what's been going on around here.

(having fun with their pom-pom pets, courtesy of kiwi crate.)

Presented in bullets.

-My children are growing like weeds. Not only do they consume an insane amount of food given their size, they also keep growing out of their clothes. This makes me very scared for when they are teenage boys. (I keep picturing this scene from 17 Again.)

-I am the new FRG Leader for Rob's company since most of the leadership is single. It's crazy and I don't know what I'm doing, and has been very time consuming recently between taking the necessary classes and the fact that before me the FRG has been pretty much non-existent so I'm having to start from scratch. BUT I got a good response at our first FRG meeting so it should be good!

-Oskar has been teething hard core. Which means lots of fussing, lots of drool, and lots of rough nights. But on the bright side, on the nights he does sleep he doesn't wake up until around 5! That's like 7 hours straight people!!

-Thanks to an awesome tax return (sometimes having to dig a new well at a rental house the same year you have another child pays off.) we got our backyard landscaped! We still need to finish a few things, but once it's all complete there'll be pictures. It's kind of crazy what a difference a little bit of concrete and a lot of rocks makes.

-Does anyone else's baby fight sleep? Every time I put Oskar down for a nap he cries like I'm shattering his heart into a million pieces and he'll never recover from it. When I know he WANTS to sleep since he was falling asleep on me but couldn't get comfortable. Babies.

-I got a new calling at church (a calling is what we call assignments we are asked to do), I am now the Relief Society music director. So I get to stand in front of everyone and direct the music. I love it. It is prefect for me at this stage in my life (it's very low-maintenance). And it allows me to pitch in where I'm needed for activities and stuff since I'm not consumed with other duties.

-The past week I've been doing great at keeping the living areas of our house picked up. (knock on wood) Now I need to shovel out all the bedrooms and keep them clean and I'll be good to go.

-I'm failing miserably at most of my goals for this year. At least the monthly ones (like sew something every month and shoot a roll of film a month). Oh well. I'll have plenty of time to focus on that stuff when the kids are grown.

-My sister is getting married!!!!! It's kind of ridiculous how excited I am, but hey, I've been the lone married/child birthing one for NINE years (by the time she gets married). I think I'm allowed to be excited. But it's killing me to be so far away while she plans the event, there's so much I could help with (like sewing her wedding dress) if I were there!

-When we aren't having sandstorms the weather has been GORGEOUS here! We spent so much time outside in our new backyard Wednesday and it was glorious.

-It's kind of funny how different my parenting style is now compared to when Max was a baby. I've always been very chill, but it's crazy just how much more so I am now. Forget spoon feeding Oskar special baby food, here's a pile of spaghetti noodles. Or a pizza crust. Or peas. And he just goes to town. (disclaimer: he did get spoon fed for a couple of months, but as soon as he was able to grab things and get it to his mouth and had a few teeth popped out I started letting hom feed himself. He is not at risk to choke, but even if he did I'm right there the whole time)

-Yula is one-ish (from what we can tell since we don't know her actual birthday) and crazy. Well, I say she's crazy but she's really pretty good. Just very energetic. And spoiled rotten. But she is so fluffy it makes me so happy and has to tolerate me burying my face in her fur all the time. I also keep the fur that gets brushed off of her and plan on making things with it. (I bought this book and it has served as my inspiration.)

-Rob goes to the Captain's board this month (or his stuff does, he doesn't physically go anywhere) and it'll be a few nerve-racking months until we hear if he makes it or not. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers that he does!

-I've come to the conclusion that we can get stationed anywhere, as long as there is an IKEA within an easy drive of where we are. (like 3 hours or less) Being so far away from one is torture.

-Lastly, I started doing the Brazil Butt Lift workouts! They're awesome, but I stink at them. I have no rhythm so I pretty much just fling myself around my living room hoping I'm working something out. And praying I get my Bum Bum out of it! (that's what a gorgeous Brazilian butt is called. Pronounced "boom-boom")

So that's what's been going on around here! I've left stuff out since I forget everything these days, but I've covered the important stuff I think. What's been up with you guys?

trying to find balance.

Life has been a whirlwind lately. There is always so. much. to. do. And as much as I try to keep all the balls in the air, a few always get dropped.

Recently a friend posted on facebook about how life with three kids was suffocating; between school, after school activities, homework, housework, cooking, etc. there wasn't really any time left over for dates with friends or leisure activities. And I can attest that's pretty accurate. But while she said suffocating in a positive-ish way, a lot of the time I feel suffocated in the negative way.

Everyone has needs. The kids all have their needs. Rob has his needs. The dog has needs. I have needs too. But no matter how hard I try I can't meet them all. So I feel spread thin a lot, and feel like I'm failing at my job. I read this article toady and found myself tearing up because it describes my life right now so perfectly.

Thankfully this is not everyday. I do have good days where I get lots accomplished and everything seems to go smoothly. But the days I feel like I need everyone to go on vacation and just leave me at home alone so I can get stuff done have been happening a lot recently.

I should point out right now that I am not depressed (don't worry!), just overwhelmed. And everything that fills up my time is good stuff, nothing to worry about there. It's just as an extreme introvert too much human interaction can feel suffocating. (that includes interacting with my children) Perhaps that's why I'm a night owl; I really relish the time when everyone else is in bed and I can work without anyone bothering me. But at the same time too many conversations with a six year old and a two year old makes me a little desperate for some adult interaction. There's always that battle between child vs. adult conversation and people vs. alone time.

And since it doesn't look like things are going to be letting up soon, or maybe even ever (I have a feeling this is just what happens as your children grow), I will keep on seeking that ever-elusive balance. I know I may never find it, but it's all about the journey, right?

I think wishing for more hours in the day or the ability to run on little sleep will never stop though. It would make things so much easier.

Anyway, hugs to all of you out there struggling too!

I do know enough that if someone looks like they have it all together they are probably just really good at hiding the crazy. We're all in the same boat.

Right?

this is what a trip to Costco looks like.

Well, what the trips I have to get diapers look like. I'm glad I snapped these a couple months ago; I'm sure I'll get a kick out of them once my kids are grown and out of the house.

Also, Costco cookies are the best.

oh, man.

I think I may have overdone it today.

It began with my monthly trip to Costco. The one where I have Oskar strapped to my chest, the other two boys sitting in the cart, and then our month's worth of groceries in the back of the cart. I'm sure it's a sight to see me pushing that (way-overloaded) baby out of the store and to our car. (like, our cart was creaking whenever I had to turn kind of overloaded)

But I didn't stop there. We're finally gearing up to get our backyard landscaped, so in preparation all the holes Yula has dug need to be filled and all the dirt blown to the back of the yard needs to be hauled back to where it came from. So this afternoon I tackled that. 

I'm gonna feel it tomorrow.

And I'm already feeling the blisters forming on my hands. 

One of my goals for this year is to get strong. I've never been particularly athletic and my weight has never been an issue, so instead of the typical weight loss goals people make I just want to get strong. 

I think today definitely counted. Manual labor is not for sissies.

check out my guest post!

Nick in all his snotty glory.

I've been so lucky to make some great friends through blogging, one of them being Erika at Chambanachik. And today she hosted me over in her space to write about what life is like when our soldier is away!

So if you would like to read about what life is like for the Harmon Squad while dad is gone, check it out! 

And I'm not going to lie, things are not that much better even when dad isn't away...  (like, our Christmas decorations are still up. I'm thinking I should get on that soon...)

I'm not the only one who struggles keeping it all together, right??

And now, I'm off to eat a bowl of cereal.