daffodils this morning.


I AM GRATEFUL

1. Family. I have the best family. My sweet little children and wonderful husband. They make me smile. They are so excited for this baby to come. The "rest" of my family. My sweet siblings and parents. They all love me. - Even though I have not been maintaining "balance" very well lately.

2. Friends. So many friends have been there to show their love for me over the past week. People I have gone to visit, end up giving ME a boost. So many people have dropped off wonderful tokens of love for me and my family. I love you all. What a wonderful place I live in!

3. A healthy body. I have walked so many miles over the past week. I'm so thankful that my body is good to me. Even when it's achy and painy. :) I'm thankful to be a woman and to have the body that I do. I'm so thankful for the part that I play in bring children into this world.

4. The Defining Line Salon. :) It is amazing what a little pampering can do for a person. :) Even if their magic essential oils don't put me into the throws of labor, it sure feels nice to get a neck massage and have some really wonderful, comfortable gals to chat with. :)

5. Garbage men. Seriously glad that we don't have to haul our own garbage to the dump. :)

6. Pine-sol. That smell will forever mean clean to me. The smell that is permeating my house right now. I love the feel of a clean floor.

7. Seasons. I love when the seasons change. I love the things that are good about each one of them. For the most part, I have really enjoyed the rest that comes with Winter this year. It has been welcome and needed. Looking forward to the Life that comes with Spring.

8. Books. I love the oblivion that can come from books. :) As long as it is moderated. :)

9. Sleep. I slept last night. Thank the Lord. Seriously.

10. Work. I am so thankful for work. For parents that taught me how to work. I don't always love it, but I am thankful for it.

11. Faith. I'm so thankful for the peace that can come (even if it is only in spurts :) from the knowledge that the Lord is in control and he truly does what is best for me and my family. Sometimes (a lot) I feel angry at this reality. I like being in control -- or at least having some kind of bargaining power, you know? I feel resentful when I can't bend circumstances around my desires. (Can you believe that I even complain about my sweet Lilie's shenanigans?? I never really wonder where she gets it from.) However, regardless of the grown up "fit throwing" that I've been doing the past few days, I'm thankful for the faith that I have in my Father in Heaven's love for me. And his eternal patience. (Gives me more than a little something to think about in my own parenting techniques.)