This week has been a blur. It's been full of tears and laughter, naps and homework, store-bought lasagna and Relief Society casserole, more bodily fluids than I'd care to mention, and a whole lot of cuteness. But mostly it's been a blur.
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| Look around, look around! |
I remember bringing Zoë home from the hospital and feeling like our life had just gotten pretty complicated. But I also just read the post about her turning a week old and was flooded with cheery, uncomplicated memories. I didn't write a post about Benjamin's first week-aversary, but I did write a post about his 1.5 week mark. He made life super complicated (thanks, bud). Miriam is also guilty of making life more complicated by one week old. There is no post specifically about Rachel at one week because back then the whole blog was dedicated to her, basically. But I do remember feeling overwhelmed by parenthood.
I don't know if it's that things feel easier once you're through them or if adding a child simply exponentially compounds the chaos of a household...but, disregarding Benjamin,* bringing home our fifth baby has been by far the most complicated thing ever. It's not like Alexander is complicated; he's been such a calm and sweet baby (despite his habit of peeing and pooping every time I open his diaper (you guys, it's ridiculous and I'm always like, "This is not my first rodeo. You're wet, but I'm going to wait for you to poop. There. Now I'm going to wait for you to poop again. Okay, then. Let's do this..." and still he'll manage to spray poop and pee everywhere)).
No, Alexander is fine. It's everything else.
It's getting the girls off to early morning choir practice.
It's keeping up with daily reading and chores and piano practicing and...so forth.
It's "I have to turn in a book report in the form of a pumpkin that I've decorated as the main character of my book."
It's planning birthday celebrations and baptism programs and blessing luncheons.
It's signing reading logs and helping with printing homework and checking math homework.
It's making sure the kids pack a lunch for school every day and remember to put it in their backpack in the morning.
It's laundry for seven. And dinner. And dishes. And tidying up.
It's Andrew sleeping with Zoë so that she'll stay in her bed all night and not bug me and the baby.
It's Halloween costumes for four ("But what is the baby going to be?" the kids keep asking; a baby—he's going to be a baby).
It's "Mom! I need help spelling mischievous!"
It's "Momma! Can I have pretzel crisps?"'
It's "Mom, is today Thursday?" (like I even know!)
It's "Momma, hold me!"
It's "she hit me" and "he called me a name."
It's "get your hands off of his face" and "stop yanking on his arm" and "DID YOU REALLY JUST STEP ON THE BABY?!?!?"
Yeah, bringing home baby number five has definitely been the most complicated. Even with the live-in support from Andrew's parents, it's been complicated, but I'm sure it will become the new normal soon. We just won't talk about how high of a bar "normal" is now...
* We disregard Benjamin a lot when we talk about newborn stuff because having a preemie is just so different than having a full-term newborn. He wins a lot of things by default. Who was your smallest baby? Well, obviously that would be Benjamin. Who was your shortest baby? Well...Benjamin. Who was your most difficult baby to nurse? Uh, Benjamin. Who complicated your life the most as a newborn? Yeah, let me think... Oh, Benjamin. He wins without even trying.
** I used to daydream about when my life would no longer be governed by semesters. But apparently I'm married to a university professor now so...that dream is dead. And, frankly, that's fine because if there's anything I've learned over the past 15 years of semester-by-semester life, it's that you can do anything for a semester. So if I have to take the rest of my life one semester at a time I might just survive it!
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