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.