Summer 2011

I can't believe that the years of having all of my children at home with me all of the time are coming to a end. Caleb starts kindergarten next week, and, though I'm not feeling sentimental about it yet, I know our lives will never be the same. (But, then again, since when has my life ever been the same from one day to the next?)

Before I let too much time go by and start to feel all nostalgic about life as it is now, I wanted to take a few minutes to write out the good, the bad & the ugly of this stage of parenting (this summer):

The Bad

• They all still need help wiping their bottoms.
• They all still need help, to varying degrees, in the bath (C & E just need their hair washed).
• Ethan is in a ROUGH stage, and there are very few days that go by without him being a persistent menace to Caleb and regularly disobedient to me.
• It is a BEATING to get the boys to pick up their toys.
• Lydia is not sleeping well at night anymore (thanks to the breastfeeding issues).
• Lydia can't sit up yet, so she has to be held in order to see what is going on and interact.
• Pumping is miserable.
• The boys have so much energy and it is too hot to do anything but swim outside (at least in July & August).
• There is very little downtime for me...the boys don't nap, and I'm usually ping-ponging between getting stuff done and doing stuff for the boys when Lydia is asleep.  I tend to go without pause most of the day, and wind up totally exhausted by the kids' 7:00 pm bedtime.

The Good

• I am with my kids all the time, and I see firsthand everything that influences them
• The boys can buckle themselves in the car completely independently, and all I have to do is say "Load up in the van!"
• The boys can (and do) dress themselves without help every day.
• Sibling relationships are relatively simple: offenses are quickly forgiven, and it rarely takes more than a minute to settle a dispute.
• Lydia isn't old enough to realize that she isn't big enough to do what the boys are doing.
• Lydia isn't mobile.
• Both boys are independent in the pool, and Lydia doesn't mind sitting on the side with me.
• We have very few "schedule" restraints.  Most days, we figure out what we are going to do that day after we get up in the morning.
• Lydia takes good naps during the day.
• All the kids are asleep for the night between 7:00 and 7:30 pm
• Lydia is so, so sweet and smiley and cuddly. We are all in love with her.
• Caleb is in an incredibly sweet and encouraging stage...always trying to think of ways to be good and to do the right thing, very gracious and forgiving towards others, and an excellent big brother in every way to both of his siblings.