Six Sweet Seals: Hello Monday! And Big Transitions for the Quints

Hey y'all! I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.

Let's get the week started off right. I got the following piece from our church bulletin yesterday. Our preacher wrote it to his daughter when she was a baby. These 10 lessons really spoke to my heart and made me think how awesome this world would be if everyone followed these very important lessons.

Ten Life Lesson I Want My Daughter to Know by Andy Baker:
1. The earth is a beautiful and exciting place because God made it that way.
2. Everyone matters to God, even those people whom you dislike.
3. Humility works in every situation.
4. Sometimes in doing right, people will be as mean as they can be about it.
5. Learn to have a forgiving heart.
6. If you don't value your values, no one else will either.
7. Be thankful at all times.
8. Learn to give whether you get anything in return or not.
9. Guard your words carefully.
10. You are here on this earth to glorify God and obey Him above all else.

I've been feeling a little stressed out lately. I don't know why, but sometimes it seems that life gets me down. Anytime something changes with the quints, it's a big transition for everyone. Extra cranky quints makes for long days. There were several days this week and I looked at the clock at 6pm and was wishing the next two hours would rush by as quickly as possible. Sometimes bedtime (8pm) can't get here fast enough. I had two friends tell me their marriages were falling apart last week and that made me so sad. I never want to see my friends hurt; when they hurt, I hurt. Every-once-in-a-while I start stressing out about our future and how we're going to afford such a big family. I try very hard not to go there, because I know I'm not suppose to worry, I'm a Christian, I know God is in control and will always take care of us, but sometimes I can't stop my brain from going there...and it scares me. I have some dear friends who have been very sick...that makes me sad. I was really starting to stress myself out until we took the kids outside to play Saturday; while we were outside I felt a cool little breeze dance across my face and I heard the cutest little chirps from some little birdies nearby and in an instant, I felt better. A breath of fresh air and the sights and sounds of God's beautiful creation immediately made me feel better and I felt a sense of peace come over me. I don't have all the answers, but God does. People can & will disappoint me, but God never disappoints. I can try to handle everything that is thrown at me, or I can let God be in control. The second I started worrying and trying to figure things out myself, I felt sad, stressed, and alone. But once I realized what I was doing, took a deep breath, and gave it to God, I felt so much better. You'd think after all the amazing things God has done for me that I would have no issues with putting all my faith in God, but sometimes I struggle. I struggle because I'm human and I keep pushing forward because I'm the daughter of the King of Kings. :)

What we've been up to:
So the quints have been going through lots of changes lately... A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to take their morning nap away, in hopes of them sleeping better at night. It has been a rough couple of weeks because they love their morning nap, but I think we've finally gotten into a new routine and it is helping them to sleep better at their afternoon nap and they are sleeping wonderfully at night. If only they'd stop waking up at 5:30-6am!!!!

Another change for the quints is that as of this last week, they are pacifier-free during the day. I wanted to take the pacifiers completely away but they wouldn't go to sleep without them, so they get them when they take a nap and go to bed for the night. It actually didn't go as badly as I expected. They have been a little fussier but overall they've done quite well.

Speaking of the quints, all five of them have had a stomach bug this weekend. They act fine, none have a fever, no vomit, but they've had lots of diarrhea diapers. This bug has been much milder than any of the other stomach bugs they've had and we're so thankful for that. I'm amazed at how much healthier they have been this year as opposed to last year. We are so thankful for good health and pray that the diarrhea diapers stop soon.

I am a proud Texan, and one of the main reasons is because I love warm weather. Last week was a beautiful week so Brady and the quints got to play outside a lot. We all enjoy getting outside. I took them on a walk around the neighborhood and let me tell you, it was a workout!

Well, that about sums up our weekend. We played outside as much as possible and changed lots of poopy diapers!