All I want

Is just a teeny 

little

tiny

slice 

of life where it’s quiet

and calm

and full of prepared food

that I can eat whenever I want without having to make it myself

and a big TV

with something interesting on it

and somebody else to hold the baby

so she doesn’t wake up whenever I sit down

and a big soft bed full of pillows

with a big whirring fan

and soft smooth sheets

and uninterrupted sleep

That’s all.

The Zion Child, the Zion Child.  Let me recount for you his wee hooligan ways.  The child is SINGULARLY a full-time job.  Yesterday, I:

1. Came out of the bedroom in the morning to find him in the hall bathroom happily washing a full roll of toilet paper, and then tearing off the wet paper and dropping it down the drain, which was now (shockingly) clogged.  He moved on from that to

2. Taking a handful of crackers, and instead of eating them, carefully crumbling them over the kitchen floor.  Then he was

3.  Off to the boys bathroom, where he diligently washed his hands with the drain closed, and apparently the overflow thingie on the sink was not working, because the sink filled to overflowing and poured out on the bathroom floor.  

4.  While he was in the boys room, he hastily dumped out their sock basket

5.  And their underwear basket, both located on top of their dresser

6. And off to find the measuring cup full of sugar for my tea, resting on the kitchen counter, which he scattered over the kitchen floor.

All of these things were done at various points throughout the day when his parents were otherwise occupied with other things in other rooms.  And after the wee hooligan was tucked into bed for the night, 

7.  I pulled two plastic fish out of the hall toilet, where they were swimming, and

8.  Found my toothpaste in the sink, where it had been squeezed out in large portions onto the tube and bathroom rug at some point during the day.

And then there are his bright little shiny eyes peeking happily over his green fuzzy blanket bunched up in his face, and his little grin just ready to erupt into a happy chortle and his whole little soft sturdy body ready to topple over into your lap for a squeeze and tickle fest.  

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All persons should be aware:  McDonald’s small delectable strawberry banana smoothie has only 210 calories. And no artificial sugars or food coloring. This is enough to make one get up out of her seat at the computer and drive to McDonald’s to get one for breakfast, since she had been craving it to begin with.  (Why yes, I DO live too close to a McDonald’s, why do you ask??)  These smoothies are my weakness for the summer, since I can’t partake of my other two weaknesses – sweet tea and iced vanilla lattes.  SOOOOO delicious!!!!!  

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There is a warm soft breeze from the open windows blowing past me as I sit here and type.  There is classical music (which I never listen to normally) playing on the radio in the kitchen, where the alarm has been randomly set, causing the radio to come on mid-day.  Makes me feel somewhat civilized, I must say.  The boys are watching Daffy Duck in the living room, Layla is sleeping, and Zion is busy in various rooms.  

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Layla Grace is 3 months old.  She is starting to occasionally find her thumb to suck.  She also is batting at toys that hang in front of her.  She loves to “talk”, and that is usually what she goes straight to after she is done eating.  She will pull back, look up into my face and happily say “aaaahhhhhhh.  ooooohhhhh.”  She has been cooing since around a month old.  She is starting to stand on my legs when I support her.  She likes to hold her legs straight up in the air sometimes when she is on her back.  I can put her in her jumper that goes over the doorframe for a few minutes at a time, since her feet now reach the floor.  She is solidly in 3-6 month clothes and I need to move her into size 3 diapers.  She has lots of chins and rolls on her squeezy little leggers.  People still remark on how alert she is.  She smiles a lot, and laughs when we tickle her and sometimes when she is delighted over something.  She is a well loved baby.

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This past weekend we drove four hours out to Frostburg, Maryland, for the CMC conference, which our church is a part of.  We were there from Thursday to Sunday.  This was the first year we have taken our kids.  The weekend was so much fun for me, seeing people I usually only see once a year (or less) and catching up.  The kids really enjoyed the kids activities and wore themselves ragged.  This was Zion and Israel at supper on Saturday evening.  

 

People were so incredibly helpful with the kids and with Layla.  Lots of people offered to hold her, particularly when she was fussy,

and on Sunday morning, Peggy M. from Greenwood specifically offered to watch her during the Sunday morning service so that we could go in and sit down and watch Gabe, who was in the children’s choir.  

It was soooooo nice to sit and not bounce, walk, and readjust baby.  It was fun to watch Gabe as he sang, squintedly looked out to search the audience for us, and pretended to read the words of the songs on the paper he had with him.  :)    

One phrase I heard over and over again as people looked at us was, “You sure do have your hands full!!”  :)  I thought it was funny that so many people said the same thing.  And it was quite true.  I actually lost a pound or two over this weekend from all the child man-handling and distracted meals and walking.  I was intrigued by the fact that I wasn’t really ready to go home when the weekend was over, because despite all of the child work that being away involved, it still felt like LESS work than being home represents, with the constant picking up and cleaning and meal prep and cleanup and laundry.  I just kind of wanted to stay away, where somebody else worried about those things.  I guess life is a little bit more work and stressful at this current stage than what I had even realized.  :)  

It has been searingly hot here, as it is everywhere else.  Yesterday the heat index was 120 degrees in Dover, which is about 30 miles north of us.  The other day while I was hanging out clothes, I remarked to Tim that I would like to get an outside thermometer and rain gauge.  ”That’s how you know we’re getting old,” he informed me.  ”Old people care about those things.”  Lol.  

The excessively energetic boys in this household have been spending extra time inside because of the heat  which seems to make extra work for the mother around here.  Zion is still an INCREDIBLY BUSY child.  He can be very industrious in one room while I am being industrious in the other.  

FOR THE RECORD, Tim cleaned this specific industriousness up.  He is so good at doing all the distasteful tasks around here.  I love him very much.  :)

Speaking of industriousness, can I just say that it feels like the large portion of my life is spent in the kitchen??      

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When they’re not inside, the boys have been building with sand and water, or splashing around in their pool.  We have a smaller hard plastic pool set up beside their inflatable one for Zion, who has shown no interest in getting into the bigger pool.  He splashes away happily beside them as they play, only checking in now and then to see what he should be doing next.

Here were the boys playing the sandbox the other day.  And yes, my child is n@ked.  The child is always n@ked. 

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Things that are frequently “misplaced” at my house:

1. The “sword-like” wand pieces of the vacuum cleaner.

2. My measuring cups, which are VERY handy for water scooping.

3. My big spoons, which are very handy for stirring things.

4.  My egg beater, because, logically.

5.  My tongs, which are just handy all around, see.

6. Table knives, useful for “cutting” sand, or for an impromptu sword fight.

This is a boy house, see.

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With the hustle and bustle of four wee chillun’s, sometimes time individually can get lost in the shuffle.  To remedy this on my part, I have set up a rotating schedule to take one child by himself (sometimes with Layla) when I run certain errands, like going to Walmart.  They all really enjoy this.  Today I had Israel along with me – he has been excitedly asking about his turn for days.  Here were my reward sentences, for having a little guy by himself: “Mom”, he asked as we were leaving Walmart, “Why are you beautiful??”  ”What?” I asked, startled. “What did you say?” “Why do you look beautiful??” he asks with great interest to his mommy whose frazzle-ly looking hair is pulled back into a pony tail, behind a face glistening with sweat in the million-degree heat.  Welllllll.   The boy knows his way to his mommy’s heart. What a sweetheart.  As we pulled up in front of our house he said, “Mommy, I love being with you.”  I love being with you, too, Israel.  

Taking a child along does result in some unscheduled purchases.  Because one must make one’s time with Mommy memorable. Today it was a four pack of chocolate pudding, a six pack of chocolate milk (he wanted to get some for his brothers too), and a 99-cent activity pack (Phineas and Ferb for the older boys, Toy Story for Zion) located by the checkout register to take along on our trip to Maryland next weekend.  Not too bad of damages, altogether.

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The boys have been playing with two neighbor boys occasionally in the evening.  Sometimes they go over the fence to play in the empty lot diagonal from our yard.  This yard has some dirt tracks which Zion gravitates to.  Here he is after coming in the other evening.  

Little squirt Bert.  

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Layla, ie. Pretty Patty, ie. Crabby Abby, has been sort of a skunk in regards to her sleeping habits lately.  The PROBLEM is that when she awakens from a nap or, say, middle of the night sleep, she cranks her neck on upward and looks all around and can not be convinced to go back to sleep.  The other night she woke up at 11 PM, and was up (happily) until 2:20 AM.  WRONG.  Then last night, I couldn’t lay her back down after trying twice – she would just fuss and fuss, even if she had been basically sleeping before I laid her down, so I ended up bringing her back to bed and she fell asleep right away, laying over my stomach with her face toward the ceiling and her feet in the middle of the bed.  So those hours of sleep were mite less stellar than they could have been for myself.  I feel very weary today.

Incidentally, my beloved baby leg warmers have arrived in the mail.  Let me show you their wonderfulness:

 

It’s hard to get more precious than that.

Yesterday Layla and I exited stage left to go do some retail therapy.  For some reason, I have been SO stressed out by the kids lately; I think it’s the culmination of a few busy weeks, and the NEVER ENDING AND EVER RENEWING TASKS involved with a young, busy family.  Tim was having his third evening meeting in a row tonight  and so he let me scurry off to catch a breather.  It intrigues me how much just getting away a little while can help.  I drove off with tight shoulders and came back relaxed and happy and ready for a solo run that night.  

Layla was a good shopper.  :)  I carried her in my Moby Wrap through Old Navy, where I got her some cute onesies to go with her leg warmers that are coming in the mail (entire body wriggle of joy and excitement from the mother) and through Ross’s, my new favorite store.  Then off to Target we rode, and she fell asleep, only to wake up when I ended our trip with a little Panera fix.  But she just sat quietly and watched me eat my cheese pastry. 

This is me carrying her in the Moby the other day when we went on a walk.  

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Last weekend Tim’s first cousin, Jeremy, and his wife Sarah, and their two children came to visit from Ohio.  Jeremy was doing a series of meetings at our church, and he did a great job.  I think it is so much fun to see the children of our friends, and see our kids play together.  

It was interesting to compare Zion and Sadie, who were each 2, almost three.  We all thought that Zion seemed like more of a baby than Sadie, even though Sadie is 2 months younger.  Makes me wonder if that’s a result of Zion being the baby for so long, and Sadie being the oldest of two, or if it’s a boy/girl developmental thing.

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Israel has been surprising me lately.  He has been writing letters of the alphabet, and asking how to write more.  Gabe really struggled with writing for a long time.  I had tried to teach him to read, and got really frustrated at the writing part.  Interestingly enough, it still doesn’t seem that reading has really “clicked” for Gabe, but he is very interested in numbers.  Makes me wonder if Israel might read more quickly.  He seems interested in learning.  

It’s intriguing to see the differences in your children as they grow, because you just can’t predict them.  Israel had went through SUCH a difficult stage while he was three.  I remember reading something about how sometimes all the frustrated breakdowns that some children have as they grow can indicate a sensitivity to self and others, and I really think we have seen that in Israel.  He seems very emotionally perceptive.  He is very good with Layla, and gentle with her, and giggles with happiness over her.  That is something that is really cute about him; his involuntary giggles of happiness over things like – pajamas that match, or a new shirt.  He is very clothes conscious, and has DEFINITE opinions.  He loves things that match, like PJ’s that are a set, and he loves button up shirts, but they have to be a specific color.  He is a definite follower of Gabe.  He looks to Gabe to see what his response to things should be.  

When Norm was here the other month, he made an observation about Israel that was really clarifying to Tim; that being that whatever Israel feels, he feels it intensely.  

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 While I was moseying through Target yesterday, Tim called and told me that he had juiced some beets out of our garden, and had a really bad allergic reaction to them.  When I got home, the boys were excited to show me the purple water in their pool, where the rest of the beet juice had found a home.  

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Zion is still adjusting to Layla, I would say.  He still seeks out a lot of holding, and seems to have an elevated level of cranky-pant-ed-ness.  Sometimes he will fuss for me to “put Layla down and hold me….!!!”  He does seem to enjoy Layla though; just still needs supervision with all his bounding enthusiasm.

One of his silly things that he is doing lately is immediately rubbing through his hair whatever his hand has gotten into.  It’s just kind of an instinctual gesture.  Lately we’ve cleaned out frosting, toothpaste, and poop.    The right side of his hair lately generally has a sticky matted look by the end of the day.  From all the poop.  Just kidding.  

It’s been a day.  My nerves are still unwinding.  I wrote a haiku: (which, I finally learned/retained after 33 years, is a 5-7-5 thingie)

Husband at meeting

Four children and their bedtime

Nerves frayed to the max

I feel like a caricature cartoon with whirly eyes, arms pulling out jaggedy hair and a grimacing mouth, with little lines of stress radiating outwards…breathe, woman, breathe.  Phew.

The boys went to the theater today for the very first time.  Tim and a friend, Justin C. (who is really good with the boys, and does nice things like take them out in a boat to go fishing) took them to Salisbury to see Cars 2.  Layla and I stayed home.  

I’ve noticed that the few times I have been almost alone in the house, whereas you would think that I would be rubbing my hands excitedly over all the WORK I could get accomplished, I instead feel this great and heavy lethargy creeping over my entire body, and my bed begins to issue a siren call that I simply can’t resist…and then everyone comes home and all I did was sleep.  Which is really boring, honestly.  So I did some work, and then somehow got sucked into madly researching baby legwarmers, which I seem to have fallen violently and irresistibly in love with.  

Meanwhile Layla (ie. future-wearer of baby leg warmers) sat beside me.

The child is simply irresistible, herself, and must receive many. many. kisses.  

Lately she is starting to giggle when I tickle her, she looks at her hands very interestedly, and she is starting to stand on my legs when I hold her up.  She’s such a smart child.  She also has enough neck strength now that when she wakes up while she is napping, she lifts her head up and bangs her face into her pacifier, which makes her very angry.  And then I have to get her back up and put her back to sleep.  Gooby.  Also tonight she was very fussy; I think it was because I gave her her vitamin D like I was supposed to.  I’ve been avoiding it, because she had gotten really fussy when I took my prenatal vitamins.  So I stopped those too.  That baby and her silly stomach.

Today I made bread and it was yummy.  Last night I (very quietly) made black bean salad after all children were in bed, and ate two bowlfuls.  It was that yummy. 

A few nights ago, Tim and I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix.  (We love Netflix.  It’s often our hobby at night after the boys are in bed.)  It was really interesting, and got Tim very interested in juicing.  So now he is at Walmart buying carrots and I am blogging, because I am tired of NEVER BLOGGING ANYMORE.  (A frustration that made my day even more frustrated when all blogging plans kept getting thwarted.  I need to write on a paper 116 times – I will not have expectations of exciting accomplishments with four young children around.  I will not have expectations of…)  Aren’t we such interesting people?  Yawn.

Layla Grace Miller, otherwise known as Missus, Little Missus, Miss Priss, Princess Patty, Princess Pea, Miss Love, Lovey, Layla Lovey, Pretty, Dollbaby, Missus Lovely, or Layla Gwace Milwer, is two months old.  Gabe shyly suggested “Princess Pink” yesterday as a good name when I was crooning to Layla.  And today Israel hopefully asked if I could call her “Miss Princess”.  :)  Sweet boys.  They just adore her.

At her two month appointment, she was 12 pounds 13 oz (90th percentile) and 24 1/2 inches long (50th percentile).  People remark on how big she is (she is in 3-6 month clothes) and how alert she is.  She just puts her head up and bobs around.  

She started drooling at 2 months 4 days – and chewing on her fist.

She is very happy and responsive and smiley.  She smiled for the first time at about 2 weeks, and started smiling more frequently at about a month.

Her personality seems observant and friendly.  She is laid back unless her stomach hurts.

She has a really sensitive stomach.  I can’t eat chocolate (!!!!!!!!!!), coffee, black tea, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, orange juice, lemonade…and probably more things.  She just gets really bad stomach pains when I do.  Surprisingly, even more than chocolate, I miss coffee in the form of lattes, and iced tea.  I have found a great coffee replacement, however, in the form of Dandy Blend dandelion tea that my mother-in-law brought me when they visited.  The reason that I’m doing ok on the chocolate front is that I am now working on mega-bags of Brach’s caramels.  

She usually has her fussy time starting around 6 PM or so and lasting until a little after 9 PM.  Takes lots of bouncing around with her, rocking her with her pacifier, or holding her laying down in the crook of your arm while patting or bouncing.  It’s sort of hard work.

She still loves to ride on my shoulder.

She uses a pacifier pretty well, especially when she is going to sleep.

She is the AMAZING sleeper that I prayed for.  Like, wow.  NONE of my boys have slept like she does.  She falls asleep between 9:30-10:30 PM and sleeps until about 8 AM, sometimes with no breaks for feeding.  Otherwise, she goes about 4 or 5 hours without waking to eat, and then goes right back to sleep.  ALL of my boys went about 2, MAYBE 3 hours during the night without waking.  I haven’t done anything different, other than pray with great fervor about her sleeping habits.  So, thank you God!!!!!!  

Still exclusively breastfed.

She got her DTaP shot and her Hib shot at her two month appointment.

 

A beautiful day…

where baby boys pour water into boots,

and back out, just because…

Where brothers warm up on the metal air conditioner, while chattering busily like friends,

after a good time of playing in the big kiddie pool ($25 at Walmart, best purchase of the summer)

Where towels flap busily on the line in the sun

and a mommy looks glumly at the mess the boys made while painting with watercolors in the office, (I’ll put it really small so you can’t look very close …and ok, fine, there still are some bags in there to unpack from our trip to VA last weekend)

and the baby screams angrily in the living room

Where days end with daddy-holding,

and tricycle riding,

and light saber fighting (maybe while wearing your Scooby Doo undies).

Where the babies are sweet,

And the living is good.  That’s today.

It’s kind of sweet and kind of frustrating when the baby fusses and fusses and fusses when I sit her down anywhere, but rides along quiet as a mouse, when I put her over my shoulder and go about my business, her head bobbing and eyes wide open as she gazes alertly at the world going by.  Her sweet soft cheek and velvety neck is just to the left of my face, and I must kiss it many times as I work, my work much slower than the babyfree minutes before.  :)

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Tucked into the crook of my arm
she rests
sucking her pacifier dreamily
her hand sleepily tangling in the straps on my shoulder
her arm plush and lined with chub
i kiss her cheek and look at her
baby dress tucked around her drowsy form
pink and ruffles and flowers
how much fun you are
my sweet baby girl

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pre·cious 

[presh-uhs]

1.  Layla Grace Miller

2.  Time spent holding Layla Grace Miller

3.  The very dear few moments one gets to oneself when one is NOT holding the baby or working like a busy bee around this joint.  Phew.

Such is life of late.

At two weeks, Layla is fitting her sweet little snuggly self right into the family.  She is a SUPER good baby – she is on the far end of the “sleepy baby” scale.  She sleeps A LOT still.  At about a week old, I was concerned and called the doctor just to make sure it was ok, because she had slept through most of a day, all of a night (I had to wake her to feed her), and all of the next day, without having hardly any alert time at all.  She would fuss a little, I would nurse her while her eyes barely made it open, and she would go right back to sleep.  The doctor said that as long as she was eating and drinking well, and had no fever or anything like that that she was ok – that some babies need up to 20 hours of sleep a day.  !!! That’s basically her, although as the days have gone on, she has had more and more awake periods.  The nice thing is that she basically sleeps all night; I have to set my alarm to wake her up to feed her about every 3-4 hours – she will go about 5 hours at least without waking up to eat.  While we were still in the hospital she went six hours between feeds – I had fed her at 11 PM, they brought her into my room at 2 AM per my request, but I hadn’t woken up.  I woke up with a start about 4:45 AM, and she was peacefully snoozing in her bassinet next to me.  !!!  I have never had such a child before!!!!  I think it definitely has allowed me recoup faster, and get back on my feet.  

At night she usually has tummy aches/colic/gas pains, sometimes until about 1 AM or so.  Simethicone and gripe water don’t seem to do much for it at all, other than to flavor her pacifier to her sucking distraction.  That’s another thing – she has done GREAT with a pacifier.  LOVE. IT.  :)  She also has an awake period starting at about 11 PM.  :)  Right when I am ready to go to sleep.

When she is awake, she seems watchfully alert and mild.  I love to see her eyes open – she has really pretty eyes.  She looks mostly like Tim instead of me.   She also has Tim’s feet.  Long and narrow, with long toes.  But she has my hands, with long fingers.  :)  She also seems to have Tim’s coloring – her skin has sort of a reddish hue.  

The boys LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE her.  Gabe would just constantly rain kisses and hugs on her if permitted to do so.  And hold her about 24/7.  Israel also loves to do those things, and keeps saying, “She sure is cute, Mom, isn’t she?  She sure is cute.   She is just SO cute!!!!”  :)  Zion is somewhat ambivalent, but does enjoy holding her.  He is SO CUTE holding her.  Still kind of a baby himself.  :)

I am treasuring this little tiny snuggly cuddly baby stage with her; the feel of her velvety head against my cheek, that uniquely soft baby skin on her cheeks, her little open mouth reflex when you kiss her mouth, her grip on my finger, the stretch of her little legs, her squeakiness as she stretches and makes herself comfortable.  

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Update: At the end of the second week, she has become a lot more alert during the day.  Today I took her to the doctor, and she was 9 lbs 3 oz, up from 7 lbs 11 oz that she was at the doctor 2 weeks ago.  She was also 21 inches long, up from 19 1/2 inches at birth.  The nurse practitioner was impressed.  :)