Eight weeks

Really? Is he eight weeks already? I can't believe that the 5th of October he will be two months old. Time is just a flyin' by. And he is growing like a weed! And sleeping like a champ. Landon isn't sleeping through the night, but he is sleeping six to seven hours stretches, which is great. I am hoping by 12 weeks he'll be sleeping through the night. Which...will...be...awesome!!!!
So, what have we been up to? Well, we are in the midst of school. This year has been challenging. First grade is definitely harder then kindergarten and is taking more time, which my eldest gets frustrated about. She doesn't understand why she isn't finished yet, and it's only been an hour! Reading has been difficult, so I've backed off and we are doing Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons. I am teaching Alaina at the same time, so it's a lot of review for Larissa right now, but it's rebuilding her confidence, and she also gets to help "teach" her sister at the same time, which being a firstborn, any time you get to be in charge is AWESOME!
I rearranged my living room today. I know, I know. For those of you who know me personally, I can picture you rolling your eyes right now. I'm sorry, I can't help it!! I decided that since it's fall, I wanted a more cozy feel to the room.  And it's the first time I've rearranged in three months, so really, it was LONG overdue!
I was looking over my past posts and saw the one about being a no mom. I am really trying hard to be more of a yes mom. In fact, the other day Alaina asked if they could paint, and I said YES! They painted outside on the picnic table for a while. And then they wanted to make cookies and I said YES! And then they wanted to watch a video and I said NO! I have a love/hate relationship with the television. Does anyone else besides me get absolutely fed up with the trash on TV?  There is nothing on almost all of the time! And I would much rather have the girls outside, using their imaginations. I don't remember just sitting in the house as a child, glued to the television. There were more important adventures to be had outside. But when I try to verbalize my feelings to them, they just look at me as if I've last  my mind. Me?
Yes, sometimes I feel like I have lost my mind. Like this past Sunday, after church, driving to KFC, getting out of the truck and realizing that I had TWO different colored sandals on! I looked at Nate and asked him if he had noticed and he just started laughing and said no, he hadn't noticed. Of course I spent the rest of the day wondering if anyone at church had noticed but didn't want to embarrass me. You can't imagine my relief when my mother in law told me she hadn't noticed, and neither had another friend from church. Phew!
Well, I believe I've rambled on enough and I should go see what my kids are up to. HAPPY FALL YA'LL!

Thoughts

I follow this mom's blog, and found this one very interesting, humbling, and convicting. I saw myself in some of these. What do you think?


Mama, Do You Like Your Children?

We made it!

Yes, today marks six weeks since Landon was born. We have survived been enjoying this season so much! Actually, it all kind of feels like a blur. I forgot how hard it is the first six weeks. Now that my head is above water, usually, it's nice to start feeling normal again! Our little boy is usually getting up once a night, which is great, and he is becoming more content during his wake time, which is a HUGE relief. I know it's tough with three big sisters who just love him so much and just have a need to be within four inches of his little face. Over stimulation anyone? He's dealing......which I guess he really has no choice.
Anyhow, here is a picture of our little guy at six weeks of age....



he is getting so close to smiling on purpose!



Since this is mostly family who read this, I won't apologize for all the pictures!!! And here is one of Larissa at her ballet class. This is our new thing on Wednesday nights. I would have more, but she noticed me with the camera and became totally silly. Seriously. I know that's hard to believe. I guess I need to be more discreet.

I love fall

I love fall. I love the crispness of the air, being able to drink my coffee outside on the porch swing without breaking a sweat, wearing jeans and sweatshirts, and the changing leaves....oh wait, I live in southeastern Arizona, and the leaves don't really change colors! At least not the wide variety of colors as other places, but it does cool down, at least at night and during the morning, so I can't complain. I love cooler weather. I like the different clothes you can wear during cooler weather....like mainly jeans, and sweaters, and sweatshirts, and boots.
But I digress, to celebrate the cooling down, we had a campfire last night. It's basically an excuse for the girls to eat TONS of marshmallows.....here's a few pictures......

Sisters!

Landon's first campfire

pretty sunset

Larissa roasting

Char & Alaina just eating regular marshmallows

Enough all ready, mom!

First day of school

Today was our first day of school. Larissa is now a first grader. I thought we would take a picture to commemorate the day.

 Here is try number one

And try number two. I love that deer in headlights look Charlotte is sporting, and I am not quite sure what is up with Larissa sticking her tongue out.
I am so happy to say that our first day of school went well. Actually better then well. After my day yesterday, I wasn't too sure about starting school today. Yesterday my darling baby boy refused to nap during the afternoon, and I was exhausted with trying to keep him happy. And my girls had played hard with their cousins during the day and were tired and shall we say....crabby? Plus I was coming home alone, since my hubby was on the road. So to say I was feeling overwhelmed was a slight understatement. But I made it through bedtime, and woke up at 3 am to feed Landon. He had slept 5 hours! And then again at 6:30, so technically he only got up once during the night. It's amazing how you can feel like a totally new person when you get a stretch of 4-5 hours! I put him down for a morning nap, the girls got up, we did our morning chores and school all before Landon got up again. That was awesome. And during Larissa's reading time, she gave me a hug and said, "I love you mom. You are a good mom." Tears come to my eyes now, just remembering it. My oldest and I can butt heads, and especially lately, we've been going through a rough patch, and to hear those words from her was like a balm to my battered spirit. Parenting will cause you to question yourself like nothing else, and to hear those words of affirmation from her, was like God Himself whispering those words to me.
And here are a few pictures of how we spent our Labor Day...

Nothing says summer like a slip n slide, right?

Alaina and Charlotte

Grandpa and Kody

I love this picture of Char running through the water

Waiting their turn

Storm in the distance

Love this picture of the grain bins in the background

Twinkle toes running down the slide

My mother-in-law's beautiful flowers....wish mine looked so nice!!

Kody just getting splashed by his big sister

Larissa & Salma

Love this picture!

Grandma & Char

Flying in the yard

Bubbles in the wind

My man's truck and load of copper

Hugging daddy goodbye

The cousins blowing bubbles

One month

It's hard to believe that he's already been here one month....

                      He is just growing way too fast! Seriously, Landon, you need to slow down!!

He is definitely getting lots of lovin' around here. Too much at times. He's got to feel suffocated. Three sisters....poor boy! But he won't know any different.  So glad you're here baby boy!

Four weeks

Yesterday was four weeks since Landon Ray made his grand entry into this world, and I must confess that I am still in survival mode. I forgot how much I love my sleep. Uninterrupted sleep. It's been a challenge only getting chunks of sleep here and there. The first ten days were especially tough, but now we are kind of getting into a routine.
My biggest challenge, after lack of sleep, is my older three. I do believe this is magnified because of my  not getting enough sleep, but I have been noticing the attitude rearing its ugly head around here. I also think this has something to do with the fact that their daddy has been on the road trucking copper, leaving me to hold down the fort solo. So, when you put together a sleep deprived mama, with the post pregnancy hormones still working their way out, (why does that take so long????) and three little girls who are missing their daddy and feel that they need to test their boundaries, that can equal a very stressful house.
Thursday we attempted the grocery store, with grandma, and let me just say, that my oldest can still throw a fit about as well as her baby brother. But we did it, and we survived. I'll just summarize it with a quote from my mother in law, "I don't think you need to be doing this all by yourself anytime soon," Grin. I would agree! :)
Being a mother is a refining process. It shows me all of my flaws, and things I didn't even know about myself. The main thing I have learned about myself, actually there are several, but one big thing is the fact that I am incredibly selfish. I don't like being interrupted from things I feel are "important". Like cleaning or cooking, things I feel must get done, and they do need to get done, but if my girls interrupt me to ask to watch a video, for a snack, for anything, really, I get annoyed very quickly. Why? I don't really know.
And the second thing I noticed, is that I am an angry mom. It doesn't take much for me to become extremely frustrated and upset. And when this happens, I yell. I am a yeller. There, I said it, I admitted it. I yell. To be fair, I know my just having a baby and the exhaustion and hormones are only amplifying the situation, however, I am an adult, and I can use self-control. I expect my children to, so I should as well. This has been extremely challenging. But I am hoping that by confessing here, in a public way, it might keep me accountable to the way I react to situations.
Being a mom is tough. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done. And there are a lot of days where I wonder what in the world I was thinking that I could do this. But that's the point, I am not supposed to do it myself. I think part of my problem is that I realize how insufficient and flawed I am, and that makes me angry at myself, which in turn, I take out on my kids. But that's where depending on the Lord for your next breath, your next step is so important. I have a tendency to just try to figure it out for myself, do everything myself, when I need to just step back, take a breath, whisper a prayer, and wait on the Lord. And not take myself so dang seriously. Allow myself to find the humor and laugh at some of the situations that come my way regarding my kids. Laughter is good medicine, and something that i think I should partake of more often. I look at myself and think that I used to be fun. I used to laugh a lot more. Nowadays, I just feel frustrated. But one day I will look back and miss this time....when they are young, when they think I can fix everything, when they want to talk my ear off, when they want to hug and tell me they love me. Because if I am not careful, I could damage their hearts, their spirits, and they will shut me out.
So, please pray for me....we are starting school next week, and I think I will have to read this post a couple times a day to remind myself of what's really important!
And for fun, here's some recent pics of the little guy.....

Seriously, he needs to stop growing so fast! At four weeks he's almost 11 pounds!