Sorry for my delay in blogging. Life with four children is busy, busy, busy. It seems that someone is always crying, wanting to eat, or needing help with some sort of bodily function. I don't mind it most days, though I must say, at the end of the day, I'm glad bedtime has come and welcome the quiet. Let me just say that each day I have a new respect for my Aunt Janice and marvel at how she seemed to keep it all together with 4 kids running around.
Today I did a crazy thing. I took all 4 kids to Walmart and Costco for the monthly shopping. Perhaps that doesn't sound crazy so allow me to explain further; I did this without any medication or strong drink prior to leaving the house. My goal was to get out of the house early this morning so that we could get our shopping done and be home in time to eat lunch here instead of out somewhere. I grow weary of feeding them in the car and knew that I didn't want to sit in a McDonalds with all 4 of them for any length of time. We were out by 9 and home by 1 so that goal was met. I wish I could say the rest of the trip went as smoothly. Joey is his father's son and let me know in no uncertain terms that he was weary of being in Walmart and wanted out. For about the last 20-25 minutes of our time there, he cried. This was no sweet little baby cry; this was a scream of rage that said, "I HATE WALMART." To top that off, he pooped while we were standing in the checkout line and overflowed his diaper until there was poop all over his back. So, picture me pushing a cart loaded with groceries (20 pounds of cat food and 28 pounds of litter plus many other items) and Abby with a screaming baby strapped to my front trying to maneuver two other children (one running way ahead and the other lagging behind) all the while trying to remember where we parked our van. There's a reason I only do this once a month and I'm having serious doubts about whether or not I'll take all of them with me next time. I know it shall get better. The first time I went anywhere with both Lainey and Sarah Grace, Sarah Grace cried the entire time we were in the mall (approximately 34 minutes) and then Lainey started crying because I expected her to put her coat on to go outside to the car. When I got out to the car, I couldn't figure out how to get the car seat out of the stroller even though Lon had given me a lesson just before leaving the house. The wind was blowing like crazy and my hair was in my face which meant I couldn't see a thing. I was afraid I was going to shake Sarah Grace to pieces from jostling the car seat so much. I was also afraid I was going to have to call Lon to come and get us before I figured it out. When I arrived back home after being gone just over an hour, I declared, "I'm never doing THAT again." But I did, and it did get easier! So, I have hope that our Walmart trips will get better and that I won't always have people looking at me like "Oh, she needs to do something with her kids." I must say, however, hats off to one lady in the parking lot who saw that I was having a hard time and, even though she had a child of her own, stopped and asked if she could help me in any way and also to the 85 year old lady in front of me at the check out who saw things were not going well and came and helped me unload my cart. There ARE nice people out there!
We survived our heat wave last week and have now returned to more normal Northwest summer temperatures. The heat reminded me of why I'm glad I don't live in the South anymore (though it will always be home, I don't miss the heat and humidity) and why A/C is such a vital part of existence when one is below the Mason-Dixon line.
Lainey lost another tooth last week and is now down by 3. Her first two show no signs of making any sort of return so now she just has a big hole in her mouth. She's cute and is quite proud. Today she was trying to figure out how to whistle through the hole and was beginning to make progress.
My 34th birthday was quite nice. It was very low key because it was much too hot to get out and do a lot, but I enjoyed it. The girls woke me up by saying Happy Birthday and then sang to me as we had Holiday Danish for breakfast. They helped me bake a chocolate cake and later helped me eat it. We went out to dinner at Red Robin and Lainey delighted in telling our waiter that it was her mommy's birthday (I think she was just gunning for the free ice cream). I let all of the girls have the sundae so her little trick worked well. The Lord has been very good to me during my last year. As I told Lon when I got up last week, I can honestly say that when I turned 33, I didn't plan on having another infant by my 34th birthday! The Lord has plans that aren't our own, but they are very good. I'm very grateful for the blessings and look forward to what He has in store for the next year.
