a random smattering of thoughts..

My life. There is a new kind of busyness about it. I am not sure if that has to do with adding number four or just life on the East coast in general. In reality, it does take me a good nine months or so to start to feel back to normal after having a baby. Brynn's nap schedule is pretty consistent, the hormones have leveled out, I'm sleeping through most nights. Which really means that Brynn is sleeping through the night. With the exception of this week because of course three new teeth have emerged, topped off with a cold.

Whenever Adam travels (he's gone this week), I always have high hopes of using any extra time to work on long delayed projects.  Extra time? What's that? I am busy from 6:30 am to 10 pm. All. day. long. There is always food to make, errands to run, messes to be cleaned up. Needless to say, no projects got done. But I am getting into a pretty set routine. So I have high hopes that someday some of those projects will get done.

........................................

I made the comment to Adam a couple of months back that even though we moved across the county, life is still pretty much the same.  Doesn't he think so too? The look he gave me back was priceless. Life couldn't be more different for him. The work environment, walking down the street every morning to take the bus to the T, traveling more than he ever had before. Everything. Everything. Everything. For me, not as much as you'd think. I wake up early, get the boys off to school, laundry gets done, shopping lists are made, food gets made/cooked/served/cleaned up, bathrooms are cleaned, exercising, reading, playing, shuffling kids from one activity to another, church meetings, callings to fullfill, holidays to celebrate... you get the picture right? Not to down play the importance of living close to family and friends that I adore and miss like crazy. It's just that most of my life happens within the four walls of the house that I am living in and has to do with these four children that I am raising.

........................................

A couple years back I swiped a book from my mom's book shelf called Simple Abundance.  It got put in my ever evolving 'to-read someday' book stack. Well, I selfishly brought it to Boston with me and I picked it up at the beginning of the year. The idea is to read a short entry every day of the year, get inspired, appreciate life, yada yada.  You get the point, right? I think I already have pretty good perspective and I am definitely a glass half full kind of girl. But already it has helped me step back and look at what's really important in life. One of the questions it asked the other day was what makes you truly happy.  I was able to re-evaluate how I was choosing to spend my time and re-assign priorities to that. I like reading stuff that gives you a different perspective. It's a good book. Definitely one I'd recommend. Here's another one that is excellent, if you're into that kind of stuff.

........................................

Finally, let talk about why it is so dang hard to raise a healthy family in this day and age? Every which way you turn there is offerings of sugar, treats, junk food, fast food.  Over the past few months I've dug in and have been reading books like Food Matters, In Defense of Food and watched shows like Food Inc., Forks over Knive and you tube videos like this one (or just read this article).  It's frustrating when I'm trying to teach my children what a healthy lifestyle looks like, why sugar is a special treat, why it's important to be active, why we need to eat more fruits and vegetables... and yet they are getting the opposite messages every where they turn. Commerials, media in general, school, church activities. It's hard not to get discouraged and frustrated. And, yet, knowledge is power and more than anything I am feeling empowered lately. I like that.

Ok, I'm done. Just some thoughts I wanted to jot down and remember someday. I added the picture above to show off my friends front yard and cute little Brynn. Could you imagine waking up to that everyday? Once the lake freezes over, we can take the kids over there to ice skate on it.

I'm back into blogging groove. Look for some more posts soon.

And to answer my first question, it's definitely the four kids.