Catching Up

Back, finally!  It was only after agreeing to play daycare provider for my sister in law, that I realized she did not have internet.  Two whole weeks.  I'm not an addict, I can live without internet, but those were some seriously boring days.  I do believe we just endured the roughest Christmas break ever.  Here's the breakdown:

Travel:  Six hours in the car.

Wrestling tournament:  A present for my little man.  He loves to wrestle.

Stomach flu:  Yeah, because driving across the country with three kids in the car isn't miserable enough, lets throw in some vomit.  I could tell you just how my baby covered me from neck to toe, but I still get a little queasy thinking about it.  I got it the following morning and then my husband too.  The two older kids escaped somehow

More travel:  Three hours waiting for an accident to be cleaned up.  I didn't have my camera close by to take pictures of the snowmen on the interstate.

Babysitting:  Baby-sitting was pretty uneventful because I didn't have enough seats to take all the kids anywhere.  All week, in the house with six kids until the parents came home around 5.  And no internet.  I did get some projects done.  I made these slippers for the baby out of a felted sweater and I finished my daughter's doll house.  I started another set of slippers, but they are so much bigger than the baby's feet, I'll have to wait till she grows a bit to fit them to her.

Christmas:  Christmas was rough.  I had this picture in my mind of a nice, quiet Christmas.  Opening presents together and enjoying each gift before moving on to the next.  That just doesn't happen when you have cousins opening presents too.  We focused on homemade, personal gifts and the kids love them, now that they have looked at them.  Unfortunately, watching their cousins open millions of gadgets and video games made things a bit awkward at times.  The dancing queen was wonderful about it.  She immediately jumped in, finding what gifts belonged to her three year old cousin, helping him open them and then squealing in excitement for him.  She was so cute, but my little man noticed that he ran out of gifts long before the cousins did.  He felt bad at first, but then I noticed how he really appreciated his gifts, while his cousins were already whining and fighting about who gets to play what video game. 

More stomach flu:  Christmas celebrations were kind of shut down by the stomach flu, which made its way through all the extended family, hitting hardest on Christmas Day.  20 family members were knocked down by it.  Merry Christmas to all.  :)

Birthday:  The original plan for my little man's birthday was a big bowling party, but due to the sickies, we had a much more intimate bowling  party...and no cake.  The cake happened later at my mom's house.

Bad weather/travel/flat tire:  We delayed our departure because of the weather, but finally just decided to go.  And it went pretty smoothly until I commented on how quickly the trip was going.  We immediately had a blow out.  I'm talking within a minute after my comment.  I had nothing wooden to knock on, or it might  have been avoided.

Baby fever/cold:  Nothing like a crabby sick baby to travel with.  Actually, she slept a lot.  And cut some teeth.

More travel:  To my parent's house we go.

New Year:  We toasted it with sparkling cider while the kids were awake and played games.

A little more travel:  After a sleigh ride at the ranch, we packed up and made our weary way home.

I feel kind of bad that I don't have any huge goals or aspirations to list.  I know I have some, but with the sickies, cranky baby and holidays, the new year kind of snuck up on me.  Hopefully as I catch up on everyone's blogs I'll be inspired and motivated.

*sigh*  So good to be back.

Kids should come with instruction manuals

I have three kids. I felt fairly confident in my parenting abilities while I was pregnant with the third one, but she is teaching me that I'm an idiot. Nothing about her is what I expected. She definitely has a strong personality and apparently, likes to be the boss. My first two kids were both born on the same day of the pregnancy, nine days early. I didn't expect her to hit it exactly, but she didn't even come close. She waited until she gained another pound, the little stinker. Most babies have a "quiet alert" period after birth. Not her. She screamed at me for an entire hour. I guess I was doing things all wrong. My first child was a wonderful sleeper. He took long naps during which I would get my projects done. This one will not take a nap unless you hold her the entire time. And don't think you can put her down when she's awake either. Not unless you stay right there to talk to her. I was not exactly a baby-wearing mom before, but I really have no choice with this one. She sleeps pretty well at night. I can't really complain about that, except that no two nights are the same. She keeps me on my toes. I just really need an instruction manual for her to help me troubleshoot when an error code comes wailing out of her mouth. sigh...
And speaking of trying to understand kids.... why do my kids cry like I'm torturing them when I ask them to tidy the room or put away clothes? I sentenced them to life in the room without parole apparently, when I told them they were to stay in the room until it was cleaned up. Oh, the tears, the fits, the fights about who's not helping enough, the whimpers about how hard it is to pick up those pieces of cookie that somehow got there without either one of them leaving the kitchen with a cookie. The dirty socks are so heavy and the laundry basket is all the way past the bed! And the renewed weeping when I pointed out the collected rubbish in the corners and under the bed...holding snack time hostage was almost more than they could bear! It wasn't that bad to start with really, but they sure made it a miserably long task.
It was just one of those days yesterday, when everyone wakes up already needing a nap. Unfortunately, I couldn't enforce the family nap because I had to watch my brothers kids and naps just don't happen with them around. They were added to my sisters kids who are always here. It's a bit exhausting helping the kids figure out how to play with each other again. It was especially bad yesterday... someone always being left out. I finally got a break when my mom got home from work.
Yesterday was a bit of a stormy day, dark clouds, lots of wind, a little lightning, but no rain. A useless storm. It fit my mood perfectly. I just stood out in the wind for a while in the evening and then decided to stop being useless and I pulled weeds in the garden and tried to secure things down so they won't blow away during the night. It was a crazy strong wind. I haven't been out in the wind in a really long time. I live in Wyoming, where the wind blows a lot. I love the wind. It's hard to explain why. There's something about it that clears my mind. I think it reminds me that there is a much greater power than myself. There is a much bigger picture than these daily battles and these little annoyances (meaning the whining and fighting, not the children themselves) should not overpower my life. Hopefully today will be better.

What a week

Whew! I made it! We held our annual branding last week. Preparations took most of the week before and we're still trying to get things put back together. It's exhausting, but so much fun too. Around here branding season is something everyone looks forward to. It's a time to get together with neighbors and friends and show off buckaroo skills. Cattle rustling is still alive and well in the west, and actually increasing lately, so branding is still a necessity to ensure that we find all our cattle in the fall. My dad is as cowboy as they come and insists on doing things the old fashioned way. We don't have any ATV's on the ranch, and we do nearly everything on horse-back. Branding is no different. We still rope the calves from our horses and dad insists on things being done well. No crashing around, no racing. He likes to see the cowboys using good horsemanship and good loops to ensure that the calves aren't overly stressed. All five girls in the family learned to rope and our branding has become a place where other women feel welcome to work with the men. Cowboy traditions are important to my family. We feel strongly about preserving this way of life. That's why we also started a kid's roping pen- to teach the next generation the cowboy way. We sort off the smaller calves and let the little guys have a go at roping. This picture is my little man, setting off to catch a calf. The parents are right there to help out and give instruction.

The bigger kids also get a chance to rope from horse-back, learning and practicing until they feel comfortable roping with the adults. I wish we would have done this when I was a kid.

My role during the branding has changed. Where I used to be one of the hands, now I'm the cook and nanny. Since I'm the one with the youngest child, I sit out from roping and make sure lunch is ready and that the kids are okay. It's been a hard transition for me, going from ranch hand to baby sitter. I've had to realize that I just can't do everything, and that my job now is just as important as any other. We put on a big spread of food for everyone, since that's the only pay they get for their help. It's a big job, preparing in advance and then getting everything heated and ready. It feels good to be the one that makes sure everyone gets enough to eat and I do enjoy cooking.
Getting the kitchen back under control has been a battle though. Things are still a mess from the flood we had as well. We are in the process of moving off the ranch for hubby to finish up school, and this week was when we had to move our stuff, so add the craziness of moving to the general mayhem, and you have my week. I'm looking forward to getting things back in order this week. The dishes are finally tackled and I made it to the grocery store today. Laundry tomorrow...