Category: General Family News

Somewhere on the journey of motherhood, insanity becomes the norm.

You come to a point when you realize that things are so rarely as (it seems) they “should” be, that you begin to embrace things simply as they are. And at that point, very little your children do or say will phase you. It is, after all, your new “normal.” You start expecting the . . . un- expected . . . if that’s possible.

Whenever it’s quiet while I’m making lunch, I start to wonder.

So I turn to my 2-1/2 year-old son, who is playing ever-so-nicely by himself in the living room. “Where’s Mara?” I asked.

“She’s upstairs,” he says, without even looking up. “She’s tied to the changing table.” As if that were the most normal thing in the world.

Maybe that should have worried me. But I’m a mom. This is MY normal.–Your kids say things like that, don’t they?

Besides, I don’t hear any screaming. How bad can it really be?

I am curious though.

Going upstairs, I find my daughter. And yes–she’s tied to the changing table. She was wearing her Lowe’s Home Improvement apron we got at one of those Kids’ Project Days, and Micah apparently had used the strings in the back to tie her to the changing table. It was some sort of Peter Pan scenario, involving pirates, of which Micah was one.

I had to untie her, so she could come down for lunch.

Later (same) daughter calls to me, in the most endearingly chipper tone, “Mommmmee! I have a sur-PRISE for you!–It’s in the potty!”

I pause. Not sure if I want to know.

Then I take a deep breath and ask, “Is it . . . poop?”

“YES!” she exclaims, as if I’ve just given the winning Jeopardy question.

“Yes!”

I’m a mom.

Welcome to my world.

That’s the day we will find out whether Baby #4 is a little boy or a little girl.

All my life I wondered. . .  who will I marry? where will we live? how many children will we have? will I have little boys?  little girls? both?

So, as I told Daniel, this is kind of the last piece of our “puzzle.”

Ever philosophical Daniel told me that was a rather simplistic view of life. Life is made up of much more complexity than who your spouse is and how many children you have and what their gender is.

And (while. . . yes, he’s right–life is so much more complex than that), there’s a sense to which it still seems like the last piece of the family puzzle.

I can’t wait.

Just a day and a half!

At our last ultrasound, one of the techs said that of all the “wives tales” about predicting your baby’s gender, the one that seems most accurate is asking the older siblings what the baby will be. “What do your kids think the baby will be?” she asked.

Of course, Carissa (who will be just 16 months old when the baby is born) doesn’t seem to understand anything at all about the new baby, let alone have the ability to say “boy” or “girl” yet.

Mara insists it will be a boy.

When I started to tell her that it might be God’s plan for us to have another little girl, she jumped right in to say, “Let me pray right now: Dear God, please let the baby in Mommy’s tummy be a little boy. Micah would be so happy to have a little brother! Amen!”

And when I ask Micah, “Do you think the baby in Mommy’s tummy will be a little boy? or a little girl?” he promptly replies, “A lollipop”–every time.

Here’s hoping Mara’s prediction is closer than Micah’s!

We’ll find out on Friday morning!

Am I inadequate for life’s challenges?. . . Are you?

I’m a mom of a 4-year old girl, a 2-1/2 year old boy, a 1-year-old girl, and #4 is due in July. Sometimes simply the logistics of caring for several at this age,  coordinating schedules & naptimes, changing diapers, finding time for housework and personal Bible reading and trying to have people over–not to mention reading to the kids or teaching them to share or training the baby high chair manners!–can be overwhelming.

At church we are going through 2 Peter. Very early in the book, Peter tells us that God has given us “all we need for life and godliness.” All we need.

Not just for life. But for godly living.

He did not say that we will never struggle. In fact, the entire book of 1 Peter was written to address Christians who are suffering. It is assumed that we will suffer. And with that understanding Peter tells us: God has given us all we need for life and godliness.

We need to rise to the challenges we are facing, confident that God will give us the grace and strength that we need (2 Corinthians 12:9; Isaiah 40:29), His wisdom when we ask (James 1:5), and then we can find our peace in His promises (Philippians 4:7) and in His mercy, which is “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-24).

Great is His faithfulness!!

I don’t know if it’s because my 4-year-old completely disowned her long-time imaginary sister “Tosta.”

Or because I cut off my 2-1/2 year-old son’s curls yesterday.

Or it could be that my “baby” girl is now wearing 12-18 month clothes and transitioning from formula to whole milk!

Or maybe because as of today I’m 18 weeks pregnant with our last child. . .

But wow, this week it’s been so. real. how fleeting this stage of life really is!

Last night Mara and I were talking. I mentioned Tosta, her imaginary sister, and Mara’s response blew me away: “Actually?– I don’t have a sister named Tosta. I was just kidding. I never saw her. . . And so I knew she wasn’t there. The only sister I really have is Carissa.”

And with that, a chapter closed.

Tosta has been around for a long time, and I knew eventually she would be gone, but I just wasn’t expecting it so soon. And I really didn’t expect to miss her like I do.

I posted Mara’s comment on Facebook, and a friend replied, “Meanwhile, Tosta sits, forlorn, in a dark corner of the basement and plots her terrible revenge…”

When I read this to Mara, she was unphased. She actually–appallingly–laughed and said, “Who’s ‘Tosta’?! I don’t know anyone named ‘Tosta.'”

For some reason, my heart sank. Mara’s “sister” Tosta really is gone.

Daniel says, “Look at it this way: She no longer needs Tosta because she sees her siblings as her friends.  It is a good, healthy thing. . . This is the cycle of life.”

I suppose so.

It was fun while it lasted.

Little Micah has battled several stomach bugs since Christmas, and with this latest round, he ended up in the hospital with severe dehydration, unable to keep down even a teaspoon of water or Pedialyte.

Looking back over the weekend, there were so many blessings:

• Daniel’s boss allowed him to work from home both Friday and Monday, which allowed him to be able to “watch” the girls during the times I was taking Micah to/from the hospital.
• Most of the hospital stay was over the weekend, rather than during the work week, so we were able to switch off, taking turns staying with Micah.
• Remember when Carissa weaned herself last fall? I was so resistant to that! but having her weaned made this weekend infinitely easier, with the flexibility that either of us could watch her and feed her bottles.
• Just the fact that we have medical care and a childrens’ hospital just a few minutes away is a humongous blessing! I think of my little guy, lying there listless, unable to hold down even a teaspoon of water or Pedialyte, and I shudder to think what could have happened to him without IVs and anti-vomiting medicines.
• He is healthy now! There is nothing like a stomach bug to make you thankful for the majority of the year that you spend healthy!

Thank you, God.