Thanksgiving Week

Last week was rough. Everyone had been sick for what seemed like forever. I felt awful and Ember was so miserable and was barely sleeping at all during the night. We also found out that we need to completely gut the master bath in the rental house and redo it. When we got the estimate it caused me to die a little on the inside. I was not feeling very thankful. I was also discouraged about the kids' behavior. Kindness and gratefulness doesn't always come naturally to them. 

This week has been different. I can't really change the circumstances, but I can change my attitude. Instead of yelling at my kids "Be nice to each other", I need to model it instead. 

I was more intentional this week when it came to parenting them. 

These two little buddies make me laugh so much. They make my days so much brighter. 

 We started Ember on reflux medicine last week and it has made a big difference. She slept through the night two nights in a row this week!!!

 Yesterday while Asher was in school I made cinnamon rolls. The recipe makes 8 tins (thank you Pioneer Woman). Nate suggested I halve the recipe to make fewer. The kids and I decided to make them all. We then made a list of people we are thankful for and gave them out yesterday. It was a really fun way to talk about thankfulness with them.

Grateful

Ten years ago I was a sophomore in college. It was the hardest year of my life. I made so many choices that left me hurt and broken. I didn't want to keep going. I could barely attend class and work. For much of my life I dreamed of a husband and four kids. That year I stopped dreaming, it was too painful. The future looked so hopeless and I wanted to give in to the weight off all that I felt. 

In the lowest parts, where I stopped dreaming and hoping, I had people that did that for me. Friends that painted the future for me. That made me laugh. They made sure I ate and didn't wallow. I had people who cried with me. 

At the end of that year I slowly started to dream again. I pictured the future. I slowly envisioned the family that I wanted to badly. 

Ten years later that dream has come true. 

I am so grateful for the friends I had that year. The ones that loved me, despite what a mess I was. I'm grateful for God and the dreams that he made come true. 

Now I get to dream some new dreams.

This Past Week

Sickness has descended upon the Niphakis house. Nate and Asher started it with fevers and bad colds. Last week Dex got the same thing and Piper decided to up the ante with a double ear infection and pink eye. Ember isn't sick, but we found out she has terrible reflux (without actually spitting up). That has caused her to be super grumpy and congested. She started medicine yesterday, so I'm hoping she will feel (and sleep) better soon. 

The kids missed a lot of school last week. Dexter thought he would feel better if he wore my sweat shirt over his pajamas. 

 In other news, Asher lost his first tooth last night. He was a little disappointed that the tooth fairy only leaves a dollar. He was hoping for some Benjamins.

Weekends

Ember is 6 weeks old. I feel like I've gotten into a pretty good rhythm with the kids, but I'm still having a hard time with balancing some things. My mornings are spent getting the kids out the door and running them to their various places. After preschool pickup I rush to do lunch and get Dex down for a nap before I have to pick Asher up (although Dexty's nap days are quickly fading). I tutor about four evenings a week. Have you noticed what I am not doing? Cleaning. The few free moments I have I usually spend trying to keep myself awake since little Miss Emmy still isn't sleeping well at night. 

When the weekend comes my first inclination is to spend it getting caught up on cleaning and laundry. I have come to realize that this season of life may not be the most organized for me. Going places with the kids and doing fun things with them is probably more important right now. 

On Saturday Nate and I decided to ignore all the messes and we went to Virginia for the day. We haven't been to the zoo in a while and the kids had a lot of fun. Dex loves all the animals. 

Now if a cleaning fairy could magically appear I would really appreciate it.

Niphakis Ramblings

Nate pointed out the other day that I haven't posted any of the things the kids say in a while. Here are a few highlights.

Anytime Piper wants to tell you a secret she comes up and says "I need to tell you a whisper".

Last week Nate was raking a little and had the kids collect leaves in a bucket. Piper meticulously chose leaves and went around saying "You are a beautiful leaf, you deserve to go in the bucket".

Asher was sneezing a lot last night. When he came downstairs this morning he announced "I was blessyouing all night".

Nate has been doing some mad scientist things in his office. He took apart an old typewriter and is doing some computer programming with it and making all sorts of shapes. Today he and Asher were making some different patterns and I suggested an infinite symbol. Asher chimed in "Is God infinite?" Nate replied "Yes". Asher then said "Wow, God's been growing".

Emmy's First Playdate

When I was pregnant with Ember, my friend Julie was pregnant with Beatrix. We were due a day apart. The girls ended up being born a week apart. They came over yesterday for a lunch date. Both of these girls are pretty fussy and spent a lot of time crying. 

We put them together on the boppy and Emmy Lu took the opportunity to try and eat her little friend. 

 I hope these two will be great friends. I also hope they discover that life is much easier if you don't cry so much.