7 days without posting
That makes one weak. Actually, I've heard this about prayer and it applies a lot better. I just can't resist a pun and an excuse for an incoherent post.
The weather here has been beautiful. I finally took the kids to the pool last Wednesday. Fun, but hardly relaxing. Pie wandered around the shallow end at a leisurely pace, while her sister Cakes took off on her own in deeper water- chest to shoulder deep. I couldn't decide which one to "trust" and I sure couldn't follow both of them! I'm pretty comfortable with 6-yr old G-man making his own way around the fort and slide. The girls aren't quite 4 yrs old, though, and haven't had nearly as much swim training. Dh said I seemed "especially cranky" that evening. Guess I was a little stressed!
We got two kittens from the farm a week ago. They are quite a bit bigger, enjoy each other's company, and seem to be thriving. They were even doing well with the litter box until an incident this morning. I got it cleaned up quickly, but I'm sure hoping there aren't any more! Heather is a grey calico with a sweet personality. G-man wanted to name the white and yellow one "Harry" but we think she's a girl. So she's been dubbed "Harriet." Dh resisted the name at first. It's pretty stuck, though. Harriet has taken a little longer to warm up to us, but she's getting there. She cries whenever Heather gets out of her sight. They are very cute together.
Last weekend I attended three social events- friends for dinner at our house Saturday , a big group picnic on Sunday, and my book club meeting Sunday afternoon. Socializing is so different with kids. I'm still not used to it. There seems to be very little time to actually talk with the other adults because we're all so busy attending to our own family's needs. It was an entirely different experience at book club with just grown-ups. One of my friends in book club (who has four boys under age 7) is reading a marriage book (I think it's by Gary Smalley). The book says that two of the toughest times in a marriage are before the children reach school-age and when they are teenagers. Guess we'll weather this phase first, then brace ourselves for the teen years. The past several nights we've been awakened by Pie in the wee hours. She keeps getting nosebleeds. Nothing dangerous, I'm just too old and lazy to get up at 3 AM night after night to change her jammies, strip her bed, pinch her nose shut for 5 minutes, and wash out bloody sheets. Sunday morning at church was a parenting nightmare. First, G-man staunchly refused to shake hands with the nice man who was greeting. All three of the kids were squirmy and loud, even for the contemporary service. And then Cakes screamed when they "made her bread blue" at communion. I guess she's not a big fan of intinction. Another friend of mine at book club said her daughter was trying to get our kids' attention as we walked by and she told Brie not to interrupt us because it was a time to be prayerful. I said, "Yeah, I think I was praying something like, 'Please, God, get me out of here!'" This, too, shall pass, right?