High Five for Friday #19: Coming Home

Happy Friday everyone!  How was your week?  Ours was good, mainly because this was the week that D and Fire were coming home.  It is so great to be together as a family again!  The house is messy and the Sky and Fire are having to work on getting along but we're whole.

Here are some highlights from our week:

#1

The screen capture above?  That's my whole shopping list for baby #4.  It's crazy to think that we've been doing this long enough that we just need some bottles and a new cover sheet for the Moses basket and we'll be ready to grow again.  Someone made a joke the other day about our family hot racking our kids through the crib but it's almost true.  That poor thing has been in almost constant use for four years now. 

#2

This sweet boy has missed his daddy so much!  Water has insisted on being held almost constantly since D left for Hawaii.  While I love the way my biceps are looking after hauling my 25 pound baby around for a week and a half, this has been one part of single parenting that I'm not going to miss.

#3

I had another meeting with our new therapist this week and we focused a lot more on my past and issues and how they affect my parenting.  I've known ever since Sky came home that I had some parenting baggage that I had to deal with and I've worked a lot on it but it was nice to have someone ask questions and push me a little more about it.  Our homework this week, besides some mental work for me, is to use if/then statements with Sky.  She's responding really well to the positive verbal input that the therapist suggested last week so I'm hopeful that this will help as well. 

#4

D and Fire came home!

Ms B and Water

Playing with coconuts while we wait

#5

I wish I were ending this on a good note but unfortunately, it looks like Fire's hernia repair didn't take.  D had to take him into the hospital yesterday afternoon and he'll meet with the surgeon tomorrow.  Fire may have to travel back to Honolulu for more surgery.  Because of that, we're going to have to cancel our vacation to Kosrae.  We were supposed to leave on Tuesday but with all the unknowns of another surgery, it's just not a good idea.  We're all pretty down about how things are turning out but Sky in particular is crushed.  I'm hopeful that if Fire does have to go back to Honolulu, that we can afford to bring her along so that she can get some vacation in before school starts.

Do you pass things on from child to child?  What baby supplies could you not live without?  Any tips for dealing with clingy babies? 

See where I'm linking up here