Getting Things Done

It was an early, busy, crazy Monday morning. I'm looking forward to our new rhythm with the big kids back in school and the little ones at home. I decided to check a few things off my to-do list this morning, but miss Lily loves being held and moving, so into the wrap she went. I got to enjoy my snuggles hands-free and tend to my neglected house!

 

Baby wearing has saved my life so many times. After a semi-productive morning, the rest of the day was spent snuggling and nursing. Lily was a tad fussy and just needed some mommy time. The rest of the house work can wait!

 

Resolutions & Grace

Our morning started out nice and slow, as Monday mornings should.  After a wonderful blur of a Christmas break we are gently easing back into reality. The littles began their online schooling today and made it to all of their scheduled google meets (yay!). Camilla scooped up Lily and cuddled her on her shoulder while she did her school work on the computer this morning. All of the littles introduced their baby sister in their "show and share" moments and it was adorable listening to them answer questions about when she was born and what her name was. Joe even pointed out to his teacher that Lily sleeps best when there's lots of noise. His teacher replied that she came to the right family, and then clarified that we don't have a noisy family, just that there's lots of us. Ha! 

 

After all of the school work was complete, I went to the store because we were in desperate need of groceries after the holiday left-overs had been eaten. Lily slept the entire time we were gone and the hour of peace and quiet was much needed. I barely got all of the groceries unloaded before Lily woke and cried. When I  came in with the last load, big sister was already unbelting her carseat. It was  then that we discovered she had blown out of her diaper and Lily was quickly passed over to me while Camilla scrunched her nose and went to the bathroom to wash up. 

The afternoon was a whirlwind of feedings, noise, and chaos. The older two baked up their famous snickerdoodle cake. I may or may not have locked a few of the boys outside to play for a half hour. While I made dinner a parade of little boys ran back and forth through my kitchen from one end of the house to the other, with Sawyer trailing behind them giggling hysterically. They like to play this game often where they all sneak and run away and Sawyer tries to find them. Lily quietly slept in the middle of it all, never waking when they whizzed by yelling and screaming and laughing. My music played in the background while the lasagna baked and I sat bleary eyed at the kitchen table ignoring the craziness. 

By the time the evening rolled around I was feeling pretty exhausted. I had only managed a few winks of sleep during the night and my days are full and busy. We said family prayers, tucked the littles into bed and then I put my feet up for a little while. I have been teetering on the edge emotionally as my hormones straighten out and I adjust to life as a mother of seven with a newborn. There are many moments of sheer joy, where my heart feels as though it will leap from my chest. And then there are moments where I'm blinking  back tears and willing away negative thoughts of failure as I struggle with lack of sleep and seemingly unachievable goals. 

When I set goals for myself this year, many of them centered around things I'd like to do to become a better mother, talents I'd like to develop, and habits that I've missed (like daily journal writing and regular study). I always anticipate the new year with great excitement as I think about all of the new things I want to do and accomplish and who I'd like to become. Like, it's ridiculous how excited I get for January to come around and seasons to change. I love new beginnings and opportunities to start fresh. Often, after the first few days I find myself getting discouraged because my busy life doesn't allow me to do the things I had planned, or I find myself frustrated with how I dealt with a certain situation, wishing I had practiced more patience and self mastery. 

As I lamented my woes to my dear Mr. Stannix tonight he wisely responded. "You should have ONE goal for 2021. Love your baby. The rest just doesn't matter. Do the things that need to be done and who cares if the rest of the house falls apart. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father just wants you to love your baby." It was profound. I hugged him as I blinked back tears, grateful for his understanding and counsel. 

 

When I got ready for bed, I noticed the pile of laundry that I had intended to fold today was pushed off the bed and onto the floor (like it often is) where it will wait for me to pick it back up and put it onto my freshly made bed in the morning (and then probably wait some more to be folded). I truly am too busy soaking in this newborn stage to worry about folding laundry or tidying toys. And knowing that Mike doesn't care what state the house is in made me feel one hundred times better. Sometimes having the right perspective can change everything.

 

While I'm not entirely giving up on bettering myself and developing new talents and habits in 2021, I am going to allow myself some grace. My desired daily habits may not be daily (yet), but I'm determined to keep trying. In the meantime, I will be spending these bleak mid-winter days soaking in my children and cherishing these fleeting moments where our home feels like it's been blessed with a piece of heaven.

 

Two Weeks

Two weeks with you, baby girl! We couldn't be more in love. 

A Full Heart

 This morning I woke and got SEVEN children ready for church. The big kids were all  very helpful, which was nice! Camilla helped the little boys get dressed and Hyrum and Joe were able to get themselves ready without too many reminders. 

We took a quick snapshot in front of the Christmas tree just before heading out the door to church. My hands don't really feel much more full than they were before Lily joined us, but my heart sure does! I feel so blessed to be their mamma!

  

It's pretty crazy how much babies can change in a week. I take way too many pictures when they are this tiny and am so grateful for digital photography that makes it possible to do so. 

 

 

On my way to the van, I paused to soak in this view. I took a deep breath, bracing myself for the hour ahead at church with seven littles on the bench. I am super grateful for my parents and the help they are able to lend! Church would be far more overwhelming right now if they weren't here with us.

 

 

 

Before taking her out of her dress, I had to take a few more pictures. I made this hat and bootie set for her, and it makes me so happy to see her wearing it. She was such a darling at church today! I love this age where they pretty much sleep through everything.

 

 

The late afternoon and early evening were spent playing foosball and hanging out in the rec room by the tree. We all admired Lily and enjoyed watching her stare at the lights on the tree. It was nice to have a slow afternoon to soak in the last of the Christmas season goodness. 

 

 

We were blessed to end the day with the most gorgeous sunset! Days like these fill my heart right to the brim with happiness.

 

 

Christmas Recap

 After staying up way too late the night before, Christmas morning came EARLY! I had to will my body to leave my warm bed after being up all night nursing. The littles were all awake at 4:30am, but didn't come to our room until 5:50am. They just couldn't wait any longer to open their stockings! They brought them to our bed and opened everything and then we went out to the play room to watch a movie to let a very tired Daddy catch a few more winks before opening presents. 

Lily basically slept through the entire ordeal!

She spent the entire morning snuggling Gramma while we opened presents!

The littles started with their "big" present this year! We invested in a foosball table for the family. With all of these kids and all of their friends, we are sure it will be put to good use!

Present opening was slow and perfect. There was no whining or complaining, just joy and excitement and gratitude.

It didn't take long to open everything and clean up the mess! The rest of the morning was spent playing with new toys and enjoying each others company!

Sawyer ADORED his new ride on car, just like I knew he would! I could hardly peel him off it for breakfast, but I'm pretty sure he was too full of skittles to even eat anyways.

Everyone took turns on the new foosball table and they were all yelling and cheering!

I enjoyed watching my new carousel that Mr. Stannix got me. My collection is slowly growing!

Lily Joy enjoyed hanging out on her new blanket made by Gramma Hudkins! It's so lovely!

Despite being insanely sleep deprived, I pulled of Christmas Dinner (with the help of my mamma) and we all stuffed ourselves! The littles went outside and did some sledding before dark and Ollie enjoyed his new sled. When I asked how he liked it he said, "Perfect! It went rippin' and then it turned me all by itself!"

Merry Christmas

 

Christmas Eve

 Today was a wonderful day. The littles have been looking forward to Christmas for so long and the energy in the house was high all day long as they anticipated the festivities ahead and FINALLY being able to open their presents tomorrow morning. I've had them all wrapped and ready to go for a while. I stashed them under my bed and often found them in my room shaking and guessing.

 

We are all enjoying our new baby sister and everyone takes turns holding her. Camilla loves on her the most though and has no problem snuggling her all day every day. 

This stage is always the best in many ways because they sleep all day! Lily can sleep through all of the noise and chaos that comes with our big family and I'm so grateful for that!

 

 

With the incredibly warm temperatures we've been enjoying, we decided to get outside mid-afternoon for some fresh air. It was close to ten degrees outside, so I bundled up Lily and brought her along for some sunshine. The boys immediately began a snowball fight that lasted most of the way down the road. There was lots of laughing as they ganged up on their dad. I walked mostly behind so that I wouldn't get beaned by any snowballs that went off course. 

When we got inside, Mr. Stannix went to work making Grampy's Tacos. This has become our Christmas even tradition and will be even more fun when the littles are a bit older and can help flip the taco shells. He poured his heart into these for over three hours (they're a lot of work!). 

 

 

As they came out of the pan, Hyrum spooned the ground beef onto them and I closed them up with toothpicks to get them ready for the second frying. When we finally used up all the batter (we made a triple batch) it was time to re-fry them and eat!

We invited Gramma and Grampa over to enjoy them with us and it was total chaos of course. They are so good to put up with us! There was pop cans sliding out of greasy hands and me crawling under the table yelling "GOT IT!" as the pop glugs out onto the floor. It was sticky and crazy and I hardly had time to sit and stuff my face with tacos. While we were wiping floors, Ollie was going around giving everyone hugs over and over again. He was feeling happy and excited and had to express it somehow. After dinner everyone was wired, running, jumping around excitely. It was so loud I could hardly think or speak. 

 

 

We gathered everone in the playroom and passed out their Christmas Eve presents. They all opened their jammies amidst shouting and chaos and then went downstairs to change into them. Once life had calmed down a little bit, we gathered in front of the tree for some Christmas Eve pictures. 

 

We then headed over to Gramma and Grampas for a shrimp ring and quick bedtime snack. It was getting late! The littles ended up out on the deck to cool off (these new jammies were quite warm apparently). They loved looking at the stars and one of them even thought they saw Santa's sleigh flying off in the distance. They even grabbed a pair of binoculars just to make sure and went to bed excited for Christmas morning. Camilla even set an alarm to wake them at 11pm because her Santa tracker app said that is approximately what time Santa would be flying over and they were determined to catch him. They had even rehearsed in the afternoon who would wake who and how they would sneak up the stairs.

My Dad and Mr. Stannix spent a good portion of the night assembling the foosball table while I finished wrapping some odds and ends. I carried all of the gifts out to the tree just as they were finishing up. We cralwed into bed exhausted, knowing that the littles would be awake in just a few hours!