7 Quick Takes Friday

1.

Thomas is now old enough to sit in his Exersaucer seat and we've retired his swing to the attic. At almost four months old, he now requires entertainment or he screams: it is amazing how early in human development that sets in!

2.

Some great, sophisticated coloring pages:

http://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/coloring_pages.html

http://www.saintanneshelper.com/catholic-saint-coloring-pages.html

http://www.saintanneshelper.com/ten-commandments-coloring-pages.html

3.

Maybe those coloring pages will keep my children busy while I'm finding myself unable to do anything except hold my infant and potty train my toddler. Thomas is almost four months and is in a new stage of usually napping for only about 15 minutes unless I remain holding him while he nurses in his sleep. No longer can I easily nurse him to sleep, set him down, and walk away while he takes a glorious one- to two-hour nap. Also, Thomas is now back to wanting to be held all the time when he is awake. He starts screaming when I so much as lower him toward one of his bouncy seats or his crib because he knows That Is the Place Where Mama LEAVES ME. 

Some days I feel like all I do is hold this infant and clean up the toddler's pee. My husband asks me why I discount those things because they are everything to that infant and that toddler (thanks, honey). Still, I feel the burden of the massive list of unmet needs of all the other family members, the home, and myself.

Anyhoo, maybe my kids can sit and color endless coloring pages while I can't get to them . . . 

4.

Bonus Reading: "Beyond Candy and Crafts: Living Liturgically With Older Kids" . . . of course, last time I was successful even at 'candy and crafts' was when I had three kids and now that I have five, I feel I have no hope at 'candy and crafts' or living the liturgical life more maturely with older kids. Sigh.

5.

Another thing more basic than living the liturgical year that apparently I can't manage by myself is personal hygiene. I have a babysitter who comes two afternoons per week to help me and, one day this week, what I asked her to help me with was bathing all the children and letting me take a shower. The three older children were playing with stuffed animals, the toddler was napping, and I handed my fed infant to the babysitter so I could take a shower. Surely all would go well.

In the water, I was feeling like a silly fool for 'needing' a babysitter just to get us all clean. Why can't I do this by myself, even if my husband is traveling for work? Why is this so hard? 

Amidst just those thoughts, I heard a hysterical screaming and pounding on the locked bathroom door, so I raced to open it, getting water spraying all over the tile. My four-year-old sounded like she was panicked, having escaped near-death, as she poured out her tale of woe of her big brother having hurt her in some unfair way. Where had this grievous attack occurred? Why, outside, of course! The three kids had just decided to go play outside, out front, without so much as telling anyone let alone asking permission of their mother (absurd!). Thank goodness the toddler was asleep or he would have gone with them . . . and I would have had no idea because I had dared to think I could take a shower.

I guess using my babysitter to help me manage all the bathing wasn't foolish but wise (if pathetic).

6.

Check out this page posted by a friend of mine on Facebook . . .

A page from "Dreamers, Discoverers, and Dynamos" by Palladino

. . . and read Danielle Bean's "A Mother's Liturgy of the Hours" and then tell me you aren't going to cry a heap of tears like I did.

7.

Appropriately for my seventh Quick Take, my first daughter turned seven years old on Thursday! But Daddy was out of town on business, so we delayed celebration till Friday, which will have to be its own post.

Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday over at This Ain't the Lyceum.