The Verdict

Chiggie had to see the Doctor this afternoon. The verdict:

• Sinus infection
• ear infection
• very possibly strep throat (we'll know Tues)
• 1 antibiotic
• pain drops
• a very sad little girl

Who Knew?

Eating could be this messy. No wonder I tend to dread meal time.
I can't believe today is the last day of August. I think I have posted less this month than I have posted in any other month in the last almost 2 years. We were really busy I guess. It's my mission to post more often next month. I'm gonna shoot for everyday. I also have my computer kinks worked out so more pictures too.

Long Weekend

What are we doing? Not a whole lot. The kids are sick. School started you know. So we're dealing with sinus infections, pink eye, and just recently vomit. It has begun I suppose. I've done everything prevention wise short of spraying Chiggie down with Lysol the second she walks out of her classroom. Hmmm maybe I should try that.....

Settling In

Things around here are finally settling in a bit. Our new routine isn't perfected yet, but it's working. I transitioned to the early mornings a lot better than I thought I would. The girls are cooperative in the mornings and we're all out the door and ready to walk to school by 7:45. The first week was rough on Chiggie. She wasn't at all used to being away from home for that long. She did fine while at school, but was emotional during the evenings. I spent many nights reassuring her and explaining to her why she "has" to go to school. This week has been better.

Last night was her open house and that was really fun for her and us. One of her drawings from last year was chosen by the principal to hang in the hall by the office and we all got a kick out of that. Today Tea and I went and had lunch with her and played on the playground afterwards. She appreciated our visit and I'm glad we went.

The girls and I are slowly adjusting to our new routine here at home. We tend to hang out around the house during the day (except for Wednesdays when we go to lunch and Fridays when we grocery shop.) Next week I'm going to start decorating for fall and the girls are already talking about what they want to be for Halloween.

Boo really has become one of the girls. She's walking well, using some words, and eating all 3 meals up to the table. She imitates a lot of what the older girls are doing and it's a blast to watch. Hopefully I'll get my computer problem figured out soon and show off some of the pictures that I have taken recently.

Good Enough

I have plenty to blog about, but for now a bullet post is going to have to be good enough:

• 1st grade is going alright for Chiggie. She's had some adjustment issues that I didn't really anticipate. This really needs a whole post of its own.
• The King finished his school program. He left to head back to work today.
• We had a great weekend. Yesterday we spent the day fishing at the lake. We caught 8 fish and really just enjoyed our time together as a family.
• I took tons of pictures.
• My computer is still giving me grief uploading them.
• I haven't had time to really figure out what's going on.
• For the last week or so I have been having horrible night terrors.
• At this point I am officially sleep deprived.
• I'm 99.9% sure my thyroid has gone "hyper" on me again.
• This makes me want to cry.
• The King has a 3 day weekend for Labor Day.
• I can't wait.

Head On

Now that the school year has begun, the little girls most favorite part of the day is the walk/bike ride to and from the school. It's about 20 minutes round trip and I think the fresh air and exercise does them good. I'm taking advantage of the fact that the weather is still nice as all to soon it will be freezing and we'll have to drive. Rather than walk T prefers to ride her new bike she got for her birthday. Luckily she wears a helmet every time.

Today on the way home from school we took a different way. She had her head turned talking to Chiggie and didn't see that there was no curb to the sidewalk. Before I could catch her she hit head on and flipped over the handle bars. Fortunately she did a full flip (thank you gymnastics) and landed on her back vs. her head or neck. Much to my relief she only had a minor scrape. I was glad that she got right back on the bike and rode the rest of the way home, but it's moments like these that make me wonder what the future holds with 4 rambunctious girls.....

Changes

I know it's a little soon. Summer isn't officially over until the end of September. The combination of school starting and cooler temperatures has made me, brace yourself for this one, excited for fall. So in that spirit I updated my background!

1st Grade

All good things must unfortunately come to an end. Today we said goodbye to summer vacation. Instead of sleeping until 9 am I was up at 6 getting ready for the day. By 7 the girls were up, and by 7:45 we were walking to school. The weather was nice, but unusually cool. It felt much more like a fall day than a summer day. Chiggie was both nervous and excited. She had carefully chosen her outfit down to the socks and shoes over a week ago.

Upon arriving at the school, we found her classroom, and introduced ourselves to her teacher. I was relieved to see that several kids Chiggie knows are in the same class as well. We helped her unload her supplies and left just as the bell rang. It felt so weird to leave her there and walk home. I know she's safe and I know it's what is best just weird. What a great summer we had! Here's to an equally good school year.

**I took several pictures, but I'm having technical difficulties uploading them grrrrr**

Summer 2008

This pretty much sums it up!

Complicated

Midge is complicated. She is extremely sensitive. She hates attention. Even positive attention. She is embarassed very easily as well. Sometimes I feel like I'm walking on egg shells around her because the slightest thing can cause her to melt down.

On the other hand Midge is my most "obedient" child. When I tell her to do something she does it ( insert gasp!) Take the crib situation for example. She can easily get in and out of her crib. She also very easily figured out the door knob cover I bought. Oddly it's never been a problem. The night after she climbed out for the first time I just layed down the law. I told her that it was bed time and that I did not want her getting out of her bed until morning. And she didn't.

When she came down in the morning she wasn't wearing her diaper. She had grabbed a pair of underwear from her drawer and decided she didn't want to wear diapers anymore. This was Friday and she's worn them ever since and made it to the potty EVERY TIME. She amazes me. She is extremely strong willed and stubborn at times, but when she makes up her mind about something she really means it. I love this about her.

Help

I've never really been one to ask for help. I'm really just more comfortable doing things on my own. In my 7+ years of mothering I have done almost everything by myself (with help from the King of course!) Don't get me wrong I get offers, I just have a hard time accepting. I'm a perfectionist and I make myself feel inadequate if I don't do things on my own. My logical side knows this is ridiculous, but the pressure is always there.

Up until now, I think I've done a really good job. I've made it through pregnancies, births, and multiple other ordeals and never really dropped the ball so to speak. Lately though things have been a little different. The King is gone. A Lot. We're working towards a goal, I know that, and I'm very supportive. This is very important for our future. Financially and emotionally. For now though, it's just plain hard. The days sometimes just seem to run together.

I've done a pretty good job with the house, but the yard, ummmmm not so much. I just don't have the time or the energy. By the time I'm done with the inside and everything else I have to do the yard just doesn't really factor in. Today my Mom and my Step Dad showed up out of nowhere. They stayed and did a days worth of yard work. They did all the mowing, edging, pulled weeds, swept the walks, you name it. All while I stayed inside with the kids (Boo is sick.) I was extremely shocked and grateful. I didn't ask for it, but I guess sometimes you don't have to.

Tea Says

"Mommy, when I grow up I am going to take pictures of you and put them on my blog!"

Not Now!!!

Midge climbed out of her crib. She climbed out, opened her door, marched downstairs and looking not the least bit sheepish announced that she was in no way ready for bed. None of my kids have EVER done this before. We were planning on putting her in a bed this fall, but don't have all the details worked out just yet. Her and I played this little game until well after midnight last night. I just kept putting her back. She's a good climber and I don't believe she's in any danger. Even so, today when I did my grocery shopping I picked up a couple of those safety door knobs to prevent her from opening her door. I can't have her wandering the house in the middle of the night. I'm not sure how this will go over tonight. When she crawls out and realizes that she can't get out of her room. It should be interesting for sure.

Still Here

I'm still around. Just doing the best I can to soak up the last couple of weeks of summer vacation. Actually I spent yesterday and the two days prior giving my house a deep cleaning. The process wasn't fun at all but I'm pleased with the results. I can actually find stuff now. Today, as a treat for being so patient during the cleaning process, I took the girls to the pool at the gym. I don't have any pictures to share, remember the great pool/camera disaster of '07? It rained all day so they enjoyed swimming inside. It was the first time that Boo really "swam" in a deep pool. She's hung out in the wading pool and played in our back yard pool, but this was different. I was surprised at how much she liked it. She was content to just hang out in her floatie for almost 2 hours while the girls splashed around her.

Tomorrow we go to Chiggie's school to register. We'll find out who her teacher is and get to see her classroom. She's excited and I think the other girls are too. School starting will jump start a new routine for us. I'm not looking forward to getting up early. All summer my kids have slept until 9:30. All four of them sleep 12 hours a night. Getting up at 6:30 just might kill me...

Shopping

We did a ton of shopping this weekend. We bought all of Chiggie's new clothes, school supplies, and back pack for her 1st grade year. Luckily we found some really good deals and she feels great about what she got. The supplies were a lot cheaper than they were last year, but I found it odd that she needed 20 glue sticks!!?? The King needed a few things too. I think I forgot to mention that he is going back to school as well. He's still with the same company and they are paying for him to take a 3 week electrical course at their national headquarters. During his time at "school" he is staying at a nice hotel, has all of his mileage reimbursed, and has meal vouchers. He called me tonight just to let me know that his meal card has a $15 breakfast limit, $25 lunch limit, and a $35 dinner limit. Must be rough!