That After Christmas Glow

Or is it more of "burn" than "glow"?  As in "crash and...."

Either way, I am up.  "Too many kids in the bed and too much mess in the house," I told my confused husband when he woke up for work this morning.  Of course, by the time he was down, I was online instead of whirling around the deserted (and yet stuffed beyond recognition) school room.

We have more than this today, but this was the first a few weeks ago.

I awoke sometime before 5 AM and lay there trying to be sleepy.  Mad at myself for making too many bedtime exceptions probably leading to all of them being in the bed this morning.  Resolving to be better tonight.

First taste of snow.  Literally.

Truly, it has been better lately.  They stay in their beds after we put them there.  Stay, but do not necessarily sleep.  Some kind of tweaking of the process is definitely in order.  In a little over two months, another will be added to the mix, and then I will have even less patience and energy, at least for a time.

Definite approval for this white stuff.

Why is two months nearly always the magic number?  Doesn't matter how old the older child, but it seems that two months before the next sibling arrives, I feel a sense of order, routine, peace with my household duties.  The meals get made regularly, the kitchen cleaned.  The "nearly former baby" has some semblance of routine, naps well, is cute and cuddly.... All to be displaced and upheaved in such a short time.

Why is eating snow the first thing they want to do when it starts falling?  Not that there was enough or the right kind for snowmen.

I'm getting to the stage where the baby seems to be pushing its way out... but through the wall of my stomach instead of the usual process (which is, of course, just fine since it's too early!) so that I have a large lump that I suppose is a foot sticking out of my side at odd times.  Getting crowded in there, baby?  Let's not continue the upward trend in birth weights, though, OK?  Nine pounds and 13 ounces is quite enough.

My nearly ten-pounder, all grown up into a toddler.

These photos make him look ginormous!

Back to that school room: if I can get it in order and pantry cleaned out (my brother is installing shelves in there for me for my Christmas present) by Thursday, I'll be satisfied.  Then we can celebrate Theophany that evening and Friday, and get back to school on Monday.  Which also means I'll have to look over what we need to be doing in that area.  Our Friday co-op classes resume next week as well, so it will feel like a "real week."

Watching how it's done.

And goodness, before the ten weeks of classes are over, God willing, I will have another baby.  I'll be a confirmed "crazy person Mom of four."  There's really no hiding the fact that you desire a big family and are OK with "lots" of children once you cross the line to four, is there?  I mean, two is not a big family.  Three is big to most people, but then, maybe #3 was "unplanned."  We have the added excuse that the first two are girls and the third is a boy, so maybe we were just "trying for our boy."  Surely, now we can "shut down the factory"?  (I kid you not, a man at a rest stop asked me if I was going to do that—in those words—a few weeks after we had John.)

Busy.

Well, it's been about an hour since I stopped glowing with cleaning fervor.  Time for second breakfast, another cup of coffee, and another go.

There's big sis.  She was moving so fast from project to project out there and plenty far from me (as far as you can get in our little yard) that she didn't end up in many photos.  Plenty more opportunities for snow photos in 2012, I'm sure!