It's about my crazy life these last few weeks, and reaching the cool 30's club. I honestly am happy to have reached 30 and I feel like I've earned it :-) Hey, I was carded 2 weeks ago at Costco, so I must not look 30 just yet.
I am currently sitting at Starbucks, sipping a soy, decaff, vanilla latte, (joys of the nursing mommy with gassy baby) having a quiet moment to myself, since we don't yet have internet at our house - gotta give kudos to my husband for this one, ahhh....
I am sunburned, but I am content, and I am happy. Here I can begin my stories of the last few weeks.
Today was election day. My father-in-law is running for House of Delegates, and in just a few hours we will know if he won. Peter worked the poll here in Winchester from 6 this morning to 7 tonight. Seeing how he was close by, and seeing how I like to spend time with him, our little men and I spent most of the day with him. A sunburn is really the worst thing that came out of today. The boys had a blast hanging with us, even Isaac was a sweetheart. Sammy would ask folks if they were planning to vote, and, (after observing his daddy) opened the door for a couple so they could go vote. It was so sweet and cute. Marcus' short were too loose, and when we were talking with one couple, they literally fell down to his ankles. Good times.
Today is one of those days that reminds me of how much I truly love my life and the people God has placed in it. I needed today. I needed to love on and spend time with all four of my babies.
The days leading up to today have been trying to say the least. We moved into our new house last Wednesday, and it's a fixer upper, so nothing really feels "homey" about it yet. It's kind of been chaos since then.
Things like adjusting from staying at Mimi and Papa's house to a fixer-upper house that was completely new and unfamiliar, a newborn who hit a really fussy stage a few days ago and began demanding constant holding, 2 and 4 year olds who enjoy making each other scream, lots of boo boos, (goose egg to Marcus' head from hitting on it on the only remaining radiator in the house, nasty burn to Marcus' hand from a grab of mommy's hair straightener, a bloody cut to Sammy's toe that had us both screaming because he was so afraid of the cream and band aid), and the stupid shrub in the front yard. Okay, I must share about the shrub. In our front yard there is a nasty vine of a shrub that has basically covered part of the fence and was starting to take over the front porch. I really want it gone. The whole yard is overgrown, but that shrub was driving me mad. On Saturday I decided to try and cut it down. Baby asleep, check. Boys playing in the pool, check. I began my task - so happy to finally be doing something other than hold my baby. 10 minutes in the two boys begin fighting, and baby wakes up. I get baby and his swing, break up the fight and begin to cut again. 10 minutes later baby begins to cry again. I hold him, and get him back to sleep. Onto the bed he goes. Take 3: 10 minutes later the boys begin to fight again to the point of having to go in for discipline, and the baby wakes up again. At this point I drag Sammy into the house with Isaac on the other arm. Peter, (who had missed the chaos because of the noise of the mower) helped me out a bit later.
I have been trying to get into the habit of looking for something to be thankful for in every difficult circumstance. I tried for awhile with this one, and then gave up. That shrub is still there, and I swear it's laughing at me! That night I kind of lost it and started letting all of my frustration come out - thank God for my patient man. When I got to end of my vent, I let Peter know that all I really wanted to do was finish that stupid shrub. Maybe one day I will:-)
My birthday was a really tiring, long day. I knew it would be, but there were really sweet moments, and it's those moments that I'm learning to cherish. The pure joy in my kids eyes when we sing "Happy Birthday" and the candles are lit. They LOVE birthdays and candles. My husband's love and reminders of his love throughout the day. The evening when the babies were quiet, when we got to work together on our house. As I fell asleep hearing Peter say, "I've got the baby, you go to sleep. I love you, you're a great mom, and a great wife. Happy Birthday, love." Yep, these are the beautiful moments in the midst of chaos.
It's funny, when I look back over the last few weeks, they were stressful, but not as bad as I remember them being.
Ah, Starbucks is closing, so I must close for now.
-
