Record of Operations

Oh, the first few weeks of a new kid in the house.  Some people are trapped at home overwhelmed by the sleep/feed/change cycle for all five kids.  Not me. This is my jam.  Having a new baby and a toddler on top of a kindergartener, first and third graders is becoming my homeostasis. It takes two babies for me to feel like I am sufficiently innundated and unable to accomplish anything but babies.  With one baby you still think you can go places and do things. With two you're like, "Nope. I just keep people alive and that is enough."

But aside from the babies I still have to keep the lives of the other children functioning.  Jude and Si have breakdancing class.  Mimi had a birthday.  There were Valentine's to assemble.  We needed a table.  Life had to continue so we had to hit the ground running.

And this is the rundown of our happily functioning life:

When kids are home from school they help hold Philo so I can get some things done around the house and make dinner.

We went light for Mimi's birthday this year by just having a late-over in jammies and she was just as pleased.  She had a bunch of girlfriends over to eat cake, dance to Katy Perry in the kitchen and sing karaoke.  Then they all went downstairs and watched a movie.

Mimi is so blessed to have so many girl friends and I am so blessed to love all their mothers. This is one of my favorite parts about Utah: all the people doing the same thing in the same phase of life.

Hush does a LOT of baby duty.  He maintains the babies while I get the big kids in their beds at night. I have never felt more like a team with my coparent than I do these weeks. I strongly believe that the dad becomes a full time parent when the second baby comes.

Mercifully, LouLou is a great and flexible sleeper. Although she is a light sleeper, I can get her to nap when it's convenient for me and Philo.  She's on one or two naps a day at 17 months.

Occasionally the sink is sufficiently clear of dishes so I can bathe Phi in it.

Lou is feeling the shift of her throne.  She wants to be carried as much as possible. Never has she been more satisfied than when I put the giantess in the baby bjorn. But it totally hurt my back so forget it, kid.  In the afternoons we often have help from a mother's helper, Mikayla, whose main job is to hold and chase LouLou. I use that time to nurse without getting jumped on and to clean up the tornado she's caused around the house. Toddlers are so messy!

Snuggly babies in footie jammies. They're 16 months apart.

MJS built a Rubes Goldberg machine this week and Hush and I about died of pride.  They hadn't even been introduced to them yet but they figured out how to make a chain reaction.  Very proud.

Bath gazing.  Only one person pooped in the bath this week. Not bad.

Last Saturday the kids were playing happily with some friends downstairs so I took the opportunity to run an errand.  When I came back there were a total of 9 children in the house.

I don't take enough pictures of my cutest human.  Lou is a charming little monster.

Jude and his buddy Jack decided that they're twins because they both have two front teeth missing and similar haircuts. 

Most of my photos on my phone look like this. I think I've taken a picture of Philo every day of his life.

Philo is an okay sleeper. It takes him a while to get into a deep sleep but when he does he's out for hours. He's super gassy though, so that's been a challenge.  At five weeks he is waking up only once a night to nurse, and that feeding is happening around six am. So I guess technically he slept through the night last night for the first time.  Best newborn yet!