(this picture is not meant to imply that Ava is an unhappy baby...it just goes well with what I'm about to say)
My days have been non-stop busy the last few weeks. We've had our ups and downs. Some days I've felt like the only thing I accomplished was keeping my children alive. I'm not joking. Some days I've felt so productive and like "wow, maybe I can do this!"
Um, yeah! So unfortunately most days have been rough. Add postpartum emotions to the normal craziness of having 4 children 3 and under and you've got a mama who basically becomes a puddle of tears over the smallest thing and feels like the ultimate mom failure when her sons have to sleep in their clothes because they have no clean jammies.
I really don't think I've ever been more thankful that God gives those good days (good moments, good parts-of-days) sprinkled throughout the hard ones. I'm thankful that He gives grace and strength abundantly when I feel like I just. can't. do. it.
Ava is a serious little girl.
These boys. Oh, these boys. Asher has started climbing out of his crib. He apparently is pretty good at it because he's never hurt himself, but it scares me to death! We are going to move him to the toddler bed and Levi to a twin bed as soon as we can get a twin mattress.
The other night, Jacob was gone and I hurriedly put the older children to bed a little early because Ava needed to eat. Lily went straight to sleep but the boys were being loud and obviously not ready to go to sleep, so I told them they could come play quietly until I was done feeding Ava. They were pretty rambunctious (we had cleaned up everything off the floor, so you can see they did some mess-making) until I told them Daddy was on his way home. Then they jumped up on the couch with a book and read quietly together until he got home. Little stinkers! :)
Last week, Levi was being naughty and I sent him to his "time-out chair" in his room to wait for me to come talk to him. Well, when I went to go in his room, I found that he'd locked he and Asher in the room. I got the little stick key thing and tried to get the door open, but I couldn't. I started to panic. Jacob was about 40 minutes away teaching for the day. I could hear the boys up on their dresser so I told them to get down and play legos. Thankfully they obeyed! :)
After trying unsuccessfully to get the door opened, I called Jacob's dad who works about a minute from our house. He was so sweet to drop what he was doing and come (after finding a few tools that he thought he might need). He was able to get the door open very quickly...using the "key"...then he taught me how to unlock the door. Ha! We found the boys playing legos sweetly. Notice the time out chair. LOL
An older sibling wanted to share. :)
Play dough!
Lily wanted to see how Ava would fit in her doll cradle :)
Most of this post was written last week. Praise God, this week has been a bit better. Levi had his final post-op appointment yesterday and the doctor is very pleased with how he has healed and how his eyes look! That is a huge blessing!
Nehemiah 8:10
For the JOY of the Lord is your strength.
Love you, Kelly! Wish we lived closer...I'd come over and help you during those difficult times! Praying for you!
ReplyDeleteOh how I understand! After we had Luke, I was so emotional, Erik had to be gone a lot for work, and Luke was super fussy in the evenings(he'd usually stay up until about 2 am just crying in my arms.) That combined with trying to take care of 4 other kiddos, was so hard, but God gave me so much grace to get through those days. I love how honest you are, and in a few more weeks things will start to feel more normal. I'm praying for you, Mama! Oh, and I've also had kids lock themselves in their rooms before too like that! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're an amazing mom, Kelly! You're truly an inspiration. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the updates. I'm sure things are not as bad as they seem on the bad days... your children are loved and safe -- that's a good day.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update! I often think of you and wonder how the transition is going. I will be praying for you! I know that I am getting ready to hit this stage again so soon myself. But thankfully it is a stage! I remember many, many days when I was quite positive that I could not take care of four children well...and I couldn't and I still can't without the strength and grace of God. He is so gracious and He brings you through.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Okay, I had to laugh at the beginning when you said you had a meltdown from not having clean jammies to put your kiddos in. Becaaaaaauuuuuse I may or may not frequently put my kids to bed in their clothes because it's just easier to not change them. Maybe lazy. But I'm okay with it. ;) lol!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing great, Mama! I know the frustrations, so well. And the tiredness. And my daughter locked me out of the house the other day…and out of the car about a month ago, so…yeah, I feel ya. :) Your little darlin' is too cute! And YES, praise God for the good days sprinkled in with the bad days. They make the journey so much brighter.
ReplyDeleteI'm so thankful for your sense of humor and perspective! I have to just say- sometimes my kids sleep in their clothes- even if there are clean jammies! Just saying...some days are like that and it's OK! ;)
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, I know these days well :) Almost every day over here hahaha! What a precious little girl God has blessed you with! I still can't believe you have four kids now!!! Goodness, it feels like I took a much longer break from blogging than I thought I did!! Praying grace and strength to you, Kelly!
ReplyDelete