8 Months

The past month has been quite eventful in the White House, and not just with the fair.

Henry
*Weighing in at 22lbs
*Wearing size 12 months
*Rolling and pivoting all over the place
*Likes his food, but isn’t crazy about it
*Almost too big for his infant car seat
*Just the slightest of lines where his teeth are coming in

James
*Weighing in at 20.5 lbs
*Wearing size 12 months
*Got his first tooth!
*Just started doing something that mimics crawling…he’s been moving all over, but yesterday was the first time he did something that I would call crawling
*This boy loves his food…you can’t get it in his mouth fast enough!
*Has out grown his infant car seat.

Elanor
*Weighing 16lbs 5oz
*Wearing size 9 months
*Can roll over, but doesn’t unless she wants something
*Couldn’t really care less about eating solids
*Finally getting some teeth action
*Still fits quite nicely in her car seat

We celebrated turning 8 months old by everyone getting sick. We think they have Hand, Foot and Mouth. I’m hoping it goes as quickly as it came, otherwise we will have some very disappointed people on our hands, by not going to Hershey. Of course it’s following hot on the heels of fair-week and Ellie having had a UTI last week with temps in the 103-104 area. Mama needs a vacation.

So far we’ve been fortunate that the 3 infant seats fit in the back row and Ave in the captain’s chair, with the other stowed…giving us easy access to the back row. Now, we’re currently in the process of trying to figure out which car seats and what arrangement will work best, since the boys are going to be moving up to convertible car seats. I’m not really keen on breaking my back trying to get children in and out of the car.

*****I really had no intentions of taking a blogging break, but, alas, that seems to be what has happened lately. Hopefully things will settle down in the next couple of weeks and life can resume our pre-summer schedules. But, feel free to email me :-) jess.white05 at gmail dot com

God is Faithful in All Things and Through All Things, Always.

This morning Ellie's temperature stayed down!

Yesterday afternoon was her last dose of Motrin and her temp has not gone above 99.9 ever since. Praise the Lord!

The doctor called this morning with the urine culture results, she does have a UTI. So it’s antibiotics for a week, with daily doses of yogurt for probiotics.

I’m not crazy about antibiotics, but at least we know what’s wrong and how to treat it.

Ellie is definitely feeling better. She’s smiling more and giggling again. It’s so wonderful to know that the fever is down.

Today is the last day of the fair and we’re all doing ok.

Prayers Please

This has been an incredibly hard week for us, for me. As many of you know it’s fair week, which means that I’m home alone. Matt’s been busy working at our stand, getting home around 1am and leaving again at 6:30am.

In addition to that, and all of those stresses, Ellie has been sick, like REALLY sick, like waiting-for them-to-put-her-in-the-hospital sick.

Sunday she was running a low-grade fever, chalked it up to teething. Monday afternoon, she woke up from a nap and was frying, 106.7* was her temp. She was in a warm room in pajamas. I stripped her down and stuck her in the tub with lukewarm water and got it down to 103, started with Tylenol. Tuesday she still had a temp and we went in to the doctor. The doctor wasn’t there and was saw the NP, who looked her over (no ear infection, no swollen glands, looks good), sent us home to continue Tylenol and Motrin.

Wednesday we were still fighting it. We had one low temp (98.4) in the night, but then it started going up as soon as she woke up in the morning. Had another low temp (98.2) last night, woke up and it was 99.9. Figured we might be in the clear, but she was feeling warmer again. Called the doctor and headed in.

Get to the doctor’s and she’s totally fine…98.3 temp. They look her over, don’t see anything, but take a urine and blood sample for testing (one of the single-most traumatic experiences in my life, her having blood drawn and being cath’d). Sent home with a prescription.

It’s so frustrating! She is the picture of health and acting completely fine, but she has this incredible fever that we have no idea what the cause is.

She slept a bit in the car seat and now her temp is back up to 104.7. Waiting to hear the results on the lab work. She’s drinking just enough that she isn’t getting dehydrated, which is the only thing keeping her out of the hospital. If that happens she’s getting admitted.

Of course whenever anything happens in one’s life, that the cause of is not known, people have to give all their little bits of advice. This, right now, is harder than almost anything else. I’m tired of being brow-beaten by people {who, I know, have Ellie’s best interest at heart} that I’m not doing enough, that the doctor is wrong, that I need to go elsewhere for help; those things don’t help. That is what is pulling me down more than anything.

My mom has been here helping as much as she can, but now my dad (who is doing Matt’s work week for the first time in a long time, since he’s at the fair) is not doing well (sky-rocketing blood pressure) on the route. I just want the fair to be over and have my husband back and for Ellie to be better.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

Any spare prayers you could send our way would be greatly appreciated :-)

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.”

You can find this post on my new blog JessicaMWhite.com, click HERE.

Routines in the White House {Part 1} Bed Time

You can find this post on my new site, JessicaMWhite.com: Click HERE.

My Little Mess

Last night I was lying in bed, having a really hard time falling asleep. I just kept thinking about how we survive the day, every one goes to bed, and then I feel like I’ve spent nothing of quality with any of the kids. I think back about how much time Ave and I spent on the floor in her room, working on getting her to roll; How we would go outside and do things. 

We don’t do things now. We can’t do things now.

I feel like I’m parenting Ave, since she’s the 2 year old who needs constant direction and attention, while just giving Henry, James and Ellie what they need to survive. And at the same time feeling like Ave gets the leftovers of my attention and patience. Vicious cycle!

I do spend time with each of the babies: looking at them, laughing with them, playing with them, but it never feels like what I do is enough. We get to the end of the day and that’s it. I’m so grateful we made it through, then 30 minutes after everyone is in bed, I’m missing them all and wishing I could spend more quality time with them.

It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, but once night comes and the quiet falls on my ears I feel like “I could’ve done more, been more”. In all honesty, I don’t know if I could…there are only so many hours in the day.

I have 4 children, all 4 of which require massive amounts of attention from me, plus a home to run {cleaning, bills, upkeep, etc etc.}

I know this summer is going to be hard. I can already feel it in my bones. I long to be out of doors, to be outside in the sun, working in the dirt, mowing the yard, swimming, running with Ave. All winter it was easy to be in a house with 4 kids, there was nothing else to do.

Now….now there is life to be lived and I know it’s going to be rough.

I just can’t open the back door and let everyone run. I have to orchestra when Ave can go outside, depending on what the babies are doing or needing, whether they’re sleeping or crying. Her play time has to end when someone is fussing and we need to go back inside, even if only for a moment.

Next summer will be different. Henry, James and Elanor will be 1 1/2, Ave will be 3 1/2 and we’ll be able to be outside…they’ll be able to toddle around the yard, go on the slide, play in the dirt alongside me, run around with each other tiring themselves out.

But right now I struggle. I struggle with the fact that we had people here working on the house yesterday and I didn’t want to leave the babies alone in the house, with strangers, while taking Ave in the yard for 15 minutes…so we sat on the couch and watched TV almost ALL.DAY.LONG!

Oh yea…there’s definitely some mommy guilt around here. BUT I know this is just a season {literally}, soon my babies won’t be babies anymore and they’ll be big boys and girl, just like their big sister…and then I’ll be sad.

Joy of Four, with a Healthy Side of Reality

I can only describe what I feel about these three and Ave as absolute joy! I don't remember feeling like this with Ave. She was a joy as well, but it was different. There were so many things to have to learn and still thinking about infertility and whether we would have more children.

Ave has siblings! There are so many less clouds hanging over my head. I {almost} always have a smile on my face and am dancing around the house with Ave and the babies. It's wonderful. God has so incredibly blessed us!

People ask me how we're surviving, how we're dealing with having a 2 year old and THREE babies. I'm finding out that most people expect failure, they expect you to burst in to tears or say that it's horrible and you want to run away. And sometimes, it is. But, it's easier than I thought it would be. Then they look at me like I'm insane....which I am. I have to be. They look at me even crazier when they ask if we're done now and I say "Nope!" with a big ol' stupid grin on my face. My house may be trashed, but it's a home to 4 children....2 boys and 2 girls. Our kids, kids we didn't even know if we would ever have.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ~ Phillipians 4.19

I honestly can't imagine how different it would be if we'd had triplets first. I have massive amounts of respect for first time parents of multiples! There is a reason that God gave us Ave first :-) I would have struggled so, SO very much with losing "control" on things like keeping the laundry done, the house clean, a baby that won't be consoled, and everything else all at once times 2 or 3. I'm much better at realizing that sometimes "Ok" is enough {please note, I said "better" not perfect...I'm still extremely an.al about things, which is why I don't go to bed until midnight most nights or I'm up at 5am}.

Now, here's the truth. I still have major issues with things not getting done, I still have freak out sessions when I'm trying to calm a screaming kid, put a pacifier in 3 babies' mouths, deal with the dogs, make sure the chickens have food and water, then decide that I really NEED to make some freezer meals for two friends who just had their second baby.

I admit, more than willingly, that I kind of started to feel my blood pressure creep up and ended up yelling at the dogs to shut up, muttering about Matt needing to take care of the chickens, or I'm going to kill them myself {since we don't even get eggs from them anymore!}, and thinking why on earth won't these babies just take a whole bottle and be at peace for a few hours, rather than taking an ounce here, then being ok for 30 minutes only to start fussing again! Oh, and I may or may not have eaten a half of a jar of Nutella for lunch today (and it wasn't the small size).

I admit it, it is sometimes really, really hard, especially when I'm home alone in the evenings and babies are fussing and I'm trying to get Ave in bed, but even then it's nowhere near the darkness I sometimes felt when Ave was a baby and would fuss and cry for hours in the evening. I guess because I know that a baby screaming isn't going to kill anyone, that it's ok if I can't get to that baby RIGHT NOW! It has to be ok.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ~ Colossians 3.17

So often, when in the thick of it, I forget to remember...that God gave us all four of these children, that it's OK to ask Him for help in whatever ways I need it. I heard a quote a few years ago, "God may not always give us what we want {well-behaved, easy children, clean house, etc etc}, but He will always give us what we NEED"...His Grace. That is all we need. Once I can FORCE myself to remember that I'm able to take a deep breath and move forward.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ~ Matthew 11.28-29

Confession: Sometimes, on a really prideful level I want people to look at me and think "She's supermom! She can do it all!"....I'm working on this one. The times I find myself annoyed and angry about things not being what I think they should be, is when I realize I'm trying to glorify myself, not Him. That is something I struggle with a lot.

What things do you find yourself being equally joyful and frustrated with? What stresses do you find yourself creating in your own life?

Surviving Life with 4, 2 and Under

What I've noticed is that I am busy, but not crazy busy. Once I get one thing taken care of it's time to start on the next thing, but I don't feel overwhelmed, yet {I'll leave that for when they're awake more often and into things}.

Sleeps been going ok. We've actually had a couple of times when we've slept through one feeding {oops!} and managed to get 3-4 hours of sleep. I'm certainly tired, but that's newborns...particularly those that need to be fed every 3 hours and are rather slow. Although, I've bumped them up to level 2 nipples, which seems to be helping: They were falling asleep and flattening nipples while feeding. Their bottles are going much faster and easier now, just have to burp them a bit more frequently.

Ave is doing great. She's very interested in the babies and wanting to help and hold them. I've actually let her "feed" Henry the other day. She's 2, her attention span isn't very long, but she wants to show things to the babies (which sometimes results in being reprimanded for "throwing" things in the pack n play). There are only been 2 times that she's done something that she ended up in trouble for, and they weren't anything major.

Of course, since I spend 9-10 hours a day just feeding and diapering babies {yes, I did the math} and I can only feed 2 at a time, it means that Ave is once again being plopped in front of the television. Fortunately though we're able to keep it to a minimum since she does have her play kitchen now and we play pretend while I'm feeding babies.

Ave has also decided to climb out of her crib now after every single sleep session. Fortunately we do have a latch on her door and there really is nothing for her to get into in her room. I asked her yesterday, post nap, if she wanted me to make her crib a big-girl bed "Of course mommy". So I did.

Last night was interesting. We talked about how she needs to stay in her bed and not get out until she has asked permission to do so. She went in her bed well, but then started to cry hysterically. After an hour of trying to convince her she was ok to sleep in her big girl bed, I ended up putting the side back on the crib. I don't think she felt secure without the side there. Well try it again after I get one of those mesh rails to install. I'll have to post pictures of the room, since we rearranged it a bit too.

Other than the normal craziness we're doing ok. I keep thinking, "this is the easy stuff, just wait until the babies are awake and moving more." Oy!