Changes

We've had some changes in our house. They are for the good of course. Little Violet has been out growing her little cradle that she has been sleeping in, and I have been really wanting to get her in the crib. However, Rachel has been sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor, so, we needed to get Rachel a twin mattress set and do some changes. Here is a picture of Violet's crib corner in Rachel's room. It is so nice to be able to put her in the crib, awake, and let her fall asleep without fear of her falling out and onto a hard wood floor, like in the cradle.
And dear little Rachel got a new bed!! She is so very proud of her big girl bed and has been sleeping in her bed now at night!

Violet enjoys sitting in the highchair watching the supper table chaos while getting used to a sippy cup. Our supper table goals include 1. toning the voices down 2. taking turns talking 3. sitting on the chairs properly. It seems like our meal times are just chaotic. Everyone wants to talk, voices get louder to be heard, and Ben and I are trying to correct proper table etiquette, etc..... Ben and I are very outnumbered here and I think it helps to have a better adult to child ratio. But we do the best we can, we sure aren't perfect, and we do make a lot of mistakes!

Violet continues to crawl everywhere. I really have to watch her. She disappears so quickly and I am often saying "where is Violet?" and "what does she have in her mouth?" She has already fallen down the stairs from the playroom into the garage (4 steps).

Violet has begun to pull herself to a standing position. One reason why I really wanted her out of the cradle. I went in to get her out of the cradle and she was holding on to the side of the cradle standing up!!! So of course I feared her going head first to the floor!! She stands flat footed and locks her legs, and doesn't want to sit back down. Where has my baby gone????

Days fly by, I really don't know where they go or what I do. But children are cared for, played with, read to, and loved. Meals are prepared, snacks are given and diapers are changed. Laundry is never done, house is never cleaned, but every day I am so thankful for where I am and what I am doing. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to love these kids. I ran across a cute poem that is fun to read

A Mother's Prayer

Father in heaven, make me wise,

So that my gaze may never meet

A question in my children's eyes.

God keep me always kind and sweet,

And patient, too, before their need;

Let each vexation know its place,

Let gentleness be all my creed,

Let laughter live upon my face!

A mother's day is very long,

There are so many things to do!

But never let me lose my song

Before the hardest day is through.

by Margaret E. Sangster

Its Monday

It has been 2 weeks since I have been to the grocery store. Supplies are running low, so this was our errand for today, a nice long grocery list and getting Violet's 6 month pictures taken. We got the pictures taken, smiles were in abundance, everyone is happy. Then while grocery shopping, still everyone happy, Rachel is sitting in the basket and Violet in the baby carrier in front. I am shopping away, when all of a sudden Rachel throws out the Ragu container. It burst all over the floor. Ragu is everywhere. I am standing there with my mouth hanging open wondering "did this just happen, and where did this come from?" There were several people in the aisle, and I am so thankful no one got splattered. I however, wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. My kids are not even fussing! Where did this behavior come from??? Rachel was very silent and very still. We had to find a little clean-up man to help us and then needless to say we checked out what we had and went home. On the drive home we had a little discussion about throwing things. Hopefully this will not happen anymore. It's a Monday, the beginning of the week and I hope it improves!! I have no flour or sugar, I guess we will need to make another grocery trip sometime this week, what a bummer. But for now I am still recovering from this grocery experience.

Soccer Game

We had our first soccer game this afternoon! It was so much fun to see the kids enjoying themselves. They are on the same team, and it is fun to see them together. When Ashley was running after the ball she had a constant smile on her face. This picture of her is while playing defense. They have an excellent coach who lets the kids play all different positions. Every one has an opportunity to "run after the ball". Jacob didn't want to play defense, but he did good.

Jacob did come very close to scoring his first goal, maybe next time.

Rachel, Violet and I sat on the sidelines cheering them on. They did wonderful, and even won the game. And tonight, they are very, very tired. We are looking forward to a fun, busy weekend!

It's been awhile

Here's the latest news: Violet is crawling! She is on the go, and is venturing outside her safety zone of "the rug" It is fun to watch her crawl around and every day she is mastering the skill better and better. At times while in the "crawl" position she will straighten her legs and stick her behind way up. It is so funny, I wonder why she does this? My concern is what is she going after and what is she going to put in her mouth? It is a bit of a challenge to keep the older children's small toys away from a mobile Violet. Violet went for her 6 month check up today, she weighs 15lbs and 1 oz. She is in the 90th percentile for height, although I can't remember her measurement. After her dr's appt I was planning a big grocery stop, but in the store, Rachel fell apart (unusual for her). I do believe she is tired after getting up so early. So, no groceries later, I am home trying to think up a plan for supper.
This is a picture of Jacob, yes, he is running on the treadmill. He likes being the fastest runner in his class, and this year another boy runs around the track faster than Jacob. So we told him he just needed to keep running and after some practice, he would run even faster. Jacob came up with this idea that over the weekend he needed to run on the treadmill to practice. He ran one mile on Sat and again on Sun afternoon. Come Monday at school, his legs were tired and he still couldn't pass this one boy. So we encouraged him to take it a little easier. He is playing soccer and is running there!

It really warms my heart to see my children playing together. When every one is getting along and having fun, I feel like we are doing something right. Just a dirt pile entertains them for a long time.

I caught Ben reading the girls books before bedtime. This doesn't always happen like this, our evening routine varies. Sometimes I am rushing off to work at 6:00pm, soccer practice cuts our evening short, and homework changes things. Plus, we are pretty good about the 8:00 bedtime, but it makes our evenings just fly by!

Ben's parents were here from Wed to Monday morning, and it was so nice to have extra hands and open arms for the children. We all enjoy having them with us. Thanks dad and mom Bast for all the help you give to us! We love having you here.

I have started working an 11pm-7am shift at work. It touched my heart when I came home, and Jacob poured a cup of coffee for me. He seems to really help out when I am gone. I am trying to do this without a babysitter. Fatigue and I are already close companions and so far, I am managing. My laundry pile is getting huge, and the dust is collecting, but oh well. I am Just thankful I can work as little as I do.