Storytime....

So everytime we have added a new little person to our family we have had to find ways to adjust afternoon naptime. Atticus now officially no longer naps and Dietrich can do one or two days a week without a nap, but more than that and he starts falling apart by bedtime. Since all three boys sleep in the same bedroom and it is upstairs next to our main living room area, I have found having the main nap location be Brad and my bed downstairs. It is tricky timing the baby and other two boys to start naps at the same time but most days it can be done with meltdowns at a low level. Sometimes I put Thea Belle down for a nap before beginning the boys' storytime but some days she joins us. Since Atticus was born I have really, really loved reading to the napper(s) for a half hour or so, then praying and singing and laying with them until they fall asleep. Then I slip out, heat my coffee from breakfast and have some quiet time for a few moments before deciding how to use whatever break I get after that. These days I try to spend (at least) half of the nap days doing something with just Atticus. It may seem silly to lay with them, but they often really need help lying still enough to let sleep take them. And I like having that quiet closeness that I seldom get with all the chores necessary to keep this family going or with the sheer busyness of the crowd that is our children. The worst days are when I have to put Thea in her crib with the fan on and let her just cry until I can slip out from the sleeping boys to help her -- that is horrible. But I am starting to learn better how to keep those days from happening too often -- timing her feeding better or even putting a pbs show on for the boys for 15 minutes so they won't work themselves into a too-tired frenzy of wrestling and damage-wreaking havoc while I get Thea to sleep first. She is such a content and easy-going child it seems all the more criminal to leave her in the lurch crying for half an hour only because I got the timing of the day off. Poor girl. Still, we are finding a rhythm and I still like doing naptimes this way best. One Saturday, Brad snuck in and took some photos...I am so happy he caught this...and thought I'd share them here.

 

Always hands in the mouths -- constantly working on this...

I think Thea Belle looks so much like Lincoln in this picture -- especially as her hair has started getting thicker and lighter.