Five Years of Parenting

Monica turned five years old on November 13.   

November 13, 2013, dressed as Strawberry Shortcake, eating her birthday cookie cake.

Monica Clare, 5 days old

I remember quite vividly crying on her first birthday. A year old! Oh, my!  

Monica Clare, 1 year, 4 days old

This time around I do not feel sad, but I reflect on all that has come to pass since that time of my life.

 

ALL THE CHANGES!

 

I taught ninth grade Literary Genres at St. Ursula Academy.  What a great experience!

This was my 3rd bell class, with poster boards displaying the personality shifts of characters from the novel, The Lord of the Flies. These girls are all sophomores in college now. Talk about feeling OLD!

I sold Usborne Books for awhile, until I realized I was NOT a salesperson.  Loved the books, hated the finances of it.

 

More recently, I taught ACT/SAT prep (English/Reading) at Huntington Learning Center.  This was a very fulfilling experience, after spending all my days at home with three little kids.

 

When Monica was a day shy of 21 months old, Will and Ben were born.  

August 31, 2010.  Monica = 21 months, twins = 19 days



Going from one child to three in a quick jump was hard core.  Especially with some of the little things I am doing now with Anna, I try to remember how I did these same things with the twins, and my mind starts swimming.  How DID I accomplish life with twins??  Yet, it happened.  They survived; I survived.

 

 

4 months

Boys = 5 months, Monica = 2 years, 2 months

A THEORY

 

After the twins' infancy, I developed a new parenting theory: All your fears and worst nightmares do come true, but not necessarily all at once.  And when they do occur together, that's when I remind myself: This too shall pass.  The blow-out diapers in a public place: check.  But not necessarily in the same 24 hours as you're up all night with a sick baby.  Or maybe so.  But you survive.  You curse under your breath, cry your eyes out, and try your best not to look at the clock.  Ah, those 3 AM Lifetime Network movies!

 

However, God is great, and He provides a wonderful survival mechanism for mothers: Babies that are absolutely adorable and cute.

 



 

Monica "fed" Ben baby food.  In his sleep.

MORE CHANGES

 

Another monumental event in the life of our family was Ben's broken leg.  During these five HOT summer weeks (He broke it May 20, received the cast May 21....It came off June 28.), Ben was immobile and could not even sit up/lie down comfortably.  And to add insult to injury, he incessantly BEGGED to be outside.  Brian and I both spent many, many hours pulling the boys around our cul-de-sac and throughout the neighborhood in our little wagon.

Here, the swingset is new (to us), a year or so prior to Ben's accident.  The beam on the far right is a ladder up to monkey bars.  Ben stood on the second-highest rung and reached in to grab the rope of the closest swing.  He lost balance and fell.

 

The "hippo" car seat we had on loan from Children's Hospital, since regular car seats were not an option.  It got lots of use!

 A CHILD IN SCHOOL

Life slowed down a bit for us after Ben's cast came off.  I remember virtually every detail of the five weeks with his cast, but I struggle to remember the rest of that summer!  I do remember feeling anxious about sending Monica to school.

First day of school, Pre-K 3's

Her first two weeks or so were tumultuous.  Monica was the crier of the class.  One of my big fears came true!  But "this too shall pass" and she flourished!

Easter party 2013. Monica in front with pink coat.

33 WEEKS PREGNANT WITH A BROKEN FOOT

Ah, yes!  This was the day:

Ben with t-ball set, August 10, 2013

A few minutes later, about two feet to the right of where I stood to snap this photo, I broke my left foot.  I was pregnant, so my balance was off.  I was wearing flip flops.  I was on a slope.  A recipe for disaster!  My foot slipped off the flip-flop, placing the weight of my whole body on that bone on the very outer edge of my foot: the 5th metatarsal.  POP!  I fell, and had to crawl into the house.  I spent the rest of my pregnancy in a boot:

 

FOUR KIDS IN FIVE YEARS

 

To round out my fifth year as a mother, Anna Catherine was born on September 20.  She is the spittin' image of Monica, but with dimples.  Anna, also referred to as "Baby Anna" and "Baby Hannie" by the kids, is a pure joy.  Oh, and she slept through the night for the first time last night!  11:00 PM - 7:00 AM!  I am so blessed to have four amazing children!  As I sit and type even now, I'm cradling one baby in my lap while three others whirl around me, pretending to be tornadoes from The Wizard of Oz.  And the house is a disaster because Mommy neglected it to write this.  Five years -- what a trip!

Anna Catherine, 6 1/2 weeks old