Smiles Fix Everything

For the last week, my hubby has been talking about the beautiful quick smiles he had been receiving from Rebecca. Her official "first smile" was recorded on Sunday when she definitely returned his smile not once but twice in a row. I missed it being across the room.

The last few weeks have been a challenge for me as I deal with sleep deprivation and volunteer responsibilities. Don't get me wrong. I love both (okay, not the actual sleep deprivation, but the reason for it), but they can wear you down. Add to that a recent situation I have to address and you have a stressed out tired mommy.

God knew exactly what I needed. This afternoon I put H & Z down for naps and settled down to feed Rebecca. She gazed intently at me as I smiled and spoke to her. Then I got a big beautiful smile just for me. Not once, not twice, but three times in a row! I just boo hooed over her sweet little head.

At times, I have experienced how life can feel so pressing and fires can seem so overwhelming. It is incredibly important to recognize the many blessings that come your way. Something as simple as the first smile from your baby can just brighten the whole day. Just think if I had missed that little blessing. Sometimes a smile can fix everything. :)

Naps

Naps are just the bomb. Why do we ever decide to get rid of them? Daddy snapped this on Tuesday while I crashed with baby girl in the afternoon. My nap only lasted about 15 minutes, but oh what bliss!

Can I skip this age?

What is it about age three that makes them impulsively disobey? Here are some examples:

Scenario 1: Child is licking a foam block
Command: Take the block out of your mouth
Response: Immediately bite the block, leaving chew marks

Scenario 2: Child has xylophone mallet in mouth
Command: Take that out of your mouth
Response: Immediately run out of room - with choking hazard still in mouth

Scenario 3: Child is getting a tissue, wiping nose a few times, and throwing it away
Command: Please don't waste the tissues
Response: Immediately pull two tissues from box, almost touch face with them, and shove them in the trash can

Scenario 4: Child has a poopy diaper
Command: Let's go get a diaper change
Response: "No, Zachary made poop." Child runs out of room.

Anybody want a 3-year-old for a few months?

Time Flies

They say time flies when you're having fun, but I think it really flies when you have three young children. When I realized last night that we were going to church the next morning, I paused and thought, gee, didn't I just go a few days ago? Nope. The calendar confirmed that seven days had actually passed.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are but weeks away. Hannah keeps asking when we are going to put up our Christmas tree and I was able to tell her it would just be a few weeks! We put our tree up around Thanksgiving since we have a beautiful gi-normous pre-lit tree. We still won't be able to use all my lovely breakable ornaments, but there's no expiration date on them. They will be just as lovely after all my babies are past the break-it-somewhat-on-purpose stage.

Some updates on the last week. We went to Scare on the Square with my mom last Friday night. Zach really could've cared less, but Hannah figured out the whole system and it didn't take long for her to start muscling her way in to get candy from all the shops. While walking with the stroller, I turned funny and pulled something in my hips so we delayed our trip to the zoo on Saturday. Instead, we will try for this coming weekend. Saturday night brought the time change and with it came two toddlers who still wake up with the sun. Did you notice the sun is up at 6:30 now? They did. But they also don't mind going to bed around 8:30 so mommy is good with that! Now if I could only get the newest addition to agree to that time then I wouldn't look like a raccoon every day. Daddy keeps busy with lots of meetings for church. He also returned to work on Wednesday much to the chagrin of Mommy. But two weeks and one day were a huge blessing.

Which reminds me, the big appointment for the kids was on Tuesday. Miraculously, Daddy's office gave him one extra day of paternity leave and he was able to go with us. What a wonderful gift that was! Hannah was great for her shot - didn't even cry! Zach was not so great. I had to pin him down and he screamed his head off. And can you believe that they weighed the two older ones and they are only a pound and a half different? They really look like twins right now. Rebecca chimed in with her own screams plus bled all over the place after her PKU (heel prick). The sweet nurse just had to keep sopping up the blood which got all over me, Rebecca, and anything within heel-flinging radius. The good news was that Rebecca is gaining nicely at 9 pounds, 0.5 ounces and has gotten a smidge longer. Still has a tiny head and beautiful baby blue eyes. She has been sleeping between Mommy and Daddy but is about to graduate to the pack-n-play by the bed.

So we are busy but happy. Our church family has kept us well fed. I guess I'll have to remember how to cook this week!

Get out and vote!!

We cast our votes today! Have you? Your voice has never meant as much at the polls as it will in this election. Get out and vote!!!