Daily-ness

So my friends, I know you have all been wondering where I have gone to! Not. Anyway, it seems the holidays and the "daily-ness" of life have just caught up with me. Nothing major to tell, we are just floating day in and day out and I either don't have the time to post or I am just too tired! However, I really enjoy it, and seeing as though I am horrible at babybooking (Elisa is the only child with a book, and I think it stops at 9 months :)), this is what I want my children to look to when they want stories about when they were babies. I honestly don't think I am going to remember. ;)

Elisa turned 5 last month and I can scarcely believe it. My baby is 5! It seems I just had her! We had a great party and Pump It Up and our friends from Baylor and now Cleburne, the VanSlykes got to come! It was so fun! She is going on 15 now, and I find my self at a loss for how to parent her some days. Gone are the days when I can just say "do it because I am the mom and I said so!" She wants to know why and she is so quickly forming her own opinions about life that don't always include influences from her dad and I.

Ava is doing great. She is a very introverted child and is easily overwhelmed when her routine changes. She spends several hours a day alone in her room reading (and who else was like that as a child?!? *ahem*). She is so tender and precious and I worry about her getting lost the most in our big family. She is looking forward to having her 4th birthday at Disney World this summer. :) She is going to get a cavity filled today. Yay!

Noah is about to be 2 in April. I can't believe it! It was shortly after his birth that we moved to Longview, and I can't believe it has been that long. He is in full toddler mode, and I love it! He is the happiest child...so loving and charming. Almost always in a good mood. He does miss his sisters when they are at school, and I think he is ready for a little school as well. It remains to be seen what exactly we are going to be able to afford.

Micah is almost 6 months old. He is the quietest child I have never heard ;) He is our "normal" child, still waking up once a night to eat. I need to get him on solid foods, but he gags every time I try to feed him, so I have just given up. Way to go, mom! He apparently is sitting up now. I swear that child is going to teach himself how to walk, read, and potty train while I am off messing with someone else.

Na and I are good. We really enjoy Longview and have made some really good friends. Na really loves his job, and he is doing so well. Nathan is such a wonderful, "hands-on" dad, and I honestly don't know what I would do without him. We get overwhelmed with our life often, and so far, I think it has served to bring us closer together rather than farther apart. We have an "in the foxhole" mentality for now. Our church is offering Dave Ramsey's financial peace university, and we are doing that and looking forward to taking charge of our financial life!

So, a lot of people have said to me, "I don't know how you do it Christy. If that were me, I would be in a looney bin". Or, "Just thinking about your life makes me tired". Or, "I could never do that". Okay, so, I want to say this lovingly, because I know the heart behind these words is mostly admiration and/or respect. But, here's the secret: Sometimes I feel bat-sh!t crazy too! Just because I have 4 children doesn't mean I also possess super powers (although, really, sometimes I do envision myself in a cape). I need encouragement like anyone else. All women with children have crazy lives. We get pulled in several directions at once, and we are plagued with losing our sense of identity. Some days you just have a parent fail. We deal with the hands we are dealt and make do. I guess I just tire of hearing comments like this that feel like they are somehow a cloaked insult. It is like hearing "I have no eartly idea why you are not in a mental hospital. How do you manage to dress yourself? Why are you not in a catatonic state right now?" I mean, how do you answer that? "I dunno. I take vitamin supplements?" I mean, really people. I don't know how I do it. It is just my life and I wake up every morning and put clothes on a brush my teeth like all the other moms out there. Some days I feel great success and some days I feel like a failure. But I love my life and I want the best for my children, just like we all do.

So, there was my token rant in my blog entry. Look for more to come soon! Blessings! xoxxo