Snow Day 2010

It started snowing at about 6:30 this morning. We got probably an inch and a half to two inches. By 10:30 it was still snowing, but melting too. It briefly started accumulating on the roads and they talked about closing the bridges (they did temporarily to sand them), but not before Paul got sent home (he was actually told by the boss to go home).

Andrew came out of his room in shorts and a tshirt and said he was ready to go play outside in the snow. It was his older brothers shorts and tshirt so they were not even staying on him!

We got to enjoy some time outside playing before it started melting and then we spent the day running errands and trying to stay out of the house for a while.

A LONG Weekend!

School has been cancelled for tomorrow "just in case." We have a chance of 1 or 2 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. That means either we will get nothing or we will get a foot of snow :) That is just the way it normally works. But the weathermen always make a point of saying it is VERY hard to predict down here because everything has to work out "just right" for us to get snow.

Honestly, this is just God's sense of humor at work. We told the kids not to expect to see snow at home when we moved down here. That year they got the most snow they had gotten in over 20 years. This will be our second snow this season. I guess I should tell them to expect snow every year and then it won't snow!!

If I am lucky the two Mississippi bridges will be closed due to ice on the road. That means Daddy will have to stay home and we can have a family day stuck inside!

The boys don't go back to school until next Wednesday. They have Monday and Tuesday off for Mardi Gras. Oh, the benefits of living in Louisiana!! There aren't many, so we take what we can get!

Decorating

Since I have to paint Mads room again, I am trying to figure out what I am going to do with her room when we go get her new furniture. This would be MUCH easier to do if I had someone to help! Paul really could care less. Unless he just does NOT like something, everything is "fine" or "okay" or "cute". I need a little more than that.

The big problem is that I have wanted a girl for so long and there are so many different ideas I have for a room that I want to do them all. That doesn't mesh well! The more I look online at different ideas, the worse it gets!

I also want to buy her furntiture that is going to last her. I really like a furniture set called Princess:

but, I don't see a teenager wanting furniture like that. And, white is going to age (aka show nail polish, lip gloss, markers, etc...) a lot quicker than anything else.
So, I will probably be going with a cherry wood.

I will post pictures when I figure out what we are going to do and get it done. I finally got a girl and I do not plan on her being in a blue room for long (blue would probably be fine if I didn't have four boys BEFORE getting the girl)!

If you have any pictures or ideas of what I can do, I would LOVE to hear them!

Success

Mady has two friends that she has struggled to be able to have coexist. I think she has finally figured them out.

Sleep and Awake are getting along much better. And if I knew it was as easy as changing which room she slept in (not that it is easy to flip flop two bedrooms full of three kids stuff), well I would have done it a long time ago.

The two boys that moved into her bedroom, which is significantly smaller room, are actually enjoying that room more. Bryce even said that I could leave it pink (he is six and a third child.....he will like anything if it causes anyone to stir or balk at him whether he LIKES it or not). Yes, his brothers ALL got a huge kick laughing at him and teasing him because he likes the PINK room!

Mady is enjoying her room more too. She is playing in it, but more importa ntly, she is SLEEPING in it. There was not even really a transition period(which is REALLY amazing with her). When we changed the rooms I was also going to attempt to get her back into taking two naps a day. I figured this would be a challange. I was WRONG! She has easily gone down for her naps and taken good naps. AND she is even sleeping when her brothers are home!!! Even with the door open, if her air purifier is on it drowns out all of the noise (unless kids are right outside her door).

She is sleeping better at night too. She is still waking up some, but it a lot of the time she just crys for a minute and goes back to sleep. Daddy and I are only getting up once if we have to get up. Still not where we want to be, but we are making MAJOR steps in the right direction. I have hope that by the time she is 1 (which OH MY GOSH is coming quickly) she might be sleeping through the night!!

The main thing is she is a MUCH happier girl now that she is sleeping like she should be!

Super Bowl

We finally have EVERYONE well again! Thank goodness! Andrew and Mady were both running fever again Friday and Saturday and Andrew's allergies were horrible Friday (eyes swollen, watering, runny nose). So glad to start a new week!

I had a very productive weekend of getting some stuff reorganized. I feel like things are calming down with Mady enough that I can get things back to where they were pre-Mads! I am a very organized person and the lack of organization was really starting to get to me.

We spent last night watching the Super Bowl. None of our friends and family WANTED to cheer on the Saints (they all have teams they would prefer to win over us), but I have cheered for them all season and I am so glad they won. I think that was the best game of the year (for any team!). They took some awesome chances that paid off and not only did the underdogs win, but they won by TWO AWESOME touchdowns!

I walked outside after the game just to hear what could be heard. There was a LOT to be heard! Our usually quiet-after-dark neighborhood was ALIVE and celebrating. There were gunshots (not really a big fan of shooting guns to show my excitement - but noone was injured), fireworks (someone saved up from New Years I guess), hollering, horns honking! Even as late as a couple of hours after the game I took the dogs out and was still hearing the effects of the game.

The news this morning said traffic was worse before 6 this morning than normal rush hour is. There was not a lot of sleep to be had in the state last night.

Sexy as Defined by a Six Year Old

"Everybody! Mady's sexy!"

That is what Bryce said today.

"What does sexy mean?" I quizzed.

"It means hot and sexy."

"You can't define a word with the same word."

"It means your pants are hanging down and your underwear are showing!"

Lots of Coughs

Mady was the first to get sick and the first to get better. She is pretty much over her cough now. I guess she found coughing such a fun experience she wants to keep it up.

Everytime anyone coughs (which is a LOT lately), Mady does a VERY obvious fake cough. Then she looks around and smiles. We all laugh everytime, which probably is why she looks around smiling!!

Boy Problems

Andrew, for the past two days now, has told me his "weiner is broke." I asked yesterday after the first time why and he said "because it won't peepee."

Seasons of Life

I am amazed at how quickly we enter one phase in life and then leave it and move on to the next. Especially when it comes to our children.

I can no longer call Andrew a toddler. I guess he is now a preschooler. He is talking, walking, running, counting and working on ABC's, using the potty all the time now - without asking or telling me he needs to and without asking for rewards for it. He is just not a toddler anymore.

Madeleine is moving from baby to toddler very quickly. She is getting into everything, walking holding on to stuff, standing unassisted for a small amount of time, drinking out of a cup (she is taking one bottle a day right before bed), talking (even though it is only a handful of words). She dances when she hears music, she sings, she waves, she claps.

She still has that touch of baby to her. She is still very sensitive and very needy. But, it appears that is also going to be her personality.

It is just so hard to believe that my LAST baby is growing up so quickly! She is at such a fun age, but it is bittersweet. With every exciting "first" she has there is that voice in the back of my head saying "this will be the last first word, first crawl, first step, etc. I really have to focus on the moment and not get lost in the LAST first!

And then there are the school-aged kids. I have THREE kids that are reading by themselves, counting their own money, telling time, etc. Even the one that started off struggling so much this year has come close to completely catching up and getting his grades all up! I had one move to a new school this year (the schools here are done by grade level, not where you live. The k - 1 is in one school, 2 - 3 in one, 4-5 in one and then junior high and high school). And next year I will not have anyone at the k-1 grade school.

Then there is the fact that in a few months, I will have a JUNIOR HIGH STUDENT! I am not ready to even discuss this fact yet, although he LOVES LOVES LOVES to remind me often!

When you get caught up in the day to day, you don't always recognize that you are leaving a phase that you may never be in again. Sometimes that is a good thing. There are somethings in life you hope you will be done with soon and never return too. But when you are a Mom, and the phase you will never enter again has to do with the fact that your child (or children) are growing way to quickly, it seems to slap you in the face!

I hope that I can always stay in the moment and enjoy every minute. Even the challanges! Because before I know it, I am not going to have "children" anymore, and that will be a new phase in which I may never be ready for!

Suicide, Sewage...It Is All the Same, Right?

Bryce came home today and says "Today another teacher had suicide in her sink and her class had to stay in our classroom with us. It stunk up the whole hall!"

We said suicide back and forth countless times while I was trying to understand what he is talking about. I had flashes of a teacher commiting suicide at her sink during class and was PRAYING TO GOD that was not what happened!!

"Yeah, you know, like what is in the ditch!"

"Sewage?"

"Yeah, that! It was really stinky!"

Sick Kids

Last night was a BAD night! I went to bed at my normal 10 and Mads was screaming by 10:45. Daddy got up and went in and she continued to scream. So, I went in her room and rocked her for a bit. She was burning up (104.5)! She was also breathing very loud and heavy.

We finally got her fever down, but there was not much sleeping to be had. She was in our bed rolling all over, sitting up and throwing herself back down, etc. It was obvious she was not comfortable.

This morning I called the dr as soon as they opened. Of course our normal dr was not in, which sucked because I knew with him I could bring in both sick kids and he would take care of both of them without having to make two appointments (and paying two copays). That did not exactly happen.

The dr said her ears and throat looked perfect, but her lungs sounded bad. She ordered some blood work to see if she had a viral or bacterial infection. They did a thumb prick, which did not go over to great! The machine was down, so we ended up leaving with no results.

The dr called this afternoon and told us that they ran the bloodtest and she did have a bacterial infection of some sort. She told us to start her on antibiotics. I asked her if she thought Isaac had the same thing. We had discussed all of his symptoms and fever, but she did not look at him at all. She said he probably did, but to give him another day and see if he can shake it on his own. I asked her if I could just call and get a prescription for him if it didn't go away and she said that they don't give antibiotic prescriptions without "looking" at the child.

I don't know that the best thing to do is let him run a fever for another day to see if he can kick it on his own. He would end up missing an entire week of school and that is the last thing he needs right now. I think we are going to go see our normal dr tomorrow (hopefully) and try to get this under control. I really don't think I should have to bring five kids in for the same thing as this passes through the house!

One thing that was kind of funny. I mentioned to the dr that we had not had sick kids since March of 2008. She says "Mady is nine months old and hasn't been sick at all? You must homeschool." She was REALLY amazed when I told her I had three in public schools!

She has NO idea how amazing it really is!!

Isaac has been sleeping for the past three days, pretty much around the clock. Caleb came home today from school and complained about a headache and went to bed for about an hour, until bedtime.

Room Change

Mads is in the blue bedroom and my two youngest are in the pink bedroom now!

I had to do some rearranging of bedrooms this weekend in hopes of getting Madys to sleep better.

Mady is not sleeping much at all during the day and doesn't sleep great at night either. The problem is that he brothers will not stay quiet during the day for her to nap. When it is just Andrew home he goes barging in her room while she is sleeping the second my eyes leave him.

Her room is next to Caleb and Isaac's room. When all of the boys are home and going in and out of their bedroom (slamming doors, yelling, rough housing, etc), they wake her up.

Some other issues with her room is that it was at the front of the house and any noise from outside would bother her. Her window is also on the west side of the house and when you need a DARK, QUIET room for sleeping, all of the issues add up to NO SLEEP!

Bryce and Andrew's room was at the other end of the hall. I did not want to put the two boys in her room because it is a lot smaller, but they don't have much furniture and they rarely play in their room, so if it means she sleeps (which in turn means I sleep) than it just might have to be this way for a while.

I spent ALL day yesterday moving endless amounts of toys, clothes, furniture, etc between the two rooms. I had lots of "helpers" until forgotten toys were uncovered and they disappeared until that toy became boring again. By bedtime, rooms were changed, set up and cleaned!

Today, Mady took two good naps. That is pretty amazing considering she is sick! I put a baby gate in the middle of the hall (right past the bathroom door) so that the boys could use the bathroom, but noone could get to her door. Her music was up and the CD was on repeat.

Now, we will see if I can get her back on a good schedule, including the two naps (morning and afternoon) a day that she so desperately needs. Hopefully, this will lead to a her sleeping through the night!

If it works, I will repaint bedrooms. If it doesn't I will spend ANOTHER day putting kids back where they were. I am uncertain as to which I would rather have to do (energy wise)!!

And the Streak Is Over

March 2008!

That was the last time we had a sick child.

Until now. Now I have TWO sick kids. Mady has been under the weather for going on a week, but she has been running a fever since Friday. Yesterday and today it has gotten bad. She seems okay first thing in the morning, then she takes a nap and wakes up with a fever. Today, when she got up from her nap her temperature was 104.5! With meds I can get it down to around 101-102. When she has fallen asleep and missed meds she wakes up really high again.

Isaac spent most of yesterday afternoon and all of today sleeping. When I checked his temperature the first time it was 103.5. He gets a little bit of energy when the meds kick in, but quickly goes back to lying down.

They both have a cough and Mady has congestion/runny nose. But that is it for symptoms. Isaac's throat hurts when he coughs, but that is the only time.

Needless to say, at 7:00 tomorrow morning I will be calling the drs office to talk to a nurse and see if we need to come in.

Miss Velcro Baby is more like duct tape on a hairy arm when she is sick! I thought she was clingy when she got her teeth (the two she has)....luckily Daddy was home this weekend to help and he did nighttime duty with her!

I will update when I figure out what is going on.

I met OPRAH WINFREY and MICHELLE OBAMA today!!!

Actually, today I met so many famous people I could hardly keep up! I met Babe Ruth, Kathleen Blanco, Norman Rockwell, Joan of Arc, Rosa Park, Elvis Presley, Betsy Ross, Michael Jackson, Madam C. J. Walker and Michael Jordan.

I was a day late to meet Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Barak Obama, Walt Disney, Maya Angelou, Sacagawea, Janet Jackson, Abrahan Lincoln, and Pocahontas.

Most importantly and the one I was most excited about, I met Paul Neal "Red" Adair.

See, today I went to Bryce's school to see him do his first biography (although, I don't remember biographies in first grade). They had to dress up as the person they were doing their biography on. He wanted to dress up as a fireman, so we looked up famous fireman and Red is THE most famous! He even had a John Wayne movie (Hellfighters) made about him!




I thought they were pretty good choices for first graders! They were not allowed to have two people doing the same person. The kids had the chance to ask questions after each biography. After every one, SOMEONE would ask if the person was dead. They are seemed very interested in that (they would even ask if it was answered in the biography).

By Golly I Think We Got It!!

Andrew started asking to sit on the potty since he was a year old. I let him whenever he would ask, but never really pushed it because it was more of a "everyone in this house uses a potty...I should sit on one too" type of thing. Then when he was a little over two, I started to get serious about him using the potty and he, for the most part, wanted NOTHING to do with it. Until lately.

He has been peeing in the potty for a couple of weeks now. But, until recently would not attempt to poop in the potty. For a LONG time now if you asked him where you go poop or pee he would say the potty, but he would not follow up with it.

Then Spike came along. Spike was supposed to be a birthday present (AJ wanted it for Christmas and didnt get it. Then after Christmas he was clearanced and more than half off). His brothers showed him the box (which was kinda hidden to where he wouldn't find it) and I have heard about Spike everyday since.

So, I made a "deal" (call it a bribe - whatever. If it works....) with him. I told him if he would start pooping in the potty ALL. THE. TIME. he could have the dinosaur. Otherwise, he had to wait until his birthday.

Now, he is two still. That is a pretty hefty deal and I didn't know how much he really understood it. BUT, he pooped in the potty. He asked for Spike, I again explained that he had to be out of Pullups before he could have Spike. We had this conversation a couple of times and he stopped asking for Spike and asked for "big boy treats". He would still say "I poopie in big boy potty so I have P-Rex, so I guess he was starting to understand.

He periodically still has stomach issues when he has lactose and lately he has been. Amazingly, he has been able to tell us he needed to go potty most of the time and has been making it on time. There have been a couple of accidents, but overall he has been doing great.

He has gone with Dad several times the last couple of weeks to run an errand or two wearing underwear with no accidents. He is either telling me he needs to potty (pee or poop) as he is walking to the bathroom or he just goes and then I hear him yell with excitement that he has pottied. He has been waking up from naps dry and frequently wakes up in the mornings dry (although he is still in Pullups at night).

I think today he is going to get Spike. He has been doing SUCH an awesome job and I am so proud of him, so I think it is time to reward him.

FOUR DOWN AND ONE TO GO!! I hear girls are easier. But NOTHING has been easier with Madeleine, so I am going to mentally prepare myself for the potty training challange of my life. I will NOT go in with the attitude that I am a potty training master (after potty training four boys) because I am pretty certain she will not let it be easy!

Madeleine's Nine Month Stats

Mads appt was Friday...she got two shots and that made her a not-so-happy chickie all day!!

She was 17 pounds 10 ounces, 27 3/4inches long.

Her weight has really jumped up on the growth chart. I think she is in about the 25th percent for weight and right on average for length. The dr said he likes to see on the growth chart that their weight is one line under their height, which is exactly where she was.

Everything looks great and she is growing perfect!

Velcro Baby

I just read an interesting article by Dr. William Sears called Handling the High-Need Baby in the Feb 2010 edition of BabyTalk.

He had three boys and then a girl. He was describing how his daughter acted, how she was always clingy, always wanted to be held, cried non-stop until she got what she needed, etc.

He described Mads perfectly, and I loved the term they used....Velcro Baby - SO MADY!!

He gave ways to soothe a Velcro Baby. I must say that most of them I have figured out and do (although I thought I was just being a bad mom :))

Basically, he says to respond to their needs, it is the only way to get rest. Mady still does not sleep through the night. She does not get up to play, she basically just wants to see that someone is still there. I think that if she were to sleep in our room still she would probably be able to sleep all night (but I am more scared of trying to break her of sleeping in my room than I am of loosing sleep right now). I go in her room, give her a small bottle and she is good the rest of the night. Letting her cry it out like the dr told me to do, NEVER worked. She might fall back asleep after crying forever, but she would wake up several times a night, each time more upset. I really tried for many nights, it just never worked and I was getting even less sleep than just getting up with her the one time.

She has always been a high-need baby. She still had to be swaddled up to about 6 months old to go to sleep. She needed her womb environment MUCH longer than any of my boys did (in fact for the most part my boys did not want to be swaddled and I NEVER made the house quiet for them to sleep - and they sleep through anything now). She is VERY particular of how her room has to be to sleep (dark, quiet except for her lullabies and cool with a blanket close by). She often gets carried in the front carrier, still, while we are at home because that is the only way I can get stuff done.

He says not to worry about spoiling and it will actually make her more trusting and you will have a closer relationship. We will see about all of that. As for now, I am just doing the best this mom can do with the challange that has been presented to her. I have tried what the "books" and drs have tried and they have not worked for THIS baby. It is reassuring to read a pediatrician/nurse duo have had the same struggle I am having. It is even more reassuring to know that they did the same thing I am doing and their daughter turned out great!

Mady is getting better. She still wants to be held a LOT, but she has periods of time where she wants to crawl and play and I do as much as I can in those periods. However, when she is down playing, Daddy or I still have to be in her sight at all times. Otherwise she quickly tracks us down - crying the whole way.

Here is to all of the Velcro Babies, and even more to the parents of Velcro Babies. May God bless us all with unlimited patience (PLEASE) and the ability to function on little rest (so, please don't let anything happen to my espresso machine). Just remember, God doesn't give you more than you are capable of handling! (If this is giving me practice for what lies ahead, I might need to tattoo that to my forehead!)

Now, my Velcro Baby calls from her VERY short nap (her brothers are home)! Through all of this, I can still say with complete honesty that I LOVE having a baby girl, velcro and all! I would not change a thing about her!

New Year's Resolution

I have heard about this one word resolution several times now and when I heard about it on the radio this morning, one word came to my mind. So, my New Year resolution (a little late) is:

PEACE

First off, I need to be at peace with God. I need to remember that HE is in control and that He knows what is best and when is best for everything in my life. Until I remember this, ALL the time, I will NEVER be at peace with anything. I need to give everything to Him and let Him teach me how to handle situations.

I want to be at peace with myself and where I am in my life. I sometimes struggle with this. I have been a stay at home mom for more than EIGHT years. Most days, I love my job. I love that the only schedules I have to conform to are my childrens and husbands. I love that I get to see all of my childrens firsts. I love that I get to go to my childrens awards ceremonies, and make goodies for their classes (would love to go on field trips...but siblings are not allowed). I just LOVE being at home taking care of my family.

But, there are those days where I wish I was somewhere else. Somewhere where there are other adults. Somewhere where I can have a break from disciplining and changing diapers and cleaning the same messes EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Several times a day.

My family is exactly what I wanted. I always wanted a big family and I am SOO in love with my husband. I could not ask for anything more. I just need to remember this ALL the time. I have been SO blessed to have a husband that works so hard so I can stay home (which is what I have ALWAYS wanted to do). I just need to be at peace with the fact that THIS is where I am in my life. I also need to remember that it will change so quickly and my kids will be grown and gone, and then I will wish I was back where I am now.

I need to be at peace with my children. They learn what they see and if they see an uptight mom who can never slow down from the daily grind to sit down and play a game with them, or play in the sandbox or whatever, that is what they are going to learn.

I need to teach peace to my children. They need to learn how to get along with each other. If they need time alone, they need to know that is okay and to find a place and be alone. Whatever they need to do to be at peace with themselves and who they are.


I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. This year I strive for peace in every aspect of my life.

The Many Faces of Madeleine

After 13 days of below freezing temps and then having some dark and gloomy days, we have ALL been needing some sunshine and warmth. Today we got it! It hit 70 degrees with nothing but sunshine! Needless to say, after nap we hit the outdoors! Andrew has been itching to play with the scooter Santa brought him!

I prefer taking pictures outside because the lighting is so much better (I am not good at taking pics with flash). So, I couldn't pass on taking the camera out with us. Madeleine was hamming it up for the camera. She was making faces I had never seen her make before!

The first picture looks like she is holding a phone....I don't know what she was doing!

OH!! THE SWEETNESS!!!!

Andrew

NINE Months Old

My baby girl is NINE months old today! :(

She goes to the dr Friday, so I will post her stats then.

But here is what she is doing:

She is eating ALL the time. I finally got her taking a cup without her even really thinking about it. She is taking one bottle a day, when we are trying to wind her down and get her calm for bed. I will be ending that bottle shortly (hopefully). She will only eat stage 3 baby food and she enjoys all of the graduate snacks. Her favorite though is what ever we are eating! Oh, she LOVES LOVES LOVES clementines!! Sadly, we found that out as they were going out of season!!

She is wearing 12-18 month clothes for the most part (6-12 month jeans). Size 3 diapers (still HATES dirty diapers on her...hopefully that will help me out in the future). Size 4 shoes.

She has hair and it is getting really thick, but she doesn't have much length to it. It appears as though she MIGHT have her Moms hair!

She still only has two teeth! I am beginning to think she is forever going to be a two tooth wonder! She doesn't let that slow her down when she is eating though!

She is walking!!! Only holding on to things (thank goodness) and it is still pretty new so she is kinda slow at it. She loves to explore the house and get into everything! She also found my computer yesterday (which explains the earlier post if you saw it). I can no longer holder her while I type. She takes over.

She has a LOT to say. She talks all the time (I have NO idea where she gets that from). And, I guess she has decided the computer is also a good outlet for her voice! She is saying dada, mama, bye bye, no (especially to her brothers) and hi (which she just started today). She waves when she says hi and bye. She blows kisses (slobbery kisses since she sticks her tongue out and slobbers on her hands before she sends the kisses flying). She loves to clap. If you start singing "Mady Cake" to her she will get a huge smile and start clapping (usually even if she is screaming she will stop if you sing this to her), And she likes Peep a boo.

We also started putting her in the wagon instead of stroller when we go for walks in the neighborhood, She really likes the wagon!!

That is all I can think of right now. She is getting big and busy!!!

I just realized that in three months we will be celebrating birthdays for a 3 year old, a 1 year old and a 31 year old all in one weeks time!

My "Used-to-be" Friend

I used to have this really good friend. We were REALLY close. It did not matter where I went, I had NO problem finding my friend. Until about a year to a year and a half ago.

My friend never visits anymore.

My "used-to-be" friends name is Sleep. It eludes me now. ALL. THE. TIME.

Used to be, I could lay my head down anywhere and be out. ESPECIALLY in the car! Sleep LOVED to visit me and stayed until I could not stand to be around Sleep anymore.

But then it happened. Or should I say SHE happened. Or, should I say Madeleine happened! Madeleine scares Sleep off. Ever since about half way through my pregnancy with her Sleep quit visiting. And, when Sleep DID visit, they were very short and uncomfortable visits.

When I had Mady, I expected Sleep to go away for a while. But, NINE. MONTHS. LATER. and Sleep still makes infrequent visits. I guess Sleep and Mads don't get along.

Actually it is not Mady that Sleep has a problem with. Mady has a better friend named Awake. Awake is Sleeps enemy and I guess Sleep doesn't like that Mads is friends with Awake. I am caught in the middle of Sleep and Awakes bitter fight. Sleep and I had such a great relationship, but Awake and Mads relationship is ruining it! Awake is much stronger than Sleep and ALWAYS wins.

Sleep TRIES to be friends with Mady. Every now and then they get a really good visit. Rarely, Sleep beats Awake and keeps Awake away ALL night! But, those nights are few and far between and I cannot see an end to Awake in sight.

I think Sleeps lack of good, quality visits is beginning to mess with my head!!

I miss you Sleep. PLEASE come back to me and become stronger than Mads friend, Awake. We would ALL appreciate it!!

Princess Pooter Tooter

Lovely bruise on her forehead, huh? That was her first. She now has a matching one on the other side of her forehead!

I walked in to Madeleine's room a couple of days ago when she woke up from a nap and this is what I found:




All of that should have been on the pretty red flowers on the wall:

A Message From Mads

r v47tg nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnbv4ym8y463fr33333333f3555553 yubritttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt5 mr tn56666nb mkiufuuuuuuuuuuu hthgy5 bg6 gmvutygg bjyjst 435iu toob6h7gh

Love,
Princess Pooter Tooter

The Quest

We have entered the keep-all-the-blinds-in-the-house-pulled-half-way-up-at-all-times phase with Mady's quest for independence! Which means we have also entered the buy-stock-in-windex phase again.

I would keep the handprints and slobber marks, but I have to make room for her to make more!

Cups....Finally!

I gave Madeleine a cup when she was about six months old to see what she would do. She instantly drank out of it. Not just an accidental-she-didnt-know-what-she-was-doing drink, a real drink. Ever since, when I give her a cup she takes a sip, wrinkles her nose and throws it down.

She knows how to drink out of the cup, just refuses, as she does with so many things! Well, yesterday I decided to tackle the cup with her. I was expecting a major battle, and she didn't let me down. Over an hour of her screaming and me offering her a cup. Finally, she was so exhausted from crying that she drank her formula from the cup and fell asleep.

Now, everytime I give it to her she looks at the cup and looks at me like she is deciding whether it is worth the battle. I say "Be a big girl and drink from a big girl cup" and she always smiles and starts drinking from the cup. Don't know why she likes that, but it works.

She had one bottle yesterday and DADDY gave it to her (but it was at bedtime).

Andrew has been wearing underwear all day and earlier he kept grabbing himself. Daddy told him to stop or it was going to fall off and he would be a girl.

He wrinkled up his face and said "I no be a girl, Daddy!"

Big Boy

Andrew has never been a fan of showers. He LOVES the bath, hates the shower. On rare occasions he has HAD to take a shower, because we are in a hurry or things are just that bad.

I said this afternoon that I was going to take a shower (yes, Paul is working from 5am-2pm shift 7 days a week and I cannot leave FIVE kids unattended long enough to jump in the shower. And when kids are getting up at 4:15 am I dont get a chance to jump in the shower BEFORE they get up, so it was THIS EVENING before I made it to the shower...but, I digress). Andrew jumped up and said he wanted to take a shower. Usually, he will SAY he wants to, he will get undressed, but as soon as he SEES the shower on, he runs away! I figured that is what he was going to do, so I played along.

Nope. He got in the shower. He got his hair wet and scrubbed his body with the wash cloth. I put shampoo in his hair and washed his hair and he rinsed it all out.

Top that with the fact that he has been wearing underwear ALL day and had ZERO accidents (yes, still kinda working on potty training too) and he is just turning all grown up!

There is a remote control dinosaur sitting in the bathroom he uses still in the box that he REALLY wants. I told him when he was using the potty ALL the time, he could have it. Otherwise he had to wait until his birthday (in April). He reminds me everytime he pottys that he still wants the dinosaur!

He knows what to do and when to do it, he just never wants to stop what he is doing to actually go to the bathroom!

Allergy-Ridden Head Lice

We had this conversation with Caleb (11 years old) at dinner. I guess I should consider this a clean dinner conversation compared to some others I have heard!

"I think I have head lice."

"Why do you think you have head lice?" I asked

"But they must be allergic to pollen." he said

"Why do you think you have head lice that is allergic to pollen?" I asked laughing

"Because my head itches when I go outside and I am allergic to pollen so they probably are too."

"So these allergy-ridden head lice only make your head itch when you go outside and they start sneezing from the pollen?"

"That is the only thing I can figure."

Because THAT makes PERFECT sense!!!!

And, for the record, he does NOT have head lice, with or without allergies.

Perfect Ending to a Busy Day

Last night Daddy was giving Andrew a bath. While he was playing in the tub, Daddy sat next to it drinking an ice cold water. He poured some on Andrew and Andrew started laughing (I mean body shaking laughs). Then he pulled a fish out of the bubbles and squirted hot water on Daddy (who was NOT expecting it). This made the body shaking laugh turn into a not breathing laugh.

This went back and forth for about 20 minutes. Before too long everyone was in the bathroom checking out what all the laughing was about. There bathroom seems like a decent size until you squeeze a family of seven (even Mads crawled in to see what all the commotion was about) in there. His laugh was contagious and in no time the entire family was laughing as hard as he was. What a perfect ending to a busy day!

YUM!!

Paul and I worked together on a SCRUMPTIOUS dinner tonight! We made peppered shrimp (chicken) alfredo. I don't eat seafood, so we made it with chicken, took some out and added shrimp to it. OH. MY. GOSH!! It was awesome!!
shrimp and chicken
chicken only

Sweet(?) Baby Kisses

As I have previously mentioned, Madeleine is VERY stingy with her sweet baby kisses. She blesses us with them occasionally, but usually keeps them to herself, no matter how much we make her giggle with our kisses.

This morning while we were playing, she wouldn't quit kissing me. Except the kisses were more like gnaw-moms-mouth-off type of kiss. After a while she stopped. Then, later, she did it again. I quickly realized WHY she was giving me these "kisses."

I have been using Burts Bees lipbalm, as this cold weather is not agreeing with my lips. This stuff works great. It is beeswax, vitamin E and peppermint. SHE was going after the peppermint! When the peppermint smell was gone, the kisses were gone as well. It usually last a long time, but when someone is trying (and doing a pretty good job at it) to eat your lips off the lip balm seems to fade a little quicker!

I guess I just take what kisses I can get while I can get them and try to avoid the biting and the baby tongue in my mouth!

You Might Live in the Deep South if.....

they cancel school tomorrow because "there is a potential for bad weather"!

What ever happened to getting up and watching the news when you wake up to snow or ice?

Which, by the way, we are NOT supposed to get!

Apparently, when you live this far south, they cannot go to school when it is THIS cold?

I was actually starting to get naps back on track too!

Weight Comparison

Mady is starting to get some chunk on her, so I thought I would weigh her today. She weighed in at 17 pounds 5 ounces.

I started wondering what Andrew weighed at this age (and since they were born the same month, it is VERY easy to look up January of 2008 on this great blog!!) Since I had two drs that considered him FTT (failure to thrive) because he was not gaining weight fast enough, I was just curious the size difference.

Andrew WEIGHED MORE!! He was 17 pounds 8 ounces at the beginning of January and 18 pounds 2 ounces at the end of January (that is when we started the Pediasure diet).

Kinda makes you wonder! Especially since, when we moved here and took him to see the pediatrician the first time, the dr looked through his chart and said he was NEVER FTT!!!

This is where I tell you that a mothers instinct is a very special thing and you should follow it!

Just in Case.....

AJ has been so excited about his new scooter and helmet that he wears the helmet ALL the time. He also has his shoes on all day (even when he naps) and stays dressed warmly (in his pajamas as much as possible) JUST in case someone decides to go outside so he can ride his scooter.




He always has hair sticking out of the holes in the top of his helmet

Yet ANOTHER Laundry Disaster!

Last week I was finishing up laundry and had a rather depressing discovery. I was washing light clothes (yes, you know where this is going). I had Mady's Christmas dress and monogrammed "panties" and also the little white outfit she came home from the hospital in. I was going through some stuff last week and came across it and noticed a little stain. I wanted to try to get it out because that is one of the things I would like to keep for her.

Well, as we have learned in this house, light clothes in the dryer usually equals a crayon of some color also in the dryer. The boys had not been going to school so I did not have school pants to check (so I thought) and those are the only light color pants the boys own. I have gotten a LOT better at checking pockets lately!

Apparently when I had made the boys clean their rooms, someone found some school pants and put them in the laundry. I did not notice the ONE pair of pants when I was putting clothes in the washer and there are no signs of crayon until they go in the dryer and MELT. ALL. OVER. EVERYTHING!!

So, I go to change out the laundry. I open the dryer and pull some clothes out and notice the RED SPOTS on the laundry. I frantically dug to find the "special" clothes and see the damage. It wasn't TOO bad on the socks and underwear, so I just hoped.

You know my luck! Those THREE special items of clothes got the worst of it. Bright red. THey were not even spots. They were GLOBS! Each glob was surrounded by greasy stains. I was in tears (I know....goofy thing to be in tears about). I immediately got the Shout (whoever invented this stuff should get the Nobel Peace Prize...it has more than once saved some kids in this house from having to run around NAKED all the time)!!! I sprayed and sprayed. I sprayed over 30 ounces and most of that was on those three pieces of clothing, I let it sit over night (which I don't always do, but I followed the directions EXACTLY this time). I got up and put them in the washer with some Tide Stain Releaser and waited.

After two washes, EVERY bit of the stains came out and I was rejoicing!! Her clothes are now safely tucked away and I am in AWE!!!

Adopted Dog

Paul has been researching for a dog that was good for backpacking, hiking, kayaking, etc. for quite some time now. Even since before his dog had to be put down over the summer. There was also other criteria that had to be met before a dog was going to be brought home. Like, it had to be a male (females don't normally do well together and we already have a female), had to be friendly, had to have short hair that required little more than an occasional bath, etc but most importantly....it had to be POTTY TRAINED ALREADY!!!

SO, this past weekend we set off to go find him a dog. Probably was not the smartest idea to do this at the END of the two and a half weeks off, but I digress!

After looking online, at pounds, adoption places, etc Saturday and Sunday morning, we found one. It is a spaniel mix (looks like he has a lot of Pointer in him). So far the only downside to him (other than he is still scared) is that the lady that fostered him let him sleep in her bed with her! I am not a big dog-on-the-bed kinda person!

So, this is Paul's new dog.



He is approximately two years old, house trained, laid back, QUIET dog. He loves to play outside and she says he loves water. He is really under weight because the other dogs at the foster home really beat up on him. I don't think they allowed him to eat much! Just in the few days we have had him he has already started putting on weight.

Did I mention he was quiet? He has barked once since we got him and that was when Caleb came home from school yesterday!

The first night he kept trying to get in our bed. We finally convinced him to stay on the floor and he took over Bella's bed. So, Monday morning we went and bought him his own bed!

When we got him his name was Bobby. Paul and I don't really care for the name (and there are too many B's with Bella, Beaux and Bobby) so Paul has been trying to find a new name for him. Last night he decided he was going to call him Krypto (that is the name of Superman's dog and Paul is a big Superman fan

Today he made the name fit very well! It was his first time to be left home alone. Paul put him in the big black wire kennel when he left this morning. When I got home he was out. The tray from the kennel was out, the kennel was pushed back the length of the kennel. SOMEHOW, this scrawny, little, QUIET dog BENT the bottom of the wire kennel and got out.



He did nothing to the house. He was VERY well behaved, except for the escape. I don't know how he did it other than he must be Superdog! Superdog is not such a cute dog name, but Krypto fits!

I was sitting on the couch and Mady was lying against me drinking her bottle. She fell asleep. I could not move so I asked Daddy to take her to her bed.

"She is out. She is okay there for a while."

I told him I couldn't even change positions and if she was out she could get in bed.

"But, I REALLY enjoy just watching her!"

Have I mentioned how much I love my husband?

And, yes - she is lying on the couch next to him sleeping!

Eight Months

Mady has started some new things the last week or two and I wanted to get them on here. She is giving kisses (I think I may have posted that already), but she is quite stingy with them. She gives them to her ballerina puppet more than to Daddy or I. Daddy gets the second most. I do the most for her and I get the fewest, but I am not bitter or anything!

Actually, I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching her give her Daddy big slobbery kisses and seeing him smile and give them back. Makes my heart melt!!

She is pulling herself up all the time. Last night she took a couple of steps, but that was the only time so far.

She is waving and saying bye bye. It is SO cute. She will be waving and then she will see her hand waving and start studying the movement. She waves both at herself and out to everyone else.

She likes to say Dada (still most frequently said word, but bye bye is a close second), bye bye and mama over and over in a growling voice with her tongue sticking out. It is quite funny.

Everything is still going into her mouth. And I mean EVERYTHING! Quite gross...especially with four boys and two dogs!

Diaper changes and getting dressed have become a challange. She rolls over as soon as you lay her down and then trys to crawl away. Needless to say, the changing table is a goner. Speaking of dressing and diapers, she is in a size 3 diaper and wearing 12 month clothes mostly....she is SO long!

We are starting a new fight. As hard as she was to get onto a bottle and formula, we are having as equally big of a fight trying to get her to use a sippy cup. She knows how and she will take a few sips here and there, but she prefers her bottle and would assume go without as to give in to the cup!

On the upside, she is on stage 3 food and will not touch stages 1 or 2. She prefers whatever we are eating. For Christmas she ate turkey, mashed potatoes (a favorite) and gravy, stuffing and watergate salad. She was SO happy and ate a lot!

She is back to not sleeping all night too. She still will cry for HOURS if we don't go in and give her a bottle. It is fine letting her "cry it out" the last couple of weeks because noone has to get up early, but when kids have school and they are having to listen to her it gets a little more rough!

It has been so much fun watching how different she is from the boys (maybe more interesting than fun :))! She has had the same attitude since she was born and the boys are not helping it! She wants what she wants when she wants it. That is not always the most feasible thing in this house!

Santa put in the boys stocking a submarine that you put baking POWDER (they tried baking soda first and it didn't work....that is why you read ALL of the instructions) in and it dives under water. They finally decided to try it out tonight. They are crazy! Make a point of looking at Bryce's face in every picture....

A Kidnapper Amongst Us

The kids got to open a present two days before Christmas. They were books that they had picked out and I had wrapped because I knew they would get antsy wanting to open something. Mady opened her newborn Cabbage Patch doll though (which she had been trying to open for a while). Andrew was obsessed with this babydoll. He kept calling it his. I remember seeing him with it and telling him to put it down.

I guess I should have specified WHERE to put it down,

I spent every day we were home, until this morning, searching for the doll. I have waited a LONG time to get to buy a Cabbage Patch! Apparently I could have gotten one for Andrew and didn't have to wait so long!

The Cabbage Patch came with a carrier and a bottle, It ALL disappeared. All that was left behind was a birth certificate. Daddy said he was going to make a death certificate for it.

After digging through the trash that had wrapping paper and boxes in it (I figured if it was in any other trash bag it was a goner either way) and searching the ENTIRE house over and over (wanting to find it BEFORE trashday), I found it this morning,

We had gone for a walk with the wagon (it has the seat backs that fold down) and the wagon had been sitting in the garage by the trash can. As I was taking trash to the road this morning, I just happened to notice something under the seat backs. I lifted it up and there was a carrier. I lifted the other back and there was a baby.

She was REALLY cold. It had gotten in the low 30s the past several nights. I did not notice before it disappeared that it had rosey cheeks and nose. Maybe it didn't until Andrew hid her outside for many nights!