August 2019 GBOMB
August seemed so busy, but looking back I can't really remember us doing too much. Even on the days when we sit at home doing nothing, it still feels busy when there's three little ones to care for. Here is what I can remember of the Good, the Bad, and what's been On My Brain for August.
G O O D
+We got a cat. That's not something I thought I would be saying. Not that I have anything against cats, but I'm much more of a dog person. I follow the local humane society on Facebook and thought that maybe one day we would rescue a dog (as in possibly a few years from now). Instead of that being the case, I saw a three legged cat pop up in my feed and within a couple hours we had adopted an eight-ish year old, tripod cat. We named her Big Tuna (as a nod to The Office) and she is quite the affectionate cat. The humane society told us that she would probably hide out for the first week or so, but she immediately wanted to be around the action. They also warned us that since she's an older cat and may have endured some trauma (they have no idea how she lost her leg), that she might not do well with rambunctious little kids. Luckily, she has been excellent with the kids and puts up with their constant need to be in her face. I'm pretty sure she was abused to some extent before because she does kind of cower if she's not expecting you to pet her or if you walk past her too fast, but she doesn't run and hide, and she doesn't let it stop her from being around all our rowdiness (she immediately starts crying/howling if she can't find what room we're in). I think she's a good fit for our family, and we hope she enjoys her time in our house.
+The fence around our backyard has started! It should be done soon and I'm excited to be able to send the kids to play in the backyard without worrying about what wildlife they might stumble upon. It's going to take a loooong time to get anything else in the backyard, but dirt will do for now. I mean dirt is peak play for a bunch of toddlers anyway. That also means that our dog Harley and tortoise Pancho Villa can come live with us again (they've been staying at my brother's house). Olive has been constantly pestering the cat and I'm always telling her to give the cat space. She's excited for Harley to join us because I told her that Harley loves attention and she can annoy Harley all she wants.
B A D
+Andrew sometimes has to travel for work. It's usually only for a few days each month, but in August he was gone a Sunday-Friday period, and then left the following Monday until Thursday. It was a rough two weeks for me.
+Eliza has been teething. It was at it's peak while Andrew was gone (lucky me). Her bottom two teeth are now poking out, but I'm sure more teeth will follow soon. That's the hard part about teething, once it starts you know you have a full year of teething ahead of you.
+I had a pretty bad cold. Luckily, it only came on strong one day before Andrew got home from his second trip of the month so once he was back I was able to take it easy. I always lose my voice when I'm sick which is pretty annoying. Then Eliza decided to make both teething and me being sick to new heights by getting Roseola. I have no idea how she got Roseola since we never leave the house. I don't think the Roseola was too bad for her, but it was hard to tell since she was already cranky from teething.
O N M Y B R A I N
+I've been trying to come up with some regular chores for the kids to do. One day Taylor took his clean clothes and folded them and put them away in his dresser all on his own. Now that I know he can put away his laundry (very nicely at that), he is now responsible for that. Olive wants to be like Taylor so she attempts to put away her clothes, but really she just throws any and all clothes in whatever drawer she sees first. They will often "help" with things that I'm doing and they pick up their toys every day, but we haven't really established daily chores for the kids. I think they're ready for that step so I'm trying to come up with a system. Please share if you have a good chore system or ideas of what chores are appropriate/doable for a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old.
+I've come to the realization that life will always be busy. I mean I've always known that, but I've been thinking about it a bit more lately. A lot of days I feel like I get nothing done. I do keep three children alive which is so much work and pretty much the opposite of not getting anything done, but I still want to be able to accomplish more with my time. I'm trying to figure out what's important and beneficial in my life and and what fat can get cut. It's the whole good, better, best dilemma while also being realistic that life will always be a bit chaotic.
G O O D
+We got a cat. That's not something I thought I would be saying. Not that I have anything against cats, but I'm much more of a dog person. I follow the local humane society on Facebook and thought that maybe one day we would rescue a dog (as in possibly a few years from now). Instead of that being the case, I saw a three legged cat pop up in my feed and within a couple hours we had adopted an eight-ish year old, tripod cat. We named her Big Tuna (as a nod to The Office) and she is quite the affectionate cat. The humane society told us that she would probably hide out for the first week or so, but she immediately wanted to be around the action. They also warned us that since she's an older cat and may have endured some trauma (they have no idea how she lost her leg), that she might not do well with rambunctious little kids. Luckily, she has been excellent with the kids and puts up with their constant need to be in her face. I'm pretty sure she was abused to some extent before because she does kind of cower if she's not expecting you to pet her or if you walk past her too fast, but she doesn't run and hide, and she doesn't let it stop her from being around all our rowdiness (she immediately starts crying/howling if she can't find what room we're in). I think she's a good fit for our family, and we hope she enjoys her time in our house.
+The fence around our backyard has started! It should be done soon and I'm excited to be able to send the kids to play in the backyard without worrying about what wildlife they might stumble upon. It's going to take a loooong time to get anything else in the backyard, but dirt will do for now. I mean dirt is peak play for a bunch of toddlers anyway. That also means that our dog Harley and tortoise Pancho Villa can come live with us again (they've been staying at my brother's house). Olive has been constantly pestering the cat and I'm always telling her to give the cat space. She's excited for Harley to join us because I told her that Harley loves attention and she can annoy Harley all she wants.
B A D
+Andrew sometimes has to travel for work. It's usually only for a few days each month, but in August he was gone a Sunday-Friday period, and then left the following Monday until Thursday. It was a rough two weeks for me.
+Eliza has been teething. It was at it's peak while Andrew was gone (lucky me). Her bottom two teeth are now poking out, but I'm sure more teeth will follow soon. That's the hard part about teething, once it starts you know you have a full year of teething ahead of you.
+I had a pretty bad cold. Luckily, it only came on strong one day before Andrew got home from his second trip of the month so once he was back I was able to take it easy. I always lose my voice when I'm sick which is pretty annoying. Then Eliza decided to make both teething and me being sick to new heights by getting Roseola. I have no idea how she got Roseola since we never leave the house. I don't think the Roseola was too bad for her, but it was hard to tell since she was already cranky from teething.
O N M Y B R A I N
+I've been trying to come up with some regular chores for the kids to do. One day Taylor took his clean clothes and folded them and put them away in his dresser all on his own. Now that I know he can put away his laundry (very nicely at that), he is now responsible for that. Olive wants to be like Taylor so she attempts to put away her clothes, but really she just throws any and all clothes in whatever drawer she sees first. They will often "help" with things that I'm doing and they pick up their toys every day, but we haven't really established daily chores for the kids. I think they're ready for that step so I'm trying to come up with a system. Please share if you have a good chore system or ideas of what chores are appropriate/doable for a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old.
+I've come to the realization that life will always be busy. I mean I've always known that, but I've been thinking about it a bit more lately. A lot of days I feel like I get nothing done. I do keep three children alive which is so much work and pretty much the opposite of not getting anything done, but I still want to be able to accomplish more with my time. I'm trying to figure out what's important and beneficial in my life and and what fat can get cut. It's the whole good, better, best dilemma while also being realistic that life will always be a bit chaotic.