Life Right Now

Life has taken a crazy turn since adding our sweet Sunflower to the mix.  Both Fritter and Ladybug adore her which is definitely helpful. 

Ladybug adores her a little too much sometimes, and I spend much of my time when Sunflower is awake keeping her safe from a well intentioned sister.  I think she believes Sunflower is her very own live doll.  She's better than any of us at getting her to take her paci though.  Probably because she has so much understanding of the paci mechanics that the rest of us don't have.  ;-)

Fritter is so sweet with her.  He's a big kid now, and has quite a bit of self control around the baby.  I can trust him enough to have him sit next to Sunflower on the couch while I'm taking care of something else within the line of sight.  He gives her sweet kisses on the head and is so gentle with her.  I'm curious to see how the dynamic between the three of them develop as she grows.

I am still not able to get much more than the basics done around the house.  I'm thinking my time management needs to be looked at, but I need to find the time to do that.  ;-)  It seems now that whenever I do anything, something else suffers.  So I am learning to prioritize tasks.  Changing a diaper is more important that finding someones lost toy.  Sometimes finding someones lost toy is more important than sweeping the floor and other times sweeping the floor is more important than finding someones lost toy.  Holding a fussy baby that really just wants to be held is more important than scrubbing the bathroom, but breaking up a fight between the two older kids is more important than holding a fussy baby that really just wants to be held.  We are all learning to have more patience, and sometimes we have to wait while someone else is helped.

I am also learning to be an opportunist.  Dad's playing with the kids for a few minutes and baby is sleeping?  Hurry!  Fold the laundry!  Kid's are all napping at the same time?  No time for reading!  Take a nap!  Sweep the floors!  It's early morning and everyone is patiently watching tv and drinking milk before breakfast?  Blog!

There are so many things right now that I want to get accomplished, but I know I can't do them all at once.  So I've made a few goals for our summer, and here they are in the order I hope to accomplish them.

Begin potty training Ladybug (this dreaded task starts Monday)
Ladybug and Fritter start swim lessons
Fritter start reading program (we're using this one)
Ladybug say goodbye to paci
Ladybug move to big bed

As you can see, there are big changes ahead for little Miss Ladybug.  But I'm sure she can do it.  One step at a time.