Sit Down Mommy.

This blog post is nothing more than a reminder for me that I need to sit down more. When I sit down for more than a minute, my gaggle usually come sit down with me and these are the moments that I cherish. I love when I'm sitting on the floor and all four girls are within 12 inches of me. God delivered me a stomach bug yesterday to help remind me of this. I make these ridiculous to do lists every week & while I know that laundry does have to happen, bathrooms need to be disinfected, meals cooked, I need to be better about the importance I place on these things. I like checking things off my list but maybe I'm putting the wrong things on there. No, I shouldn't have to put, "Read Bible stories before nap" on my list or "Help Harper with colors" but I want to be intentional about spending time with them just as I am with keeping the house clean, running errands or making phone calls. I absolutely do not want to look back at this season & think, I didn't spend enough time with them, just being with them.

Harper's new do...

Harper's new haircut courtesy of Lily, and of course we have family pictures scheduled in a few weeks. Awesome. This happened in the basement one Saturday, Harper came up the basement stairs and kept pointing to her hair. She's not overly easy to understand at this age so Jason & I thought she bumped her head. We kept saying, "You bumped your head? You're Ok" "Yeah, you bumped your head, ouch, you're Ok" Of course she's probably thinking, "Idiots, can't you see they butchered my hair?"

Later that day, I was out and Jason called and asked me if I had noticed Harpers hair, of course I said no. Got home and sure enough I noticed Harpers hair. After interrogating the girls and them not fessing up at first, Lily was the culprit and as we later discovered, Lacy was too busy giving herself a haircut.

We of course gave a lecture about NOT CUTTING YOUR SISTERS HAIR & then a few days later at breakfast I was asking the girls if they were good listeners for Daddy ( I had sewing class) & Lacy reported, "We were good listeners Mommy, we did not even cut our sisters hair in the night" Way to go!

Bananas

Lacy just can't tell me about stuff anymore, she has to show me. If I try to say, just tell me about it, she'll take my hand and say "No, Mommy, c'mon, c'mon you've got to see this" So, at lunchtime, Lacy announces (I have no idea why they have to announce it)
"I have to go potty"
Me, "Ok, go"
Lacy, a minute later, "Mommy, come see this, come see this"
Me, "What is it?"
Lacy, "No, Mommy, you have to come see this"
Me, "Ok, I'm coming"
I open the door the bathroom, see Lacy sitting on the potty eating a graham cracker which is gross enough and warranted a conversation how we don't EAT in the bathroom and then...
Me, "What is it?"
Lacy, "You've gotta see this Mommy, my poop looks just like a banana"
Me, "I don't need to see it"
Lacy, "No Mommy, see, it looks just like a banana"
Me, "I do not need to sit and we do not need to talk about it" "And we do NOT eat in the bathroom"

Pappy Post

Pappy broke his hip today so before lunch, I told the girls we needed to Pappy prayers to our "regular" prayers so then the questions start:
"Did his hip fall off?"
"Is there a big hole?"
"How will his Dr. get to the hospital? It will take so long"
Then later, I just got off the phone with my Mom telling her how Pappy was doing, when I got off the phone...
Lily, "Who were you talking to?"
Me, "Gramma"
Lily, "Why were you talking to Gramma?"
Me, "I was telling Gramma how Pappy was doing"
Lily, "Because Gramma's going to marry Pappy?"
Seriously, how do their little brains come to THIS conclusion?

Lacy's 1st day of Preschool

Lacy and I survived & thrived her first day of preschool. I worry so much more about Lacy because she is so much quieter and less likely to speak up but she did GREAT! Did great at drop off, no tears, no clinging to my leg. Teacher showed her where to wash her hands and she didn't really notice me leave. When I picked her up, she was playing on the playground with a few other little girls, totally in the mix with the kids. I breathed a little sigh of relief, it would hurt my heart so much if I had seen her hanging out on her own. We had speech this afternoon too and Becky said she went on and on about everything at school so that's a great sign. Me, I missed her, alot. Lacy is my buddy, she's my mini me, it doesn't bother her when her underwear is on backwards, shoes on the wrong feet, chocolate all over her face, leggings inside out. Those little things just don't matter to her.

Lily's Kindergartenisms

Driving Lily to school today, I asked her who she played with on the playground on with before school. She said there were no kindergarteners, just 1st graders and she didn't know them.
Me, "If you don't know them, you just say, "Hi, I'm Lily, what's your name?"
Lily, "But I'm too shy"
Me, "Lily Newton, you are not shy"
Lily, "I am around first graders"

Getting out the car this morning, it was Lacy's first day of preschool, Lily gives her a hug and says, "Have a great first day of school Lacy!"

From our trip...

I still haven't blogged about our trip but didn't want to forget sweet Lacy's persistence about her stinkin' Tinkerbell jamas. We stopped at LJ to spend the night on our way to Atlanta & I only packed an overnight bag to bring in with bare essentials which for 6 people is still alot of stuff. The rest of our clothes and the sacred tinkerbell jamas were in the overhead luggage carrier which we were NOT going to dig through. Here's my conversation with Lacy that went on and on.
Lacy, "Mommy, can I wear my tinkerbell jamas?"
Me, "I can't get them Sissy, they're in the top part"
Lacy, "Mommy, can you pease pease pease get my tinkerbell jamas?"
Me, "No, we're not getting in there. You can wear your clothes to bed, your jamas I have for you or nothing"
Lacy, "Pease, pease, I really really want my tinkerbell jamas"
On and on and on and on until I say....
Me, "Sissy we're not going to talk about it anymore"
Then she sneaks off to ask Jason who also said NO and then comes back kind of following me around.
Lacy, "Mommy..."
Me, "Lacy, I am not going to talk about tinkerbell jamas. Is this about the tinkerbell jamas"
Lacy, "No"
Me, "Great, how can I help you sissy"
Lacy, "Why did we have to put my stuff in the way top"
AAAAAAAHHHHH! She did survive because Lily probably got so tired of hearing about the jamas that she took off her Ariel nightgown and let Lacy wear it.

God stories...

Yesterday, Harper was whining when she was playing with the girls and usually I ask, "What did you do to Harper?" but she's been REALLY whiny so instead I just asked, "What's the problem girls?"

Lacy, "Harper's following us, make her stop following us"
Me, "I can't make Harper stop following you"
Lily, "Only God can, right?"

Earlier, I was getting the girls ready for quiet time and Lily said,
"Can you make it darker" (They like it dark so they can play with their flashlights and forts)
Me, "Nope, only God can make it darker when the sun goes down"
Lacy, "What can you do Mommy"
Lily answers, "Mommy does everything else"
Pretty much!

Twins when we grow up...

On our way to school, the girls sometimes talk about how they're going to live in the neighborhood across the street from us. So we will live close to Mommy and I can come for dinner too. Then, they added..
"and we will be twins when we grow up"
Me, "You can't be twins unless you were born at the same time from Mommy's belly"
Lily, "No, we want to be twins when we grow up"
Me, "You can't be twins when you grow up"
Lacy, "Yes, we will. We will be twins and live in that neighborhood"
Me, "Ok"

Lessons from our layoff

Now, that Jason is back at work and we're back to our 1950s style marriage that works so well for us, I want to make sure I remember the lessons that I want to take with me.
1. I CAN be happy anywhere as long as I have Jason & the girls. As much as I would love to be back somewhere with family someday and somewhere that doesn't have snow 4 months out of the year, it's just not as important as the six of us.

2. My husband rocks. We were together ALOT the past 3 months and after an initial adjustment, it was pretty great. Even through the crap, he can make me laugh like no one else can. He kept his spirits up more than I would have been able to, spent a huge amount of time with the girls just hanging out. Unbelievably blessed to be his wife. He has always been the steady one in our marriage, laidback, even keel. I tried and I think succeeded most of the time in being that kind of person when we went through this, it helped me become the wife I wanted to be.

3. I love being home with the girls. I knew this before but didn't appreciate it as much. We talked one day about if I had to go back to work, well Jason mentioned it and looked at him like a deer in headlights. I didn't sleep that night and felt nauseous just thinking about it. Some days are crazy, some days I want to lock myself in the bathroom for 5 minutes because well, I just want to but I wouldn't change it. I get to do my dream job which is hanging out with my girls all day, every day, 24x7.

I wanted to write this down since this blog is something for me to reflect back on as we journey along in life, now that things are back to "normal".

First week of Kindy completed!

We we've made it a whole week of kindergarten..I think Lily is settling into her new routine and the rest of us are following her lead. Our 5 years of "lazy" freedom are over and everyone is now out the door, loaded into the car at 8:15 5 days a week. Lily was having a rough time talking back and being unkind to her sisters last week, I sent her to her room without finishing her craft and she was up in her room sobbing. I went up to her room to talk it out, here was our conversation:

"Lily, why are you have such a hard time being kind to your sisters"
Lily, while catching her breath, "I think...I think it's because I'm working so hard at school"
Me, trying not to laugh because I know she's totally serious.
"Lily, next time you feel grumpy or like you're going to be unkind, just come as Mommy for a hug. Maybe you just need some extra hugs"
I have to remind myself that this is the biggest change to her little world she's ever had, that even though she's having a great time, she's getting used to being more independent, me not being there to remind her to do things, making her own little friendships without me hovering. We're all navigating our new normal...