I don't want to hear any talking... or laughing... or jumping...

     Although the parting bedtime instructions remain the same, the Sutherlun children have a new room of their own.

     Fitting 3 (and potentially 4) children in one room, along with their dressers, beds, a selection of toys and (unpurge-able) beloved stuffed animals requires a room of decent size. Falling exhausted into a full-size bed for a meager,inevitably interrupted 6 hours of "sleep" does not require a big room. So, about 7 months ago, Joshua and I (with some help from his dad, of course) undertook our last big renovation project - switching our room to the guest room and giving the master bedroom to the little people. Even with remaking the closet/closet doorway I thought this would be a fairly simple, quick project. My husband, however (and I'm thankful for this, truly), is a bit of a perfectionist. Walls were patched and mudded and textured and primed and painted. Woodwork was sanded and smoothed and primed and painted. Bunkbeds (the ones Joshua's dad made for them as children and then remade for our children - THANK YOU, DAD!)were sanded and packed and shipped from Texas and primed and painted and assembled.

     Perhaps you have noticed my use of the passive voice in those preceding sentences. That's because I was mostly passive. I painted a little bit and made a couple crafts to decorate the room. I was not inactive, however - my job was occupying the children anywhere but the room under construction while Joshua spent hours days, and a lot of late nights, working on the two rooms.

     We are really happy with the results:

 

 

It's Like Riding a Bike

A few weeks ago, I decided that it was time for Serena to ride her bike without training wheels. And when I make firm decisions like this, I do not back down until Joshua carries them out :). He has been a great teacher! This is Serena's 3rd bike lesson and we think she's doing really well. It's mostly a head game for our first born, so you will be able to tell from my (terribly obnoxious I'm only yelling because she's on the other side of the infield) narration that an allusion to The Little Engine That Could may have been employed. It seemed to work for Serena, and she even said to me at one point, "I'm just going to say in my head, 'I think I can.'" Of course, later, after she tipped going over a bump she said, "I was saying 'I think I can' but I CAN'T!" Here's some footage...

Micah's Second Month

Aunt Elisa and Cousin Ava Came to Visit!

Unbearably Cute

Micah Thomas Sutherlun

He missed his first Christmas, but we joyfully welcomed Micah Thomas on December 27, 2011 at 8:44 p.m. He was 19 inches long and 7 lbs, 7 oz. Blue eyes, blond hair. We think he looks like a distinct combination from within our admittedly limited gene pool, but speculate that he looks the most like Asher, minus some of the cheeks :). You can judge for yourself:

With the arrival of your 4th child, you definitely don't get the "life has changed forever" feeling that you get with the first, but life has altered in some recognizable ways in the last week.

1. The males have gained a 2/3 majority in the household. Serena and I are undaunted by this.

2. Our family of 6 officially cannot ride together in our Toyota Corolla. This makes it something of an "escape car" for the parent who gets to drive it :). If you're driving the Toyota for the day, you aren't with the kids, at least not all of them.

3. If Serena and Asher are calling Micah "the new baby," little Josiah must, at 15 months, be "the old baby." And I do find myself less concerned about his general welfare - he seems awfully big and sturdy compared to Micah and he's had over a year to adapt to surviving his siblings' attention/affection/ harassment.

4. Once again, as it's been with each newborn, "I kept the baby fed and the other children alive" is, at the end of the day, a statement of enormous accomplishment.

5. An uninterrupted night's sleep is a distant memory. Oh, wait, that's been true for 5 1/2 years....

In other ways, life hasn't changed at all. We begin 2012 inconceivably blessed by the God who gives life and entrusts us with unbelievably good gifts. I pray we will be faithful stewards.

Blogging with Four, an apology of sorts

It seems indicative of the current season of my life that the last post on this blog (3 months ago) was an "obligatory one" - by that I mean that you cannot skip the birthday update if you want to feel (or appear) at all like a proud, doting parent :) - and the next blog post will also be an obligatory one (and joyful, Micah, if you happen to be reading this years from now...).
While 3, (now 4: see pending blog post), children do make for busy days, and evenings, and sometimes nights, and allows scarce opportunity for sitting down at the computer to type without small fingers "helping" on the keyboard, I'm not actually sure that busyness is the reason I rarely update the blog. After all, I could give up a little of my facebook voyeurism. I think there's the possibility that I seldom post because I don't have anything to say - at least nothing as witty, entertaining, or brilliant as I would like it to be.
Kind of a sad thought. I'm hoping this too shall pass. And in the meantime, my uninspired self is thoroughly enjoying the laughter, peace, and real joy that comes with this season of my life.
Both of you who are reading this blog will have to endure the mediocrity of the posts. Don't worry, it's only 5 1/2 years until Micah (you'll meet him in a few minutes) goes off to kindergarten.