Seven Quick Takes vol. 100

I've linked up 100 times. That's bonkers. But I hope it proves my undeniable love of Jen.

But I really shoulda planned a giveaway or something. Or at least balloons.

{one}

So this week there was radio silence around here because it was just that much of a week. A week of overwhelmed, crazy, hair-pulling out times with a dash of trying to find a new rhythm and routine to our school year. It basically felt like I was at square one. Of my life. Or at the very least motherhood.

I'm not even exactly sure what went off the rails so drastically. But at every turn there was a baby who needed to never be put down ever, a two year old who was peeing all over the basement, school trying to get accomplished, library books ripped, people needing to eat again, and school again, and babies crying again. Not that this is different from exactly any days, but it felt like an endless barrage of being The Only One to meet endless needs. 

It was so bad that by just Wednesday I was questioning all the foundational principles upon which I've built my life. Maybe daycare is fine? Maybe homeschooling is bat-shit crazy? Maybe I should be wearing high-heels and seeing these little people who are peeing all over my basement or who are unable to eat a meal without fighting with every single sibling for a good, healthy hour a day? What am I doing?! I'm running around like a crazy person and losing my mind! Is anything sinking in? Am I just making my life difficult and making not one ounce of difference to my children? 

See. Existential crisis of sorts.

I should be better at this, I'm 7 years into this business and I feel like I am right back at the beginning having not an iota of a clue what I'm doing.



{two}


Even on bad days I don't usually shrink to those terrible doubts of every major life decision I've ever made, but for some reason this was the week. I don't think most any of it was rational, but some days each and every part of the day feels so full of hard. A hard to which there are no easy solutions. A hardness that makes me feel as if I'm turning into the crazed, burnt out, nutty mom of a shoe-house full-of-children-who-she-is-stupid-enough-to-homeschool stereotype. Which is basically as bad as a day can get.

{three}

Of course, there are all sorts of things wrong with having these awful, second guesses and doubts coming on the bad days. I don't think you should ever make big decisions on the bad days, and if you're not considering these big, life altering things on the good days too then they're most likely torments of spiritual combat. I feel like it's just gotta be. I'm normally a rational person who makes good decisions. Things are generally really, really good around here even though every single thing we do involves a level a chaos, organization, and degree of difficulty. So, perspective I guess. It's good to have.




{four}

We got Max to go down the slide...once!

Little Miss Casty was forced to stay out of the water, it bummer her out other than this one photo!

Dom sliding by himself.

And my little Luke.

Before the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week began we took a short family road trip last weekend to celebrate getting through two whole days of school! We visited with friends, went to the zoo, swam in the hotel pool and waterside, shared a tiny hotel room because no one makes hotel rooms to accommodate more than 3 people, and ran the marathon that is eating out with 5 kids for 3 straight days.

Seriously, has anyone tried that lately? Because I think that's the most exhausting part of going anywhere right now with everyone. There are so many reasons why it's difficult I don't even want to go into it. Let's just say the treat of not having to cook is dramatically offset by trying to wrangle 5 kids in public, without 5-point harnesses, and limiting the noise levels.


{five}


The zoo turned out to be great and even Max really enjoyed it and is still talking about it a week later. So the trip really equalled a success in every way, but sleep...and eating. Except I forgot to bring the real camera and got terrible phone pics because I didn't want to stand there and VSCO cam. (Have I ever mentioned how pretentious and annoying I find VSCO? I don't think I should have such strong opinions about a photo app, but I do.) Anyway! Here's some pics:

The first time we saw the penguin exhibit!

Nora. Swimming penguin. Cast.

All five of my offspring down to the end. And two random strangers whom I have no relation to whatsoever.

The girls watching the tigers.

Max forced to get a photo with his mom. I realized he didn't know the word for giraffe when he was pointing to the actual giraffe and then the picture on the plaque wildly. Huge toddler parenting fail right there.

{six}

We've been going about life normally even with our little grumpy kitty being in a cast. I think I failed to ever mention here that it turned out Nora's leg was broken in two places near the ankle and she's been in a cast for two weeks now. It's the saddest thing and every time I see it, it breaks my heart into shattered littler pieces for my poor baby, but she's been acting normally. She's still scooting around, since she never crawled it hasn't impeded her mobility at all, and after just a couple days she was back to furniture walking which kinda freaked us out a little. We're going back for x-rays today and to see if the cast needs to stay on. I would love if it was healed enough to come off, but I'm doubting it will be. We're also hoping this won't hold her back from walking even more, because right now it looks like she's going to break Gemma's previously held record of Kid Who Took The Longest To Walk if she doesn't start walking before she turned 18 months on the 25th.



{seven}

And finally, the weather was brutally cold this week. We had snow but thankfully it didn't stick like in Calgary or most other parts of Alberta. But the hard frost froze all the garden and my flowers. It's all very depressing. The weather is supposed to bounce back next week thank goodness, but it's still a bit sad mourning growth and blooms. I'm making borscht tonight, and probably 50 zucchini cakes this weekend because the zucchini went forth and multiplied this summer. Also; my husband's working all weekend, so pray for me! But I hope you've got great plans for the weekend and enjoy September!

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