I decided it is time to get back to blogging a little. I may never have as much time to dedicate to it as I used to, but this is the best way I have found for keeping a history of our family. So, hopefully I'm back. I may or may not ever "catch up" on what I didn't blog, but I'm going forward either way. I decided to write this post because life is crazy busy right now. I remember not long after Dylan was born, pulling out a journal my mom had kept when I was a baby and reading through it. It was so comforting to hear her life as a young mother. She was on the phone one time and I had gotten into the garbage and was flinging banana peels all over the kitchen. Another time, I'd managed to spill an entire bottle of vegetable oil on the kitchen floor and was happily "swimming" through the mess. It helped me realize "this too shall pass" and that she was real too. Life is busy and it may not calm down any time soon, but some day far into the future, I want to look back at these days and remember them with fondness. So here is just a random day. Nothing special. Just a normal day in the life.
Caleb was super fussy going to sleep last night, which threw his sleeping schedule off. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. to feed him. As I was changing his diaper at 1:45 a.m., Marissa wandered in sleeping and whiny saying she needed to go to the bathroom. Took her to the bathroom, got her a sippy cup of water, and put her back in bed. At 3:30 a.m. I heard Marissa starting with a croupy cough. She's apparently caught some sort of bug again. Not bad enough to worry too much, but something to keep an eye on in the nights to come. At 5:45 a.m. I hear Marissa scream. I think to myself, "NO! This cannot be happening again." Stupid daylight savings time and kids waking other kids. Preston has been WAY OFF lately! A good thing and a bad thing (since it usually means he's about to have major progress developmentally, but it's difficult to deal with in the meantime). I took Preston out of his own bed and put him in Marissa's room alone and told him to go back to sleep. Crisis averted. Marissa and Dylan settle back into sleep without getting up before 6 a.m. for the day. I feed Caleb again and put him back to sleep.
Marcos gets up, showers, and heads out the door at 6:30 a.m. to give plasma. Our tight, one-income budget requires drastic measures to allow me to stay home with the kids. He heads back home to grab breakfast at 7:45 a.m. I hop in the shower and head downstairs to make breakfast for the crew. I'm exhausted, but it's time to get moving. Marcos checks messages and scheduling for work while he inhales his food. I attempt to keep the kids relatively quiet while they eat so he can multi-task. Dylan packs Marcos a lunch to take with him (he loves being helpful like that). Marcos finishes up his work and heads out the door to visit patients.
Dylan starts his piano practicing at 8:30 a.m. It's supposed to happen while I make breakfast so I can oversee the process, but we don't waste time, but it rarely does. Now I have to try to stick around to listen to him practice when I need to help Marissa get dressed, brush teeth, and do her hair. I get her settled and go check on Preston. He is supposed to be doing his morning chores, which include making his bed, brushing his teeth, getting dressed and emptying the dishwasher. He hasn't done any. He is either really quick and gets everything done or it takes me all day helping, encouraging, and reminding him. Today was the latter.
Despite Preston dragging his feet, I gather the kids for morning devotional. This consists of song, prayer, pledge, calendar and weather, scriptures (illustrated simplified version) and a story from The Friend magazine. Caleb wakes up hungry so I feed him while we finish devotional and work on memorization. Dylan pretty much has the theme memorized for his Knights of Freedom group so we work on Articles of Faith. He knows them, but forgets a word here and there so we are reviewing.
Marissa smiles through her memorization of the first Article of Faith. Preston starts to throw a fit and then decides he will do it, but his own way. Oh dear, it's going to be one of those days for him.
Dylan gets started with his independent subjects. He's getting pretty good at working on his own. He knows if he gets going, the day goes better and he is more likely to get time with friends if they are available to play. Marissa hops on my lap with several story books so I spend some time reading to her while I hold Caleb and Preston stands up by the dishwasher thinking about starting his morning routine. After what feels like 20 books, I get Preston to at least get dressed and brush his teeth and come join me for his subjects (reading, writing, and math). He fights it for a second and then gets excited all over again. His reading goes well. It's coming along much better than I ever expected. Although he is probably between a kindergarten and 1st grade level, he is MUCH further than I ever expected him to be at this point. It takes a lot of patience and dedication to work with him on a regular basis, but he is getting there.
Caleb gets fussy so I put him down for another nap. Still no regular schedule of naps, but a pattern of eating, playing and then sleeping. His play time was long and now he is ready for the next rest period. Dylan finishes everything he can do on his own and we still have 20 minutes until I think about lunch. That's just enough time to hit a language arts lesson and/or his writing lesson for the day (both which require my help). They are shorter than expected so we get through both and I start lunch while I give him his spelling words. Prayer is said, sandwiches eaten, and many words spelled correctly. It's a Thursday so Dylan has a geography class at 1:00 p.m. He finishes spelling and lunch in time to head out the door to his class.
Somehow Preston gets a second wind and gets his dishwasher unloaded. Hallelujah! Since Dylan loading dishes depends on Preston getting his done, that cycle can become a problem in a hurry. Now Dylan can maybe load dishes in the afternoon before there are even more added to the sink at dinner.
I feed Caleb again and read a couple books to Marissa and Preston. Marissa brings me her cupcake fairy puzzle and we all put that together with Caleb cooing along with our conversation. Dylan comes home and two friends join us. Dylan is working with a new scout to help him get his Bobcat as one of his scouting requirements, and another friend joins us because her mom has an appointment. We only have about an hour before our next commitment. They quickly work on learning the scout promise and then commence playing. The scout session/play date ends and Dylan walks one friend home after the other is picked up by her mom. I get out a matching game, an Eye Spy preschool game, 6 books and a puzzle for Dylan to work with Marissa while I take Preston to music class. I am helping with his class this year, which is awesome. I knew I needed more time with him alone and it's been a bonus because his teacher is swapping our music tuition for the family in exchange for helping her. Wa-hoo! Free stuff is always good. However, Marcos recently got his Sons of Helaman group up and running and his second job overlaps with the time I am gone. I didn't have a babysitter for Caleb lined up yet so I got him fed, and prayed he would sleep and be good while we were there so I could still be helpful. Dylan is great with the other two kids, but I don't dare leave him with the baby just yet. Marcos stops by for a paper he forgot and to change into his suit since he has a church meeting right after his group ends. So he went from donating plasma to work all day, to his second job, to a church meeting. I will see him again around 9:00 p.m. Busy day! I get Dylan settled with activities he can do with Marissa, feed the baby, and head out the door with Preston and Caleb.
We get back from music class, I feed Caleb again, and get dinner started. Thankfully I've actually gone through to make a two-week menu since we are being super careful with money and trying to be somewhat healthy as well. YIKES! Dinner is a lot of work even with a plan. Dylan loads dishes while I cook and we chat for a bit. In the process he tells me I am one of his heroes. I thank him, but he repeats it with more feeling, "No really, Mom! You're one of my heroes. You're one of the coolest people I know. You can do everything so well! You're such a good cook. And, well, you can do anything. I don't know how, but you just can." One of the better moments of being a mom. Makes all the hard work worth it somehow. I feed the family (minus Marcos who will have to eat when he gets home), get fussy Caleb settled for his "mini-nap" before he eats and goes to bed for the night, and head upstairs to bathe Preston and Marissa (who have made many messes all throughout the house while I was making dinner). I debate whether or not I will have the energy to clean up the tornado that occurred while I had to do a million other things. I get lotion, essential oils (yeah, we use those too...we're the weird home school, natural birth, essential oil family now. Mock if you must!) and pajamas on Preston and Marissa, read a handful of books to them while they alternate who gets to choose the next one, and say family prayer with Dylan, Preston, and Marissa.
Dylan hops in the shower and comes to talk to me. Marcos gets home, I warm him up some food, he changes clothes, and reads to Dylan. Knights of Freedom is with dads this month and they have one week left to finish their book. Gotta get in reading whenever they can. Dylan gets to stay up a little later, but at least gets a little one-on-one time with Marcos. I'm completely spent and opt for listening to a general conference talk while I straighten up a bit rather than struggling to stay awake reading my scriptures and waking up to the complete disaster that is my house. Marcos helps me clean up and we both head to bed, lucky to even get our teeth brushed for the night.
Yep, I'm exhausted just reading about the day! Is every day that busy? No, but in general there isn't much downtime for either of us. It's a super crazy, busy life. We don't fill our lives with extras that aren't necessary, but the things we have chosen that we feel are important for our lives keep us very busy. We know these are the busy years that require sacrifice. It's a crazy life, but it's definitely a great life!
