The good, the bad, and the sleepless.

As I write this, I'm listening to Will cry upstairs. Poor kid is already teething, and he sucks at getting himself to sleep anyways. And there goes Alinea...

Ok, I'm back. Whew. Success.

Having Will and Linny share a room is rough. As I said, he cannot get himself to sleep, plus he still wakes up a few times a night. Every night. A good night is 3-4 times. A bad night is 5 or more. And if it's before Linny is asleep, like tonight, he wakes her up. Sometimes it's vice versa. Yeah, my kids don't sleep. I'm getting desperate. I might have to go spend the night at a hotel or something and let Chris sleep train Will one night.

It's been one of those days. Today was Chris' first Sunday having to work again, which meant wrangling the kids at church alone. I'm grateful Chris is back at work again, but I miss him a lot. Especially on Sundays. Handing the kids at church by myself can be a challenge, but usually I do pretty good.

Unless, like today, it's just in the air.

You know what I'm talking about? Whether it's your kids, or a bunch of kids at daycare or at church, they all just have the willies, and one or five of them start crying, and then they all start feeding off it and they ALL just decide to misbehave? Well, it was in the air today. Not only were the Primary kids a bunch of monkeys, but Will would not sleep at all at church. Usually he'll pass out for a nap at some point, but not today. He was fussy even when I held him (that's the other thing - neither of my kids will fall asleep in my arms. Never have, never will). Plus, Alinea was in Dr Jekyll mode, running down the pews at church, making loud noises on purpose, screaming when you tried to settle her down. Sigh.

It wasn't really a terrible day, just exhausting. To the point that I'm going to wrap up this post in a minute, have some wonton soup, and fall into the welcoming arms of the pillows on my bed.

I want to end it on a positive note though. I was fortunate enough to attend the baptism of a new family tonight. Lara, and her daughter Chenoa, have been attending our ward for awhile now. Chenoa just turned 8 and I've been fortunate to get to know her in our Primary classes. Baptisms are always cool experiences, but tonight was just special. There were so many people in attendance that we had to move rooms, and cheesy as it sounds, there was a lotta love in that room. I just think about this new family and the journey they have been to get to this place, and hope they feel all that love.

It was hard to concentrate on the experience itself, having all three kids in tow at 7:30 at night (eek!), but I was fortunate enough to sit by a dear friend and her family who are always so amazingly helpful with the kids, especially Alinea. If they hadn't been sitting by me and helping, I don't know if we would have made it through the evening.

I know not everyone always understands my religious views and why I have them, but experiences like tonight have a lot to do with them. Obviously it was important enough that I hauled my three kids out to see it. But even with all that was going on, I felt really upbeat and happy afterward. I was glad they got to see the joy of this family, and share in that.

And really, isn't joy what it's all about?

And on that note, I bid you goodnight. My soup is calling my name...

Annnnnd we're back.

Soooo... I know. It's been awhile. But in my defense, was a rough year. A fantastic year, in many ways, but a rough year. Long story short, I was hugely pregnant juggling work and a toddler most of the year, my husband lost his job, and my car DIED on the side of the freeway in the worst part of Oakland when I was 9 months pregnant. We were fortunate to have a lot of friends and family to help, but there were a lot of depressing moments. And really, who wants to read about that?

BUT, as I said, 2009 was also fantastic in many ways.

By far the most important piece of news was that we had an addition to our family! So, without further ado, may I present William Emmett Walter Paquette, aka "the Dumplin'":

hello world!

So admittedly, this is a not a newborn pic. I will post those soon (along with a birth story). This was taken about a month ago, when Will was 3 months old, and it's one of my faves. Like all our kids, Will is all head! :)

Will has been such a blessing. I'll admit that having a third kid was really, really hard for the first month. Like all our kids, Will entered the world dramatically, doesn't sleep much at night, and, to my despair, absolutely would not get the hang of breastfeeding (not even after multiple lactation consultants). But he's such a sweet boy. I love how much of his personality has emerged already.

It never fails to amaze me how two kids birthed of the same parents, same genes, can be so entirely different. Linny Lumpkin is our wild thing, our hurricane, our Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde. She's extremely intelligent - she knows all her colors, can count to 20, and knows more songs than Aden. And extremely verbal - she talks in paragraphs. And extremely cute - you should hear her say "I love you SOOO much!" It could stop wars.

And then, at a moment's notice, she's the devil child, screaming at the top of her lungs while hitting you, throwing things, slapping her brother for fun, throwing poop around her room (oh yes, she's a poop thrower!), and DESTROYING the house. At one point, I believe I had crayons on her closet, colored pencils on the dresser, markers on the table, and pen all over the couches.

(FYI, vinegar does wonders on microfiber).

And that's not even counting the numerous pieces of ruined clothing, or the fact that we chopped off her thick hair because it was constantly covered in dirt and snot and she would not, would not, let us even touch it, let alone put it in pigtails, or the Code-10 emergency that is Alinea when she wants an apple. Or Cheerios. Or Chocolate. ("Choc-o-late? Choc-o-late peeees? I need Chocolate! I need Choc-o-late right. Now! Chocolate! CHOCOLATE!!!!!")

In contrast, I can already tell Will is going to be our sensitive, thoughtful one. He spent the first 3 months of life staring at his siblings with a look that said, "this is my family?" The older he gets, though, the more he smiles - a huge, dimpled, fat-cheeked, Cabbage Patch smile! He's already my little lovebug. I absolutely love his smile when I hold him tight and we look in the mirror cheek to cheek.

He's going to be as active as his brother, too. We can't keep blankets in his crib at all - he either kicks them off entirely or grabs them and pulls them over his face in his sleep! He already tries to crawl when you put him on your tummy and since he was a month old, he's been happiest standing. He even starts putting one foot in front of the other when you hold him up by his arms.

It's amazing to watch them grow and see their personalities emerge. Even as exasperated as we get, I know Alinea's willpower will come in handy for her one day when she's facing peer pressure at school. And even when I'm exhausted from waking up with Will, my huge butterball baby that can't stop eating, I'm grateful for all the cuddles and smiles, and how his little fat hand wrapped around my finger calms him like nothing else can.

I think it's going to be a fun year. :) And I'm going to keep this blog much more up-to-date with our adventures in 2010.

Promise.