Yes, I'm still here....

I don't know why I can't manage to blog about our life in regular increments, but it certainly just isn't happening.  Marlee is doing better and better each day.  Sometimes I look at her and can't believe she hasn't been here forever, but other times I feel like we just got home.  She is still very, very attached to me, but is beginning to go to Doug more and more.  I'm beginning to go workout again and leave her with Doug, so I'm feeling better all around.  I was really struggling when we first got home trying to do it all.  Once I let go of perfection, things went much more smoothly.  I feel less stressed now and love, love, love this season of my life.  Praise God for Marlee's wonderful transition!

A new week!

This week starts another semester of MOPS (Moms Of Pre-Schoolers).  I am beyond excited!  I don't give myself enough time by myself and certainly don't give myself enough time with other ladies.  MOPS allows me 4 hours a month of "girl time".  It will be a little different this semester because Marlee will be coming with me.  She still screams away from me, even when Doug has her, so we're not at all ready for childcare.  She didn't even make it longer than 30 min. with my parents last week.  I'm not sure when she'll be ready to be dropped off with someone outside of the family...we're taking baby steps in this department. We just don't want her to be completely miserable and fear that we're not coming back.  She's had that happen twice in her life (being left) so I understand her fear. My sweet MOPS friends have been praying for us like crazy and I can't wait to SHOW HER OFF!

I am NOT Superwoman!

As a stay-at-home/homeschooling mom, I'll be the first to tell you that there is an unspoken "pressure" that we put on ourselves to have it all together, get it all done, be everything for everyone and do it all with a clean house and homemade bread in the oven.  Oh, and the bread should be made from whole-wheat grain that you grew in the backyard garden.  Blah, blah, blah....Well, I don't have it all that together.  I'm not.even.close!  Every January I come up with a list of goals for the year.  Not so much resolutions, just goals to keep me motivated.  So far, I'm way behind.  Going from a family of 4 to a family of 5 was much harder than I anticipated.  But, isn't everything worth having, a little harder to come by than the easy stuff?  I spend most of the day with a baby on my hip and trying to keep the other 2 from screaming at each other.  This was not what I expected.  There is a lot of jealousy between the 2 big girls.  Not jealousy that Doug and I are giving our attention to her, but jealousy when Marlee gives her attention to the other sister.  They fight over her constantly!  School is going well for Maggie and I find that things get easier in January since the holidays are behind us.  Morgan is beginning to pick up on her #'s and letters a little more now that she's almost 4 and she enjoys doing "homework".  Marlee is adjusting as well as can be expected.  She's adjusting better than I would if I was alone in China for the last 30 days.  I so wish I was the mom who let her children be creative, messy, adventurous and care-free, but in this stage of my life, I'm really craving still and quiet. Some days I feel like we only "survived" the day instead of "thrived".  I pray for a season of still and quiet time for our family.  Time to get back as a family unit and time to be still together.  I'm not sure if or when that time will come again now that everyone is growing up.  Maybe I'll add it to my list of goals for 2013...hey, it can't hurt!

School days

Yesterday was our first day back at school, and my first day to attempt teaching 3rd grade, pre-school and cruiser-room teacher all at the same time. It didn't go as well as you would think...I'm totally kidding here, if you thought it would go well at all then you are CA-RAZY!  We seem to alternate days with Marlee.  One day she'll be happy & great.  The next, she's a screaming mess most of the time.  I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong on the screaming days but I wish we could be a little more consistent.  Maggie is working on multiplication skills for math, environmental changes in Science, parts of speech/vocabulary for English, keyboarding skills, and finally....sewing.  This girl takes every scrap of fabric (old t-shirts I'm throwing away, scraps from my sewing room, rags, etc...and makes things constantly.)  She's been stitching by hand for awhile because that was honestly much easier for me.  Yesterday we ventured to the sewing machine.  If I can keep her from sewing her finger to the fabric then I consider it a success. 

She drew a doll, cut it out, stitched, stuffed and applied make-up.  I would show you the picture but it looks a little like ET.  She says she's not finished yet so I'll post a picture upon completion.  She's also taken up knitting.  My mom & mother-in-law have helped her learn a basic knitting stitch.  I don't know ANYTHING about it so it's pretty neat so see your child learn something that you don't know how to do.

The purple is a project she's working on now and the red is a scarf she knitted for Marlee for Christmas.  Grandma helped her with the fringe but she did the knitting herself.  I'm so impressed. Morgan is working on her letters.  She's not interested in the slightest bit to learn.  She wants to grow up and wear fancy clothes, make-up and have fun.  Maybe she could use Paris Hilton as a mentor. 

Happy New Year!

I can already tell that 2013 is going to be fabulous.  Our family is complete and we are adjusting so well.  I really struggled for a while about our family being "complete".  I love being a mother and I wasn't sure if I would ever feel like I was done having children. But, now that we have our 3 healthy girls, God has given me a complete peace that this is IT.  It's such a great feeling!  I am, however, completely open to the fact that God could provide more children for us one day...I'm just not longing for it.  It will definitely have to be His plan.  Doug says I haven't been at peace about the size of our family because Marlee still wasn't home...so our family wasn't complete~yet! 
Today is back to our normal routine with Doug going back to work and school back in session.  It's the first "normal" day for us since we got home with Marlee. We'll see what "normal" looks like for us now. It will be interesting to see how school works for Maggie with 2 little people sharing Mommy time.  I'm hoping I have enough patience to pull off this 2nd semester!  I'm so excited to see what 2013 brings for our family. Happy New Year to you and many blessings to your family!