Instant Best Friends

On Sunday after church we had a lovely visit from my friend Liz and her two daughters. Liz was part of the epic MBASA book club that I was in while Bryan was in grad school. She was a good friend and we've kept in touch. I was delighted to get a message from her last week saying that she was visiting family near enough to come see us and asking if we were available. Of course I said yes!

Her younger daughter Adelaide and Sophie were born the same year. Sophie loved that she had someone just her size to play with. In fact, Sophie shared our riding horse on wheels with Adelaide, but was quite upset when her older sister Zara rode it. I asked Sophie what was going on and she said, "She can't ride it. It's only for little blonde girls." So I guess Adelaide's blondness earned her points as well.

Zara and Phoebe are only a week apart in age and they used to play together during those MBASA years. Neither girl remembered the other, but by the end of the reunion they had each pledged to be BFFs, were planning future visits, and were terribly heartbroken to be parted.

Phoebe was so sad in fact, at Zara's departure she dressed herself in black and announced she was mourning.

Seriously.

Thanks for visiting Liz! We loved it and looked forward to seeing you all again.

My Birthday Activities

I had a great birthday yesterday. Bryan made us a delicious french toast breakfast, I helped a friend move, I spent time with the kids, I got some birthday calls and messages from family and friends, and I opened presents. I'm really excited about this particular gift. I've been pricing ukuleles for a little while and I'd mentioned it to Bryan in passing. I'm impressed he remembered!

Bryan also made a scrumptious beef stroganoff dinner, an extra sweet gesture since he doesn't like stroganoff. Apparently Phoebe and Sophie don't love it either, but Peter ate an entire plateful. Cooper doesn't really eat anything other than fruit and Mexican food, unless we apply great amounts of prodding and encouragement, but I think he liked the little he consumed.

And we closed the night with some sugar-free chocolate cake!

It was a rainy, dreary day outside, so we postponed any adventures for another day. That's fine with me since it means the birthday celebration gets stretched out a little longer.

I Am Sixteen Going on Thirty-Eight

Topher and I ran a quick errand last Friday afternoon. When we returned home I pulled his car seat out of the back of Bryan's car and started to carry him inside. A neighbor that I've seen and waved at but never spoken to called out from across the street, "Congratulations!" I realized she was talking about Topher and I smiled and said thank you.

An older fellow was standing with her and her young daughter. He spoke up, "I don't live here, I'm her dad," and he pointed to the neighbor. Then he went on. "When I saw you get out of your car I thought you were sixteen! I didn't think you were old enough to have a baby!"

To that I laughed, smiled again and said, "I am definitely not sixteen, but thank you. And this is my fifth baby."

He responded with a shocked expression as his daughter said, "Oh that's right, you have lots of kids."

Today is my thirty-eighth birthday, but it's nice to know that if I wear my Gryffindor t-shirt and cuffed jeans and a messy bun, and if the person seeing me is across the street with possibly failing vision, I look like a teenager. Sounds like a birthday gift to me!

Mr. Giggles

Following Bryan's playful example, Peter initiated a game of patty-cake with Topher on Sunday evening. That's the magical activity that led to Topher's first real giggles. Of course our phones wouldn't record the wondrous sound, but I sure took a lot of pictures.

Topher is a lucky boy to have siblings that love him so much.

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.