Sentimental

You know you are sentimental when...

two of you siblings get engaged...



(brother Tim with Megan)




(sister Amy with Jeremiah)



...and all of a sudden this video makes you cry.



This was more than just shedding two tears. It was a serious cry, people! Can you believe it?

Peter Pan and Pinker Bell

Here are my favorite things about this video; how Lu emphasizes the last syllable of both names, how they really think they are flying, how Baylub points to himself with his thumb at about navel level, and how coordinated Baylub is and not coordinated Lu is.





This is for those who are far away and want to see updates.

Our stride...

I think we have finally hit our rhythm! (have you ever noticed how weird the word "rhythm" is? The only vowel is "y", no vowel in the second syllable, and that crazy "h" thrown in at the beginning. what?!?)

Today we had an outing, just me and the kids. We went to two different places and EVERYONE had such a good time. No melt downs, no yelling, no frustrating thoughts like "oh, why did I think I could do this?".

Three is officially doable everybody! Now it's time to celebrate with shopping tomorrow.

Slowly...

I am finding that I need to constantly adjust to my circumstances. Watching that video two posts earlier, I realized with Elder Busche's words, "Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words" that this is what I was needing in my own life. With Jo in our family almost three months now, I have had to adjust to the time it takes me to do things. It is when I am rushed and anxious to get something done that I lose my patience and control of my words.



Since I am most definitely outnumbered during the day while Adam is gone, I have to rely on Baylub and Lulu to do many things on their own. And those things they can't do on their own, I now have to do times three almost. I don't know if you have been around toddlers, but it takes them a LONG time to do things. They are easily distracted by every possible thing and so need constant reminding or a helping hand to get them to where they need to be.


At first, I felt frustrated by everything taking a long time. I was running late quite a bit because of it, which I don't like. Now, I have just realized that I have to adjust my time and give myself and the kids the time they need to do things on their own. And for the things that they still need my help to accomplish (ie putting on and zipping up coats) I just can't be rushed. And so, we have become a family of turtles. Slow and steady and I sure hope we win the race we are running.

It is funny to compare past habits with current ones. For example, here are some time constraints I absolutely require for the following activities:

Getting in the car- Before kids: 2 min, With kids: 20 min.
Getting ready for the day- Before kids: 30 min. With kids: they're dressed in 30 min, with me, it's another hour because of interruptions.
Getting ready for church- Before kids- 45 min., With kids: 2 hours.
Cooking dinner- Before kids- 30-45 min., With kids: add another 30 min for interruptions.





The interruptions are precious I now realize. I plan all that extra time and keep reminding myself to move at a slower pace, put projects on hold for a half hour so I can focus on more important things like my babies. Being a turtle has made my life a lot better.

(Except when I have an extra pair of hands to watch the kids or when they are asleep, then I'm a rabbit hurrying to accomplish as much as I can with the uninterrupted time that I have. That feels good too!)