School starts tomorrow

I am both looking forward to it and not. I love spending more time with the boys, but it will be nice to get back on schedule too.

I got another good night's sleep last night, 3 days after the prior one. Baby A slept from 9:30pm to 4:30am and then to 7:30. I slept full-on until 7:30am and I feel like a million bucks. I continue to organize around here, although I have a full time wrecking crew right behind me, as you can imagine, with all 5 boys here this weekend. But I persevere. And I have been much more strict lately about making them clean up after themselves, and making the older boys do chores. Even though it takes longer to supervise them performing these tasks, eventually I will be able to relinquish some of my responsibilities and delegate. The 17-y-o is sick this weekend so he gets a pass. My 8-y-o and I just got through making the 17-y-o's favorite dish for lunch. He is upstairs, so we will surprise him with it. It is an old recipe from my mom, called Seven Seas Casserole, a tuna casserole made with minute rice, peas and cheddar. I had to modify the recipe to make it kosher, so I can't use the Campbell's soup for the sauce base, but I found an acceptable kosher equivalent in mushroom soup instead of Cream of Celery. It is still only 11:30, but the baby fell asleep in the swing during my shower, so I rushed around the house like a crazy woman doing dishes and cooking before he wakes up, as his long naps are few and far between. I'm not complaining, though; he has been sleeping so well an night.

I will meet up with my new OC Babywearer's group IRL for the first time. I connected with them through the babywearing website and I am going to get to try on a bunch of new carrier styles and wrap methods. I'll report back later how it went.

Heavy rain coming

We are expecting a heavy rain this weekend. I have used it as an excuse to "batten down the hatches". The kids and I picked all of the oranges off the tree. They are delicious. DS-8 took the rocks and dirt out of the outdoor drain. He wore gloves and said that it was the dirtiest/muckiest job he had ever done in his life. What a kid! What a helper. He was also climbing on the ladder to get the oranges. He got all except the very highest. I got those using the ladder with a long grabber-type claw instrument. We put away all the ride-on toys. I also cleaned the garage and got all the accumulated boxes and junk organized and put away. Now the space for the 3rd car is open for the most part. The problem with the garage is that in a really heavy rain the water pools by the back garage door, and sometimes drains across that portion of the garage. So all the things on the garage floor need to be water proof. I have also been organizing the disorganized parts of the house this week. You know. Those corners where junk accumulates. I have been going through it and putting things where they belong. I have a huge pile to donate. And I have jammed the trash can and recycle can with stuff. It is such a relief. In late pregnancy I was too big/tired to do this work. And for the past 2 months I have been running hard to keep up with the baby and I was also run down and sick. I am finally feeling better. And I could not believe it but baby A slept a full 8 hours last night, from 8:30pm to 4:30am. I was incredulous when I woke up, and I didn't even feel the need to go back to sleep. DH laughed when he got up and I told him that I had already cleaned the garage this morning.

New Year's Wish

I read a nice message from my Rabbi today in the monthly newsletter. I want to share it with you.

Let me wish each of you a good new year:
May the surprises turn out to be happy.
May you feel content with what you possess.
May your health and love remain strong and steady.
May you count your many gifts and know that you are a gift to others.
May you see yourself through others' eyes and your own too as beloved.
May the Holy-One's spark and embrace offer you purpose and peace.