Can you handle the little things??...written by Judi

You know all those little things in life (like flossing) that I can't handle?  Can you handle the little things?  Here are some things I should probably do, but don't...

1. Brush my teeth gentle and in small circles. When I brush my teeth it is like taking an electric sander to them.  I brush hard and fast and every time I go to the dentist they warn my that my enamel is receding.  I just can't handle doing it slow.

2. Taking a daily vitamin.  I don't do it. I can't handle worrying about it.  (Lets just say I am lucky if I take one while I am pregnant.  I just don't remember and don't do it often enough.)

3. Loading my dishwasher correctly.  I make a lot of my food homemade and I produce a ton of dishes.  I stuff as many dishes in as possible and then turn it on super hot and call it good. 

4.  Washing my clothes in whites and darks.  I turn it on cold, throw them in, throw in plenty of soap and go for it.  Surprisingly I have never noticed a difference of washing them separate or together. 

(while I am writing this, William (my 3 year old) just said, "Mom, I want to dump out all the Halloween candy!"  and I said, "OK"...another little thing I didn't worry about :)

5.  Folding the little kitchen towels.  They always get unfolded when they are ripped out of the drawer anyways so now I don't bother folding them and rather stuff them in the bottom drawer, shut the drawer and don't worry another second about it.  :)

OK, those are just a few of the millions of little things that I don't worry about because if I worry about all the little things, some of the big things (like feeding children, playing and hugging, ready stories, and generally living) will not get done.  So, if you see me and I look put together and my house is clean and my kids are clean and I am in my Sunday best, just know I haven't done any of the little things.  :)

I might have to pay for a few more cavities to be filled...but at least I will have my sanity and my kids will be loved. Right? 

Buzz and Woody on Halloween

The Chicken or the Egg

Takin' Time on Tuesdays with Joni

I have not always been the most humble person. Often I have taken pride in things that are not necessarily something I can take credit for. One is my ability to become pregnant. I became pregnant with my first two children without even trying. I often would brag that all I had to do was think that I wanted a baby and POOF, I was pregnant. Then something weird happened and I couldn't get pregnant. I wanted a third child but each month was met with disappointment. Then after a year trying, I finally became pregnant. I was so excited but only a few weeks later discovered I was having a miscarriage. Two more miscarriages later I finally was able to keep my pregnancy. I was so excited to be pregnant again and looked forward to the new wonderful experience of welcoming new life into my life. What I learned in those 2+ years of waiting for a baby was that the ability to conceive and carry a child usually is out of the woman's control. I learned to be very sensitive to others about their own fertility journey. I shouldn't take pride in how quickly I can get pregnant, because really I don't have much control over that.

Though it took me a while to learn humility in fertility, it didn't take more than one child for me to learn humility in the sleeping habits of my children. There is often quoted a saying of, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" I would like to start my own saying, "What comes first, a bad sleeper or bad sleeping habits?" I am a firm believer that a bad sleeper creates bad sleeping habits. I have had two bad sleepers. From the beginning, they wouldn't nap in a bed. They wouldn't sleep longer than an hour and a half in the night. So what did that create? Bad sleeping habits. At of exhaustion and sleep deprivation, I start sleeping in my bed with my babies. I learned quickly that if I nursed them in my bed and then pull them in close, they sleep longer. I am also able to catch a few extra minutes of sleep while they are eating. I recently read a book about how to get your baby to sleep. Guess what it said? Don't sleep with your baby. Don't nurse them to sleep. I am guilty of both. But I was desperate. I was a walking zombie and needed something to save me. I often hear mothers brag that their child sleeps through the night. This is a badge of honor. I feel like the women take credit for their good sleepers. If a good sleeper means a good mother, what does a bad sleeper mean? I often wanted to punch people in the nose when they said their two week old was already sleeping through the night. My six year old isn't sleeping through the night! But then came my third child. A good sleeper was born and from the beginning we have done good sleeping habits. She sleeps in her own bed. She takes good naps. She sleeps from 10 pm to 5 am almost every night. She is an angel baby. But guess what? I am the same mom! So it proves that the good/bad sleeper comes first and the habits come second! So if you have a bad sleeper and think you are a bad mother, take comfort! You are a good mother. Just punch the next person in the nose who, with a puffed up chest, says, "My child sleeps through the night."

Here is my six year old, sleeping with a mask on. This was my attempt to keep her asleep even if someone uses the bathroom or I get up with the baby. Too bad it didn't work. She gets scared with it on, so she won't wear it.

This is my son asleep with his face squished to the frame of his bunk bed. He is a crazy sleeper. I find him in many odd positions while he sleeps.

Tip-toeing with much Trepidation...written by Judi

You know those moments when life seem perfect?  Right now is one of those moments and here is why...

1. My youngest is getting older.  He is saying a few words and he will play with toys by himself and he will watch T.V. (horrible, I know, but I always look forward till the day they can watch t.v. so I can have a FEW minutes of quiet!)

2. My Oldest just started preschool and is loving it and we are seeing big improvements in attitude and behavior.

3.  My husband likes his job and is generally happy with life

4.  I feel strong and healthy and wake up each day rested.  So much of having a young baby or being pregnant is dragging yourself through the day and night.  Right now, things are very calm and I am happy about it.

5.  I have the perfect balance between calm, relaxing days and busy, fun days.  There is nothing pressing or urgent that I have to do, but I can always find things for us to do if we are bored.

Now here is where the trepidation comes in.  I know life can't stay this way.  Why do I know this?  Life doesn't stand still and here is why I am tiptoeing in this perfect moment.

1. I know that as my oldest gets older, inevitably we will get busier.  I am sure we will get him into little league sports eventually, school, homework, piano lessons...ect.   I watch my sisters and friends and see their lives spiral into a crazy busy turn-table and sit here and think, "Will my life get that crazy???"

2.  I am just about to head into the terrible T's with my youngest.  Agest 2 and 3 are difficult and very difficult for a slow talker like he is.  He knows what he wants and can't tell me.

3.  Eventually life will probably call for more children...more pregnancies, more sicknesses, more depressions, more anxieties, more newborns, less sleep, more stress....

And lastly, life can't possibly stay this good, can it?  Something's gotta give :)   And if your life has been full of bad times lately, know that something has gotta give for you the opposite direction.   Good times have got to be headed your way.   So here's to the good times, the bad times, and the perpetual ebb tide.  

Just glad I'm living at high tide for the moment. 

And I know next time I am at low tide, that high tide will be just around the corner. 

And that is why I am tip-toeing with much trepidation in this perfect moment :)

I HATE change

By Stalee (one of the lost sisters because I am eight months pregnant and just moved)

I grew up in the same house for 19 years! Right up to the day I married my husband I lived under the same roof. That street makes me feel so safe and happy to this day. As a young girl I did not ever have the challenge of being the new girl at school. I got to grow up with cousins and familiar surroundings. When I got married I moved next door because my grandma’s house has an apartment on the end of her house. My address had changed a little, but it pretty much felt the same. It was very comforting and I was happy. We lived there for two years and then we moved to Roy which is only five to ten minutes away. For the first time my address did not have Hooper in it. It was the beginning of change in my life. I have moved nine times since then and let me just say I would gladly go back to the days of my childhood. What happened to the days where a family gets to grow up on the same street all their years?

After two years of transition, my little family has finally landed somewhere a little more permanent. When my husband lost his job two and a half years ago, I had no idea that it would take so long to live a normal life. We went from our own house, to living with my father in law for about five months, to living in my lovely sister Sunee’s basement for a year and a half, to a tiny condo for four months. We finally have our stuff out of storage and live in our own house again. Let me tell you it feels SO good.

My husband thinks he likes change. The reason I say “thinks” is he plays up the adventure in his mind. He dreams about how better things will be or how happier the change will make us, but then when we finally make the change he hates the “getting used to things” faze. My sister Rindi probably takes the prize of the most extreme mover in our family so far and she once told me it takes a good year to move out of the “getting used to things” faze.

I guess my kids are really getting old because this move has been very hard on them. They started a new school a few weeks ago and boy oh boy it has worn me out. My oldest girl had a sick stomach for pretty much the whole first week because of nerves at school. My second sweet child has had an attitude that I never thought could come out of her. And my youngest, who has a strong will to say the least, cried as I pushed her in the kindergarten class every morning. When I ask them who they play with at recess they say no one we just walk around. It broke my heart to think that they were friendless on the playground. There was one day were all three girls were crying and I wanted to yell, “HELP we are falling apart and I don’t know what to do!!!!”

What I did was wait….. because that is all I could do. Time is the only cure for change. I even got a call from my husband on his first day at work that I swear could have been one of my girls. Let’s just say there may have been a little fear in his voice. So any of you that love to change things in your life, go right ahead because I am going to sit back and enjoy my year of adjustment and many more years past that, not changing at all! One thing I know for sure is whether you are 5 or 32 it is always hard to be the new kid.