Day In The Life: Spring 2012

I love doing these "Day in the Life Posts" along with Laura and company!  I don't know why I like to read about the days of random strangers, but somehow it is therapeutic.  Or something.

Noah- husband

Deacon-8

Roman-6

Lincoln-4

Berean-2

Everyn-4 months

SATURDAY

Whoo-hoo!  It is my weekend off!  I always have tons of things that I want to get done and I always want to get an early start...unfortunately, when Saturday morning rolls around I am usually exhausted (I work Thursday night shift so Friday night sleep is "catch-up" as well as maintenance).

At 8:58 I decide it is probably time to get up.  Noah is already downstairs and Everyn has been in bed with me for about a 1/2 hour for her morning nursing session.  The boys are running around the house and Berean is just waking up.  Berean hasn't been napping, and her night time sleep has been lengthening.  

Hanging with a sweet baby is a great way to start the morning!

Everyn usually stays awake for maybe 45 minutes in the morning before jamming her fingers in her mouth and going back to sleep.

I head down to the kitchen where Noah is cooking.  The boys are ready to head outside.  Too bad it is a cold and miserable day.  Deacon asks me for a hair cut, so I grab the clippers and we head out to the deck.

The 2 younger boys are traumatized by the clippers and prefer their Grandma to cut their hair with a scissors.  Deacon is brave, however, and sits nicely for his hair cut.

Meanwhile, Roman pokes around the kitchen.  I wish he would unload all those dishes while he hunts for food!

Deacon with his crew cut!  I like my boys to have short hair.  Not only does it look nice and neat, but they swim a lot and the chlorine is pretty hard on their hair.

The kids had already eaten their eggs, cereal and toast for breakfast.  This is a half eaten bowl of the fabulous egg/mushroom/onion concoction that Noah made up for me.  I love that he cooks.

0945: Deacon and I head out the door so I can take him to his choir practice.  I drop him off and return some library books and mail some letters.  Then I drive around trying to figure out where our oil change people moved to.  I have an appointment, and I know approximately where the new location is, but the lack of a sign makes it a challenge.

I drop the car off and briefly talk with my neighbor who is picking his car up.  Interesting how the place has a new location but they still have their old humorless personalities.  I get my ipod cranked up and leave the oil change place on a run.  Due to some boring logistical details, and the fact that I hadn't brought my phone (because I didn't want to carry it on my run), I ran home (2.7 miles) stuck my head in the door and told Noah that I was running back.  Then I ran back (2.7 miles) and picked up the car.  It wasn't the 8 mile run I was planning on, but there are hills involved and it still turns out to be a good workout.  I pick Deacon up from choir practice and we head for home.

Meanwhile, Noah gives Berean her bath...

 plays some Pokemon with the boys...

and pulls Berean off of things.

It cracks me up when the boys come together after being apart.  Here they are in the living room chatting about all the things that happened that morning.

I nurse Everyn and talk Pokemon with Deacon.  Lincoln and Berean play Memory and Everyn joins them when she is done eating.

Deacon spends a lot of time reading now and that is fun to see!  Roman is wandering around somewhere or playing downstairs by himself.

Ever just hanging out in the middle of everything!

Noah has been busy cleaning up the kitchen, and calls out that the sink is clogged.  Too many eggshells.  Good thing I am an expert at unclogging the sink, since I have to do it a lot.  I take the pipes apart, get everything unclogged and running smoothly.  Noah leaves on his run.

Lincoln is sent out to bring the compost to the compost pile.  He loves feeding the worms.

Everybody eats lunch and we get the presents together  for a birthday party for one of Deacon's friends.  Deacon makes an origami penguin for the card.

1345: Time to go to the party!  This time Everyn comes with Deacon and I.  We drop Deacon off at his friend Josh's  house and I get to see their new countertops and backsplash.  Fun!  Everyn and I then head over to Kohls to spend our Kohl's cash.  I pick up new minimalist shoes for Deacon and a present for my niece's birthday.  Today is car maintenance day, so next it is on to the tire place.  The wait is an hour and a half, but I decide to do it because waiting with just Everyn beats going on a weekday with all of the kids.

The tire guy is chatty about Everyn.  Tire guys are often not chatty about babies, but this guy and his wife had just had a baby so he was all into names and cuteness etc.  Of course we need new tires, so I ok all of that and we sit down to wait.  It actually is a nice wait.  The baby nursed and dozed, I read a book and make a couple of quick phone calls.

At 1615 the car is done.  I gotta get Deacon by 1700 and his friend's house is right by the tire place.  I read in the car a little and call Noah to check in and then head over to get Deacon.  Deacon had a good time at the birthday party- they had gone to one of those indoor trampoline places and that kind of thing is right up his alley.

At home I get the report that Berean had napped, and the boys and Noah had played some more games.  Screen time had commenced and Deacon joins right in.  I check email/blogs/facebook.  Yes, this is my messy office corner of our bedroom.  I need more space!  There is so many of us living here...or maybe I just need to be neater...

We eat supper (maybe hamburgers on the grill?  I can't remember)  and I propose a 20 minute clean.  The whole family, minus Everyn, cleans for 20 minutes straight.  I had boys unloading the dishwasher, vacuuming and picking up toys and Noah was busy scrubbing bathrooms.

It looks so nice!

Lincoln showing off his work.

Lincoln jumping on a mattress.  For some reason the boys spent the weekend sleeping on their mattress on the floor.  They like to change it up periodically.

Oh, here are Deacon's new minimalist shoe.  He loves them.

Berean is just hanging out.  Her job was to line up the shoes, which she did with great zeal. I was concerned about her elephant purse strangling her, so I tied some knots in it (after this picture).  She was not happy.

Cleaning up the kitchen.  I sweep the floor about 5 times a day.  It should be 10.

After everything is clean, Noah and I put the girls to bed. Then Deacon and Noah and I sit down to play Settlers of Catan while the younger boys play Wii.  Deacon picks up on the game very quickly and actually ends up beating us.

We end the evening with a snack of brownies....

and then after a jumping chestbump, the boys head off to bed.

I forgot to document what happened after the picture, but I am sure we probably stayed up too late. Maybe we watched a movie.  I just can't remember...

Waiting

I am waiting for my dear husband to load some new photos onto the computer.

Let me say this again, in case anyone is reading this who hasn't before:

I don't put the pictures onto my computer.  That is Noah's job.  I do not need any more jobs, I do not want any more jobs.  If I learn how, I will suddenly have another job. And I do not want it.

And so I wait.

But, as I wait, here are a few things for you to consider:

(I know some of these things are repeats from facebook, which is where I put most of my kid quotes, but some people don't have facebook, and so for them- I repost here)

1. Noah says he doesn't like facebook, but he takes my page over and posts inflammatory comments under my name.

2. Deacon was reading the mail over breakfast.  He then said, "Mom, I was thinking we should get this maid service, but, after reading the brochure, I decided that we didn't need to.  You see, nowhere in here does it say that the Maid will pick up your son's toys."

3. The other day I was teaching Deacon about superlative and comparative adjectives.  While this was going on the little girl with sharpie radar came across a sharpie and scribbled on the inside of my cabinets.  I have always felt that superlative and comparative adjectives were a useless subject to study, and now I feel even more hatred towards them.

4. I am counting calories in an effort to lose 8 pounds.  (I am three above my prepregnancy weight and I would like to drop an additional 5).  I am using an online (free) calorie counting/exercise entering tool. I don't think they are giving me enough calories a day.  I am pretty sure I eat 3000 calories a day as a general rule, and I have lost most of my pregnancy weight.  Eating only 1500 calories a day (pre additional exercise calories) will lead me to become quite gaunt, which is not what I am going for.

5. I have a bum shoulder,wrist and hip.  I am not sure what I did, but it isn't good.  I am trying to decide if I should keep running/swimming/writing lists or if I should stop any and all activities in an effort to let them heal.

6. Berean saw Everyn smiling and said, "Her is happy".  Oh look, I have a child that is in tune with feelings at a young age.  Amazing.

7. I watched "Cheaper By the Dozen".  Parts of it hit home.

8. At the Y today I was talking with 2 other mothers who have 4-6 children.  We were talking about laundry woes.  I am not alone in the struggle/drama of doing laundry in a busy household.  The conversation moved on to being told we must "have our hands full."  In comparing notes we realized that after the initial comment, if we respond in a positive way, we usually get told that the person(if they are a woman past child bearing years) always wished that they had had more kids.

9. Can I say it again?  No one ever wishes that they had less kids, but I have run into people over and over again that regret stopping when they did.  Interesting. (Obviously, some of the reasons were beyond their control, but it still is interesting to think about).

10.  We bought Deacon minimalist running shoes with toe slots.  He thinks they are awesome.  He also got to be a victim at the Y today for a lifeguard training exercise.  Fun, fun!

Controversial Monday

Well, actually it is Saturday.  Or maybe Sunday.

I started my yogurt too late, so now I am up at 1am, tending to it.

And the house is quiet.

Have you seen the controversial "Breastfeeding Baby Contemplates an Oreo Cookie" ad?

Google it.  You can see both pixilated and nonpixilated versions.

Apparently it was not meant to be circulated into the public arena, but it got leaked.

I think it is awesome.

And I think it is super funny how goofy people are about it.

There are scantily clad women all over advertisements- why exactly is this making people so uncomfortable?  It is an airbrushed breast, just one and covered up mostly by a sweet baby head.

On the other side are people that are all up in arms over the the fact that the baby is looking at a processed, nutrition lacking Oreo cookie.  How could you even consider giving your child that morsel of evil goodness?

Personally, I love it.  Not only is it witty, but I also like that it portrays breastfeeding as a part of real life. Normal life.

And breastfeeding is a part of real life.

What do you think?

Girls

If only her face was as clean as it is cute!

Typical outfit: 3 shirts and Elmo pants!  There are just  too many fun things to wear!

We finally got a smile on camera!  Too bad she is wearing blue, Deacon says she looks like a boy...

Everyn sticks out her tongue if someone does it to her, she belly laughs if you talk to her or make  silly faces.  She is quite a charming baby!

Decisions

Last week, after I worked a charge shift at the hospital, I came home and felt incapable of making decisions.  Noah kept pressing me to give my opinion on something and I just couldn't do it.

For the most part I am not a bad decision maker.  There are certain kinds of decisions (most involving lots of money) that I struggle with more than others, but for the most part I am fairly decisive.  Noah is not a great decision maker.  Not in the sense that he comes to disasterous conclusions, but more just that he tends to keep pushing them off until they decide themselves (or I decide).  Because of that, I make a lot of decisions around the house.  I also make a lot of decisions about the children, since I am the adult that is in charge of them all day long.  I decide when naps happen (or don't), who goes outside when, who eats what and when, what school work belongs on what day and it just goes on and on.

Since Everyn has been born it seems to have gotten worse.  Part of it is just adding in another person to be responsible for, and part of it is that the boys are growing up.  Now I am not just making decisions for them, I am trying either a) to convince them that my decisions are really in their best interests or b) guiding them to make their own decisions.  Both of those things require much more stamina then simply deciding whether to take my preschoolers to the zoo or the park (those were the days!)

I could feel the decisions wearing on me, and then I went back to work.

I work in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and I usually  have a 2 patient assignment.  Sometimes I float to other ICUs and/or general care floors.  Once again, nursing is full of constant decision making.  Do I hold this med or not?  Is it time to call the MD?  Do I titrate the gtt up or wait?  And just like at home, a lot of these decisions are automatic, and don't induce a lot of stress because they don't even feel like decisions anymore.  But the sheer bulk of them can take a toll.  It is like your brain is always turned on, working, exploring all the angles.

Maybe that is why last night I had a dream in which Berean and I were watching an Elephant (who was behind a fence) and then he jumped over the fence and was free.  Have you ever seen an Elephant jump over a tall fence?  It was pretty awesome.

But I digress.

Sometimes (once a month or so- sometimes more, depending on vacations) I fill in as the charge nurse over 36 beds.  I don't have a "core" charge nurse position.  At times I think I would like that, but those positions are not granted on a part time basis, so I just fill in.  Last week was my first night doing it since I came back. Talk about decision making!  Staffing decisions, acuity decisions, decisions about moving patients - it was a lot of decisions.

Then I get home from work and the boys had tons of questions- "Can we do this?"  "Can we do that?" "Can we eat this?"  "Can we eat that?"  It just accumulates until it is too much and I feel like I need to be alone in a decision free environment.  I am glad that I don't always work charge, I don't think my brain could take it!

Anyone else feel like they are always making decisions?  Is it stressful?  Or is it just me?

Things That Keep Me Going

No, things aren't really that bad, as a whole.  But there are moments, yes, there are moments.

Here is a list of things that have been brightening my days, and keeping me sane during the "moments"

*Berean's constipation struggles seem to be largely resolved.  As I suspected, a lot of the problem was that she didn't like to go so she would hold it and the situation would just get worse and worse.  Now that she is potty trained she doesn't seem to mind going so much and hasn't even needed any miralax.

*She likes to be alone when she poops so that gives her ample opportunities to cover herself in Angry Birds bandaids. (speaking of Angry Birds- why couldn't I have invented that?  Seriously).  Oops.  Maybe that was one of the "moments".

*Everyn's smiles.  That girl is so smiley.  She coos and smiles and coos some more.  When you say "hi" she sounds like she says "hi" back.  If you sing to her she laughs and tries to sing along.  She is very good at charming the socks off of people.

*She is so well loved at the Y drop in childcare that she has become quite accustomed to having someone talking to her and smiling at her all the time.  This can be a problem at home, it is ok though because I am just glad that she is loved :)

*Loving some of the new country songs right now- they are all the "summer" songs that are just kind of fun and lighthearted.

*Awana is almost over!  I have had a challenging group this year, but I try to remind myself that not only am I serving the kids and their parents, but indirectly I am helping my own kids but trying to infuse Godly truths into their peers' lives.  I want them to have all the Godly peers/friends that they can.

*Noah preached on Easter and he called me "hot and talented"

*Berean just babbles and babbles to us.  It just cracks us up.

*Roman (who usually gives me trouble about school work) came up to me today and had done his 3 pages of math perfectly all on his own.

*being able to share a joke with  Deacon and laugh and laugh with him about it because finally we found something that we both genuinely think is funny.  (this is an interesting one because in the past we would laugh together over things, but they were usually things that were funny to him and I laughed because I enjoyed him laughing and seeing the humor in something.  Just this year however, it has changed so that we both can find actual humor in the same things.  Does that make any sense at all?)

*Noah and I are planning a trip for just us (and Everyn).  I am very excited for this (and my guilt is appeased somewhat because I was trying to figure out how to take this trip with the kids and my mom suggested that I not take all the kids along and offered to help watch them.)

*Lincoln plays with the big boys and does an admirable job of keeping up, but I love to watch him play with the younger ones too- he plays a different way when he doesn't have to keep up or save face.

I have been trying to be disciplined about going to bed on time, and we have a busy (like always!) day tomorrow, so I'd better get going! Good night!

Wanted To...

I wanted to write a whole post tonight, but I am just too tired.  This is a picture of Everyn from Easter.  Hopefully I will get some of the other Easter pictures up soon!

The Five

More of Deacon

About 20 times a day I hear, "Mama, I was wondering..."

Deacon is always wondering about something.

Here is some of what has been on his mind:

This afternoon he was carrying Everyn around the kitchen.  He told her that she was "fiesty".  Then he started singing to her "You are a fiesty little baby.  Fiesty, fiesty, fiesty...etc...etc".  This goes on for a few minutes and suddenly he stops and says, "what does fiesty mean, anyway?"

A little bit later Lincoln (being silly- he enjoys asking questions he already knows the answer to) said, "what does 'cup' mean?"  Deacon answered him and then asked me, "what does cup mean EXACTLY?  Is it just something that you drink out of?  Or is there more than that?"  I explained that we drink out of a cup, but reminded him that the word "cup" also stands for the standard measurement of a "cup" that is a specific amount of volume.  He listens to the whole explanation and says, "so what you are saying is that "cup" comes from an old German word?"  WHAT?

"no Deacon, that is not what I said."

"well, I know that a lot of our words come from other languages and there are meanings behind our words".

Maybe I need to speak more clearly?  Or something...

A couple of minutes later he asks, "Mama, I was wondering where do Quesadillas come from?  You know how Pizza comes from France?  Well, I was just wondering about quesadillas."

"Deke, Pizza is Italian.  Quesadillas are from Mexico."

"Oh".

Later on he was babysitting Berean and reading her some books.  After he finished he came and found me and said, "she sure is a hard one to read books to.  She turns all the pages and won't let me do it and then she makes remarks about every page."

Remarks about every page.

Awesome.

I don't Need Much...

My weekend goals:

1. Long run: 8-10 miles
2. Host a gathering in a semi-clean house/yard
3. Plan and execute awesome scavenger hunt for the boys
4. Get everyone to the early service on time
5. Actually keep everyone quiet during church so that I can hear Noah "preach" (he is in charge of the message at the early service at church this week!)
6. Stuff Easter eggs
7. Spend family time reflecting on Easter (if one can reflect with a 8 year olds, 6 year olds, 4 year olds, 2 year olds and  a baby)
8. Softball game!
9. 3 "home date" nights with Noah (we have no babysitters, but home dates are pretty awesome too!)
10. Get a picture of all 5 kids that is frameable
11. Get a picture of Everyn showing off her beautiful smile
12. YMCA x2
13. Return library books on time
14. Hold friend's newborn

It should be a lovely weekend...anyone have any big Easter weekend goals to share?

That is What Girls Like and Other Random Stuff

Life has certainly ramped up to full speed around here.

My 4 day work stretch went well, but now this week I am stuck doing a fatigued catch-up.  Some of it is just because of Easter and some of it is a flurry of yardwork, and some of it is just life stuff that will always be there.

One thing I do know is that we have to stop Lincoln from crawling into our bed about 3am every night.  It is like we have a newborn or something, only the baby is the one that sleeps all night!  Everyn is sleeping from about 8pm until 6:30 to 8:15am ish.  Berean sleeps a solid 12 hours.  Deacon and Roman sleep about 11 hours and Lincoln does too...only he spends half of it in our bed.  I feel bad, but I think it is time for him to spend the whole night in his room, or at least on the floor in our room instead of our bed.

This morning we missed Lincoln's bus.  He was eating his toast and was dressed with shoes on, and I said, "finish up your toast.  We have a few minutes to get you cleaned up before we go out and wait for the bus!"  Lincoln replies, "the bus is here already."  Sure enough, the bus was in front of our house (8 minutes before his pick up time) and by the time I grabbed his backpack and coat it was already gone.

I called the bus company and told them that we had missed the bus, I was driving him to school, but he was going to need a ride home.  I mentioned the fact that the bus was really early.  The lady said, "well, were you aware that his pick up time changed?"  I told her that I had not been informed of that.  Evidently communication of changed pick up time has been a problem, and she apologized for the mix up.

So I packed everyone up and drove him to school.

That is hard.  Next year I will be driving him  to the elementary school for speech, and that is going to be hard too.  Especially since I don't know when his appt is going to be nor do I know how much input I get to have into when it will be scheduled.

Anyway, as we all tromped through the elementary school we were met with a number of "ooohs and ahhs" over the baby from grade school girls.  I smiled at Deacon and said, "Girls like babies.  Remember that."  He gave me a conspiratorial look and responded, "Yep.  Girls like babies, dolls and ponies.  Those are the things that girls like."

Speaking of things that girls like, a friend had posted Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" song on facebook.  I (out of  a vague curiosity) clicked on the link and listened to the song.  Berean was totally into it- all about the Biebs.  Guess we won't be playing anymore of those songs in her presence.

I pulled all the winter coats and stuff today and began the washing process.  I also raked out my garden.  It was made complicated by the fact that my garden rake handle and head separated every other stroke.

One of these days Noah and I have to build a fire and hash some things out- nail down some summer plans. Am I going to join him on a work trip?  Is he going to cut down 3 pine trees or am I (and Deacon) going to have to do it? (joke, joke, Noah. Don't freak out).  How many extracurricular activities are we signing the boys up for this summer?  Where can we put a basketball court?  Strawberries?  Where are we moving the raspberries?  Should we buy another lot?  How about an addition?  Lasik surgery?  Should I dye my hair blond or brown? When is he planning on getting his tattoo?  How dressed up should we make the boys get on Easter? And what in the world should we eat for Easter?

Deep breath.

Can you see we need a fire?  This is some serious stuff we have to talk about.

Berean's New Outfit

And yes...she has started to twirl her hair again...

Everybody Has an Opinion

My Grandpa used to say, "there is more than one way to skin a cat".

Then my mom said it.

And it is true.

So after some experiences lately,

I was going to write a post about it,

but, instead,

I won't.

I am just going to take the phrase to the next generation,

so my kids will also realize that,

there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Everyn