Milestones

Having basked in OVER a WEEK of sunshine and blue skies, I have actually LOST TRACK of the number of consecutive days of non-Michiganesque weather we've enjoyed. Hello, March! The bright space around me encourages and invigorates me to do what needs to be done. Derek has gone back to work, and after having 17 days off, his absence has been a significant change in the household dynamic. The scene below represents well how things looked when Daddy was on vacation for Selah's birth. Please note the dueling touchscreen devices, the nearby remote (that likely indicates presence of another glowing rectangle,) and Eden's very special ensemble.



Derek's first day back at work happened to coincide with Eden Johanna's fourth birthday.
I didn't start to panic until Sunday. Each time I looked at the clock it seemed to taunt me with its relentless ticking toward my certain doom: the hour that Derek would change out of his vacation uniform of jeans and a hoodie into a shirt and tie, slacks and dress shoes. A dashingly handsome vision, yes. Harbinger to my inevitable descent into preschooler-induced insanity, yes. That too.

Okay, so I was being a little dramatic. At some weird dark hour of the night/morning, while I was swaddling a freshly fed and diapered Selah into a now perfected burrito wrap, God made it so clear to me: all I had to do was what I did before, only with some extra feeding times and diaper changes. Selah has been an EASY, mellow baby, and her needs are straight-forward and easily met. I could DO this. I'd been called to this. And here's the crazy thing: THAT'S HOW IT WORKED OUT.

In the summers between college semesters, I remember marveling at how I'd accomplished everything I had to during the school year, between a full class load of studio courses with a half hour commute each way, working one or two jobs, keeping an apartment, and having some form of a social life. The way it happened, of course, was that it HAD to happen. If there was laundry to do, it HAD to be done IN ONE SHOT at a specific time, or it wouldn't get done. A similar principle was at work during my first day home with ALL of these KIDS yesterday. If there was a brief break in the action, even two or three minutes, I was unloading the dishwasher, or running laundry upstairs, or dressing a child, or brushing my hair and throwing on a fresh shirt. ANY time spent doing ANY household task was getting me closer to the goal, and it WORKED! I realize I am running the risk of speaking too soon, and that there will be days that I will be crying and whining right along with these little children in my house. But the confidence gained from a sunny successful "first day" is invaluable, and I am ready. I can do this.



Before I get into Eden's birthday stuff, I am obligated to post this photo. Let me count the reasons:

1. All three kids in one frame.
2. Judah's rainboots.
3. Judah's rainboots on the wrong feet, with pajamas.
4. Eden and her kitties.
5. Catywhompus slipcover revealing plaid couch.
6. Balled-up afghan that looks like a beached sea creature in black and white.
7. Randomness of any given snapshot of a day at home with three little urchins.



Onward. In addition to the measures I was taking to keep the household from imploding, I was determined to make the day as special as possible for my little birthday girl. Eden got her choice of breakfast, and her declaration was, not surprisingly, pink cakes.

Do not adjust your monitors. It is really that pink.

Eden's favored gift was a velour plush cat with three kittens that attach to their momma with magnets, a gift that exemplifies many facets of Eden's life and interests these days. I'm pleased and relieved that Eden likes her present; I realized as I was wrapping it up the night before that I would have been devastated had she ignored it. I was proud of this present and the knowledge of my daughter that it proved.



Aunt Megan's gift was a hand-sewn carrier bed for the kitties, and it served its purpose well as we ventured out on our first outing at this ratio (one adult to three small children.) Eden insisted on the headband.


After spending some birthday money at Treehouse Books and picking up a birthday lunch to take over to YaYa and Boppa's, (here's where I gloss over the fast food AND the fact that it was Eden's first choice for a birthday lunch... shame, shame, I know,) we came home and frosted Eden's birthday cake. I know, the color is a huge surprise.



Daddy was able to get out of work on time, and we all had dinner and birthday cake to celebrate four years with our Eden, four years of parenthood, four years of hilarity and chaos and frustration and fierce love.