The New Normal

My sweet sister-in-law texted me at the end of last week asking how the first week of Bryan being back at work had gone. It took me a bit to respond because at that point on Friday my brain was kind of fried. After the kids were calm and I was able to reflect and form sentences again, I answered her.

"Well, it had its ups and downs and I'm really glad it's bedtime on Friday night. We did make it to the park one morning and the kids did chores everyday, so those are wins. Of course, I'm so tired that I spent most of yesterday thinking it was Tuesday and it took a solid minute for me to remember the name of the town we live in, but that's normal, right?"

This week has been a bit different because we've been up and out of the door most mornings to get Cooper to Cub Scout Day Camp ontime. Here's the breakdown:

• We've hit the park or the grocery store each day. 
• Chores have suffered dramatically because both boys lost the chance to play video games, so for them there's no reason to fulfill those responsibilities now. 
• I made dinner one night and we ate leftovers, prepared frozen food, and cereal the other nights.
• We've done a load of laundry each day because Cooper had to have his one Day Camp shirt clean every morning. This means our playroom is covered in piles of clean clothes waiting to be folded and put away. And yes, three of the kids fold their own stuff. See the above bullet point about chores for further explanation.
• I exercised two of the days and napped on one.
• We stayed up late one night for a bike rodeo Pack Meeting. That means that the next day was rough on everyone.
• We want to have a family adventure tomorrow, but I keep thinking about the sleep that I could possibly get if we stay home and don't do anything, and I simply can't decide which I want to do more.
• My brain is still fried. I can't find words that I want and feel dull-minded. I was starting to wonder about early-onset dementia when I remembered I went through a similar experience when Cooper was two-months old. That's what led to the birth of this blog, so maybe there's something about two months of sleep deprivation that makes my brain feel mushy.
• I adore Topher more today than when he was born, and I adored him then too. I feel a happy sense of contentment when all five of my children are in the same room, like we're all where we're supposed to be.

I like to think that this week has been slightly easier than last week, but Cooper's been at camp for most of his waking hours, so that might account for the difference. No matter, I'll count it as progress.

Baby Mine

It is amazing to me how much all the kids love Topher. Maybe it shouldn't be so shocking, but they all genuinely want to hold him or kiss him or play with him pretty much all the time. Even big, twelve-year-old Peter is, thankfully, not too grown-up to come find Topher and kiss his forehead or scoop Topher out of his car seat when we get home from an outing, just to hold him and make him laugh.

I hope they never outgrow the affection they have for their baby brother.

Twins By Choice

The Cake is a Lie

Bryan had a birthday last month. The most exciting thing that happened that day was this cake.

For those that don't know (which is probably all of you) this is a replica of a cake from a video game called Portal. Bryan specifically requested this cake, so we made it happen.

It's a black forest chocolate cake with cherry and whipped cream filling, frosted with homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings. I made the components, Bryan built it. According to Bryan and the kids, it was delicious and super sugary.

My birthday gift to Bryan was funding a trip for him and the four older kids to see Incredibles II. They had lots of fun and Topher and I chilled at home.

Happy birthday, Bryan!

All the Sleep

This little dude slept through the night from Saturday to Sunday! He had a hard time going down, so I expected to see him again soon when I put him in his bed at 9:43 on Saturday night. He woke up at 6:23 on Sunday morning! Of course, I jumped out of bed at 5AM to make sure he was okay and only slept fitfully after that, but it was better than not sleeping!

I don't expect this to happen again anytime soon.

Man to Man

Love Hurts

Sometimes the hardest part of the day is protecting Topher from Sophie's affection.

Ye Olde Bookshoppe

Did you know that we live within driving distance of the oldest bookstore in the United States?

True story.

Happy birthday, America!

The Big Girl

Sophie finally earned her big girl bed! She loves it.

And the girls love that it's big enough that they can both snuggle there.

Rollin' Along

Bryan goes back to work today. He's been home on parental leave for the last six weeks. It has been heavenly having him here. The kids and I are all going to miss him during the day. I hope we're all happy and coherent when he gets home this evening.

As a final adventure, we went to the park on Saturday to ride bikes. This might not seem like a huge deal, and it probably wouldn't be, except that before Saturday Peter was our only child that could ride a bike. Actually, before last week, Peter was our only child that had a proper bike at all. Sophie has a balance bike, and it's great, but it's a touch too small for her, so it doesn't count. The cub scouts were supposed to have a bike rally for the pack meeting last week, so, after planning to for ages, we finally got bikes for Cooper and Phoebe.

And then the bike rally was cancelled because of rain. It was actually a blessing, because Cooper would have had to walk his bike since he couldn't ride it. Saturday was supposed to be insanely hot, so we got to the park extra early.

Peter zipped around the parking lot, biking/walking trail, and fields. Sophie alternated between propelling herself on the balance bike around the grass and playing on the playground. I passed around water and sunscreen and carried a sleeping Topher in the Baby Bjorn. And Bryan taught Cooper and Phoebe how to fall off their bikes so they wouldn't be afraid to try pedaling, then he moved on to the actual riding.



Cooper focused, listened, and worked hard. By the time we left, he could ride around the fields. I was impressed with how quickly he picked it up. Here you can see Peter and Cooper in the distance, both rolling along.

Phoebe had a harder time. She's usually a quick study, so when something takes more than one or two tries to learn, she tends to fall apart. She did a decent job of learning to fall off the bike, after much murmuring. That's as far as she got though, so we'll need to find another time for her to try it again.

We finally left when the kids were so sweaty they looked like they'd had showers.

It was a good morning.