he's a saint

let me tell you, before Andrew was born, I spent plenty of time stressing about how I would handle four kids.  specifically, how I would be able to handle having four kids at home with me during the summer when two get into trouble 24/7, one is still very much a baby that just gets into everything, and one being a newborn whose personality, no one had a clue about yet. mostly, I was terrified that I might get another Brady-style devil newborn that would never give me a break and test my sanity by never giving me a moment of quiet.

well, I'm happy to report that while the first three are as predicted (except Elizabeth is harder because she has overnight left the baby stage and entered the kid stage and does stuff like go outside with Brady to walk across the street by herself to the neighbor's house to play), Andrew is an absolute angel.  he is a saint through and through.  I mean, it's not that he NEVER cries... but a typical day involves no crying.  maybe a whimper here or there if he's neglected or is having a lot of reflux at the moment, and definitely a hard cry when he's in pain (sometimes from the reflux, but mostly if Elizabeth accidentally hurts him), but typically, nothing.

I lot of my time stressing about having the kids on my own also included stressing about the days that honey would be gone at youth conference.  when he initially told me, I was all "why are they making you go to youth conference?!?!  don't they know we'll have a newborn and I'm going to be taking care of a one month old baby in addition to three other children?! during the summer when no one is in school!" and I wasn't too thrilled about it.  I was mostly scared about it.  I had visions of me staying up all night with a baby that screamed and wouldn't go to sleep.

but, don't even worry about it... I didn't get that baby.  I got Andrew.  he never tries to stay awake at night (although I frequently do because of the overwhelming frequency and noise level of his spitting up/choking/gasping for air/etc. during the night) and instead just eats quickly and is fine to go right back to sleep.

today, for whatever reason (maybe a growth spurt?), he's barely been awake.  I'd have to wake him up to feed him and he would basically just sleep eat and then fully fall back asleep.  or he would doze on and off during his wake time.  or even this evening, I actually got him to stay awake (just laying on my bed) for some awake time while I was tending to the other three with getting us all showered and fed and ready for bed and I just kept forgetting about him or getting distracted or whatever and so he just put himself to sleep.  and then a few hours later, I'd hear him sneeze and remember that I needed to tend to him but then he'd already be back to sleep.  for someone that swaddles religiously, I was mostly just baffled that he was able to sleep without his arms pinned down.  and even though it seemed like he would wake frequently and go back to sleep, I'm not sure if he was actually waking up or if it was just that newborn thing where they seem awake even though they're not.  at one point, I just decided to wake him up and change his diaper so I could feed him and put him to bed.  I changed his diaper and he fell immediately asleep again as I buttoned up his sleeper.  I watched him and waited for him to wake up again but after an hour I gave up.  I did my bed to dream feed him (he took one side and not the other) and just swaddled him and put him in his little travel bed bassinet.  with the exception of me waking him to feed him for ten or fifteen minutes (maybe three times?), he has required no attention from me in the last 15 hours.  I mean, I feel like that's even far easier than he typically is and I like to think that today was a special gift to me from Heavenly Father while my honey was at youth conference.

while Andrew snoozed the whole day away, the rest of us had a pretty good time.  I slept in till almost 9.  the kids got Elizabeth out of bed when she woke up.  I love that they can do that now.  we went outside to play around 10:30 maybe and watched the new neighbors show up at the house across the street.  I'm gonna need to stop calling it "Lucy's house" now.  Lucy and Presley came over to play around 1.  Elizabeth took a nap.  the kids read books, had a coloring contest, and played don't spill the beans... as well as a number of other made up games... until 3:45.  then we all headed outside and they ate quesadillas and snap peas on the driveway and rob and Stephanie came over and joined me (since they're temporarily homeless now), and we hung out in camp chairs on the driveway for a few hours.  at 6:30, I had the kids clean up their stuff and we all headed inside.  four showers later, we were moving slowly but making progress.

somehow I walked up the stairs and they were all just sitting there in silence... reading books.

the great coloring contest

new neighbor boy... about 8 months older than Brady I think?

he likes to blow-dry his hair

I think that's just how it is when you're relying on a 7 year old and 5 year old to do all the stuff you typically would have your husband do.  I showered Elizabeth off with me but then handed her out to Brady instead of honey (since he's not here) and had Brady dry her off.  he was unsuccessful getting a clean diaper on her (Elizabeth had turned into a feisty, disobedient little bugger all of a sudden) but with Abigail's help, they got it done and got her pjs on her too.  I stayed in the shower and told them to get themselves yogurts and some "soft bread " (that grandma sycamore's bread is so delicious) and hoped for the best.  well, it was a bit of a disaster when I got out in that they were all spinning around on the red chair and the table was a mess, but it all got straightened out (with a few strategic threats about going straight up to bed) and they got everything cleaned up.  Elizabeth had a hard time going to bed and kept crying on and off, but I had Abigail and Brady clean up upstairs and go potty and brush teeth by themselves (apparently my theme today was giving them a bunch of new responsibilities to see if they could handle any new things) and Abigail was already passed out in bed by the time I got up there.  Brady asked me a bunch of questions about... well everything... and went to sleep quickly after.

I can't get over Brady's questions.  asking me about if wolves eat people and do wolves come out at night and do they live near us and if they eat us will we come back alive and will we come back alive if another animal eats us and how do we get old and die and then come back alive and not be old anymore because papa was old and died and how will he not be old anymore and how does Santa get down the chimney when it's so small?  and when half of my answers were "well, that's how Heavenly Father made it happen" and "Heavenly Father knows everything" then he had to ask about if grandmas and grandpas and moms and dads know everything too.  he just asked me yesterday if grandmas and grandpas were perfect (when I said something like "well, nobody is perfect") and holy cow, that kid has a question for everything.  also, I have to figure out a good enough answer for everything he asks because I've taught my kids that mom's know everything.  tonight I tried to tell him that I didn't know if wolves like to eat people and he corrected me because "you're a mom so you know things." touché.

so, that's a random stream of my thought process story telling of the day. Abigail is getting new responsibilities since she's seven now, Brady continues to ask tons of intellectually thought provoking questions, Elizabeth says no constantly and delights in being disobedient, and Andrew is a perfect little pet rock that is easily forgotten except for his loud sneezes that remind us all that he's still there. we're all doing okay, thank goodness, and excited to spend some time with honey tomorrow.  I can't believe it's already saturday again.  how on earth did another week happen again so fast?

blows my mind.