four months

Cadence is four months old. I can't believe it! Here are some of the things she's been doing lately:

1. grabbing toys and passing them from hand to hand
2. watching all the action all around her
3. sleeping a lot
4. grinning at us all and giggling a lot
5. eating her toes
6. sitting up almost all by herself
7. getting kissed and hugged by her brothers (almost to excess)
8. rolling over
9. making us all smile
10. helping reality set in - that we do, indeed, have a girl child in our home.

Cadence, my dear - you are a joy! We love you!!

blah diddy blah blah blah

Ever feel like you're talking, and all that your kids hear is noise? Or that you've said the same thing a kajillion times and they just can't seem to remember.

I do.

And I don't have any answers. So, if you have some suggestions on how to motivate kids to listen, really listen - I'm all ears.

I've been learning a lot about how selfish I am lately - how much I want approval and love and cooperation from those three little people I serve, how much it bothers me when I don't get it. (and How stupid that sounds to say out loud.) How thankless it is to be a mom at this stage. It makes me a lot more thankful for my own mom. A lot.

It also gives me a perspective on my relationship with my own Heavenly Father that I wasn't expecting - especially when it comes to trivial thank you's. We've been having our kids say thank you before they can be excused at a meal. It's kind of ironic that the way they thank me after a meal is often the same way I thank God FOR my meal. And let me tell you, there are days that the thank you is heartfelt and sweet, and there are days that thank you is as careless as can be. I prefer the first.

Yep, motherhood is so much more than I expected, and in some ways, so much less. I DO love my kids, so much, and I'm grateful that God has seen fit to have me be the one to teach them about Him, about life, and about what it means to love others. What a heavy, heavy responsibility. What a loving God, and what a vast storehouse of His grace is there for me. Every day.

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Adjustments

People keep asking me how we're adjusting, and let me tell you, my answer is this:

Better than I expected!

Cadence is a super relaxed baby. She sleeps a lot during the day still - and when she's not sleeping, she is very happy to hang out in her swing, kick her legs around while lying on the floor, work on her rolling over skills, and smile at anyone who is within her sight. She's really really awesome. It helps that she has two brothers who adore her, of course.

When we had Aaron, I thought he was pretty laid back, a good baby.

Then Evan came and I thought, "wow, good thing Aaron came first!" Evan was a dream baby who blew away my concept of laid back.

Now Cadence! WOW! Am I ever blessed.

On the other hand, we still have rough days - take yesterday, for example. A mess up at the bank (their fault), followed by a 3-kid trip to Meijer (which went very well!) followed by a miserable loading-of-the-van experience in the parking lot and some cutting words from a no-doubt-well-meaning stranger. Then we had a whine-all-the-way home trip, which wore the nerves right out of me. Cadence was crying at that point because she'd been awake for an hour with no food. When we finally made it into our house, I had a screaming hungry baby, and whining, complaining, temper-tantrum throwing children screaming their lunchtime demands at their mother. Top this off with an entire collection of family toothbrushes shoved down the sink drain by a curious three year old?

When I opened my mouth to respond, it was not my finest moment. Not by a long shot.

So when I caught a whiff of this article on a friend's facebook page during (attempted) nap time, I read it eagerly. Some very good reminders, some interesting thoughts, and you know what? I am so SO glad that I have God to help me through those rough days. I'm sure he used that friend's timely post to help give me some extra coping tools.

In the midst of it, of course, all I could think about was throwing in the towel, calling Michael and telling him the kids would be listed on Craigslist when he got home. (I jest. Maybe.) But I do have an anchor, a rock, and even though at the end of yesterday I was D.O.N.E., God quietly reminded me of His mercies, new every morning, and His grace, sufficient for each day. His grace, extended in forgiveness when I fail. Miserably.

Today has been infinitely better. I'm so glad bad days are most often followed by good. I am so glad I have a Savior, a shelter, and a God who cares about me, my small children, and our terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days.

Triple Date Day

In honor of the second-to-last triple date day I ever have a chance of seeing, three new things for our family:

1. We just took an extended-weekend family vacation. Photos here. We had an awesome time just relaxing and making memories and will be forever grateful to Tiffany for letting us borrow her rental for the weekend.

2. Aaron can now tie his shoes with no help. When that kid sets his mind to something, it gets done.

3. Cadence has been doing great, sleeping through the night, smiling, growing faster than any other Muth prior. I'm going to have to break out the 3-6 month clothes before I know it.

And, Happy 11th anniversary to K & J. Hope you do something fun. Because this date is certainly fun. 11-11-11.

Gluten Free Morning Muffins

These muffins are an adaption of a recipe from the Bob's Red Mill website, adapted because of what I had and did not have on hand. I've made them twice in as many weeks, so you know the whole family loves them! They keep at room temperature much better than most GF items, although I did throw them in the freezer after 3 days.

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup ground almonds (I put almonds in the blender until they were ground but still a little chunky)
1 cup gluten free oat flour (GF oats in the blender again)
3/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts (I omitted these; unsweetened coconut would also be fabulous, or use sweetened and reduce or omit the sugar)
1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots
2 apples, peeled & shredded
3/4 cup milk (the first time I made these it needed a little more)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350* and combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the carrots and apples to the dry mix. Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla, then add to the dry ingredients and stir until moistened. If needed, gradually add small amounts of milk until the batter looks like muffins.

Line a muffin pan with paper cups, spoon the mixture into the cups and bake 15-20 minutes until tops are slightly browned and spring back when tapped lightly. 15-24 muffins depending on ingredients added (size of the apples, whether or not you add nuts, etc). Today I made 12 muffins and poured the rest into a loaf pan.

Enjoy!

recent happenings

Today I finished up the pie filling. Grand total, 35 jars. 1 did not seal (awwww...) and 2 have gone away already to new homes.


I still need to do up some more applesauce, and meanwhile we need to eat squash so there's room on this shelf.









Aaron is becoming a champion gum-bubble blower. Here's a 2-for-one.



















Evan still hates wearing pants. Here, he demonstrates how versatile his pants can be. He wishes it was still summer.



















Cadence models her hat from the fabulous Aunt Rosemary. We've gotten so many compliments on this hat, and the matching blanket. We LOVE IT!!! I'm going to be so sad when she outgrows it.


















And here, Cadence's newest skill - smiling. So sweet. Love this girl!!