Tender Mercies

The last week and a half of my life have been absolutely exhausting..draining..physically and mentally...and I'm afraid the worst is yet to come....

It started out with Sophie. She first got an ear infection. Had been up all night screaming in pain. Got her into the doctor and on an antibiotic. She got better. Then 2 days later, I had just bathed the kids and put them to bed when Sophie started complaining of a stomachache. I gave her a barf bowl and told her not to throw up on her bed. An hour later, I hear barfing and crying. I run into her room. Vomit all over her bed, her hair and the wall. Fabulous! Call my mom to come help..since Nate is still working and Chloe won't let me put her down. Bathe Sophie again..change her bedding, clean  up corn vomit everywhere. So much fun! Thank heavens for mothers who come in their pajamas and Clorox the room and bathroom. Finally she settles down and goes to sleep. But then proceeds to throw-up a million more times, more pajama and bedding changes and we are finally asleep around 3:30 am. She is better by the next night. Phew! This was last Thursday. The following Sunday, Nate gets congested and a sore throat..the story of his life lately. Chloe gets a cold..the worst stuffy nose and can not breathe...Maggie starts to fever, Connor has a sore throat and Sophie is complaining about her ear again. I take Sophie in..another ear infection..perfect..just what we wanted. And we finally go see an ENT for Nate. We have known for a while that he has needed to get his tonsils out. The Dr. says it's up to us. After much pondering and praying, we decide to get them out. But at this point I have not slept for over a week...I am seriously thinking I can not make it through one more day and listening to poor Chloe just breaks my heart..she is so stuffy and we are literally carrying around the blue booger sucker thing all day.
Nate is scheduled for a tonsillectomy for Thursday and by this point everyone is finally better minus Chloe. I tell Nate I can handle anything as long as she gets better and can breathe so she can eat and sleep. The night before Nate goes in for surgery, Chloe is the worst she has been...I prepare myself for another sleepless night. I am saying my prayers..pleading that she will somehow get over this cold. Telling my Heavenly Father that I can't do this. You all know how hard it is to have a sick baby. You would trade places in a heartbeat. And the poor little girl is trying to smile and be happy all while she has boogers galore and probably a sore throat from mouth breathing. So sad... so we went to bed and I tell you those pleading prayers that I know Nate and I offered were heard. And I experienced a little tender mercy in my life. Chloe only woke up once that night to eat and she was able to breath the entire night. She woke up the next morning barely stuffy at all..and I was amazed and filled with gratitude for the love and concern our Father in Heaven has for each of us.
Nate went in for his surgery yesterday and so now I am geared up to deal with a sick husband..and we all know how that can be. These boys just need a little more TLC when they are down and out..am I right?

I was watching my sister play basketball last night and my Aunt was there. She asked about Chloe since she is still a little stuffy and her eyes were watering (mostly because she has both tear ducts that are clogged). I proceeded to tell her about it all. And she told me I needed to write it down because as I did I would start to recognize more and more the tender mercies that He gives to me in my life.

Now wish me luck because you've all heard the horror stories about adults and tonsils and on top of that our family has to speak in our new ward on Sunday..well minus Nate. Betcha you all wish you were me right now!

Fact

Fact- My kids usually ride the bus to school but as of late they are too sleepy to get up that early so I take them

Fact- When I take them to school I pray I won't get pulled over seeing as how I take them in my sweats (aka pajamas) with no bra and I barely manage to get my hair combed and I usually put on my dressy peacoat and sunglasses so I "look" put together..but as of yesterday I have no sunglasses since Maggie snapped them in half

Fact- I am not mad about the sunglasses..I have had them for a few years (I know.. a record right?) and now I have an excuse to get new ones.

Fact- I can not for the life of me find even 20 minutes to exercise..what's that you say? I should do that instead of blogging/pinterest? Now where's the fun in that. Today I am thinking I am just going to have to suck it up and wake up early

Fact- I super hate waking up early

Fact- Raising 5 kids is enormously hard..worth it.. but dang hard. They are all so different and just when you think things are going smoothly, one of them has a melt down/mental breakdown that makes you think "what the crap am I doing and am I  even doing any of this right" It takes me back to the fact that raising these kids is and will be the most important thing I will ever do and that my friends is a huge responsibility. Talk about pressure. I hope my Heavenly Father has more faith in me than I do because as of late, I am beginning to doubt my abilities...mostly this is stemming from one incident with the only boy in the fam...when you hear grown-ups (well parents older than me) tell you that it just gets harder and that you worry more as your kids get older..you should believe them because it's super true. Time to regroup!

Fact- The other night, Nate and I watched a movie for the first time in forever...

Fact- It only took us 3 hours to watch an 1 1/2 hour movie..with 5 kids there is always a fight to break up, tears to wipe, a drink to get, a show to start, or a bumb to be wiped..you get my drift..and get this..the movie we watched was "How to train a Dragon" and only Nate and were watching it..pretty good show though..man we are lame..sigh!

Fact- I need more time, energy and maybe some cleaning ladies to get the things I need done in a day..is that really too much to ask? For a baby gift from my thoughtful mother, she gave me cleaning ladies for several weeks...It was the most glorious day when I saw those two ladies come through my door..and wa-la..two hours later my house was sparkling clean..a little bit of heaven. I am trying to work them into the budget..if even once or twice a month. If we start eating more Ramen, you'll know it's coming out of the grocery budget. But in my opinion, totally, totally worth it

Fact- I am going to be done and go shower while Chloe is asleep..otherwise it may never happen today.

 Fact- I always have great "facts" I am gonna blog about that I think of throughout the day and at night..but when I actually sit down to blog, my brain can not remember them. Sorry

It's Christmas..again

This year was the on year with my family so Nate's family celebrated a week later on New Years Eve. We had a great party and lots of entertainment

Christmas Day 2011

Christmas Day at the Belnap household did not begin until a comfy 8:30 am and we still made it to 10:00 church only 10 minutes late..can you say "impressive"? Here are the moments of the big day.

Is Maggie's smile not the best?

And Connor was lucky enough to get his Ipod

The girls finally figured out that with chairs they could throw a lot further

Chloe was wiped out after all that sitting and watching..phew!

Usually it's Chloe who is the crying one..good to know Kate has it in her too..can you say "naptime"

And of course, Luke is always just chill

Who knows what Maggie is up to?

Christmas Eve

Christmas at the Christensen household is never anything but pure entertainment. This year was no exception and we were lucky enough to have everyone (minus my sis and her hubby..they joined us on Christmas though) here. We started with a yummy dinner, followed by a visit from Santa (aka Jordan..such a good sport) then we acted out the nativity of course and ended with our traditional rice almond pudding. 

Can someone please tell me why all my kids except Ellie are terrified of the man in the big, red suit. Sophie only agreed to sit if Nate sat with her..and she is usually the brave heart of the bunch

The 3 cousins of course..who all look like they could care less about ol' St. Nick..except for Luke who looks like he is being swallowed up by Santa's beard.

Sporting their ugly Christmas sweaters, Jaquel and Alexis are fans of the big guy!

Kate making her Nativity debut as the flying angel

The entire crew...looking at all the get-ups, you might wonder just what Nativity we are acting out. We have dinosaurs and ponies instead of sheep and cows. Graduates and spacemen for Wisemen, the angels and shepherds are legit and then we added a couple cowboys? But in the end, Baby Jesus (aka Luke) is born and angels proclaim his birth.

Two sweet angels and our pony

Angel Sophie and Angel Kate..two Angels with a head of misfit hair!