~ a good week ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week full of playing outside,

sand castles and swinging high.

Finding crocuses and beetles.

Listening for frogs and spying hawks with binoculars. 

Finally finishing our second consonant block

with a funny story that everyone loved.

Getting into a rhythm of all three sitting 'round the table.

Rhythm has been hard to come by for a while, 

but I believe I'm finding what works.

Lots of windows open,

gnomes and faeries playing in the backyard.

Climbing trees and discovering mischievous letters.

We're coasting into a very special weekend,

with my big girl turning seven.

Seven?

How did that happen?

~carrie~

~ what rhythm? bedtime ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Once again, I'm joining Nicole from Frontier Dreams 

to share a little bit about the rhythm in our home.

Last week, I believe I had what is called a 'pity party'

regarding our rhythm/lack of rhythm as viewed by my perfectionist-yet-anxious side.

So this week, I really looked at the details of our life

for the places where we have rituals that have slowly become rhythm.

Today, I'm sharing a little bit of our bedtime rhythm

which has slowly emerged into something beautiful and peaceful.

And since I don't have any pictures of bedtime now, 

I'm sharing a few pictures of the girls when they were small.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bedtime usually starts as we finish supper.

The girls take their plates to the counter,

and play a little, inside or out, depending on the weather and season.

During the Autumn and Winter, it is front of the fire.

During the Spring and Summer, they may be outside.

~ who gives bathtub crayons to a not-yet-2-year-old? ~

We start bedtime as I begin singing
Moon, Moon, Moon by Laurie Berkner.

We all make our way upstairs, more or less.

Sometimes they are pleasant and peaceful during this transition,

sometimes they are dragging their feet (literally) 

and looking for an excuse to stay downstairs.

"Where's my kitty?" 

"I forgot to water the plants!"

"Just one more firefly, please."

~ 2-year old lela ~

They undress and put their clothes (which are almost certainly dirty) in the hamper,

and take their turns going to the bathroom.

Depending on their level of dirtiness, they may take a bath or shower.

(If they need one, bedtime starts earlier.)

Then we play "The Toothbrush Game"

where I say "I'm thinking of a number better 1 and 5, what's your guess?"

and whoever guesses it correctly, brushes their teeth.

The bathroom is small and a little cramped, so it's not feasible to have all three at the sink at once.

~ liv and laurel (7 months) and lela (2 years)

Then they all go into the bedroom they share

where I have (usually) laid out their pajamas.

Sometimes it is so hot that they sleep naked, though.

If they didn't take a bath, I will give them each a sponge bath at this point.

I will finish with a little round of toe games.

We do This Little Pig Went to Market, 

our own version:

This little pig went to market,

this little pig stayed home,

this little pig had tofu,

and this little pig had none.

And this little pig.....

he cried.....

weeeweeeweeeweee, all the way home. (I run my fingers up their leg)

We also do this one:

This little pig had a rub-a-dub.

This little pig had a scrub-a-scrub.

This little pig-a-wig ran upstairs,

and this little pig-a-wig called out 'bears!"

Down came the jar with a loud slim-slam,

and this little pig had all the jam.

~ liv and laurel ~

~ liv, laurel, lela and daddy reading ~

Then Daddy (weekdays) or Momma (weekends and days where Daddy works late)

will read to them, snuggled between Laurel and Liv.

They start off the night (ahem) sleeping crossways in a full-sized bed.

Where they wake up is anyone's guess......

We read them a story - we have 5 or 6 books that they can choose from.

And then turn off the lights and lie back down with them. 

~ often, daddy or momma falls asleep with the girls ~

If I'm putting them to sleep, I will sing Kumbaya, very slowly,

while massaging and tickling their backs in turns.

If they're having trouble sleeping, I sing more verses.

Or if they're really having trouble, before I sing I will tell them about their day.

If Daddy is putting them to sleep,

he usually sings some Grateful Dead song,

and lies back down with them and falls asleep....I come and wake him up. :D

~ nursing livvy to sleep, while laurel sucks her fingers and twirls my hair ~

It wasn't always this way.

When Lela was a tiny baby, I nursed her to sleep, then settled her in the crib,

where she remained until she woke up and came into our bed.

Then she moved to our bed exclusively.

When her twin sisters came along, 

it wasn't practical for me to nurse her to sleep anymore.

I would nurse the two of them until they fell asleep,

and read or sing to Lela until she feel asleep,

curled up by my head on the pillows, and twirling my hair.

This continued until she was 4 and the little ones were 2, 

when they didn't just drift off into a milky dreamland.

So over the course of a few months, I nightweaned them,

and in a few more months, we had transitioned them to their own room,

just a few steps away from our room.

They go to sleep in there, but by 1am, at least one (usually Olivia) is in our bed.

Lela often follows in an hour or so, at which point our queen bed is very crowded,

and Mike or I flee the bed of kicking feet and flailing arms to the guest room.

We need to work on this part of the day (errr, night) so that everyone gets enough rest.

And.....sometimes when they were little,

bedtime was a walk around the block, 

with me looking like this.........

~ for you babywearing folks, a gypsymama and a kozy ~

~ carrie ~

what rhythm? out-of-doors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I was honest with myself, 

I would say that I have never really recovered

from having newborn twins and a 22-month old.

Then throw in moving 3 times in the first year of their life,

at 2 months, 5 months and 12 months,

(and a toddler who was 2, 2 1/2 and not quite 3)

and add a generous helping of depression and anxiety,

which after 4 years is just now resolving itself.......thankfully and gratefully....

Nicole at Frontier Dreams asked for folks to share snippets of their rhythm,

and I agreed, knowing it would be a challenge for me to find *anything* 

that could pass for rhythm in our home and life,

which I often find overwhelming and chaotic.

(Hello, near-nightly panic attacks!  Thankfully, also resolving.)

*whew....that was tough.....moving on....*

But today I decided not to give myself a hard time over the past,

and also not to fuss over what I think our rhythm should be,

and just look for something that I can definitely say is true to our family.

One thing I can say, with absolute certainty, is that my children play outside.

Unless someone is ill, they are outside for large portions of each day, every day.

Please enjoy way too many pictures of my girls,

which I thoroughly enjoyed compiling,

each one a reminder of a wonderful time we spent together.

~ JANUARY ~

 ~ the rare Southern snow angel ~

 ~ ice! ~

~ taking a break from stacking firewood ~

~ hopping right along ~ 

~ FEBRUARY ~

 ~ warm day in february = mud river from the rainbarrel ~

 ~ woods in VA ~

~ creek play ~ 

 ~ old-fashioned merry-go-round ~

~ lake at crowders mountain state park ~ 

~ MARCH ~

 ~ barefoot in the bare garden~ 

 ~ march camping trip ~

~ sunbeam faery and snowdrop child play ~ 

~ APRIL ~

 ~ april camping ~

~ sister rescue ~

 ~ watching daddy flyfish ~

 ~ strollers through the neighborhood ~

~ pasture at the highland games festival ~ 

~ egg hunting at a friend's birthday party ~

~ MAY ~

 ~ may camping trip ~

 ~ a little chilly for tubing ~

 ~ friends by the lake ~

~ strawberry picking with friends ~ 

~ schiele museum nature trail ~ 

~ JUNE ~

~ pool weather already??? ~ 

~ planting tomatoes ~ 

~ walking backwards with baby cousin ~

~ salt marsh exploration ~

~ JULY ~ 

 ~ by the shore ~

~ splash! ~ 

~ horseshoe crab ~ 

~ blackberry picking ~

 ~ cypress swamp ~

 ~ sunset by the bay ~

~ growing-up girl ~ 

~ AUGUST ~

 ~ summer thunderstorm bath ~

~ swinging laurel ~ 

~ abandoned watermelon ~ 

~ tiny girl is learning to swing herself ~ 

~ piggy-back rides on momma ~

Yes I *definitely* feel uplifted looking back on the year....

.....spent outdoors.....

.....that's our rhythm.....

~carrie~