Quiet

The past few weeks, my days (and nights) have been anything but quiet.


Life with three children under the age of four is intense.

But it is oh-so-beautiful.

My sweet Katie's persistent desire to "spend time togeyer." My Benjamin-boy's growing vocabulary and jolly personality that rarely fail to brighten up my day. My adorable, cuddly Joshua who's already learning to smile and coo.

This life the Lord has blessed me with isn't at all quiet, but I wouldn't trade this loud and crazy life for all the quiet days in the world. I couldn't dream of a more wonderful life, noise and all.

Sometimes it's overwhelming. There are moments during the day when all I want is some quiet. Most of the time, it doesn't (and can't) happen. 

And in those moments when all I want is quiet I can't have, in the midst of all the loudness, I can still look to the One Who created me for this loudness--the One Who can bring quiet to my heart even when my world is anything but.

This post is part of Five Minute Friday--though it took a few minutes extra because (a not-so-quiet) life was happening around me while I wrote. ;)

Adjusting to Life with 3 Children

My mom went home last Thursday, so we've been "on our own" with all three babies for over a week now. It's been an interesting week! We are definitely in "survival mode."

Joshua has proven to be my 'neediest' little one so far, refusing to sleep anywhere but mama's arms the vast majority of the time. Aside from one 2 hour stretch in his bassinet and a few 5-10 minute spurts here and there, and one afternoon when he happily napped in his carseat twice (a total of about 3 hours), he has spent the vast majority of the past 17 days in my arms.

I always thought babies who refused to sleep in their beds did so because they were spoiled. But Joshua was like this from Day 1 before I even had a chance to spoil him. So, I stand corrected.

I love snuggling my sweet baby boy. But, it has made the adjustment more challenging. Even with comfy baby-wearing options, it's just hard to get as much done. I think my biggest struggle has been the lack of focused time I've had with Katie and Benjamin. They're handling it pretty well for the most part, but both definitely have their moments.

By nature, I really thrive on predictability, routine, and being in control of the situation, so a needier baby is doing much to teach me how little control I actually have! I can't really plan out our days...and the five item to-do list I made myself on Monday still isn't all crossed off. Besides washing clothes and putting dishes in the dishwasher, I've really barely done any cleaning.

Ben has been so incredibly helpful. He's kept up with the essential cleaning tasks and the others are just on the back burner for now without a complaint from anyone. I can't imagine what life with three children 3 and under would look like without him--though I suppose it's true enough that without him, I wouldn't have these three beautiful children. ;)

We've been eating oatmeal for breakfast every day, pulling dinners out of the freezer (what will I do when they're gone?!), and having leftovers for lunch. And we've been eating on paper plates and putting everything we can in the dishwasher, which we've been running every day even if it's not completely full.

Survival mode to be sure.

Oh, but the days are sweet. There's just nothing in the world like snuggling a newborn babe. It's such a precious season, and if Joshua is anything like my other two, soon enough he'll be too busy for much snuggling. So, if I'm a little scarce around here in the coming weeks, it's because I'm busy snuggling the cutest newborn boy, reading books with big kids, and throwing in an occasional load of laundry in the 3.8 spare minutes I have each day.

Happy November!

Joshua's First Week

My little guy is already 11 days old! We are doing really well. This has by far been my easiest post-partum recovery. I'm a little tired, but other than that, I'm feeling fabulous. Joshua is nursing like a champ and has already passed his birth weight (he was 9lbs., 5oz. yesterday when my midwife came). My mom went home on Thursday, but I haven't had a full day by myself with all three kiddos by myself yet. I think life is going to be a little crazy for a bit with these three, but I wouldn't have it any other way! God has blessed us tremendously.

One hour old, getting checked out by my midwife

7 hours old, snuggling with mama

Meeting their new brother. I love these people more than I can say. 

{{heart}}

Meeting Grandpa

Our little (not quite so little anymore?) family with my mom and dad

First outing--Mommy needed to go to the chiropractor

My cup runneth over. And so does my back seat. ;)

My life's work <3

21 Days to a More Disciplined Life

I've spent about 95% of my time over the past week (yes, week--already!) snuggling a newborn while my sweet mom and husband have tended to my older two children and taken care of our home.

In the midst of all my sitting around (this baby nurses more often than either of my other two did), I had a chance to read a pre-release copy of 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life by Crystal Paine. I have always been inspired and encouraged to productivity by Crystal's writing and this eBook was no exception.

So often, I have grand plans and then lack the discipline to follow through and to make them become a reality. And now that I have three children aged three and under (yes, it's still sinking in--and since Mom has been here, my new reality hasn't completely set in yet!), I will have no choice but to be disciplined if I'm going to do everything I need to do in a day.


If you're anything like me, you could think of one or two dozen things in your life you'd love to change--and, if you're like me, you've tried more than once to change everything overnight and failed miserably. :)

In her eBook, Crystal lays out a plan for developing discipline in your life by focusing on one habit and plus a "mega" project for three weeks at a time. The book is filled with encouragement and helpful tips for slowly making lasting changes. I think it's a great resource, and one I plan to put to good use.

Today is the eBook's release date and through Thursday of this week, you can purchase the PDF here or the Kindle version on Amazon for only $0.99! In addition to the great price, through Thursday everyone who purchases the eBook can also receive a free printable calendar/planner by entering their purchase information here.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Joshua's Birth--October 16, 2012

We have taken photos of our son. I just haven't put them on the computer yet. So, here's the birth story...cute baby photos to come. :)

Joshua had been threatening to come for weeks--even before I reached full-term status. Pressure and contractions had left me wondering several times over the past weeks if they would turn into active labor. But, my due-date came and went and still no baby!

When I woke up in the wee hours of Monday morning, the contractions I was having were different. They actually hurt quite a bit (“Oh, yeah—this is what real contractions feel like!”), and they came every 8 minutes for nearly four hours. I didn’t really wonder whether they were it. At 40 weeks and 5 days, I “knew.” Until they slowed way down around 7 and I went back to bed.  Throughout the day on Monday, I continued to have strong contractions, but they were 20-30 minutes apart for most of the day.

By late afternoon, I tried to take a nap and the contractions woke me up about every 15 minutes. After my nap, I texted my midwife with an update.  I think we all assumed labor would probably become active during the night. Both my midwife and her partner were headed to births, so I learned that another midwife was on-call for me. 

She called me just to get an idea of what was going on and to introduce herself. At that time, contractions were still about 15 minutes apart. She asked me to call her back with an update in an hour. By that time, they were about 8 minutes apart.  They weren’t lasting a full minute, but during my labor with Benjamin, they never did—so that didn’t mean much to me. 

We were heading out the door to go to my in-laws’ farm to celebrate a birthday. They are only half a mile down the road from us, so I wasn’t worried about it, and the midwife agreed it might be a good distraction. We enjoyed a nice dinner together and while we were hanging out afterword, I had one really strong contraction and decided I wanted to come home. Ben stayed with the kids (I had made Katie finish off her dinner with a promise of birthday cake, so we decided he would stay with the kids until after cake unless I needed him home sooner) and Mom and I came home and played Yahtzee.

As we played, contractions kept coming but they were still spaced pretty far apart—even going beyond the 8 minutes to 10 and 15 minutes apart. I called the midwife to check in, and she said to just give her a call once they were at 5 minutes apart for an hour. 

Ben and the kids got home a little before 10 and we rushed through the bedtime routine and crawled into bed ourselves. We turned on Netflix and I tried to sleep in between contractions. For about an hour, they were 20 minutes apart, so I was able to get a little bit of rest. However, the intensity was picking up, so once they got closer together, I just couldn’t keep laying down. 

By about 1:20, the contractions were still far apart (8-12 minutes), but they were becoming increasingly difficult for me to cope with. I also started getting shaky like I typically do immediately post-partum. Ben suggested maybe I should go ahead and call the midwife. I was reluctant because I didn’t want to bother her in the middle of the night if it wasn’t real, active labor. 

I assumed the contractions weren’t accomplishing much since they were not very close together.  At the same time, in the back of my mind, I knew that with my previous births I had dealt with my contractions pretty well until the very end—and the shakiness had me wondering also. I was feeling pretty discouraged because I had been awake for the better part of 24 hours and because my contractions were so spaced, I figured I still had a long time to go. The other thing I was distressed about was the lower back pain I was starting to feel. I worked this pregnancy to keep my back in shape, hoping to avoid the awful back labor I had with Benjamin and I was just really worried it was going to get really bad.

In any case, I decided to go ahead and call. The midwife who had been on-call for me told me that my midwife (Leslie) had been home from the other birth for a couple of hours, so she called her and Leslie called me right back. We talked for about two minutes and she said she would head over.  This was at about 2 AM on Tuesday.

Knowing Leslie was on her way really helped my state of mind. Ben started setting up the tub in between rubbing my lower back during contractions. I was sitting on the exercise ball, and began praying that my contractions would get closer together so things would progress because I was just really worn out. And I was worried that I had called the midwife too soon and really didn’t want to waste her time if it wasn’t real, active labor.

Within 20 minutes, my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. Then, at 2:48 my water broke. This was a big surprise for me because I’ve never had my water break before I was pushing. My initial thought was that my midwife might miss the birth because I knew she was still 10 minutes away—and once I start pushing, my babies come quickly (Katie was 11 minutes, Benjamin was less than 2). 

I also thought I might be being too optimistic by assuming he was coming that soon, though. My contractions had only been close together for about 20 minutes and even though they hurt a lot, it didn’t seem like they hurt enough to be transition contractions. 

Leslie came in the door at 3 and called the birth assistant immediately when I told her my water had broken. She started setting things up. Because my water was broken and because of my history (I was only 5 cm an hour and 45 minutes before Benjamin was born), she decided not to check me for dilation. I was sort of disappointed, but also relieved—I had been dreading lying on my back so she could check me, and the inevitable contraction that would happen. And I figured if I wasn’t very dilated, I would just be discouraged.

With the next couple of contractions, I began to really feel like the baby was descending and I started saying I thought he would be coming soon. I was worried I was being too optimistic again, but at the same time, it’s a pretty unique sensation.

I had one contraction on all fours on our bed and then I got into the tub at about 3:30. I hadn’t planned to necessarily give birth in the water, but I was looking forward to the relief the hot water would bring. I was on all fours in the water and with my next contraction, I started pushing. He crowned and I was able to reach down and feel his head coming out with the next push. 

At that point, it was all pretty euphoric. My baby was coming, and I was able to touch him as I worked with the next couple of contractions to get his body out. Pushing was different this time than it was during my other births. There was meconium when my water broke with Katie, so they had me push-push-push instead of waiting for contractions. With Benjamin, I didn’t really have to push—he just came out. So even though I only had to push for four minutes with Joshua, I felt more burning because he was stretching my perineum longer. I was concerned I had torn.

Joshua was born at 3:35! As soon as Leslie lifted him out of the water, he let out a sweet little cry. I turned around and sat down and she placed him right on my chest. I held him there for a while, was able to nurse him a little bit and only handed him off to Ben because my placenta just wouldn’t come out in the position I was sitting in. 

Once the placenta was out, Leslie and Dorcas (the same assistant who helped at Benjamin’s birth—unfortunately, she got here a few minutes after Joshua was already born) helped me to the bed. I was so relieved to hear that, for the first time, I hadn’t torn at all (with Katie I needed stitches, with Benjamin the tearing was slight enough that I didn’t). Once I nursed a little bit more, Leslie helped me get cleaned up and dressed and then weighed and measured him. We all thought he looked and felt a bit smaller than Benjamin was at birth. He came in at 9lbs., 3oz. and 22 inches long. He’s a little smaller, but not by much (2 oz. and ¾ of an inch)!

Joshua’s birth was so perfect. My whole labor and delivery were filled with so many answered prayers, a beautiful testimony to me of the kindness of God. In addition, it was by far my easiest (or, least difficult?) birth and my recovery so far is going really, really well.

We are so thankful to the Lord for a healthy labor and delivery and of course, for the incredible gift of our precious son. Our prayer for him, as for his older sister and brother, is that God would grant him faith at a young age and that he would live out all his days in service to Christ.

Pregnancy Update: 40 Weeks, 6 Days

Joshua Gianavel Murch

Born 10/16/12 at home at 3:35am

9lbs., 3oz; 22 inches long

We are once again in awe at the kindness of God towards our family in blessing us with another sweet babe, and thankful for a healthy delivery for both Joshua and I. Birth story to follow soon!

Lilla Rose Flexi Clip (Review & Giveaway!)

As a busy mama of two children three and under (soon to be three--we're still waiting for Mr. Joshua to make his appearance!), I have very little time to primp. I try to look put together most days even if I'm not leaving the house for anything, but my hair is probably my biggest shortcoming in that regard. Most days' tasks are much more practical to complete with my hair pulled back--so I wear a pony tail or a messy bun and call it good.

Recently, Jasmine Bass, a Lilla Rose Independent Consultant, sent Katie and I some Flex Clips to try. We have really enjoyed them!

About Flexi Clips:

• They are simple-to-use one piece hair clips (which is great because there aren't any pieces to lose!).
• They can be used for 8 different hair styles. There are videos on the Lilla Rose site showing how to do each style. I've found these really helpful--and Katie has really enjoyed watching them with me.
• They come in sizes Mini to Extra Large. It is important to watch the sizing video to see which size would work best for your hair and the styles you want to do.

Katie and I with our matching hair. She *loves* her clip
and is really into matching Mommy these days. :)

I love that I can dress up my pony tail and half-up with an elegant clip without taking any more time getting ready than I would using a regular hair tie.

I've also enjoyed learning how use my clip to put my hair into a French twist (I did have to watch the video a few times to figure it out!). It looks so much nicer than a messy bun and manages to keep my hair off my neck and out of the way all day.

Besides loving the clips, I love that Jasmine has started her Lilla Rose business to help raise money so she and her husband can become parents by adoption. The Basses' goal is to accomplish this debt free!

Jasmine has kindly agreed to sponsor a giveaway here! One Covenant Homemaking reader will win a Lilla Rose gift certificate, good for one Flexi Clip (or other Lilla Rose product up to $16). You can enter using the Rafflecopter form below. 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway