moving back.

I'm not sure if it's the new year that does this to me, but I want to try again with Melmo's world, so will be moving back there. It's late and it's going to take a bit for me to move and refresh melmo's world, but that's where I'm going to put my focus.

Thanks for writing with me for a year KCJ. I've enjoyed it.

The main reason for going back to melmo's world, is to merge the two blogs I've been writing on for the past 6 months, down to 1.

I feel that I am finding my blog voice more, it's taken me time to get there, but want to continue to write, and now know that I am really writing for myself, to document our days, so that I can go back and reflect as well as have something to share with our children when they are older.

And the side benefit is that people who are interested can get a taste of our daily lives.

Sweet, maybe see you there.

quiet on the blog front

We are in full swing for birthday season. For that reason, I imagine my writing on the blog will be rather quiet. Terry is better at keeping our photo album up to date. So check it out to keep track of us for the next few weeks.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/tmoynahan/

KJ - Thinking of you as always. What did you all decide about the North? Write me!!!

breaking out of the box

The list of traits for sibling position is interesting. I can see how the traits for the oldest child could pertain to our oldest, but the traits for middle and youngest, I'm not as sure of. I know what T would say about a list like this, he thinks that generalizations like that should be taken very, very, very lightly. I guess that's always good to be reminded of, so that we don't put people into a box. But at the same time I think it's good to keep them in mind, because for them to be noted, there must be enough people saying yes, to the generalization for there to be a ring of truth to it.

Do your children remind you of the traits?

As a parent I am always reviewing what I am doing and how I am doing it. I come to the same conclusion over, and over, and that is, ... stop reviewing so much! I feel that I make it more complicated than it should be. At the same time I can't seem to help myself, and so continue to review. I seem to let the yuck linger longer than the fun. I still so badly want each day to be a perfect 10, and when it's not (which it technically never is) I'm dissapointed. But this is life. Life is hard. And that is okay. It is. So why do I put so much pressure on myself and T to attain perfection with the boys (and once N is bigger, her too). Ug.

I feel that I am constantly saying to myself, "well I'll try again tomorrow". And I feel I should keep trying to grow in patience, and gentleness, and love. But I guess I'm realizing as I process this out, that the main thing is to rely on His forgiving GRACE. I'm not perfect, and no day is going to be a perfect 10, not only will I screw up every day, my children will too. Not to be negative, but more realistic, and I guess Biblical, we all sin and fall short of His glory. It's that glory that I want, and can strive for, but I need to realize we are all going to fall. And this isn't the end of the world, it's okay, and not only that, it's more than okay, because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. How the heck that happens, I'm not sure, but He's God and He's amazing in how He's ordered things.

WOW, that is really reassuring. How AWESOME is He? Not to be trite, but TOTALLY, He is totally awesome. God is the one who breaks all moulds, there is no box that could ever sum Him up, and that is one of the traits I love most about Him.

SIck House

We were doing so well for a while. Now sickness has come to our house. A got sick about two weeks ago, shortly after E and K got it. They started to get better and I thought we were in the clear. However, last night the baby started coughing. Now I hate it when the big girls get sick, but it's a whole other ballgame when a three month old gets it. Arrgh... Poor kid.

On another note, I read a very interesting article in Time called, "The Power of Birthorder." In a nutshell it says,
1st borns are:
1. Better educated than younger sibs
2. More concerned with parents expectations
3. Likelier to serve as family historian and guardian of aged parents
4. Higher IQ

Middle Sibs:
1. Take longer to choose a career than other sibs
2. Less connected to family, more to friends
3. May de-identify from firstborn, make opposite choices
4. Lacks parental recognition, may develop self-esteem issues

Younger Sibs:
1. More tolerant of risk
2. Frequently funnier than other sibs

I'm curious as to what you think.

Miss ya buddy!

enjoyment

It has been a really wonderful week for me. I've really been enjoying my life as a mama. I'd say overall that I enjoy being a mama of three little ones, but the day to day stuff can be seriously hard. All five of us make mistakes every day with one another, and being responsible for training three of us and controlling the fourth one of us (me) can be very, very, draining. But this week, by God's grace, I feel that there was a sweet balance of training and laughter. I am hoping that this is an area I've grown a little bit more in. Allowing those moments of teaching to take place, but then being able to let it go afterwards. To move on and be playful with whoever the offender was. I think another difference has been they are getting that little bit older. They seem to be understanding more of what I am teaching them, and thus there is less repetition involved in teaching the lesson.

I'm prayerful that this next week will be a buildup on this week. That we can continue to enjoy each other through loving each other, playing together, praying together, laughing together, and learning together.

It's a sad photo that I put on for talking about a fun week. Seth is teary because I put him down for literally two seconds while I set up the camera to take our photo. He had just woken up for his nap, and what Seth needs after his nap is a very long cuddle. Which I love, because he's my mover and shaker, but once a day he wants to be held by mama, and I treasure that moment every day.

sharing life

My friend who made that awesome little outfit for Naomi came over yesterday. When she rang she asked if I had a sewing maching and if she could bring some sewing to do while at our house. Hello? My dream in sharing life. Yes come over, yes, bring your two little ones and your sewing. Yes, let's do this together! She was amazing as well. The material is seen in the corner of the table, and out of that, she created an adorable little skirt for her 2 year old daughter. It was a nice day, playing, drinking tea, talking, her sewing, and my boys curious as to what the heck that thing was. All in all a great day. Thank you J.

a bear hunt

This book has become a favorite of all of ours. Both Ethan and Seth have had times where they have been telling parts of the story to themselves. Even now as I type, I can hear Seth saying "shut the door" referring to a snippet of the story.

We went on our own bear hunt outside. It was a blast.

I want to do more of this story telling and being in the story that is being told. I'm not very good at it at the moment. Are there any books that you know of that encourage this sort of play? Or do you have any stories that you grew up with or that you love telling little ones in your life?