Family of 5

Well, I'm still here. Barely. Just kidding. Not really. :)

My last post was about 9 months ago, right before I had baby #3. Baby #3 turned out to be this little guy.

Max Palmer Van Wart

Who now looks like this...

Isn't he a cutie?!

I'll do a separate post about this little guy. He is soooo sweet. :)

I've been away from blogging because long story short... I've just been trying to stay afloat. Having three kids really turned my world upside down. It was hard. Really hard. There's not really any one reason that made it that way. Bottom line is I had a 4 year old, 2 year old, and a newborn. All day was spent treading water- trying to maintain the house, unload the dishwasher, keeping clean clothes on the kids, nursing (a lot), feeding the bigger two, trying to squeeze a shower in, making my hubby dinner, running errands, having playdates, looking desirable to my husband (insert delirious laughter here)... did I mention Max would only take cat naps for the first 6 months of his life? How much can you get accomplished in 30 minute increments? Not a lot. I thought three would be no big deal. I think for a lot of people, any number after two is easy. Not for me. I was getting my hiney handed to me on a daily basis. :) I know I just painted a pretty dark picture, however, there were plenty of good times mixed in. :)

Things are better though! Whew. I was just talking to my SIL about how the 6 month mark after having a baby is the real turning point for feeling normal again. And the Van Wart house has a good groove going on! Max takes 2-3 long naps a day. Thank you Jesus. Jack is potty trained. Hallelujah. Bella...well... that deserves a separate post of it's own. I plan on writing an update post for each of the kids. We had a great summer FULL of swimming... some at the beach, some at the waterpark, but mostly at HoneyPop's house. Bella and Jack took swim lessons and both are swimming like fish. Swimming is the best thing ever. The kids will swim their hearts out, fill their bellies up, and sleep like newborns. Brilliant.

We are getting ready for the busyness of the fall. Jack is enrolled at MDO one day a week, we are all signed up for BSF, AND drum roll please.... I am homeschooling Bella this year. Yes, I know you're saying, "Bethany, you might want to read about two paragraphs up where you were talking about trying to stay afloat." Don't worry, a post is coming about homeschooling too.

*I sure am getting over-zealous in my commitments to new posts considering this one was 9 months in the making. Anyways ~ I'll end this way over-due post with pictures. You know, the good stuff. :)