the joys...and the struggles

Sometimes in the daily grind of life,

there are unexpected things that happen.

Some things make us happy,

and some things don't.

In the past few weeks,

my boys have become more and more active.

Anders finally crawled for the first time on Memorial Day weekend...

...and Niels crawled for the first time just this past weekend.

But while thoroughly enjoying the fun of watching these two grow,

and play together,

and all four play together,



there is still the other less joyful things of life to deal with.

Like lots of doctor appointments for this lil girl to fix her constant urinary tract infections and strep (6 cases of strep since January!!).

Yes, she put Anders in the toy box and filled it...beaming with pride afterward of course!

So, while she just graduated from preschool,

she is now on a strict regimen for re-potty training her...good times for me, right?! Not really...but I am determined to help her bladder and intestines get smaller since she stretched them out so much from holding everything in!

I love Anders' face and how he's sitting in this picture...like he's saying, "How d'ya like that -- Niels is crying AGAIN."


You can barely see her face in this picture, but if you look closely enough, you can see a very rare glimpse of her being frustrated with her brothers. She has the patience of a saint with her baby bros!!!!

This dress was made by her Nana and a hand-me-down from her cousin -- it's even cuter in person.
She also has an appointment to get her tonsils and adenoids out this Friday. Poor lil thang!

And that's only a little bit of a peek into what's been going on. The past few weeks have been...well....let's just say...draining....stressful....BUSY. Life has its ups and downs!


But we all just keep on truckin', don't we?









Niels' hair makes me laugh...it's so straight it won't even bend in the wind!

We all have our struggles. We all have our joys. It's important to focus on our joys. But it's also important to remember that the struggles are what make the joys that much more joyful.