This Motherhood thing never ends.

The morning of our fifth anniversary Paul said in an exasperated tone, "this marriage never ends." We got a good laugh out of it. And today I said the same thing to myself about motherhood. It just never ends. I've only been away from Paul for a week and I have had tons of help since they boys have been with sitters a ton, yet I'm exhausted today. Teething is tough no matter how you look at it. Joren is such a good sport but cutting 4 teeth all at once just makes hard nights. I think the boys are a bit extra irritable because I've been gone so much so when I'm around they want full steam every minute. Eirik has started the repeat the same question a gazillion time phase. I sometime race with him to try to answer the question before he asks it again the second and third and fourth and fifth and.... time, but usually I have to answer him 8 times before he stops asking. That's trying. :)
He also has picked up some attitude somewhere along the line. Yesterday in the car he said, "I don't want to go to church. I don't like it. It's not fair. It's not fair! I poop on you. blllbbllb. See I pooped on you mom." Great. The poop stage starts early. Of course then he feels the need to repeat the whole schenario over and over again while I try not to respond either way to the whole thing hoping I won't inadvertently reinforce this new very fun behavior. Also, Eirik has decided he is still a baby and he insists that I carry him up every flight of stairs and everywhere there is more than 4 steps of walking to do. He says, "I'm a baby too, I'm a baby too." and then he sits down right where he is and won't move. He did this on the beach in Oregon when I took the boys by myself. I litterally couldn't carry all of our gear, Joren and Eirik up the terrain to the house and he decided a block from the house that he wouldn't walk anymore. I waited and waited for him and finally had to take the baby and drop him at the house and run back to the beach for the stubborn little cus. When I got back he was still planted in the same place in the sand crying, "I'm a baby too!"
Today he ate for the first time in a week. I guess he only needs nourisment once a week. After thowing away meal after meal without a single nibble I can't help but get stressed about it. No morsel can be conned into his stubborn little mouth unless he's willing. Today I told him the story of the loaves and the fishes and after I finished he said, "I want a piece of bread." My jaw dropped and I ran to the pantry as fast as I could before he could change his mind. He ate two whole pieces and a big bowl of applesauce. I wanted to do a dance. Maybe he won't starve to death this week.
I'm off, gotta nap while I have a chance. It might be my only chance this whole week. I love Sundays.

Where did last month go??

Well I have taken a super long blogging break. In the past five weeks we have not slept in our own beds. We have driven over 60 hours in the car with two babies, and we have drastically changed our plans and had a great time doing it all. Since Paul is in his 4th year of med school (YEAH!!) we decided to take advantage of all the out rotation opportunities and get out of Michigan while we still can. (no offense MI). Paul has his sights set on an internship spot in MI so we hope to stay put after this year for about 4 more. So we planned a month rotation in Oregon and another one in December in Utah. A month is a long time, but we love both of our families and since we live so far away they spoil us when we come to town so how could we resist? I have been waiting to blog about our trip until I can upload the jeezilion photos that I took (including the photos from my new CANNON REBEL XTi!!!! that Paul surprised me with for our 5th anniversary.) But I can't wait anymore so now you have to wait for the photos instead.
While we were in Oregon our kids got to spend tons of time with cousins. Eirik learned a lot of independence because I got myself rolled up in a big ol time consuming design project that I just can't ever say no to. I am SUCH a sucker! My sister and brother in law have this big gorgeous home and they had no furniture or decorations... so I got the wonderful job of helping them spend their money on lots of great pieces. It was so much fun and so satisfying to make something beautiful. I love how in design it's like a giant puzzle. All these hundreds of little pieces have to fit together just right to make it work. It takes so much time to move things around and around to get everything just right. Anyway, if she sends me pics when all the furniture gets there I can post some, but let me just say that it was so fun and their house is going to be Stunning! They also hired me to do a custom painting which is totally flattering. Not only will they have their house decorated by me, 5 flower arrangements I made and 5 kids paintings I gave them but a huge painting for over their fireplace. They must really like my style. :)
I also got suckered into painting a flower scene on the walls and the stairs in the stairwell into my mother and father in law's basement. This was very cool because my grandpa did this in his house so I used to go hang out in grandpa's cheery storage room stairwell that had flourescent flowers and cobblestones on the stairs. It was so sweet and always made me wish that I had had a chance to know my grandpa beter before he died when I was only 6. I'm sure I would have loved to be with him. So this painting was for my in-laws house, but it was really in memory of my Grandpa.
It was strange that while I was painting the stairwell I got a call from an old friend in MO. She wanted to know if I would be interested in painting some murals in a church in MO that she is helping build. I said yes so on the way home from Oregon we stopped at an airport to let Paul fly off to MI to work and I kept on driving to our sweet little MO town and I started painting... and painting and painting and painting .. and I have never painted so much in my whole life. I have painted 5 walls with murals so far and I have 9 more to go!!!! It feels like I will never finish right now. It's a huge project. Did I already say that?
So, that's where I am. My kids are basically in day care while I paint away for a few weeks. And they are doing great.
We miss our home and hubby/ daddy though. Today for the first time in 5 weeks Eirik said, "I want to go to Michigan!" and I felt the same way. I will paint fast Paul. And hopefully I can show some pictures and give some adorable little boy updates soon.
untill then.... ;)