a frayed rope

Oh people, I am still here...are any of you still reading? I don't blame you, not at all if you have deleted my blog from your sidebar. Sigh.

I never in a million years thought that I would let this amount of time pass in between posts.

I am going to have serious regret about this fact later on in life.

My baby is the sweetest baby in the entire universe! I am not lying either. He is amazing! How is it possible that we made it this far in life without him? I am so thankful that I am able to enjoy him...God is so gracious to allow us to have 3 babies. Everyone should have a third child, you will not regret!

At times I look at Rives and think-wow, you are so easy, kid! I could very possibly have a fourth kid.

And then his sisters start talking.

Oh, they are precious, precious, precious children. I love them more than words can express. I take GREAT delight in them. I am constantly amazed at what they know, how they love God and how entertaining they are.

But good gracious....they are EXHAUSTING! I feel as if they are constantly bickering, constantly bothering one another, constantly crying, constantly testing the limits, constantly making poor choices. Sigh.

I realize it's not constant. It just feels that way to this frazzled mama.

I went to the Women of Faith conference a few weekends ago and got Lisa Welchel's book, Creative Correction. I have read a bit and am loving it...I really hope this book opens up new parenting techniques and our days/evenings are full of less drama.

Three is our limit...we are done! I cannot think of a single day, since Rives has been born, that I have felt like I have it all together.

Our laundry is either usually in various states of being done. As I am typing this, I have a load in the washer, a load in the dryer, a clean load waiting to be folded and a folded load waiting to be put away. And this is our new normal.

If our house is completely clean, it is only because we are about to have company. And the cleaning is not completely done until about 5 seconds before the guests are set to arrive. Oh, I remember the days when I would clean my house WEEKLY. That just seems excessive these days-ha! This is how I clean now...in bits and pieces.

See what I mean, I do NOT have it together. And I am slowly becoming okay with that. Oh, I have mild anxiety attacks, pretty much weekly, about how terribly disorganized everything is and how I (said in a very loud voice) AM THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS HOUSE THAT KNOWS HOW TO PICK UP THINGS AND WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WHERE THE DIRTY CLOTHES HAMPERS ARE AND THINGS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS GO TO THE TOP, ARE YOU ALL BLIND? All said with love, of course.

If you drop by our house, there is a VERY good chance it will look like a tornado just passed through leaving a wake of dust in its path. The beds are NOT made, there are probably dishes in the sink, toys are on the living room floor, laundry is sitting in a basket (probably folded), crayons and paper on are the kitchen table and we won't pass the white glove test. But, these three make all of that not very important: