these days

These days...

...have seen some pretty stressful falling asleep times for Camille. The Paci Fairy (actually known in our house as the Nukker Fairy) came on Sunday and Camille has (expectedly) been having a hard time settling herself down to go to sleep. We are seeing improvements though and I'm hopeful things will be back to normal soon.

...our little Levi sucks on his hands as if he was enjoying a refreshing ice cream cone.

...Aaron spends most evenings at our townhouse meeting with prospective renters.

...it seems as if my parents are going off on road trips every three days. Not only did they go to St. Louis two weekends ago, they also had a one-day trip to North Dakota for a family gathering. I'm pretty sure they're getting sick of us and just looking for excuses to get out of here!

...Camille has been busy spending as much time outside as she possibly can. We returned to our favorite park tonight for a Chinese food picnic and some water fun.

...I spend the weekdays busy with two babies and a two-year old doing lots of cuddling, feeding, diaper-changing, and reading to. I'm back to work full time now and am still adjusting to the exhausting nature of my job. But exhausting though it may be, we also have a lot of fun and are enjoying the summer. I feel so blessed to be able to bring in an income while still keeping my kids with me.

...bedtime for Levi has been around 6 pm. This usually means that if we're not home when he gets sleepy I pop him in our wrap and he drifts off to sleep wherever we are. This has really been an invaluable investment and I am so glad I discovered it before he was born. Rarely does a day go by that it doesn't get used.

...we've been going to church in the evenings so Camille can enjoy the opening music for the VBS program. She's too young still this year to stay the whole night, but next year she'll be able to join the preschool group. I'm so excited for her because I know she is just going to love it!


As you can see we're keeping busy. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to get done all that needs to be done. But I'm trying to slow down and enjoy my family. My mom will laugh when she sees that I'm posting this poem but I'm using it as my excuse...

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep...

by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton, in Lady's Home Journal. 1958

So quiet down, cell phone. iPod go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.