A Mom's Life

This is what happens when you have no clean jammies and 3 older sisters.

For reasons I still can't quite figure out, the start of the school year has not really given me a whole lot of extra time to get things done.  I {wrongly} assumed that once the three older ones were off for the day that everything would be a piece of cake.  Now, don't get me wrong -- it is still infinitely easier to take care of 2 kids than it is to take care of 5, but I am still waiting for a whole bunch of free time to fall into my lap.  Ha!  Between laundry, housework, meals, grocery shopping, doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, school stuff, church stuff, etc. -- there just aren't enough hours in the day.  And we don't even do any extracurriculars!  

Because everyone loves a travelogue, let me walk you through the high points and the low points of the last couple of weeks.  To begin with, I'm in the process of weaning lover boy.  He is also cutting his one year molars. This is NOT a good combo.  He has been an emotional wreck for the last little bit and even though this week is supposed to be the first week he's completely weaned, I can't NOT have mercy on the poor babe when he's waking up in the middle of the night and freaking out. 

How can I deny that little face?

In addition to that drama, I lived through dentist appointments for the 3 older kids and myself last week, endured a 2 hour delayed start for school on Wednesday, attended parent meetings for both Grace and Sophie's Girl Scout troops, and experienced a complete and total breakdown after the car wouldn't start in the parking lot in 100 degree heat (or at least it felt that way) after a grocery shopping trip with the two little ones right around nap time on Friday afternoon.  Fortunately, Scott was able to come to my rescue and the car started up again after a little while.  And luckily the day ended better then it started, and a high point of the evening {at least for me} was seeing how excited the kids were for the "new" shows that came on that night and then watching them altogether as a family.  It totally reminded me of being so excited for our TGIF Friday night shows when I was a kid -- although I'm not quite sure if "My Babysitter's a Vampire," "ANT Farm," and "Jessie" are quite in the same league as "Full House," "Family Matters," and "Step by Step."  Hahahahaha.

After my 12 mile run on Saturday, I came home hoping to be able to take it easy for the rest of the day and ended up being semi-successful.  I didn't snap any pictures, but it was an entertaining sight to see first Sophie, then Jane, and finally Ethan succumb to my pleadings to PLEASE rub my feet.  Hahaha.  And then, Sophie made my day when she agreed to play with my hair while I laid on the couch and popped in Pride & Prejudice.  I even managed to get a nice little snooze in while all this was taking place.  Before that happened, though, I had to get a picture of Sophie's get-up that she dashed downstairs to get changed into after watching the Bennett sisters getting ready for their ball.

On the prowl for her Mr. Darcy.

My time on the couch eventually came to an end, and after spending the afternoon yelling at the kids for making messes, fighting, not getting chores done, etc. (a definite low point), we were rescued by a call from some friends to come over and play after dinner so we could enjoy the beautiful weather outdoors together.  Everything is always better with friends.  

Ethan is taking orchestra this year at school.  He REALLY loves playing his newly rented violin.  He especially likes to set up camp right in the middle of the family room on the floor like this when the room is a mess and there is chaos and disaster surrounding him.  And he especially likes to do this when HE is the one who is supposed to be cleaning up the room.

This week had a fun start with some more doctor's appointments -- Grace sprained her foot while jumping on the neighbor's trampoline on Sunday, and Jane had a follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist yesterday morning and a dentist appointment this morning.  The rest of the week will be consumed with LAUNDRY {there are literally mountains that need to be moved}, visiting teaching appointments, and putting together boxes and bags for a charity drive {and FINALLY getting rid of all those piles in the corner of our bedroom} by Thursday morning.

And that's a wrap.  Whew!  If only Jane were still taking naps.  Then I would REALLY have enough time on my hands.  Hahahaha.  It's a good thing they're all so cute and I love them so much.  Because otherwise this job of mine would be the pits.   Hahahahaha.   

We've almost got a walker!