Tis the Season

The holiday's are here and are coming and going as fast as the days of having a newborn in the house are. Our sweet Maggie will be six weeks old this Sunday. I love seeing her little personality unfold but I am gripping tightly to her days as a wee little one. I love her at this stage and know that I will miss it dearly once it's gone.
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She is such a joyful little baby and I'm loving every minute of it, believe it or not even at night. A friend of mine who had her first baby a few weeks after I had my first commented how funny it was that back then when we only had one baby to care for our responsibilities seemed all consuming. The nighttime feedings and trying to keep up with housework and cooking were overwhelming at times. Looking at my life now and everything I have on my 'plate', taking care of her is like the icing on the cake. I am enjoying having a newborn like never before. I will say however that some days my life is more than challenging but it is so very worth it. Keeping up with a household of six (oh the laundry, I despise laundry), keeping everyone fed, and clean and happy and obedient and then there is schooling to get done. THEN... there's the house projects. Our house still has many, many, unfinished projects that are screaming at me each day. The painting seems to get left to me so my painting projects are piling up faster than I can keep up with. So in between feeding a baby, sweeping the floors, folding laundry, teaching math and stirring a pot of macaroni I am also constructing a mantle so the stockings can be hung, painting doors and trim and beadboard, patching drywall and the such.
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But in saying all of this I can't help but think of how blessed I am. I GET to clean a house. I am so grateful to have a home in which to raise my family in. I GET to love on and care for my four children each day. I GET to feed a baby every 2 to 3 hours and all through the night. God didn't have to bless us with her if he didn't want to. I GET to teach my children each day. The fact that God has called me to be the leader of their education is just humbling. I love seeing the joy in their faces as they accomplish or learn something new. It makes all of this hard work so very worth it. I GET to feed my children. I am so thankful that God provides food for our family. I could continue but I think you GET the idea.
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Back to our growing little Maggie, she is doing terrific! She is truly the calm, peaceful baby that we had prayed for through all of my nine months of pregnancy. She had a little bit of tummy cramping and problems 'getting it out' when she was brand new but our chiropractor fixed that right up. She hadn't 'gone' for four days during her first week of life and was getting really uncomfortable. A trip to our chiropractor when she was eight days old cleared all of that up. He could tell she had colic by feeling her lower back and after her adjustment she was as good as new. No more problems 'going' and very little tummy cramping. We've since been taking her for an adjustment about two to three times a week and I am absolutely convinced that this made all the difference for her. Just googling "newborns and chiropractic care" showed me that it wasn't just our luck that it worked for her. I believe in it all the way!
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She sleeps anywhere from 2 - 4 hours at a time at night and loves to sleep either on my chest or between Josh and I. She loves to be carried in a sling which once again has been my number one piece of baby equipment that I couldn't live without. It is truly a life saver. She's in it when I'm doing house work, outside with the kids, at the store shopping (it even keeps people from coming up and touching her) at Christmas parties and even at church too. I guess that names just about all the places we've been since she's been here. Ha! Seriously we've been homebound for the most part. With all the germs and flu's floating around, it wasn't worth risking getting her sick. And we are major homebodies anyway so it's actually been really nice not to have to rush around here and there while we're adjusting to life with a new baby.
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That's about all she does. I think I've covered it all. Eat, sleep, poop and smile. Yes, she has been our most smiley baby yet! Since week two she has been consciously giving us little smiles. All our babies did the REM smile in your sleep thing but this has been when she's fully engaged staring into our eyes while we're talking to her. It melts our hearts for sure!
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The other three little Smith's are doing great. Fletch was a little on the wild side, no, make that a little more on the wild side than usual in the beginning but I know it was his way of getting the attention of others. All of a sudden it's not all about him and all the attention has been poured on this little sister of his. He has shown nothing but love towards her but we did have to buckle down with his behavior in general.
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Schooling is going well, although some days are hit or miss. But we give it our best effort all the while trying to enjoy this holiday season with a new baby in the house. But I am proud of all we've accomplished these past six weeks considering all that we have going on. The kids would much rather play all day of course but they've been making the effort to get their school work done knowing that if they don't do it now then it will run into their summer break.
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I guess that's about it for now. I'm going to go lay this precious baby down who's sleeping peacefully on my lap and go get some painting done! Oh how I'd love to cross just one project off my list today!





Gracie making a button tree



trimming the tree









Isn't she just the sweetest thing ever? I could stare into these eyes all day!


















Does Fletch look less than thrilled or what? :)







He truly is this sweet to her each and every day. I love how he introduces people to her and tells them "her other name is Eliza".





We love our Maggie girl!