Still Here

We are still here. Life hasn't swallowed us whole with all of its twists and turns. Yet.

Our long break from blogging was primarily due to having Grammy Sara here for 9 fantastic days. She flew in on the 18th and left on the 27th. Grampy came in on the 23rd and flew out with Grammy.

Having that extra set of hands for over a week was wonderful. My mom definitely spoiled us by getting all the laundry from the floor to the washer and into drawers, taking on dishwasher duty, cleaning up the kitchen every night, taking the troops outside to play (she really loved coming from the 70 degree weather to below freezing!), and helping out at night so I really only had to get up once. As Jake and I looked at each other last night over the mound of toys on the floor, the mountain of laundry that popped up shortly after the airport drop-off, and the disaster that erupted in the kitchen, we realized that reality is here. We now have to figure out a new routine with our newest addition. I can tell you that the new routine will not include Jake making a milk run while the twins are in the tub because that didn't work out very well last night. One bloody nose (Ava - think she picked it a little too hard. Eew), a crying baby, and one tired mommy trying to regulate it all just didn't work.

I'm working on accepting the fact that life just isn't going to be normal for awhile. Chances are it will never again be the normal of old. We'll probably just end up settling into a new "normal". And while my OCD self hates having to let things go, life is such at the moment that mess will abound, clutter will grow, and walking through the house while weaving around all the projects going on is just the way it's going to be. The four large totes sitting in the loft with old clothing to be sold at my multiples sale will likely continue to sit there until the sale in 3.5 weeks. The wall in our bedroom that my dad taped and finished along with the wall that he attempted to fix in the twins' room (apparently my drywall work was so bad that he was unable to leave it be!) will probably sit in their current states until the end of the month when I finally find the time to slap on a coat of primer and two coats of paint. It will feel like we live in the South, where everything moves at a slower pace. But persevere we will and eventually my house will reachieve my standard of cleanliness, the baby will sleep through the night, and maybe, just maybe, we won't have to continuously remind Carter to be gentle with the baby.

As it is, everything is going well. Sweet baby Hannah is still getting up only two or three times at night. She was weighed again last week and clocked in at a whooping 8 lbs 6 oz. The baby just keeps on growing bigger! Ellie lost another tooth this weekend and Ava & Carter are doing fabulous as well.

I will try to post again later this week with photos. The desktop is having issues so I'll see if I can get it fixed and running properly. Thank goodness for the old laptop, which while a pile of crap, has come to the rescue so we have a connection with the outside world!