snow day on the island of sodor

My friend Faye posted a picture of her son pushing cotton balls around with his little bulldozer and loading them into the dump truck for snow removal. So awesome. So yesterday Ivar and I bought a bag of jumbo cotton balls for a buck and suddenly the train table became the favorite activity again. Lots of snowy storylines came to life, and lots of need for Byron the bulldozer to clear the rails to keep Sodor safe and the trains running on time.

Parenting Little Kids is like a trip to Panera

So we've been home a lot these past two weeks. Everyone has taken a turn getting sick and even though it's miserable to be sick, it's also shed some light on what is actually possible in my life with a 5 year old, 3 year old and 3 month old.

And I've come to realize something. At this season of time: YOU PICK TWO. Just like Panera gives you two items in an entree, any given day gives you two tasks to accomplish.

Each day it seems, between feeding the baby every three hours, feeding the family three times, and leaving room for all the surprises that are sure to surface, there is margin for just two more tasks:
YOU PICK TWO:
-Fun Mom: This option includes a mom that makes play dough, helps build lego helicopters, puts her snow pants on, makes hopscotch out of masking tape on the carpet and bakes muffins with her children.
-Scratch Cook: Come dinnertime, this option ensures that there will be more than frozen pizza or fish sticks on the table. If not chosen, those items are completely acceptable.
-Play date Pal: A play date is good for everyone. But you can't do anything house-related when you're at another friend's house.
-Housekeeping: This option ensures the house looks generally tidy at the end of the day. Maybe even vacuumed...
-Laundry Lady: Washed, dried, put in the general right place (may still live in laundry baskets...) your husband will be glad he has clean socks and underwear again.
-Shower for the Mama: In the case that a mom is not actually able to rise before her children, this shower has to happen at another point during the day, and a shower takes time.
-Grocery Getter/Target Trip: This option has to happen at some point during the week. If it is not factored in there likely will be waffles for dinner with a side of fruit cocktail and canned corn.

So there it is. In this season of life, I can accomplish two of those tasks in any given day. And then it's up to me to assess my day accordingly. If I went grocery shopping and made a good meal in a day, then the fact that the house has gone to pot and the laundry is still strewn all around the house is okay. Maybe tomorrow will be their day.

I recently started reading Jen Hatmaker's For the Love on the recommendation of every living soul on planet earth. I'm not super far into it, but if I could xerox chapter one and hand it out on the street corner, I would. Next time you're in Target, take it off the shelf, stand by your cart and read that first chapter. And then you'll likely place the book in your cart to purchase making this perfectly legal. But man that first chapter is something special. All about how ridiculous our expectations are for being a woman and running a household with ridiculously high standards.

It got me thinking along these lines and then I decided my own measure would be the Panera Plan. I will evaluate myself on the two tasks I picked for the day and give myself all the grace in the world for the other tasks that were not picked and therefore exposing the reality that I cannot do it all. But I can pick two.

little becca

Rory is starting to call Harriet, "Little Becca" because she seems to have a few of my personality traits. 

Last night we had her laying under her play gym happily and the rest of us went into the kitchen to eat. Soon she was crying in the living room and Rory went to put her in her bouncy chair and bring her in the kitchen. When she arrived she lit up and started chatting and we imagined her to be saying, "oh hey. I think you forgot about me. I was just in the living room, but then you were all together and I wasn't here but now I am. with you guys. where I think you probably meant for me to be." I've got some serious FOMO (fear of missing out) and it seems Harriet does too.

She's quite sensitive. If I don't go to her right away (usually during tummy time) when she is crying she will let me know her feelings have been very hurt when I finally do. She can stick her lower lip out (something I did until I was like seventeen...) and dig her face into my shoulder and just wants me to know she's a little sad and tender that I wasn't coming when she called for me.

And finally, she's chatty. All day long she narrates her day. We hear her jib jab and sing out and coo and it seems she already is hitting her 20,000 words a day as a female. And that's no surprise. I definitely hit mine every day. And Elsie for sure uses hers.

sistertalk

Elsie loves Harriet with her whole heart. And it is so fun to watch. She loves to hold her sister. And when Elsie comes down in the morning she jogs to Harriet first and sings a falsetto song that says something along the lines of "hi baby harriet. are you awake baby? I love you." combined with lots of nonsense words...) I took this video after the kids had just been sledding and had their hot chocolate. (Deep thought: why oh why do we give our children hot chocolate after they have been outside to run off all the sugar?!! I ponder this every single time I end up with sugared preschoolers on my hands...) Anyway, you can see that hot chocolate all over Elsie's face, and she's sporting some awesome hat hair.
sistertalk
I captured this moment and I love it. They are connected already. And will be forever. That warms my heart so much. There's nothing like a sister.

I got a great line from Elsie last night. Elsie was trying to cross my legs and then ride on my foot like a pony. If I'm in the right chair at the right height I can do this, but I was holding the baby, on Elsie's bed and I collapsed my foot sliding her to the ground. I said, "Elsie, I'm just not strong enough. We can't do that game right now." And she furrowed her brow and said, "but you have a lot of hair!"

She was referencing Samson and Delilah and I was proud.

sick days and hoar frost

Well, we're beginning the year with a whole lot of sickness. On Monday I took Ivar in for bacterial pink eye which meant we were quarantined to our house for the week. It also meant that four times a day I have the great joy of putting burning eye drops in my 5-year-old's eyes while he screams, "I'm on fire! My eyes are on fire!" And then on Thursday in the middle of the night I started to get achy, sweaty, sore, and could not stop shivering. For about 24 hours there I had eight blankets stacked on top of me and still was shaking.

Today I have absolutely no energy and a splitting headache, but at least I can sit up in bed. That's serious progress there. I always marvel at how we take our health for granted. It seems to take a sick day to remind me of what an absolute gift our health is, each and every day.

Getting the flu wasn't actually the plan for this weekend. I was supposed to get my hair cut and colored with my sister on Friday afternoon. And then Rory and I were going to head to his parent's house with the kids for an overnight, allowing us to go to dinner and a movie and out for breakfast and shopping in the morning. But that wasn't in the cards. (Though they still took Ivar and Elsie for an overnight, bless their hearts, so I could rest with just the baby to care for.) The whole Groves family is gathering this afternoon to read our prayers and thanksgivings from last year, and I am crushed to be missing it. I love that tradition so much.

But here I sit, sore and achy and in bed. And only because I feel so all around cruddy, I can handle having to lay here. (Though when my tylenol wears off I will get the shakes and sweats again...)

I'm just realizing I have nothing really of substance to say at the moment. Except that I seem to be looking for pity for feeling so ill! That's terrible. So I'm going to offset my complaining with some glorious pictures of the hoar frost we woke to on Monday morning, plus an awesome video of Ivar and Elsie sledding all by themselves. I had gone in the house to feed Hattie and when I went back out to look for them I found them living it up on this teeny little hill. Oh I love them so much.
sledding 2016 from Becca Groves on Vimeo.