Favorite Five: September

Holy cow, how has a whole month flown by again? 

Oh yeah, I have 3 kids.

Here are some September highlights.

"Am I seriously in trouble AGAIN??? I was just trying to moisturize."

Afternoon at a playground.

Hannah, you are lucky to share a couch with those two. They are in love with you.

Watch out, she can whack that ball! 

Tummy time.

For balls like me that DON'T bounce back very quickly...here's a great article!!

I don't "bounce back" after having babies. I ROLL. Ever sooooo slowly. Ever sooooo gradually. Back.

I get back (more or less) eventually, but historically it has been a time of frustration, impatience, and low self-esteem for me. I had hoped that this time would be different and that I would face this phase of STILL not feeling like myself more positively and with greater perspective than the last two times...but, so far, pessimism is trumping positivity and the road ahead seems long and daunting. I wish I didn't feel this way, but I do.

I'm working on my attitude though. There are some words from a Max Lucado devotional that I aspire to live by. Lucado writes, "I refuse to let what will rot rule the eternal."  These words remind me to try really hard not to spend my precious time and energy worrying about pounds and sizes and this physical body when I can and should be focusing on things that matter, eternal things, namely loving God and loving others.

All that to say reading this article made me feel much better and in much less of a hurry...maybe it will do the same for you, or someone you know. Pass it on.

The article is called, 10 Surprising Facts About "Bouncing Back" After Giving Birth
It was posted on Babble.com and is by Ceridwen Morris, a childbirth educator and author.

Here are the 10 surprising facts. Read the article for more info on each point.
I especially like and relate to #2 and #3 and #10.

1. After giving birth it's normal to look... pregnant.
2. Post-pregnancy weight loss varies tremendously.
3. Not every woman loses weight breastfeeding.
4. This is actually a time to eat more, not less.
5. Hitting the gym right away is not always a good idea.
6. Your core is weaker, but take caution with the crunches.
7. Exercise is great but making it happen can require some creativity on your part.
8. Posture takes a hit, but you can work on that...
9. Women crave foods while breastfeeding just like during pregnancy.
10. You don't have your post-baby body until you're... post-baby.

Again, here is the link to the very interesting an educational FULL ARTICLE .

And on that note, instead of doing crunches I'm going to go have a snack...like I'm supposed to!

Aunt Katie's visit

What can I say? It was great having Katie here.

It was a treat for me to have her all to myself. It was a treat for my kids to get all her kid-attention. It was a treat for Katie to have a little get-away on her own. Thank you to my parents and Lars for making this happen, and Quinten and Albin for giving up their mommy for a few days. And thank you to my husband for enduring the sister chatter and laughter and a 5:1 female to male ratio for four days. You are a good man, honey!

Highlights of Katie's time here included: bringing her to MOPS with me, an afternoon outing to Feather Acres Farm, pedicures, a walk on the beach with coffee, a hilarious TOTAL BUST of an evening out for dinner with all 6 of us (you can't close Bull Taco for a wedding when my sister is visiting!), watching Ellen, shopping, sushi, and last but not least...the highlight of her time here...just hanging out around the house doing normal life sort of things. How I wish she lived down the street!

Here are some picture highlights (although I forgot to pick up the camera most days) ...

Making banana bread.

Fun little farm and nursery.

These two are like Emily and Katie 28 years ago :)

Loved every minute, but especially minutes like these.

Sister-need

The addition of a new family member never feels complete to me somehow until my sisters have met the bundle 'o joy. 

THIS one. This 1 month old bundle. Where have 5 weeks gone? Time, slow down!

My sister in Nashville is expecting her own babycakes in a few weeks and can't travel so I have to wait until Thanksgiving to introduce her to Miss Hannah. But at least I will get to meet her new little guy at that time too, when he is still itty-bitty-teeny-tiny.

But guess what? My sister in Chicago is coming next week! Not only am I excited for her to come, I NEED her. If there is one time in life when I really need my sisters it is the new-baby adjustment period.

Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to Katie this week to show you what I am talking about...

I need my sister to go plus-size-Emily clothes shopping with me at Target.
I need my sister to hang curtains and set up lamps in the nursery with me.
I need my sister to help me clean out my closet.
I need my sister to hold my baby.
I need my sister to love on my big girls (they are soooo excited for you to come!).
I need my sister to tell me I can do this (when you see it for your own eyes).
I need my sister to go on walks with me so I can get motivated to start exercising again.
I need my sister to watch the kids so I can go on a date with my husband (we are SO disconnected!!!!)
I need my sister to make me laugh.
I need my sister when I feel like crying.
I need my sister to laugh with until we are crying (probably in Target dressing rooms).

Tuesday can't come fast enough. Can't wait for you to get here Katie! Jenny, wish you were coming too, but you just sit tight and keep cooking that bambino.

And on a side note, here is what my sister Katie is doing today: Shop 2 Adopt Fundraiser

On another side note, it makes my heart want to burst with joy at the thought that my three girls will have each other just like my sisters and I do. Three girls I did not picture for myself...but it is cool that because of the family I came from I can picture it now...and three girls is just sooooooo much fun!

Getting used to the new normal...and the message in the mascara

Last Monday I drove my parents to the airport so they could fly home to Chicago. And then I cried the whole way home, as I do every time I do the parental airport drop off after the new baby visit.  I cried because there will always be a deep ache in my heart that we have to use airplanes to see each other. I cried because they won't see Hannah again until Thanksgiving. And I cried because I realized OH MY GOSH, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, I HAVE TO DO THIS ALL BY MYSELF NOW.

So, yes, I did Monday through Friday on my own last week...and I lived to tell about it...and so did the children. It wasn't pretty, but I didn't really expect it to be.

Sam is in Kindergarten which is great for her, she loves it. I thought it was going to be great for me to have her in school, but it is less great than I thought. For starters, I miss her. I miss her and I miss her help. She has been wonderful with baby Hannah and super helpful to me, fetching me whatever I need while I feed Hannah. But mostly Sam has been REALLY helpful with Abby because she gives Abby someone to play with/pester/follow/entertain. 2 year old little sister is MAJORLY BUMMED that Sam is gone every day.

Abby. This brings me to Abby. If you had asked me in the first two weeks how Abby was adjusting to being a big sister I would have told you (and I did tell some of you) she was doing FINE, no big deal. I would have theorized for you that perhaps baby Hannah isn't a big deal for Abby because, well, as the second child Abby has always shared our attention, and she's only 2 so she's clueless flexible. But I would have told you that when we still had grandparents here to give Abby attention and big sister hadn't started Kindergarten yet. Now it is a different story.

This week as I tried out 3 kids on my own Abby decided to tell me what she really thought about all this change in our household. And she told me in mascara. Allow me to explain.

Abby was really NAUGHTY all week. Lots of meltdowns. Lots of timeouts. Very little cooperating or listening. Oh, and lots of TV. Every time I sit to nurse Hannah I turn on a show for Abby in an attempt to keep her close to me since Abby is not to be trusted out of my sight (example forthcoming). I believe this newborn feeding schedule may just drive Abby to hate Curious George after all is said and done.

And while I am on the subject of nursing let me just warn you that should you interact with Abby for any length of time she will probably tell you that you have boobs. Yep, she is quite intrigued with anatomy right now. Male or female, she likes to point out boobs. Male or female, she thinks everyone has them.

So let me tell you about Thursday. Not a great day. This was a VERY fussy day for Hannah where I had to hold her most of the day to keep her happy. The house was a total disaster, and Mommy was kind of a disaster too. Turns out Hannah has a sensitive tummy and I have had to cut out dairy and caffeine. How cruel is that? No coffee and no ice cream. Two of my favorite coping mechanisms GONE. Sad sad for me. Well, tired decaffeinated mommy holding baby sister all morning brought out the worst in poor Abby on Thursday. I lost track of the timeouts. At one point the bottom step wasn't enough and I had to put Abby in a major timeout (in her crib) for a major offense (swatting at mom).

I went upstairs to get Abby out of her timeout while Hannah slept on the couch (thrilled to have her sleeping not in my arms for a few minutes). After the post-timeout-talk with Abby Hannah started crying. I don't know what I was thinking but I left Abby upstairs and went down to quickly get Hannah to bring her up with me. I mean what could happen in that amount of time??? While getting Hannah I decided to change the clothes from washer to dryer so as to make a small amount of progress on the mountain of laundry that was spilling into the family room.

3 minutes. 4 minutes tops. That's it, and I was back upstairs.

Abby certainly wasn't where I'd left her. I found Abby in my bathroom. And I found her painting the mirror, her face, and THE CARPET with my mascara. AHHHHHH! I couldn't laugh or cry...too tired for either of those. I wanted to take a picture, but I feared that would send the wrong message. I was mad. I was also ever so slightly impressed with her fine motor skills and creativity. Back to timeout for Abby.

As I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed the mascara off the recently cleaned carpet I questioned two things. 1. WHY did they think carpet in bathrooms was a good idea in the 80s!?!? and 2. What was Abby trying to write with that mascara?

I couldn't help but think that Abby was sending me a message via Maybelline Full N' Soft. I sensed there was a four letter word written in there somewhere. Whatever the message actually was, I got the gist. The message was something about not being pleased with all that is going on around here, wishing Mommy would give her a little more attention, wanting Sam home from school, and being really mad that Daddy went back to work and the grandparents were nowhere to be seen. Poor Abby. Scrub, scrub, scrub. Poor Mommy. Scrub, scrub, scrub. Poor carpet. Scrub, scrub, scrub.

I hugged Abby tight when I got her out of her timeout. I tried to give her more attention the rest of the day. I even rocked her in the rocking chair and sang some songs with her. I did my best to be sensitive to what she was going through with this monumental change in our family.

And then I signed her up for an extra morning of preschool.

Perhaps that is what was written in mascara...please, for the love, let me go to school one more day, it's waaaaay more fun there than it is here!

So yes, I am adjusting to my new normal one day at a time. I never pictured having three kids ages 5 and under. Before surprise! baby Hannah I was pretty confident that adequate space between children was the key to maternal sanity. Now I am sure of it.

Chris keeps telling me to re-set my baseline and get comfortable with chaos. To which I usually respond...but I thought it was already pretty chaotic before Hannah came along. Like I said, I am getting used to my new chaotic normal. And truly, deep down, I am also loving and appreciating every blessed chaotic second of it. Although, I will admit, it would be soooo much easier to love and appreciate it all if I could have coffee.