How Does She Do It?

Really? How does she?
The stay-at-home mom. The work-from-home, part-time employee. The church leader. The cook. The cleaner. The baby calmer-downer and baby milk-machine. The teacher. The entertainer. The disciplinarian. The comforter. The encourager. The animal sitter. The chauffeur. The school-activities attendee. The walking schedule/calendar AKA the planner. The mom. The sister. The daughter. The wife. The woman.

This morning I was thinking while I was taking care of the animals about women in the past, growing up on the prairie without a stove (or microwave), without a hot shower, without vehicles. They woke up at the crack of dawn and took care of animals and farm and gardens, then slaved away all day at meals for the family, and taught there gazillion children. I'm like - I've been watching Jerad and mom's animals and I couldn't do this every day forever. And people want to go back to self-sustainable living? That's crazy. I was thinking of an instance if ever I could, and honestly you would have to do it with the entire family. Every member would have to be part and have a job.
Anyway, here's what I've been doing: wake up as early as 6:00 am to go over to Jerad's, break water for four outdoor water troughs (I've thought I've had frostbite several times), feed cats, feed dogs (letting them in and out of barn), giving 1 scoop grain to Jerad's horses and 2 scoops to mom's picky and impatient horse, giving 3-4 flakes (or sections) of hay to each horse, making sure the little horse is eating, making sure each horse has water, and if I water them wrap the hose and faucet in a t-shirt so that the pipes don't freeze as well as preserving any water left in the hose so not to waste it (and by the way, the t-shirt was frozen the first day), then going back home to mom's to take care of Bullet, the two roosters in the garage, the chickens and turkies in the coop, breaking the pond for the horses in the field, taking care of Jenna's brand new guinea pig, and finally watering Luke's one hermit crab that I'm just waiting for to die. I know that sounds cruel, but he honestly needs a warm-blooded animal. These past animals as pets haven't taught him an ounce of responsibility. Anyway, that whole shpeal I've gotten down to about 30-45 minutes. You can give me a pat on the back any time.

So yesterday, just to give you a little more background, I did all the chores, signed Luke up for soccer and made sure bills were paid, visited Stacia, went to Kari's to tutor the girls, worked on church course material, locked up animals, and went to a game night at the church (staying out until midnight). So what did I do today? I got up again to do the chores, cleaned the living room, did laundry, cooked several meals, watched tv with Luke, planned our Branson trip with Luke, worked on  church flyers, browsed Pinterest for new meals, locked up the animals, played with Mila (a lot), made all the family take showers before bed, and blogged. My days are pretty full. And honestly I think if anyone else were in my shoes, they would get so bogged down with "to-do's" and overwhelmed with sticky notes and lists that they couldn't function. So... How does she do it?

And hey, I think Mila is getting her other middle bottom tooth. And she'll also probably crawl sometime this month. She says "mama" distinctly but on her own terms. Eating first foods is going well (more often, but she still sucks it down like she's drinking milk). We're trying to get her to sit by herself, but she still slowly falls over and if she's in the bumbo, she arches her back. I'm trying to teach her the meaning of "ow" or "no", but she just thinks it's funny, which is frustrating when I'm the one getting pinched, hair pulled, bitten in a tender area or hurt in some other way. Other things that are funny: When I blow on her hair, growling, throwing up noises, and Luke in general. She knows Patty Cake. She knows what it means when I say "hungry" and make sucking noises. I know she knows what "no" means, but I think she refuses to respond to it the correct way, as well as when I say her name. It's a hit or miss. I'm trying to teach her "dada" and "Luke" also. They would love that. Actually now that I think of it, Aldo thought she said "no" the other day. I'm trying to teach her sign language for "please" or "more" because it was so helpful and showed good manners when Luke learned it in Nursery. But I think she's gotten it confused with high-fives. Also teaching her "ta-da!" Because wouldn't that be cute after eating her cake at her first birthday? I can now get her to laugh. Bury my face in her ribs and she'll laugh. And now, her feet and underarms are ticklish too. Yay! I have to go, she is growling and forceful grunting/squealing/mumbling and I'm pretty sure when I lay down next to her, she'll pull down my shirt and do her thing. Have you ever read Boss Baby? it might be time for a review... Everything is hers. Everything is on her time. Period and The End.

Friends

These past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. I've really appreciated the friends I have, and realized how important maintaining and pouring into the "friend" relationship is.

It started with Dani DeRuse. I was disappointed at a get together Aldo and I went to and later prayed for a God-believing and -following friend to hang out with. Days later Dani called and asked if I wanted to go shopping. Duh?! (Now normally I wouldn't say "yes" because I'm naturally shy and anti/social. It's taken a lot of work to get to where I am. And I definitely wouldn't say "yes" to Dani because first off, she is so dang gorgeous, and second, I wouldn't think she would shop at the same places I would. But for some reason I said "yes".) The timing was right - the  weather was beautiful, we both like the same type of stores, I got my long-needed conversation on, we even bought the clothes we needed. (And I found out later, she was pregnant. And I even mentioned something too! She said it was so hard keeping the secret from me.)

Then, Sunday, January 31st, our friend Danny Cubbage had a stroke. He's was in the hospital for days trying to get brain swelling down. And on February 4th he passed away. Aldo was able to stay at the hospital a lot of the time, whereas I was driving kids or watching kids or getting food. Or awkwardly spending the 3rd celebrating Maecy's 21st birthday (watching babies at the salon while she got her hair done, and also all of us getting manicures).

So it's been up and down. I'm so excited for Dani and you wouldn't believe how timely our visit was. (I was reading a book on Prayer at the time). But then watching the Cubbages and realizing it won't be the same, and how much Danny touched our hearts, and not having prayer answered the way we want has - the words are even now hard to choose - sunken our spirits, like a gut-wrenching feeling. And then having a celebration in the middle of all the chaos was difficult. How do you respond?  No wonder I felt like I hit a brick wall. I might have shut my emotions of, so not to hurt others or be hurt myself. 

And in the middle of all that, Mila got her first tooth. It's the bottom, middle right (when looking at her). She didn't need teething medicine. Didn't sound or look sick. The only things noticeable to me were her wanting to be held (normal), slobbering (normal), chewing on her hand or nipples of bottles or even binky (that's new), and rubbing her ear (sure sign!). Mark your baby book - Mila's first tooth popped through on February 3rd.