This week marks the first days of a new school year and I'm sending off a first and second grader this year. So far they've been eager to go in the mornings and they return with smiles in the afternoon. Hoping that continues.
I'm enjoying quieter days at home with the other three. Miss Clara is already 5 weeks old already. I was telling my sister it seems with all the sleepless nights this baby and I have shared, this past month might have crawled by, yet it feels like we were just bringing her home last week! She is a sweetheart, even if she likes to have our bonding moments at 1 a.m. And 2. And 3. And 4... Sometimes I really question why we try to sleep at all.
This summer was a blur. We camped one weekend, spent a few nights (and many Sundays) at my parents camp, swam in the pool in the backyard, and tried to make the most of the hot weather. I spent most of June (and some of July) with my feet up due to an injury. July was a constant battle of the heat for my 8 months pregnant body. It was great fun. I have never been so thankful for our little window unit air conditioner. At least the downstairs remained relatively cool in spite of the hot stretch of weather we had.
And then at the beginning of August, one day after our 9th wedding anniversary, baby number 5 made her entrance into this world. I am smitten with love once again at another of God's perfect creations. There is nothing more important happening in my life that can't wait until I'm done holding the baby. The other kids are in love with her as well. Always wanting to hold her, amazed by her little festures, her yawns, her cries... Everything about her is amazing to them.
One day when Clara was lying on her blanket on the floor and her captivated audience was surrounding her, I thought, "This is what it means when they say love multiplies with each baby." It's true. Not only does this baby have the love of her father and I, she's absolutely surrounded by love from each of her siblings. For those who think they don't have enough love for more than one or two... You do. It's all right there. Each baby is just as special, every bit as much of a perfect gift from God as the one before.
So now that summer is slipping away, and fall is upon us, I'm ready for the change. Cooler days, the rocking chair, a good book, a cup of coffee , a cuddly baby... I can see many days being spent in this simplicity.
For anyone who might possibly be reading this after my longest blogging break ever... I hope your summer was a good one and that you too are embracing fall with some quieter moments, maybe some fun projects, walks outside in the cooler temps, or whatever it is that you enjoy doing during this colorful season. And perhaps I'll be back around here a little more often!
Showing posts with label Parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parenting. Show all posts
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The little years
As I sit here this evening, I am listening to the quiet sounds coming from my seven year old's room. She's having a sleepover as there's no school tomorrow for mid-winter break. I remember those days- having a sleepover on what would normally be a school night- so exciting.
With no alarm to set, technically we could all sleep in tomorrow morning, but I know my two year old better than that. She's real good about making sure I don't sleep past six. She seems to have made it her personal mission to see that I'm up long before I need to be seven mornings a week. She also feels the pressing need to check in with me around 2 or 3 or 4 a.m. on most nights. And as I trudge wearily to her room to find the 'pluggy' that's been lost under the covers or under the crib I try to remind myself, this too shall pass.
I read a book last week that was full of all sorts of good reminders for moms of little ones. It was called Loving the Little Years, written by Rachel Jancovic. It was not a long book, but it was packed with many insightful ways of keeping sanity while raising little kids. One of the best things I took from her book was this obvious but helpful reminder: this current little crisis will be over in twenty minutes.
And when I think of it, so much of the difficulties with little ones are short lived. Someone can't find their library books, another one is crying for juice, the other two are fighting because one looked at the other the wrong way... It goes on and on. Or the two year old who should be sleeping through the night and rid of her pluggy is still waking up for a three a.m. reassurance that it's okay to go back to sleep. So much of what mothers of little children deal with daily are relatively little problems. In and over before much time has passed at all. Still, consciously looking at the clock during those crazy moments and making that mental note that in twenty minutes time this little dilemma will pass is such a good reminder for me that this is not going to last forever.
These little years pass so quickly, and the daily problems we deal with right now are so relatively small and easily forgotten. I am reminded all the time to be thankful. Of course, very real problems can develop at any age and none of us really know what anyone else is dealing with, but I'm learning to seek that bright side as much as possible. Life does not come with a guarantee and we all must face our share of trials along the way, but seeking out the good, making a point to remember what we do have is so great.
So many people have told me, the hardest years are those when all your kids are little. Admittedly whenever I would hear those words I would cringe at first because when all of my kids were under the age of five I truly felt like some of the hardest moments would last forever. But even now, with my oldest only seven, I see a difference. The older two can be responsible for helping out with jobs around the house and with the younger ones, which makes things so much easier. I already see that change. Yes, they are still little, but already I catch glimpses of that moment when I'm not as needed anymore. Which, as parents should be our ultimate goal- to raise them into caring, honest, responsible adults that can manage their own lives. It's an interesting process to watch, one that leaves me with a whole host of differing emotions, but important all the same. And the thing is- it happens so fast. One moment you're spooning oatmeal into their baby mouths- cringing as it flies back out all over the everything in a five foot radius- and the next they're hauling their dirty dishes to the sink and asking for a sleepover. It's natural, it's life, but it all happens so fast.
As my kids have grown, it has become easier to see that babies crying in the middle of the night and milk spilled all over the table don't last forever. When I finally realized that children won't always dump everything out of the toy box just to see it crash on the floor, and that at some age painting the bathroom with toothpaste loses it's appeal, it was suddenly easier to deal with the little ones that still find these activities fascinating. Not that it makes cleaning up a box full of cheerios spilled across the kitchen floor a picnic, but it's the realization that these things are just what they are: momentary mishaps. And before long, it will be over and dealt with.
So once again tonight, as I try to do every night when the little one calls out for me at three in the morning, I'll plod down the hallway in my sleepy stupor and tell myself, this too shall pass. Before I know it, she will be the one having a sleepover on her bedroom floor and won't be crying for me in the middle of the night. And by then, my oldest will almost be a teenager. So, I am holding on to these little years with all their little difficulties- and my little kids- and knowing the most important job I can do right now is to just love them and raise them with patience.
With no alarm to set, technically we could all sleep in tomorrow morning, but I know my two year old better than that. She's real good about making sure I don't sleep past six. She seems to have made it her personal mission to see that I'm up long before I need to be seven mornings a week. She also feels the pressing need to check in with me around 2 or 3 or 4 a.m. on most nights. And as I trudge wearily to her room to find the 'pluggy' that's been lost under the covers or under the crib I try to remind myself, this too shall pass.
I read a book last week that was full of all sorts of good reminders for moms of little ones. It was called Loving the Little Years, written by Rachel Jancovic. It was not a long book, but it was packed with many insightful ways of keeping sanity while raising little kids. One of the best things I took from her book was this obvious but helpful reminder: this current little crisis will be over in twenty minutes.
And when I think of it, so much of the difficulties with little ones are short lived. Someone can't find their library books, another one is crying for juice, the other two are fighting because one looked at the other the wrong way... It goes on and on. Or the two year old who should be sleeping through the night and rid of her pluggy is still waking up for a three a.m. reassurance that it's okay to go back to sleep. So much of what mothers of little children deal with daily are relatively little problems. In and over before much time has passed at all. Still, consciously looking at the clock during those crazy moments and making that mental note that in twenty minutes time this little dilemma will pass is such a good reminder for me that this is not going to last forever.
These little years pass so quickly, and the daily problems we deal with right now are so relatively small and easily forgotten. I am reminded all the time to be thankful. Of course, very real problems can develop at any age and none of us really know what anyone else is dealing with, but I'm learning to seek that bright side as much as possible. Life does not come with a guarantee and we all must face our share of trials along the way, but seeking out the good, making a point to remember what we do have is so great.
So many people have told me, the hardest years are those when all your kids are little. Admittedly whenever I would hear those words I would cringe at first because when all of my kids were under the age of five I truly felt like some of the hardest moments would last forever. But even now, with my oldest only seven, I see a difference. The older two can be responsible for helping out with jobs around the house and with the younger ones, which makes things so much easier. I already see that change. Yes, they are still little, but already I catch glimpses of that moment when I'm not as needed anymore. Which, as parents should be our ultimate goal- to raise them into caring, honest, responsible adults that can manage their own lives. It's an interesting process to watch, one that leaves me with a whole host of differing emotions, but important all the same. And the thing is- it happens so fast. One moment you're spooning oatmeal into their baby mouths- cringing as it flies back out all over the everything in a five foot radius- and the next they're hauling their dirty dishes to the sink and asking for a sleepover. It's natural, it's life, but it all happens so fast.
As my kids have grown, it has become easier to see that babies crying in the middle of the night and milk spilled all over the table don't last forever. When I finally realized that children won't always dump everything out of the toy box just to see it crash on the floor, and that at some age painting the bathroom with toothpaste loses it's appeal, it was suddenly easier to deal with the little ones that still find these activities fascinating. Not that it makes cleaning up a box full of cheerios spilled across the kitchen floor a picnic, but it's the realization that these things are just what they are: momentary mishaps. And before long, it will be over and dealt with.
So once again tonight, as I try to do every night when the little one calls out for me at three in the morning, I'll plod down the hallway in my sleepy stupor and tell myself, this too shall pass. Before I know it, she will be the one having a sleepover on her bedroom floor and won't be crying for me in the middle of the night. And by then, my oldest will almost be a teenager. So, I am holding on to these little years with all their little difficulties- and my little kids- and knowing the most important job I can do right now is to just love them and raise them with patience.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
I never claimed to be an expert
You know the month(s) before Christmas when you toss out random little threats to your kids in hopes of getting them to behave better? Like... You better quit fighting with your brother because Santa's elves are keeping tabs on you! Or... If you don't clean up every single one of these toys I'm calling up Mr. St. Nick myself and informing him you don't need anything else!!! You also know how those little reminders only work for so long before the kids a) figure out on their own Santa's going to deliver anyways or b) the older ones inform the younger ones that Mom's been threatening that for years and they have yet to see a completely dry Christmas?
Well that's this week in a different sort of way. I'm in the overwhelming midst of getting ready to put on a garage sale this weekend. Eh. Amongst the bags of outgrown clothing and boxes of random miscellaneous stuff I've lost my steam completely. Why did I sign up for this again?
But one thing I do, uh.. did... enjoy about the whole process was the way I could use the garage sale as a motivator for my kids to do something around here. Not sure it worked that extremely well, but still. I used all sorts of great and well-thought-out lines like: whatever' is not off of this floor in three minutes is going in the garage sale! or, Since you're not going to pick up your hockey stuff, I will. AND I'll carry it right over to the door so it's ready to go out with the stuff for the garage sale. Oh, I was on a roll. Came up with new threats every morning while I drank my coffee and smugly dispensed them throughout the day.
Until this evening when my sweet little five year old said to me after one of my fly-off-the-handle-moments, "Mom, I'm gonna sell you in the garage sale so someone else can listen to you yell." Ah, yup. So we're right back at square one with Mr. Freezie bribes.
Something tells me this isn't the theme and advice of any best-selling parenting books on the market.
Well that's this week in a different sort of way. I'm in the overwhelming midst of getting ready to put on a garage sale this weekend. Eh. Amongst the bags of outgrown clothing and boxes of random miscellaneous stuff I've lost my steam completely. Why did I sign up for this again?
But one thing I do, uh.. did... enjoy about the whole process was the way I could use the garage sale as a motivator for my kids to do something around here. Not sure it worked that extremely well, but still. I used all sorts of great and well-thought-out lines like: whatever' is not off of this floor in three minutes is going in the garage sale! or, Since you're not going to pick up your hockey stuff, I will. AND I'll carry it right over to the door so it's ready to go out with the stuff for the garage sale. Oh, I was on a roll. Came up with new threats every morning while I drank my coffee and smugly dispensed them throughout the day.
Until this evening when my sweet little five year old said to me after one of my fly-off-the-handle-moments, "Mom, I'm gonna sell you in the garage sale so someone else can listen to you yell." Ah, yup. So we're right back at square one with Mr. Freezie bribes.
Something tells me this isn't the theme and advice of any best-selling parenting books on the market.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Apparently I talk just to hear my own voice
I know I need to appreciate these days when my children are little. But some days... My patience is paper thin with gaping holes in which my temper flares through.
Today Lydia & Jack asked for scissors to cut the long grass next to the fence in the backyard. I'm not completely stupid so I agreed they could ONLY if I was out there with them. I gave strict warnings about how the scissors would be taken away if they cut anything else besides the grass, blah, blah, blah. They both promised like good little children they would only use the scissors for grass. So I went out with them to drink my morning coffee (yes, at 11:30 a.m.) on the back steps while they made there way around the backyard cutting the grass.
Five minutes later, the phone rang and I ran inside to answer it. When I came out approximately seventy-five seconds later I found them cutting large holes in a tarp in the yard. I know it could be worse. I know this is just a minor detail. I know I need to relax a bit and I know it was my fault to give them the scissors in the first place. But still!
So, we put the scissors away and I told them it would be a long time before they could have them back again.
They just came in a few minutes ago asking if they could have them back now.
I told them to try again in fifteen years.
Today Lydia & Jack asked for scissors to cut the long grass next to the fence in the backyard. I'm not completely stupid so I agreed they could ONLY if I was out there with them. I gave strict warnings about how the scissors would be taken away if they cut anything else besides the grass, blah, blah, blah. They both promised like good little children they would only use the scissors for grass. So I went out with them to drink my morning coffee (yes, at 11:30 a.m.) on the back steps while they made there way around the backyard cutting the grass.
Five minutes later, the phone rang and I ran inside to answer it. When I came out approximately seventy-five seconds later I found them cutting large holes in a tarp in the yard. I know it could be worse. I know this is just a minor detail. I know I need to relax a bit and I know it was my fault to give them the scissors in the first place. But still!
So, we put the scissors away and I told them it would be a long time before they could have them back again.
They just came in a few minutes ago asking if they could have them back now.
I told them to try again in fifteen years.
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