Sleeping Beauty and Other tidbits

We’re settled! Ok, that was a lie. We are not settled. It has been almost 2 weeks since we moved and we are not settled. In our defense, we had no clue how difficult it was going to be with kids. I feel like the only time I can unpack boxes is when both girls are sleeping. And, if you know anything about our family, these gals don’t sleep at the same time.

Never the less, we are coming along slowly but surly. It feels good. Joseph had his first class this evening and came home looking smarter already. Or at least that is what the smile on his face told me.

I am feeling really good about this change in our lives. I am not, however, feeling good about paying 2 rents. So, please, pray for us to find a lease take over in Milwaukee. It would lift so much worry and uncertainty from our shoulders.

I’m working on many big projects in life. One of these will be a picture recap of our summer for my blog. One of my main motives for beginning this blog was to document our day to day life as a family. The summer handed us some crazy and challenging times, so the day to day aspect of life went out the window – with the blog. I am hoping to recap and get back to more regular postings. I will also be adding posts about my “writing life” to blog. I’m doing so in an effort to share a big part of myself I’ve never shared before. I know, I’m growing as a person!

While these things are in the works, I thought I would share a little piece of lovely from my day. While Joseph was at school the girls were getting a bit crazy. Tessa was sent to her room for a little alone time to reflect after a bout of sassy sassy talk. I was organizing my desk while Anna Clare sat on the floor playing with a sippy cup. I found myself caught up in my project. Panic washed over me as I realized there was silence in my home. Any mother with little ones can tell you silence is a bad, bad sign when you’ve got kids. I looked into the living room to find this:

Now, to the average person – this is a cute picture of a little gal falling asleep. How cute—and so on and so on. However, Anna Clare is the anti-sleeper. She has never - in all her 9 months of life - fallen asleep without an hour of screaming and rocking. Falling asleep in the middle of sitting up and drinking is a big accomplishment for her – and me! I love her so very much, but feel as if she has been overlooked when it comes to who she is as a person – because she has screamed day and night since the day she was born. Thus, that is the aspect of her at the forefront of our minds and conversations with family and friends. Could this be the dawn of a new day for her…for us…..for my sleep?!!

Here is hoping the changes around here as a beautiful as the summer to fall transition happening outdoors.

Do you feel like your life changes with the seasons? What changes does this fall bring for you?

Thumps & Bumps in the Middle of the Night

Thumps & Bumps in the Middle of the Night.

Anna, our four-month-old, seems adamantly apposed to sleeping, or being quite, at night—ok, EVER! Like her mama, she’s a night owl. The crying has been more than my husband and I can handle at times. It’s by God’s grace we haven’t hit these moments of frustration and despair at the same time. I guess this is the purpose of a marriage, to lead each other in holiness—even if that means once and a while one spouse must pull the other along, kicking and screaming.

Tessa, on the other had, has been a sleeper from day one. I fondly recall the day after she was born. At one point during that day, I had eleven visitors in my hospital room. They stayed for five hours. She was passed from person to person. As we all tried our hand at waking her to eat, one person after another told us there was no way “this will last.” Well, it did last, she was sleeping through the night at six weeks and we’ve never looked back—until this week.

Sometimes, when one is well behaved, they get overlooked. Currently this is a problem in our home. Now, something tells me with the sass Miss Tessa has—this may be the one and only time she is on this end of a story-but here we are non the less! We moved our wonderful sleeper to a big girl bed last month. We had high hopes Anna would soon be moving to the crib. We made a family trip out of it and came home with a bed rail, purple sheets and a Dora bedspread. We kept Tessa up until midnight and put her in her new bed, too dog-tired to care where she was. From that night on, she has slept in her bed, naps and all- until last night.

It was 1am and I was still awake. It would make me a better mom if I was up with Anna, or I was praying or paying the bills. But, I was up, watching shows on the DVR and enjoying some much needed alone time, at the cost of some much needed sleep. I heard the thump, the scream, and then the crying. I don’t remember getting up and running into her bedroom. I will never forget finding her there, on the floor, half under the bed.

Now, I know children fall and bumps and bruises are to be expected. I assure you I’m not one of those mothers who is a nervous Nelly and who flips out every time a little one takes a tumble. No, that’s not the type of mommy I am. I don’t even have that option, as we are a clumsy bunch over here. That being said, I will never forget the look on my daughter’s face that night. She was so scared and confused. When she heard me running into her room, she looked up at me with her gigantic eyes and I swear those eyes were blaming me for their tears. It was, by far, one of my worst moments as a mother.

I always seem to learn my lessons in the middle of the night. This mostly because I can’t sleep until I have analyzed and reflected on every waking moment of my life. But, this night I learned a late night lesson from my darling daughter. She’s too little for a big girl bed. Just because she’s a big sister, doesn’t mean she’s a big girl. I was so sad when I took her out of her crib and put her into her big girl bed. I was so sad about ME not being ready- I didn’t realized SHE wasn’t ready. I put her back into her crib( after Joseph was assured she did not have a brain bleedJ He worries) as I set her down I thanked God for her guardian angel-and for the gift of a just a few more fleeting moments with my “little girl,” who will stay in the crib a while longer. She's a bit too little for growing pains, and that makes me smile!