Life after Baby

Wow!  I knew things would be different after the baby came along but I REALLY underestimated how time-consuming a new baby would be.  Now that I'm not pregnant, I actually have energy to tackle a bunch of projects that have been neglected but I absolutely CANNOT get to them.  I can barely keep my head above water taking care of laundry, dinner, and attending to all my children.  I wake up every morning feeling cheerful and thinking that surely today I will be able to accomplish something--maybe I'll be able to write thank you cards, or balance my checkbook, or plant my bushes (that are dying because they have sat in the store containers too long), or update my blog, or clean-out my craft room, laundry room, office, etc.......I have a huge list.  By dinner time, I'm starting to get discouraged and that is when things really start to go downhill.  Archer tends to be his unhappiest when I'm trying to get dinner ready.  It doesn't matter if I've just fed him, he is still fussy.  This can last for an hour or five.  I still imagine that I'll attack some of those projects after we get all the kids in bed but by that time, I'm tuckered out and usually, I'm sitting around nursing....AGAIN. 

So, that is the hard facts of life with a new baby.  However, HE IS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!  I'm SO glad he is here.  I wouldn't give him up for all the time and accomplished projects in the world.  I just love and adore him.  He is starting to chunk up and I can't squeeze or kiss him enough.  My older children are a HUGE help to me.  They often take turns holding him when he is fussy and Jason is just magical at getting Archer to sleep...when he is home (basketball nights and late work nights are extra difficult now).  Thankfully, my kids had finished most of their classes (that we do outside of the home) around the time he was born so we don't have those assignments to do.  They are old enough to keep up on math and a few other basics without a lot of help from me and we definitely have time to read together while I nurse the hours away.  Life does go on and the baby is a wonderful blessing, even if he does change things.

Also on the bright side, I've been able to read and read and read.  It's the one thing I can do while I nurse and the Kindle makes it so easy.  (I'll have to give my review of the Kindle at another time).  I've discovered a new author that I absolutely love--Gene Stratton-Porter.  She wrote in the late 1800's, early 1900's.  I was able to get her books downloaded for free.  I've read seven of her books so far, my favorite is "Laddie."  I definitely recommend it if you like old-fashioned, classic-type books.  I love to read and now I have an excuse to do it quite often.

Well, I have a bunch of things I'd like to write about but it's after midnight so I'll just add a few pictures and get to bed.  I couldn't sleep so I thought I better steal away to the computer while I had the chance.  Most of these pictures are when Archer was a few weeks old.  We've had some camera problems lately so I'll have to add more recent pictures later.

Archer LOVES the bath! 

With Mommy

 With Tanner

Sleeping with Hunter

With Kayla

With Oma

With Grandpa

The two pictures with grandparents are only a week old so that is how Archer is looking now.  I'll try to get more pictures soon.

The next few pictures were taken right before Kayla and Hunter went to their performance of "Beauty is the Beast."  They've been going to a homeschooling acting class the last few months and just finished with a performance last week.  Kayla played "Beauty" who was a beautiful yet horrible princess.  By the end of the play, she learns that inner-beauty is more important than outer-beauty and she changes her unkind ways.  Hunter played a blind prince who married Beauty's sister.  I was planning to take more pictures but my scatter-brained head got the time of the play wrong so Jason didn't make it with the camera until it was nearly over.  (Sigh).

 Prince Acrime

 Princess Beauty