End of March

I'm ready for this month to be done.  Thank heaven that it is.

Woke the kids up to find hopefully a one time occurrence of bed wetting.  PLEASE let this be a one time thing and not the beginning of another issue.  I really don't need to add daily washing of sheets to my list of things to do.

The younger kids brought home report cards yesterday.  Daniel got straight As.  Amanda is doing well.  I need to find a way to squeeze in uninterrupted time with her more often.  Jonathan is doing very well academically.  If he could just learn how to keep his hands to himself, he'd be doing much better.  I think that we're about 9 weeks of school left.  YEA!!!!!!  I'm looking forward to not having to wake up at 5ish every morning to get everything done to get them out the door on time.

Last night I felt yucky.  This week has been pretty hard emotionally for me.  I'm just frustrated and exhausted.  I put the bassinet section of the portable crib away today.  For the last time and wanted to cry.  I can't believe that part of our life is over.  I have to admit that somedays that's hard to admit.  I'm not where I thought I would be at this point in my life.  Shouldn't we be having a midlife crisis from being bored with our lives?  I wish I had a boring life.

Tomorrow I'm having a teleconference with Clay and his commanders, both here and there. Things are absolutely ridiculous.  They're used to dealing with young army wives.  Let's just say I don't fit the mold.  I'm more educated than most of them and I know how to read the contracts and other paperwork that the army has given us.  It just stinks that they're punishing my husband for it but they say they're not.  Interesting how people can interpret things to fit it to what they want it to say.  I feel like Abinadi but his story didn't have the best outcome either.

Ethan ate 2 whole jars of baby food for dinner tonight.  I knew he was hungry but wow!  He's not a little baby anymore.  :(

April, start already.  I'm ready to move on.

Mommy, the nurse

So sure enough, Christina has strep.  And a sinus infection.  Poor kid.  Luckily the kind of strep she has the doctor says isn't contagious, it's due to the sinus infection.

After discussing things with the doctor, she asked if I was a nurse.  Nope.  Just a mommy of 6 and a wife of a chiropractic doctor, soon to be a D.O.  Flattering, I guess.  I guess I know too many medical terms and how things work in the body.

After her appointment, we spent the rest of the day running back and forth between Clay's unit command on post and the finance office to try to get one thing straightened out.  His unit really should be doing stuff like this to help us out but they lose paperwork and I'm not very trusting of them anymore.  I needed to know it got done, not just hope they would follow through.  So 2 1/2 hours later, making multiple trips to each office, I think I finally got it straightened out.

Then it was time for school to get out.

After helping the kids with homework, feeding the baby, and getting them all situated on computers and electronics (this was weird, they usually don't get to do stuff like this), I was able to go grocery shopping.  ALONE.  I don't even remember the last time I went shopping all by myself.  It was so odd.  I kept looking around me for kids, and there weren't any that I was responsible for.  My mother called halfway through so I wasn't completely alone anymore.

It was nice to still be able to go home and get dinner going before it was excessively late. Christina helped feed Ethan while I fixed dinner which helped things go a little better.  We even had a more regular Family Home Evening last night AND scripture study.  After I got some of the younger ones to bed, I finally got around to fixing the curtains that I started for Christina forever ago.  They're finally done except some tie backs.

Sleep is finally coming.  As in getting about 5, sometimes 6 hours, at one time lately.  Last night, I couldn't go to sleep until I took a picture of this--

Ah, to sleep so peacefully.  Someday again hopefully.

This morning I got up and worked on cleaning out some of the kitchen.  Waiting to hear the kids' response to seeing the kitchen cleaner when they get home.  Little by little, right?

10 weeks down.

Clay is counting weeks left and says there are 17 weeks.

Pinewood Derby and Strep

 Friday I finally got a little motivation and got caught up on laundry again.  Amanda had to stay home from school so we went through her drawers again too.  Time for shorts here.  It was 95 degrees yesterday.  I think that I've finally gotten through the younger kids clothes.  Christina is left and I need to encourage her a little to get hers done.

I also made baked pasta, oregano garlic bread, and helped Christina make rice crispies for the Pinewood Derby/Blue and Gold Banquet (potluck).

Daniel had left his car at the church (and the weights we were supposed to add) on Wednesday.  Once we got to church I realized that I forgot the tape or glue to put them on too.  Luckily the first aid kit in the car had some medical tape that came in handy.

Here's the boys from the 2 wards and the branch that meet for scouts with their cars--

Daniel had so much fun.  It was fun to watch him get SOOO excited when his car would win.  One of the boys Christina's age (and his brother in law) helped Daniel make his car. I think it would have been fun to help him but I know I can't do everything and I haven't had much experience other than watching my dad and brothers.

The other kids also enjoyed watching the races.  I can tell Jonathan is going to be looking forward to when he gets to do this.

This is Daniel and his friend, James, that came with us.  Notice the beautiful handiwork by mom.  But, hey, at least they stayed on during all the races.

Daniel got 3rd Place.  I was really proud of him.  I did think it was rather odd that with the way they had the brackets arranged, Daniel never actually raced the second place car so he may have gotten that spot, but we'll never know (and he is happy with his 3rd place).  I guess that's the competitive side of me coming out.  At least I've learned to be content and let some things go in front of my kids.

Daniel getting his medal pinned on--

Saturday morning we got up still kind of early to take Christina to the church for the Girl's Camp hike.  I dropped her off, headed home to feed everyone else and get started with the chores for the day.  She came back kind of sore from her hike.  I took Daniel and Ethan to run out and get a few errands done.  My intent was to get the younger ones to bed earlier so Christina and I could watch the General Young Women's Broadcast at home together since I didn't get a babysitter with all the sickness we've had this week.

Things didn't go exactly how I planned and I ended up having family prayers just after they said their closing prayer.  We did kind of listen to part of it while bathing kids but we need to watch it together some time.

Then Christina started mentioning her throat was hurting.  

This morning she said it was worse and is running a fever.  I have a very strong feeling that it's strep but the thoughts of taking all 6 and sitting in the ER to be seen today aren't the most lovely thoughts.  I left her home alone and took the other 5 to church.  They did ok considering but the crawling under the pews and standing up yelling at each other left some behaviors desiring to be changed.  The thought crossed my mind of what would people do if I got up to bear my testimony today and left the 5 (well, 4 really) at the pews.  I'm sure I would have had a few follow me anyway.  But I couldn't do it.  Maybe some day I can get up and bear my testimony again.  Today wasn't it.  I have a testimony, just not really a day to share it.  I'm looking forward to being able to look back at this time and seeing things a little clearer.

Anyway, I'm fairly certain Christina is staying home and I'll be making a trip to the pediatric clinic again for the fifth time in a week and a half.  I really hope that this strep doesn't spread any further.  At least it will be two down already.

I'm not one for usually suggesting movies but I recently finished (remember it takes me a while to watch movies 20-30 minutes here and there) My Girlfriend's Boyfriend.  Really cute, clean movie.

Motivation....., or rather lack there of

I was trying to get some motivation up and really do something wonderful today but the lack of motivation was there and Samantha really wanted to just be held since no one else was around to play with.

Then the phone rang.  It was the doctor we saw yesterday.  Amanda has strep.  She's at school.  Whoops.

So I gather up the two at home and head to school to pick her up.  We headed to the doctor's office (hopefully not another 2 hour situation) to get a shot to help her get over this fast.  I really don't want to have a rerun from last year.  I prepped her so she knew what she had to do.  After lots of confusion about why we were there, we finally got the shot.  The poor kid had her muscles tensed to bad the nurse had a hard time pushing the medication in.  The rest of the day, she complained of sore muscles and not feeling well.  I really hope it kicks in fast.  I don't like seeing my kids sick.  She'll be staying home from school tomorrow too.  She shouldn't be contagious after 24 hours from the shot but the school has the policy that if they're not there by 9:30 am, you can't bring them the rest of the day.  She's looking forward to staying home anyway.  Maybe we can clean out her drawers.

I'm really struggling with a serious lack of motivation.  I haven't wanted to post much on here because we're not completely sure what's going to happen but it isn't looking good for us going to school this summer.  I guess next year we should be able to go.  Lots of things are being looked at but the bottom line is that Clay will probably be gone until mid August. UGH.  That means we're not even halfway yet.  All this equals serious lack of motivation to do much of anything.

But my mother is coming out next month for it looks like 2 weeks or so to help when Ethan has his surgery and hopefully some miracles will happen so we can maybe attend Time Out for Women in San Antonio the next weekend.  I found out this morning that the school took away the half day tomorrow and the one in Thursday plus the day off when I have Ethan's surgery scheduled.  This might be interesting or my kids may just have to miss the day anyway.  I'm not rescheduling it.

Hopefully I can get my act together and get some things done before she gets here.  Not that she'll really care how the house looks but I do.  Hopefully we'll all get feeling much better and the motivation will suddenly come to me.  Let's hope so.

Inspired by my cousin's blog (and of course with some help of Christina) I took some cute pictures of Ethan the other night taking a bath.  He's such a great baby, even when he doesn't feel his best, he still smiles.

Ears, noses, and throats

Today the memory from last year of having all 5 kids having strep throat came back.

I was able to finally get Amanda, Jonathan, and Samantha in to see a doctor today.  After another almost 2 hour wait for a scheduled appointment.  With 4 kids.  They actually did pretty well but mommy was getting kind of frustrated watching the walk-ins be taken back before me with an appointment.  I finally said something to the nurses and they found another doctor to see us.  And a good doctor at that.  I was very impressed with her.  Too bad she's leaving the clinic at the end of May or I'd switch to her.

Anyway, the verdict is:  Amanda with a bleeding ear drum from ear infection and possible strep throat (we'll find out tomorrow), Jonathan ear infection, and Samantha's looking good still.  I got allergy meds for all of them (I went ahead and picked up Ethan's just to have on hand or even to give to some of the others if I need to).  I really like to try to do things more natural when it comes to medicine but this mommy's reached her limit.

Ethan slept REALLY well last night.  Amanda on the other hand, well......

Amanda threw up before I went to bed so I was worried I was in for a really long night.  She didn't throw up anymore but kept coming in my room throughout the night for tissues and to ask how much longer until morning.  She hasn't been eating well so I finally sent her down to get a string cheese at 4 in the morning.

I feel like I spent all day with dr. visits.  It's crazy to think I spent 4+ hours going to the doctor appointment and waiting at the pharmacy.  Samantha fell asleep on the way home so she got a little nap and Amanda and Jonathan got to play with the Light Bright which they kept telling me "This is SO fun, Mom!"  and I got a little reading in while they played on the floor.  AHHHH.....

I even fixed dinner tonight, Daniel had a play date that stayed to eat dinner with us and then went to cub scouts with him.  Daniel told us that he felt left out because he couldn't talk about all the video games with the other boys (this Mom isn't allowing those games in this house).  I talked to him about all the other stuff he got to do because he wasn't playing video games.  We decided to invite a friend to the Pinewood Derby and potluck on Friday night.  He decided to invite the friend to scouts tonight too.  I was kind of surprised the mother said yes because they haven't gotten together before to play.  This boy was so polite.  I was very impressed at his manners.  A little missionary work maybe.

Boasting Moment

Time to post about the kids again.  Christina came home yesterday from school to tell me that she was chosen as one of the two students of the month for her grade for the month of February.  Way to go Christina!  

Sunday, after wanting to for a long time, introduced Daniel to making card houses (inspired by a friend's blog).  I'm not very good at it so we even had to do a little research quickly for me to remember how to do it.  This isn't the same way we used to make them as kids but it works and most importantly, he loved it.  

Here's Daniel with his first card house.  He was really proud of himself--

 And my handsome man, at 8 months.  Enjoying his baby gym to the fullest extent.

Yesterday Samantha slept in until 9:30ish.  I don't even remember the last time that happened!   Ethan slept until about 8:15 so I got to lay down for a bit and listen to him breathe.  It was a quiet morning.  I was having one of those icky days anyway so having a baby who wanted to be held meant watching a movie.  It's been a while since I've made it through that much of a movie at one shot.  I usually get a little 20-30 minutes here and there as I'm feeding the baby when I need a break or when I can't sleep and then fall asleep, only to have to go back and watch things again.

Last night, I tried a new approach for putting Samantha to bed.  She hasn't fallen asleep in her bed for about 3 weeks or so.  She usually ends up crashing on the floor in someone's room or the hallway.  I know a good part of this is that evenings/bedtime get stressful/busy for me.  I took the time yesterday, ignored crying baby (with Christina), and gave her just a few moments of just mom before bed.  And it worked!  I told her I was going to check on her in a few minutes, would open the door and praise her for being in her bed still.  By the third time I went to check on her, she was asleep.  In her own bed!  Hopefully this will be the start again of many nights doing this.

Amanda wasn't feeling well yesterday and ended up going to bed through dinner.  She's running a very good fever this morning so we're headed in to the doctor in a bit.  Jonathan's running a slight fever too and after him kind of moping around yesterday, I figure we'll make a family trip to the doctor today.  I sent the older two off to school and now the rest of us are headed in to the doctor at Quickcare to see what the verdict is.

One of the hardest things about having so many kids and them being sick is I feel like in addition to being tired myself already, my burden increases as I want to clean and disinfect everything to get the bugs out of the house.  I also feel like I have to serve all the food, preparation, etc. even more by myself to prevent the germs from spreading.  Keeping sick ones from everyone else, telling kids not to pick up the baby, etc.  make it even more of a challenge.  I hope everyone gets better soon.  I'm fairly certain that it started out as allergies but with their weakened immune systems, everything else seems to be grabbing hold as well.

On a side note, thanks to those of you who have left positive comments lately.  It's been a wonderful surprise to see how many are reading and care about me and my family.  Some of you I haven't ever met, but your words have brought a much needed smile to my face.  It's flattering to think that you think I'm strong and that I can do this.  Thank you.  I needed that!

Back to the routine

I just got the older 4 off to school and amazingly enough the younger two are still asleep.  I probably should go back to bed myself this morning too but I know that as soon as I lay down, they'll wake up.  Some times I get amazed at how I can somewhat function on little sleep.

The last three or so (I lost track) nights have been kind of rough.  Samantha has had a very difficult time falling asleep again but this time it was added with not being able to stay asleep either.  She ended up spending two of them on the floor in my room.  I don't know if it's allergies, growth pains, who knows maybe molars?  I wish she could communicate better so I knew what was hurting.  It's so hard to see her screaming and not be able to know what one thing she needs to feel better.

I ended up taking Ethan to the ER last night after I got most of the others to bed.  He kept gagging on mucus/flem yesterday and I was nervous to go to sleep and not be alert enough to wake up if he was choking on something.  He got a priesthood blessing yesterday in church and does seem to be making some progress.  Last night the ER doctor told me that he has some kind of bacterial infection in his eyes.  Hmm.  People at church yesterday told me it was the pollen/allergy stuff.  Some of the other kids have had pink eye before but not with white gunk like this, it's usually yellow or green.  Wasn't too impressed with the doctor/ER last night either.  I didn't go to the one on post because I had been told that this other one was faster.  Almost 3 hours later, I didn't think it was faster.  It may have been slower but you can't take a number and wait at both ERs to see which one is faster.

Just for all the inquiring minds out there, Ethan weighed in at 18 pounds and 28 inches long, head is 46 cm.  He turned 8 months yesterday.  That's crazy.  He's turning into quite a little man lately.  His hair has turned blonde and at times I look at him and see both of my grandpas.  I actually had someone mention yesterday that he looks like me.  I hope that's a good thing.  I love this little guy to death and couldn't imagine life without him.

The school kids all went to bed pretty reasonable last night but still had such a hard time getting up today.  I think the allergy stuff is affecting them too.  I have to admit that the idea of keeping some of them home from school today because they weren't feeling 100% was kind of tempting this morning.  But I had to get up anyway to get the others out the door.

Well, it's a quarter to 8 and the two youngest are still asleep.  Maybe I will lay down.  Just for a minute until they wake up when my head hits the pillow.

Allergies

2 Months done!

I took Ethan in yesterday and the dr. wanted to put him on Zyrtec for allergies.  Um, no thanks.  Anyone want to experience allergies, come down to Texas.  I think almost all of us have runny noses right now from allergies.  That's one part of Texas I won't miss.

Happy Birthday Samantha!

Today our Baby Girl turned 3!  I can't believe how fast time is flying with her.  She is truly a joy to have in our family.  She got a video card from dad that she was SO excited about!  

I baked the cake this morning and then took just her to go get a bite to eat for lunch.  She fell asleep on the way.  So I drove around a bit, running errands I could with her asleep (bank, post office drop box) and even carried her into a store.  I had to change her to wake her up.  

We ended up going out to a restaurant I have wanted to try but didn't have anyone to go with me and she didn't care.  It was fun and we ended up getting a great deal and the look on her face when the waitress brought her an ice cream sundae for her birthday!  She LOVED that!

Then Samantha and Jonathan and I went and got some birthday pictures done.  I'm doing them two at a time this year to help me get them done--2/3 of the way through now! (Except Ethan gets his taken a little more often so I guess I'm really only half way.)

Then it was time for dinner, cake and ice cream, and presents later.  She was so excited it was her birthday.  I don't think she understood that it was her birthday until about half way through the day but then enjoyed every minute of it.  

In her new birthday nightgown.  Princess of course.  

Videos coming!

Spring Break

My kids are out of school currently for Spring Break.  Although I'm not really up for doing much with the kids, I know we need to move on and try to do some things.  Monday I had a friend join us for the zoo before our membership runs up at the end of the month.  Here's all 6 of our kids and her 3.

The kids all did really well at the zoo.  They love going to the zoo.  I get tempted to buy another membership but until I know for sure what we're doing, I don't dare.

Here's the best of all my shots with the 3 girls.

And most of the kids on the statue for the Kumodo Dragon.

 After the zoo, we found a little park nearby that had some really cool structures for the kids to play in after lunch but I didn't pull my camera out.  It was nice to visit with my friend and have the kids run and play.

Next time, I need to remember the sunscreen for all of us and to not part my hair.  OUCH!  Sometimes I forget when you have to start doing that stuff again, even if it's only been a few months of a break.  Ethan's got some nice sun too.  :(

We got back and had dinner and then the doggies had to go home.  The kids really want a dog.  Bad.  And I'm thinking I do too.  We'll see.  I'm not one for making rash decisions.

Dog sitting

Yep, I've added 2 more to the family, but only for 1 night.  Our neighbor was headed down to San Antonio with her parents who are visiting so we're dog sitting.  (2 SMALL dogs--not Chubaka size, if you remember him.) They dropped them off this morning and will pick them up tomorrow night.  The kids are in doggie heaven and I'm starting to wonder even in the middle of all this chaos if getting a dog might not be a bad idea.  It gives them all something to work on together, keeps them busy, and adds a different feeling to our home.  But I'm not going to rush out and get a dog tomorrow either.  Clay would come home to a new dog who wouldn't be sure of him besides Ethan's possible reactions.  Here's Ethan with Sophie--

Church was different today.  There were a lot of people missing.  We have 10 men currently deployed (if I remember right) and we'll be losing a few more in the next few months before some start coming home.  It puts quite the stain on the ward.  But we or rather I finally have a home teacher.  YEA!  He came up and introduced himself after Sacrament meeting.  I guess he wants to bring his wife and come visit during the day when most of the kids are gone.

And more cute pictures of our little cutie.  He's such a great baby and so full of smiles.  I love it lately when he's in the other room in his excersaucer and I look over and he just grins from ear to ear when he makes eye contact.  He is such a ray of sunshine to me right now.

I think he's starting to look more and more like Daniel when he was a baby.  Maybe it's just the hair.  :)

The last few days I've had so many people comment on how cute he is and smiley.  Complete strangers while we're out.  Maybe it's because we ventured out some the last few days.  I thought he was so handsome and cute anyway before.  I'm a proud momma.

I noticed that I've posted 18 posts for the last 2 months.  Maybe I should try to keep that up for the year, slightly more than every other day, and make 18 a better number than just another number to remind us of when daddy left (twice).

I really should be going to bed.  Everyone else is asleep (including the 2 dogs) but I think I know how my kids feel when they're too tired to go to sleep.  Guess I should try anyway.  :(

Planning on heading out with a wonderful friend to go to the zoo one last time before our membership expires.  Not sure if I'm going to renew it or not here.  We still don't know for sure what we're doing or when.

SHOPPING

One of the biggest disadvantages here (well it's an advantage to the checkbook I guess) is having to drive an hour to go to the fabric/craft store.  They do have Hobby Lobby closer but the selection is smaller and I can't do my awesome work with coupon magic as often there.

So today, we adventured.  Packed us all up and headed to Round Rock to go to Jo-Anns.  It was ok for the most part.  A few little mishaps but not bad.  Ironically the best part was having everyone sit down and look at the pattern books.  And I was good and only bought 2--one for Christina.  I'm getting better at buying myself little presents as a reward for surviving another day.  Probably not the best idea, but I have to have something to keep going so I bought myself some more stuff for the cricut so I can make some paper dolls for the kids for Easter (I think).  Now I just need to buy the cartridge.  I think they kids will all love them.

We also made it to IKEA where Amanda and Jonathan were able to go play in their play area.  They got worn out there, I only had 4 kiddos to watch for shopping, the two oldest (pushing carts) and the two youngest (in carts).  It was a good break.  The road trip down and back again left things to still be worked on though.  I refuse to pull out the DVD player for short trips except for extreme cases.  Maybe I should have today but they need to learn how to do something besides watch movies.

I also took them all out to eat at Chick-fil-a.  Another adventure but it wasn't too bad.  One 12 piece nuggets per 2 kids to share, Christina and I got a sandwich and we all ate for under $20.  Then the kids got to play while I fed Ethan.

One last stop at Target to get vitamins that I ran out of and on the road again for home.  We got home with enough time for me to change, get bags brought in and out the door again for Stake Young Women Leadership Training.  Christina fed the others dinner, I got dinner that not only was cooked for me, but I didn't have to clean up either and I didn't have to cut anyone's food, feed anyone else, or even dish up plates.  Crazy how something so little makes me feel spoiled.  It's nice to be taken care of for a minute.  I don't think they knew how great that felt.

Picked up a few groceries on the way home from the meeting so we would have something other than spoiled milk to drink tomorrow.  I guess we're cooking a lot with milk the next few days.  Crepes, waffles, soups, here we come!

Speech and Whatnot

I had a meeting today for Samantha and Amanda's speech at the elementary.  Amanda will now be going from twice to once a week.  She's making great progress.  I suggested they make sure they don't schedule it during reading.

Samantha will be going once every other week.  I'll take her over to the school and I guess walk around for a bit during school.  They're going to try to schedule it so that it will end by the time the other kids get out of school.  It will be so odd to only have one child for a short time and have to pick up 4 from the elementary.  It's sad I didn't think I'd have to do that quite yet but I did something similar when Daniel was that age too.  Wow time flies.

Tomorrow I'm going to get brave and make the hour long drive with 6 kids to go to the fabric store.  They're having their huge coupon sale ending tomorrow so we'll see what we can get and how long we can last with 6 kids.  Maybe I'll get lucky and come up with some fun activities to do the next week while their off for spring break.

Then, come home and head to a Stake meeting and have dinner with adults.  Hopefully I can refrain from serving everyone else first and cutting their food for them.  I picked up corn dogs (Christina says I've only bought them once before) for Christina to fix for the kids.  I had her (reluctantly) help with dinner tonight.  I don't think she really wanted to learn how to cook TONIGHT but it was actually a good time for me.  Ethan was asleep and the others were watching TV.  Not sure how much she got out of it, she was trying to keep up with the show too.  I tried.  And we'll try again with something else another night.  I keep changing and adjusting old recipes to make new recipes since Clay left and the kids have loved them all.  Too bad I didn't measure or write anything down.

A NEW COUSIN!!!!

We're a little excited. See my kids haven't gotten a new cousin in oh, about 8 years. I'm thrilled to have a new little one in the family (besides one of our own).

My little sister had her baby on Monday, March 7. Here's little Lillian Leslie Taylor. 5 lbs. 15 oz. 18 3/4 inches.CONGRATULATIONS Brenda & Bill!
Hopefully we'll be able to meet her before too long.

Another day, more changes

Yesterday Christina got her bottom braces put on in the morning. She was a little sore but we were planning on taking her back to school anyway.

On the way to drop her off, Samantha and Ethan fell asleep. Considering the sleep deprivation issues we've had lately, Christina offered to sit in the car with them if I needed to run errands. I ended up not running too many but did get a few done before Samantha woke up. Christina was a little more sore so we decided it would be better if she stayed home for the day.

We ended up going out to lunch. Just the four of us. It was fun to be able to spend some time with just her and I know that she really enjoyed it too.

Yea for getting braces and taking some time off from the usual crazy schedule.

Next week is Spring Break. I'm trying to get a plan in place to be able to handle it without going completely crazy. I am looking forward to maybe catching up some on sleep. Hopefully the kids won't decide to get up early every day. I think daylight savings will help some with that, or maybe not.

Today I had a slow day. Just trying to find some motivation to get stuff done. It was also the last day with ECI for Samantha's speech. I knew this day was coming but it was hard to see that part of our lives end. She'll be 3 next week and they can only see kids up to the age of 3. :( I have a meeting at the elementary tomorrow to discuss speech for both Samantha and Amanda so speech therapy will start there soon and I should know more information after tomorrow's meeting.

But for now, it's bedtime. I need to try to get some sleep and see if it will help with the crazy allergy garbage I enjoy in Texas. It's not too bad, just enough to get annoying and it lingers FOREVER! Time to run humidifier and try to get sleep.

Sleep. Where are you?

I think I'm working on fumes most of the time lately.

The last several nights have been difficult with Samantha. She's been up until 11 pm for the two nights before tonight. This morning she woke up at 6:15 am, ready to go, just not so happy.

The first night she finally crashed on my bedroom floor when I was talking to Clay.

Last night she finally crashed on Christina's floor after I had to lock her out of my bedroom. This isn't fun being the only parent.

Tonight a friend and I ended up taking the kids to the park and eating pizza there for dinner. I hoped this would help Samantha go to bed earlier.

And she did.

In the car on the way home.

Unfortunately when I tried to get her cleaned up for bed, she was up and ready to go again.

So she and I went for a drive. (Thanks Christina for watching the other kids again.)

We drove.

And drove.

And she finally gave up and is asleep in her bed. Hopefully she'll stay that way.

I'm not sure why she's acting the way she is right now. I'm wondering if it's molars or growth spurt or who knows what (missing daddy?).

Tomorrow Christina gets her bottom braces on. Hopefully she won't be too sore.

Weekend

Friday night I showed the kids the movie Bambi. Made it all these years and I have never seen the entire movie.

And I think I scarred them.

For life.

Let's just say that if you like to hunt, don't mention it to my kids right now.

Daniel was gone all day yesterday for a school field trip. It was odd having only 5 kids to work with. (Funny how even one missing makes such a difference.) He had a blast on the field trip (down to University of Texas at Austin) and came home last night full of all kinds of information for us. I know he had fun but I do miss doing those kinds of things as a family.

I also introduced peas and oatmeal cereal to Ethan this week. I tried peas with him on Friday when the other kids were at school. Samantha thought it looked good and wanted a bite. So being the good mother I am, I gave her one. She looked like I had poised her. I kept asking her if she liked it and she would tell me no. Should have video taped it, but I'm not that good. Ethan wasn't as big of a fan of peas or the oatmeal, yet anyway. Green beans is the favorite by far.

But more exciting news, my sister's water broke today so I'm going to be an aunt again by tomorrow. YEA!!!!!! It's bringing back all kinds of memories of when I my water broke with Samantha. So excited to have a little niece to love to pieces whenever I finally get to meet her.

Love at First Bite!

Well, here we go being behind again. Life is crazy to put it nicely. Really don't want to go into details but something's gotta give soon.

Back to the best part--my little man.

Isn't he so cute! (And I love my new camera. Hopefully I can spend some time reading the book and figuring out how to use it.) But there's a good picture of his little teeth.

And I gave in and decided to let him try some baby food. We gave him his first bite Saturday night. Green beans. Love them! He ate almost the entire jar (size 2) for his first session and the entire jar the next night. He did great. I really was a little worried he wasn't quite ready but he was. :( Growing up too quickly.
After the first night, I decided the rocking chair is a little difficult to feed him in so I had to distract Samantha so we could use her booster seat while we wait for the new high chair to come.

Someone had given us a pirate hat and hook which the boys thought their brother needed to play too. Ethan, of course, was very fascinated with them.
Pirate Baby!!!!