What a Week!

I'm amazed I survived this week! This week Scott went on his first business trip since Owen was born. He traveled to Dallas on Wednesday afternoon and came home Friday afternoon. Two whole days with just me and my 6 kids. Mornings were the trickiest. When Scott is here, he takes the first night time feeding and gives Owen a bottle, and then I take the next feeding and nurse Owen. That way I get a little bit more sleep at night. With Scott gone, I had to do both middle of the night feedings. So come morning, I was really tired. And I had to get up and get 3 kids ready for school, feed them breakfast, make them lunches, and drive them to the bus stop. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that all that occurs during the time Owen thinks it's time to eat again. Trying to nurse a baby and get all that other stuff done is a little tricky.

Thankfully, I had some extra help this week. My parents didn't go home till Tuesday afternoon. So on Tuesday morning I got to take a nice long nap. Tuesday evening was my first night of "hired help". Before Owen was born, Scott told me he planned to hire someone to come help me. I've always been really against help, because I felt like if I couldn't do my job myself, then I was a failure at being a mom. I don't like to show any weakness, I thrive on doing it all myself. But I finally agreed that I was struggling to do it all. A newborn is so time consuming, and the other kids were showing signs of feeling neglected. We talked to my friend Jen, and she agreed to be my "mother's helper". I met her through my cousin Travis, and she came and helped me when Scott went to Alaska right after Nate was born. She also came to Owen's blessing, and the kids just love her. Tuesday nights Scott gets home from work, and then heads right back out the door with Nate for a parent/child gymnastics class. He doesn't get home from that till 7, so it makes for a long day for me. But on this Tuesday, I had Jen come for a couple of hours that night. It was great. She held Owen for me and helped all the other kids with the bead necklaces they were making. And I cleaned! Cleaning is really relaxing for me. I love to clean, I just don't have the free hands to do it these days. But, I had an evening with empty hands and was able to clean my kitchen and do some laundry. It was great. And I had another adult to talk to while I cleaned. And the kids loved all the extra attention that they got from Jen. When Scott came home with Nate, I admitted that he was right--hiring someone to help me was a great idea. It was only a few hours, but it made such a difference. I loved it!

Thursday night I had a Relief Society Christmas dinner, but no husband (he was in Dallas). So, I asked Jen if she could come watch the kids again. She was more than happy to help. She picked up Josh and Sara from gymnastics for me, then watched the kids while I went to the dinner. It was wonderful to get out with the women in my ward and not worry about the kids back at home--really, really wonderful. Thank you so much Jen!!!

Friday Scott came home. I always push for a family activity after he comes home from the trips. It's kind of like our reward for surviving while he is gone. So, we decided to take the kids to Bounce. But first we needed to stop at Target for a birthday present for a birthday party Josh was invited to on Saturday. I had picked a Christmas wish off the giving tree at the Relief Society dinner, for a 7 year old girl who wanted jeans. So, I stopped in the girl's section to look for some jeans for her. After I found them, and we went to move on, Scott realized that Aaron and Nate were no longer sitting in the cart. We lapped the store twice looking for them, and couldn't find them. I started to panic. I went to customer service and told them I'd lost two little boys. They then issued a "code yellow" over the intercom with a description of Nate and Aaron. In a code yellow, all employees stop what they are doing and look for the missing child/ren. It was really embarrassing, but I didn't know how else to find them. An employee found them back in the seasonal section (which is also right next to the toy section). Scott was furious at them. He carried them out of the store crying while I finished up shopping and checked out. When I got out to the car, it was silent except for the sniffles of a very sad Aaron. He knew he'd really crossed the line this time. Scott told everyone that Bounce was canceled and we were just going to go home, spank Aaron and put him to bed without dinner. I reminded him that the family outing was supposed to be for me as much as it is for the kids. Finally, Aaron blurted out how sorry he was, and Scott softened and turned the car around and took us to Bounce.

We spent about 45 minutes playing at Bounce, then decided we needed to get something to eat for dinner. So we loaded the kids up and went to Chili's. We took the kids there for dinner before Owen was born, and they loved it. Nate begs to go to "Tiwees" every time we drive past it. Dinner at a restaurant with our family of 8 for the first time--what a circus act. Luckily, we had a very nice and patient waiter who handled the kids just perfectly. But I'm pretty sure by the end of the day, Scott was really wishing he'd stayed in Dallas for a few more days.

Saturday morning we took all the kids to "Breakfast with Santa" at their school. Next, Scott took Josh to a friend's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. While Josh was at his party, the rest of us went to Heritage Park in downtown Eagle and listened to Savannah sing in her school choir. Then we all went back to Chuck E Cheese to pick up Josh. The rest of the afternoon was spent with me making bread to re-stock our freezer. On my no dairy diet, bread is one thing that I can eat so we've been going through it quite quickly. I got 8 loaves made yesterday and another 8 done today. I also did grocery shopping yesterday. I let Sara and Aaron come with me. I was looking forward to some quiet time to myself, but decided that they could use some quiet mommy time.

And that was our crazy busy week: Scott's first business trip with 6 children at home, our first "code yellow", first eating out with 8 people in our family, and my first week of admitting I need help. I'm hoping for a much quieter week this week (and looking forward to Tuesday night when Jen will come to help again).