Sleep Sweet Sleep

Between Buster being congested (which is like always) and my mouth hurting (which is also like always) I cannot remember the last time I slept for longer than 2 hours at a time. To top that off, I never sleep in my bed anymore. There is no way to rock a baby in the bed and when he's sleeping it's too hard to get comfortable blah, blah, blah. I mostly spend my nights watching the clock just wishing morning would come already. Then when morning finally does come, I can't believe I lost yet another night.

Buster doesn't sleep much during the day either. I mean, if I 'm holding him he'll take a nice nap, but on his own not so much. He's also on the move constantly. His favorite hobbies include pulling down dvd's and eating anything the girls leave on the floor. In fact if I owed a dollar everytime I shouted "Hey, what's Bussy got in his mouth?????" I would be a very poor, well even poorer, woman. Such is life I suppose. Maybe tonight will be better.

Blah

I'm feeling a little bummed tonight that our week long vacation is over. It went by so fast. I spent over half of it feeling awful too, which didn't help matters. Tomorrow the King goes back to work. For now he'll be working in Denver and coming home every night as long as the weather allows. He will do this until a more permanent position becomes available, but hopefully no longer than a few weeks.

The older girls go back to school tomorrow and I wish they had more time off too. It will seem lonely just the 4 of us all day. I have a lot to do to pass the time. I hope I can sleep tonight so that I will have the motivation to do it. I have been sleeping terribly. Last night I conceded and took some of the pain pills prescribed and I might as well have swallowed tic tacs. I was very disappointed. I probably slept less than 2 hours. We still made it to church and I was lucky enough to nap with the baby this afternoon, but tomorrow that just won't be possible. I really just want to be completely healthy for a little while. I'm sure I'm not the only one though....

Little Helpers

I seriously would never get a thing done if it wasn't for all of my little helpers! They love it too so it's a double bonus. I'm a lucky Mom!

Decking the Halls

Over the last several years we have made it a tradition to decorate the house for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving. No shopping for us, usually, just decorating. It was really fun this year to see how excited the kids got. Even Buster got in on the action, bouncing up and down, when we pulled the boxes out. I have to admit it's become quite the production. We got a ton done today, but we'll have to finish up the inside and then do the outdoor lights tomorrow. It does look festive and homey though. Most of the stuff we have we've had for years. Chiggie can remember getting some of it and gets excited to see it again. I can't believe it's the Christmas Season again already!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Day Before

It always seems like the day before a holiday is more exciting than the actual day. We are rushing around trying to get all the last minute things done that will make tomorrow relaxing and fun. It would help it I didn't have another infection requiring yet another antibiotic, but I think I'm starting to feel just a little better so that's a plus. The weather isn't calling for snow, but I'm thinking it might by the way it looks outside today.

The King is at the store, but when he gets home we're going to try out a new dessert recipe for tomorrow's dinner. I'm excited, it looks very good. We both enjoy baking so it should be a good experience regardless of the turnout. I hope everyone else is enjoying the season!

Vacation

We've been enjoying ourselves despite the obstacles thrown in our path this week. It's been so nice to have the King home to help out and just being together has made a huge difference. I worried about how Buster would adjust after not seeing him for so long, but it was for naught. He seemed to recognize and remember right away. He didn't cry at all and has let him take care of him as if he was never gone. What a huge blessing and relief this has been.

He brought the girls home some fake teeth from a bubblegum machine and they have had a great time wearing them the last few days.

We even went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. The girls had a great time. We had not been there in a couple of years which made it even more fun.

Other than that we've just been hanging out and it has been very nice. We're looking forward to a nice dinner at my Mom's on Thursday and then going to see the movie Tangled. On Friday we're decorating for Christmas and the girls can't wait to put up the tree. I'm hoping we get some snow soon, we haven't had any at all yet. Soon enough though, soon enough....

Random Thoughts

We're coming down from another crazy week. Nobody was sick though, so that's a plus. Here Chiggie is on picture re-take day. She happened to be absent on picture day, so she was excited to get fixed up.

Tea had a Thanksgiving feast at school after doing a unit on the Native Americans and Pilgrims. She was so excited. She picked to bring cubed cheese. Oddly their feast mirrored Charlie Brown's.

They made these adorable hats and mats to eat on. She's been very lucky and has a great teacher this year. I wish I could say the same for Chiggie.

At the last minute I ended up deciding to let the little ones come to the feast as well. I'm glad because they enjoyed participating.

Boo is so shy, but she is very well behaved in these kind of situations. She politely tried all of the different foods.

They are now out of a school for 9 days. Yay! I am so excited. Tomorrow we are going to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, and we plan to see a movie next week as well. I'm also very excited because The King is coming home!!!! It has been 8 long weeks since we have seen him. Strangely I am excited for him to entertain the kids while I clean my house. I really haven't done that for 8 weeks either. I'm just kidding. Maybe.

Busy Day

Today promises to be busy. I'm sure I will be ready for my bed tonight. I've already made one trip to the school today and have two more to go. Along with that we have a lunch play date, dentist appointment out of town, and youth group tonight. Yesterday was not a good day. I'm hoping today's activities will take my mind off of the things that I cannot change!

8 Months

Happy 8 months to a crawling, growling, grinning, laughing, picky eating, blonde haired, sweet baby boy. We love you Buster Man!

Goals

A little while back I started noticing that I lacked motivation. I lacked goals. My life had taken on a bit of a "groundhog day" flow to it and everything I did seemed trivial and redundant. I didn't realize it at the time but I set some goals for myself, that while at the time seemed daunting, but turned out to be very achievable. I wanted to:

• Lose weight: This has been an ongoing battle. With 5 pregnancies in just 8 years it's been a vicious cycle of weight gain and loss. I wanted to end the cycle and drop some weight for good. I started a diet and as of now have lost 30lbs. I have more to lose but this has been enough motivation to keep going.

• Wean the baby to a bottle: There were many reasons for this. His weight was in the 3rd percentile. He bit like a rabid dog. Plus there just aren't that many hours in the day. Taking care of the 4 older kids by myself is time consuming and hey, he can hold his own bottle. On October 30th we, or I, made the switch. He still nurses at night, which is fine. He doesn't bite then so we're good. I'm pretty sure he's gained weight, but he's weighs in next week so we'll see.

• Move the now weaned baby to his own room: This one is fairly obvious. He's almost 8 months old. He already sleeps great in his own bed, so really I just need to move him. I haven't done it yet mostly out of convenience. The layout of our house makes it much easier to just have him in my room. I need to finish off my short list and move him though and I'm thinking this weekend is a great time to do it.

Now that I've made some progress I want to set some new goals.

• start exercising on a regular basis
• organize my room (lots of clutter)
• paint the kitchen cabinets (I've wanted to do that for 6+years)

Hopefully I will stay motivated and be even more productive. It feels good to accomplish goals!

Moving On

Chiggie went back to school today. I was glad because it just felt "normal." Tea should go back tomorrow and that will really move things back to the same 'ol same category. This week has felt nothing short of twilight zonish at best. The house is a mess. A sad reminder of the sickness that consumed my time and energy. Hopefully this is not a preview of what's to come this winter. Yuck.

Speaking of Winter, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. I'm actually hoping it does. I'm enjoying the weather change and just ready for the cold I guess. I'm really trying to stay positive despite the pothole filled road we've been on lately. So much really is going good. I need to focus on that.

Almost Over

It has to be almost over the way I figure it. I woke up this morning knowing I had not been spared. My doctor was awesome and just called me in an antibiotic being so many of the kids are sick too. I know I'll feel better tomorrow, so I'm glad I knew to expect it and catch it early. I am really hoping Boo and Buster are spared. They are still so little and I don't want them to be sick like this.

Bad to Worse

Okay, I admit, I was upset and sad for Chiggie when I found out she had strep for the 3rd time, but I could handle that. By this afternoon Midge was complaining. She had the same thick speech Chiggie had started with and I quickly checked her temperature. She had a high fever and big glands under the throat. Luckily the ped's office was understanding and just called in her prescription. I gave it a little over an hour an then headed to the pharmacy. It wasn't ready. They hadn't even started it. They said come back later. Come back later? I had already drug two sickly children from bed to come in the first place (we used the drive-up window.) Again, lucky for me, my Step-Dad picked it up for me later and brought it over.

I got everybody ready for bed and had finally relaxed just a little bit, when Tea came back downstairs crying. You guessed it her throat and head hurt. I checked her temp and it was even higher than the two before her. Good grief. No one's going to school tomorrow. Poor Tea will have to wait to start meds. Hopefully the Doc will continue just phoning in the orders to save us the trip. I am praying Boo, Buster, and myself are spared!

Monday

It is definitely Monday around here. "Falling back" has taken its toll on me. The kids eternal clocks haven't reset themselves yet and they were up at 6am after I didn't even go to bed until 1am. Buster fussed in the night and Chiggie woke up complaining of a sore throat. This morning I knew it was the real deal when it was accompanied by upset stomach and fever. Boo, strep throat again. I still haven't fully recovered from our last infestation. I ran her to the Doc for a rapid test and my fears were confirmed. The good news is I really think we caught it quick. I'm praying it ends here. Please let it end here.....

Visit

I really don't like having so many days go between posts, but once again, sleep won. We had a great time last week and this weekend with a last minute visit from the King's family. Even though he wasn't able to be here to see them, we played hard in his honor. We all loved playing Wii. The cheering got pretty loud when we battled off in a heated game of bowling.

Even Grandpa had to give it a try. Once he started he was hooked!

Grandma learned quick and couldn't get enough either.

One day we took the kids to the park/river. Of course we had to walk to the train station. We got really lucky and there was one coming in right then.





The water in the wading area was ice chest cold. I even tried putting my feet in, but it was just too painful.

Amazingly it was 80 degrees that day so they didn't get too cold.

Tea didn't really mind the frigid temps and made it longer than anyone else.

No day at the park would be complete without a picnic lunch. This will probably have been our last time of the season. The winter is coming quickly. I'm so glad we got this chance to enjoy the outdoors! We had a great time and it was hard to say goodbye.

Mr. Buster

This little boy is throwing me through a loop lately. He's not sleeping well at night at all. I weaned him to a bottle and I really thought that would help, but nope. During the day he's been fussy on and off too. If I had to make a guess, I would say teething but who knows really. After dinner tonight I put him in the tub to play and finally got some big smiles. He loves to splash in the tub. I was taking a shower this morning and he pulled himself up to the shower doors. I know he wanted in. Hopefully tonight he will sleep good, I don't know how many more 1 am social hours I can take!

Halloween

This was my 10th year being a mother of a trick or treater. I love it. We've had so much fun over the years and this year was no different. It's hard not having The King here on a holiday, but we spent it with my Mom and sisters so that made it a bit better. Chiggie was Little Red Riding Hood. She looked cute and had a lot of fun trick or treating. She probably would've gone on forever if the little girls wouldn't have gotten tuckered out.

Tea was a Vampire Bat. She has an untamed spirit and I think that's awesome. She was really into it this year as well.

Midge was a Rag Doll. I think she talked about this day for a solid month beforehand. She had fun but got a little spooked there at the end.
Boo made the cutest pumpkin I've ever seen. She knows the drill now and enjoyed every minute of it.

Buster man was my little soldier. I got tons of compliments on his suit which my sisters little boy wore a couple of years ago. Very cute and warm!

I know I say it all the time, but I can't believe how fast they're growin' up on me!