Why do I Make Plans

On Fridays I usually clean house. I love to have a clean house for the weekend and this weekend we really have some fun things going on. I woke up this morning to a mess. Yesterday was crazy and I didn't get anything done around the house. My to do list was long from the start:

• Laundry (this is a major priority as I hate to be get behind)
• Dishes and cleaning the kitchen
• Changing the cat litter and cleaning out the litter pan
• Grocery shopping
• Taking the girls to get their flu booster

Really I could go on and on and on..... All was going well until I gave the little girls their bath. I had to turn the handle all the way to hot just to get warm water. I figured the pipes were cold and gave them some time to warm up. When an hour hadn't done the trick I started to worry. I opened the door to the basement to go check on the hot water heater and there was water on the floor. Not a lot but enough. I shut the water off and called the King. He came home briefly and determined that the valve on the hot water heater is broken. Hence the leak and the hot water shortage. He had to leave the water shut off until he can fix it tonight with new parts. This is super nice for me as I hadn't had a chance to shower. Cleaning is also very difficult without water and laundry and dishes are impossible. We can't even flush the toilet. It could be a lot worse. Really it could. It could be the hot water heater and replacing that right not wouldn't even be possible. So I guess I'm glad it's just the valve. Patience is not my forte and I'm bummed my days' plans are now messed up. *sigh*

Too Much

Why, oh why, does everything always have to happen in one day. It can't spread itself out thinly over a week to avoid exhaustion and major mental breakdown. It all started last night actually. Chiggie woke up complaining of lower abdominal pain. She said it burned when she tried to use the restroom and spent most of the night crying. In the morning she said she felt better and really wanted to go to school. I suspected she may have a UTI but let her go. As soon as I dropped her off and got home I called our pediatricians office and made her an appointment. The only available time slot was 45 minutes before she got out of school but I took it anyway. I took the middle girls to my Mom's house and picked her up early.

We got to the office and were in and out quickly. My gut was right, she was prescribed an antibiotic, and we headed to the store to pick it up. That took a bit and by the time I picked the other girls up at my Mom's and got home it was time to make lunch. As soon as lunch was over and cleaned up and I had fed the baby it was time to take Midge to her appointment with the Dermatologist. We had to wait forever to get in as our insurance company was late in getting the referral. We only requested it like 6 weeks ago. It was insane having all 4 of them there but we survived. She too was prescribed a new medication and a follow up appointment in 3 weeks. We left just in time to make our 3pm appointment which was an hour and a half long. We got home just in time for me to feed the baby and wave goodbye to the King as I left for a board meeting. Ugh, I am tired. The good news is I have nothing planned for tomorrow. That is unless someone decides to surprise me!

Cha Cha Changes

Big changes. After almost 4 years the King got a new job. We waited, and waited and finally the position he wanted opened and he jumped on it. He starts on Tuesday which means he'll get a three day weekend and that's unheard of around here. Financially the new job is an answered prayer. His current company was bought several months ago and salaries are going to be cut in January. We can hardly live on what the salary is, no way could we live on what it would become. The only negative aspect of the new job is that he will be gone quite a bit. Some overnights, lots of weekends, and long days. He's staying positive and happy about the money. I'm worried about my self emotionally. I'm already alone with the kids a lot, it's hard to imagine being alone with them twice as often. I will persevere though.

I had my second Thyroid blood draw today. I was surprised to hear from my Doctor this evening. One of my levels has bounced back to normal but I still have hyperthyroidism. I'll have another draw in a month. I can't take any medication at all while nursing. Beta blockers are the treatment for hyperthyroidism and that's not approved. So I will continue to tough it out for another month and hope for the best. Keep your fingers crossed that the new job goes well and I am successful at keeping my sanity.

Festive

Things are definitely moving right along. All of our indoor decorations are up including the tree and everything looks very festive. The girls enjoyed helping more with the tree this year and especially liked hanging candy canes. Midge didn't quite understand why she couldn't eat them, but she went along with it for now. The King will be putting up our outdoor lights next weekend. Saturday is the annual Parade of Lights and we like to have everything done by then.

I have also been doing some baking. So far I have made cinnamon rolls and fudge. Before the season is over I plan to make sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, more cinnamon rolls, and a gingerbread house. The girls have been watching a lot of Christmas movies are into the Santa thing more than ever. Enjoying the Holidays with them is easy.

4 Months

Black Friday and Boo is 4 months old. It's snowing here and we opted to stay home and away from all the insanity. At 4 months Boo really looks like a "baby" now and not so much a newborn. Chubby cheeks, thighs, and a double chin help there. Unless she is not feeling well her demeanor is awesome. She laughs with ease, can sit with support, and loves to be held facing out so that she can see what's going on. We just got out the exersaucer and she loves being in it. I think she enjoys the freedom. She can roll over both ways easily and will do so to get an out of reach toy.

The girls love her in every way. They smother her in kisses and make her laugh every chance they get. It's reciprocal as she loves them too. We haven't started any foods yet and she is still breastfed exclusively. She's never had a bottle which could be an issue if I have Graves' Disease. We'll worry about that later if we need to. Cuddling is her forte and I can't help but indulge her. She's so happy and that makes me happy.

Happy Thanksgiving

From our place to yours!

Recipe

The turkey is thawed.

Pumpkin pies are baked and cooling.

There is a light dusting of snow on the ground and continuing flurries.

Everyone is happy and well.

That sounds like a pretty good recipe for a Happy Thanksgiving. Hope everybody has a wonderful day!

Expecting Snow

It's supposed to snow tonight and all day tomorrow. I need this to happen. I'm having trouble getting in the Holiday spirit with such high temps. The girls are excited and spent most of the evening peeking out the windows. If it does happen they'll have plenty of time to enjoy it as Chiggie is off until Monday. More snow is predicted for Friday as well.

We were hoping to be able to travel for Thanksgiving this year but it just didn't work out. The King has to work tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday. Major bummer. Hopefully next year we'll get to go see our extended family in our home town. I know the girls would love it, and I would enjoy the break. We are still going over to my Mom's house for a delicious traditional meal and that will be nice. Anyone have big plans?

All She Wants for Christmas

Is her two front teeth. Yep, Chiggie lost her other front tooth just in time. When I picked her up from school this morning the tooth was barely hanging in. After lunch I offered to help 'clean the tooth with a paper towel' and out it popped. Just in time for the Holidays!

A Letter

Dearest Boo,

For future reference I thought that I would let you know that I hate mornings. It's okay if you want to get up at 5am but please let me sleep. And if you're going to get up at 5 I would really appreciate it if you would go to sleep before 11pm. I hope this isn't asking too much.

Love,

Mom

Gratitude

Rembember this? Well we went again this evening and would you believe it was even crazier this year? We are definitely outnumbered that's for sure. They'll get older and it will get easier right. Reassure me here. And in the meantime I have a post up on the Larger Families Blog so go check that out. Git now ya hear!

Saturday

I'm tired tonight, but it's a good tired. We had one of the nicest Saturdays today that we've had in a very long time. I went grocery shopping with Boo this morning, came home and had a nice lunch together, and then our whole family went to a birthday party this afternoon. Nobody puked or ran a fever. It's been over a week and with the way things have been going lately I must say I think that's a new record.

The girls are making me laugh often these days. Midge is a little parrot. Everything we say she repeats. She amuses the other girls and they will often say things just to hear her say them back. Tea has really transformed into a little girl. This is the first year that I think she really gets the Holidays. She's very excited for Christmas and I love that. Chiggie is on the cusp of reading. She can sound out words and loves to write. She loves books and I love that we have this is common. Boo is amazing. I love the way she curls into me as we sleep, giggles when I change her clothes, and watches me wherever I go.

This season always makes me emotional about my family. I truly wonder how I got so lucky. To have 4 beautiful girls that mean so much to me. I love sharing the Holidays with them. Watching them grow and appreciate the love we have for one another is an awesome thing.

She Won That?

I hate to complain. I rarely do so, but this was ridiculous. Remember the Bear Fun Run I talked about. Well Chiggie was the Kindergarten winner. She raised the most money and therefore was entitled to "lunch with a local high school cheerleader." The lunch took place at the school in the cafeteria. The first thing that irked me was that she had to pay. She doesn't normally eat lunch at school. I picked her up at the normal dismissal time and then brought her back for lunch. If she won the lunch why did she have to buy it?

The lunch period was a total of 20 minutes long. She got about 10 minutes with the cheerleader before it was another student in a higher grade's turn. When I came in to get her she was sitting at a different table entirely. She had told the principal she was done eating. Granted she hadn't hardly touched her food, but they wouldn't let her dump it. The principal approached me and mentioned she hadn't really eaten and that it was up to me to decide if she was done. So I guess my choices were

a: Let her dump the tray. She was obviously nervous, it was the first time she had ever eaten at school.

b: Make a scene while forcing her to finish her tray.

I chose option a and we left. She said she had a good time and seemed happy about it. Me I think it was a joke. She raised a lot of money and that was her prize?

A little Backwards and Spoiled Rotten

Since things have been a little backwards lately I decided to make a big breakfast for dinner tonight. We ate pancakes made from scratch, scrambled eggs, and sausage. It was a big hit with the girls and a pretty easy clean up. Easy clean ups are a big deal when you don't have a dishwasher. I know, I know live in the now already. Our house is old though. Like over a hundred years old and nobody ever put one in.

In other news when Boo was in the hospital I was really freaked out. She looked awful. She had an IV in her scalp, didn't want to eat, and was really fussy. I basically held her the whole time she was there. She never even got in the little metal crib, I just put her in my bed. Well you can probably see where I'm going with this. Now she expects the royal treatment everyday. If she's not sleeping then she demands to be held. Either in the front pack or my arms. I'm happy to oblige, but sometimes I really need to get things done that require my arms to free. I can't help it though, every time she cries her lower lip just trembles and that's all it takes. *sigh*

Object Permanence

We learn this concept as babies. Sure enough if you put a blanket over the toy, the toy does not disappear. Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. So this morning while I ran through my house frantically searching for my keys I had this in mind. Madly pulling out couch cushions, leafing through the trash, and yes even sticking my hand down the toilet. Time kept ticking and I was no closer to finding the elusive keys. I gave up. It was too late anyway Chiggie was already late. I called the King and he was in another town altogether. In comes plan C.

I put jackets on the girls, put the baby in the front pack, and we walked in the cold, to school. I had to go inside, wild haired and in my pajamas mind you, and fill out a tardy slip. Chiggie got to class, 20 minutes late, and we walked home. Almost home I saw a figure walking towards us. It looked like the King but I wondered if in my exhaustion or frayed mental state I was hallucinating or perhaps it was a mirage. Sure enough there he came. He found the keys under the back seat in my car. I must've dropped them when I was getting the baby out last night. Grrrr

70's

Where did the fall weather go? I love warm weather, no secret there, but in November? Some of the trees haven't even lost their leaves yet. I'm not really a big fan of barbequing on Thanksgiving. Our summer clothes are dizzy from being put in and pulled out of storage so many times.

Check Up

Today I was informed that I have:

• a broken ankle
• high fever
• red throat
• slow heart beat

I also needed over a dozen painful shots. Luckily the Doc was Tea and I'm pretty sure she's not yet qualified to make such diagnoses.

Sore

The things we do for our kids. It's book fair time at Chiggie's school. Her class was taken to the fair earlier in the week and they all made wish lists. Why do they do this knowing that some kids will just be disappointed? Chiggie fell in love with a Barbie book that came with reusable stickers and a little story board. She went on and on about the book and really wanted to go back and get it. Yesterday was family day and we went right before our Daisy meeting.

Unfortunately, I think every student that attends the school and all of their family members were there as well. We had to park several blocks from the school and walk in. I was carrying the baby in her car seat, Midge on my hip, and Tea and Chiggie walked hand and hand. Finally we reached the school. I was breathless and relieved. After all I am still way out of shape. We found the book fair, Chiggie, Tea, and Midge found the books they wanted and we got in line. A very long line. We waited while fanning ourselves with the new books.

After a lengthy wait we arrived at the cash register. I went for my purse and noticed it wasn't there. I panicked realizing I must have left it in the car. I wanted to cry. We left our place in line and trudged back to the car. I wasn't crying but I wasn't smiling either. When we got to the car I couldn't find my purse anywhere. I distinctly remembered putting it in the car. I figured I must have set it down in the book fair somewhere. Back to the school we walked. By this time my legs hurt and my arms were trembling from carrying the babies. Once back inside I searched for my purse. It was nowhere to be found. I was just about to collapse in a adult tantrum when Tea confessed to hiding my purse under the front seat of the car.

I literally questioned my ability to make it back out to the car only to walk back in and then back out again. But I did it. I made it back to the car got the purse, bought the books, got back to the car, and made it to the meeting on time. They better like those books!

On the up SIde

The kids are better. Just when you think it will never end it does, just like that. Having been almost two weeks long this illness through me into an awful rut. I have a million things that I should be doing and no motivation. I wish I could pause the kids, get all my laundry and housework done, and then push play again.

Better late than Never

Saturday was my blogaversary. Sadly I was in the hospital and unable to celebrate. I don't really know how to celebrate such an event, but still. I have had time to reflect on the past year and I am truly amazed at everything that has taken place. I announced a pregnancy, celebrated 5 family birthdays, survived all of the holidays, we bought the camp house, had a baby, Chiggie started Kindergarten, everybody puked a lot, and yet here we still are. It's nice to have it all on permanent record. Some of the things I thought I'd never want to remember are the things I laugh at now. Here's to another year of sharing my little life with a great big world!

Surprise!

Guess what I woke up to this morning. Puke. Midge and Chiggie. This must end I tell you, it must! We have spent more money on Lysol and Cheer this week than we have spent on food.

Some People

When I was in the hospital with Boo, overall, I got royal treatment. Our hospital is small. There is no Pediatric Unit, so she was on the med surg floor. She was the only person under 75 so she was pretty spoiled with attention as well. I absolutely loved the day shift. They brought me books, snacks, and came in every once in a while just to see how I was doing. The night shift on the other hand.....

The first night we were there the whole tone changed at shift change. I don't know if they were ticked about the extra hour they had to work due to turning the clocks back or what. I shut my door and tried to settle down for the night. These people were by the book. They came in the room what felt like every 30 minutes. They took the baby's temperature, checked her vitals, restarted her IV, weighed her diapers. It was ridiculous as her doc had already said we didn't need to do that.

At one point, around 4 am, I woke up and there were several nurses in the room. I was a little disoriented and I didn't recognize one of them as even working in this particular unit. We went on to have the following conversation:

Her: How old is your baby?
Me: She's 3 months old.
Her: Hmmm, she looks a lot bigger than that.
Me: blank stare, who the heck is this lady?
Her: She's having emesis?
Me: What? Yeah, she's throwing up.
Her: Do you think she's vomiting, or do you think she's swallowing air and spitting up?
Me: thinking maybe this lady should have gone on for the MD as obviously her passion is in diagnosing patients she has never met. All of my girls are sick right now, her doctor is fairly convinced she has the same thing.
Her: Hmmmmm
Me: Dimming the light and covering the baby and I up. She's exhausted and has had some trouble sleeping. AKA get the heck out of my room.

She got the hint and scurried off to harass someone else. One of the other night nurses wouldn't quit taking the baby's temperature with one of those ear thermometers. I was fairly sure she had a fever. She was hot to the touch, fussy, and very uncomfortable. This nurse disagreed, took the temperature with the ear thing, and pronounced her cool with a temp of 98.9. As soon as she left I took her temperature with the rectal thermometer and it was 102. Finally she got some fever reducing medication.

This was only a small part of our experience. Like I said before the day shift was great and I really like the baby's Pediatrician. Hopefully we'll get to spend a little time apart!

Seriously....

I just got home, seriously just, from the hospital with the baby. She was admitted on Saturday after catching this horrible stomach virus that the rest of us have suffered with all week. She's much better now and I'm sure we'll all feel the same way soon!

A Day in the Life: Evening/Night

7:00: Midge and the King get home from the store with snacks. Everybody gathers in the family room to watch t.v.

8:30: Bedtime for the littles. Peace at last.

The rest of the evening is spent just hanging out. Tomorrow is the first Saturday in two months that we don't have to be out of the house early for soccer. Nice. I hope to do some major sleeping in and then maybe breakfast. Hope every one's day was as exciting as mine and the weekend is a good one!

A Day in the Life: Afternoon

12:00: Lunch is over and cleaned up. The girls play and I read to whoever will sit still enough to listen.

1:00: Nap time. The only real napper is Midge. I change her and carry her upstairs to her crib. I lay her down cover her up and out the door I go. Back downstairs I put a movie in for the older girls (Spy Mates) and sit again to feed the baby.

2:30: Amazingly the girls actually watch the movie and we get some real quiet time. I take the opportunity to cuddle and play with the baby. After the movie is over I straighten up the house while the girls play dress-up.

3:00: Wake Midge up and give the girls a snack.

4:00: Watch Dr. Phil while the girls play happily upstairs (this rarely happens, but I take it when it does)

5:00: The girls come back downstairs and begin asking about dinner.

5:30: I call the King to see what time he will be home. We decide to just grab something for dinner.

6:00: The King comes home, with dinner, and we all gather 'round the table and eat together.

6:30: The King and Midge make a quick store run (for Friday night goodies) while the older girls and I quick clean-up after dinner.

A Day in the Life: Mid Morning

8:30: Get the little girls out of the tub. Get them dressed and fix their hair.

9:00: Take the baby upstairs and give her a bath.

9:15: Bring the baby back downstairs. Feed her and put her in the swing so that I can take a shower.

9:45: Take a shower, get dressed, and blow my hair dry.

10:00: Come back into the family room and see that Tea is now puking, again. Get her cleaned up and changed. Wonder what I should do. I promised Chiggie we would be at the "Fun Run" but I didn't know that Tea would be sick. Decide that we are still going, a promise is a promise.

10:20: Load the girls into the wagon and put the baby in the front pack. Walk to Chiggie's school.

10:40: The run begins. Cheer Chiggie on as she runs lap after lap.

11:00: The run ends and we all walk home.

11:15: Get home and make lunch. Tea is upset that she can't eat, so spend some time consoling her and giving her sips of water.

11:45: Clean up lunch mess and then feed the baby.

A Day in the Life: Morning

Just for fun, to kick off November, I have decided to blog my day today. I will continue to update all day long until my head hits the pillow. Enjoy!

4:57: Wake up to the sound of Midge fussing and wonder what could possibly be wrong.

5:05: Contemplate whether or not I should go get her and put her in my bed before she wakes up the other girls.

5:07: Go upstairs to check on Midge. See that she has vomitted yet again (not a lot) and bring her downstairs. Clean Midge up and put her in my bed to get just a little bit more sleep.

5:45: Hear Tea coming down the stairs screaming. Run to get her before she wakes everyone up. Put her in my bed as well. There are now 3 kids and me in the bed. The King is at work.

6:00: The baby wakes up and I feed her while still in bed.

6:30: Tea and Midge wake up again and are fighing (with screams not words) over who is laying closest to me. I'm too tired to really care.

6:45: All is quiet. I would get out of bed, but it's too cold.

7:00: I try to sneak out of bed to start breakfast. Tea and Midge sneak out with me. Fighting, again with screams, over who is walking closest to me.

7:15: Chiggie is now awake and a breakfast of pancakes and juice is served. Midge screams for a pancake and at this hour my ears concede. I am hopeful the morning puke was just a fluke.

7:25: Get a shower started for Chiggie and put cartoons on for the little girls. At this point Boo is still sleeping in my bed.

7:35: Get Chiggie out of the shower. Help her get ready for school and fix her hair.

7:55: Load everyone into the car to drive to the school which is 3 blocks away. It's too cold to walk and the girls aren't feeling up to it. Unfortunately loading them all up is harder than just walking.

8:15: Get back home (we wait in the car until Chiggie is called into her classroom by the teacher at 8:10) and put the little girls into the tub to get ready for the "fun run" at Chiggie's school today.