Probable reasons for not blogging (much) this week...

1. It was my dad's birthday and we were too busy partying.
2. Two of my three children (ACK! THREE! Still getting used to that...sorry.) have coughs that have kept all of us awake at night.
3. I'm lazy. (I know, crazy talk, right? RIGHT?)
4. I may or may not have spent a day in bed and/or hugging a big porcelain bowl.
5. Potty training is hard work.
6. It has snowed four times this week and I'm protesting.

So I guess I have some catching up to do. We actually had some other stuff happen this week, like...good stuff too.

Matt got a phone call from his sergeant on Tuesday night asking him to come teach a Defensive Tactics Class on Wednesday morning. While this created a bit of a panic when it came to baby-sitting arrangements for the kidlets, it's a great opportunity for him career-wise. Especially given that the sergeant called him, not the other way around. My ever helpful sister (Hi Lori!) came to our rescue, as so many of our family members have had to do lately, and took all three (ACK! THREE!) of the little rugrats for the day. The sergeant also asked him to teach four more classes in the next two weeks. Hopefully this is a good sign that advancement might be a possibility when his eligibility date hits.

We got some good news about dad as well. Turns out his PSA numbers went from just about 700 down to just about 500 after the chemo. This is like, stupendously amazing! The chemo is slowing down the cancer cells and that my friends, is some of the best news you can get.

I know more stuff happened...but after that, it doesn't seem all that noteworthy. Plus see reasons numbered 2 and 3 above. Lack of sleep and laziness is a bad combo.

Victim of Circumstance

Strange how spending a month at home with a new baby can give you a different perspective on your life and where you're headed. I've learned more than how to effectively change boy diapers. Like perhaps things aren't the way they are because there's something wrong. Sometimes...as much as I have never liked this explanation...we are the victims of circumstance.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going around blaming my problems on everyone else and refusing to take responsibility for where I'm at. I realize that I have created the circumstances that are, in turn, shaping my life to some degree. But I guess I hadn't realized for whatever reason that those things were, in fact, shaping my life and what happened within it.

I've found out that I'm not as bad of a housekeeper as I thought. When I'm home with the kids all day, even when Matt isn't home, I still get things done. And despite the fact that I have a brand new baby in the house and I'm still trying to figure out how in the heck to deal with 3 kids, I'm still able to get the dishes and laundry done and even sweep the floor once in a while. That might not seem like much, but it's a huge revelation to me at this point. I remember being able to keep up with all that stuff once upon a time...but I lost it when we moved out of our old house and hadn't really found it again until now. I know that once I go back to work, I'll probably misplace that ability again. But it's nice to know that it's more because I just don't have time to get it all done, than because I'm a lazy butt (well...most of the time anyway...).

I've also discovered again that I have a pretty fabulous husband and a pretty darn good relationship with him too. We see each other so rarely on our regular schedule that we don't have much time to talk about anything unrelated to the kids or the house. It's nice to know that we actually have a lot in common and are capable of having intellectual conversations with each other still. Who knew?

So basically, the whole experience has been good for me in more ways than one. While the main purpose behind being home for this time was to be with the baby and the kids to give us all time to adjust to a new little one in the house, I have ended up realizing some things that will hopefully help me when it's time to go back to our "real life". I'm so glad we've had the chance to do this.

New Year's Day

So we both ended up having the day off today. It was so nice. We were able to get all the Christmas things cleaned up and put away, including getting our poor dry tree out of the house. As much as I love Christmas, it felt good to get everything safely packed up and put away and to have all the extra space back. Now the girls can be free to play in the living room again without mom constantly reminding them to be careful.

We didn't really do much other than that. It was a slow lazy day. We played a bunch with the kids and their Christmas toys and just generally enjoyed hanging out without having to worry about being somewhere. It was a nice change from all the craziness of the past few weeks and a good break before the reality of a new baby in the house stirs everything up again.