Our New "Normal"

"Adjusting" has been the buzzword in our house during the month of June. Adjusting to less sleep; adjusting to a summertime routine that has less structure than the school year routine; adjusting to being a family of SIX!

Some days I still can't believe all four of these beautiful, precious children are mine! Well, ours. You know what I mean :) What a sweet, sweet gift from the Lord.

We've spent most of the last month figuring out what life looks like now that Mollie has joined us. She gets lots of love, no doubt about that! Kate, Carter and Hudson have all welcomed her from the very beginning. We really didn't know what to expect from them...didn't know if we'd see any jealousy or regression or aggression towards the baby, but so far we've seen little to none, praise God! We're very thankful for that. It's definitely been an adjustment though...I don't mean to insinuate in any way that it's been smooth sailing or easy by any means. There is still much training that happens with all of them every day. And that has been hard, and sanctifying, especially operating on much less sleep. But God's grace has been abundant, and completely sufficient throughout, as it always is if we'll trust Him.

Here's an overview of what Mollie's been doing...

She's been sung to sleep by her big sister..."Jesus Loves Me" is Kate's go-to song, which is precious to me. And if I tell Carter to sing to Mollie, he'll choose that song too. So sweet to hear them planting those seeds in their baby sister's heart at such a young and tender age!

Mollie has definitely done her fair share of crying! It's the only way she can make herself heard, which as you can imagine, is no small task with this crew!

Just a'swingin'...

Our first Sunday back at N. Wake!! It was SO good to be back...and Mollie did great. My friend Stephanie Joyner let me borrow this baby K'tan carrier and it has been wonderful! Mollie gets all curled up in it and snoozes. She slept the entire time...including through the second hour when Josh and I teach the older 3's class! She's a champ to sleep through that.

We were so blessed to have had meals provided for us by our friends up here for over SIX WEEKS after Mollie was born!! It is incredibly humbling to be loved on by the body of Christ in such a tangible way. What an awesome way to minister to a family who is just trying to figure out what life looks like now that they've brought home a newborn baby! To not have to think through planning a menu, and getting the groceries to prepare the meals, and the actual cooking of the meals is such a gift! Everything we had was delicious, too.

I've since reopened my kitchen, and Mollie has been my little buddy in there while I'm cooking. She's seems like such a big girl now that she's in her seat and can actually be at the dinner table with us! Our table is full now. What a blessing.

Josh decided to hold off on taking summer classes (YAY!!) so we've had more time with Daddy at home. We've got a fairly ambitious list of projects we'd like to do, but are well aware that it's not as easy to get things done with a new baby in the house. Gotta get creative sometimes...

Here is Mollie 'helping' her daddy sort through and organize some piles of papers. And may I just say, I LOVE my husband! He stopped what he was doing to pose the same way Mollie was laying. Never a dull moment with him around! Kate is always saying her Daddy is fun, and she's right!

Both the boys love their baby sister. They are always wanting to hold her and are super-gentle with her. So sweet.

Here's Carter getting his daily dose of holding Mollie. So fun how much they look alike!! I love that God gave us two that look just like Josh and his side of the family, and two that look just like me and my side of the family. For someone who loves for things to be even, it's just sweet to see that even in the children I've been given.

And there is never a shortage of snuggles from big sister. Kate has such a nurturing spirit about her, and absolutely adores her baby sister. Her YEARS of earnest prayers for God to give her a little sister have been answered in abundance...

Mollie's belly button took 5 weeks to fall off (GROSS!) Waiting for that nasty stump to heal is one of the worst things about a baby to me. But she sure did look cute getting her baths all curled up in the sink!

This is her temporary bed until she learns to sleep through the night and can go down at a decent time. She's doing really well and has been sleeping through the night for several weeks now, which is awesome! Now, we're working on getting her to go down earlier in the evening. And once she can do that, she's moving in with Kate :)

Her bed also functions as somewhat of a 'safe zone' for her. Sometimes Mollie just needs a place where she can hang out for a minute, away from all the sibling love. Plus, my girl loves to watch the ceiling fan, and this spot has the perfect view of ours.

Love these kiddos so much.

Every.single.one.of.them.