Happy Baby

I’m really enjoying every stage of Emma’s development.  Most recently she has become quite the chatterbox.  On Wednesday, Cary was holding her near the family picture in our living room when she caught sight of it and started laughing and talking up a storm.  Last night after I saw to her needs, we heard a full half-hour of “Ah bah bah baahh.”  Unfortunately, this lengthy serenade took place around 1:30 AM.  While the timing was not optimal, it was definitely preferable to crying.

Emma has also discovered her feet.  When I put her in the bathtub, she thinks they’re the coolest thing ever!  She makes me smile.

Perspective

My little girls are getting big.

Maybe it’s because I have Everett, who is so smart and obedient and two years ahead of them, but I still think of them as little girls.

Spending some time with a newborn in the hospital definitely made them (especially Lana) seem bigger when I came home.  One night last month I heard Maddie crying.  I went in to comfort her and was rather surprised when I picked her up.  Kids always feel different when they’re really relaxed, and she just felt huge.  But what really got me was when I watched an extra kiddo one day.  He is two years old and suddenly my girls looked like big kids.  I’m not just talking about size.  There is quite a difference between seeing an infant next to your other kids and a more independent little two-year-old.  I expected them all to just play and have fun together, but the girls were probably more like little mothers than peers that day.

On March 1^st, my “little” girls turned 5.

In August they will all go to kindergarten.  All day.

On Sundays we always invite my parents over for dinner.  We really enjoy this time with them.  Currently we are using some time after dinner to record my dad’s personal history.  I mentioned that he hadn’t talked about getting married or having kids yet, and he said that raising children had been a wonderful stage of his life.  That hit me pretty hard.  Right now it is easy to feel like raising children is my life.  But it is only a part, and it passes so quickly.  I find great joy in being a mother.

We went for a family walk yesterday, and the girls said that Grandma has no kids.  I said, “Sure she does!  I’m her kid.”  They said they meant little kids.  I told them that someday they would be all grown up and I wouldn’t have any little kids any more.  Their response: “But then you’ll be a grandma.”

I hope so.

Oh Deer.

On October 29th, a deer hit Cary.  Cary was going about 65 mph on a major road when the deer attempted to jump from a bank over two or three lanes of traffic.  (“I believe I can fly!” is a song phrase that comes to mind.)  The deer had grossly overestimated its abilities, and landed right on our van.

When I saw where the deer hit, I could tell that Cary had been protected that day.  The deer could have easily gone right through the windshield and killed him.  Instead, the deer hit and then flew up over the van.  Cary was unharmed.  There were shards of glass in the van, but the windshield held together.  The van was drivable, and since most of the windshield damage was on the passenger side Cary was able to see clearly, finish his commute, and teach his classes for the day.

 

I am so glad that I still have my husband.  We all said prayers of thanks.

I brought a box of baby toys down from the attic yesterday. Today I walked into the livingroom to see Lana and Maddie, each with a pile of baby toys in front of them. They had carefully divided the toys up, and Emma was looking at the box.

Evolution

It all happens so fast!  When did my babies get so big?

The bunkbeds are done!

I hoped for success with this project, but I have been so giddy as I’ve actually seen it come together!  (Ask my kids.  I was actually jumping up and down.)  A real carpenter would probably laugh at me, but I’m pretty proud of myself.

 

I cut the boards Saturday and put together the bed on Monday.  On Tuesday (the girls’ birthday), Cary helped me sand it and I started staining.  At some point, I realized that I wasn’t going to finish it that day.  And I really needed to get ready for the birthday party that would happen the next morning! 

FYI, possible side-effects of building a bunkbed while also trying to take care of 5 children may (and did) include:

• a house that looks like a small but powerful tornado was unleashed within

• a lack of bathing, resulting in undesirable body odors

• mild sleep deprivation

So I stopped staining and started trying to reclaim my home, shower, go shopping, bake cupcakes, make food, and prepare games for the party.  (More on that later.)

On Wednesday, we had a nice party and I took some time to just be mom again.  Cary helped me finish the staining that evening.  On Thursday, he helped me put on the polyurethane.  Today I installed the hardware for the plywood mattress supports and Cary sanded the boards so they fit just right.  I was so glad to have his help!  It is hard to find time for things like this while taking care of the kiddos I did most of the work while Emma was napping and after the kids were in bed.

The girls are thrilled with their new bed.  The only problem was that no one wanted to sleep on the bottom bunk!  We had some tears over that, but will be switching bunks fairly frequently for a little while to give everyone a turn.