Prayers Please!

Our friends Steph and Bill are the proud parents of three boys and one girl as of yesterday sometime. They arrived between 26 and 27 weeks, so they will have a long road ahead of them, but they seem to be doing well so far. They each weighed some where between 1 lb. 10oz. and 2 lb. 1oz. Steph’s surgery went well and she is now recovering and getting ready to take care of her new family. Please keep Steph, Bill, William Finnegan, Maxwell Jefferson, Beckett Franklin, and Stella Grey in your prayers. Thanks! We truly know the power of prayer and appreciate your prayers for our friends.

Rest

As I was reading an email from my Mother of Preschoolers subscription I was thinking of the long wait I have before rest may truly come to me and many of my friends who are moms. I thought this might give all moms and parents some perspective and hope for a time when rest will come.

I know when I have four one year olds screaming for more food, or chasing one another for a the same toy, or climbing on the couch, or crying because they are still tired being one of the other siblings woke them up too early, or doing my third load of laundry for the day and knowing I have more to do tomorrow, or, or, or … the list will go on and rest is far from my future. I sure do cherish my two hours when four kids are napping and Taylor and I can read library books together or when we have all five kids in bed by 7:30 and I can just rest and let the ringing in my ears stop for the day, rest then seems a little closer to me. It will come …

Enjoy this story.

Rest Wanted

By Moyra Jean Stiles, mother of three

I am so tired. I have just dropped my eleven-year-old nephew off at the airport. Did you know that when an unaccompanied minor travels on an airline you actually have to escort them all the way to their boarding gate? It would have been good to have had this data prior to standing at the check-in counter with my own three sons thinking that the airline escort was going to begin from there. Instead I discover we all have to go through security and wait at the boarding gate until ... really? ... until the plane actually pulls away from the gate?

"I will get time to rest,
time for myself."

I jockeyed four boys through security, traversed people movers, fed them a varied array of snacks found at the bottom of my purse, changed a dirty diaper in the ladies room (yes, with the other boys wedged in the corner of the restroom with me) and walked my nephew right to the threshold of the jetway. No escort for my nephew. And sadly, for me, no escort back to my car parked at least 97 miles back the way we’d come in short-term parking.

So yes, I am tired. But as I sit here listening to the quiet sounds of a napping house, I feel something else too. I look ahead to tonight and smile because I get to pull dinner out of thin air, put it on a grill and serve it up to people I love. I will get time to rest, time for myself. True, it may not happen for another 18 years, but at least I know the waiting won’t be boring.

AMEN! I am off to bed to get some rest. Sleep well everyone!

Catching Up

We have been busy as usual here, so I have many pictures to share with you. The weather has been wonderful the past few weeks which has allowed us to enjoy so much more time outside.

The start of our school year was to go to the ECFE Fair in Spicer. They had many activities, a petting zoo, and BIG vehicles for the kids to check out. It was a fun, sweet (hot dog, cotton candy, pop, and ice cream) evening!

Taylor and our friend Gibson petting the calf.

Farmer Taylor

Truck Driver Taylor

Firefighter Taylor

Taylor is in the driver seat of this ladder truck.

Leaving for a new year of preschool.

Ready to start the day.

Putting his apple on the tree.

Ready to write is name.

On Friday the babies will be 18 months old! It is crazy how quickly the time has gone and how busy the babies are getting. (OK, so I know they are not babies anymore, but they will always be our babies and it is hard to change and call them toddlers now.) I guess I need to work on that.

Addilyn now has enough hair to wear two pig tails. She looks even more grown up with this new do. Seth is such a smiley little guy and he loves to spend time by himself reading or building with the big blocks.

Oliver loves to sneak up on the couch when I am busy with someone else or turn my back.

Micah is our little monkey. Not only does he love to climb the couch, but he makes a great monkey sounds as well as cow, horse, sheep, dog, and rooster sounds. He loves playing and holding balls too.

The idea of giving the babies their own spoons and bowls to feed themselves has been a daunting one for me. They already make such a mess when they eat, that this really can’t get much better for a while anyway. Despite my hesitation we are giving them spoons a little more often now. Mash potatoes are the easiest for them to start with being they don’t really run off their spoons like yogurt and cereal. I am sure there will be more pictures of messy dinners in the near future. We will keep you posted!

Oliver is doing the best with his bowl and spoon. He gets so giggly when we tell him good job and you can see he is so proud of himself.

On Saturday we had some friends over for dinner and a bonfire. The babies even got to enjoy the bonfire for a little while.

Taylor and Jacob enjoying their time together and being just a LITTLE Silly!

Today we got a swing set! We are all so excited about our new purchase. One of our neighbors sold us the swing set and we got a really good deal on it. It is perfect for us. The babies got their baby swings for their first birthday and we didn’t really have a good tree to hang them in, so with our new swing set we were able to take down one of the big kid swings and the bar to put up the baby swings and there is still a swing for Taylor, plus the slide. We can’t wait to use this the rest of the fall.

Taylor and Seth showing off their Vikings shirts today.

Addilyn adores her big brother and loves to show him as much as she can or as much as he will allow her to by laying on him, chasing him, trying to kiss him, and snuggling Lucky (Taylor’s special stuffed dog) whenever she can sneak him.