1 week down.

Since you've been gone...

Charlotte: Our sweet little 7 year old has been doing the workouts that you wrote on the chalkboard in the gym, religiously... I kid you not. The kid is determined to do a handstand without using her feet up against the wall. She practices them EVERYWHERE we go... so much so that the other day she was doing one ... her glasses fell off her face, and when she landed down, she landed on them... and broke them (hence the glasses-less face in the photos!) So, just add that to my list of things to fix this week. Otherwise, she's been keeping up with school and having so much fun playing with her friends in the afternoon.

Marley: Our sweet little 1 year old... man, she's been a pill. She's woken up between 4:30 and 5:30 am every single day... with the exception of one 6:30 am wake up. Because of her loud screams to come and get her... she wakes up the entire household. So, every morning by around 6 am, we have a pj party in our bed... and although it's sweet having all the extra snuggles... it'd be even sweeter getting in an additional 1 or 2 hours of sleep... She walks around the house, and points to photos of you (see, all your hard work putting up those shelves paid off) and squeals in delight of seeing your face. She's been unzipping her pajamas and finding her belly button... laughs as she tickles it, all thanks to the game that you two played before you left.

Finn: Our sweet little 3 month old has been a growing a lot since you left... that's his job these days, to grow... well, and eat and poop and sleep. He's been so alert and active during his wake times... the wake times are getting longer and longer too. He can be awake and entertained for almost 2 hours before needing to eat and sleep. He's creating a schedule/routine for himself, and it's pretty spot on to where I'd like it to be. We just need to work on an earlier bedtime, and longer stretch of sleep. He's starting to reach up and around for toys, hair or whatever's in front of his face. He coos all the time... trying to get his voice heard above his sisters... it's so sweet, and usually he wins my attention before the others do.

Me: This week, I tried to fill every moment with SOMETHING so that I wouldn't sit down and think about the fact that you weren't there... It worked, for most of the time... until something broke, or both babies cried at the same time, or each time I woke up to feed Finn in the middle of the night- I didn't have someone to stare at who was peacefully sleeping next to me... A lot of little things happened throughout the week where I would normally have thrown myself a pity party... but I didn't let that happen. I'm trying to choose joy during this time apart... probably a lot easier said than done. But I'm trying. Our babies certainly have kept me busy though, and the fact that a full week has gone by and they're still alive... I'd say I did a job well done. Some days I stayed in my jammies all day, some times I didn't eat my first meal until 1 in the afternoon, and I might have gone a few days without a shower... BUT, I kept the kids alive (and Runyan too).

Story of the Week: On Saturday we were headed out to run a full day's worth of errands (Build and Grow at Lowe's was our first stop)... apparently when I was getting us ready, I put the stroller in the bed of the truck without putting the brakes on first. I thought I slammed the truck bed door closed and was on my way. When we pulled into the Lowe's parking lot... there was a lady in a car who was waving me down and yelling for me to pull over... apparently, at the 4 way stop before turning into Lowe's, the stroller rolled right out of the truck bed and rolled over to the side of the street. No cars were injured and the stroller works just fine... BUT oh my word, imagine if that had happened on the highway? I can't even begin to tell you how much the Lord was watching out for us (and the stroller)... So, I drove back over to the 4 way stop, and low and behold, the stroller was on the side of the road in the grass waiting for us. I piled it back in the truck bed, and as I was closing the door, I noticed it wouldn't latch... I ended up having to bungee cord the stroller down (and made sure the brake was down) so that it wouldn't roll out of the open truck bed. Whew... thankfully the door is fixed now, but what a moment of panic I had... and now, I look back and think how comical that must have looked (stroller rolling out of my truck bed) to everyone but the person behind me.