The 3 Ring Circus

Everyone enjoys a night under the big top, right? Unless the big top is located in your bedroom and the amazingly weird sights and sounds happen all night long! My bed was the center ring. The bathroom and family room made good side rings and the kids bedrooms were staging areas.

It starts at 10 pm. No wait. Let's back up. Eli has slept through the night exactly twice in the last 4 months. Trying to take advantage and sleep while he is, we've been trying to go to bed "early". 10 is the best we seem to be able to do. We read scriptures, pray, talk, plan for the next day, and lights out at 10:30. At 10:30 and 5 seconds, Jason is asleep. Dork. (Not to say he's not helpful, he just has a talent to be able to fall asleep as soon as he wants to while I lack the ability to sleep...ever.) 10:31: thinking about Eli. Is he still breathing? He was coughing 2 seconds ago. Is he still alive!? Panic! Better check on him. Oh. He's cold. More blankets. NOW I can sleep.......10:35: Oh crud! I forgot to call and cancel the car insurance again! I've been paying that stupid payment for 2 months now on a car I no longer own. psbth.....I tell myself to stop thinking and go to sleep. 10:36 Oh! What about the laundry? Did I move it over? I can't remember? Oh wait! I did. Okay. There's nothing like wasting water and power rewashing loads over and over. 10:37: Was that Eli? It's Liam. 10:39: Liam comes crying out of his room itching and needing to pee. Wake up Jas. (It's his special job.) Liam has to be guided to the bathroom when he wakes up at night. Why? Don't ask me. 10:40: Jason puts Liam back in bed. 10:40 and 4 seconds: Jason is asleep. My mind wanders for the next 20 minutes. Wouldn't it be cool to go to Scotland? I'd like to go to Ephraim this weekend. Does the car need gas? I wonder if the gas payment has gone through yet? Stop IT! Count sheep. Yeah. 1. 2. 3. 4...Did I forget to make follow up appointments at the dentist? Shoot! I'll have to call tomorrow...COUNT...1. 2. 3. 4. , Etc. I start to drift off around 11. When...BAM! Something hits the window. A mouse falling into the window well? A rock slipped. What WAS that? I don't know. Not creeped out, but very distracted and curious. My mind wanders more. Drifting off at 11:15. Eli wakes up at 11:15 and 4 seconds. Feed Eli. Put him back in bed. Now the circus REALLY begins. He thinks it's time to play. Or burp. It's hard to tell when you're that out of it. Rock. Lay down. Get up. Sing. Kiss. Change diaper. Rock. Rock. Rock. The boy is asleep...in my bed. DANG IT! Just getting up to put him back, Natalie wakes up. Jason goes to take care of her. Her crying woke up Eli. Jason brings Natalie back to bed and we wrestle with 2 babies for a while. Hours or minutes later, Natalie is asleep on the couch, Eli is asleep in his car seat, Jason is asleep, Liam wakes up. Put Liam on the other couch. Kiss and love him. 3 a.m. Listen to 6 people coughing for 20 minutes. Start to fall asleep. Eli wakes up. Rock. Rock. Rock. Eli is asleep at 3:30 something. Sleep.....BAM, or rather loud talking. Ben is talking in his sleep again. Unintelligible something about school and Jane. Eli is stirring. NOOOOO!! Rock. Rock. Rock....Sleep-after my mind wanders for a while. About 4:30 am. 2 HOURS OF GLORIOUS SLEEP! 6:30, Jason leaves, Natalie wakes up and wants lovies, Eli wakes up and wants to eat. I turn on "Bouse", feed Eli, and drift back off to sleep. BAM! Eli head butts me on my cheekbone, looks at me, falls back asleep, and I get up for the day.

I still love being a mother.

Birthdays and update

I can't believe my kid the guy is 5! Liam is a silly kid. He likes to tell jokes and play silly games. One of his favorite things is eating. He LOVES grilled cheese sandwiches and would eat them for every meal if we let him. In fact, I over heard him telling Jane this gem the other day:
"When I was a baby, I loved cheese sandwiches and boobs."
He says hilarious stuff all the time. If I'm listening, I get lots of good laughs during the day. Liam does not like having his hair washed or taking naps. But, he LOVES taking baths and sometimes will stay in for about an hour by himself.
I think Liam had a pretty good birthday. He spends most of his days playing trains with his friend Thomas, so we fixed all of the GeoTrax (they had once been taken swimming), put batteries in everything and got some new additions to the GeoTrax airport for him. He spent all morning in the basement setting things up and trying them out.
He then got to take his friend Thomas miniature golfing and eat lunch at "The Pirate restaurant." He rounded the day off going shopping for presents from his grandmas. What a fun day!!

Natalie is still a monster but now she's 2 and we can blame it on her age! She likes to follow her older siblings around and mimic what they are doing. She sings lots of primary songs and LOVES, LOVES, LOVES nursery. She is potty training herself. (I earned it.) She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (which she calls "Bouse") and Little Eisteins. She shouts "MOMMY!" and hands me the remote, says "Bouse," and gets what she wants. She's a good little sleeper and cuddler when she wants to be. Her favorite thing to do is get into new stuff and make a mess with it. She still loves makeup and lotion. In fact, the other day she painted the carpet on the stairs with lotion. Nice. She picks her own clothes out in the morning. I love to listen to her sweet voice singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and watching her grin spread across her face when she's done something that she's proud of. (I love this picture, they're all watching the cake.)

Other happenings:
"Lige" is crawling all over and putting anything he can get his little grabby hands on into his mouth. He likes to wrestle and is keeping me up all night long most nights. We're tired but he's so sweet during the day, I forget to be mad at him. He is at the age where he gets bonks on his head as he tries to stand on his own, crawl under things that are too low, and walk along furniture.
The older kids love their school. I like that they walk home. My mom has been driving them to school in the morning so I went from 5 carpools/day last year to pretty much no carpools this year. Ben's teacher came to visit us last week and Ben proudly played her some songs on the piano and violin and then showed her the garden where she took his picture. I think it was one of the highlights of his life. Billy Bob and Janey are busy setting up their social agendas and learning how to do math and spelling. I'm going to miss their little notes spelled with the "sound spelling" technique. The other day, I found they had written notes to each other in sidewalk chalk: "Janey, you have chok on your fase." "I love Lizzy" (backward z's.) They are silly.

As a family, we have been memorizing "The Living Christ". I've been surprised at how quickly the kids, even Liam, are doing it. I seem to be the one slowing us up in that department. I have loved watching their testimonies and love for the Savior grow as we've talked about the meaning of what each line means. When they argue in the car, it has become my habit to start quoting and by the time I get to the last line, they are saying it along with me and the argument has ended. (Usually. ;)

Our condo has had some "maybe" offers. Meaning that people want it, but they're going REALLY SLOW or not sure if they can get financed. Hopefully, by the end of October it will be gone. Pray pray pray pray pray....infinity.