"We Got This"

As I mentioned in my last post, my mom left on Monday afternoon.  That means that for the last two days it has been an experiment in what life will really look like for us now as a family of 6.  Our motto has been..."we got this."  In a way, it's a fun challenge to take this all on without help (and in another way completely terrifying).  Doug and I are trying to approach it with a "can do" attitude as we feel out the new syncopation of all these boys' needs and you know, laughing a lot to keep it light when our best attempts end in a cacophony of bedlam from the boys.  Here are a few highlights from the past few days...

On Tuesday, there was yet another school delay due to frigid temps.  That meant Koen was home until 10am.  At first this made me nervous, but he was in great spirits and we had a great morning...me and my 4 boys (crazy!).  Koen had the fun idea of baking cookies and since Jansen cooperated and took a great morning nap, we pulled it off.  Here's my baking buddy.

Tavin and Penn had fun "baking" with macaroni at the island.

That was our big morning activity.  A little before 10am, I had to take Koen out to the bus stop.  Thankfully his bus came on time and I was back inside to feed Jansen on time.  Phew!  We did it!  The rest of the day was pretty straightforward since it was the low key little guys.  Koen got home from school and was in great spirits again which was a huge blessing because I was on duty all night long with Doug out at a meeting.  Yep, that's right...I got all 3 kiddos to bed on my own!!  The Lord was so gracious to have this first day of me on duty with all 4 boys on my own go so smoothly...a real confidence booster!  

Today was the first regular day of school for Koen and Tavin both in about a week.  So, this morning seemed like a breeze.  Penn had speech therapy here from 9-10am and then at 11am I entertained a two mommy friends that wanted to stop by and see us (i.e. meet Jansen of course!).  Speaking of Jansen, I have a few sweet pictures of him from the past few days to share.  He's getting chunkier by the day and cuter by the minute. =)  This first one is a post-feeding satisfied smile.  Melts me!

Super wakeful and laying on my chest looking up into my face.  I can't get enough of his sweet face!

Full, satisfied, well-rested and you know, just thinking about the day ahead this morning.

Ok, so anyways, back to the rest of today.  Tav had the bright idea to go in the backyard with Penn to play after he returned from preschool.  Sure, why not?  It was "balmy" in comparison to a few days ago.  They had a blast.  I couldn't get a good picture of Tav, but check out my puffy Penn Rye.  

All that snow fun tired Penn out and he took a great nap.  Tav had a good, restful afternoon and Jansen took a pretty good nap too.  Koen again came home in a good mood and then I was pleasantly surprised that Doug was able to be home a little before 5pm.  Yay!  Not to mention we had the blessing of receiving yet another meal from a friend, so dinner prep was a cinch!  Praise the Lord for an amazing community keeping this load a little lighter these first few weeks!  The rest of the evening went pretty smoothly with some playtime, dinner and then bedtimes.  So, two days down on our own.  Yeah, baby, "we got this."  Ha!  Stay tuned for some overwhelmed, exhausted post in the future, but for now I'm thanking the Lord for a good start!!