Catch Up Post

December 22, 2018

Catch Up Post

Despite not doing too many interesting things in particular lately, I haven't had much time to blog. We have been doing Christmas activities on the weekend and evening and mostly just staying at home during the day. There is a post buried in my drafts from us putting up the Christmas tree that will probably never get posted, but oh well. I'll do a little catch up from the past couple of weeks.

M moved to her new foster home yesterday. It was bittersweet. I wrote more about it on Instagram, but suffice to say foster care is hard and unpredictable and it's really easy to feel overlooked and underappreciated as foster parents. M is super happy in her new home and I'm glad we have a lot of fun things coming up to look forward to.

Leland had his company Christmas party and has two more in January. We also got to go to a special early showing of the movie Instant Family at the end of November. It was specifically for foster parents. We both loved the movie and thought it was really accurate for the most part. Fair warning there is quite a bit of swearing. Anyways we've had a lot of babysitters lately and it's been great to get that one on one time. And I have to add that Leland just got a raise at work! 🙌 He has been working hard and this extra income is surely an answer to our prayers.

I have still been working on trying to finish the Book of Mormon and I'm getting so close! I plan to post about it when I finish. I have also been crocheting hats for the kids, trying to keep the house clean and keep everyone healthy. I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Lately I'm feeling kinda over it and I've been trying to be more productive and set my phone aside more often. I haven't done as much on insta-stories or pictures lately and I feel like it's been good. Still I'm sucked in and I can't bring myself to get rid of it completely, even though I kinda dream of just having a flip phone again sometimes ha. On another note I feel like mothering in the winter is harder, It takes so much work to get the kids outside and I don't want to take them anywhere because they'll probably catch something. So they've just been at each other's throats lately. I have to give myself lots of breaks, usually in the form of going to the temple or just going to the store alone. Another strategy is reading. We have read so many books lately because then I can give my attention to all of them and they are relatively calm. It is helpful for me to remember that everything is a season and some seasons of motherhood are harder than others. I hope I don't give the impression that our lives are perfect or easy around here because it definitely isn't, I have to give myself ( and the kids) a lot of grace and determination that we'll keep trying.

Esther has been so funny lately. She has such a pure heart and believes in everything (seriously anyone try to convince her that mermaids aren't real). We recently read The Velveteen Rabbit and a few weeks later she informed me that Fuzzy is real because she loves her so much it made her real. She tells me Fuzzy is tricky and anytime anything is missing she blames Fuzzy for hiding it haha. She of course loves all the Christmas magic and has so many questions, like how can Santa fit through our small chimney? Tonight we went to a live Nativity and we told her everything would be real even the camels and sheep. I guess she really took that to heart because during the performance Esther loudly asked "Is she going to born a baby right here for real?!"

Adele has been having the hardest time out of everyone with M leaving. She insists on pretending she is a baby the majority of the time. I know part of it is her feeling displaced by Israel. I tried to indulge her at first, then after it has gone on and on I've gotten a little annoyed. Reading this article has helped me put it in perspective and respond a little kinder. I try to play baby with her as much as I can and just spend one on one time with her. Adele is also so excited for Christmas but still not quite as into it as Esther is. Adele has developed a new obsession with all things girly and pretty. She wants to wear dresses everyday and so she often has a mismatched one put over her clothes. She is so into getting married and wants to marry everyone. However her number one pick for husband is Prince George. She has really set her bar high lol.

Israel is as cute and happy as ever. I am really cherishing his babyhood. I'm not sure if it's because of my miscarriage right before him, but everything he does really just feels like a little miracle. He is my happy easy baby and I just love him.

PICTURES FROM THE PAST FEW WEEKS