March 2015

Dear Friend, 

I'll be the first to admit that these posts often come off a little rose-colored.  But we genuinely love our life!  And at the end of the month when I review all of these darling pictures of my family, I can't help but feel incredibly blessed.

But there is no denying that in between the photo-ops of pure joy and sweet bliss, there are most definitely poop-covered babies, silly temper tantrums, piles of laundry, and 

SO 

MANY 

MESSES!

Yet, I still find myself excited to see my kids each morning, and there is definitely no one I would rather go through life with than Elias.  

March was kind of a crazy month for us.  It seemed that a lot of things came crashing down at once. Our computer broke, our vacuum broke, the kids all got sick, and our roof started leaking.   For better or worse, roof repairs had already been underway for over three months, so we got an entire new roof this month.  Amidst the stomping and banging for a week, Smith learned how to crawl out of his crib.

While Boyd has known how to crawl out for weeks, but enjoys sleeping too much to cause trouble, Smith was determined to start a no-sleep revolution.  After trying multiple strategies, we finally put two twin mattresses on the floor, cleared out everything from the room except the cribs and the mattresses, and removed the doorknob.  

The room is essentially one giant crib at this point, and after a few days the boys accepted it.  They even choose to sleep in the cribs most of the time now.  

  Inspired by dear Stanford friends and sisters returning home from missions, we decided to host a Mormon night.  

We were grateful for the chance to share with friends what is most important to us as we handed out invitations all month.  No one actually came the night of, but at the very least, I hope they (and anyone reading this) knows we welcome the opportunity to share our beliefs.  

Amidst everything else going on, the kids caught a nasty stomach bug.  One by one, they each caught it and within the course of nine days, we cleaned up vomit 27 times.  There were multiple nights with four or more incidences.  Not to mention, the many times I unzipped one of the boys onesies to find poop from neck to ankle.  

Summer took this picture of Boyd cuddling me and seconds later he threw-up all over my lap.  He then proceeded to wipe is mouth with my collar, and I must have been delirious by then because I genuinely thought, "oh, that's sweet."  

But I guess we got a jumpstart on spring cleaning because we have now deep-cleaned, the car, the tile, the carpet and the cribs.  

There have been a lot of moments this month when I felt that I was working backward.  I'll give just one example.  One day Summer dropped a bucket of beads all over the floor.  As they spread across the entire house, I promptly began sweeping so no one would slip.  (Now, if any of you have swept up beads, you know it can be quite frustrating.)  But I finally got them into a pile and as I went to get the dustpan, Smith came charging through the pile.  He slipped and fell as beads flew everywhere.  Thus, after taking care of Smith I began sweeping all over again.  By the time I got them into a pile I was extremely protective of it.  All three of the kids insisted on being right next to me throughout this process, so I made them help me scoop up the beads and put them back in the bucket.  After dedicating 45 minutes of my day to this little incident, we were finally five handfuls away from completion when Boyd grabbed the bucket and dumped all of the beads back on the floor.  It was that moment that I turned on a show in the playroom, locked all of my kids in there and just cried while sweeping yet again.  

I don't know; it seems so silly.  And maybe I'm not being efficient in everything I'm trying to accomplish, but there were a lot of moments like that this month.  

But as I said, we genuinely love our life.   I'm so grateful for the gospel in our life and the knowledge that our Savior understands us perfectly. 

 I'm grateful for the gorgeous weather we have been having and that we have a backyard.  

I'm grateful for phones and FaceTime making it possible to stay in touch and feel loved by family even though they live hundreds of miles away.  

I'm grateful that my kids are genuinely really good friends, 

and that they play well together for the most part.

I am grateful that they all love to read.  Seriously, whenever it gets crazy we just drop everything and read a few books together.  Everyone feels better after that.  

  I am so grateful to be married to Elias.  He is such a wonderful support to me and the most amazing father to these three kids.  And he can kick a tree down, so...that's cool!

Summer is such an amazing helper.  She is my best girl-friend and such an awesome big sister to her brothers.  She is completely infatuated with Elias and requests to FaceTime him multiple times a day.  She loves to learn and has such a darling sense of humor.  Every night she says, "Mom, I'll be bigger in the morning!"  And when I give her a sad face, she says, "Don't be sad about it!  I'll still be your girl!"

I'm grateful for the little man that Boyd is.  I love that he takes his pockets seriously and is aways ready to help with the big projects.  He is always looking for a good time and brings so much laughter to my day.  He gives the most passionate "naw" when he doesn't want something and gets so overly-excited when he does.  He claps, jumps up and down, and says, "ya, ya, ya, ya!"

 

 I'm so grateful for Smith.  His smile, even after a massive throw-up, makes the whole world glow!  I love the kisses he freely gives me and how he backs his little bum on to my lap with a big book in hand.  I love his little mind and how he is fascinated by buckles and zippers, and his little "somersaults" that never get past putting his head on the floor but end with a proud smile as big as his face.

 And so, by the end of the month, no matter how crazy it may have been, I can't help but be grateful, because I got to spend it with these four.  

And as my mother is always telling me, "this too shall pass."  For better or worse, time always passes.  So I just try to enjoy the moment.  Still, here's to a new month!  April, here we come...

I hope all is well with you and yours. 

Love always,
Brittany (and Elias, Summer, Boyd & Smith)