Memories, Keeping in Touch

Did you ever just wake up and feel like all of a sudden your friends of years have just slipped through the cracks?  Sure we look at photos on Facebook, and send quick one line Happy Birthdays.  Everyone is busy.  I can find something to do every second of the day at this point and no that does not include glancing at a smart phone every five minutes.  I am sure I would stare at that phone if I had one.  I check my email around 2-3 times a day along with Facebook. 

I think the more I delete junk mail and look at people's posts, I am still in touch with the world outside my house.  I can have a day where I know what so many people are up to without having to put much energy in the friendships.  Don't mind me for complaining.  I love Facebook for keeping up with people who live far away, for relatives and friends in other countries.  What I don't like is the fact that I used to take the time to remember birthdays and actually call people...I still call a short list.  Most of my emails where actually letters, not advertisements.  I never used to think that a coupon in my inbox was all that exciting, but now it is the better coupon email that I open instead of REAL emails.  You have to write emails to get them...I tell myself.  So I have decided to try and write more emails.  Maybe my news is lame to me, but it could be quite interesting to people I barely speak to.

Am I going through some kind of 30 something crisis?  Am I just a bored mom of 6?  How can you put bored and mom of 6 in the same sentence?  I am slowly seeing the world turn inward and forget about actual people, relationships, friendships.  I am thankful I am married and not trying to date in such a cold world.  Yes, there are old connections and friends of friends, but this is a day in the life of me...the phone almost never rings and when it does it is my mom, husband, or one of three friends who call me still and I call them.  I get up, workout and take care of the family, it really is a full-time job.  The house is never perfect at this point and laundry day is everyday.  Cooking takes a few hours a meal if you include clean up.  I get an hour or two to sew diapers, curl up on the couch and watch a show, or maybe eat lunch in quiet.  Then the kids are up from nap.  It is time to get dinner on the table, keep the kids from fighting nonstop, and bedtime takes a few hours.  We are strict about sleep so I get a few hours with just my husband every evening too.  And then it is the next day. 

I don't know who my neighbors are really.  I met one couple on my street and we have lived in our house seven months now.  We are a bit out of place being a young family, but still.  Summer hit and all the weekly meeting groups disappear, minus my woman's group that I really enjoy. (Often the only time I leave the house that whole week other than to grocery shop).  I used to plan more...playdates and trips to the park, but with six kids leaving the house is work.  It takes 30 minutes to get everyone ready and in the care.  4 of my kids need help with everything!

Even all that being said, I can still find time in the day to write this blog, stay in touch with people, have a five minute chat.  I would still like to live in a world where those things matter and count.  Feeling isolated seems to be part of motherhood, but has it gotten harder now that a glance at a page counts as staying in touch?  I am interested to know what people think. Drop me a comment if you want.

Back to Blogging

For anyone who has been following my blog, one might have noticed I have not written in a few months.  With a death, a birth, and six kids to take care of my writing time has taken a back seat.  I am hoping this will not continue to be the case.  Miracle of today is that my 6 kids are all napping!  Yes at the same time and YES my older kids too.  We all nap in this house or we all end up cranky!  I know I could give up.  Most almost 8 year old children do not nap.  Maybe I will tomorrow or the next day..the secret, my 8 year old loves his sleep. 

So this with be a catch up post.  Missing my dad is still a daily part of life.  I cry most days over seeing a bird he would have identified for me, or driving past a place I used to go with him.  I associate living in Port Townsend with my dad and it feels strange to live here without him.  Both my parents love living here, but my dad had everything he loved right here...mountains, ocean, birds, closer to Asia...the list goes on.  I feel like I have been left behind in a world that is beautiful, but not my own.  As I look out the window at some beautiful trees, I think, yes it is nice here, but...is there somewhere out there that fits me as well as Port Townsend fit my dad?  Most people don't get to figure that out until retirement, so we will wait and see. 

The kids are adjusting to new baby well.  Bria is the only one who is kind of missing her right to being the baby.  Everyone loves the baby regardless.  It is mommy and daddy at fault, not Isaiah.  Joel is working a lot on math and reading this summer.  I am trying to help him and we both get frustrated.  He is starting to improve and I think a lot of our problems have nothing to do with what he does and does not know.  Joel likes to learn when he feels like it.  Ellie is the opposite.  She is reading every book in sight and bossing around all the other kids.  Dominic has hit the age where I am still looking for the sweet quiet boy.  He has been replaced by a much more frustrated version of himself.  Charis thinks her new bed is a jungle gym ...like at the park.  Around 10 PM most night she had fallen out of bed.  Bria will not eat anything red right now...sad with all the great raspberries, watermelon, and strawberries around.  Isaiah is done with crying all the time and very interested in the world around him.  Lots of sweet smiles these days.

RubyRumps is growing a bit.  I am adding a one size cloth diaper option to the mix as well as putting my diapers in Sequim, WA at The Dungeness Kid's Company.  We will start with just size N at the shop, but I can custom make other sizes.  All the diapers will be AIO.  If you want something else, check in with me on Etsy or Facebook.  Also, I make swim diapers on request.  Some friends of ours were nice enough to test these for me.  I rarely go swimming with babies.  :)

Tim is working at home, in Port Townsend, in Sequim/ PA, Seattle, and California.  He is wearing several hats as daddy, teacher, loan officer, and much more.  I do not know how he got through the last couple of months when everything was so crazy.  New babies are a lot of work and add 5 other kids and lets just say we are busy all the time!

Hope to have some more thoughts soon.