My poor man!

The last 24 hours have been beyond rough for my man!  His pain has been increasing the last few days, and he hardly slept a wink last night.  He got up at 8am, and I could see the pain and exhaustion from the moment I saw him, in his eyes, the way he was hunched over, his attempt to sit down...  you could just tell he was miserable!  As the day went on, things got worse... I encouraged Mr. Steady to call his DR and see what the next step should be.  The doctor was able to pull some serious strings and get Mr. Steady an appointment tomorrow morning with a spine surgeon for a consultation {getting the ball rolling}

By 2pm he was on a conference-call curled up in the fetal position, trying so hard to find a comfortable position, to no avail!  Beads of sweat on his face, and totally nauseous.  I left him to do his work and came down to email some friends from church to ask for prayer, and to call my friend who is an ER nurse to ask her at what point should I take him to the ER! 

At 2:45 H came running down stairs and stuttered over his words, and finally spit out, "Mama, Daddy really needs you upstairs."  I ran up stairs to find Mr. Steady curled up in a ball, body shaking, sweat dripping, and crying! {I have only ever seen my husband even tear up 2 other times in the last 10 years}  He asked me to find a thermometer because he thought he had a fever.  I searched for a moment then thought, what in the world good will a thermometer do?  I knew the sweating was from pain, not a fever... then I kicked into high gear, and tears...  I called our babysitter, and asked (dare I say I begged and sputtered) how far away she was and if she could come get our kids.  She said yes, but it would be about 45 minutes until she could come.  Then I ran next door and asked our neighbor if she could watch the kids until our babysitter could be here {by God's grace our neighbor was home, she is a teacher and this week is her spring break}.  We live less than 5 minutes from the hospital, but the whole ride, he was cringing, attempting to curl up in a ball on the front seat... struggling like I have never seen before.

We were able to get right in at the ER, normally a 4 hour wait!  It did take the doctor a while to get pain meds started, but by 4pm they started the first round of meds, including anti-nausea meds. 3 rounds of meds and 6 hours later he was discharged.  The ride home was almost as rough as the ride in, he kept thinking he was going to throw up.  But we made it home, to a clean house and kids all tucked in.  I was able to run back out to the pharmacy to get his meds while our awesome sitter was still here.  He got 4 meds, and the grand total was $0.  I couldn't believe it.  Though this struggle is hard, we are seeing God's blessings and provisions along the way.  Please keep my sweet man in your prayers!

I hate bedtime

I have gone through seasons before of loathing bedtime, and other times it isn't so bad.  Other than with my kids when they were newborns, I have never LOVED bedtime...  And I get all kinds of frustrated at myself that I don't LOVE it.  I wish bedtime was a sweet, calm, full of great memories kind of time around here... but right now, we are so far from that!  You see for 7 weeks Mr. Steady has been unable to help with bedtime {since he herniated his a disc in his back}.  I had been used to the amazing tag-team we had going on for bedtime, each of us pitching in, each of us getting a little 1 on 1 time with one or two of the kids.  But doing it all by myself for weeks on end, has been hard, tiring, and testing of my patience.

Tonight I was struck by how many times I told my kids, "hurry up!"  What, is my deal?  It is not like we have anything pressing that we are going to be late for!  Other than, the more dilly-dallying and disobedience for sure dwindles my patience!

I wish I could say my sweet man was doing better and that starting tomorrow, he would be tag-teaming bedtime with me.  But that is not our reality right now.  Poor guy is struggling walking, sitting, even sleeping... and by doctor's orders he is not allowed to pick up any of our kids.  So that leaves me, which is fine, I know there are lots of families where dad doesn't help with bedtime at all {heaven help you sweet ladies enduring this}, and there there are single-moms who have no choice but to care for every need of their little ones-- and somehow their kiddos make it to bed each and every night.   Or a military wife, doing this for months on end... how did my sweet mother-in-law do it???

Here is my new game plan of surviving this time of day
1.  Get over myself and my selfishness and get over the expectations that this will take only 15 minutes.
2.  Start earlier
3.  have chart/ cards for big kids to follow for the parts of getting ready for bed that they can do on their own {I will post more on this later}
4.  Ban myself from saying "hurry up!!!"  I can give other reminders, but overall they don't have to hurry and rush, they just need to stay on task!
5.  And once a week, I'm hoping for a bedtime break... that we can get a babysitter for a few hours.  (sounds bad to say out-loud... but just keepin' it real)

Do you have any bedtime tips??  Am I the only mom that longs for bedtime to be sweet and memorable, but is often frustrated and rushing??  What works for you??

Okay, and when you are tucking your little peeps in at night, will you say a little prayer for me to be patient and to find enjoyment in this time with my littles?

Happy Easter

I pray that you had a wonderful Easter!  Ours was not our typical Easter, but we made the most of our time together as a family!  B-man was sick (sad) and Mr. Steady has a herniated disc and was having trouble standing/ walking (double sad).  So we stayed home... which was strange, don't know if I have ever missed going to church on Easter ever before in my entire life.  Thanks to modern technology we were able to watch our church service live!  So cool!  The kids watched the worship, then they each went to their rooms and listened to some tunes and played so Mr. Steady and I could hear the sermon.  Then we had a lovely lunch on the patio and an Easter Egg hunt outside.  Followed by naps for the little two and relaxation for H and the grownups. Easy crockpot dinner, then we did our final Resurrection Egg.  As we put the treasures back into the eggs for next year, H went through each item and recounted how it was a part of the story of Christ.  If you don't have the Resurrection Eggs, and you have kids above the age of 4, I want to encourage you to consider getting a set for next year.  Be sure to get the book Benjamin's Box to go along with it.

Crazy pajama night

This is such a simple idea, that for whatever reason is REALLY fun for the kids... Crazy pajama night. And to be honest it is a great stretch for this type-A, matchy kind of mama... to intentionally miss-match!  I let the kids try to pick out the craziest combo of PJs they can come up with, I helped B-man of course.  And here is what last night looked like...

 

Poor B-man doesn't get the concept at all.  Even this morning he was asking for his "Melmo" (Elmo) pants.  I think I might have found my most type-A one of the bunch!

I am a sap!

I have become so quick to tear up each time a baby is born, or I hear about an adoption.  My heart is seriously moved when I see a precious newborn or hear the sacrifice and love that is behind each and every adoption.   Am I just that sappy, or is our home not full??  Or is it that I understand the joys and struggles of being a parent.  I see how quickly the years go by... I am desperate for a way for this season of littleness to slow down.

This last week, Bug was asking a lot about when she was born.  So I pulled up some pictures from the day she entered the world.  Then I pulled up our old blog and read her the story about when she was born and how we chose her name.  I was in tears, reading it to her.  How was that already over 3 years ago?!?!?!?  How quickly I had forgotten some of the details, the little things that made my heart flutter a little as I re-read it.

A few days before that I was reading H the journal I had started for him.  The first entry was from when he was 2 years 9 months, and we were anticipating the birth of his little sister.  I read him the words that I had written about the kind of big brother, I hoped and prayed he would be.  And the tears flowed again, but not sad tears, tears of thanksgiving.  You see I had forgotten all that I hoped he would be, because I just got used to it... I grew to expect it instead of cherishing the brother he was.  He has been and still is every bit the big brother I prayed he would be.  God so graciously, blessed our family with one incredible big brother!

Yes, I am sappy about babies... but I am also sappy about looking back at all God has done!  All His goodness, all his blessings that come often times not in the packages we expected, but yet in the way He has perfectly planned.    I never expected that H and Bug would be 3 years apart... yet even in that I now see God's blessings.  I never planned that B would be only 19 months younger than Bug, yet again, God's perfect plan for our family.  I will never be able to slow down time, yet I can cherish it in the moment and I can take the time to look back and continue to rejoice in God's goodness!

I have been reminded many times over this week that each healthy baby is a precious gift.  May we never take the miracle of life for granted!  And, I will just put this out there, if you need anyone to hold or love on your newborn... please pick me!  My hubby might even pay you to help me get my baby-fix : )

Chore Charts

I am a firm believer that kids need to contribute at home.  I want my kids to be willing workers, to be helpers around the house and to contribute in helping carry the load of taking care of a family.  Over a year ago, I came across this great chore chart and fell in love.  I whipped up a version for H and one for Bug with each of their designated chores.  Printed them out, laminated them and have them hanging on my refrigerator.  The kids love checking off what they have accomplished... umm, I think they get that from me :)

Anyway, then I lost the file on my computer and couldn't find it again.  I tried to go to the blog where I had downloaded it from, and that blog no longer exists.  So thanks to Pinterest, I found it again!!  I saw a pic of it then clicked through to the blog, and at last here it is!

The chart is completely customizable.  Which is nice, because each kid needs a little bit of a different list of ways to help out; and for each year or season of life these chores will change.  The last chore listed on each kids chart I have "Blessing Bonus".  I use this in 2 different ways.  First, if I have the kids do an extra big job that isn't on their chart, they get to mark of "Blessing Bonus."  But the second reason I have this (and the greater reason) is that I want them to be on the lookout for ways they can bless others.  For instance, if H were to put away laundry for his sister or brother without being asked, he will get a blessing bonus. 

We have a long way to go... but I really want my kids to learn to be on the lookout for how they can bless other.  How they can use the hands God has given them to serve, care for and even clean up after other.  I feel like this is an area where I have so much room to grow in too.  Maybe I need to make myself a chart (to make sure I am getting all my chores done) and to remind myself daily to be on the lookout for ways to bless others!

"the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Matthew 20:28

Stations- table time

So B-man has mostly dropped his morning nap. And this mama still has to do school with big bro. I'm always needing small ways to keep B entertained, and this one worked like a charm... 10 minutes of quiet and it was so good for his motor skills. All you need is a colander and a couple of pipe cleaners.

Maybe it can keep your toddler busy too : )