Days without Daddy--Day 4

or

Anyone want a Toddler?

Last night I crawled into bed and found 2 dollies (naked) a torn up book, a cup of water and a pair of shoes. I chuckled and crawled into bed, ready to fall sound asleep. But sleep didn't come. And after a while, a certain 2 year old toddler did. So, okay, I thought that it would be sweet to sleep with OG, after all I'm the only one in a big bed, there would be plenty of room for the two of us!

Wrong!

What I didn't know when I agreed to this cuddle-fest was that she insisted on it being a cuddlefest, as in she slept mere centimeters away from me for the whole night. That, however, was only when she slept. OG has a remarkable knack for sleeping for about an hour and then being awake, tossing and turning and playing and cuddling even closer to me. So we were up at 1, 2, 3:30 and somewhere around 5 a.m. and she was "up" for the day just before 7 a.m. I informed her that I don't get up until my alarm goes off (around 7:30). So she talked at me for the next half hour. I used the word talked loosely, because the sound of her voice woke her siblings before my alarm went off as well.

However, despite the way that the night went, the day has gone well. God has been present, in today, which has been really good so far, but also in the past weekend when things weren't going so well. Although I don't have adequate words to express the sense that even though we were tired and crabby with each other, the Holy Spirit was in our midst. He allowed me to laugh at frustrating times, he reminded me of God's goodness to me when I am crabby and tired and don't like His plan, and He helped my girls feel safe and confident at bedtime. And today God is with us as well, preparing for us an unexpected playdate and lunch with women I don't know and then giving me and the kids a warm home to spend a simple dinner with. God is good, all the time.

The pictures below are from our friend's house this evening. J and K had a blast playing hockey and soccer and playing on their playset. The four Postman kids loved playing with my three and there were always enough hands to help, it really was a great evening. The bottom picture is my only child who doesn't seem to be afraid of large dogs. OG was quite smitten with Beaudelaire, the dog on the leash and spent a lot of time petting and standing near and talking to this fascinating creature.

Days without Daddy (Days 1, 2 & 3)

Wow, that's about all I can say, Wow! Eric is in Florida, working, and I am home with the three kids. Last time we did this, it was fantastic and wonderful, if just a bit too long. The kids and I had fun, played around and were pretty busy. This time, not so much. Today, the snowy weather sort of suited my mood--beautiful and captivating, yet at the same time unpleasant and unwelcome.

There are quite a few tired people in this house--and tired little people whine and cry and complain, tired big people don't handle that very well. That said, there is room for reflection and quite a bit of humor amidst the frustration and end-of-the-ropeness.

First, we spend an evening with dear friends in Zeeland where J got to try out all his new (and secondhand) soccer gear and K walked around most the evening in a tutu and tiara! OG dresses up, just trying to keep up with the other two!

Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday, however, were not great days in this house. I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, there was lots of crying "Mommy, _____ won't share! Mommy, make OG go away! Mommy, I wanted the pink cup! Mommy, I don't like your plan!" You get the picture.

After a painful (for me) bed-time last night--where all three were in tears at one point or another, I relented and K ended up sleeping with OG after OG had fallen asleep in our bed. It was so sweet after it wasn't aggravating.

I resolved to make today, Sunday, a better day. And for the most part it was. But today, all three missed Daddy! In church, J declared that he had no friends at all, none except Daddy and that he wanted to go home. Most of the early part of worship he spent close to tears. OG talks about Daddy home all the time--like when she is going to bed, Daddy home in the morning. It's sweet. And I've decided that the reason K doesn't like her room right now is that she misses her daddy and wants to be close to someone.

Although I know we'll be okay for the next couple days, we do get busy again when the week starts, we are a better home and a better family with our daddy in it. So, with that we send our prayers to Daddy, that he stay safe and come home to us quickly. We love you!

Coming Soon--Days without Daddy!

Yeah, yeah, Eric's out of town and I need to be creating these fantastic blogs full of charming stories that wow everyone with my sense ofhumor and creativity--well, tonight I'm just beat, so I'm going to bed and pictures and poetry will be available for the masses tomorrow!

Oh, I was supposed to keep that?

Today has been a lesson in the humility of being, well, a human--who sometimes doesn't get things to right. Case in point: those little green immunization cards that the hospital and doctor record all the immunizations a child receives, well, you are actually supposed to keep them, and keep them up-to-date and then be able to present them whenever another doctor needs them. I don't remember anyone ever telling me that--it was never mentioned in my pre-natal classes or at the first doctor appointment or even at the hospital. So today when the doctor's office called to remind us of an appointment and to bring those records with us, I was stumped as to how to do that and honestly felt that somehow this made me a failure as a parent. Especially since I searched the whole house for the dumb thing that I knew I had been kicking around for a few years (he is five after all.) Luckily, I have a gracious doctor's office who forgave me and said that this was a minor thing, but we laughed together at the reminder for humilty. I guess today was my own learning moment.

The Joys of Motherhood

In the past few weeks, my sense of contentment in mothering has increased ten-fold and there have been some moments that make thankful, happy, and at-peace with the reality that I am a stay at home mom. Lest you think all is roses, I am learning that sometimes roses are hidden underneath the laundry and a pile of dirty diapers, covered in a layer of dust or sometimes packed away in the attic where I have to look really really hard to find it, but it is always there.

One example, the time change sucks! Obviously the people who feel the time change is necessary do not have children at home, becuase every time we adjust our clocks an hour, my kids are screwed up for at least a week. This time change is no exception. The other night K and OG were up for at least an hour in the middle of the night. At one point the giggling sisters decided that it was no longer time to hang out in bed and went downstairs and turned on all the lights (I presume that had I not caught them and sent them back to bed they would have each gotten their own breakfast at 3 a.m.) Last night, It was just K--who I had the opportunity to snuggle close to in bed for 2hours before she finally fell asleep. (See, I found the rose, it was covered by a layer of exhaustion)

But other things, they are learning the value of quiet time, J is reading more and more and learning how to spell and write. He proudly tells me that he knows how to write "fox" I assume that it is becuase it is Eric's favorite animal--No mommy, he informs me, its becuase that's the channel NASCAR is on. Ah ha. K is starting to write her letters, but more importantly is confident enough to break out into dance whenever there is music playing--and she often asks for dancing music. At night, J & K cuddle up to me and we read a chapter or two of Charlotte's Web together. OG is learning how to be a part of this family and really has thrown some of the most fantastic temper tantrums in the past few days. Really, I still haven't figured out why.

It's remembering these things in the midst of all the other things that I can't get done, the things I want to do but don't have the energy for, or even the things that completely pass my by, these are the things that keep me going as a mommy. And yes, I do love my job.