mini me

Having a baby with older kids is a whole different story than having one with all little kids, for sure.  I have a lot of great help this time around!  Sunday I went to another ward's sacrament meeting and was able to leave Pace home with Kami and Caden -because we don't want to expose him to all the germs yet.  (Although, ironically enough, soon after I got home Nolan informed me that he was feeling really sick and then proved the point by lying down on the couch and sleeping for an hour or two.  He was burning up with a fever.  So the germs were really here at home already...)

But I digress...I was stating that this time around I have more help.  But I need to also admit that from one party in this house I sometimes receive TOO MUCH help!  Isabelle has always been a mother.  It just comes naturally to her to take care of kids and run a household! Someday she is going to be quite the on-the-ball mother/ household runner!! Last week she decided to clean out the little boy's closet and chest of drawers.  Every article of their clothing came down to the laundry room.  She said that she thought that all of them needed to be washed, and since they were now mixed up with all the dirty ones, wash them I did.  Sigh. Since she had also cleaned out their closet, this also included out-grown and still-to-be -grown- into clothes. I don't have enough laundry to do the way it is, you know!

Sunday when I got back from church I went into the laundry room to see if the little boys needed their clothes ironed for church and found a big mound of their bedding on the floor.  As I started a load of one set of bedding I asked, "Did the little boys wet the bed last night?" Because usually if Nolan wets the bed he brings all of his bedding downstairs, but this time Abe's was there as well.  Isabelle piped up, "No.  I just thought that it was time to wash their blankets because it's probably been awhile."  Um...yes...a couple of days... since that was the last time that one of them wet the bed!

 And i rolled my eyes because she had done the easy part- bringing everything down. I had to remember to get it through the wash-on a day i usually don't have to worry about such things (because remember I am already committed as I just stuck half of it in the wash) and get it back on the beds before bedtime. After the first load of bedding made it through, I told her that she could go put it on one of the beds.  She looked puzzled and said, "ME???"  I said, "you bet!" ... And to her credit she did it without complaining:)

Also to her credit- she IS the one kid that I have that could care less about the mood Pace is in when she holds him. She happily holds him whether he is happy or crying out loud - at which point the other kids usually look for me and hand him over - and seems to have a sense of just what to do to get him happy.

And look at this picture:

She is feeding a bottle to Pace and reading to Abram at the same time.  I heard her tell Abram, "I will say "beep" when it's time for you to turn the page."  What a capable little girl.  I just maybe need to have a talk with her about how some jobs are just for the REAL mom to worry about!!