Busy Morning

So, it’s been a crazy last few days. We were supposed to fly out of Rochester Sunday afternoon, but about 10 or 15 minutes into the flight the pilot said that the landing gear wasn’t retracting, so we had to land back in Rochester again. Delta ended up putting us up in a hotel overnight and then we ended up flying out early on Monday morning with a layover in Atlanta. We were pleased to find that the second leg of our new flight was booked in first class, which had a lot of nice perks (leg room, extra big seats, free food, unlimited offers of drinks and snacks throughout the flight, and free movies on the little individual screens in the seatbacks in front of us) which we would never pay extra for, but it sure was nice to experience it for free. So, we got home Monday afternoon and our friend Jill picked us up from the airport and invited us to dinner that night, which was nice to not have to cook right after getting home and to enjoy good food and games with friends. Grandma went with us to their house, and we had a fun evening, even though we had to come home before it was too late because I was falling asleep during our card game because of the time change. Yesterday I spent a good portion of the day calling and paying off medical bills that had arrived while we were out of town. Michael started his dermatology rotation and had a short day yesterday, which was nice.

And today has been quite busy too. When I got up Michael had already fed Kolby and Camden breakfast and given the baby a bottle. I showered and then Michael left for work. I fed Eli and Isaac, who had gotten up later than their brothers, and Camden who had only eaten a couple of bites when Michael fed him. I cleaned up after breakfast and rinsed the dishes, then I got the baby and brought him upstairs. While Kolby practiced the piano I fed Courtland until he started to fall asleep so I brought him downstairs and put him in his swing to let him rest. Kolby went out to play in the backyard until it was time to leave for preschool. Then I got Isaac his cup of milk (he hadn’t eaten much breakfast and had been asking for a drink while I was feeding the baby). I brought the clean laundry in and started folding it and finding some clothes for Eli and Camden to wear because they wanted to play outside. I cleaned up Camden’s dishes and started to get the boys dressed. Then Isaac threw up in his high chair and Camden took his diaper off while he was getting changed. So I ran downstairs and grabbed a diaper and put it on Camden before carrying Isaac, highchair and all, out in the back yard and hosing down the highchair and then Isaac in his pajamas. Then I pulled Isaac’s pajamas off and rinsed them off and hung them up to dry. Even though I rolled up my jeans when I took Isaac outside, I of course sprayed myself with the hose, so I had to run down and change my pants too. By now Grandma had gotten up and she helped Camden get his shorts on and dressed Isaac. I rushed Kolby out the door to go to preschool – and we could have just barely gotten there on time, except I noticed when we got out to the sidewalk that Kolby’s pants were wet. So we went back inside and he changed his clothes and put his shoes back on before we went out again. I dropped him off at school and walked back home, rinsed the last of the dishes, cleaned off the highchair tray, helped unload and load the dishwasher with all the kids, changed Courtland’s diaper and took some measurements for the blessing outfit that my mom is making for him, got Camden a cup of water, finished folding the laundry, brought all the boys and their pile of library books downstairs and put up the baby gate to keep them all downstairs with me while I tried to calm down the crying baby who for some reason didn’t want to finish his bottle. Courtland ended up falling asleep and I put him in my bedroom so he could try to get a rest where it was quiet. I then decided that it’s about time to pull out all the summer clothes and put away all the winter clothes, so I got all 8 big plastic bins of kids’ clothes out of the storage room, with the help of Eli, Camden, and especially Isaac who was no longer acting sick but was underfoot every time I walked back and forth from the storage room with a bin or two in my arms. I got a call from my sister, Michelle, and we talked a little while about insurance and selling furniture on craigslist, until Camden and Eli just got too wild for me to be on the phone any longer. Isaac laid down on the floor underneath the baby swing while I was on the phone and just rested there. When I got off the phone it was about half an hour before Kolby’s preschool finished, so I decided that it would be nice to go over a little early and let the boys play on the playground for a bit. I got the baby up and we all went upstairs, and I thought it’d be nice to let them eat their lunch at the playground (less cleanup for me that way), so I started to grab some quick food on our way out the door when Isaac started acting like he was going to throw up again. Luckily he didn’t, but he was very unhappy with me when I didn’t give him the same lunch that I gave his brothers. I swaddled Courtland and we went out the door, then noticed that the garage door had been left open when Grandma left for her hair appointment earlier, so I went back in and closed the garage door, then rounded up the boys again and we were off. They ate as we walked to the school and then played on the playground while we waited for Kolby to be done with class. He came out and ate and then joined his brothers on the playground for a little while before we headed home. I gathered all the boys and made them all hold hands in a long line while we crossed the street – each of the boys held each others’ hands and Isaac held my hand while I carried Courtland and Kolby’s little plastic cup with a pea plant sprout in the other hand. We got home, and I got all of the boys down for naps and Courtland back to sleep, then he woke up and I gave him a bottle before he fell asleep again. And I’ve started to sort through some of these summer clothes. And that’s all before 12:15pm. Well, at least all 5 boys are now sleeping and I have a little time to myself before they wake up from naps in a couple of hours, and I have a dentist’s appointment this afternoon and have to find a place to send a fax about some of Courtland’s bills from his hospital stay last month.

Well, it has been a really busy few days, especially this morning, but at least I feel good right now. While we were out in Rochester Michael and I were impressed with the family we stayed with and with another family there from church who invited us to dinner. Both of these families were very calm and relaxed with their kids, allowing the kids to make lots of decisions for themselves and not getting frustrated with them. We decided while we were there that we need to really relax with our kids. I think if we choose our battles and don’t allow the little things to frustrate us, then we can be a lot more calm and the kids will be a lot more happy because they will feel like they have more control over their own decisions. We’ve decided that we’re really going to try to not get mad at the kids when they do something wrong, but just remain calm and use time outs rather than spankings for punishments. So, these last few days we have both tried really hard and there’ve been a couple times when we have to remind each other not to get frustrated with the kids when they won’t listen, but overall we have done well and it has felt really good. So we’re definitely going to keep trying hard to make this change in our parenting so that we can improve how our family works and how we feel about our kids.

So, anyways, I really want to get pictures of the house posted, but these last few days have been crazy busy and then I’ve been really tired at night since I’m still adjusting to the time change. But I will get them posted, soon I hope.