Gearing up

Look who's doing all the "power steering" at the store...

... shopping for back-to-school supplies. There's more to get organized, and more changes to adjust to -- new school, new friends and teachers, and new schedules; the boys start school in a week.


The pint-sized gal isn't really big enough to sit in the double-seater (she's actually standing in the cart, under close supervision), but raring to go!

Meanwhile, when morning comes, Vern will go back to St Louis for the home stretch of his schoolwork there. We'll greatly appreciate your prayers for him to successfully defend his dissertation on Monday. And while he is away, for the children and me to manage well, by God's grace, the next seven days on our own.

On one hand, I always tell myself to take it easy; on the other, whenever on half strength and clearly outnumbered, how can I not be in survival mode? There's the stuff I can plan ahead -- like stocking up on enough grocery to feed an army, and no venturing far from home except for the usual swim lessons now at another pool so I can avoid the peak hour traffic. But there's also all the rest -- to trust the good Lord to take care of, and watch over us, as always. He's at the helm!

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

His grace keeps me going. The children and chores wear me out (of course, I'm human), and I ask for strength and patience to get through each day, to keep on going.

Thanks for stopping to care, I'll catch you later!

Cake for Kait... and play ball!

Thursday...

Kait holds up one finger, as if saying: I'm 1!


Now, take a closer look...
Actually, she'd dipped her finger into the cake (mm... mm), eyeing it the moment I set it down in front of her! Good thing, good girl she didn't try and grab the whole plate (as happens, every now and then)...


What worked, what did not: Managed to try this simple milk-free, butterless, and eggless recipe for the cocoa-flavoured cake for the first time, with a little help from the boys (took lots of coaxing though, but every bit of help is appreciated). It was quite tasty and would have been fine on its own. But I'd thought marrying it with the upsidedown plum (from another recipe out of a magazine) would be a good idea and fairly straightforward. Kait loves the summer fruits -- plums, peaches, and nectarines, and she's into blueberries, too, though I'm holding off strawberries, and eggs, cow's milk and dairy products because of her eczema. In fact, I'd cut up more plum for her to eat, as a distraction, to buy time for the preparations. Now what I realised too late was the plum needed a longer baking time. Anyway, the cake was still very edible, and all eaten up by the next day, but...

It's not all about the cake...
The funniest part was when Jon and Ben went so off-key singing falsetto, and yet kept on singing with so much gusto, from Happy Birthday to God's blessings to you... Vern and I got a good laugh out of it! And for how very stressed he is over the schoolwork to be finished -- and that makes two of us, we certainly could use the chuckles!

Kait was singing aaaaahhhhh along with the brothers to the birthday song (above, left), and she was still licking her lips in the picture on the right!

And the best part for Kait... It must have been the bit of fun playing outside, after dinner. I had made a simple chicken soup, Chinese style, with noodles, that all of us, including the birthday gal, slurped up readily. And I'd like to think the speed with which they ate had nothing to do with the brothers wanting as much time there was to ride their bikes and skate scooters, before the sun was already setting earlier, and the weather, getting cooler!

Dressed up for her birthday, nowhere in particular to go (Vern needed to get on with his work, so we did not eat out), but that doesn't stop Kait from having a ball just playing outside...

Clockwise, from top: I got the ball... Saved ... and... Look out, I'm fierce!!!

And yes, the gungho girl will dig sand -- like Ben, or roll in the mud -- like Jon, if I let her!

(I was the one playing ball with Kait, and just snapped these pictures).

Stepping out

Kait hurrying after her brothers with their goggles at the pool...

Like most younger siblings, she goes where they go, and with me driving them for their swim lessons four days a week, before summer will be over soon. And hanging around to wait for them to be done, it really helps that she's quite content with roaming around, but I have to steer her away from the water, of course.



In many ways, Kait tries to keep up with Jon and Ben -- play what they play, and do what they do. And over these last 12 months, she's grown in more ways than the snippets I tried to capture here.

Maybe she will be the level-headed one? At the supermarket, it was a good thing she sat quite nicely in the shopping cart when the boys started fighting even before I could load the grocery on the counter.

But the cashier, seeing my hands full, was right to say that I must -- had better -- have a pair of eyes on the back of my head; I feel so more than before, after three children. Some things, like their physical needs and driving them for school or some activity/errand can be demanding, but are more or less routine. It's the emotional aspects that make the most basic tasks much harder work, and really sapping. I'm trying to read up on discipline (my problem is I over-reward), and also on the no-cry sleep solution, hoping to catch more (much needed) winks to counter Kait's frequent night-nursing (not new to me, but I am older now).

Kait loves being outdoors...

... and the feel of grass beneath her feet and in her fingers.

And every time I see her wrinkle her nose -- not in disdian but in wonder, beaming over something new, something she doesn't think she'll get to do, like whoosh down the slide (with help), I remember how little Jon and Ben once were too, not so long ago.

I need to get back to the basics -- amid all the exhaustion and frustrations -- and do what I do for my family because I love them. To delight in my children for who they are, and help them grow and become who each one is: always precious and beautiful in God's eyes.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's
womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

- Psalm 139:13-14

My baby girl turns 1 tomorrow. These pictures are from about a month ago, taken with my cellphone. These days, she's running around in sturdier tennis shoes, and always likes to run off with the TV remote control.

Face to face

Left: Jon and Ben, before taking off in separate directions, strike a cheeky pose in front of the faces of former American presidents, sculpted by Gutzon Borglum at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Here in South Dakota we got to stop briefly, during our move earlier. We hadn't planned on it, but the boys could use the running around -- to expend some energy, and this place sure beat the usual rest area or gas station cum bathroom stop!

And it was on the short walking trail they did with their daddy, that they got this more up-close shot of the granite sculpture (right). The four presidents need no introduction, you name them!

The guys and Kait with me did have to split when she needed to nurse; here's a shot of us together when she was not crying away... before we had to get on our way! I did say it was a brief stopover!

Face to face (what I'm grappling with as mom):
Three babies and this relocation later, it's more glaring that there are many things about parenting and parenthood I still don't get.

It's as basic as, "Help, how do I get my kids to listen -- and obey?", and "Is crying- it-out for the baby (I still can't do it this third time) the only way to get some uninterrupted sleep?".

This much I know: after age 3, the sleep (for moms on HP duty, HP = human pacifier) gets better. I can't say the same about the obedience though.

And the crazy moments can be really bad, I scream my head off, trying not to lose it -- my mind, my sanity.

Big Picture:
When they aren't crying or fighting each other or giving us a ton of attitude, my children are kinda cute. Everyone has a breaking point; I do, so do they. Triggers include: when we are misunderstood/feel wronged, and when we need more sleep.

Other things going on: Older boy, the tween, wants to be a teen and have things his way. Younger boy, like me, is still adjusting -- to the big move, and to the jump from two to three children. The baby girl is also making her wants, not just needs, known more and more (read: knows full well how to throw tantrums)!

Each stage, each child is different; what worked before at a younger age and for one child may not for a later stage or for another child. So how?

Got to keep trying, and keep working on the things that need work, and not just on the kids but myself also!



Try this bliss-boosting idea:
Make a joy first-aid kit* with good items -- whatever you can count on to give your spirits a lift. E.g. a funny photo of the kids (this blog helps me in that way, but I have to find time), a stash of candy (or chocolate!), a bible (and favourite verses on hand), a bubble bath (or I'll pick a storebought facial mask instead -- time-saving, and so refreshing when I tried it in the middle of all the late-night packing!), etc.

* from Bonnie St John, author of "Live Your Joy"