Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

logic

J- Dana. Transform this for me. (impatiently handing him transformer)
D- Ya know, you might wanna practice a bit so I don't have to do it for you EVERY time.
J- No. I already did try and it didn't work.
D- Well... try try again.
J- Dana! I'm waiting for my muscles to grow strong enough!
D- If you wait that long you'll be a grown up and then you won't remember!

Last night was freak out your mommy night at the Monahan house

Last night around 2am, I heard Dana outside the back door, calling to Matt. He said, "Daddy?! Daddy?! Where are my clothes?" I heard the door open and shut and, thinking I might be dreaming, I told Matt what I heard and he flew out of bed, shouting, "Who is that?!!" I think Matt thought someone was breaking in to our house. I've never seen him wake up so fast. Poor Dana was crying by this point, but still not awake. When Matt brought him to our bed, he insisted that Daddy was waiting for him outside and if he could just get his clothes on, then he could go help Daddy out with the treehouse. Evidently, while he was sleeping, he climbed down from the top bunk and searched his room for his clothes. When he couldn't find them, he wrapped himself up in a blanket and went in search of Matt. He unlocked the back door and went outside. Thankfully, he went out the back door which is right next to our bedroom, so we heard him. Had he gone out the front door, I don't know what would have happened. We're so close to a busy street. The freaky thing is that his eyes were open and you'd never know that he was really asleep by looking at him. He really could have hurt himself. Yes, this is what kept me awake long after he finally fell asleep again. I spent the next two hours thinking of what-ifs and worrying about future nights.

Simultaneously, Jonathan decided to sleep an 8-hour stretch last night, which was wonderful. Even after four babies, though, I still get paranoid the first few times it happens. So... while I worried about Dana, I worried about Jonathan as my chest swelled and throbbed. Finally, I went to get him up. I figured if I was going to be awake worrying, I could at least get through the inevitable feeding at the same time, right? Then, Aaaaaa! Where is the baby? Jonathan was completely covered up in his warm winter blanket. How he was even breathing is beyond me. Thankfully, he was just fine and blissfully sleeping away, but I woke him anyway and boy did he have an appetite. Good thing, cuz he had one whopper of a dinner to eat.

So that was my night last night and tonight I'm left wondering what to do about my sleepwalking boy. Obviously we need to put an extra lock high up on the doors, but does anyone else have any experience with this?

I'm considering moving him to the bottom bunk and seeing a urologist to determine if this could be bladder-related. I read that kids with distended bladders deal with this too and a couple things have happened since this summer that made me think he might have a bladder problem. He holds his water pretty well, but too well I think. He went two days without peeing this summer. AND... distended bladders are supposedly connected to constipation, which he definitely deals with all the time. Alright, TMI. This entry is officially over.

Three years

I'm so thankful for my Clara Joy. God used her to humble me and grow me over and over again. I've had to learn to love more selflessly and I've had to learn to wait on God's timing and not mine.

Clara Joy has always been marked by extremes. She was so colicky that I almost never left the house after she was born and yet she smiled and laughed earlier than any of her siblings. She hardly slept for the first year and a half, but she kept us all so entertained that it didn't feel so bad. Her curiosity has gotten her into more than one dangerous scrape, but her determination enabled her to totally potty train herself (thankfully, because I was oh so sick and pregnant). Clara means "clear and bright" and joy, well, is joy. God so perfectly orchestrated her name to fit her little unique self and I'm so thankful that she's mine. There were nights that I held her screaming little body and wondered why God made her the way he did and now, looking back, I can see the beauty and handiwork in her steel will and curiosity. She's a remarkable work of art and I would love to get a glimpse of who she will be some day. Whatever she will do will surely be done whole-heartedly and well.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! You're precious to us and to your Heavenly Father.

my happy babe, my lousy camera

Woo Hoo!

Baby slept seven hours at a stretch last night!

brother and sister

Although, sometimes I get tired of the never-ending requests to hold Jonathan, I can't get enough of the sweet moments I've seen between Janie and her new baby brother. To say she adores him would be a serious understatement, and I think he's starting to feel the same way about her. Aside from me, the only other person he smiles for is Janie. Last night while I was making dinner and listening to my Wailin' Jennys Pandora station, Janie was dancing for Jonathan while he sat in the bouncy seat. She liked the music and started to dance and then realized that Jonathan was watching her intently. Then she told me she was going to dance the baby dance for him, a special dance she created just for him. She danced for half and hour and he was mesmorized by her. I wish I had a picture. Their relationship is even sweeter because I think I was the same age as she is when my little brother came home from the hospital. I still remember how much pride I took in being my mom's little helper and how much I loved his sweet babyness. So, yes our days are busy and I still haven't figured out how I'm going to manage my time, but I'm comforted to know that the most important things are going well and getting better each day.

O, and the pictures above are from right after lunch today. Jonathan was fussing in his bouncy seat and the only time he stopped was when Janie cooed to him and rubbed his back through the back of the seat. So, so sweet to witness.

a new season

Now that I've got a newborn to look after again, I'm starting to reprioritize my time and rethink all of my routines/or lack there of. One major change has been the way I grocery shop and cook. Those of you who know me well, know that I love to cook and love to try new things. Pre-Jonathan I shopped for groceries once a week and usually came up with a new menu each week and made my shopping list from that menu. Now that my time is a little more scarce, I've got a new plan which is a lot more structured and, sadly, a bit boring. I know you're dying to know (probably not), so I'll tell you the plan. ;)

From here on out, I shop for groceries once every two weeks and we have a menu that's mostly the same every week.

The Boring Menu...
Mondays- Spaghetti, Bread, and Salad
Tuesdays- Soup or Stew and Bread
Wednesdays- Hot Dogs and Mac'n Cheese (Annie's)
Thursdays- Homemade Pizza and Veg
Fridays- Quiche and Salad
Saturdays- Something Different! (The only two recipes I have to come up with each time)
Sundays- Leftovers... I refuse to cook on Sunday anymore. It's way too draining.

Here's how it helps me:

• This will help me not to space out in my sleep-deprived stupor and forget half of my ingredients
• It should also help me take less time to make the menu and grocery list when it's time.
  
• It also saves me time when I cook, because I can make double or triple batches of things and save them to pull out for the next week, instead of eating the same thing for three days in a row.
  
• What I like too, is that the routine of this all allows me to keep cooking healthy and not succomb to fast food dinners. As easy as they are, they don't help my kids to grow and thrive well.

Just a picture to keep you from being visually bored... This is a sample of Matt's crazy dinners for the kids. When I'm gone or sick, he puts the leftovers together to make some funny sculptures for the kids.

A new addition

Work on the Tree House