Three Weeks!!

My baby boy is three weeks old today!! And we've made it one whole week with Hannah being three. (Which is no small feat, I tell you.) I know that I need to get some more pictures of Connor up here, which I will try to do soon. Today is the first day in the past three weeks where I feel NORMAL. Chris is back to working regular hours now that Christmas is over and I seem to be able to handle all three kids at home by myself. ("Seem" is the key word there....) The kids are pretty good about helping me when I need it and being patient when they need something that I can't rush to get for them. However, my time nursing Connor on the couch seems to be affecting all three of us (me, Caleb and Hannah). They get sick of me saying, "I'll get that for you in a couple minutes" and end up trying to get things themselves or being frustrated. This point usually hits in the late afternoon. Yesterday was a low-point, with me being frustrated over toys scattered all over our house and then spilled hot chocolate all over my five-year old AND my kitchen. The good things that I need to remember are that the kids are really doing the best they can and that Connor is a really good baby. He's usually content with me setting him down for a few minutes while I attend to his siblings, and for that I am blessed! :)

Some random things that are going on in our house:

* Today was the first day I made a point to get into our regular morning routine. A friend had asked if the older two kids could come over for a few hours, and it just so happened to be a perfect "dress rehearsal" for our preschool schedule next week. I was up by 7:30am (instead of 9am), was able to take a shower (even after Chris left for work) AND had all the kids fed, dressed and out the door by 9:15am. It felt great! I know we'll have not-so-great days along with the great ones, but today definitely made me think that our new "normal" is right around the corner.

* Last night, Caleb and Hannah were upstairs in Caleb's room, supposedly cleaning his room together. Chris went up to check on them, and I heard him saying, "Where's Hannah?" over and over. I started shouting out places she likes to hide (our closet, under Connor's crib, etc) as he was shouting to me that she was in none of those places. After a few minutes of slightly confused panic (seriously, there aren't that many places for a three-year old to hide on our second floor), the door of the vanity in the kids' bathroom opened and Hannah came waltzing out. Apparently, she found some temporary tattoos and wanted to put them on herself. So she wouldn't get in trouble (or so she thought), she hid in the empty vanity cupboard. As a punishment, I made her take a bath a wash the tattoos off right away and was sure to check the cupboard for the wet wash cloth she used to adhere the tattoos in the first place. *sigh* We really have to be on our toes with Hannah these days, as she is taking advantage of her independent time and seems to think she can get away with so much more than she really can.

* A few nights in a row recently, Connor has slept until about 1 or 2 am....and then gotten up to eat every hour until morning. It's really been exhausting and it's also made our days very lazy, since I am practically too tired to get anything done the day after staying up so long. Last night, however, he was up only three times (which wasn't so bad since there were a good couple of hours between each of those feedings). It's amazing what a little sleep can do for a person! That might be one reason why today is so productive and great---I got some decent sleep for once!

I guess there isn't too much going on around here that might be of interest to anyone other than me. :) And maybe I just wanted to blog so I could babble a bit. I will say that normally I'm so sad when Christmas is over, but for some reason, this year I have a fabulous feeling of new things to come. I'm so excited for 2011 and to see what it has in store. I'm excited to watch my children grow and to do fun things with them. I feel a sense of relief that Christmas has past us (and that it was so great this year). And, for all of you that know how much I like to plan ahead: Yes, I did buy some Valentine's stuff at Target this morning. :)