Tuesday, June 19th

I have spent the entire day cleaning, doing laundry, and packing for our beach trip to San Diego which we are leaving for in about a half an hour. We figure it will be best to drive through the night since Logan will be sleeping. He hates his car seat, so we’d have to stop a lot or listen to screaming if we drove during the day. So I won’t be  posting for a week. We are so excited to be able to hang out at the beach house with Jacob’s family for the next week. Becca and Juddy are bringing Sadie to come hang out with us on Thursday and Friday, so it will be fun to have them too. I’ll take lots of pictures. I think.

Last night I had a girls’ night with Becca and Andrea. Staci’s grandma passed away so she wasn’t able to make it. We went to café Rio, chatted like we love to do, and watched some Bachelorette. The boys went with Jacob’s brother Tyler and his fiancé Brianne to McDonald’s and the park, and then they dropped them off at Anthony’s to spend the night since Jacob wouldn’t be home from work until 9:30 and I wouldn’t be home from my girls night until 10:30. Logan came with me, of course, and he was a good little boy like he typically is. Andrea is due June 30th with a little girl, and it’s ridiculous how cute she looks pregnant. And Becca is 20 weeks pregnant and not even showing but she thinks she’s a blimp. Ridiculous. Anyway, it was a fun night, and I’m glad we got together before Andrea’s baby gets here.

Well, we’re off to the beach!

Sunday, June 17th Father’s Day

The morning began about 8 am. Logan woke up at 6:30, which is 9 hours for him, but I don’t like to wake up before 7 so I brought him into bed with me, stuck his binkie in his mouth, and he was back to sleep until I woke him up at 8. I had to get Jacob’s Father’s Day breakfast in the oven and get Logan fed. I put together a breakfast casserole last night before I went to bed so that all I had to do was pop it in the oven  when I woke up this morning. It actually took an hour and a half to for the eggs to set, not 45 minutes like the recipe lied. But it was super delicious. Really delicious, in fact. Not healthy by any means, but who’s checking on Father’s Day?  The boys woke up at 9:30 and started making cards for Jacob. I also made pancakes with strawberries and whip cream to go along with the breakfast casserole. It was all yummy. Breakfast is a favorite meal around here. We saved presents and cards for after church so that we wouldn’t be late. The casserole took a half hour longer than it was supposed to, so that had already put me behind schedule.

After church we gave Jacob his present and cards. Easton’s card was hilarious. His explanations of his drawings are absolutely priceless and worth remembering.

If you’ll notice, there are 3 people scribbled out. Jacob asked Easton why they were all scribbled out.  The one on the top, he said, “Well I made a girl, and then I remembered that you are a boy.” The one underneath that he said, “I was drawing you, and then I was like what the heck are those dots?!” So he scribbled that one too. And the one on the bottom, he said, “That one I made his eyes to close to his hair, so I had to draw you again.” And he finally got one right, the one on the top with claw-like fingers that are as long as his arms :). He did write the sentence on his own. Anyway, he made us laugh.

I made these plaques for Jacob and our dads. I just bought the wood at Michaels, stained it, and mod podged the picture on and nailed the quote on. I like how they turned out.  And all 3 dads really liked theirs.

After Jacob read his cards and opened his gift, the boys Skyped their other dad for a little bit, and then we headed to Jacob’s parents’. After a couple hours there we went to my parents. I love Sundays. I love Father’s Day because I have such wonderful fathers, mine and Jacob’s, and I’m married to a man who is such a sweet dad to his boys. We had a wonderful day together, as usual.

Saturday, June 16th

Most of my day was spent at home taking care of the littlest boy while Jacob did man chores. He washed my van, replaced the rotors because my brakes were really bad, changed the blinker light, fixed his bike, and made some trips to Auto Zone. He also picked the boys up from Becca’s house because Joe took them over there from my parents’ house. I really appreciate having a man who is handy around the house. Jacob is very good about doing things that need to be done around here. He’s installed ceiling fans and light fixtures, like wired them in when there was no wiring and connected them to the switches. He just figures things out, and if he doesn’t know how to do something he’ll get a book or look up a tutorial, and I appreciate that he does these things.

I was reading back through my blog trying to figure out when Teagan started sleeping through the night. I came across some posts from a few years ago, and I almost forgot how different things used to be. I was a lonely divorced mother of two, and I barely remember the pain of it all unless I go back and read it. I am amazed at how my life has truly changed for the better and humbled to see that when it felt like my life was falling apart, better things were ahead. I have learned so much and come so far, and out of all the things I went through, I got a sweet husband who really really loves me the way a wife should be loved by her husband. I wrote this on August 16th, 2009:

“But due to recent events in my life, events that I first saw as great trials and horrible transpirations, I'm coming to see that blessings are lurking in disguise. Perhaps the failed marriage will give way to the one I never imagined. It's easy to see today's failings, to say that I got the exact opposite of what I wanted. But I bet God, in his infinite wisdom, looks down at me and says, "Oh, Rachel, give me a little bit of credit. You aren't getting the short end of the deal here. Just wait until you see the surprise I have in store for you tomorrow. It's a big one and you're gonna thank me for replacing the old, semi-functioning things with these shiny new ones." I'm positive it's really like that, and I just don't see it yet. Better things are ahead. Not just better things, but the best things. It is never required of us to settle for anything less than the absolute best.”

The failed marriage did give way to the one I never imagined. We aren’t perfect, and we are different, but we love each other and we are honestly happy. I didn’t have to settle for less than the best, even if 3 years ago it felt like I was going to have to settle if I didn’t get Adam back and save my marriage. I know that the Lord’s wisdom IS infinite and that He never forgets about me. I remember worrying that I wouldn’t find someone that would love my boys like I did. I came across this picture on a post in January 2010 of Jacob and Teagan when Jacob and I were first dating.

Whenever I look at this picture, I fall in love with my sweet husband all over again. What I see is the look on his face, the joy in his eyes, as he watched Teagan pet the horse and shared that experience with him the way he would as if Teagan were his own little boy. This picture melts my heart every single time I look at it. I absolutely love it.

I guess my point is that trials DO end. The clouds break, and the sun shines again, perhaps even brighter than it did before. Time seems to stand still while we are in the thick of our trials, but suddenly they are gone and only a memory. And what we’ve gained from them outweighs the pain we suffered through them.  There was so much heartache in my life just a few years ago, and that heartache has been replaced with so many tender mercies. If I hadn’t gone through them, I wouldn’t be me and I wouldn’t have what I have. My life is not trial free, nor do I expect that hard things won’t come my way again. But in the future, when big ones do come, I can look back on the things I’ve overcome and remember that better days really are ahead, and blessings are truly lurking in disguise.

Friday, June 15th

I have absolutely no idea how 4 days have gone by without a post. I must have been busy or tired or both. Yes, it was both. On Tuesday I went to lunch at Café Rio with my friend Hillary. She had a baby 5 weeks before I did, and we served in Young Women’s together, so we’ve become pretty good friends at church. But you know how life is. What sort of mom with 3 children has time to go out with her friends? I took Logan with me to lunch but the boys went to Patti’s house to spend some of the day with her since she hadn’t seen them for several days. After lunch I ran some errands, got some stuff for Father’s Day, made a couple returns, and then came home and edited pictures. On Wednesday I spent most of the day at Bec’s house swimming and hanging out. That was really all I did. With Jacob’s new schedule I don’t have to be home to make dinner. But I did make tacos on Monday and soup on Tuesday, just nothing on Wednesday because we ate at Becca’s.

Yesterday was the 1st day of Jacob’s 4 days off. He got up early and went hiking with his friend Ryan Stewart. He was back by about 9am. I ran a couple errands when he got home – dropped some pictures off to a client and took some fabric I bought back to Joann’s. I’m redoing the rocking chair in Logan’s room (ok, so really my friend Brittany Anderson is doing the sewing because I don’t know how to do that), and I found super cute fabric online for a better price. I feel like I make a lot of returns because I’m always changing my mind about things. After I got back from my errands Jacob went biking with his boss from work. He got back just in time for me to go to mutual.

And today, Jacob took the boys to the park while I stayed home and did things around the house. A girl in my ward came over and gave me a much-needed haircut after the boys got home from the park. I hate how much hair I lose after I have a baby. I swear I’m going bald. I just lose hair by the handful. Too bad weight doesn’t fall off like hair does after you have a baby. While I was getting my hair cut, Jacob took the boys to my dad’s to go fishing for the night with him. They will be back tomorrow afternoon sometime. Since it was just Jacob, me, and Logan tonight, we went to dinner at Pei Wei and the drove downtown to try out Luv It Frozen Custard. It was good, but it is not as good to me as Nielsen’s Frozen Custard. That place is amazing, and it’s a good thing it’s 40 minutes away from my house. I had a great evening out with Jacob and Logan.

Logan has still been sleeping 8 1/2 – 9 hours a night. I love the way schedules seem to get my babies sleeping through the night at a fairly young age. Maybe my babies are just good sleepers, but I’ve always done schedules with them so I can’t be sure what it is. So I assume it’s the scheduling. Logan is also still so pleasant and independent. He doesn’t need anyone to make him happy. He has become so smiley this week. He smiles almost all the time when I talk to him now. I absolutely adore this smiley stage. I feel like I get something back when they start smiling at you. He’s perfect. We love him. We absolutely love him, and I love nothing more than being a mom. Right now Logan is my favorite because he doesn’t fight with the other boys. Yes, I’m kidding, I don’t have favorites. I’m going to have to figure out some things to do this summer to keep the older boys from fighting with each other all the time. Best friends and enemies all in the same minute. Drives me absolutely crazy! I wonder if sisters fight this much. I guess they’re not always fighting, but even if it’s 3 times a day it feels like always.

Monday, June 11th

After Jacob had 4 days off of work, we decided that we absolutely love his new schedule. It sucks having him gone for 3 days, but having 3 Saturdays is perfect. We had a lot of fun and got a lot done. Today the boys and I ran some errands to Lowes and Target. Logan did pretty well with his naps. His afternoon nap was 2 hours, so that was nice. I spent some time outside with the boys helping them fill up water balloons. They are so much fun.

While I was helping the boys with the water balloons, we were laughing each time one of the balloons had holes in it because the water would spout out onto the boys. You know how once in a while you’ll stop and really absorb the moment and look at your beautiful children and suddenly feel an overwhelming amount of love for them and gratitude that you get to live this life? Well, I thought that today. And at the same time I thought that Easton stopped in the middle of our fun and laughter, having his own little moment, and said to me so sweetly, so observantly, “Mom, you are so pretty when you laugh outside.” I don’t know if I have ever felt so much love from my sweet little child as I did in that moment as he lovingly watched me laugh and stopped to think about how pretty I looked when I’m laughing. I know that prettiness he sees comes from the love he has for me, and I am so amazed at him and so in love with being a mom. I get to have moments like this with my sweet little boys, and there is nothing else in the world quite like it. We just live an ordinary life, but there are moments when there is nothing ordinary about it.

Sunday, June 10th

I meant to post yesterday, but it was a busy day. I headed to Becca’s at 10am to set up for the party. I spent most of Friday shopping for stuff with Becca and baking cupcakes and the cake. So I didn’t have to do that stuff Saturday morning, but I did have to put the cake together at her house. We were kind of scrambling trying to get everything together, and Logan was kind of fussy and not napping well. He’s been kind of off on his naps. Sometimes he’s a great napper and other times he is not. It was kind of hard getting everything together when he wouldn’t sleep. Jacob took the boys to Lowe’s for a kids building clinic, and he’s been planning that for a couple weeks so I didn’t want him to have to take Logan. The boys had a lot of fun with that while I set up for the party with Becca.

Everything turned out super cute, but parties are a lot of work. Mainly the food was what was so time consuming. We tried to make cute things, and that’s always a lot of work.

Jacob and the boys arrived about 2pm. We stayed until about 5:30, and then we headed home. I’m glad it’s over. I have two photo sessions to edit this week, so I need to focus my attention on that. We didn’t do much the rest of the evening. Today we went to church and to my parents’ like usual. My little sweeties are all in bed, and I’m sleep deprived, so that’s where I need to be too.

Friday, june 9th

What a busy day. For some odd reason the older boys woke up at 6am and I can't even think of the last time that happened. They are not early children. I went to bed super late and teagan woke up super early, so he was whining in my room because he was still so tired and I was yelling at him because I don't like to be woken up by a whiny child who won't be made happy no matter what I do. I finally yelled at him to get out of my room and to not come back in until he stopped crying, so he went in his room and cried himself back to sleep until 9:30. Logan woke up at 7:30 so we were up for the day by then. Jacob left at 7 am to go play tennis with Juddy, and he was gone a few hours running some errands after they were done playing. Once he got home I got ready and went to Becca's to do the rest of the shopping for Sadie's party. I finished the cupcake Toppers and cake banner this morning while Logan napped. I was home from Becca's at 4pm, and then I made dinner and made cupcakes and the frosting. I made 3 trips to Walmart tonight and I still forgot hairspray. I still have to finish the cake in the morning and get over to beccas house early to help set up, so I am off to bed.

Thursday, June 8th Easton’s Last Day of Kindergarten

It was a bittersweet thing to walk Easton into the kindergarten playground this morning and to pick him up and realize that’s the last time he’ll ever be on that playground again. Mrs. Garofalo cried as as she hugged her students and said goodbye to them for good. We got a picture with her, and she almost made me cry. I imagine that the end of the school year is both a happy and sad time for teachers.  I’m sure they get attached to some students and can’t wait to get rid of others.

Easton had little tears coming down his face as we drove home, and he told me that he would miss all his friends and wondered if he’d ever see them again. It was just a sad morning for us all.

After picking Easton up from school, I headed home and picked up Jacob and the other boys. We went to a matinee of Avengers. Logan got to have his first trip to the movie theater. He was so great through the whole movie. He ate, hung out for a bit, and then went to sleep. It’s amazing what babies can sleep through. The boys had fun watching the movie, and afterwards we ate Panda Express on our way out of the theater.

I’ve spent a lot of the day working on the little details for Sadie’s party. I made bottle covers, party favor handouts, and I’m still working on the cupcake flags which are cute little paper pinwheels. Tomorrow I have to make the cake and cupcakes and finish up some last minute things for the party. BEcca and Jud came over for a little bit to pick up some of the stuff that I wanted her to help with, and then I went to mutual. Anyway, it’s 2:18 am now, and my baby wakes up in 4 hours, so I don’t know what the heck I’m doing awake.

Wednesday, June 6th

Busy day today! Logan slept from 9:30pm-6am, but he went back to sleep until 7:45. I don’t feed him when he wakes up because I can tell he’s still tired. So I can usually get him to sleep to at least 7am, sometimes 8am, but I always wake him up to eat and stay on his schedule. He’s still diong really well on the 3 1/2 hour schedule. His naps have been longer, so that is good. After picking Easton up from school, we went to the grocery store. I’m not one to go out of my house looking homely, but I did it today. There’s just not always time, and I didn’t have time to wash my hair while Easton was at school, and I wasn’t going to get ready when I just had to come home and shower. After the grocery store, I fed the boys, got Logan down for a nap, and hopped in the shower. I also cleaned bathrooms and took some pictures of my darling little boys while they were hanging out on my bed watching a movie. I love the three of them together. And separately, too.

So many good ones, but I haven’t had the chance to edit them all yet.

After dinner, Bec, Jud, and Sadie came over so that all of us could ride in my van to get stuff we needed for Sadie’s party. What. A. Riot. We took 4 children under the age of 6 to 4 different stores, and it was insane. There was crying and whining and things in the cart that I apparently said yes to even though I wasn’t paying attention (Jud said I told the kids they could all buy sunglasses, but I don’t remember hearing them ask). Bec and I were thinking about the party and Jud was juggling the kiddos. We went to Michael’s, then Party City, then Walmart, and finally to Dollar Tree. Bec and I went into Dollar Tree and left the rest of them in the car, but as we were finishing up Jud comes walking in with the kids holding Logan and laughing (probably to keep from crying) because Teagan had to pee really bad and couldn’t unbuckle fast enough so he peed in his car seat. He was crying because his pants were wet, and Bec and I just laughed as we watched Jud come walking through the doors. I don’t know what we were thinking taking 4 children to 4 different stores in 2 hours. Over-achievers, I guess. It’s comical, almost, how hectic an outing to some stores can be with 4 little ones who all want things in every store you go in. Don’t they know that things cost money and I’m not blessed with an endless supply?

We got home late, and I sent the boys right to bed. Jacob got home about 15 minutes after us, so he only got to say goodnight to Easton because Teagan was out like a light in a matter of minutes. He got to cuddle and feed Logan for a bit, but then Logan had to go to bed.

I have a lot of stuff to get ready for Sadie’s party on Saturday and a couple of photo sessions to edit, so I should be pretty busy for the next few days. But Jacob is off work for 4 days, so it won’t be bad. This week wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be with him working 3 fourteen-hour shifts. I did miss him, though.

And tomorrow is Easton’s last day of kindergarten. Sad, sad, sad. I love that boy and can’t believe how much he has learned and grown this school year. He’s such a good reader. He’s just too cute, too awesome, and no longer my little kindergartner.

Tuesday, June 5th

It’s 12:27 am (so technically Wednesday), and here I sit on the computer doing nothing with my life but losing sleep. And it feels good. Not in the morning, but tonight it feels good. It’s not that I’m not tired, because I am. I’m always tired from not getting 8 hours straight for months. But I just can’t go to bed when I haven’t had time to do absolutely nothing. Sometimes I just want to do what I want to do, and I don’t get the chance to do that when the children are awake.  I want to be a mom all day, of course, but I also want to make a craft or read my friends’ blogs or eat a cup of ice when I know Logan isn’t waking up or Easton isn’t hungry or Teagan won’t be asking me for milk. I love those things, I do, but I’ll lose sleep so that I get the chance to feel like I’m not just being a nurturer all day. I suppose that’s why my mother always went to bed so late. I used to stay up late with her while everyone else was sleeping. I have been a night owl since birth.

Yesterday Jacob worked his first 14-hour day. It wasn’t so bad but I was at my sister’s pretty much the entire day. After I picked Easton up from school, we headed to Walmart so that I could pick up some things and then went to Becca’s to swim and plan Sadie’s birthday party on Saturday. Bec wants it to be cute, and she knows what’s cute, but she doesn’t have the drive to make it cute herself, so she recruited me to do all things planning and crafty. I don’t mind – I actually love planning parties. We didn’t get much planning done, though, because I realized that she doesn’t really care what I do as long as I make it cute. So I did some planning and shopping today mostly to decide on a color scheme and theme and start on some paper pinwheels.

I moved Logan to a 3 1/2 hour schedule yesterday, and I think it was just what he needed. He took 2 long naps and 2 short naps, and he did the same thing today. I fed him tonight at 9:15, and he was done and asleep by 9:35. Jacob didn’t get a chance to see him because he got home right as Logan was finishing his bottle. He also slept 10-6 last night but went right back to sleep until 8am once I brought him to lay in my bed with me. He’s such a darling little thing and such a good little baby. I forgot to post these pictures of him with his happy morning smiles on Thursday.

Yes, yes he is to die for.

Today we spent the day at home. Easton kept asking me if we were going to go somewhere or do something fun. After school I got Logan down for a nap, and then I gave the boys hair cuts and used this nifty hair umbrella that I bought off Amazon a couple weeks ago. I hate cutting their hair because hair gets everywhere, and they complain the whole time about how itchy they are. So this worked pretty well. They still got some hair on their neck, but it was a huge improvement. Their hair was WAY too long.

After hair cuts and Logan woke up from his nap, I ran to Walmart and Michaels to get some stuff for Sadie’s party and a few groceries as well. I realized just an hour ago that I left my bag from Michaels in the cart at the store. I was too busy trying to get my boys out of the store and into the van. Sometimes going somewhere with the 3 boys is quite the escapade. I get the “Wow, you have your hands full” look from non-LDS people. If they only knew that I actually want 2 more children than I already have.

Jacob has had a couple of long days. He’s had patient after patient and hasn’t been able to sit down and rest or even eat really. It’s weird with him being gone so long, but it’s not as terrible as I thought it would be. We just have to make it through tomorrow and then he is off for 4 days. I can’t wait.

And there are only 2 more days of school, and I still have a knot in my stomach when I think of it. Easton can’t grow up anymore – I don’t like it.

Sunday, June 3rd Logan’s Blessing Day

Today Jacob blessed little Logan. From my family, I had my mom, Grandma Hansen, Bec, Jud, Sadie, Joe, Anthony, Geana, Jaedyn, Coleen and Darrell. Jacob’s parents came, and so did Janea, Jayden, and Tyler. It was just adorable to see all the little cousins together in church. They had so much fun with everyone being there with them. Jacob gave a sweet blessing. I don’t remember what he said exactly, but it was sweet.

Everyone left after sacrament. Jacob’s mom actually had to leave right after the blessing, so she wasn’t around to be in any pictures, and neither was Tyler. We didn’t do any special lunch or anything. I’m just not a good planner, I suppose. I’ll have to do some pictures this week of Logan in his blessing outfit. I had a meeting after church to finalize some stuff got girls’ camp, and then we went to my parents as usual.

I spent a lot of Thursday at Jacob’s mom’s house. She wanted to see the boys, so I took them over, and then Logan and I went to JoAnn’s to get some fabric for the rocking chair in his room. That evening a family that Jacob home teaches brought us Chili’s for dinner because he watched their dog over Memorial Day weekend. I love it when I don’t have to cook dinner, and the food was really good to top it off. I had mutual that evening, and that pretty much summed up Thursday.

Jacob was off on Friday because he’s starting his new schedule tomorrow. Trish dropped by Friday afternoon after I picked Easton up from school to pick up the family pictures I took of her and Brad and the kids. She hung out for a couple hours and talked to Jacob about nursing. She just finished her masters in nursing and is going to be a nurse practitioner. Our kids played together for a little bit, and then she left. Later that evening I dropped Jacob and the boys off at his mom’s while I went to do senior pictures for a girl whose parents have known my parents for years. Afterwards I picked the boys up from the Edgels and we headed home. I had to get up early Saturday morning to do newborn pictures for someone that Andrea referred to me. I was there by 8 am. After the pictures, I came home and went to sleep at 9:30 after getting Logan down for a nap. I slept until 11:30, so Jacob took care of the boys and fed the baby while I caught up on some sleep. Logan has been doing really well, but sometimes I go to bed a little too late. He’s been going down about 10pm, and then he’ll wake up about 5am, but I just bring him in bed with me and he goes back to sleep until I wake him at about 7:30. So I don’t have to feed him when he wakes up at 5am, which is nice. He’s little bit more of a cat napper, which is hard sometimes during the day. But some days he’ll take long naps on his schedule, while other days it’s only about 45 minutes. He’s still on a 3-hour schedule, but I’m considering moving him to a 3 1/2 hour schedule this week. I ordered the Babywise book to refresh my Babywise skills, so I’ll see about his schedule when the book gets here this week. One thing about Logan that I absolutely MUST brag about is that he is so content to hang out on the couch laying on his back or on his boppy for about an hour after he eats. He only starts to cry when it’s time for his nap. But he prefers to be laying on his own than be held, and I think that is the best. Easton was my best sleeper, and really just a good baby all around. But even in all his perfection he needed to be held more than Logan does. Teagan was super happy but also needed to be held. So having freedom to set Logan down for an hour and let the boys talk to him is really nice. I’m just amazed that he likes to be independent for so long. He doesn’t need to be entertained and doesn’t want to be held. I love it. He’s recently discovered his hands, so he spends his time on his back just wiggling around, staring at his fists, always looking like he’s ready to box someone. And he’s so smiley when you talk to him. Not as smiley as Teagan, but still happy and content. It’s interesting how all my children have had such different strengths, even as babies. Easton was my sleeper, Teagan was my constant smiler, and Logan is Mr. Independent. But they have all been good babies. I have certainly been very lucky in that sense. I’ve never had a colicky or sleepless baby. I hope that continues with my next two.

Yesterday after my nap, we went to Coleen’s house for a swim and BBQ for ATI, the company that she owns and Jacob works for. It is certainly a diverse group of employees that work at ATI, and we’ll just leave it at that. My mom also works there, but she wasn’t able to go to the BBQ because she had to take my grandma to do some things. The boys had a fun time playing with the other kids and, of course, with Sadie. Bec and Jud are living there for the next little bit, which I think I’ve already mentioned. Anyway, the BBQ was fun, and Logan was a super good little boy the whole 5 hours we were there. He hung out on the couch for a lot of the time, either sleeping or just being independent. On his 3-hour schedule he wakes up to eat, which takes him about 15-30 minutes to drink his bottle depending on how sleepy he is. After his bottle is finished he has wake time for the next hour, and that’s when he’ll hang out being independent and happy. Then he gets a little bit fussy, so I know it’s time for his nap. He’s supposed to nap for an hour and a half, but he’ll often nap for only 45 minutes to an hour. When it’s nap time,  I’ll rock him for just a minute until I see his eyes start to droop, and then I’ll lay him down on his back/side in his crib (or on a couch if we aren’t at home) with his binky and let him fall asleep on his own. Sometimes he doesn’t want his binky, sometimes he does. If we’re not at home, it’s harder to get him to nap, but he just fell asleep at Coleen’s yesterday when he was supposed to, and didn’t get fussy when he transitioned from wake time to nap time. He really is a very good baby. I like to write these details down so that I’ll remember them when I have my next child, even though each child is so different. I’ve found that so far my 3 have done well on a Babywise schedule.

Jacob is starting his new schedule tomorrow. Basically for Monday-Wednesday I’ll be a single mom because he’ll leave just before 7am and get home after 9:30pm. But then he’s off Thursday-Sunday. So each wake I’ll just have to make it three days on my own with three children for the whole day, and then I’ll have him home for four days straight. I’ll be hanging out with my sister a lot – that’s for sure.

This is also Easton’s last week of kindergarten. Some moms cry on the first day of school. But I feel this great sadness coming upon me as my little boy finishes his first year of school and wonder where the time went. I feel like he just barely started, and suddenly it’s over. And when I think that I will have to repeat this only 12 more times with Easton, I’m just amazed at how fast the time will really fly. Coleen and Darrel went to my parents’ for dinner tonight too, and I listened to Coleen and my mom talk about how raising children feels so long when you’re in it, and then suddenly it’s just done and all of your children are gone. Going through this school year seemed long, I suppose, but now that it’s over I realize that it was just an instant. And it’s a sad thing for me to think of. I’m not one of those people that thinks, “I can’t wait for my children to grow up and leave so that my husband and I can travel.” I don’t want my children to grow up. I like them just as they are. Let the hard times pass quickly and the good times linger. If only it were that way!