Things I've learned about parenting this past week

A sleeping baby equals happy adults. Therefore, great pains can be endured if the prospect of a sleeping baby is on the horizon.
A clean, dry baby equals a happy baby (and a more-apt-to-sleep baby).
Number two gooey diapers are more efficiently and properly changed by someone of the female variety.
Ten and eight year olds are crazy.
Eight year olds that fall asleep on your lap in meeting might drool everywhere.
Not quite two year olds that are fighting sleep during meeting are a trial. (Shauna and I had Ryann, Elena, and Paige during Sunday morning meeting; grandma and grandpa were helping with Rhys. We were feeling pretty smug when we first sat down. Quiet Paige- typically busy, noisy Rhys. Wouldn't you know it, Rhys settled right down in two seconds and Paige was a squirming fuss. Can't win them all.)
Thumping the bink of a not quite two year old in an attempt to quiet them quiet during meeting only works about 50% of the time at best.
Trying to get food down kids at ten o'clock at night in the airport is not a good time to begin establishing rules like "You will eat all of this or else." In fact, it's not a good time to be trying to do much of anything productive with children. Keeping yourself sane should be top priority. But lots of luck with that.
You can get away with quite a few things when you have a baby that you couldn't otherwise. Like getting to stretch your legs back in the galley of the airplane while rocking a baby to sleep for the benefit of the entire plane. Granted, when one is thrown into continual carrying and rocking of a Paige sized baby with no warm-up, ones lower back does suffer a bit!
Which brings up another question: How heavy is Paige? That doesn't have a cut and dried answer. It depends on if it's 2:30 in the morning and you've just gotten home from Ohio and you're trying to get her back to sleep. Or if you've been lugging her around the airport for hours. Or if she just wants to be tossed in the air a couple times. And, when weighed against Rhys...
Number one thing I learned this past week: They're great. Great fun, great to tease, great to watch, great to play with. Thanks for giving me the crash course Arlen and Jessi!