I'm Still Here

 

I'm adjusting to being a mom of six.  Sometimes when someone asks me how many children I have I still mentally count them off.

Noah is a very content baby.  He eats, sleeps, and smiles.  His siblings are loving him to pieces.  Sugar Pea tries to sit on him and lick him and all sorts of other ridiculous things--he just grins at her.

We are preparing for Christmas around here.  Our celebrations will be very low-key this year, but that's my favorite way to celebrate the season.

We are beginning paperwork to finalize Sugar Pea's adoption.  If all goes well it should be done in several months.

I'm hoping to blog a little more regularly now that my life is settling into a new normal.

Soaking Up The Sweetness

Jesus Loves The Little Children....

My two year old's version of the song.......

"Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world

Black and blue and red and white

They are "preshus" in-is-sight"

I've corrected him over and over, but he still sings it this way, and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. :)

Happy Mothers Day

Sickness

I think one of the hardest parts of being mom is when your family is sick.

Cause in the middle of the night when they throw up all over their bed, and the floor and everywhere........

they don't yell "Daaaaddy"

They call for momma.

Funny how I took that for granted when I was the one calling.

My mom was always there, and she never seemed too tired.

Amazing.

She must have been a super mom.

Or perhaps my memory is a little faulty. :)

We are in our second week of yucky gastrointestinal flu.

I am so tired.

And so done with bodily fluids.

But I keep going.

Grasping at a Hand that is stronger than mine.

I'm so thankful that He doesn't get tired.

Dishwasher Duty

"I'm pretty sure there is something important in here--everyone else is always messing around this box."

Harry?

My three year old is completely absorbed with pretend phone conversations.

His "phone voice" is LOUD--normally he is soft-spoken so this makes all of his phone play funny.

A normal conversation goes something like this.............

"HI GRANDMA?  ARE YOU THERE (fake laugh) YEAH (more fake laughter) ARE YOU AT HOME?  BYE!"

Bangs phone back on the hook, and is immediately snatched back up to his ear.

"HI  I'D LIKE A PEPPERONI PIZZA AND A CHEESEBURGER--THANKS!"

Most of the time I tune him out, but yesterday his conversation was different.

It went like this.............

"HARRY?  CAN YOU HEAR ME?  HARRY ARE YOU THERE?  HARRRRRRRYYYYYYY."

He doesn't know any Harry's. :)

Sugar Pea

I think I have the best job in the world!

Stinker

See that little blond fellow on the far right?

Well, he just turned two, and he is out to prove it to the world.

He threw all my baby bottle nipples in the trash yesterday.

I had JUST WASHED them.

Given a chance he will sit in mud puddles--

flush bathtub plugs down the toilet--

stop the dishwasher mid-cycle, 

and generally cause chaos wherever he goes.

When you scold him for something his response is to shout "All right!"

He recently discovered that wacking people with a fly swatter is much more exciting than killing flies.

But when he asks me if he can kiss the baby, and gently brushes her tiny cheek with his pudgy lips..........

my heart melts. 

Night Owl

I love sleep, and I need quite a bit of it to feel my best--7 to 8 hours a night.

However, as a mom, I rarely sleep a full night without interruption.

Currently my baby has a cold, and her congested breathing often wakes me with a start.

I used to dread this.

I would go to bed at night praying "Please help them sleep--so that I can too!"

I have learned some strategies though for "night prowling" with a baby or toddler that make it easier.

Prepare--if you know that your baby will need medicine, a bottle, a drink etc during the night put it beside your bed so you can grab it quickly if they wake up.


Relax--if you are walking the floor with the baby resist the urge to look at the clock and repeatedly calculate  how much sleep you are missing.  A tense mother doesn't help a baby go back to sleep.


Enjoy--snuggle your little one while you can--before you know it they will not need you during the night.


Distract--sometimes I read a book with a low light on, and before I know it my little one is snoring again.


Pray--I do some of my best praying at night--often at night I think of some of our friends who live (literally) on the other side of the world, and who are awake and working at that very moment.

What are some of your strategies for coping with wakefulness at night?

Smile

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” 
― Dr. Seuss

Sacrifice

Currently I'm struggling with something.

Every year our church has camp meetings just across the state line about 150 miles from where we live.

I've been attending quite regularly since I was a baby.

This year and last year we've had to miss them.

To go out of the state with a foster child requires written permission from the birth parents.

We already had a wedding this month that required an out-of-state permission slip.

Birth mom is not real cooperative about this, and we figured once a month was pushing it.

The sweet little gal who is currently snoozing in my arms is totally worth this.

But there is a part of me that struggles with this.

Being a parent is hard.

You will miss important events because your children are sick.

You will lose sleep, dignity, and privacy.

It just comes with the territory.

~~~~~~~~~

Little Boys

Upon hearing a bit of scuffling in my younger boys bedroom this morning I entered To get them up.


"Good morning" I sang out cheerfully, and this is what I heard in reply.


"I poop!!!!" (from the two year old)


"I didn't pee the bed mom!" (from the three year old)


Bodily functions are a big part of their world right now. :)

Lullaby

I've been singing to babies for almost nine years now.

There's something soothing to both momma and baby about a soft song.

I sometimes just hum a never-ending medley of tunes, but there are a few songs that I have sung to every one of my children.

"Follow the Path of Jesus" --this is a hymn, but it is also my prayer for my children.

"That Little Boy of Mine"--I'm told that my Grandma sang this song to her children.  You can use the link below to listen to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8o-9wjVHIo&feature=related

"Jesus Loves Me"--one of the first songs our children learn to sing themselves.

What are your favorite lullabies?

Family

Having a place to go - is a home.  Having someone to love - is a family.  Having both - is a blessing.  ~Donna Hedges

My Second Son

This morning I saw his blue eyes sparkle as he watched a plumber pull a hairbrush from our toilet.  Instead of being appalled he was fascinated, and I smiled. 

He is my ever curious son who pushes every button, and dismantles every toy just to see what will happen.

I sometimes wonder who, or what he will be when he grows up. 

He has caused me a lot of worry in his seven years because he tends to do first, and think later.

Sleep is an unnecessary nuisance to him.

He is the last to go to sleep and the first awake--life is much too interesting to waste sleeping.

If I lose something (and I frequently do) I always ask him first, and often he knows where it is. 

He is my official "baby watcher."  When I have a job that requires a lot of concentration he is the one I ask to help with the little ones. 

In personality he is very different from me, but I love him for it!

He smiles and flits his way through his days like a slightly over-caffeinated angel making impulsive choices that cause me to sigh, but at the end of the day curling up to me on the couch--all angles and elbows, but full of impulsive love for his mom.

Facing My Fear

 I have a couple of secret fears--especially in relation to foster parenting

Things that I'm pretty sure I would not handle well.

This past week one of those fears became a reality.

I found head lice on my children.

I very nearly lost it.

I washed bedding,

I scrubbed heads with weird smelling chemicals,

I nit-picked. (literally)

I fretted and stewed until my husband could come home and look at my head. ( Which itched like crazy )

I called everyone who we had been in contact with for the last couple of days.

And at the end of the day I realized something profound.

HEAD LICE ARE NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't wish the crawly little bugs on anyone, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

  Many loads of laundry washed in hot water.

 Lots of head scrubbing and holding squirmy toddlers still, but we all survived. 

Somehow my imagination had ranked head lice up there with a national disaster, and it's really not.

Have you ever faced your worse fear, and realized it's not as bad as you thought?

Did I Really Just Say That?

Want to listen in on a phone conversation I had earlier today?

It went something like this.

Me, "Hi D- I'm so glad I got ahold of you. I was wondering if you could babysit for me tomorrow?"

D- "Sure!  I have a little girl I'm babysitting right now, but I don't have her till Wednesday."

Me, "Oh good, it would just be four of the kids, I thought to make it easier on myself I would only take three with me to the Dr's office. "

Did I really just tell someone that taking three toddlers to the Dr's office would be easy?

Riding The Waves

How am I doing--you ask?  Well, it's definitely NOT boring around my house these days.

 Oh, and if you like holding cute little people, or changing not-so-cute little diapers I might hire you. :)

Actually considering what our family has been through in the last seven days I would say we are surviving pretty well.

We have had a nasty bout of stomach flu, and two year olds are not very good at "hitting the bucket."  ( Thank you Lord for steam cleaners.)

Just to make things interesting we've also had some respiratory yuckiness going on.  One child with pneumonia, and several with nasty coughs and congestion.  For the record I think the pneumonia started before they came to our house.

Other than that we are having all kinds of fun with Duplos, and blocks, and toy cars, and babies.

Everyone is sleeping good at night.  Especially one very tired momma, and one pretty tired daddy.

I guess the best way to describe it is to say we are riding the waves--not sinking beneath them.

Next week I'll try to get back to more regular posting.

For those of you who have been praying for us---Thank You!!!

What's Going On At My House

I've been trying and trying to think of a way to write this post.

We've had some excitement around our house--yes we have!!

Almost more excitement than I can stand!

Our two little foster boys had birth dad's rights terminated this past week.

Making them "wards of the state" (I hate that phrase--it sounds so cold)

Officially opening up our home for more foster children.

Did I mention that we are licensed for a maximum of three children?

Friday morning I got a phone call asking if we could take twin two year olds and their three year old brother.

I laughed ( kind of like Sarah in the Bible when God told her she would have a baby )  and then told the case worker that we would pray about it.

I was expecting my husband ( the calm rational one ) to say "no".

Instead he said "I know it doesn't make any sense, but I think we are supposed to say yes".

By 6:30 Friday night we had three more little people in our home.

Ages of children living in our home are 9, 7, 3, 2, 2, 2, 18months.

Make a note of the fact that there are three two year olds---I hope I survive. :)

Oh, and one of the twins is a girl. :)

Saying "yes" to God is one wild adventure!!!!!