It's Just Different

All you have to do is view the above picture to know that yes, we got the girls, and ahem...we've been shopping!  In my defense, they badly needed shoes.  Ok, so technically a person only needs one pair of shoes, but they have all these cute Sunday dresses and I've been waiting to buy little girl shoes a long, LONG time!  So, that's why we came home with 12 pairs.

Last week was quite the week.  We're into the second week now and still adjusting.  I think we will be for some time.  There's no major problems, but there is a world of difference between giving birth to a child and training them from the very start to being given a little stranger who already has a world view and set behavior patterns.  It's going to take some time...lots of patience...consistency...love...prayer....wisdom.

And we have a baby in the house again, which is fun.  She's not quite walking, but is into everything - yeah, that stage!  Fortunately, we just went through this a few years ago with Sam so my memory isn't totally rusty.  But I'm cleaning up lots of toddler messes these days!

And then, we all got sick last week on top of everything else!  The girls came to us with head colds.  We didn't get those, but we all got the flu.  Fortunately, it was staggered.  The boys all woke up vomiting on Thursday, I had it Friday, and Paul succumbed Saturday night.  It was just a 24 hour bug so by the time the next person went down, the previous sickie was up and could help out.  But I'm still tired and worn out from my bout.  Do you know we had not had the flu in this house since November of 2008?  And this was still too soon!  I'm so used to all of us being healthy most all the time.

We got our new pool up last week.  It's one Paul picked up at an auction this winter - actually the very day that we found out we had been approved for both our licenses.  Oh, it is nice!  I bought the little kids those expensive floaty suits and of course, we're taking all kinds of precautions with them in order to keep them alive.  But we've never had anything other than a wading pool.  For the first time we have room to actually swim and float - very relaxing!  With the extra-warm temperatures we've been having it's even more enjoyable!  I was fearful of what it would cost to fill it but I did the city's water bills this evening (and our meter was just read this morning) and our bill was only about $40 higher than normal - not as bad as I had feared.  And then I have to take into account all the money we're saving by not going to the public pools as often - good deal!

I don't think I really have anything else to report on right now.  My life is pretty much consumed right now with these new additions to our house.  Everyone keeps asking me how Sam is doing, which is understandable since he is closest in age to them.  He's doing fine.  Someday I can really envision him having a close relationship with his sisters.  Right now, he's tolerant.  The closeness will come later!  He's kind of been "king of the castle" his entire life, so this is a huge change for him, but he is handling it well.  I think it's hardest on me, to be honest.  It's definitely what I wanted and it makes me very happy when they wrap their little arms around my neck.  But I'm exhausted, too.  Somebody needs me constantly and I continually have things to address with them.  I just don't get a break!  I think I kind of took the freedom I had with the boys for granted - and now it's gone.  But I remember what it was like after Sam was first born and I remember feeling very similarly.  I felt nearly panicked by all that needed to be done and all the demands on me.  At least this time I don't have sore nipples on top of it!

 We'll get through this time.  God directed our steps and I know He will equip us to handle the many different things that are being thrown at us right now.  It's not all bad - it's just different.