Getting Messy

A couple Sundays ago, I found myself smack-dab in the middle of one of my worst nightmares. In the car, Nathan told me he wasn't feeling well then proceeded to vomit into a bag... that had a giant hole at the bottom. It took every ounce of strength for me to drive home without vomiting as well.

Over the next few hours, I poured all my energy into washing vomit out of the car and his clothes. Then I had to disinfect every surface he may have touched, and do all sorts of other cleaning to distract myself from the atrocity that was unfolding. It is so hard to have emetophobia and be empathetic and care for a sick child at the same time. Between cleaning and checking up on Nathan, I had to do something else calm myself down.

So I sat down to paint the cover of my December Daily album. Afterwards, Caleb decided he also wanted to paint so I let him use some watercolours. He did that for a bit but it wasn't enough for him - the colours weren't bold enough, the paint didn't "last" long enough. He wanted to use acrylics just like his mom. By this point, I was too exhausted to argue with him so I braced myself and let him go wild with my paints.

Caleb squeezed colours straight from the tube, moved them around the paper with his brush, then selected his next colour.

I have always wondered how people paint, especially abstractly. I've always been curious to know whether painters have a picture in their mind that they re-create on their canvas, or if they approach a blank canvas with nothing in mind, letting their brush move freely. Of course, I can't generalize and just say this is how all artists do it, but watching Caleb over the next half an hour gave me a little glimpse into maybe what happens inside the mind of an artist, or at the very least, in Caleb's mind.

As he chose colours, he explained to me that one side was the goodies (black) and the other side was the baddies (yellow). He added grey to help the goodies, then added colours to help the baddies. He'd drag one colour to touch the next, saying things like, "red is having a piggy back on yellow".

I can now understand his painting as not just a random smooching together of colour. There is a story behind why he chose certain colours and where they are on his page, why some colours are touching and some are not. One day, the story behind this painting will probably be forgotten but the beautiful art will still be there.

Early Bird

After dropping Andrew off at the airport last Thursday, I decided that instead of driving straight home, the boys and I could use a bit of time at the park to get some fresh air.

If I didn't like staying in bed so much, I would do this more often. It was so peaceful to be there early in the morning, before the crowds arrived. A few people there, like the moms who get there early to work out while their kids play on the equipment, but for the most part, the boys had the park to themselves.

I found myself a spot in the shade to sit and watch the boys while they scootered along the paths and waded in the water. It was nice to have all this space to ourselves, to not have to worry about sharing with other people or hearing other people's noises. I know that sounds rather selfish and arrogant but sometimes I just like to have a bit of peace and quiet.

When the boys were finished splashing in the water, we headed to the car to change. At this point, Caleb decided it was time for an intermission from playing - he parked himself in the trunk and had a nice, long morning tea break.

Once the boys were refuelled, they hopped onto their scooters and headed for the climbing structures where they played for a little while longer until the sun became scorching hot. Then, we headed home for lunch just in time to FaceTime with Andrew before his next flight.

Part of my goal this year is to watch my boys grow. I feel like I accomplished a bit of that just by being out of the house and letting them play for all those hours before lunch time. Seeing them be free, having fun and exploring their abilities and supporting them in their limitations was so fulfilling and it was even better because for those few hours, I had no distractions - my focus was 100% on them.

The Great Lego Cleanup of 2015

What started off as a very harmless putting together of two small sets yesterday turned into my full-blown annual Lego clean up in which I dump out all our mixed up sets of Lego onto the floor of our "Lego room" and attempt to sort and assemble the pieces until all our sets are completely put back together.

This clean-up was supposed to be part of my November brave goals, but tidying up the rest of our house for our visitors took priority. Plus, I didn't want to risk having stray Lego pieces lying around with my 9-month-old nephew crawling around, but mostly it was just easier to pack it all away and not think about it.

But my boys love their Lego and they're very persistent, so when Caleb kept asking if he could play with some of their Lego guys, I eventually gave in. And once I dumped out that box to look for the pieces he was after, there was no turning back.

I thought, I'll just do a couple sets and I'll leave the rest for when Andrew goes to work.

Who knew that I would spend the next 48 hours sifting through 489725 pieces of Lego, with some partially assembled sets and some pieces randomly put together, to build 42 different sets. I was lucky this year to have some help from the boys and Andrew, otherwise I'd probably be stuck in that room for a week and give up half way like I did the last time around.

By the end of it, my back was aching from sitting on the ground all day and my fingers were throbbing from prying apart flat pieces and pressing pieces into place. But the job is done. One giant checkmark on my goals for 2015.

Now, I just need to figure out a good storage system for keeping the sets together while the boys aren't playing with them...

Lessons Learned

Growing up is all about learning lessons and Caleb had to learn a pretty tough one today, one with built-in natural consequences.

The boys have a tendency to play with the light in the car. Sometimes, they leave it on and most of the time, I'll realize and turn it off, but other times, it stays on and the battery gets drained. This happened one time with Nathan and he's learned his lesson.

This time was Caleb's turn. In the morning, we dropped Andrew off at his bus stop and when we got home, Caleb decided he wanted to play in the car a little longer. Usually when he's finished, he'll close the door and come inside. I went about my business, doing some work upstairs and when I came back down, I noticed the car door had been left open. It had been quite some time now but I didn't think much of it.

Later on, it was time for us to go to the park to meet up with some friends and pick up Nathan from his sleepover. We got in the car, all excited to go to a new park and then the dreaded sound of my car choking and dying filled the garage. I realized my battery was dead. We couldn't go to the park.

I told Caleb the bad news and he got really upset. I explained to him that we couldn't go anywhere because the light was left on in the car and it used up all the battery so now the car couldn't start. He was desperate to go. He thought if we waited a little while, the car would have battery and we could go again.

But unfortunately, that's not how it works. He volunteered another solution: I want to walk to Tennyson Park, Mommy. But the park was too far. It would have taken us 20 minutes to drive there.

Defeated, Caleb let go of the idea of going to the park and found something quiet to do. He scribbled away furiously on a piece of paper, then he taught himself another lesson.

He found a ruler, placed it on his paper and asked me: Mommy, this one you put your hand on it and you draw beside it?

And just like that he learned another lesson.

Parenting: A Balancing Act

The idea of parenting being a balancing act became a lot more real around here recently. There have been mornings where I don't even want to get out of bed because I know that as soon as I set foot on the ground, I'll be walking the fine line between second chances and following through with consequences. 

It seems we've fast-forwarded to the teenage years and every morning, it's the same few tracks on repeat.

Get up! Get up, you're going to be late!

Get dressed. Are you dressed? It's time to get dressed!

Brush your teeth. Have you brushed your teeth yet? Hurry up and brush your teeth!

Go down and have breakfast. Have you eaten yet? Eat your breakfast!

Pack your lunch. Is your lunch packed yet? Pack your lunch!

And it goes on and on, day after day. Like a broken record.

Does anyone know when this will end? I'm ready for some new tunes.

Thankful for Staying Home

I have to admit, I was pretty bummed that we weren't going to spend our Easter holidays traveling like a lot of our friends were doing, but it reminded me that awesome experiences can happen at home, too.

Spending two solid weeks at home with my boys meant I had ample opportunity to get to know them better. It never really occurred to me that I could do that. I suppose it's always assumed that because I'm their mom, I "know them best", but really, they're just like any other person out there. I have to spend time with them and put effort into the relationship for me to really get to know them!

We also go to spend some time with our friends and get to know our acquaintances a little better. So even though we don't have travel stories this time around, I'm quite thankful for the chance we've had to connect with the people around us.

Amazed

It has become a bit of a tradition for us to go ice skating with our friends during the school holidays. I knew the boys would be up for another session, especially after all the skating they got to do in Toronto. The last time I went with them, Nathan was still pretty rigid with his strides and Caleb was constantly lying flat on the ice, or being held up by an adult.

After we strapped on our skates, I expected the boys to be exactly the way they last were but I was wrong.

Nathan immediately took off with his buddies, even before I got my skates on. He was still pretty stiff but once in awhile, he'd loosen up and his strides seemed a little more natural. I reminded him to bend his knees a little and take longer, slower strides. I wasn't entirely sure if he heard me as he skated away with his friends but I decided to just let him enjoy himself.

When I got on the ice with Caleb, I immediately had to hold him up. For the first little bit, his legs were like jelly and going all over the place. I warned him to stand up on his own feet or I'd take him off the ice and immediately, he stood up on his own two feet and started skating. He still lost his balance quite a few times but within the first ten minutes, he decided he no longer needed to hold my hand and decided to take off on his own.

I watched in amazement as he'd take a few strides and start turning as if he was going to fall but he'd catch himself, then keep going. Two hours into the session, Caleb was confident enough to "run" on the ice, turn in a circle and skate, holding hands with the older kids.

As I skated around behind Caleb, I noticed that Nathan would alternate between skating with his friends, playing some variation of tag, and skating by himself. Even when his friends left the ice for a break, he would continue skating. One of the moms commented that it was good he liked skating enough that he would do it even when his friends were not around. When we got to the car, I asked him about the times he skated alone. I personally thought it was because his friends were a little faster than him and he was being left behind, but Nathan told me it was easier for him to think when he didn't have to talk to his friends.

I asked what he was thinking about, and he told me he was trying to think about bending his knees and taking longer strides.

I was so blown away by my boys today. Sometimes I think because I'm home all the time and I spend so much time with the two of them, that I know them so well. But it's times like this that I realize that I don't actually know everything about them and they can still surprise the socks off of me.

Some Things Take Time

Source: Pinterest

Like a certain someone who takes way too long to do things he used to get done quickly.

This morning, I had had it with his sloth-like behaviour and I lost it. I knew it wasn't right, but I let out my frustration, then I didn't know how to fix it and we ended up missing his class breakfast. 

I was so angry with myself and so desperately wanted to salvage the situation and make it to the breakfast. After all, the night before I had not-so-nicely sent Andrew to go pick something up from the grocery store, and this morning I managed to drag myself out of bed to make our plate of food, and get everything else ready. 

But he has to learn. 

Natural consequences. 

We've told him he needs to move faster or he'll miss out. He keeps telling us he forgot.

I guess some things just take a little more time. 

School Holidays

One of the best things about our school is that our school holidays are always one week off from the state schools. That means for one week, we get all the popular children's areas all to ourselves.

Like the park, for instance.

The paths were clear so I didn't have to worry about anyone running across Caleb's path and knocking him over.

There was no one at the flying fox. Since Caleb loves swings so much, I thought he might like this - I was extremely careful with him, especially at the end when it bumps and swings the rider into the air. I made sure he was holding on as tight as he could and I was right beside him, ready to catch him in case he wasn't strong enough.

But of course, he was and he insisted on riding it again and again for the rest of the afternoon. The rest of the kids we went with joined in as well.

The big boys divided their time between riding their scooters full speed (and not having to worry about avoiding other people)...

And climbing to the very top of this structure. I loved that there were only one or two other children climbing this because one of my very worst fears is someone knocking someone else off this thing.

The little kids joined in on the climbing, staying in this little enclosure. They didn't get in anyone's way and they didn't get knocked off.

Best of all, even when they did have to line up, the wait wasn't very long. And while they were waiting, they were cheering for their friends.

Kindy Fetes

On Sunday, we were invited to a kindy fete - a carnival to raise money for a kindergarten.

I agreed to go, thinking we'd just kill some time while we waited for Andrew to finish playing drums for the second service. I had no intention of spending money or buying food. Then, we got there and the friends who invited us went straight for the ticket booth and asked which rides we would like to go on. I asked Nathan if he was interested in going on any of the rides. Immediately, he listed four of the five rides. At that point, I stopped him and said he could go on one. Then, it occurred to me that Caleb would probably want to go on a ride as well!

So after Nathan worked out how much it would cost for two tickets and the change he would get (yes, I made him do the math), I sent him to buy the tickets. I watched as two families pushed their way in front of Nathan, who waited patiently in line. I was appalled that parents would do this and that the parent/teacher manning the ticket booth looked right past Nathan, as if he wasn't there.

A little disheartened (and thankful that our school environment is not like that), I urged Nathan to not let the people behind him push in front and make sure he gets his turn. Eventually, we got our tickets and met up with our friends.

After watching the girls ride ponies, Nathan went for the bouncy castle while Caleb rode the Ferris wheel. One of the girls was nice enough to sit with him. As the ride started to move, I could see Caleb was a little unsure of what was going to happen. The Ferris wheel picked up speed and Caleb started to smile and mimic other children's cheers. By the end of the ride, he was all smiles and couldn't stop talking about it.

I'm so thankful for the nice Sunday afternoon we could spend together, for Nathan who was patient and polite despite being unfairly treated, and for Caleb who is not afraid to try new things. I could learn a thing or two from my two boys.

For All The Mums Out There

I came across this the other day and decided to repost it because sometimes, we need this kind of reminder:



I think this is a good time to tell you you're doing okay, Mom.
I can call you Mom, right? 
I know we haven't known each other very long but you seem like a real keeper.
You're not perfect - there was that strained carrots incident but you're trying.
You pick up my bottle every time I toss it out of my stroller. That's high comedy to an 8-month old.
You hum The Barber of Seville when you wash my hair - so cool.
And your rub downs are out of this world.
Anyway, I want you to know how much I appreciate you. 
You know right? How much I love you?
You're doing okay, Mom.

Picking Up The Pieces

It's that time of the year again: the annual Lego clean-up.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Can you guess where I sit?

The time of the year when I get to sit in the middle of all of Nathan's Lego and try to put them all back together in their proper configurations.

You see, after Nathan gets a new set of Lego, he likes to put it together the way it's supposed to be. Then, he starts taking bits and pieces off here and there, and combines them with bits and pieces from other sets to make his own awesome creation. But he never puts them back with their original set, so after a while, we get a huge collection of miscellaneous pieces and semi-dismantled figures/models.

I love letting him be creative, but after a while, it gets to be a bit of a pain. Especially if I happen to step on a piece, or five.

Last year, this process went much faster. I had managed to get it all done in one day.

Since then, we've gotten more Lego, there are more hands dismantling the structures and carrying them off to different parts of the house.

This year, I've been at it for two days and I'm still not even half way there. I probably won't be done for another little while so if things get quiet around here, you'll know why.

Assistance with this arduous task and tips on keeping Lego organized are welcome.

Just Slow Down

On Wednesday when Caleb finished his session at Nido, we noticed Nathan's class was in the hall beside the Nido classroom. Caleb was so excited to see his big brother at school he ran across the hall towards Nathan. I quickly ran after Caleb, grabbed him and brought him outside, not wanting to disturb Nathan's PE class.

As Caleb stood outside with his face pressed up against the large pane of glass, he asked over and over, "'tay? moch Nadan peas?" (Stay? Watch Nathan, please?).

I can't even remember why I was in such a big rush to leave, but I picked Caleb up and as I walked towards the car, giving him no chance to argue, I explained to him that we couldn't stay because it would distract Nathan's class.

That night, I felt so guilty.

As Caleb gets older, I'm realizing that this may very well be the last time I get to see one of my own children at this young, innocent age admiring their older sibling.

All Caleb wanted to do was watch his big brother. I doubt the older kids would have even noticed or cared that he was there and yet somehow, I decided that his presence on the other side of the glass was too much of an intrusion and I took away his rare opportunity to watch his brother, whom he admires so much, play with the big parachute.

It broke my heart that I couldn't go back and have a second chance.

But it was also a really good reminder for me to just slow down and say "Yes" once in a while.

Today after school, I got my chance.

Nathan asked if he could stay and play until 4pm. To him, that's hitting the jackpot. We ended up staying until after 5pm.

Nathan asked if he could buy lemonade from a market stall some of his classmates had set up. I offered to buy him and Caleb one so they wouldn't have to fight share. Caleb eventually got a muffin as well.

For 2 hours after school, the boys ran free. They played with their friends, they chased bubbles and they didn't have a mother standing over them, telling them it was almost time to go.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous this afternoon.

It's like God was giving me a second chance to slow down and say "Yes" to my boys and I'm so grateful for it.

Busy Schedule

My hopes of having a more relaxed schedule as we eased ourselves back into the swing of things was somehow dashed within the first week of school after we signed Nathan up for one extracurricular activity after another.

I felt a little bad about packing his schedule so full but the thing is, he enjoys these after school activities and he even asked me about a few more but I had to limit the number we participated in because I wouldn't be able to handle it. Having to make that decision got me thinking...

If Nathan is interested in learning something, should we give him the opportunities to pursue all those interests (provided we have the means to) and find out what he's really good at? 

Should we get him to do one thing that he's really good at, or do we let him do a whole variety of things to be more well-rounded?

It dawned on me that we need to sign Nathan up for all these extracurriculars because his school doesn't offer these opportunities to learn another language or organised sports. How much should I expect the school to provide?

Discuss!

Me + My Boys : No School

Recently, I've seen a wave of blog posts from memory-keeping moms encouraging other moms to get out from behind the camera and get into the picture with our children.

We try so hard to capture the memories and take the perfect pictures, but those should include moms too, shouldn't they? Years from now, I'm sure that having a picture that captures my relationship with my boys will mean so much more than whatever excuse I try to use to stay out of it.

I'm going to try to take a picture with my boys at least once a month.

I'm not going to worry about how dishevelled my hair looks, how wrinkled my clothes are, or how messy the house is in the background. I'm not going to care if I look like I'm expecting another child (which I most certainly am not) or if the picture isn't completely straight.

We were all grateful for one more day together. The first day of school was cancelled due to fallen trees, loss of electricity and low water supply due to the storm and flood.

Today

It's been a while since I've had both the boys with me for the entire day.

This morning, we all got ready for school and were on track for being early (a rarity) but then I decided to keep Nathan home. He was unwell yesterday after church and hadn't eaten much all day so his energy levels were pretty low and he still wasn't 100%. He wasn't in any shape to be working at school and apparently there's a bug going around at school so I didn't want him to risk getting sicker.

While Nathan napped, I tried to get some work done. Caleb had other plans.

Caleb decided that if I wasn't going to go play with him, he would bring the playing to me. He turned my desk into his own personal playground.

He'd climb up on one side, sit for a while then proceed to walk across my desk where I would take him off and place him on the ground, then he'd walk back around and start all over again.

How do you get a 17-month-old to stop climbing up onto everything?

After lunch, Nathan watched Iron Man and then it was off to Mandarin lessons and soccer practice.

Normally, I'd get Andrew to take both the boys out for Mandarin and soccer so I can stay at home to get some work done in peace, but today I was feeling extra nice and volunteered to take both the boys out myself so Andrew could get some studying done.

It was so good for Nathan to get out of the house; he was starting to go crazy from being cooped up. And Caleb was all over the place but towards the end of soccer practice, he decided to sit with me on the grass.

Days like this make me miss having the boys all to myself. I can't wait until school holidays!

My Mother's Day Weekend

Looking back on the past three days, I'm just realizing now what an estrogen-filled weekend I had.

Friday / women's Bible study in the AM, Annie with Kim and her daughter in the PM, watched I Don't Know How She Does It before bed (loved it)

Saturday / after Nathan's soccer game, breakfast and a quick stroll in Paddington, and a quick haircut for the kiddos, I left the boys at home and went to a women's event at church. The topic of discussion was a women's role in the ministry to children.

Sunday / woke up to a beautiful Mother's Day breakfast.

After church, we went to watch our friends' son play rugby, then Andrew brought the boys to another birthday party while I scrapped a bit at home trying to calm down after reading some offensive comments regarding breastfeeding in public.

Not wanting to cook dinner, we went to sushi train for dinner.

* * * * * * * * * *

In case you're wondering, Caleb is pretty much weaned. He can now sleep without feeding, and he doesn't request milk from me as frequently nor does he ask with as much desire. I even managed to rock him to sleep this afternoon, something I haven't been consistently successful with since he was born. I'm still a little sad about this, but also finding comfort knowing that he'll still let me hold him and hug him.

Also, I still can't find my wedding ring. It was garbage day today but I kept our trash because I want to be sure it's not in there. Not looking forward to going through it again but if it means I get my ring back, it'll be worth it. Pray I'll find it, please?

Emotional Wreck

Today, I discovered a surefire way to turn yourself into an emotional wreck.

Step 1: Decide to wean your toddler (again).

Sitting at my desk tonight, I realized that this meant Caleb will no longer willingly snuggle with me when he wakes up in the morning, or when he goes down for his mid-day nap, or when he wakes up from that nap, or when he goes to bed each and every night. I also realized that I foolishly decided to attempt to wean him (again) on the eve of Mother's Day. I tried to remember the reasons I had for giving up this distinctly maternal responsibility and I couldn't come up with a single one.

Oh, and Caleb also just recently started asking for milk by taking my hand and pulling me all the way to his/my bed, pointing so I would lie down and pointing again at my shirt, requesting "dat?". It doesn't matter how far from the bed we are. We could be as far from the bedrooms as physically possible in the house and he'll still walk me all the way upstairs.

Suddenly, I want to undo all of Andrew's hard work and just let Caleb self-wean when he's ready but that would be such a slap across the face to Andrew. I'm so torn.

Step 2: Misplace your wedding ring.

For the first time ever I cannot, for the life of me, find my wedding ring. The moment I realized this, a wave of sheer panic, guilt and anxiety washed over me and I've been drowning in it ever since. It has consumed my thoughts and forced me to check each and every pocket of the same pair of jeans at various times throughout the day, despite being fruitless each and every time prior.

We have turned this house upside down looking for it. I even begged and pleaded with Andrew to sift through the garbage with me but we came up empty-handed. I don't know what to do now. How long would you keep searching until you admit defeat?

Family Sick Day

I declared today a family sick day.

We were up all night with Nathan who vomited about a hundred times last night*.

Correction.

Andrew was up with Nathan who vomited about a hundred times last night.

I was up, sitting and waiting in my bed, terrified that Nathan would wander into my room and vomit all over me. Actually, the thought of him even vomiting again terrified me.

I have emetophobia.

So by the time the sun came up this morning, we were all completely exhausted and in no shape to be going to school.

Andrew suggested we take advantage of this by running errands. We are now the proud owners of a push lawn mower, grass shears and a couple extra shelves - the boys' clothes are getting too big to fit into our plastic drawers.

Then, after all that, Caleb came home and slept while Andrew took Nathan to Mandarin lessons and soccer. Nathan missed a whole day of school, he wasn't going to miss Chinese class.

Just kidding.

He was feeling much better by then.



*I'm pretty sure it was from some bad chocolate milk he had at dinner. I interrogated him after he threw up the first time and he said the milk tasted funny but he drank the whole thing because he was thirsty. Lesson learned: my children will not be allowed to order milk from fast-food restaurants anymore. They will only have milk that I have personally bought from the grocery store and tasted before they drink it. I cannot afford for our family to go through that again.

Becoming Supermom

I really got my act together today and had a fantastic supermom kind of day, and I thought I should document this so I can look back on it when I have a not so hot day.

Nathan's been sleeping in in the mornings and today instead of wasting my time trying to wake him up and fight him all the way out the door, I took Caleb downstairs and fed him breakfast first. When I came back up to change Caleb, I woke Nathan up and he got ready and went down for breakfast. While Nathan was having breakfast, I read to Caleb.

I love having breakfast together, but I love having a quiet and calm start to the day just a little more.

After dropping Nathan off at school, and picking up my box of material prep stuff I'm helping his classroom with, I brought Caleb to swimming lessons.


He missed last week because of the eyebrow incident, but he was so pumped to be back in the water. He could not wait to get in. And once we were in, he was practically throwing himself into the deep waters.

Caleb's been falling asleep in the car a lot lately, and it sometimes throws off his schedule so as I turned the roundabout and heard a little snore, I was cautiously hoping that he was tired enough to transfer to his bed and continue napping.

And he was. He ended up napping for two glorious hours.

In those two hours, I managed to do all the dishes, cook sushi rice and make sushi for dinner, do a load of laundry, pick up the lounge (aka Nerf gun room), put together a few decor pieces for the kitchen and pack our swimming stuff for a play date after school.


Then, Caleb woke up and I fed him lunch which he ate happily.

When he was done, I changed him and surprisingly, he reached for Nathan's bounce back racer. That thing hasn't been touched for quite a few months now, after Nathan threw it one day and it stopped working. Since Caleb was really wanting to play with it and I had been meaning to take a look at the car to see if I could fix it (or will it back to work), I took out Andrew's tiny screwdrivers and went at it.

By the time Andrew came home, it was working again. It was also time to pick up Nathan from school.

Nathan had a quick play at school and then we were off with a couple of his friends from school to a nearby playground with a water play area. It was so hot outside today I was happy to be in the water again. And so I spent the next 1.5 hours following Caleb around. I was surprised by how much more steady and confident he was in the water this time compared to the last time I was with him.


Then when it started to rain, we raced home for a quick shower and dinner before I headed out again with Nathan back to his school for a Working with Your Child session.

He showed me a whole bunch of his favorite work.


We worked together on this chalk drawing, taking turns adding parts. He requested that I draw the house "small because it is far away" and he reminded me to draw daddy and Cabee at home. I was a little sad when Nathan told me we had to wash it away.


I think he was a little thrown off by that because he just looked at me with wide eyes and said, "we have to". So I accepted it and moved on.

On the way home we stopped by at Coles for some clementines. The boys have been inhaling them since Saturday. We literally ate half the bag today.

It's such a refreshing change to feel like I'm on top of things for once. Over the weekend I was just telling Andrew how I felt like I was always behind, running out of time, trying to catch up. And today I finally got everything crossed off my to-do list so I could sit back and relax. Thank you, God for lifting that burden off of my shoulders. I feel so free.