Amazing how you can go from feeling beat down and discouraged in your parenting one day, to having a great day the next. I'm sure that I'm not unique in this, but I struggle a lot with feeling guilty about who I am or how I'm doing as a parent. Not present enough, easily distracted, frustrated easily with Aspen, not spending enough one on one time loving or snuggling with each of the kids (well, the older ones), don't lay in bed talking with Aspen often enough, too focused on keeping/getting the house clean, don't read enough to the kids, never help them build puzzles and rarely play games with them, don't spend regular or enough time with God, spend too much time online, have a tough time remaining emotionally engaged with the kids and my husband, and on and on it goes. I was having one of those days yesterday. And I've been wrestling with where to put Journey in Kindergarten for the past couple months - our local public school or Portland Christian with Aspen...
With only 2 weeks left before school starts, I'm really trying to enjoy each laid back morning of summer left. Teague woke me up at 7am this morning. Mom and Dad stopped by just after I woke up to drop Winston off. Aspen is babysitting him for the next three days :) I made some coffee, and got to spend the first 15 minutes of my day with Teague. Aspen, then the girls woke up a while later, we had a simple breakfast of toast and yogurt, and after some cartoons the kids were happy to go outside and play with Winston in the bright morning sunshine (something we haven't seen much of here in August).
After Teague's first nap, I took the kids to the sandhill. I tried to get some group pictures... not the easiest thing to do with 4 kids who would rather run up the sand hill! They all climbed to the top, Aspen multiple times and made friends with other kids there. We stopped at a Mexican food cart, and brought tamales home for lunch. Fun to try something new, and honestly, I wasn't feeling like making another mess of the kitchen!
One of Aspen's "chores" of the day was burning.... He LOVES that chore :) When I went outside to take some pics, he was in the middle of explaining heaven to the girls. "Heaven is where there are all the blankies you could ever think of....." They would ask him if there was a red one, grey one, etc. He told me to watch Willow, she was getting so excited about heaven that he said he was worried she was going to jump in the fire and kill herself, haha (where does he get these things?).
After the fire was almost out, we packed up and headed to the beach. I surprised the kids once we got there by telling them to change into their swim suits that I had packed. They rarely get to play in the ocean for two reasons - 1. mess 2. safety. It makes me pretty nervous to let them play in the ocean when it's just me to watch all three of them in the water. Today the ocean was fairly calm, and the beach was just beautiful.
They had a blast!
We ended our day watching Beetoven while eating dinner. The kids crashed by 8pm, and I still need to clean up the kitchen and make cinnamon rolls for Willow's birthday tomorrow.... Every single birthday I ask myself why in the heck I started this tradition. But then I make them, and am glad I did the next morning. Mark went home to work yesterday, and will be back late tonight in time for Willow's birthday tomorrow. A busy, but typical day in our life right now.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Teague - 9 months & eczema update
Teague is 9 months old now.... I hate how fast time flies! I wish he could stay a small baby longer. He's sitting up really well, and become our little monkey - always reaching for something just out of his grasp! At around 7-8 months, he went down to 2 naps a day. Generally, his schedule is up around 7am, nap #1 at 9am, up around 10am, then another nap around 12:30 or 1pm till 2 or 2:30pm, and then bedtime is around 6:30 or 7pm. I started him out on a eat/wake/sleep type schedule, but he has transitioned to wanting to be nursed to sleep at naps and bedtimes. I've adjusted to that, and honestly, really love this routine. He is so active that his nursing is really interrupted and distracted otherwise. I love having him cuddled into me, content and sleepy.
His eczema has been WAY better lately. I hate to even say or write anything about it, because it seems like just when you things change, but right now he is really good.
Here's the thing about it. I still have no idea what actually causes/triggers it in him. I feel about as clueless and helpless reguarding it now as I did when we started down this road with him 8 months ago. I went through the whole diet, cut everything I possibly could out, and it sort of made things better, but I wouldn't say drastically, and it was definitely a day to day (or really hour to hour) thing. With the short amount of time I have to look back on, there was a definite change in him in May. At the very beginning of May he had 3 teeth come through, and we started juicing everyday. I've noticed a big difference in the way I feel from juicing (it's like a detox for me - way increased regularity and less bloat), and I wonder if that also helped Teague's body rid itself of the toxins that were building up. I was able to add back a lot of foods that I had completely cut out. It was a huge stress relief for me to see him looking so much better and to be able to eat a little more normally (yay, no more rice bread!).
In June, the eczema seemed to reappear which was very discouraging and disappointing for me! June was also a month where everyone in the family took turns being sick with what turns out was strep throat. Teague was also teething with tooth #4. Once his tooth came through, and the family got over being sick, his skin improved. Could it be that his body "super reacts" to stresses that the rest of us aren't bothered that much by?
One day in June, as I was going about my normal day cleaning and putting laundry away upstairs, I was praying about Teague and his eczema. I had this totally random thought that stopped me in my tracks.... "what if this is his 'hedge of thorns'?" These were my exact next thoughts... Wow. That was weird. And Lord, I hope that wasn't you...!
The kids have a book on tape called The Hedge of Thorns. It's an incredible story written in the 1600's. It's basically about how God puts up hedges around us for our protection to keep us on The Path. These hedges can come in the form of hardship, poverty, sickness, protective parents, etc., and when/if we choose to cross the hedge that God has put up we end up hurting ourselves or those around us. The first time we listened to it, I totally cried, and it really made me think a lot...but we hadn't listened to it in months. It was just a totally random thought that crossed my mind, and I haven't been able to shake.
As a parent, naturally I never want to see any of my kids hurting or suffering in any way. While eczema isn't life threatening, it is something that could cause him a lot of stress and pain down the road. Hello, it's on his face! Or how sucky it would be if he isn't able to eat normal foods that everyone else is? But in thinking about all this over the last couple months, I've also come to see that if it is part of God's plan as his 'hedge of thorns' for him, I accept it.
Mark has an extreme personality. In some ways this has been great. He isn't afraid of failure or of trying new things, and this has been part of what has made him so successful. But there is a bad side to an extreme personality where you want to do/try all the bad stuff out (his therory that people are either naturally good or naturally bad may explain what I'm talking about). He also has a body that is very reative, and he has spent a lot of his life not feeling well. As hard as this has been for him, and as terrible as this may sound, I've often thanked God for it. For years I've seen it as a protection for him and me - a hedge of thorns, if you will. For example, where most people could go out and get drunk, be sick for a couple hours the next day, then be fine he would be sick for days. For him, the consequences of doing things like that that could be super damaging to him and our marriage and family are just too high for him to want to do them.
Not sure if I'm making sense here or not, but only God knows Teague - his personality and his future struggles. More than anything, my desire is that he love and serve God. If it takes the struggles of a super sensitive, reactive body to things that other people don't have a problem with to keep him on the path God has for him, then I accept that.
So that's where things are with that. He's looking really good right now, and I've been experimenting with adding a small amount of dairy and nuts back into my diet. I'm also starting to let him try 'people food'. Just going slow, and seeing how he responds to each new thing.
His eczema has been WAY better lately. I hate to even say or write anything about it, because it seems like just when you things change, but right now he is really good.
Here's the thing about it. I still have no idea what actually causes/triggers it in him. I feel about as clueless and helpless reguarding it now as I did when we started down this road with him 8 months ago. I went through the whole diet, cut everything I possibly could out, and it sort of made things better, but I wouldn't say drastically, and it was definitely a day to day (or really hour to hour) thing. With the short amount of time I have to look back on, there was a definite change in him in May. At the very beginning of May he had 3 teeth come through, and we started juicing everyday. I've noticed a big difference in the way I feel from juicing (it's like a detox for me - way increased regularity and less bloat), and I wonder if that also helped Teague's body rid itself of the toxins that were building up. I was able to add back a lot of foods that I had completely cut out. It was a huge stress relief for me to see him looking so much better and to be able to eat a little more normally (yay, no more rice bread!).
In June, the eczema seemed to reappear which was very discouraging and disappointing for me! June was also a month where everyone in the family took turns being sick with what turns out was strep throat. Teague was also teething with tooth #4. Once his tooth came through, and the family got over being sick, his skin improved. Could it be that his body "super reacts" to stresses that the rest of us aren't bothered that much by?
One day in June, as I was going about my normal day cleaning and putting laundry away upstairs, I was praying about Teague and his eczema. I had this totally random thought that stopped me in my tracks.... "what if this is his 'hedge of thorns'?" These were my exact next thoughts... Wow. That was weird. And Lord, I hope that wasn't you...!
The kids have a book on tape called The Hedge of Thorns. It's an incredible story written in the 1600's. It's basically about how God puts up hedges around us for our protection to keep us on The Path. These hedges can come in the form of hardship, poverty, sickness, protective parents, etc., and when/if we choose to cross the hedge that God has put up we end up hurting ourselves or those around us. The first time we listened to it, I totally cried, and it really made me think a lot...but we hadn't listened to it in months. It was just a totally random thought that crossed my mind, and I haven't been able to shake.
As a parent, naturally I never want to see any of my kids hurting or suffering in any way. While eczema isn't life threatening, it is something that could cause him a lot of stress and pain down the road. Hello, it's on his face! Or how sucky it would be if he isn't able to eat normal foods that everyone else is? But in thinking about all this over the last couple months, I've also come to see that if it is part of God's plan as his 'hedge of thorns' for him, I accept it.
Mark has an extreme personality. In some ways this has been great. He isn't afraid of failure or of trying new things, and this has been part of what has made him so successful. But there is a bad side to an extreme personality where you want to do/try all the bad stuff out (his therory that people are either naturally good or naturally bad may explain what I'm talking about). He also has a body that is very reative, and he has spent a lot of his life not feeling well. As hard as this has been for him, and as terrible as this may sound, I've often thanked God for it. For years I've seen it as a protection for him and me - a hedge of thorns, if you will. For example, where most people could go out and get drunk, be sick for a couple hours the next day, then be fine he would be sick for days. For him, the consequences of doing things like that that could be super damaging to him and our marriage and family are just too high for him to want to do them.
Not sure if I'm making sense here or not, but only God knows Teague - his personality and his future struggles. More than anything, my desire is that he love and serve God. If it takes the struggles of a super sensitive, reactive body to things that other people don't have a problem with to keep him on the path God has for him, then I accept that.
So that's where things are with that. He's looking really good right now, and I've been experimenting with adding a small amount of dairy and nuts back into my diet. I'm also starting to let him try 'people food'. Just going slow, and seeing how he responds to each new thing.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Whew....what a night. Feeling very humbled..
Before I start, I must note that Mark left last night to go fishing today.
Most of today was actually a great day with the kids. Teague slept all night from 6:30pm - 6am. I fed him then he went back to sleep till 7:30. I forced myself to stay up after feeding him, made coffee and read my bible until Journey joined me around 7. I made her some tea and we had sometime together until 7:30 when then rest of the kids woke up. I made some amazing scones (something I haven't done in a LONG time), and Michelle came over for the morning. The kids played really well together. After naps we went to the library, and the kids again played really well while I talked to Christina while getting dinner together.
Things went downhill with Aspen when we started eating dinner. There was some major drama with where he wanted to sit which, long story short, ended in him going to bed just after 6pm. Drama for sure, but I didn't really think much of it. Seems normal to have at least one kid have some kind of a problem per night, I guess, although maybe not quite this big. As I started cleaning up, the neighbors came out for their dinner and commented on the drama that had unfolded minutes earlier. Umm yeah, embarrassing! But I still didn't think too much and acknowledged it and said that Aspen was already in bed as a consequence... Rest of the evening normal, actually pretty good now that I only had 3 kids to deal with, haha
Things went downhill with Aspen when we started eating dinner. There was some major drama with where he wanted to sit which, long story short, ended in him going to bed just after 6pm. Drama for sure, but I didn't really think much of it. Seems normal to have at least one kid have some kind of a problem per night, I guess, although maybe not quite this big. As I started cleaning up, the neighbors came out for their dinner and commented on the drama that had unfolded minutes earlier. Umm yeah, embarrassing! But I still didn't think too much and acknowledged it and said that Aspen was already in bed as a consequence... Rest of the evening normal, actually pretty good now that I only had 3 kids to deal with, haha
Well, fast forward a couple hours. I'm at the store, Amelia is babysitting, and I get a call from Katie (our next door neighbor). She was wondering if Mark was out of town....umm, yes....? Well, they were wondering if they could have us over tomorrow night for dinner... We could get take out.... The kids could play, and we could relax...
SO nice. And SO humiliating, embarrassing at the same time.
Oh gosh, They heard the whole thing! The entire, drawn out, 2 year old style fit he had thrown, complete with crying, screaming, begging, more crying and screaming....
Oh gosh, they hear everything...!
On this hill, there is no privacy...
There is no front because they hear you at your worst. Like, literally, they ONLY hear you at your worst...
Dear God, I'm so embarrassed and ashamed. They have invited us over because they feel sorry for me! They want to take some burden off of me for dinner time. I am that person! I am that haggard, over whelmed mom in their eyes!!
Can you say humbled?? Cause I am. They see that Mark has been gone for a few nights, and they feel bad for me....
There are no words. Just freaking embarrassed and humbled.
Thankfully, I had scheduled Amelia to babysit after Teague went to bed. I had planned on going to the mall and doing some shopping, and then maybe stopping somewhere for a drink if I had time. After getting the call from Katie, I was so embarrassed about the whole night, that I was not in the mood for shopping anymore, haha. I ended up at Caldera House to have a beer, and they happended to be having live Irish music going on. It was a great way to unwind, write this, and reflect on the night. I didn't want to go home!
Thankfully, I had scheduled Amelia to babysit after Teague went to bed. I had planned on going to the mall and doing some shopping, and then maybe stopping somewhere for a drink if I had time. After getting the call from Katie, I was so embarrassed about the whole night, that I was not in the mood for shopping anymore, haha. I ended up at Caldera House to have a beer, and they happended to be having live Irish music going on. It was a great way to unwind, write this, and reflect on the night. I didn't want to go home!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Swimming Lessons & Our Day Today
Life with 4 kids, an infant, and especially summer time is super busy and a constant schedule juggling act. I have to juggle multiple feedings and naps around whatever else we have planned for our day, plus try to keep Aspen busy so he isn't bored and bugging his sisters. Since the reason I do a blog is to help me remember what life was like at each stage (and I'm probably the only one reading this), here is a peek into our day today...
Teague, at 8 months old is still waking up multiple times a night... last night he woke up at 12:30am (fed him) and at 3:00am (fed him again). He freaks out if I don't feed him, and with his allergy issues, the fact that all our hardwood floors magnify the sound of his crying, and I'm just too lazy, sleep deprived or both to fight it, I just go along with it. He woke up for the morning at 6:50am so I rolled over and asked Mark to get up with him so I could get a little more sleep.
Side note: It's been amazing to me to see how Mark has changed in his role as a Dad and husband over the years since we had Aspen. With each child, he has become more involved, helpful and emotionally engaged with the babies. This time around, he often gets up with Teague in the night to give him his binky, gets up early with him so that I can sleep a little longer, was comfortable with me leaving him with all 4 kids when Teague was just 6 or 8 weeks old, and will either take him when he's being fussy so that I can get dinner going or take over dinner prep for me. He also cleans up the kitchen and dining room (including sweeping) every night, and almost always puts the older 3 kids to bed while I feed and put Teague to bed. And this is not an easy task! Willow makes bedtime extremely difficult pretty much every night... Yes, he's pretty amazing!
7:10am - I got to sleep a little longer, but forced myself out of bed and into the shower at 7:10am. I got myself showered and dressed for the day.
7:30 - Hearing Teague fussing, I went downstairs and fed him while Mark made juice (we've been juicing daily for the past couple months) and coffee.
8-9am - Willow and I worked together to make up a batch of GF granola and another batch of regular granola, held T for much of this time, wrote up chore lists for kids, To Do list for myself, and got them dressed for the day. Got Aspen and Journey started on their chores.
9 - Teague down for his first nap. I got the other kids started on their chores outside. Most days I have Aspen pull 200 weeds as apart of his chores. Journey has to go outside and pull weeds too, but I don't have an amount for her. She just has to stay out as long as he's out. It sounds like a lot, but only takes him about 15 or 20 minutes. While they were working on their chores, I ran back upstairs to finish drying my hair and doing make up.
9:30-10 - quick kitchen clean up, pack after swimming lessons lunch for kids, get the kids ready for their lessons, eat breakfast
10-10:20 - had to wake T up from his nap (unusual) and quickly fed him while the other kids anxiously waited in the car. Just a little excited for swimming lessons :) Thankfully we took off a few minutes early, because it took forever to find a parking spot. Aspen was alternately praying for a spot and yelling at people to move and hurry up, haha He's got a little of both his mother and his father in him, lol
10:45 - Highlight of the day.... the beginning of the very highly anticipated swimming lessons :) I was able to get them all into their own classes at the same time (yay me!), although I did have to fib a little on Willow's age. She is supposed to be 3 to do a class without me in the water with her, but since that wasn't going to happen, and I knew she would hate being left out of lessons, I 'advanced' her age by a few months, haha
Willow's class
Willow reacted exactly like I knew she would. She resists new things so she refused to look at her teacher or get in the water at first, but a few minutes in, she warmed up, and by the end, she was having so much fun that she was the last kid out of the pool (as in the entire pool) and cried that she had to go.
Journey's class
She looks so little compared to the two boys in her class! I think this class is a bit advanced for her, but hopefully she'll learn a lot!
Aspen's class
He had a bit of a rough start today too. He missed hearing who his teacher was, and wondered around finally jumping into the deep end of the pool and accidentally joining the wrong class. He was so flustered he was ready to quit swimming lessons before they had even started!
Once we got things squared away with his class, he had a great time and made friends with another boy next to him.
Teague's first time down a slide :)
11:30-12:30 - we took stopped at a park to have lunch and play after swimming lessons, then stopped at a Goodwill drop off place to donate some items we've had floating around.
12:30-1pm - unload swimming lesson stuff, feed Teague, put Teague and Willow down for naps and quiet time for Aspen and Journey.
1-2:30pm - lunch for me, quick kitchen clean up, put in 2nd batch of granola to bake. A little veg time on the computer while I ate my lunch, updated my budget program for July, paid some bills online, made a salad for dinner.
2:30 - Aspen and Journey up from quiet time, snacks, sent them outside to play.
3 - Willow and Teague up from their naps. Got Willow a snack, set up the sprinkler for her, tried to do a little cleaning - main bath and sweep main floor - all while Teague was super fussy.
3:30 - fed Teague. Tried to do more cleaning upstairs with a fussy baby in tow, while kids coming in and out with different problems, hungry, someone not playing nicely, etc.
4:30-5:30 - tried to put Teague down for a nap. Had kids clean up the basement, then turned on channel 10 cartoons for them. Continued to try to clean upstairs bath, got Teague up again since he was not interested in napping, sweep floors, start dinner, gave him a little solid food, fed him again.
5:30 - nap for Teague. Continued to work on dinner, Willow 'helped' me with dishes, cleaning up around the house.
6 - Mark home
6:30 - dinner time, got Teague up from his nap.
7-7:30 - worked on getting girls to bed with Mark and finished sweeping their room out.
7:30 - fed Teague again for the last time of the day. Mark finished cleaning up the kitchen, doing the dishes and sweeping, then he and Aspen left for the beach.
8-9:30 - Teague cried and fought bedtime which is quite unusual for him. Willow also fought bedtime until 9pm (not so unusual!) while Journey was asleep by 8:15 or 8:30pm. She's learned to sleep through a lot - including Willow getting spankings!
It was a long day for me today. Normally the kids are down to bed and the house is clean by 8 or 8:30pm. Teague was fussy most of the day (pretty sure teething?), and I felt overwhelmed with the amount of cleaning and effort it took to keep the older 3 busy throughout the afternoon. I'm thankful for a new day tomorrow!
7-7:30 - worked on getting girls to bed with Mark and finished sweeping their room out.
7:30 - fed Teague again for the last time of the day. Mark finished cleaning up the kitchen, doing the dishes and sweeping, then he and Aspen left for the beach.
8-9:30 - Teague cried and fought bedtime which is quite unusual for him. Willow also fought bedtime until 9pm (not so unusual!) while Journey was asleep by 8:15 or 8:30pm. She's learned to sleep through a lot - including Willow getting spankings!
It was a long day for me today. Normally the kids are down to bed and the house is clean by 8 or 8:30pm. Teague was fussy most of the day (pretty sure teething?), and I felt overwhelmed with the amount of cleaning and effort it took to keep the older 3 busy throughout the afternoon. I'm thankful for a new day tomorrow!
Monday, July 9, 2012
4th of July Week 2012
This year, tuna season started super early. Mark's first trip out was June 23rd, and they caught 10. Usually unheard before July! Since the 4th fell in the middle of the week this year, we went down on a Thursday night, the weekend before. Mark had big plans for another tuna trip on Saturday, but started feeling like he was coming down with something the day we left. Remember how June was the month of sickness here? Ugh, somehow, amazingly he hadn't caught it. Well, he wasn't spared. By Thursday night, he was super sick and popping pain meds for his throat. Friday he was worse, and spent most of the day in bed. Thankfully, Grammy and Papa were down for the week at their house so we spent most of the day there so that he could rest.
Saturday's fishing trip was canceled, and Mark (barely able to talk, swallow or eat) decided that he'd better head into the Tillamook ER. The older 3 kids stayed with G & P, while Teague and I took him in to the hospital. It was a good thing we did. The Dr. took one look at his throat and told Mark that had he waited much longer to come in, his tonsils would have abscessed, and he would have been looking at surgery! The dr assumed strep, although wasn't able to take an official test due to how swollen his throat was, gave him a long list of prescription meds to get, and we were off. It took just a day or two before the meds really started kicking in, and we were able to do some fun things as a family.
OceansideOne of our favorite little towns along the Oregon Coast is Oceanside. It's absolutely beautiful, has a laid back feel and a great beach to play on complete with a tunnel through the rocky cliff to another beach (Aspen's favorite). The kids were super excited for the sunny weather, and the fact that they got to play in the ocean.
Teague 7 1/2 months
He loves the beach, and the feel of sand on his feet and in his toes. But for a Mommy, he's not at an easy age to bring to the beach. It takes just a couple minutes of playing, before handfuls of sand make their way to his mouth. It's a mess every time!
Journey 5 1/2
Aspen 8
Love them... Quick pose before they were off and running into the water :)
The beach here is much safer than in Rockaway. I don't normally let them play in the ocean there when it's just me with four kids!
Seriously. No words.
Love my girls.
Love the look on Aspen's face :)
Willow 2 1/2 - fun in motion
Teague's spot with me while we kept an eye on the kids in the water.
Parade!
Mark and both Papa's were tuna fishing for the 4th. I am so thankful Grammy was here to come to the parade with us. The kids had been looking forward to it for months, so we definitely weren't gonna miss it...even with Willow being sick
Ready for the parade to start.
Aspen and Journey ready to get the candy. Willow wasn't feeling good that day (I think strep), and spent most of the parade in the stroller. I was secretly so proud of Aspen and Journey who made sure to fill her bucket with candy, and give her the best picks first (without being prompted).
Daddy's Boy
More fun on the beach....
He's such a boy!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
June 2012
I think June can be summed up in three things...
School ends & Summer begins. Beach. Sickness hits the family.
Aspen finished up 2nd grade and was awarded the June character trait of Patience.
Summer begins...
I was a little anxious about summer break. Aspen is the kind of kid that needs lots of activity and stimulation. Other than first thing in the morning, I don't generally allow the TV to be on, and restrict the Wii time to 45 minutes per day. That leaves a lot of time to fill! The girls, Teague and I had a sort of normal routine around here. They were used to spending much of our time at home playing due to Teague's naps and feedings. They don't get bored or really even bug each other very often. But when Aspen is thrown into the mix.... Yes, things don't go quite as peacefully! He wants Journey to play with him at all times, but either he doesn't always play so nicely with her or they exclude Willow. Both of which cause problems, arguments and some kind of interference from me once things go downhill. The only thing I've come up with so far to help with this is creating daily work/chores for Aspen.
Thankfully, being the age he's at, he's also had a lot of opportunities to do fun things:
Bill & Diana had him over to their house for 4 days with a couple of his other cousins. They had a blast playing outside, sleeping in the tree fort (one night with Papa and one by themselves!), and earned $32 doing chores and hauling brush and tree limbs for Nana.
Sleepover at Peyton's house. It was supposed to be at our house, but I got sick, and Charity offered to have him come to their house for the sleepover. So nice since I was feeling so bad!
Sleepover with Peyton at our house. Peyton and Aspen play so well together. Aspen really loves and takes care of him. Mark took the boys to the nickel arcade in the evening, and the rest of their time was spent playing outside, making forts, playing legos, and a little wii time. When it came to bedtime, I went downstairs, as I always do, to check on the boys, pray with them and say goodnight. I walked down to see them cuddled together on the floor with Aspen reading Peyton comic books. It was adorable.
Camping, hiking and rock climbing trip with Daddy, Ryan, Papa, Aaron and William and Adam at Smith Rocks. Since we aren't campers, I was thrilled that Aspen got the opportunity to go on this 'boys' camping trip. He had a blast, and so did Mark :)
Beach Trip
Halibut season started at the beginning of May. Mark did really well this year and limited out on each trip. When he fishes, he generally only goes once a week on whatever day the weather is best. The other days we are down at the beach we try to spend as a family doing fun things together. Most of the time it's simple things like walking to the beach or going to the arcade, but one weekend in June, on a particularly nice day we took the family on a boat ride into the ocean and up to the cliffs by Manzanita.
I have to note, since this is something I'll probably forget, that Aspen is SUPER scared of going in the ocean. Any time Mark asks him if he wants to go fishing or for a boat ride, it's a resounding NO! Of course it's Mark's dream to someday fish with him and Teague so we are trying to 'condition' him into liking the ocean, haha
Sickness...
Sometime in early June, maybe the first weekend? Aspen came down with a severe sore throat. Strep had been going around at school, so I watched his throat carefully for white spots. I've never had strep, but had heard that you get white spots in your throat as a sign of strep. He never got the white spots, so I had him on pain meds, gargling and taking lots of Vitamin C. It took him a couple days, but he was over it pretty fast. About a week later, Journey came down with it. It seemed about the same as Aspen, except she wasn't able to gargle, and it took her much longer, maybe a week or 10 days to go back to herself. Of course, near the end of Journey's sickness, Willow came down with it. And I was getting lower and lower on my patience level with someone always being sick and need, especially since the girls and Teague couldn't or didn't tell me they were feeling sick, they just started crying more and being needier...which looks a lot like fits and whining - something I can't stand and have no patience for! Ugh. Once I got it (the day before our 13th anniversary), I realized how bad they must have been feeling, and felt SO guilty for not being more patient and understanding.
Mark came down with it the last weekend of the month, while we were at the beach, and definitely got it way worse than the rest of us did. After a few days spent in bed, trying to get a handle on it with gargling and tylenol, he realized he needed to head to the Tillamook ER to get checked out. It was a good thing he did, because his tonsils were so infected and full of puss, they were closing off his throat and close to rupturing! Poor guy, always gets it the worst!
School ends & Summer begins. Beach. Sickness hits the family.
Aspen finished up 2nd grade and was awarded the June character trait of Patience.
Summer begins...
I was a little anxious about summer break. Aspen is the kind of kid that needs lots of activity and stimulation. Other than first thing in the morning, I don't generally allow the TV to be on, and restrict the Wii time to 45 minutes per day. That leaves a lot of time to fill! The girls, Teague and I had a sort of normal routine around here. They were used to spending much of our time at home playing due to Teague's naps and feedings. They don't get bored or really even bug each other very often. But when Aspen is thrown into the mix.... Yes, things don't go quite as peacefully! He wants Journey to play with him at all times, but either he doesn't always play so nicely with her or they exclude Willow. Both of which cause problems, arguments and some kind of interference from me once things go downhill. The only thing I've come up with so far to help with this is creating daily work/chores for Aspen.
Thankfully, being the age he's at, he's also had a lot of opportunities to do fun things:
Bill & Diana had him over to their house for 4 days with a couple of his other cousins. They had a blast playing outside, sleeping in the tree fort (one night with Papa and one by themselves!), and earned $32 doing chores and hauling brush and tree limbs for Nana.
Sleepover at Peyton's house. It was supposed to be at our house, but I got sick, and Charity offered to have him come to their house for the sleepover. So nice since I was feeling so bad!
Sleepover with Peyton at our house. Peyton and Aspen play so well together. Aspen really loves and takes care of him. Mark took the boys to the nickel arcade in the evening, and the rest of their time was spent playing outside, making forts, playing legos, and a little wii time. When it came to bedtime, I went downstairs, as I always do, to check on the boys, pray with them and say goodnight. I walked down to see them cuddled together on the floor with Aspen reading Peyton comic books. It was adorable.
Camping, hiking and rock climbing trip with Daddy, Ryan, Papa, Aaron and William and Adam at Smith Rocks. Since we aren't campers, I was thrilled that Aspen got the opportunity to go on this 'boys' camping trip. He had a blast, and so did Mark :)
Beach Trip
Halibut season started at the beginning of May. Mark did really well this year and limited out on each trip. When he fishes, he generally only goes once a week on whatever day the weather is best. The other days we are down at the beach we try to spend as a family doing fun things together. Most of the time it's simple things like walking to the beach or going to the arcade, but one weekend in June, on a particularly nice day we took the family on a boat ride into the ocean and up to the cliffs by Manzanita.
Once I moved from this position in the back of the boat (Aspen was really worried Teague would fly out of my arms into the water) to the front, Aspen calmed down, and even enjoyed himself!
A seal!
Group bath time!
Going to the beach requires a lot of baths for sandy kids :)Sickness...
Sometime in early June, maybe the first weekend? Aspen came down with a severe sore throat. Strep had been going around at school, so I watched his throat carefully for white spots. I've never had strep, but had heard that you get white spots in your throat as a sign of strep. He never got the white spots, so I had him on pain meds, gargling and taking lots of Vitamin C. It took him a couple days, but he was over it pretty fast. About a week later, Journey came down with it. It seemed about the same as Aspen, except she wasn't able to gargle, and it took her much longer, maybe a week or 10 days to go back to herself. Of course, near the end of Journey's sickness, Willow came down with it. And I was getting lower and lower on my patience level with someone always being sick and need, especially since the girls and Teague couldn't or didn't tell me they were feeling sick, they just started crying more and being needier...which looks a lot like fits and whining - something I can't stand and have no patience for! Ugh. Once I got it (the day before our 13th anniversary), I realized how bad they must have been feeling, and felt SO guilty for not being more patient and understanding.
Mark came down with it the last weekend of the month, while we were at the beach, and definitely got it way worse than the rest of us did. After a few days spent in bed, trying to get a handle on it with gargling and tylenol, he realized he needed to head to the Tillamook ER to get checked out. It was a good thing he did, because his tonsils were so infected and full of puss, they were closing off his throat and close to rupturing! Poor guy, always gets it the worst!
Friday, June 15, 2012
Journey & Willow
Of all the kids, Journey has loved having a new baby the most. For the first four or five months, she would fight me over who would hold him more. Like, literally, try to pull him from my arms if I wouldn't hand him over and wanted to snuggle him myself. She just couldn't get enough of him!
She is such a little mommy. Totally loving and protective. She can make him laugh and smile way more than any of the rest of the family can (including me, sniff!).
I've also seen such growth in her relationship with Willow over the past year. It makes me so happy to see them playing nicely, and actually having fun together. This has definitely not been something that has just evolved or happened on its own. Journey has a very independent personality. She is completely happy playing on her own in her own play world. In fact, every afternoon while Willow and Teague nap, she has her quiet time downstairs where she listens to Bible tapes and plays. Occasionally, I will go downstairs to clean up or do laundry. It really bugs her if she feels like I'm hanging around too long. She will stop her play and wait till I leave. If I don't leave quick enough, she will say, "Mom, when are you leaving??" haha
Willow has her own, shall we say, slightly challenging personality. Definitely the strongest personality of the kids. She is funny and witty. She is loving and silly. She loves to cuddle and is very affectionate. She tells me all the time that "Mommy, you the best mommy in da whole world!" She has the craziest sense of smell I've ever known someone to have. She is fearless. Completely fearless. A couple months ago, (at 2 1/2) she decided to try out Journey's bike, jumped on and figured out the pedals. Now it does have training wheels, but it's completely different and much bigger than her little trike. She took it to the top of our driveway (which is sloped), got on and pedaled it as fast as she could, then stuck her legs out and rode it down till she hit our car at the end of the hill. Yep, she hadn't though about figuring out the brakes!
Aaaand she's moody and fiercely stubborn. Dear Lord, she's stubborn. When she's in a good mood, life is great. When she's not, well, it's incredibly frustrating. When she is in one of her "moods", there is nothing, nothing we can do to pull her out of it before she wants to. Spanking, moving her to the bathroom or her room, taking privileges, nothing works until she chooses to let go of her bad mood. It's very frustrating because the worst fits show up most often at bedtime....when we are tired and ready for quiet and to be done for the night.
Before we moved, each of the kids had their own rooms, so bedtime was never really an issue. We would just shut each of their doors and let them talk themselves to sleep. Now Journey and Willow share a room, bedtime has been an issue almost every night. They talk to each other, Willow will get out of bed, run around the room, jump on her bed or change clothes. When we go in to put a stop and hand out some discipline, it all goes downhill from there. About a month after we moved, I realized that their closet was big enough for Willow's small mattress. That has become her "bedroom" more often than not since then! Not perfect, but it's a good consequence, and helps Journey to be able to tune her out and go to sleep.
So anyways, back to Journey and Willow developing a friendship.... Their favorite play right now is Mama and Baby. Journey is the Mama and Willow is the Baby. In the "baby" mode, Willow likes Journey to baby her and tell her what to do (perfect!). They also have fun dressing up and pushing their babies or animals around in their strollers.
All dressed up for the wedding :)
I really feel glad that I didn't put Journey in preschool. I think that just the sheer amount of time they have together everyday has lead them to developing a friendship, not to mention the "guidance" (and lots of it!) from Mommy in learning to treat and talk to each other nicely.
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