"Raising Souls"

"Raising Souls"

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Summer Days in Wisconsin

I just recently returned from a wonderful trip visiting my parents home... here is a post from facebook describing a bit of our time there... and pictures to help paint the picture of delight! :-)

"You just can't beat the beauty of my parent's home in WI!! Ahhhhhhh!



The rose and grapevine path, the lushious garden with fresh veggies, bushes of blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, currents and goosberries!


 Where even a hot day is perfect with the breeze off the lake...


Where flowers bloom with joyful ease and colorful birds come to eat. Where little boys run wild and free in nothing but diapers...


...their faces painted with fresh berry stains, catching frogs and playing with the cat.







Where laundry dances happily on the line...


...and mom pulls fresh sweet custard pies from the oven.



Where love and laughter abound...









 ...and peace resonates."


How I treasure these moments and how they fill my heart with joy! Summer Days...

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Two easier than one?




Ok, so I have been considering the possibility that two kids might be easier than just one.

Now don't hold this against me when you see me pulling my hair out in the grocery store or lamenting I can't get out of the house without a child on my arm. Keep in mind you are reading a post from a sleep deprived mother who spends her days in a whirlwind of soothing tears, cleaning up spilled milk, or trying to balance being a calm soothing source to her almost asleep baby while firmly placing the two year old in a time out for hitting.

So, does it SOUND easier??

Should I elaborate?

See, I'm kind of a "go go" kind of person. I like adrenaline. I LOVE and thrive on busy. Busy, I love! (Now don't judge me when I say, can't I TAKE A BREAK and just RELAX!!!! Schizophrenic - maybe. I'm a woman I can have intense conflicting views without being crazy, its allowed - even, dare I say - expected?)

With one child I teeter between mental stimulation and boredom which causes exhaustion. For example...

Crying baby. Trying to soothe. Rocking. Swinging. Feeding. Mental brain slowening.

Bring in child number two...

Toddler finds it absolutely hilarious when  I knock him over while doing lunges to soothe crying baby. Knocking over toddler and listening to him laugh hysterically distracts me from the tedious soothing monotony.  And then all of a sudden the baby is sleeping without me even focusing on it and my toddler is having a blast and my brain has not numbed itself. You see when the numbing happens that's when you feel sleepy... SO sleepy. But you keep going and jumping from one adrenaline high to the next and you are flying!

After naps I fill Augustine's cup and have a snack ready in case Gianna is fussy and I can't retrieve said items while my toddler desperately pleads as if he has been starved through the dessert for 40 days. I do NOT exaggerate. My mind is kept alert and about 5 steps ahead.... will they need a snack? Are his shoes in an accessible area to quickly put on? Is the car prepped for a last minute outing to the park in case said toddler pleads for the park like his life depended on swinging through the air in a black rubber diaper swing. An alert mind is good for my mental health.

Don't get me wrong, I am exhausted at the end of the day but not like I was with just one child. Is that weird or what?? I LOVE having two kids it is invigorating! I mean if I'm going to be sitting and reading a book to toddler than why not be nursing baby too? If I'm going to be a bump on a log at the park watching my Toddler play why not strap on a newborn and see how well I can juggle the two?

I guess the moral of the story is, I do like a challenge, and so that is why having two kids is (mostly) easier than just having one. And maybe the word isn't easier but rather.... BETTER!

I am really blessed, I have an awesome job that challenges me and it is better and it is making me better.