Seeing the Elephant

During the Civil War, soldiers used to speak about “seeing the elephant.” The "elephant" being battle, combat, being under enemy fire.  Well, after my first week as a mom of 4, I can safely say I too have seen the elephant. :)

Josh, Asa and I left Hobbs around 5:00 in the evening on a Friday for the long drive to Colorado to pick up the kids. We took Asa because Josh’s parents and grandmother were there and that way they could meet him. Luckily, he did well. He slept most of the way. Asa is a better traveler than me.  We got the kids, spent Saturday with his family and left Sunday morning.  Our first day back was Memorial Day so I was thankful to have Josh home to help as we unpacked, went through last summer’s clothes and replaced them with new clothes for this summer, made meal plans, shopped for groceries, set up a pool, went over the Chore Store and Behavior charts etc.  Tuesday, we woke up to a house with no Josh and 

the impact was felt. I was used to staying up all night with Asa, but sleeping when he did so I was sad to find out Josh’s kids didn’t take naps anymore like they did last summer.  What’s up with that? Maybe I should add it as one of their chores? ;) Also, we hadn’t had to cook since the baby was born thanks to the generosity of others, so three meals a day was my biggest challenge.

Pre baby, we each did our own breakfasts, which I rarely ate (I know, I know). I made lunches for the week on Sundays for each of us, but Josh handled dinner since he was usually home before me. Not only that, but Josh’s kids have allergies and feel much better with no dairy, bread, pasta etc. So besides a few cheats for parties, we decided to stick to meat, potatoes, veggies and fruit.  The only problem in that being that there are not many “fast” meals. Last year, we lived off sandwiches and corn dogs for lunch and cereal for breakfast, now all that was out the window.  Josh came up with some creative ideas to help make it easier, but nothing is easier than cereal and corn dogs. For breakfast we’ve done smoothies or eggs, for lunch, I prepared all kinds of veggies so they could make their own salads and for dinner I decided to do crock pot meals so I could get it over with in the morning since our days are busy.  (Anyone have any good crock pot recipes with no noodles or cheese?) However doing that has made the mornings really tough. Trying to feed Asa, the big kids, clean up the mess, get Asa ready, prepare dinner and somehow take a shower has proven to be a tad overwhelming. So much so that my mom has come to help with Asa so I could shower a few days, especially a particularly bad one that involved wet beds, sick kids, crying kids and lots of spit up in my hair. I’m thankful Mom is off for the summer to help and take the kids to some of their activities.  

 This week, I did a lot of food prep on Sunday. It wasn’t fun to spend all day in the kitchen, but it made for a much easier week so far. Monday I was able to feed everyone breakfast, start dinner, and take a shower with no issues/help. Baby steps. :)  Last night Josh stayed up with Asa so I got 8 hours of sleep and didn’t wake up once. I got up at 5, got myself ready, Asa ready, a load of laundry done and all the food going before the kids even woke up. So when we had some morning incidents including a blown out diaper (through clothes, a boppy and onto the couch), it didn’t feel like such a big deal.  It’s amazing the difference sleep makes. So I think if I have someone stay up with Asa every night my days will be a breeze. Any volunteers?  lol We also came up with a schedule for Asa to eat on odd hours and our meals/snacks on even ones.

Friday night we had Jaleigh’s birthday so of course our AC goes out that afternoon. My husband put in some window units we had to cool off the house enough to house our guests that night and fixed it the next day. I think Jaleigh had a great time at her rock star themed slumber party. Afterwards, I had to thank my parents for all those years of slumber parties. They were crazy to let me have eight or nine girls over. Three were plenty over here…lol  Little girls are so silly after 10 pm. Glad they had a great time though, and kinda glad Asa is a boy so I don’t have to do too many of those in my life. Exhausting..lol. 

The kids have done great on their behavior charts and with their chores. They got to use the chore store for the first time Sunday. I’ll post more about that with pictures in the coming weeks.  Asa is doing well besides in the evenings when he has been colicky.  He had a few great nights until Monday when he and I spent the night driving around and crying together. Think we went to sleep around 4:30 and were up at 6:30 for the day. Thus, my appreciations for Josh letting me sleep last night. While I was driving and praying, God brought to mind the scripture in Psalm  121 “ I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” I went home to look it up and post it on my fridge as a reminder when I feel overwhelmed and had to laugh at the following verse:  "He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  Glad to know that when I’m up all night taking care of my kid, I’m not alone. :) Anyway, Josh said Asa slept much better last night so hopefully some of the things we are trying help him. He really is such a joy.  I love to watch the funny faces he makes and my favorite thing is to watch him stretch as he slowly wakes up.  So cute! That is, until he realizes he’s awake and screams of course. Josh is such a great help even with his work and school, I couldn’t do it without him. We aren’t getting to spend much time together so we decided Thursday nights would be nights we could do something special together even if it’s just hanging out watching a movie in the living room. I’m looking forward to that. Also trying to find something I can I enjoy apart from the kids.  I’ve actually liked going to get groceries the last few times. Sad, I know.  I can’t let that become my hobby...lol. However, the first week I went, a newborn was in front of me in line and it made me cry because I missed Asa. I wanted to get out and when I did, I missed being home. Ah hormones.  Anyway, I spend a lot of time thinking about the last few chapters of my book I need to get written, but it seems anytime I sit down to do it, I’m needed elsewhere. I need to find a great new read for my Kindle. Reading is the cheapest best way to escape a little when you need to without leaving home.  Any good books out lately? 

Well, that’s all for now. I didn’t take many pics last week cause well, I was in over my head, but I’ll do better this week.  Here are a few from Jaleigh’s party:

Jaleigh and her friends

Aidan in his rock star glasses

Ready to blow out candles

Happy Birthday Jaleigh!