The girls are adjusting wonderfully - knock on wood - and aside from starting the night in their bed, and waking up in ours, there are only the normal growing pains of going from a family of six to a family of eight.
Siblings are developing relationships, setting boundaries, and nurturing love for one another. Mommy and Daddy are figuring out ways to best encourage and help develop these relationships, as well as trying to figure out where the time for Mommy and Daddy exists in our - never a dull moment - life.
If there was one thing I could say I miss the most in my day to day life it would be my Husband. I miss him. He is here, but with work, kids, new routines, more laundry then I ever thought possible, dishes, cooking, mediating those "MOOOOMMMMMMM SHE'S LOOKING AT ME!!!!" moments, we hardly have time to say goodnight before our heads hit the pillow for the night and a new day begins, which looks exactly as the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that.
A date night is in order.......
If there is one thing I am learning this time around, it is that I can't do this alone. I can't possibly do all of the cleaning, cooking, laundry, entertaining children, etc and still be sane. So I am working on becoming a more organized and structured mama, and teaching the kids to be more organized and structured in the process. They are learning how to fold and put away their own laundry - while I learn it is OK for the girls to have some blue hangers in their closet, instead of all white and pink - this is killing me by the way, but with some deep breaths I can move past it....They are all learning how to vacuum, load and empty the dishwasher, pick up their rooms daily, turn off lights, turn off the water when finished, pick up after the dogs (yes the girls are just THRILLED about this one), and how to entertain themselves. Almost hourly in our home you will hear this "it is a beautiful day, go outside and enjoy it" - "mom, we don't know what to do" - "child of mine, you play" - "but we don't know what to play" - "use your imagination" - "We don't have imagination" - "OK, lets lay down for a nap then" - "We'll be in backyard, bye Mom"- and suddenly they all know how to play...
I used to feel guilty about this, having convinced myself that unless I was entertaining them I was a bad mom. Then I got my head on straight and realized that only a foolish woman would ever think she is capable of taking the place of a child as playmate. Each day as I see the kids work through compromising with one another, teaching each other new and different things, assuming different roles, etc. I realize that reinforcing this play time is actually one of the best things I could have done for them. Pride in the strides they are making has replaced guilt.
Life isn't perfect, but it is wonderful none-the-less. Thank you God.....Amen and Amen and Amen....
The Fearsome Foursome
They adore their cousin Janae
