So it is really hard to keep up with this blog thing. I have all these good intentions, but now I am way behind again. I think it might be easier with fewer children, but I don't feel like I can mention one child without mentioning all of them in some way, so every time I plan to add to my blog, I end up not having enough time. I think I am going to have to resort to smaller entries even if I can't mention each child each time. My goal is to catch up while Rob is in Arizona this week. After the other children go to bed, it is quite lonesome each night waiting for Caroline's feeding pump to finish. So I'll blog.
I think I'll start with now and go backwards to Thanksgiving until I catch up. We don't have any birthdays or special days until Feb., so that should give me time to catch up, right?
After having several not so good weeks including some awful days, Caroline, out of the blue, had five stellar days with no crying or even fussing what-so-ever. Now she is back to horrible days again. It always seems to go in cycles like this. She has terrible days until I am about to lose my mind, and I wonder how I can do this for the rest of my life. And then just when I think I can't take it any more, she does an about face and everything is wonderful. So then I think, "Yeah, I can handle this." I get used to happy, laughing Caroline again and then boom!!! Bad days are here again. I guess that is how God stretches me. I just hope that he really knows how far this balloon can go before it pops!
It was 38 degrees outside last night, the coldest it's been since we moved here. I woke up in the middle of the night, freezing. I lay there for awhile trying to keep baby Lana warm (she was even colder than I was because her bed is next to the outside wall). As I lay there, I thought to myself, "I am in Hawaii -- and I am even colder in this house than I ever was in Big Piney." I lay in bed awhile longer, sort of wishing that Rob would get cold enough that he'd wake up and see why it was so cold, but finally, my nose got so cold that I couldn't stand it. Rob thinks I'm crazy, but when I'm cold, my nose always gets cold first. And I simply cannot sleep with a cold nose, even if the rest of me is toasty warm. So, I left Lana crying and got up only to discover that our propane had run out -- of all nights. In case you didn't know it, I'm one of Murphy's best friends. I help him invent new laws regularly. I had to go outside to find the kerosene heater. Poor Rob woke up anyway because Lana was crying so loudly. He rescued me and got the other heater going. It took an hour or so before it got warm enough to thaw my nose. I never imagined being so cold in Hawaii.
And the mold. We discovered that we were living in a mold infested house. But "that's the price of paradise!" I pulled something out from under our bed one morning and found it covered in mold. So I pulled everything out from under the bed and found that everything was covered in mold. It turned out that under the bed was only the beginning. Because the house has no insulation, mold grows on anything that touches the floor or the outside walls. Lana's bed was covered in mold. Rob's clothes nearest to the outside wall in his closet were covered with mold etc. etc. We ended up buying a dehumidifier and an air purifier. We also pulled everything off of the floor and away from the walls. We think the mold might be part of the reason that we've all been sick with coughs for so long. After we got the inside of the house taken care of, we discovered that all the shelves in the carport were covered with mold and many of the things in the boxes on the shelves were moldy. So we spent yesterday de-cluttering and de-molding. We have to make everything fit into the spare room where Caroline sleeps so that the mold won't grow. We threw away a lot of things. There is something very freeing about getting rid of "stuff." It is rather liberating because suddenly we have fewer things to worry about. I rather enjoyed it. I think we'll throw away more. We can thank this little house for freeing us.
But living here is worth the cold, the mold, the tiny house and any other inconvenience. And here's why:
Did I say I love Maui????????????
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