The Race

Bryan has one more week of paternity leave. It's been amazing having him home to help for so long, especially since the big kids are on summer break. I've been able to focus on feeding Topher and recovering and sleeping when possible. But Bryan's return to work has been looming over me and I feel the need to shift my focus and get used to taking care of everyone while he's still here as a back-up.

That means that I've been working to teach Topher the difference between night and day and working to return to normal hours myself. The good news is that he's improving with night sleep. He usually sleeps for a four-hour block, and, if I'm lucky, a few more three-hour blocks after that.

Unfortunately, he's kind of forgotten how to sleep for longer than forty minutes at a time during the day. And if he's not sleeping or eating or playing with Bryan (Topher's three favorite activities, in no particular order), then he's probably fussing. This means I spend most of my time feeding him or encouraging him to sleep.

Because I know his sleep will most likely be short, as soon as I put him down, I feel like I'm in a race. I have a limited amount of time to accomplish the few things I'm still trying to get done. My biggest focus during the day has been to either spend time with the other kids or prepare food. Bryan and Peter helped a friend move last week so I had a trial run of being on my own with the other four. I was pretty tired when Bryan got home, but everyone was still alive and had been fed, so a success overall.

At night, my thoughts go something like this, "Okay, I really need to sleep, but I'm so hungry. I'll eat really fast, then sleep. And I'll read that library book while I eat since it's due soon. Or maybe I'll knock out a few blog posts while I eat. Shoot, when was the last time I showered? Maybe I should do that after I eat. Or before? Five minutes have already gone by! Whatever, I'll just eat and go to sleep."

Am I the only one with such a detailed inner monologue?

Sometimes I win the race. I got a whopping four hours of uninterrupted sleep one night last week. It was glorious! And other nights I lose the race, like the night I didn't sleep longer than an hour and forty-five minutes in a row. That was rough.

It's nice to know that win or lose, I get the prize of snuggling a sweet baby for several hours during the night and day. And really, that's always a win.

Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime?

And the fall and the winter and the spring...

The Explorer

Important Introductions

Bryan's sister Melinda and her family came to visit this weekend. We loved playing with cousins at home and the park and had a fun picnic. In fact, we had so much fun, that I only pulled my camera out once.

My favorite part of the visit was when two-year-old Emma met Topher for the first time. As soon as she saw him, in her sweet, tiny, excited voice she cried out, "Baby! Baby!" It was adorable. Sam and Nathan also thought Topher was cute, but they weren't taken with him the way Emma was.

Sophie was eager to instruct her cousins on proper baby etiquette. She told them to be gentle and to avoid his soft spot and to give him kisses. They followed her directions well.

Thanks for making the trip guys! We loved seeing you!

A Day of Giving

Our Father's Day celebration looked like this:

• Bryan getting all the kids ready for church while I fed Topher and then got myself ready
• Bryan taking care of the kids after church and insisting that I go take a nap when he saw how tired I was
• Bryan suggesting we eat leftovers and cereal instead of the fancy Father's Day meal I had planned so I could focus on resting
• Bryan choosing a family activity that he wasn't particularly interested in, but he knew the kids would love

I don't think the kids realized that Bryan sacrificed most of his special day for us, but I noticed, and I am thankful.

Thriving

I took this picture after church yesterday. Compare it to the one below of Topher coming home from the hospital. He weighed in last Wednesday at 10lbs 12oz. When he came home from the hospital he weighed 8 lbs 3 oz. This, my friends, is the result of eating nearly every two hours for approximately five weeks.

The Dad

Tonight I was looking though some unpublished posts when I found this picture. We were battling some bug that week and Bryan had stayed home sick one day. When Phoebe got off the bus that afternoon it was clear she felt lousy too. She laid down on the couch, drained of energy and uninterested in anything other than sleep.

When Bryan discovered how she felt he picked her up and carried her to her room so she could nap. I snapped this blurry picture as a reminder that even though he was home sick and felt awful, he put his weariness aside to care for Phoebe. I love these tender dad moments. And I've noticed that when the kids are sick, they often want Bryan to comfort them, which speaks to how he fulfills his role as their dad.

Happy Father's Day!

Real World Magic

A friend offered us this swing and I waffled about whether or not to accept it. We've never had a swing before, in part because we've never had space for one. I finally figured a place where it could live and said yes to her offer.

Topher fell asleep within minutes of trying it out for the first time.

I'm pretty sure it's magic.

Catch!

We celebrated the first day of summer break by going to the park for the first time as a family of seven. Bryan spent time showing the kids how to throw a ball, calling races on the monkey bars, and creating and facilitating a clever team version of fetch. I held onto Topher and stayed clear of flying spheres. There was plenty of laughter and running, a perfect park combination.

Onward and Upward

Last week we supported Peter by attending his sixth grade moving up ceremony. That's right, they didn't call it a graduation, maybe because they didn't use caps and gowns? Regardless of the reasons behind the name, Bryan, Sophie, Topher, and I spent two hours sitting on bleachers designed for elementary school aged bodies while nearly four-hundred kids heard their names called as they walked across the gym to receive their certificates.

If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Sophie and Topher were so well behaved, even at the end when they were tired (notice the yawn) of being there.

Now on to the adventure of middle school!