Busier than ever before

It's been a hard few days. I have three pretty unpredictable kids who are all too little to be of any consistent help. There is no way to be prepared enough so that our day goes smoothly. There will be poopy diapers when I am both nursing Robert and eating lunch, and loud arguments when the baby just settled in for a nap. Stuff like that, all day long.

In just five short years, I will have a nine-year-old who can make her own sandwiches and pour her own water and dress herself (appropriately). And I will also have a six-year-old and a five-year-old who can use the potty and pick up toys (hopefully). Things will get easier, and I'll get better at this. It's right on the horizon. I can see it! So I'm just trying to enjoy this time with three awesome, delightful littles. Their sweetness makes all the messes worth it. I know someday I'll miss this.

A few things I want to remember:

Ivey says "I wanna nursie-booboo!" And when I decline, she asks "Maybe later?" I've been nursing her to sleep at night about half the time. She calls Robert Beeby Bobber. We have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she's not poking him in the eye or turning over his bouncy seat with him in it.

She is also strangely good at burping the baby. She says "burp burp, Beeby" and pats him gently on the back and can get him to burp even sometimes when I can't. Then she holds one fat little hand up over her head and says "I did it!"


Suzi's dance recital should've been this weekend, but she dropped out a few weeks ago. She liked the class, but when they revealed the frilly, ultra-girly costumes she said no way. It was so not her. I'm not sorry though, because I don't want her to wear clothes she feels awful in. She has her own unique sense of style (see above photo). What are we teaching little girls, anyway, when we make them dress up for the delight of others despite what they want? Can we extrapolate that to the teenage years when girls want to dress to please boys? I could do a separate post on this. And later I might.

Suzi seems excited about homeschooling and sometimes asks when we are going to start. I'm excited, too. I'm almost done reading The Heart of Learning and then I will start looking through the Oak Meadow kindergarten lesson plans and try to build a loose weekly schedule. I love what I've read so far. But that is also a separate post.

Yesterday's good news: The kids like to eat barley! Who knew? The bad news: We are going to have to get laminate flooring. As much as I like carpet, there's no way to keep it clean with little kids!

And Robert? Sometimes we catch a glimpse of a little half-smile, but no laughing or anything yet. He's awake more and more now. His eyes are going to stay blue, I think, and they are beautiful. It's hard to tell if he is "easier" than his sisters or if we are just a little more practiced now. Maybe both?

I'm pretty sure the adjustment to having one child was much harder than the transition from one to two, or from two to three. Figuring out how to parent in the first place was tough. But boy are we busy these days!