WHAT IT'S LIKE

So, if you've ever wondered what it's like to have four kiddos four and under running (or laying) around, I'm here to tell you about it.

It's like having a four year old sneak into your room at first light and check to see who is awake.  She and her lambie climb into bed with you.

It's like having a two year old come and crinkle their granola bar wrapper at your bedside asking for it to be opened.  I still always have to remind her to thank me.

It's like having ravenous twins who haven't been fed all night long and desperately need to eat.  The snooze button, aka the paci, stops working.  Though, to be fair to them, they did sleep all night.  Way to go, Violet.  Let's keep up this trend.

It's like walking out to the couch and seeing what looks to be the trail of a slug across the middle couch cushion.  Upon investigation, Bella informs me that she wiped her snot in a line, because she didn't want to use a tissue.

It's like having Lily running to me and telling me that Bella hurt her.  Again.  All while both are wailing.  About mostly nothing.  No blood, no foul, girls.  Some people need thicker skin around our house.  And also - stay away from Bella.  How many times do I need to tell you that?

It's like not going more than 10 minutes (dare I say 5?) without having someone screaming/crying/whining about something that I need to address.  My brain feels like mush from all the stimulus and distraction.

It's like having two babies that both think they all of the sudden need to eat every two hours.  They are currently quite adamant on this point.

It's like taking a shower and having a crying Bella come in to say that she's hurt.  To prove it, she smears blood across the glass shower door, which does create quite the gruesome effect.  I finish my shower as she continues to cry about the blood, and I clean it and get her a treasured band-aid.  I remember not to make the same mistake as last week when I cleaned Lily's tiny flesh wound with straight up rubbing alcohol.  Cause I am a terrible mom sometimes.  John was a little on the horrified side when I told him, and he reminded me that I should have used hydrogen peroxide.  I may have mentioned before that my brain feels like mush.

It's like realizing that the whole time I was in the shower, William had been screaming in the swing, instead of napping as I had suggested.  Sometimes people have to scream around here.  As soon as I got William settled in his car seat, Violet started to cry.

So that was this morning.  It's not always like this, but sometimes it is.  This is not the hardest thing that anyone has ever done, is doing or will ever do.  Not by a long shot.  In the history of hard things, this probably doesn't hold a candle.  But, there are certainly frazzling moments, and I have a feeling I will look back on this time and season and think that it really was crazy.  When you're living it, you just have to put one foot in front of the other and do the next thing.  Dress the next child, change the next diaper, fix the next meal.  Or in my case, pick up the next meal from CFA.



I'm sure it doesn't help that September has arrived, and as I was telling John and my friends yesterday, it feels like once September starts, you jump on the fast track.  The activity ramps up, the responsibilities ramp up, and the fun ramps up.  It is great stuff and stuff that I believe God has for us, but there is a lot of it.  There are days that if I take a down moment I feel like I am wasting time somehow and not getting something done.  That's a bit of a frantic feeling that I am going to have to fight through.

So I need God's help more each hour when days are like this.  Which is right where I want to be, though I may not always feel like it.  That's what it's like around here.  And it's all worth it.