This is the first year I made Ana's Easter dress. I always wanted to, but somehow it never happened. Katie got a cute dress when she was born and it just happened to fit her now so I made Ana's dress to match. But then it was too short, and I ran to the fabric store on Thursday night to get a strip to lengthen it. I love how it turned out. I also made Jack's tie.
Trying to get 3 children to all look at the camera and smile their best at the same time is tricky. Especially when you are walking out the door for church.
Apart from cute children in new clothing and baskets full of candy, we watched THIS video as a family.
When my babies hit 6 months, things get complicated. The baby isn't sleeping as much during the day, mobility increases and so does the need to interact. And then I can't seem to get anything done. It doesn't help that it hits in the midst of my winter blues. I've been feeling overwhelmed the last little while.
*As women we have a tendency to compare our weaknesses with other women's strengths. Some women have immaculate homes. Some are very creative. Some are good at seeing others' needs and serving them. The fact is, everyone has something very important to them. For everything that one woman does, there is something she does not do.
I do things that others do not.
*A few weeks ago I asked my good friend and mother of 3 how she keeps it all together. She told me as much as she loves cooking, she only makes dinner a couple times a week. The other nights her family eats sandwiches, breakfast food, leftovers and other (healthy) quick fixes. The next day I asked my sister, "How often do you make a good dinner for your family?" "Probably 3 times a week," she answered.
I do not have to make dinner every night.
*I get down on myself sometimes. I get in a pattern of negative thinking - focusing on all the things I am not good at or things I don't do that I wish I did or things that I do that I wish I didn't. I decided to fight it while I mopped my kitchen floor.
I am good at things. I sing. I write. I am interested in a lot of different things. I really try to be a good, deliberate mother. I have talents.
If you don't have a sling/wrap/baby-carrier-of-some-sort: get one. I like my sling for quick things and my Moby for longer trips. I have also transferred a sleeping baby from the car into my sling, and back into the car without her waking up. You can nurse in them, mop the floor in them, (though not at the same time) and many other things.
Right before we left to go home, Dave took a "big test." That's what we told the kids. Specifically it was USMLE Step 1.
He got his scores back this week and he did really well. Of course, this is just the first of a long line of exams and hoops to jump through prior to being a practicing physician. But it does put him in a competitive range for basically any specialty he could want. I am so proud of him.
In celebration of finishing the exam, we had a party of sorts. We took his Step 1 study guide, now completely useless and tore it to pieces. Jack thought this was great fun. Ana was a little concerned about destroying a book, until we told her that we would recycle the paper so it could make more books.
The past several weeks I have been crabby, snappy, depressed and overwhelmed. I have been frustrated in my relationships and my responsibilities on every level. Frustrations quickly turn to irrationalities, and being the writer (as in: one who likes to write) that I am, I wrote in my journal. (I do still do that sometimes, but I reserve it for my more intimate thoughts. In other words, that is where I complain.) "My children are disobedient. My husband is thoughtless. I don't like myself. My house is a disaster." (That one is not quite as irrational of a thought. My house really is a disaster.)
After I finished my writing session, I began skimming through the past year or so, and I came across an entry from last March: same feeling. A couple years before that: same feeling. Only that year (2009) I mentioned how I get this way every year around this time.
I thought perhaps since this winter was so mild that it would skip me. But even though the temperature has been,mhh higher than last year, it was still a very overcast, dark winter.
Perhaps this is my body's way of saying that it is time for a Spring Cleaning. Time to get rid of the stuff I've no use for, open the windows, and reorganize. Not just my house (though that certainly needs to happen) but my soul as well. The guilt and negativity have no place here. I need inspiration like I need fresh air. I need a new routine and a fresh outlook.
I bought a new pair of shoes too. That never hurts either.
I've been on vacation. And while I could have written about our comings and goings while we were vacationing I decided not to.
Two weeks ago Dave took Step 1 of the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam). Early Monday morning we packed up the kids and drove to Hartford, CT where we flew back home. It was a perfect storm. Dave had 2 weeks off, Ana had 1 week off of school, and we got good ticket prices. So we scraped together our change and took off.
*The flights there went really well. We had a 4 hour layover in Dallas, where they had a kids play area and Katie had fun crawling around. We got to my parents house late Monday night.
*Tuesday my sis from Idaho Falls drove down to visit. Ana decided she's marrying her cousin Seth.
*Wednesday we headed up to Rexburg. Of course, it wouldn't be Rexburg if it didn't blizzard while we were there. We drove around town, ate at Arctic Circle (milkshakes!!!), toured campus with Dave's nephew who wants to go there, including the new BYU-I Center and the unrecognizable student life building, and stopped by a good friend's house for a wonderful visit. We saw an entire sunset on the drive home. *Thursday was a nice relaxing day, where Dave and I snuck away sans kids for a lunch with his brother and then hung out with Granny and Gramps the rest of the day, including a rousing game of Mexican Train Dominoes and chatting late into the night.
*Friday we were joined in Pocatello by 5 of my sisters, which resulted in good food and lots of laughs. Ana and Jack had great fun re-uniting with their cousins.
*Saturday my younger sister Heather, a.k.a. H-word, a.k.a. H, went through the Temple for the first time. I felt so much peace. It had been far too long since I had been to the Temple and it was a wonderful time to spend in the Temple with so much of my family. We went to lunch as a group, too, which was fun and yummy even though I did get a plastic honey jar ring in my sandwich. We then headed to Rupert for the remainder of our trip.
*Sunday we were able to see the blessing of our neice's baby (that's right, I am a great-aunt - 9 times!) and then spend the afternoon at Dave's sister Leanne's house. The weather was warm (65 degrees) and the sky was blue. I soaked up the sun. All 7 Larsen children were together. We even got a picture!
*Monday was full of visits by family, driving around town, and late night card games. Good times were had by all.
*Tuesday I went to my friends' house for a lunch/playdate. I had some pretty stellar friends in Rupert and I loved catching up with them. Ana decided she's going to marry her new friend Carson. They were even holding hands.
*Wednesday we said our goodbyes and then Mom and Dad L drove us down to Salt Lake. We visited Temple Square, ran into a friend from Vermont (random!) and visited the new Deseret Book across the street.
*Early yesterday morning we woke up, hugged Grandma and Grandpa tightly, and headed home to Vermont. THAT was the real adventure. We had scheduled a 1 hour layover in Dallas. We were late getting in, so we hurried to our gate, only to find out that our flight was delayed. Long story short, we changed gates 3 times, and due to our plane being rerouted, then weather keeping it from getting in, then needed a new flight crew, then waiting for a new flight crew, our 1 hour layover turned into a 7 hour layover. Surprisingly, the kids did amazing! We set up "camp" in a cozy corner at our gate. The kids played and danced and skipped and sang and found letters and ate snacks and played on Dave's iPhone. Katie crawled and crawled and crawled and ate a napped and crawled. Through the course of the day, we had several people tell us how good our kids were. One guy even came over to our "camp" just to say how impressed he was with our kids and how they were not obnoxious but just normal, happy kids. Finally we got the kids in their jammies and boarded the plane. Katie and Jack were asleep before we took off. Ana was asleep before the seat belt sign dinged off. We landed late, we drove for a while, then stayed at a hotel about an hour and half away from home.
That's the gist of it. I may post more snippets as they arise. We are so glad we were able to go. The kids miss everyone already. Re-entry (into real life) is always a little turbulent, but I'm sure in a few days things will be back to normal.
We are so glad we were able to visit our family. 4 years is a long time to be away, but we are enjoying our life here in Vermont, and we are already half way done.
