Whew.

Five days.  Only five days since the boys came home, Naomi came to stay, and I last posted.

Feels like a month.  Or more.

This is my life - one dad juggling jobs, one mom juggling kids, three boys running on an adrenaline high from four flights (a big deal to those of us who aren't used to jet-setting around) and three days at Disney theme parks (pics coming soon), trying to get caught up on schoolwork and lawn-mowing jobs and laundry, and a 10-month old baby who can crawl now (hello! mobile!) who came and stayed for five days.

Good thing she's so cute :D

Also a good thing I had such good helpers.  Gunnar is my number-one assistant with the baby, while the older boys picked up the slack in many other ways.

Gunnar just cannot get enough of the baby.  I tell him that God is preparing him to be a very good daddy someday.  He does just about everything but change poopy diapers, (clearly he still has some ground to cover,) but in the mean time...

He feeds the baby.

reads her stories in the morning, (so I can take a shower!)

entertains the baby (if you can't tell from the picture, let me assure you that she was enjoying this),

and obligingly props her up for pictures, even when she's much more interested in the shoes I dug out of the boys' old stuff, than in having her picture taken.

And - yes - I know that babies don't need shoes.

But this baby has a habit of pulling off her socks and either dropping them (somewhere?)

or chewing on them until they're soggy pulp,

so shoes keep her socks on, her feet warm, and - bonus! - she's cute ;D

Gunnar also pushed the stroller, which she loved.

Sometimes it's hard to tell (in the pictures) if she's screaming or laughing.

Especially when she wrinkles her nose up and makes funny breathing noises.

We call it "Herbie Face".  But that's an inside joke in our family.

Anyway, she was being silly not angry. :D

And very intrigued by...

sheep!  Which Gunnar lured right over in front of her with fresh grass.

Because, you know,

the grass is always greener...

She spent a lot of time in the bath, because she loves it so much.  And I hoped the warm, steamy air would help clear up the crud in her lungs.  She has a mucky cough.

And, yet another towel picture :D

(For comparison, look here.)

I think I love that picture so much because her hair is out of her eyes :D

She got to have some time with Grandma...

and Grandpa :D

(If you're curious about his shirt, it says,

I just neutered the cat.

Now he's a liberal.)

Naomi spent a lot of time at the bottom of the stairs, because all the Cool Kids kept going up them!

She can crawl, but she hasn't figured out the stairs yet.  I briefly considered helping her learn, and then counted my blessings that she hadn't mastered that little skill yet.

She heard Gunnar's voice and was waiting for him...

... to come down and play some more.

Wyatt snapped off the bottom of her sippy cup and helped her express her Viking heritage when we had dinner at my folks' house.

She loves to play peek-a-boo,

and put Every Single Thing into her mouth.

Which means a lot of washing up, because she's sick.

I think we went through a box and a half of tissues, because her little nose is always running,

and her little cheeks are always chapped, and her lungs are always full of crud.

Good thing she's so cute and snuggly!

And you know what one of the unexpected benefits of having her stay was?

The older boys realizing and commenting on how much work it is to take care of a baby.

Yah, that's right, boys.

Hang onto that thought for later.

There's a good reason God designed parenting to happen in a marriage!

And that explains the lack of posting around here.

All is well, we're just trying to get caught up.

On pretty much everything.

You?