Relaxed and Organized

Bill has been gone all weekend for a family event: one sister getting married and one sister coming home from her mission. I was pretty nervous about how it would go with him gone. Usually by the end of each day about when he is coming home I'm totally worn out and ready beyond ready for him to get home to save the day.

So I thought this weekend was going to rock my socks off, but guess what? It didn't! It went really, really well. We had a great few days. There were quite a few remarkable things that happened that made me feel really blessed.

First, not even two hours after Bill left on Thursday we sat down for dinner and I asked Spencer if he would help me say a prayer. Keep in mind he always refuses. We keep trying but he never wants to say one. Well it felt like a little miracle when he said sure and happily repeated a prayer with my help! Ever since that first prayer he has prayed numerous times and is always happy to do it. It feels like a wonderful little breakthrough with him.

Second, again right after Bill left, Genevieve asked me if she could go poop in the toilet. And guess what? She went in there, sat down, did her business, and then happily came back and rejoined us in whatever we were doing. You might wonder why this is remarkable and worth blogging about. The thing is, she's not potty trained! She's only been two since the end of August. She's actually been asking to use the bathroom during diaper changes for a week or two now, which just blows me away. It's such a different story with a second child. But typically in my experience kids do not learn how to use the bathroom and understand when they need to use it without some coaching. She's just been super observant and is practically training herself. It feels like another miracle. I was going to wait longer because I dont' want to be potty training myself to take her every couple hours, but I think we're going to jump on it because she just seems so ridiculously ready even though She's way younger than we potty trained Spencer.

Friday I spent a good portion of the late morning and afternoon at a friend's house on an extra long playdate. I just love her so much. We have developed a fantastic friendship and I'm so happy about it. I don't always know how to reach out to others around me to develop friendships and so this makes me very happy. Our kids play together really well, which is just lovely. We did discover after the fact that the kids had destroyed some of her older kids' Lego creations. We felt pretty bad about that. But not only did we stay there for hours, but she sent us home with dinner. Seriously, she is always doing nice things like that and it makes me want to pay it forward to other friends and neighbors.

Friday night we went to a party a friend in the ward puts on each Halloween. It involves carving pumpkins and a movie on the side of their house and plenty of food and good talking with friends. I decided I would brave it even with all the kids. It went great! I have the best friends in our ward and community here. Everyone helped out when different kids had needs and it was wonderful to be there. I was so glad I went.

Saturday we stayed in and had a movie marathon sort of day. The kids were happy and we had fun and it was nice to not go anywhere all day. We did head over to our favorite Mennonite store Hochstetler's in the late afternoon to get some ice cream. And another little miracle happened. Spencer is very much a creature of habit and as I've talked about many, many times he struggles with food. He has one ice cream he has gotten every time we went that is bright and colorful and tastes awful to me, but he loves it. Last time we went though he ate more of what Bill and I got than his own, so this time I told him we weren't going to get the Superman flavor but instead he could pick any other flavor he wanted. He picked mint chip and he just inhaled it. It's kind of a huge deal every time he tries something new, so this kind of made me glow. :)

Today we went to church. I decided to skip singing in the choir this performance because it was one too many things to handle, and instead I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them sing the piece. They did a wonderful job. It got a little crazy there during sacrament meeting but we have a dear friend that has adopted our kids as her grandchildren and she took Aaron for a good portion of the three-hour block. Bless her. Her granddaughter came and played with the kids during sacrament meeting, and other than it getting a bit loud at times, she's only four, they had a good time together.

The afternoon has gone well save for a bit when I kind of crashed in exhaustion on the couch. Aaron and Genevieve were asleep but Spencer kept coming and poking me or pulling on my arm wanting me not to sleep. I just really wanted a nap, but it only sort of happened. That part wasn't so great, but we got past it and the day has been generally great.

I was reflecting on the weekend and realized that I had really not gotten bothered or mad about things the whole weekend. That's a miracle in itself. I've had a lack of patience lately that I've been struggling with. I feel like I was really blessed this weekend not to feel that way and now it makes me want to keep trying to have it be this way instead of being bothered all the time. I think the reason this was the case was I was a combination of two important things. I was relaxed but also organized. So I never really felt overwhelmed and the kids generally did what I wanted because I was organized about what I was doing. I think this is really important to remember so I can keep it up because I really enjoyed the time of not losing my temper for several days and I want to keep that up. Also, I realized that despite it being kind of a big deal to take all three kids out, sometimes they act way better and it turns out to be easier than staying home. This is a good thing to remember.

So there you go, that's how my weekend alone with the kids went. And here's a few pictures if you managed to get through this whole post. :)

They love to watch movies cuddled up on my bed.

I put some oil in her hair to get some dry skin off and we had a good time styling it after.

He crashed while we were watching a movie together. So cute.

I rotated toys this weekend and this one is the new favorite.

Projects

Bill and I had a funny conversation the other day. I tend to be able to do more of my interests than he does because they coincide better with things we need as a family than his do and we were talking about it. Though he has just gotten into hobby electronics and both of us can see lots of excellent uses for that in our life. :) I have found a lot of enjoyment out of family-enriching sorts of things in the last few years. Food storage, sewing, building furniture, crocheting, etc, I like all of them and it's not hard to justify buying things here and there to do that stuff.

I was just thinking this morning about working and what it's like to have a job and the whole rat race aspect of it. At the moment I have little to no interest in that. I am very happy with my stay-at-home mom role and I will be over the moon pleased when I can quit the job I do have. Hopefully that will coincide with a drastic increase in Bill's income and that will allow me to do more projects and things I enjoy. :) Being a stay-at-home mom is crazy hard some days, but it's so rewarding to me and I wouldn't trade it. It's pretty ridiculous how kids can take what parenting skills you think you have and throw them out the window. I can't count how many times lately I've run through all the skills I have and feel like I'm stretching for something, anything that will help me work with my kids and teach them what they need to know. So there's no lack of growth and development right now. I don't need a paycheck to make me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. As I was thinking these thoughts this morning I was pleased because it's nice to be in a place where I'm content with my role. That hasn't always been the case. I have dreams and goals in various aspects of my life, but they're not about changing what I do as much as improving on what I have. It's a really nice place to be.

So anyway, enough of those musings and onto the projects I've done lately, which are what made me think these thoughts in the first place. I don't have nearly as much discretionary money as I want to put into various projects, but I've been able to do a few things lately, Aaron's afghan last month, and this tree skirt this weekend. Thinking of Christmas this year triggered the thought that we still didn't have a tree skirt and we needed to buy or make one. So I turned to my trusty Google and Pinterest search, showed Bill a few options, one of which was far beyond my sewing abilities at the moment, and decided on the one I made. And then this weekend I made it. I decided it was high time I dipped my toe into the quilting world and this should not be surprising, I love it! The tree skirt turned out amazing and it didn't take that long to do, which is a huge plus for any project I do with three kids around I pieced it and put the batting and back on while the kids were playing around me on Thursday or Friday, then did the quilting part during naps and evenings and finally Saturday while Bill was home. I just love how it turned out and now I'm all excited to figure out other things to quilt. Good times!

Someone told me they couldn't tell how big this is. It's about 54 inches across, so plenty big for any tree.

And now that I have the crafting bug, this is a sneak peak of my next project. I had previously made Aaron a stocking back when I made all the other ones a year or so ago, before he was even conceived. Good thing he is a boy because his stocking certainly wouldn't work for a girl. I'll show off the rest once I'm finished adding his name. This is just in sharpie on it and I will be embroidering it in white. Should be exciting.

3 Months

Time always seems to fly when it comes to babies growing up. It feels both an eternity and like the blink of an eye since Aaron was born. He hit three months old just yesterday.  

A few things about Aaron at 3 months:

-He is still a very chill baby. Aside from not appreciating how loud his siblings can be right in his face at times, he is just very placid.

-He still sleeps all the time. He takes three or four naps a day, and most days he sleeps upwards of three hours either in the morning or afternoon.

-He has discovered his hands and they are always in his mouth now. I took a picture yesterday of him with all four fingers in his mouth with the biggest grin on his face.

-He has the best grin and he pulls it out all the time. He is super happy when he wakes up and after he eats and he just loves to smile at people. It's easier to catch his eye now and you can almost guarantee a big grin if he actually makes eye contact.

-He's started laughing this month. It's particularly cute when the other two kids get him to laugh. They did it this morning right after he had woken up and was still in his little crib. They came in and started talking to him and got him to laugh. Once he starts he will keep laughing for a long time if you laugh with him. It's pretty fantastic.

-He's still growing like a weed. He weighed 15 pounds the last time I weighed him. He's wearing 6-9  month clothes and some of those are kind of small, depending on the brand. He's long and thin just like Spencer was. He is better at holding his head up these days, but he still can't really sit up, for instance in a bumbo chair, or his head falls over. I'm not surprised. It's kind of big. :)

And here are a few shots from his 3-month photo day:

Like I said, this is a happy kid. Who can't smile when they see a grin that big? 

My two favorite weekends of the year

We're lazing around the house in our pajamas, eating tasty food, building forts, and watching General Conference. I dearly love this weekend each Spring and Fall. I've loved so many of the messages today and can't wait to hear what is said tomorrow as well. Here's a few pictures of what the day has been like.

This was earlier this week, but it was about the same today. Hanging out on the bed, watching Conference on our computer, which happens to be in our room at the moment. The kids watched more movies today then they ever get to watch and played lots of tablet games. So I guess we're helping them to love this weekend too. :) Spencer loved the singing. In fact, he had a total meltdown when he saw the Priesthood Session choir didn't include any women. There was no reasoning with him. He just was so sad that the girls weren't there. My poor child.

Wherever Aaron is, the other two congregate. I spend more time keeping them from bonking his head or totally overwhelming him with kisses and hugs than I can count. They just adore him, though they're not super good at playing softly with him. The litany in our house that both of them repeat is, "Aaron is a person not a toy." Good times. 

Oh this girl and her red hair and porcelain skin! We're trying to let her hair grow out long enough to get behind her ears, but for now that means looking through a curtain of hair most of the time. She doesn't seem to mind yet.

I'm so happy she will smile for the camera now because she has the cutest smile and nobody far away has gotten to see it much until recently.

Then there was this time I forgot I had put a crayon in my pants pocket to take it out to the car. This is a sample of what all the clothes in this load look like. Fingers crossed we can get it out. The first effort didn't work because the water wasn't hot enough. We're currently working on round two of stain removal efforts.