Sleep in and lazy cartoon morning
Shattered honey jar on the kitchen floor
Baby's blow-out all over our bed
Bleeding foot from aforementioned glass
120 nails clipped
25 snacks dispensed
16 nursing sessions
9 raisins retrieved from Des' choked up vomit (which Sums so kindly "fed" him)
5 bodies in Mom's bathtub
4 loads of laundry
3 family time outs for fighting
2 games Settlers of Catan
1 empty fridge
0 chores done
Welcome to the first day of term break.
Here's to 12 more....
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Aussie-isms
I'm either too used to them now or have recorded most of them already on the blog (search my Australianisms-tagged posts) but the latest ones on the list are:
"fussed" (worried)
"wee" (small)
"clean your teeth" (brush your teeth)
"fierce" (harsh)
"braces" (suspenders)
"lie-in" (sleep-in)
"busking" (playing an instrument on the street for $, what's our word?)
"bag it" (claim/call "I call that seat!")
and this funny one...
My kids were offered "chickenburger, hamburger or cheeseburger" on the latest Special Lunch at school (it's a fundraising thing each term) and of course they checked "cheeseburger." Poor darlings were sorely disappointed when all they got was cheese, lettuce and tomato!
"fussed" (worried)
"wee" (small)
"clean your teeth" (brush your teeth)
"fierce" (harsh)
"braces" (suspenders)
"lie-in" (sleep-in)
"busking" (playing an instrument on the street for $, what's our word?)
"bag it" (claim/call "I call that seat!")
and this funny one...
My kids were offered "chickenburger, hamburger or cheeseburger" on the latest Special Lunch at school (it's a fundraising thing each term) and of course they checked "cheeseburger." Poor darlings were sorely disappointed when all they got was cheese, lettuce and tomato!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Highlights
- Summer paints herself, her crib and everything in it with poop during naptime (twice)
- Mommy forgets Desmond at church, running back to the chapel halfway through Primary time to retrieve him from the pew (still asleep like an angel)
- Summer hands Mom half her braid after deciding to cut it off herself
- midway through Mom taking son on a date to the shops, he sincerely (and unsolicited) asks, "Why are you wearing that embarrassing sweater?"
- Summer poops in the bath three times (what's with all the poop?!)
- family stranded at church and has to get a ride home in two other family's cars because Dad fell asleep after taking Summer home early for a nap- 3 ear infections
- Will sleepwalks to the bathroom but misses the mark (once in the trash can, once on the bath mat)
- Kenna discovers her forgotten Primary talk assignment during Sacrament meeting and writes it real fast while Mom and Dad are prepping last minute lessons for missing teachers (I shouldn't admit that)
- very next week Will does exact same thing as Kenna
- Annie's hair & face are smudged with black for 3 days dues to Book Fair costume/hair fiasco
- Mom finds interesting things in the garbage: shoes, markers, toys, apples, and yep, poop.
- Summer gets a shiner from trying to reenact her favorite book Ten Little Monkeys Jumping On (off) the Bed
- Will wakes up distraught about his bloody pillow (apparently from the ear into which a friend shoved a wire the day before... what the??)
- our living room is still a series of makeshift "shops" and tonight the kids are sleeping in the hall (pulled their mattresses out and everything - again, we are a zoo.)
LIFE IS GRAND.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Big Families
Life is slowly settling into a new normal. People ask how it feels to have 5 kids and my response is usually, "There are just so many of us. It's a lot of bodies." Kids are everywhere.
If you're not nursing one, you're being climbed on by another or moving a few more over to grab a spot on the couch. Lots of needs for attention and conversation and snuggles and policing. And shoes. I think Will and Annie both had toes sticking out of the holes in their shoes for weeks before I could get out and buy new ones recently. Putting them all to bed takes hours. I don't even know if they've used soap in the bath or toothpaste on the toothbrush - it's a victory if they are all under the sheets by 9pm these days. Not to mention the food. These guys are LITTLE and we're still going through 5 gallons of milk, 2 trays of eggs, and crates of produce a week. I can't actually fit the whole week of groceries in the Costco cart along with the two babies. (I must have been a spectacle: simultaneously nursing the 3wk old, fetching the toddler's hotdog from the floor, and eating my lunch next to an overflowing cart of groceries precariously balanced atop the carseat in the cart.) It's a zoo. A crazy zoo - but we love it.
They are so affectionate and helpful and funny and sweet. They need us so much still. And I know we need to soak it up because that won't last. Someday soon they're going to start thinking we're not that cool and want to hang out with their friends all the time and roll their eyes when we try to hug them. After 9 months of having to be gentle with Mommy, Will just about died of joy when I agreed to a wrestling match last night. The bruises this morning are so worth that exhausted, sweaty, super satisfied smile that was pasted on his face. And those amazingly tender moments of sibling love that take your breath away: Will changing a diaper or snoring in bed with Des asleep on his chest, or Kenna piggy backs Summer around the house in a fit of giggles then puts her to bed without help, or Summer sings to Des face to face and nurses her babydolls next to us, or Annie gives baby a bath or reads to Sums. Summer will often go to a sibling rather than me for comfort after an owie. When they want to share beds or dress alike or make each other breakfast...we even woke up the other day to Kenna singing Alleluia and Country Roads downstairs, accompanied by Will on the guitar.
It's times like that when your heart bursts a little and you think "how can we not have 100 more??" Being the youngest of 6 kids myself (and Darren smack in the middle of 7) we dig the chaos. (Although, not the perpetual pig-sty - how is it that this is how the floor looks less than 24 hrs after vacuuming??)
We always joke that it doesn't feel like family until it's a circus show. Well, I think we've arrived. Seeing as Summer typically shows up at church without shoes and it looks like our kids don't know what a hairbrush is, I think those around us would agree. It's kind of awesome.
If you're not nursing one, you're being climbed on by another or moving a few more over to grab a spot on the couch. Lots of needs for attention and conversation and snuggles and policing. And shoes. I think Will and Annie both had toes sticking out of the holes in their shoes for weeks before I could get out and buy new ones recently. Putting them all to bed takes hours. I don't even know if they've used soap in the bath or toothpaste on the toothbrush - it's a victory if they are all under the sheets by 9pm these days. Not to mention the food. These guys are LITTLE and we're still going through 5 gallons of milk, 2 trays of eggs, and crates of produce a week. I can't actually fit the whole week of groceries in the Costco cart along with the two babies. (I must have been a spectacle: simultaneously nursing the 3wk old, fetching the toddler's hotdog from the floor, and eating my lunch next to an overflowing cart of groceries precariously balanced atop the carseat in the cart.) It's a zoo. A crazy zoo - but we love it.
They are so affectionate and helpful and funny and sweet. They need us so much still. And I know we need to soak it up because that won't last. Someday soon they're going to start thinking we're not that cool and want to hang out with their friends all the time and roll their eyes when we try to hug them. After 9 months of having to be gentle with Mommy, Will just about died of joy when I agreed to a wrestling match last night. The bruises this morning are so worth that exhausted, sweaty, super satisfied smile that was pasted on his face. And those amazingly tender moments of sibling love that take your breath away: Will changing a diaper or snoring in bed with Des asleep on his chest, or Kenna piggy backs Summer around the house in a fit of giggles then puts her to bed without help, or Summer sings to Des face to face and nurses her babydolls next to us, or Annie gives baby a bath or reads to Sums. Summer will often go to a sibling rather than me for comfort after an owie. When they want to share beds or dress alike or make each other breakfast...we even woke up the other day to Kenna singing Alleluia and Country Roads downstairs, accompanied by Will on the guitar.
 |
| they spent hours constructing a "store" in our living room |
It's times like that when your heart bursts a little and you think "how can we not have 100 more??" Being the youngest of 6 kids myself (and Darren smack in the middle of 7) we dig the chaos. (Although, not the perpetual pig-sty - how is it that this is how the floor looks less than 24 hrs after vacuuming??)
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Birthing Outside the Box
When we had Will ten years ago, I'd read a couple pregnancy books, but I've since realized how uninformed I was about my options in childbirth. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to lay out some of the things I did differently this time, in case anyone else was interested in the unconventional with me. Here are a few things we included in our Birth Plan this time around:
1. Natural Birthing (ie: no medication/augmentation) - with Summer I only wanted to see if I could do it. Like a marathon, I knew it wouldn't be fun, but it was a challenge women had achieved for centuries and I wanted to try. But I've read so much since that makes me seriously wary of medical intervention (pitocin, epidurals, etc.) in the absence of a true emergency. I've done both and I don't judge anyone else's decision. I do think if we believed more in a woman's body, we might trip it up less and make birthing faster/easier by just allowing it to birth how it was made to. With such a delicate balance of hormones involved, every intervention almost necessitates another by interrupting the natural process. You can see why there are such high Caesarian rates these days. Not to mention the lack of knowledge on how these powerful drugs affect our tiny newborns... I'm not saying it's for everyone, but with my first birth I didn't even consider it. I wish someone had told me to have a little more trust and give my body a chance. Birth can be pretty awesome and empowering. And babies come out so calm and alert, drug-free. (My method of choice was relaxation and self-hypnosis, but there are plenty of techniques out there.)
2. Labor Positions - did you know that lying on your back is considered one of the least effective positions to give birth? Wish someone had told me that my first 3 times around. (However, with all I was hooked up to, that became my only option I suppose.) Help your body out! Move around, get in the bath, walk, sit on the birthing ball or rocking chair, squat, sway, kneel on all fours, belly dance. Let gravity help a sista out.
3. Delayed Cord Clamping - we asked the doctor to not clamp or cut the umbilical cord until it had completely stopped pulsing. There is a placental transfusion that occurs in those moments after birth that gives baby a significant amount of oxygenated blood as a jump start on life. It too often gets prevented by the medically efficient habit of immediate cord clamping. It's only a few minutes extra, but worth the wait.
4. Natural Placenta Delivery - often mothers will be given a shot of pitocin or other contraction-inducing drug post-birth to speed up the ejection of the placenta. However, in the majority of cases, this will naturally occur within the first half hour without any added drugs to affect the mother or her milk. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
5. Taking My Placenta - now this is the biggie. I've always had a fairly open mind to new ideas, but I know it can be hard to wrap your head around this one. Don't judge, just hear me out. Animals eat their placentas after birth. There's a reason for this. It's natural, albeit it not mainstream, and many mothers in some cultures still do it today. In fact, a short Google search will pull up pages of "recipes" even for steaming, stewing, or blending your placenta for consumption. Why?? Fair question. There hasn't been a whole lot of research, but I have yet to find one negative review from a mom who's done it. It's most highly praised for preventing post partum depression. Basically, it's a way to rebalance your body's hormones more efficiently, allowing you to recover faster. It boosts milk supply (#1 reason I'm doing it), helps stop your bleeding faster, raises iron levels after bloodloss at birth, restores hormone balance (with all the emotional benefits to boot) and is basically your body's gift to you and your baby. Your body goes through much trauma at birth and undergoes immense hormone changes and taking your placenta restores that balance almost immediately rather than wading through weeks of turbulent recovery. It's like the perfect healing concoction, made by you, specifically for you with the perfect amounts of nutrients/chemicals your individual body needs. I realize this may still sound way too strange (my sister asked, "So are you planning to drink your own breastmilk too?") but hey, don't knock it 'til you try it.
I have my impressive friend Jenny to thank for introducing me to the idea. I decided against the "smoothie" or "roast" route and paid to have my placenta encapsulated. I had to search all over for someone who would provide the service here, but she was wonderful. (Basically she steamed, sliced, dehydrated, and pulverized it to a powder before filling the empty capsules. Not something I felt up to doing at the time and D had officially signed off the job. She even sent me home with pics of her procedure - at my curious mom's request.) Also a doula, she's just started to be more open about providing this service and has had a lot of growing interest. We put mine in a labeled container in the hospital fridge and she retrieved it, processed it, and brought my capsules back the next day. All 180 of them - wahoo! Best part about encapsulation? You can keep them indefinitely in the freezer and take a pill whenever you're having an off day (moody, stressed, fatigued, menopause, etc.) It's a total quick fix! I took them three times a day the first few weeks and my bleeding stopped quicker than in the past. I honestly didn't even have one "blue day" either - you know when you're sort of recovering and whacked out and any little thing makes you cry? It was astounding. I was cheerful and fun with the kids and able to handle the stresses of an added child really well compared to past experience. As I weaned off them last week I intended to take just one a day for another month. However, after a few particularly snappy remarks during a stressful dinner hour, Darren asked "have you by chance taken your pill today?" Uh... nope. Not for two days actually. The stuff's amazing. In fact, just the other day D sent me a text saying "I'll be home late. Don't forget to take your pill. Love you." So whenever I start yelling at the kids or getting really impatient or overwhelmed I usually find that's the culprit. Is there a better reason than that to try out something so unconventional? Bye bye baby blues!
6. Circumcision - Won't go into much on this, but I suggest doing some research on it. Did you know that most countries around the world don't regularly circumcise little boys? It's no longer considered medically necessary or "more clean" in fact, I could only find ONE doctor here who even performs them. It's considered an unnecessary "violation" and even brutally cruel by lots of folks. I had my eyes opened to all sorts of risks/arguments I had never considered before. Just saying, it's a decision that deserves some thought before automatically having it done because it's the social norm.
7. And finally (huge congrats if you're still reading this post) Tandem Nursing - yes, I'm still nursing my toddler. It started out as one big experiment. My milk dried up around 10 months with the first three and finally I realized it coincided with starting regular exercise. Well, I figured I'd just see how long it lingered if I didn't exercise this time around and voila, I nursed right through the pregnancy. (Yes, I haven't exercised regularly in almost 3 years, not sure if that's stupid or brilliant.) I had very little milk until about 2 months ago when the colostrum apparently arrived in preparation for birth - cause Summer was all over that. And when my milk came in, whoa. She became obsessed. She wants to nurse every time Desmond does which is sort of a problem. So, we've limited it to just before naps/bed so I'm not completely attached all day (she'll stay on an hour if I let her, which I tended to do while bedridden in the early recovery days.)
Now before you get all worried for poor Des, I've read up on it and it's completely fine as long as baby gets fed first. Think about it, women nurse multiples all the time - milk is a supply and demand thing. So they're both happy. She even got the old mustard-y diapers again at the beginning. The funniest part is when they eat at the same time. It's like a circus act, stacking babies and contorting into strange positions, but it has been great. I'd recommend it. Seeing Summer cuddle up or stroke him gently while they're both at the breast is a pretty awesome little circle of love. But I realize it's not for everyone. I will wean when she's ready or when I'm just over it. I found a lot of good advice and practical info from friends and the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing. Just throwing it out there for those who think they have to wean the second they get pregnant with #2. You've got options.
So there you have it. Am I weird? I didn't include things like immediate breastfeeding skin-to-skin (to perfectly regulate temperature, establish bonding, etc.) or delayed bathing (so vernix has a chance to reabsorb and nourish newborn skin) because fortunately I believe that's becoming widely accepted as protocol. And while I'm totally interested in a waterbirth in front of the fireplace, I'm certainly not brave enough to birth unattended at home (like cjane.)
But raise your hand if this post has made you officially think I'm a complete and total nut job... :)
1. Natural Birthing (ie: no medication/augmentation) - with Summer I only wanted to see if I could do it. Like a marathon, I knew it wouldn't be fun, but it was a challenge women had achieved for centuries and I wanted to try. But I've read so much since that makes me seriously wary of medical intervention (pitocin, epidurals, etc.) in the absence of a true emergency. I've done both and I don't judge anyone else's decision. I do think if we believed more in a woman's body, we might trip it up less and make birthing faster/easier by just allowing it to birth how it was made to. With such a delicate balance of hormones involved, every intervention almost necessitates another by interrupting the natural process. You can see why there are such high Caesarian rates these days. Not to mention the lack of knowledge on how these powerful drugs affect our tiny newborns... I'm not saying it's for everyone, but with my first birth I didn't even consider it. I wish someone had told me to have a little more trust and give my body a chance. Birth can be pretty awesome and empowering. And babies come out so calm and alert, drug-free. (My method of choice was relaxation and self-hypnosis, but there are plenty of techniques out there.)
2. Labor Positions - did you know that lying on your back is considered one of the least effective positions to give birth? Wish someone had told me that my first 3 times around. (However, with all I was hooked up to, that became my only option I suppose.) Help your body out! Move around, get in the bath, walk, sit on the birthing ball or rocking chair, squat, sway, kneel on all fours, belly dance. Let gravity help a sista out.
3. Delayed Cord Clamping - we asked the doctor to not clamp or cut the umbilical cord until it had completely stopped pulsing. There is a placental transfusion that occurs in those moments after birth that gives baby a significant amount of oxygenated blood as a jump start on life. It too often gets prevented by the medically efficient habit of immediate cord clamping. It's only a few minutes extra, but worth the wait.
4. Natural Placenta Delivery - often mothers will be given a shot of pitocin or other contraction-inducing drug post-birth to speed up the ejection of the placenta. However, in the majority of cases, this will naturally occur within the first half hour without any added drugs to affect the mother or her milk. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
(I'll spare you gory pics of the whole glorious thing, but I did decide to try a bit raw the first day "before processing" so I could get a jump start on the benefits. Made easier to swallow in pill form...)
I have my impressive friend Jenny to thank for introducing me to the idea. I decided against the "smoothie" or "roast" route and paid to have my placenta encapsulated. I had to search all over for someone who would provide the service here, but she was wonderful. (Basically she steamed, sliced, dehydrated, and pulverized it to a powder before filling the empty capsules. Not something I felt up to doing at the time and D had officially signed off the job. She even sent me home with pics of her procedure - at my curious mom's request.) Also a doula, she's just started to be more open about providing this service and has had a lot of growing interest. We put mine in a labeled container in the hospital fridge and she retrieved it, processed it, and brought my capsules back the next day. All 180 of them - wahoo! Best part about encapsulation? You can keep them indefinitely in the freezer and take a pill whenever you're having an off day (moody, stressed, fatigued, menopause, etc.) It's a total quick fix! I took them three times a day the first few weeks and my bleeding stopped quicker than in the past. I honestly didn't even have one "blue day" either - you know when you're sort of recovering and whacked out and any little thing makes you cry? It was astounding. I was cheerful and fun with the kids and able to handle the stresses of an added child really well compared to past experience. As I weaned off them last week I intended to take just one a day for another month. However, after a few particularly snappy remarks during a stressful dinner hour, Darren asked "have you by chance taken your pill today?" Uh... nope. Not for two days actually. The stuff's amazing. In fact, just the other day D sent me a text saying "I'll be home late. Don't forget to take your pill. Love you." So whenever I start yelling at the kids or getting really impatient or overwhelmed I usually find that's the culprit. Is there a better reason than that to try out something so unconventional? Bye bye baby blues!6. Circumcision - Won't go into much on this, but I suggest doing some research on it. Did you know that most countries around the world don't regularly circumcise little boys? It's no longer considered medically necessary or "more clean" in fact, I could only find ONE doctor here who even performs them. It's considered an unnecessary "violation" and even brutally cruel by lots of folks. I had my eyes opened to all sorts of risks/arguments I had never considered before. Just saying, it's a decision that deserves some thought before automatically having it done because it's the social norm.
7. And finally (huge congrats if you're still reading this post) Tandem Nursing - yes, I'm still nursing my toddler. It started out as one big experiment. My milk dried up around 10 months with the first three and finally I realized it coincided with starting regular exercise. Well, I figured I'd just see how long it lingered if I didn't exercise this time around and voila, I nursed right through the pregnancy. (Yes, I haven't exercised regularly in almost 3 years, not sure if that's stupid or brilliant.) I had very little milk until about 2 months ago when the colostrum apparently arrived in preparation for birth - cause Summer was all over that. And when my milk came in, whoa. She became obsessed. She wants to nurse every time Desmond does which is sort of a problem. So, we've limited it to just before naps/bed so I'm not completely attached all day (she'll stay on an hour if I let her, which I tended to do while bedridden in the early recovery days.)
So there you have it. Am I weird? I didn't include things like immediate breastfeeding skin-to-skin (to perfectly regulate temperature, establish bonding, etc.) or delayed bathing (so vernix has a chance to reabsorb and nourish newborn skin) because fortunately I believe that's becoming widely accepted as protocol. And while I'm totally interested in a waterbirth in front of the fireplace, I'm certainly not brave enough to birth unattended at home (like cjane.)
But raise your hand if this post has made you officially think I'm a complete and total nut job... :)
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Terrible Twos
Most of our kids have skipped the Terrible Twos and opted for the Tantrum Threes instead, but we might be entering new territory with Summer. She's still sweetly endearing enough to overlook most of it, but baby brother's arrival has definitely made her more high maintenance. We keep saying "no wonder Summer was such an easy baby - we didn't have a toddler around!"Fortunately she's loving and gentle and good with the baby (not hitting or rolling it off the table like one of our others), it's just when I'm busy with him that she starts getting needy or messy or angry. Or painting herself, crib and everything in it with poop during naptime (2x.) All natural responses I suppose.
Mom graciously hosted, I demoed how to make a smash pav and the cousins prepared some excellently creative Shaun the Sheep cupcakes for the event. Being a school night, dinner was followed by a 20 minute "party" with her favorite buddy Jack Jack and his fam. She was absolutely thrilled. It looked as if she couldn't believe we were all singing for HER and she's been singing the Happy Birthday song off and on since.
Summer remains our little life of the party - she makes us laugh all day long and has to dodge kisses and snuggles from the minute she wakes to the minute she goes to bed. Her favorite things in the world are sugar, singing songs, Jack Jack, and bubble baths. Expert mimicker, she doesn't miss a beat. She's got her daddy in the palm of her hand, three mommies and we wouldn't change a thing about her. (Except maybe lessen her sweet tooth a little so she'd eat real food every once in a while... :)
Little lady's favorite gifts, thanks Lorayne and Kathryn! (She's slightly obsessed with Shaun these days.)
And I have to throw in this cute, belated birthday gift Annie received from Jasmine. 100% Aussie hat and 100% girlie :)
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Recovery
I'll tell you what, this somewhat difficult "recovery" has certainly made me much more grateful for my previous uneventful recoveries. It started out with the most glorious 3 days in hospital. I mean, when you're being brought big meals and 3 snacks ("tea"s) a day - in bed - who can complain, right? Just the peace and quiet and lack of having to clean up or pick up or basically be responsible for anyone but me and baby, combined with endless food and naps... it's better than a vacation!
We had some cute visitors and the nurse talked the kids through Desmond's first bath. I found everyone here is more hands off - they basically left me alone, only checking in occasionally to see if I needed any pain meds. Didn't bathe the baby til the night before we left, rarely checked my bleeding/vitals, just trusted me to let them know if I needed anything. Even at the prenatal appointments I was never weighed or had to pee in a cup - just measured, checked blood pressure and baby's heartbeat. Cool.
Unfortunately, a few days after GramB left I started
bleeding heavily and feeling real sick. Apparently it was some sort of
infection, followed by some sort of hematoma that had to get drained (ouch!)
and after the third round of antibiotics I'm finally feeling human again. Check
out the pic of one day's worth of my pills... It didn't help that the whole fam
traded ear infections, nasty flu and chesty coughs/colds for a week after I got
home, too. I don't think there was even a day when all the kids went to school
together. Good thing D was able to take off work - he was a champ, taking it
all in stride and holding us all together. (You know you've hit rock bottom when you hire your 6 year old to mow the lawn.) Huge thanks to the amazing army of
friends who swooped in with meals, deep cleaning, rides,
playdates, food, encouragement, gifts and visits. We feel so incredibly loved!
Without them we'd still be wallowing in this (ahhh, the delightful state of
things with a new baby in the house):
instead of this:
Honestly, you just can't put a price tag on good friends.
We had some cute visitors and the nurse talked the kids through Desmond's first bath. I found everyone here is more hands off - they basically left me alone, only checking in occasionally to see if I needed any pain meds. Didn't bathe the baby til the night before we left, rarely checked my bleeding/vitals, just trusted me to let them know if I needed anything. Even at the prenatal appointments I was never weighed or had to pee in a cup - just measured, checked blood pressure and baby's heartbeat. Cool.
Unfortunately, a few days after GramB left I started
bleeding heavily and feeling real sick. Apparently it was some sort of
infection, followed by some sort of hematoma that had to get drained (ouch!)
and after the third round of antibiotics I'm finally feeling human again. Check
out the pic of one day's worth of my pills... It didn't help that the whole fam
traded ear infections, nasty flu and chesty coughs/colds for a week after I got
home, too. I don't think there was even a day when all the kids went to school
together. Good thing D was able to take off work - he was a champ, taking it
all in stride and holding us all together. (You know you've hit rock bottom when you hire your 6 year old to mow the lawn.) Huge thanks to the amazing army of
friends who swooped in with meals, deep cleaning, rides,
playdates, food, encouragement, gifts and visits. We feel so incredibly loved!
Without them we'd still be wallowing in this (ahhh, the delightful state of
things with a new baby in the house):
instead of this:
Honestly, you just can't put a price tag on good friends.
We are so grateful!
And we hope to be
able to return all the wonderful favors someday :) you know, when I'm not so
busy being a 24 hour milk factory and all...
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