I usually consider myself to be an extremely lucky person, but my dealings with the army is the big exception. I sometimes think there is a conspiracy out to get me, because the only thing I can count on is things going awry, particularly when Nick travels. It's more a matter of "how" and "when" than "if." Nick told me awhile ago that he'd be gone the end of March on a work trip, and, because I live one day (or rather hour) at a time, I didn't think much of it. One morning a couple of weeks ago, I got to thinking about the kids' spring break from Mom's Day Out and google enlightened me to the fact that Nick's work trip and Spring Break just-so-happened to coincide. Awesome.
Knowing that if I needed to get anything from the store, I'd have to take all the kids with me (or pre-arrange to go out with a couple of baby sitters,) I prepared for Armageddon the Saturday before Nick left (he left at dawn on Sunday morning.) He stayed up Saturday night to finish washing some items he needed to pack and when I later woke up to pump, he notified me that our washing machine had finally died. How very timely.
There's just been a compilation of out-of-the-usual frustrations: Jamesy boy and Emmy waking up at night, a bum laptop charger and some schizophrenic weather impeding our ability to run the wiggles out. Sleep has been really hard to come by, all these months of poor sleep and then this particularly bad week (between multiple baby feedings or bad dreams) has caught up to me. I average a middle of the day nap about once a month, but this week I have been desperate for one. It seems that when the stars align and I finally find a quiet minute where everyone should be sleeping, someone undoubtedly wakes up crying or needing something just as I drift off. It'd be laughable if I were well rested.
The latest curveball is that, due to weather, Nick's return from Fort Lauderdale has been postponed by two days...I just keep hearing "the song that never ends" but rather "the spring break that never ends" over and over in my head. Someday in our future, when everyone is a tad more self-sufficient, this will be a fun opportunity to go on an adventure, but I'm all done with this year's "stay-cation!"
I decided on a little game to play with myself to attempt to keep focused on the positive instead of allowing myself to get consumed with the exhaustion. I've kept my camera close to take pictures of anything and everything that brings a smile to my face...
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| Sis loves playing in the backyard, particularly going down the slide. She climbs to the second rung on the ladder and gets stuck, and kindly asks for a boost. |
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| Sweet, patient little Juju. |
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| When Daddy's away (and when he's not) it's all hands on deck! Emmy does a wonderful job folding the cloth diapers, socks and towels! I start 'em young helping around the house! She and Hannah love having jobs to do, they stand a little taller when they've finished. ;) |
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My Emmy, digging in the dirt in a skirt and glass slippers. That pretty much says it all.
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| I taught Emmy how to tie a bow on my flannel pant drawstring one night before tucking her into bed. She woke up the next morning and grabbed my pants while I was in the shower so she could keep practicing. |
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| Sis found a little ray of sunshine. |
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The babies are on the verge of cutting teeth. They chew on anything and everything.
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Planting our seeds. One night Emmy asked me no less than five times, as I was trying to inch out of her room at bedtime, if I would remember to buy some seeds for her when I went to the store while she was in school. She also said that if I forget she'll remind me. Relentless, that one! I came through, so we filled some egg cartons and planted the flower seeds as well as some basil, italian parsley and cilantro seeds. The kids have been so excited watching them grow!
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Emmy will listen to a book on CD during her quiet time each day and, the very moment it finishes, she comes downstairs to sit with me while I pump. We watch our favorite cooking show together, The Pioneer Woman. We will sometimes get inspired to make one of the recipes she makes on the show after quiet time. This afternoon we made handprint sugar cookies. :)
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| The first time Emmy's ever written the words "I love you." I treasure this piece of paper. She taped it to the trampoline and I have left it there all week, it's the pep talk I needs when the going gets tough. |
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These two hold hands whenever they are side-by-side and it melts my heart every time.
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| The first sign of life in our egg carton planters!! Emmy has been diligently watering and tracking their growth! |
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| Sissy learning to dribble the soccer ball. |
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| Still stuck on the second rung. |
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| Emmy taking her turn at dribbling. |
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Emmy's fascinated by the trees and eager to climb them...This was her first attempt at climbing a tree. She did it all by herself. :)
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| Sis was eager to climb too. In her snow boots. :) |
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| So gross. I couldn't help but laugh. |
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Seriously schizophrenic weather.
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| Love!! |
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| I can't get enough of this little tush! She has been scooting chairs around the house to reach things on the counter. It is not uncommon to find her at the sink in one of the bathrooms washing something. :-P |
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| Breakfast time! |
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| Muffins! Sis is super excited to help us cook these days! Especially when there's chocolate involved! |
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| The little stinker is addicted to looking at family pictures and videos on my phone (I don't do games.) She knows that she's not supposed to, so she hides from me. :-P |
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| Hide-and-seek! Hannah counts to 13 and then jumps to 16 and just keeps saying 16 over and over and over again. :) |
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Where's Emmy? ;)
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| Hmmmm...Hannah surveying the backyard in her hunt for Emmy. ;) |
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| Chasing Thomas! |
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| Darla decided to sleep with Emmy one night...I found her up there at 3 in the morning when I went in to feed the twins... |
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| ...and she was still there at 7! |
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| Emmy loves to cuddle her sibs! |
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| Working on a care package! |
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| The first sign of spring! Cherry blossoms! |
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We left the house to mail our care package, which was cause for celebration with some lunch and milkshakes! (Of course we paid for it later and were 3/3 with belly aches. :( It was good while it lasted, though!) Sis, on her own accord, raised her milkshake and said "Cheers!"
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| Emmy learning how to knead bread dough. |
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| We painted nails and each of Emmy's fingers is a different color, her choice of course. |
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| Coloring Frozen pictures together. As an aside, we watched the movie "Frozen" for the first time this week, too. Oh my gosh did we all love that movie. I could go on and on about it's merits, but I am beyond grateful for a Disney princess for my girls to admire who has depth of character, exhibits behavior that is consistent with my value system, heck, doesn't wear a mid-riff or cleavage revealing outfit, and has greater purpose beyond waiting for a man to come rescue her with a kiss. That was definitely something to smile about. |
