Torture by Threading

I was voluntarily tortured tonight by the Jordanian threading lady. She was very sweet even though she was hurting me. I needed my eyebrows waxed (it's been probably years, but for some reason today it became a necessity, and I wanted to get out of the house). The place I was going to go was closed because I wanted to leave after I put Melia to bed. So me and two of the sistas headed to the mall, looked on the directory and headed to Beautiful Eyebrows.

So, at Beautiful Eyebrows they don't use wax, they use thread. I found out it's really painful. My first thought was "Oh, my! She's sawing my eyebrows off." The Jordanian Eyebrow Sawer had a great sense of humor and seemed to enjoy the sister cackling that was going on. Lots of laughing by all. And according to Aimee, who was the only one that wasn't blinded by the pain, we had people watching through the window.

The best thing that happened was when my torturer said to me "Your hair is so dark and your skin so light, it's like you're getting a haircut." I'm not exactly sure what she meant by that but I sure thought it was funny at the time.

Sleep, Sweet, Sleep

For the first six weeks that Melia Serawit was home sleep was very hard to come by. The first few weeks she fought going to sleep, and I mean fought! That little girl could really slap and pinch, anything to avoid sleep. Around week 3 she started feeling more comfortable with us and trusted us enough to snuggle and allow herself to fall asleep. It was sweet to watch her go from being angry with us to enjoying the snuggle time.

But then there was the staying asleep problem. From the first night we spent together we realized that what we had learned from AGCI about babies grieving in their sleep was very true for Melia. She slept very fitfully, moaned and cried while she was sleeping.

We had planned on co-sleeping with her. We read all about attachment parenting and wanted to invest all we could into her the first months she was home and keeping her in our bed was a great way to do that....in theory. In reality it didn't work in our situation. For some reason, as much as she loved being with me she couldn't rest peacefully with me unless I was sitting up, rocking her.

So, those first 6 weeks looked like this.....rocking her to sleep, laying her down in the crib next to our bed, then we'd go to bed hours later. She'd usually sleep for an hour or so after we went to bed then would wake up and we'd bring her into our bed where she would flip and flop and climb all over me for hours (literally). Eventually she'd fall asleep a little before 6 then she'd hear Michael's alarm and would wake up again, then I'd give her a bottle and she'd sleep until I had to get up with the other kiddos around 8:30ish.

Needless to say, after 6 weeks of this crazy sleep cycle I was going insane. My family and close friends were beginning to worry. My sister, Megan tried to make my life easier by making us meals for a week (that really helped) and my friend Marie took me out for whine and dessert and did a psych eval on me. In which she determined that I wasn't depressed or crazy just sleep deprived.

Up until this point Addie (2 and a half) was still sleeping in the crib in her room, but we had a "big girl bed" set up in her room. We ended up kicking Addie out of her crib and putting Melia in the room she would eventually share with Addie. We still rocked her until she fell asleep then put her in the crib....she slept 12 hours that night. Apparently, she just can't be around me while she's sleeping. Thank the Lord for great family and friends, who keep me sane!

Since then it's just gotten better and better. Addie has now been moved again from our bedroom and the girls are sharing a room. Melia loves to fall asleep on her own. Violet (pictured below) has helped a lot with that..

We still rock her and cuddle with her, then she points to her crib and dives for Violet. She lays in there for sometimes an hour just playing and then peacefully falls asleep. I'm amazed by the way sleep issues have changed in the last 2 and a half months. Once I started sleeping again I started feeling like having four kiddos was a little more manageable. Now that it's spring time and we can go outside again....life is good!

So, it took me a little while to feel okay with our sleeping arrangements. I really want to make sure that Melia attaches well and I wanted to follow the advice given to us, but this works best for our family and I'm learning that attachment has a lot do with flexibility, too. I need to trust my gut on what my baby needs.

Busy Girl

So I've been hearing about how great Coconut oil is from a few sources. One is from this blog. In anticipation of Melia's hair getting long enough to style I've been doing some reading. Anyway, apparently coconut oil is good for the hair, the skin, and it's good to eat too. I took these pictures after I slathered her up with coco oil. She was so kissable all day. She also had no interest in getting dressed and I didn't object. I love kissing that chunky belly!!

The other night when I was making her bottle with a scoop of coconut oil, Michael said "didn't you just put that in her hair this morning?" He thinks I'm more nuts than usual. He's probably right.

Oh and in case anyone's wondering....chip clips and water bottle = hours of baby entertainment.
She found this in the recycling bin and was quite proud of herself. She's giving me a stare down. Wondering if I'm going to take it away from her.

She's got such a huge personality. I love it!

Caleb's 6th Birthday

Earlier this week I had grand visions of writing a long post about my sweet boy, Caleb. I was planning on posting pictures from when he was a baby and writing about how he is such a gracious child. He is so easy to forgive when others wrong him and he loves to smile. And I had a whole bunch of other stuff to say but..... my life happened and I have no energy for that type of post. So, instead I have posted a bunch of pictures of the fabulous day we had today to celebrate my amazing boy turning 6.

He started the day with some

present opening.

Then we met Rhi-Rhi and the boys

and Aunt Meg and her crew at

Funtastic.

Natie on the zip line.

Melia with her boy Eli

(isn't he super cute?)

Lovin' on his mommy.

Yesterday we decided to have a party and

all of these lovely people joined us tonight on

such short notice!

Caleb loves big parties.

Opening presents

(I had told Caleb last night that when I invited

people to the party I told them not to bring a present

and for him not to expect presents. When people started

coming in with presents he said excitedly,

"They brought presents even though my mom told them not too!"

Loving the Obi-Wan suit from

Bubba and Grammy.

He opened up his presents from us late tonight.

I found the sweatbands and glass at the dollar spot

at Target and I knew he'd love them.

(oh, and they were 50% off, too)

And sweet, silly Addie.

A day in the life....

It seems like Addie's finding new ways to drive me

crazy these days. Today I came upstairs and found this....

she had to climb into the sink to get the "losion" out of

the cabinet.

And a new all time low for me....

I'm feeding the kids dinner in the bath.

(They don't usually all take a bath together

but they begged to be with Melia)

Here's the cake I've been working on for Caleb.

I decided to take pictures right away because

with Addie around who knows what it will

look like tomorrow.

At least they're having fun....

Addie's feeding her applesauce that had been

on the table for hours and hours.

Nathan wearing Melia's coat and Addie with

food all over her face.

Addie is 20 months older, guess who weighs more

and who wants mama to hold her all the time.

Family Fun Night at preschool.

3 out of 4 happy is pretty good for us

these days. Someone's generally crying

about something.

The boys love this baby!!

Pretending to be Captain Jack Sparrow.

The costumes aren't too impressive but I pulled

them together in 20 minutes on a day when Michael

worked late and had to meet us at the event.

Notice Addie bawling in the back.

So people have asked how I'm doing. Wondering why I haven't updated the blog.

Ummm....I'm exhausted, stress, happy, tired, blessed....but an overwhelming exhausted feeling often creeps in.

So there's a lot of the above pix happening around here... Addie feeding Melia things she shouldn't. In this case brownies. Most of the reason she should is because it's my after the kids go to bed snack.

Then there's all the flippin' laundry. Seriously, I can't believe how much more laundry there is adding one kid.

It is stinkin' winter so the clothes are bulkier (and we're all stir-crazy, but that's another story). The baby has been having blow outs. We had a couple pukey days this week. At least I have cute helpers.