Big Sisters, Little Sister

I feel like I'm barely recovering from Christmas and January is already over. All three girls have been sick the last couple weeks so our nights have been interrupted with lots of coughing. We are already dreaming about spring and are glad this winter is flying by. We want to play outside and stop frequenting the McDonalds playplace.

Ben and I celebrated our birthdays without a ton of fanfare but had a great time. We spent a Saturday out at the movies and getting Sushi and spent a night downtown going to dinner and shopping.

Rosemary and Evelyn started at their new Preschool here in Sandy and love it. Their teachers are darling and they seem to be learning a lot and have adjusted very well. We just got home from a field trip to the dinosaur museum this afternoon. It is really nice to not have to drive across town anymore and be able to run errands with my special little buddy.
 
 Rosie and Evie all of a sudden seem so much older. They are so creative and have such funny ideas. They also seem to have turned a corner and aren't acting out as much as they were right after Gwena was born. We have a "good choice" jar we are slowly filling to be able to go have a fun-a-thon as a family. They are so darling with their baby sister and are so patient with all the time needed to take care of her. They keep saying they want her to get bigger so they can teach her to walk or count or so she can join in one of their games of mermaids or princesses.

Gwenog the hedgehog is the most incredible baby. She is so good natured and calm. We all lay down on the carpet in the evenings and just oogle and adore her while she kicks.  She is so fascinated by her hands and is learning to grab ahold of things and bat at toys on her playmat. Dr. Jackson commented on how she looks a lot older than she is and is definitely on the fast track as far as baby developmental milestones. She has great head control and is sleeping so well. I see other babies her same age and I can't believe how much bigger and older she looks.  I already have her in some 3-6 month clothes. At her 2 month appointment she weighed 12 lbs and 8oz and was in the 84th percentile. She is also very tall and was 23.8 inches and in the 89th percentile. Don't grow up too fast, baby girl.


 I'm still figuring out our new routine with three kids and most days I get nothing done. I feel successful if we get through the day and everyone was fed and reasonably clean and the house isn't destroyed and I squeezed in a 25 minute exercise video.  I'm baffled by my friends who are busy moms but also find the time to work full or part time or only feed their family homemade bread, or write novels, or work on post graduate degrees or homeschool their kids. I have no idea how we would survive if I took the time to wash my hair everyday let alone these much grander feats. It's puzzling. I have no idea where all the hours in the day go but obviously I'm not very efficient. Last night Ben and I began the job of painting the whole main level of the house, starting with all the trim and baseboards. I'm excited to fix up the house and make it ours and hoping that tackling this project will help me feel more productive, although I know Ben will be doing most of it.

My little sis sent me this quote today and it seems very fitting. Treasure these normal, unproductive days of just taking care of my favorite 3.

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.”
― Mary Jean Irion

It's been an adjustment for our family to have a new baby but I am really loving the new perspective it has given me. I love having Gwena to snuggle and it helps me to realize and appreciate how fast the time goes by and how big Rosie and Evie are getting. I love the different rewards of taking care of a baby verses the rewards of taking care of toddlers. There is certainly extra stress in having both but I love the comparison side by side and having kids in different stages. Ben has given me a hard time about how obsessed with Gwena I am...not to say I don't love all my girls with all my heart. But Gwena sure does make it easy to love her and feel like I'm doing a good job. I know all she needs is to be fed, put to sleep, and snuggled and she's the happiest girl in the world. Whereas I'm fighting a losing battle with Rosie and Evie...someone is always climbing on the counters to sneak something or throwing a tantrum over what fork they got or painting the bed in the guest room. It is refreshing to not be in a cycle of frustration and guilt with this innocent, immobile, sweet tempered baby. But of course her day will come and nothing is more rewarding than having real conversations with Rosie and Evie at the dinner table and watching them grow and play and learn.

Ben and I are doing a great job with our New Years Resolutions to get back in shape. We have been very consistent in counting calories and getting our exercise in. I just have a couple more days of the "shred" and it has helped me feel strong even though my body isn't changing much. I almost threw in the towel about a week ago when the scale hadn't budged one pound but luckily I finally saw a very slight decrease and that's been enough to keep me motivated. It's been good for me to put together healthier dinners for my family. I don't feel like I can gain much ground while I'm nursing but it sure makes me feel happier and better about life in the middle of winter. Looking forward to watching the Sochi Olympics next week to help get us through February!

HAPPY 2014!

I was planning on doing a "Year in Review" post, but it seems a little redundant when I'm having a hard enough time as is to get around to blogging. 2013 was an awesome, busy year for us. The year started with focusing on getting pregnant and doing a frozen IVF cycle in February, and ended in a crazy recovery of the birth of our beautiful Gwena. We very unexpectedly found ourselves moving to Utah and changing our whole lives around in August. New state, new job, new house, new baby. Rosie and Evie have grown up so much and are so much more talkative, imaginative, and independent. These two long legged beauties blow me away. I feel so very blessed and this family is my greatest treasure.

Oh I sure do love a new year. It comes at the perfect time after the excitement of Christmas is over. I always look forward to it because there is nothing I enjoy more than checking off a big to-do list and resolutions are just that on a grander scale. Weeks of stress, sluggishness, overindulgence, and focusing outward always put me in the mood for a little self reflection and grand list making.

Here are the resolutions we made last year.

1. Get my dumplings completely potty trained but in a non stressed, positive manner.  DONE. Our attempt in January was awful but we kept casually practicing and in May we pulled the plug and did it for real and they girls did awesome.
2.  Attempt IVF again and either become pregnant OR run another half marathon. Both good things. DONE. February cycle was a success and now we have our beautiful Gwena.
3.  BE HAPPY and take life as it comes and know there is a time and a season for all things. Don't worry about what you can't control. Get through the winter without turning into a zombie and getting depressed. DONE.
4. Finish Rosemary and Evelyn's book and get the photos organized on the computer. Eek...nope. Been working on pictures and videos TODAY.
5. Continue good habits of scripture study, family prayer, personal prayer, and family home evening. DONE.
6. Attend more full sessions at the Temple whether as a couple or individually. DONE.
7. Continue to go to the gym at least 3 times a week, work out, and be healthy. We did awesome until we moved and I was super pregnant and having contractions like crazy and we no longer had a gym membership. Back on the wagon.
8. Eat more fruits and veggies. DONE.
9. Again, try new recipes to add to the dinner rotation. DONE.
10. Magnify my calling and be happy doing it.  DONE.
11.  Attempt to decrease the time spent on my phone in the presence of my children and husband. It's obnoxious. IMPROVED.
12. Get comfortable and try new things with the awesome new camera Ben got me for Christmas. DONE.
13. Continue reading other good literature. Before I joined my bookclub it was taking me forever to get through a book because it was always the last thing on my list to do. I have loved making it a higher priority and always having a story to come back to everyday. DONE. But now that we moved I need a new bookclub. :(
14. STOP complaining. Replace with gratitude. There is certainly a time and  a place and "VENTING" is perfectly ok. But I do a lot of random complaining as a source of humor or to be conversational.  People may be under the impression that I'm not crazy about my husband or my perfect little girls or my life when just the opposite is true. I wish I had reread these more often and reminded myself of this...I'm a complainer at heart but I do think I've made a little bit of an improvement. I had a lot to complain about in the last several months with everything that has been going on and I feel like I haven't let it get too out of control.
15. Spend more time on the floor engaging in focused play with my Eve and Rose. They are at such a fun age and love to pretend. I want to be a part of their imaginary world as much as I can.  DONE.

RESOLUTIONS & GOALS FOR 2014

PHYSICAL
1. Complete the 30 Day Shred in January
2. Run another race.
3. Log food on mfp.
4. Nurse at least through March (sick season).
5. Lose 10 lbs.

SPIRITUAL
1. Read the Book of Mormon as a family.
2. Attend the Temple regularly as a couple or individually.
3. Continued personal prayer scripture study.
4. Continue having Family Home Evening.

SOCIAL
1. Make more friends in my area! Rosie and Evie miss their Colorado friends desperately. Luckily they would be thrilled to play with their cousins every day of the week but I need to make an effort and reach out to my ward and neighborhood.
2. Find and join a book club.

PERSONAL
1. Slowly work on updating and improving the house to make it ours-- starting with Rosie and Evie's room.
2. Continue taking lots of pictures and video of my girls. Blog at least once a month. Why is this so much harder now??
3. Spend more focused, quality time with each individual in my family instead of always moving as a chaotic, crazy mass. Enjoy and treasure Gwena's glorious babyhood, Rosie and Evie's crazy toddlerhood, and my relationship with my Benny.
4. Make a conscious effort to not raise my voice at my cute girls. WALK AWAY.
5. Relax and accept the realities of having 3 little kids without feeling guilty or losing my mind. (It's ok to spend quiet days at home and not always be on the go-- sometimes all the effort isn't worth it. It's ok if the house isn't always clean because it certainly won't last more than an hour anyways. It's ok if it takes us an hour and a half to get out the door...start early and be patient).
This crazy season of our lives won't last forever.

Here's to a joyful 2014 as a family of 5!