Thursday, March 1, 2012

Writing is good for me, which is probably why I'm not doing it.

I knew that this poor blog would be neglected following Baby E's birth, but I didn't know how much. I'm struggling to keep up with writing for the local parenting blog, an offshoot of the local parenting magazine. I'm struggling with laundry. I'm struggling with homework time. I'm struggling to make dinner. But I'm doing it all. Just very slowly and somewhat incompletely. I have to remind myself that that is enough.

I killed a rat last week. Yeah. I bludgeoned a rat to death. While that sounds pretty wild, it's also pretty common in Wheeling since the sewers here are old and full of little creepy nasty things that manage to find their way into the old homes here. Fortunately, I'm blessed with a helpful degree of coordination and clear-headedness in a crisis. I grew up killing gophers in the garden, so this was quite similar. I do have a twinge of conscience when it comes to taking any life, but it's their babies or mine! This one was actually kinda cute! I've since set up a series of traps in case there are any others, and we are working to seal up any possible access points. Peaches the foolish mutt was actually quite helpful in harassing the critter so that I could nab it. I have to put the traps in boxes, or Peaches gets snapped because she can't resist eating the bait. &%#@(&* joys of home ownership! A run-down home down the street appears to be the source of the critters. The owner evicted his tenants, waited 6 months, and then gutted the house, stirring up a lot of critters. That's about the time we realized we had company. We know people who have had rats in every home they've lived in in Wheeling, so we're just doing our best to eradicate and prevent them.

We're painting the whole interior of our home these days. We put in a new dishwasher, sink, and garbage disposal. Yep, tax check came weeks ago! Roman shades are going up, and clutter is heading to the curb or the thrift shop. It's a challenge to keep the bio-hazards at bay with this crowd of sticky-fingered minions transporting food all around.

On the health front, my PPD and SAD are improving tremendously. I'm taking Zoloft for the PPD, and it's March, so the SAD will continue to fade! I'm dropping baby weight. I've developed a vastly better support network of good friends who love to go out for some fun activities, with and without kids in tow. My kids have been healthier this year than any other year of their lives, with IM missing no school all year due to illness, a first for him! A-man, who's always healthy, has missed two days. The pediatrician has confirmed that they indeed have ADHD, so we work to help them develop self-control in a world that is not particularly patient with their kind of energy. M-girl has had one ear infection after her tubes came out, and she's doing great. Baby E is healthy and round and teething these days.

Dr. O' has graciously offered to teach some summer courses to help us live quite comfortably and cover the unexpected, so he will be very busy again this summer. He will also be writing an article for a theological dictionary and writing an article for his yearly conference. I'm hoping that the boys get some time at camp and swim lessons this summer. They're getting so much bigger and more independent now! They can meet up with a counselor and board a bus near our home every Tuesday for 6 weeks this summer and go to camp for the day. Now that they are both old enough, I plan to send them together.

The parenting group I'm involved in is thriving and offers a ministry of support and grace to many women in our area. I'm so thankful for this outlet! We have people planning meetups, new friendships are forming, and we are all learning so much from each other.

Our church family continues to be a source of love and support to our family. I love teaching the children and seeing their hearts grow closer to God through the work of the Holy Spirit. Dr. O' was asked a few weeks ago to preach the sermon since our pastor was out of town and the sub couldn't make it. He got to church, looked at the readings, and made up a great sermon. I did the children's sermon that day, someone else led worship, and everything went great.

A-Man had been eagerly awaiting his first communion for about a year, and he finally got to participate in the sacrament a few weeks ago. Since then, he's been prostrating himself in the center aisle, or maybe taking a rest. I'm not quite sure. He also joins our pastor for the benediction and can say the whole thing himself. He can say The Apostle's Creed and explain each article with a bit of help. I love to see his heart grow in Christ!

IM is growing up so quickly these days! He turned 8 in December and is turning into a young man these days. He's still so very innocent, and it's interesting to hear his views on life. He likes to boil everything down to facts and rules one minute and is wildly imaginative the next. He reads everything he gets his hands on and is blossoming socially. I took him to a birthday party, and all the girls from his class came up and hugged him and lifted him off the ground!

M-girl turns three this week, and I'm in awe of how rapidly she's attaining new language and new skills. The period between 2 and 3 is simultaneously so fascinating and frustrating for me. All my kids have gone through a period of being so curious about the world that they have this rapid explosion of social and verbal development. The downside is that they also get into insane amounts of mess-making and trouble-causing at this age. I realized that age 3 is when I start thinking about preschool for each of them, so M is off to preschool in August. She's bored and needs some stimulation and structured activity.

Baby E is still pretty much the nicest little baby ever. She's sweet and smiley and easy-going. She waits pretty patiently for me to get to her, she throws her self backwards to indicate that she wants to be put down, and she falls asleep in any position when she's tired. She sleeps 10-12 hours straight at night and wakes up all smiles. She has her fussy days, but those are typically due to teething. Quite a remarkable little chubby cherub, and I can't imagine life without her. Her hair is falling out a bit/ getting thinner on her growing scalp, and her eyes are slowly turning brown.

Me? I'm doing what I do. We've been over that ;)