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!!!