Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Help

Possibly because I just watched the movie (again), possibly because I was inspired by Jaclyn Tubre’s words a couple weeks ago, or possibly because I’ve received a few of the nicest comments from people in the past couple of weeks about how I handle the kids, I decided to dedicate my bi-monthly blog:) to the people who make my extremely tough and trying job less so….”The Help.”

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Pius, Forrest, Danna and Laine in April.

First off, I would be remiss not to mention the man upstairs first.  He blessed me, not only with my children, but also with the (sometimes lacking) patience to handle them.  While there have been many times I have questioned His plans, I can picture His grin when things always tend to work out better for me.  "The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?" (Proverbs 20:24)

My beautiful wife, (I’ll steal from Garth Brooks here), “the sun, the rain, the fire, the ice, a little crazy but it’s nice, the New York, the L.A., every town along the way…”  She drives me so many directions and I wouldn’t be the person/father that I am without her.  She works so hard and I’m extremely grateful for the sacrifices that she makes for our squad everyday.

Grammy, Budda, Bucko, and Aunts Lainie and LaLa are the most frequent babysitters.  Each of their unconditional love and support for the kids and I are things that I couldn’t survive without.  Whether they are letting Moni and I go out on a date, or me go bowling or run errands while Moni works, their never-ending willingness (and eagerness) to come watch the kids is mind-boggling to me.  They each rarely tell me no, so I keep asking:)  Someday, hopefully I’ll be able to help them as much as they have helped me.

On the majority of days, it is just me and four 4-year-olds.  On these days, if I am going crazy and the kids are bouncing off the walls, I can post the goings-on on my Facebook page.  The response I get is usually pretty good.  So I consider my Facebook Friends “The Help,” as well.  It helps me to maintain my sanity that other people have gone through, sympathize with me, or just laugh at the things that the kids or I do.  I am able to connect with the adult world despite  the fact that I only actually speak to 4-year-olds for 95% of a lot of days.

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How the kids spend a lot of their time nowadays:)

People look at me with the kids and ask, “How do you do it?” all of the time.  I’m happy that I look and act sane enough for people to ask me that.  However, if people really knew the anxiety that I feel (almost all the time in public with the kids), they would probably have me admitted.  The kids do a pretty good job of making me look a lot better than I probably am.  I have all of “The Help” to thank.

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April in the Mid West, so here is our “Basement Bedroom” during the storms.

Until we all meet again, Billy is OUT!!!!