7 Quick Takes Vol 21

I'm back... I feel like this 7 Quick Takes needs a slow motion run to go with it.... it's been so long since I've joined Jen! 

--1--

I'm not the same mother I was when I last joined in the 7QTFs.  I have since seen things that can never been unseen.  I have learned things that can never been unlearned.   I have felt things that can never be unfelt.   I have been home alone all calm and relaxing morning long with two easy going, mostly quiet babies who take early naps.  

It's been every bit as glorious as that sounds! 

But the flip side is when I've got a full team at home, I'm too out of shape to play ball (and they know it....) 

--2--

But, like everything, out of sight, out of mind, so instead of worrying about the chaos awaiting me at 2:45 every day I'm just blissfully enjoying my slow time and soaking up every second I can with this rapidly growing little love and his still young enough to be adorably naughty big brother.

--3--

It's funny how we maybe just I am only now after having a bundle of kids learning how best to savor every moment of my babies when they're babies.  I think it's because I seemed to have had endless time to lay around and stare at  my first or maybe even second borns that I somehow actually missed the right moments to hold onto. 

It's not watching how they looked when they sleep that I'll miss.  Or even that delicious baby smell that should be bottled up forever.  Or the way their little toes spread apart when they sleep.  I'll never understand why my father in law doesn't love that. It's my favorite! 

I think it's just them being babies that goes by too fast.  And it's my own darn fault!  With Sienna I used to literally just lay next to her and watch her sleep for more time than I'm willing to pen and I suppose I don't really miss that time.  That imagine is imprinted deep in my heart forever.  But what I also have imprinted next to the sweet smell of her baby skin and the way her lips pursed when she slept is knowing how anxiously I awaited and looked for each milestone to come.  I practically coached her into rolling over.   We couldn't wait for her to crawl and walk.  We used to practice her walking, so she'd pick up on it faster.  

So I'm wising up like I did with Bash and I'm going to savor every moment of both of them being a baby by letting them be one for as long as I possibly can.   At 28 months old the big kids were practically walking off to college, but not with Bash.  For some reason I still feel like he is still my little baby too.  And so, I'm going to keep cherishing my time having my two little babies to snuggle and play with all day.  

--4--

Ok, even though I just said all that I have to admit, if there were ever a baby stage I'm tempted to hurry along it's teething.... 

We've got it bad, folks!  Real bad.  Flash flood warnings have been called on his drooling and any thunder would be surely masked by his fussing.   

--5--

Speaking of not hurrying things along, this week I've also felt acutely aware of the ways that having a big family means we all get to practice being patient all day long.  Let's go through the few virtue opportunities we had just yesterday:

• Be patient, I'm busy changing your brother's bedsheets, because he somehow snuck a sippy cut into his crib last night and soaked his diaper all the way through to the mattress protecter.  I'll get your breakfast ready in a minute. 
• Be patient, we cannot play with the train set that you're so quietly occupied with, because we have to rush out the door to get the big kids to school on time.  
• Be patient, Mommy has to load and buckle all 3 of your other siblings into their many point harness car seats while crawling around a tightly packed and suffocatingly hot minivan before the air conditioner will start working strong enough to make a difference.  
• Be patient, your sister is taking 20 years to take an epic poo in the public restroom while we alllll wait outside her stall and try desperately to keep the toddlers from drinking the toilet water.   
• Be patient, we cannot run off to play on the tantalizing park swing set because we all have to stop and wait while I discipline your brother who is refusing to put on his shoes and therefore keeping us waiting in the blazing sun.  
• Be patient, I can't answer your 1000th previously answered question, because Mommy is putting herself in time out for a few minutes because she is far to hot, sweaty and cranky to do anything else.  

--6--

It actually hasn't been as stressful as #5 might lead you to believe, but it has been HOT.  Everything is crankier when it's hot.  And after all my mushy baby loving in #4, I wanted to be honest with you. 

--7--

You know what hot means.... crickets.   We have crickets sneaking into our garage to escape the heat (I imagine), which our kids think is as good as an Easter egg hunt!  

"Mom!  We go to bed at night and when we wake up early in the morning the crickets are there waiting for us to find them!!"

Oh goody gumdrops! 

Granted, I've never been a little boy, but I simply do not understand the fascination with all things creepy crawly.  Even Sienna's been hit by the cupid of bug loving.  Currently, their favorite game is to catch them and let them escape in the house and watch them squirm off to hide under our couch.



The perk to this is that Bash is becoming quite the aspiring entomologist.

He can name all sorts of different kinds of nasty things.   Bee.  Pider.  Daddy Leg Pider.  Ant.  Cricked.  Fy.  Bit-you-bug. Bit-you-pider.  Yady bug.  Icky bug.   Geen gass bug.  

I can see it now... sorry Mrs. Future Preschool Teacher, he doesn't know his colors, but do you have an insect book he can read to the class?


So that's what we've been up to lately!  What about you?