Thad Walks!

4/4 Macbeth Littles walking at 13 months.  I guess it's in their genes or something.

And can he walk when we take the shoe off?  Nope.  But as soon as Ben's shoe is back on, it's magic.

Yesterday I was working on a project when I heard Thad playing with something in the kitchen.  When I checked on him, I discovered that he had torn a plastic bag that held my beloved honey crisp apples with his teeth.  After all that work, he decided to enjoy the fruits of his labor.  I guess you're allowed to do that when Mom's dumb enough to leave a couple of bags of apples on the floor and you have 12 teeth.

I laughed because I was honestly impressed.  And I laughed at how thin I cut his apple slices for lunch.  This babe ate the entire apple -- including the core.  4 babies into motherhood and I'm still overprotective.

Thad is 99% pure yumminess.  He blows kisses.  He blushes.  He allows non-stop thigh squishing.

STOP. GROWING.

Burned Out

Life never ceases to amaze me with the amount of adjustments you have to make as a parent.  With Ella potty training, or with Thad moving from a bottle to a sippy and crawling to walking, or with Lily in dance, or with Skyler starting Kindergarten.  On and on the adjustments come and go and it seems like life is just one blur of hanging on and making it through.

So often, people ask me when I can schedule something to do with them.  Typically in my head, the answer is always I don't know.  Days are full of taking care of babies and the house.  Evenings are typically just as rough.  Monday: FHE.  Tuesday: Lily has dance and Ben has scouts.  Wednesday: Temple night or RS Activities. The rest of the nights I'm just trying to finish up work or succumb to personal time -- let's be honest, you've all seen pictures of my house.  I typically choose personal time over sweeping up the ever growing pile of food under Thad's high chair or cleaning up the scattered toys that the kids already "cleaned up."

The craziness is mentally dizzying.

The hardest time of the day is when I have to help Lily and Skyler with homework while also making dinner with two babies at my feet because Ben is finishing up work.

This week I was getting ready to make Ella and Thad lunch when Ben walked into the kitchen.  I asked him when his next meeting was.  It wasn't for another hour and a half so I told him, awesome, you watch the babies while I go upstairs and cry.

It just all adds up.

No matter how much sleep I get, I'm tired.

No matter how much I clean, the house is a disaster.

No matter how much I remind the kids it's not okay to hurt each other, they do it.

On and on.

So for the last few months, I've been discouraged.  What is the point of my effort when it doesn't work?

I can't remember literally praying for help through it all, but I definitely had a prayer in my heart for a change.  I didn't know how it could change or what the answer would be, but I hoped for it.

Today it happened.  I'm not sure of exactly what happened, but it was almost like a layer of the veil was lifted for me.  I saw my kids in new light.  I saw my purpose in new light.  I saw everyone at church -- even a couple of out of control kids in my Primary class -- in new light.

Ella cuddled right into me on the couch and insisted in looking at pictures of our family.  We looked at pictures all the way back to when I was pregnant with Lily.  It became physically painful to see how much the kids have grown.  When I put Thad in bed for the night, I didn't want to shut the door so that he was gone. I just stood there and looked at his tiny body as he stared at me over the crib bars.  When I said personal prayers with Skyler and Lily, I didn't remember any frustrations -- only proud moments of them debating over who got to help me teach Thad to walk or who got to hold him during scripture study.  When I helped Ella with a deep cut over her lip, I was reminded of the importance of motherhood and how helpless she would be without Ben and me.

I don't know what tomorrow is going to look like, but I'm thankful I had today.  It was beautiful and full of purpose.

Potty Training!

Back in the beginning of the year, Ella started showing signs of being ready to potty train.  She would tell us every time she wet her diaper or pooped.  Since she turned 18 months old in January, I knew for sure I was not going to potty train her, even though she acted ready.  Personally, I would rather potty train a child a little too late than too early.  Before they turn 2 is an absolute NO from me.  Potty training is exhausting and can be horrible, and why make it worse for both of you if you're not both on board?  So in August, after Ella had turned 2, we put our little potty seat on top of the potty and sat her on it. 

It was a nightmare.  We didn't even think to check to see if it would fit our toilet seats in our new house.  Our toilets are more oblong now and so the seat would slide back and forth and had no stability.  Long story short, we sort of scarred Ella from sitting on the toilet.

So I ordered two new potty seats that connect with the toilet, waited a couple of months to get that experience out of Ella's memory, and on Monday we started potty training.  

She was still horrified to sit on the potty, but after a couple of hours, she was fine.  We may have watched Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on the computer in there for 4 hours that morning, but it really did the trick!  She had a few accidents and a few successes that day.  The next two days she only had one accident each day.  She would even cry for us when she had to go potty when she had a diaper on while she was sleeping.  I was proud of her even though I was super groggy at 1 in the morning helping her go to the bathroom.

On Wednesday morning, I discovered Ella had nits in her hair.  I never thought I'd say this, but it was a very convenient time for Ella to get nits.  We weren't going to be leaving the house all week anyway since I was already planning on devoting it to potty training.  Luckily she was the only one affected in the family and she's been treated.

I'm glad I waited until I was ready.  I didn't get impatient or upset once and so I know that made the success easier for Ella.  We are so proud of her!  3 down and 1 to go!

Skyler's Change

Skyler was born with colic and on many days, it has seemed like it never went away.  We love Skyler to the moon and back, but some days it has seemed like he had more emotions that the rest of our family combined.  It is hard in two ways: first, it's hard to listen to crying ALL THE TIME.  Second, it's hard not to be able to fully help your child when they're so emotional.

And even though Ben and I both felt about a year ago that we should homeschool our kids, I just kept feeling over and over again that Skyler needed to go to Kindergarten at Holly Ridge.  This impression was clearer than most for me so we went along with it, no problem at all.

I had talked with Mrs. Lockhart (Lily's old Kindergarten teacher) several times about how much I would love to have her as Skyler's teacher.  The principal doesn't allow parents to request teachers so I knew it was out of my hands.  But Mrs. Lockhart and I have such a great parent/teacher relationship that she pulled some strings, requested Skyler in her class at the beginning of the year, and I in return volunteer in there every Friday.

Just from the beginning of the school year I have been able to see a dramatic difference in Skyler.  He probably still cries more than the average 5 year-old, but to me, he is the happiest I've ever seen him!

We had interim reports come home so parents could see their kids grades and I wasn't surprised at all that Skyler is on schedule or ahead in everything.  I think school has helped him to see how special and talented he is.  On the other hand, I think it's been good for him to see that Ben and I aren't the only people who have rules and that everyone is required to obey them.

I am so thankful to see the side of my son that I have loved for so long as the main part of his character now.  His sweetness toward his siblings and his love for Ben and I are almost overflowing now.  It takes forever to tuck him in now because he just wants "cheeky squeezes" and kisses non-stop.  I'll take it.  :)

Macbeth Family Vacation Part III

Since the last day of the trip was a Sunday, we wanted to make it as nature-centered as possible.  So we thought that a hike to see some waterfalls would be a perfect idea.  Our last trip to the mountains taught me one thing:  if you think you've done enough research, you haven't done enough research.  That time we ended up hiking a trail that was labeled "family friendly" online, but was actually quite strenuous.  But this time around I found a website that rates the trails on duration, topography, and overall difficulty.  Each hike was described really well with pictures included and so I was able to find this one which was minutes from Bryson City.  It was an hour hike round-trip at Ella's pace.  In that hour we hiked along the river the whole time and saw two waterfalls.  It was easy and perfect.

Seriously, do big sisters get any better than Lily?  I love that girl.

It was such a great Sunday morning walk because we virtually had the trail to ourselves.  Ben and I loved that because being in the mountains always feels like a spiritual experience to us.

In the beginning we were just throwing small rocks in the river.  But when Ben threw in the biggest, flattest rock he could find, the kids were hooked.

They found a boulder that looked like a piece of pie.

After they ate it they told me it was cherry flavored.

Thad was a happy rider just holding onto his leaf.... and then eating it in the car....

Asheville was on the drive home, so we stopped by their nature center since it's free with our zoo membership.  We met this gorgeous owl and learned how to make an owl box for our own home.

I was so excited to see the otters!  One of my favorite animals.

The bears were so cute.  I just wanted to squish them from afar.  So did Ella.

The nature center was a great way for the kids to stretch their legs for an hour on the drive home. 

Ella desperately wanted to be one with the raccoons.

The whole trip was fantastic.  It reminded me that although my kids aren't perfect, they're really great kids.  Over and over they thanked us for doing this.  But if we're going to be honest, on the drive home I was saying things like, "I'm so sleep.  I really need to get more tired."  Ben and I thankfully slept like rocks last night in our own bed and we're excited to catch up on General Conference.

Macbeth Family Vacation Part II

We had lots of great ideas of things to do in the mountains, but we had one thing set in stone:  the train ride to the Peanuts Pumpkin Patch.  We thought it was a great option since it wasn't a haunted train ride (like others are this time of year) and very family friendly.  The kids were so excited to do this.  It was totally worth the trip for it.

When we climbed on board Ella started screaming out of fear.  Of course you never want the people around you to be uncomfortable or upset, so I did everything I could to calm her.  Finally after a piece of gum and lots of reassurance, she figured out that the train wasn't scary and was actually quite awesome!  She loved watching the river below and pointing out all the big boulders on the side of the mountain.

When we arrived at the Peanuts Pumpkin Patch, Lily and Skyler immediately wanted to start playing.  Ella on the other hand was enthralled with Lucy, Charlie Brown, but mostly Snoopy.  She took every opportunity to photo-bomb other family's pictures with the three of them.  She couldn't leave them alone!

The kids each got to pick a pumpkin to take home.  We were thrilled when they all chose tiny pumpkins.  That way we didn't have to lug around a ton of weight on the train and back through Bryson City.

A very accurate picture of their relationship.  I think it's funny that they're such loving sisters in real life and they're dressed up as loving sisters too -- Anna and Elsa.

They had a small building that was pitch black on the inside but lit up with Halloween lights and decor.  There were several doors on the inside and the kids got to trick-or-treat (hence the costumes).  The kids were more excited over the fact that they'd get to go trick-or-treating twice this month than they were about the train ride itself.

I was so relieved that the "apple bobbing" turned into a non-saliva-sharing version of it.

For my mom -- the biggest Snoopy fan in the world.  Although I think she has competition with Ella now.  Ella loves "Soopy."

They roasted marshmallows...

Ella's adoration part one.

Ella's adoration part two.

After the train ride back to Bryson City, we walked to a restaurant that is the #1 restaurant in the city.  I was surprised by how few people were there considering how amazing and cheap the food was.  Skyler and I had a table to ourselves and so we pretended like we were on a date.  We ended up eating there twice because we loved it so much.  We also went across the street and bought some chocolates.  Seriously, Bryson City is the cutest little town that I just want to adopt, wrap up, and put in my pocket.

When we got back to the cabin, Ben made s'mores with Lily and Skyler while Ella and I watched Harry Potter cuddled on the couch and Thad was passed out in his pack'n'play.  I think all of us considered it a perfect day.