Time for my bi-annual post!

Boy, I’ve been bad about updating!

Things have been busy, busy, busy!

I’ll start with the kids, then maybe I’ll ramble

Baby Girl has taken off crawling. Unlike the others that enjoyed their newfound freedom, she doesn’t really appreciate it. She was much happier when she was limited to where she was put on a blanket with one or two toys. The poor girl gets herself so overstimulated with everything she can go and see now that she ends up a crying clingy mess within 15 minutes. So we bought a baby play yard for the first time ever. It’s working out great. There’s plenty of room for her to move around without being overwhelming for her. She’s growing well, and is a very cheerful girl. As long as she has her mama… But since the last two have been daddy’s girls, I’m enjoying it

Pixie Girl is beginning to talk some. We took her to see a speech therapist a few months ago and while her speech is severely delayed, her comprehension is not, which meant that her overall score was too high to qualify for speech therapy. She’ll be retested in a few months to see how she does then. Until then we keep working with her She is, by far, the girliest girly girl I’ve ever seen. The outfits that girl comes up with crack me up! Mismatched shoes over mismatched socks, with a dress, a skirt as a cape, and bangle bracelets from elbow to wrist, are sure to be a fashion statement one of these days

Little Miss Feisty has finally gained the fine motor skills needed to join with her brothers in learning handwriting. She now stays up with them for school, instead of napping. She’s growing up fast!

Dexter has really picked up on reading in the past few weeks. He’s “officially” a student this year, so now our homeschool paperwork will include 2

Prince Charming is picking up on his reading as well and is learning fractions. They’re really clicking for him. Hopefully they’ll continue to make sense to him. They sure didn’t for me!

School is going well this year, and hopefully will continue to do so. We’re still getting caught up a bit from last year, but moving along nicely. We changed the schedule up a bit more this year. I am not a morning person. I’ve tried. I really have. I just can’t do it for more than a week, no matter how early I go to bed. So the kids work on their chores, and play, burning off their energy since they are morning people, while I trudge along trying to open my eyes and become a functioning human being. By the time lunch is over we’re usually at a happy medium. I’m functioning and the kids are calm. Then we start school

Bible first, then math, then practice reading and art (they each take turns reading to me, while the other 2 work on an art project), after that we either do science and geography, or read from Little House on the Prairie. We usually do science first, unless it’s a video. At some point during our reading Baby Girl wake up hungry and one of the kids will give her a bottle while we continue reading.

The weather is changing here and it’s GORGEOUS! I can’t remember ever thinking “It’s fall” in September, but we definitely got fall this year! It’s so nice to have the house opened up, instead of running the air conditioner

A Super Walmart opened not far from us. So far I’m really enjoying it! The Winco near us went rapidly downhill last year in their quality, so we were having to shop at higher priced grocery stores. While the produce there was beautiful, the prices were just as large and shiny So far we’ve done well at Walmart, and it helps that I now go every shopping trip, so that I don’t forget what household items I needed the few times a year that we went to Walmart before. Being slightly psychotic about which order things go on the conveyor belt at the grocery store though, I’m having an even harder time now that things like new shoes and clothes are thrown into the mix. Ours is a “green” store, and I LOVE seeing everything inside by nothing but the sunlight streaming in through the ceiling while shopping during the day. It just makes shopping seem so much calmer without the fluorescent lighting.

And, I really can’t think of anything else to write right now… Maybe my next post will contain pictures, but I’ve forgotten how I uploaded them the last time and my head hurts too much for me to figure out how to load them right now. Hopefully I’ll get this blog updated sooner than 5 months from now! heehee!

 

Life is never boring!

and if I ever say otherwise just slap me!   Thanks for being patient!

I don’t even know where to begin (other than uploading a lot of pictures), whether by event, or family member.  I’m afraid I’ll forget something if I go be event though so I’ll break it up by family members, starting with the newest

Baby Girl was born March 12 at 7:43 p.m.  She was 6 lbs. 11 oz. and 18 inches long.  After a few weeks of jaundice, and just barely staying under the re-admittance levels, she finally pinked up nicely.  She’s a good little sleeper, has learned to smile and is beginning to coo as well

Pixie Girl is doing well (again).  Between my last post and this one she spiked a nice little fever, which would not come down under 103 no matter how much motrin she was given or how many cool compresses she had to suffer through.  She had no other symptoms, just the fever, and it lasted for several days.  I finally decided that she would go to the doctor if it lasted one more day, and of course it went away!  All was well until she broke out in spots.  Then the wondering started all over again until I talked to my mom.  You would think after 3 kids with it before, I would recognize roseola when I saw it!  She’s really starting to get into girly things now, which thrills her sister to death.  She now plays house, dolls, and tea party.  However she won’t let being girly hold her back from grabbing a hockey stick and joining in with her brothers!  She can be as rough and tumble as they come!  This year she got to hunt easter eggs for the first time.  She had a blast!  She also discovered that while her little hands might not be able to open the plastic eggs to get the candy inside, the eggs opened easily if she threw them against a hard surface

Little Miss Feisty turned 4!  She was quite excited about it, and her 4th birthday extended nearly a month as her party kept being rescheduled due to illnesses.  When the day finally came she had everything all planned out!  She’s become quite a little princess and we might have to change her name from Little Miss Feisty if she keeps this up!   She was the first to break a bone from her feistiness and now the first to get injured from being a princess!  Last Sunday on the way in to church her daddy lifted her by a hand over a puddle that she wouldn’t walk through with her “pretty shoes” on.  She cried and said that he squeezed her hand too hard, but was okay by the time we got inside.  A few times during church she told me that her arm hurt and pointed to her wrist.  Being terrible parents we told her that french fries fix hurting arms and took her to McDonalds after church.  She ate lunch, took a nap, then woke up still complaining that her wrist hurt.  I called to make her an appointment for the next day since the spot she was pointing to was the same spot that she broke it 2 years ago.  Monday she was still complainng about it and not wanting to use it at all.  She went in for x-rays and nothing showed up, but our pediatrician had a feeling that it was a dislocated elbow.  She decided to try what they do to put dislocations back into place and sure enough there was a “clunk” and LMF was able to use her arm again!  We’re still not sure why she was pointing to her wrist

Dexter is doing fine, other than his “booger energies” (allergies with a stuffy nose ).  He’s in a “mellow” stage right now, which is good, because I’m not sure how much “dexterness” I could handle with everything else going on   As long as he has his spiderman watch on at all times (even while sleeping) all is well in his little world

Prince Charming turned 7, and a very 7 he is!  He lost his first tooth a little over a week ago and is excited that he’s found another wiggly one!  He’s also suddenly become quite responsible, doing things without being asked, such as taking out the garbage, or picking up the baby to snuggle while I fix dinner.  He even read Pixie Girl a book the other day when she seemed to be looking for something to do.  Neither one of them seems to get tired of knowing that Mat and Sam sat on a mat with a hat and a cat

Poor Rob caught the flu with the rest of us and surprised us by calling in sick for the first time in the nearly 9 years we’ve been married.  He works through every illness known to man, but that one was just too much for him!  He finally recovered from all of diseases we were cirulating then ended up slipping in the bathroom and breaking a toe, tweaking is knee, and landing HARD.  So now he’s hobbling around with injuries, poor guy!  We went out last week and picked up my Christmas present.  My wedding and engagement rings hadn’t fit in nearly 3 years, so he had them resized, cleaned, and polished for me!   They look brand new, and I no longer look like a single mom of 5 kids!

**special thanks to Dani for the kids country photo shoot!**

 

Stealing an idea from my mom…

Macbook.  That’s what I got on Friday.  A birthday present from my husband after my Gateway (whose motherboard was going out for the 4th time in a year) met an unfortunate demise at the hands of my helpful little Pixie.  She was so helpful in closing it while it wasn’t in use.  Determined too, to get it closed and latched despite the fact that there was a marble sized object between the keyboard and the screen.    It is now Monday and I have not had to reboot my computer except when I WANT to reboot my computer (turning it off at night, and back on in the morning).  No glitches, errors, freezing, or “are you really really really really really really REALLY sure you want to do that?” messages…  Oh my WORD I hated Vista!

Opposition.  What I have been met with every time I’ve tried to blog since my last post.  I’m trying!  Really!  But between illnesses, a new baby, more illnesses, photos going all wonky (I’m sure due to user error), and then a dead laptop it was a losing battle!  Hopefully I’ll have a catch-up post soon here, with photos.

New baby.  She’s doing well and sleeping through the night!   She has Prince Charming’s blue eyes, Dexter’s blond hair, Little Miss Feisty’s large eyes, and Pixie Girl’s tinyness.  She was jaundiced for several weeks, but is now pretty and pink

Dust…  Looking around this house, that’s something I really should do…  Hmmm…

Aprons.  Potholders too!    Things that my great-aunt and great-uncle made for the girlies.  They are SO cute!  They fit just perfectly and the girls couldn’t be more thrilled!  They also made the most awesome nursing blankets!  A strap to go around my neck so that I don’t have to hold the blanket on with my teeth, with a stiffener in the front so that it stands out just enough for me to see the baby, without anyone else seeing anything   The fabric they chose is adorable, and they even made matching bibs for the baby!

Yesterday.  We celebrated Easter a week late due to the flu.  Dani has some video of one of our traditions on her blog .

 

A short post to let you all know I’m still alive…

Although my existence it more along the lines of “beached whale” at the moment, I’m still breathing and still pregnant

Prince Charming has become another year older.  I’m not old enough to have a 7 year old, I’m SURE of it!  But Rob won’t let me claim to have had him at the age of 13   Something about the age difference between he and I and legal matters…  He had a very good birthday.  At our house the birthday munchkin gets to choose the meals for the day.  Being 7 and all though, he decided to act very grown up instead.  He took a poll of what his siblings would like, then negotiated with them until they came to a decision that everyone was happy with.  He did decide on dinner all by himself though.  Red Robin!  That boy finished off his entire dinner AND a hot fudge sundae!  He spent the rest of his day playing with Playmobil toys that were passed down from his uncles, and showing off how much tighter he could hug, and faster he could run, than he could the day before when he was only 6

The doctors moved my due date up a little over a week.  They’ve now decided that I’m due on the 16th.  Why don’t they ever give me MORE time?  I figure the baby will come when he/she comes (See, I’m still not giving away the possible gender.  Go play the baby game on the sidebar ).  This past week or so Rob and I have been wondering if maybe this will end up being an early one.  Prince Charming was born 1 day before his due date, Dexter and Little Miss Feisty induced 10 days late, and Pixie Girl was scheduled, so I usually just assume on 2 weeks late, then I’m not disappointed   But this baby has been low for a LONG time, and I’ve been feeling hugely overdue, not like I still have a few weeks to go **go ahead and begin the world’s smallest violin playing as I whine **  I don’t have room to eat, it hurts to move (everything clicks and pops), and my poor husband has to bundle up as I run the air conditioner in the car in 40 degree weather.  I do however do a very good impression of Jabba the Hut sitting here on the couch

My sister took me in to my doctors appointment 2 weeks ago.  I don’t know about her, but I had a great time.  The doctor was running late, and I sat in the exam room laughing hysterically the entire time.  By the time the doctor walked in I had tears streaming down my face!  My mom took me last week (both appointments were on Thursdays, so I went out for grandma’s library day, then we’d leave and get back in time to visit some more).  When we got back my van was parked sideways in the driveway and the gate was closed.  We could see feet scurrying around on the other side of the van, and William made a loooooooooooooooooooong slooooooooooooooow trek to open the gate.  Dani hopped in the drivers seat of my van and quickly tried to re-park, ending up straddling the base of the basketball hoop and having to wait for Aaron to come rescue her.  Meanwhile William had made it to the gate, but had somehow managed to “throw out his back” while unlatching it, then ever-so-slowly opening it enough for my mom to drive through.  As we pulled in, I could see what they’d been up to…  My van…  My “mommed” ride (see video below), had been magically transformed through the power of little siblings, into a pretty clean van!  When I opened the door, stale french fries and coloring books didn’t fall out!  It was BEAUTIFUL!

My next appointment is tomorrow.  Down to weekly appointments, where I go in for 5 minutes to hear the doctor tell me that I’m still pregnant and due “any time now”

So that’s about it. I’ll try to update more next week!

 

Settling in…

I’ve moved some posts over.  Not all.  I don’t plan to either, so if you see something over there, that you’d like to see over here, let me know.

I’m still trying to figure out the new settings/layout/design over here, but I think I’ve got the majority of it set up.  I’m still trying to find an easy way to change fonts, but this is fine for now.  I’ve kept comment settings loose for the moment, but can tighten them up if necessary (Dani, I WILL have you moderated if you get out of hand.  We all know how out of control you are )

Now on to a bit of long overdue blogging, and hopefully more to come!

I had a prenatal check-up last week.  Everything looks good, and baby is head down!  YAY!   My glucose test was a few weeks ago, and I stupidly stopped at McDonald’s for lunch on the way (I was hungry, and the test was done at 12:45).  My levels came back at 144 (under 140 is normal, over 200 diabetic), and the nurse called to tell me that I’d have to do a 12 hour fasting glucose test, which ended with 4 blood tests.  One before drinking the glucose stuff, then one an hour for 3 hours afterwards.  Have I mentioned how much I hate needles?  So I emailed my doctor and explained the situation, and she let me re-take the 1 hour!  It came back well below the first test results, so I’m good to go now   My next appointment is next week, then I’m set for weekly appointments until the baby arrives!  Time sure flew by!

School has been going better than in the past (between my surgery, then weeks and weeks of various colds and flus we fell behind).  I’ll probably start blogging what we’re doing here.  If I can figure out how to get it on my sidebar instead, then I’ll try harder   (If I can do that, then I’ll even put up my “things to do before the baby comes” countdown schedule.)

Currently we’re keeping things very basic.

The munchkins are working on memorizing Ecclesiastes 10:12-13 for bible.

After working through lesson 19 Little Miss Feisty is taking a short break from Horizons K math to work on her number recognition.  While she’s doing fine with the concepts she’s learning (hours, pennies, etc.), she has a hard time recognizing numbers after 5.  So we’ve reverted to some preschool workbooks for that, and will likely do 1-2 lessons a week from her Horizons book to keep her interested.  The boys are working with Horizons 1 Prince Charming has made it through lesson 21.  While he isn’t a huge fan of math, addition seems to be his favorite part of each lesson.  Dexter has made it through lesson 29 (he enjoys working on extra math in his spare time) and thrives on the patterns in math.

The boys are plugging along in phonics.  They do fine when they don’t try to guess at words.  They like to sound them out, then guess and end up with a completely different word.  But slowly and surely they’re getting better about listening to the sounds that they’re making.  Their handwriting is looking better and better every day too.  They write out their phonics words, and now have enough under their belts to form a few short sentences for their handwriting practice.

For literature we’re currently reading The Secret Garden.  The boys aren’t super thrilled with it yet, but the chapters are short so that helps.  The story is finally picking up a bit now and they’re getting more interested.

Art each day is usually chosen on the fly.  Often based on happenings during the day.  If they’re having a hard time getting along then they’re asked to draw pictures of things they like to do together, when having trouble paying attention to detail they’re given a household item to draw, birthday cards for birthdays, etc.

 

Car seats

Obviously I cannot say enough about the importance of car seats.  Not only car seats, but ones that are properly used and installed.  We would have definitely lost Prince Charming (where he sits, he would’ve launched through the windshield), and who knows who else without them!  But I wanted to bring up something else…

This may sound like I’m being a car seat snob, but I’m not.  I’m not touting a certain brand, or anything like that.  I just want to stress the importance of knowing where your car seat has been.

We had 4 seats in our car.  2 of them were bought new, by us.  The other 2 were hand-me-downs from my parents.  Obviously the new ones had never been in an accident, but we also knew that my parents hand-me-down seats were never involved in an accident either.

Many people don’t realize that once a car seat has been in a wreck, it isn’t considered safe anymore.  Car seat companies do not consider a second hand car seat, or one that has been involved in an accident, safe.  A lot of thrift, and second hand stores won’t even sell them, because they can’t be certain of their history. 

While a car seat may look okay, you can never be certain.  Out of our 4 car seats, only Baby Girl’s shows any sign of a problem.

See the lighter blue/white spots?

NONE of those were there before the accident. (I recently washed the cover, so I know that for sure)  Those are all places where the plastic was stressed on impact. (causing tiny internal fractures and stretching)  The other children’s car seats don’t appear damaged at all, but the places where they experienced the most stress has thicker plastic, so I’m sure it has the same stress damage, just beyond what the eye can see.

We’ve taken our 4 carseats, cut the covers apart, cut the straps off (including the crotch strap when we could), and Sharpied “Unsafe.  Do not use” all over the insides, back, sides, tops, and bottoms.  If there was a way for me to bust those up, believe me, I would! The straps and covers are in the trash.  The seats themselves are next to the trash, waiting to go in as soon as we know there will be room.  **My husband has just called and informed me that the Highway Patrol will take carseats from accidents, so we’ll head out there to drop them off tonight**

Please, PLEASE, PLEASE know where your car seats have been.  I know that new ones are pricey (usually between $50 and $150), but you never know what can happen with even the most careful of drivers, and a child’s life is worth much more than $150.

Also be sure to check your car seats for the expiration date.  Car seats are only good for 6-10 years (depending on the seat and brand).  Due to the extreme temperatures they’re subjected to in a car, the plastic does deteriorate much more rapidly than items around the house.

And of course, I can’t post this without videos

and a Rear facing child during a crash

 

I laughed so hard that I cried!

 

A letter to the other driver

Dear Mr. Camry/Accord/Focus/Tundra/Jeep/F150/Camero/whomever else it may concern,

I repeatedly see you making the same mistake over and over again. You seem to think that a lady in a minivan must be passed. No matter what.

For some reason, the appearance of a minivan just makes you think “slow driver”. So when you get behind her at the red light, you quickly change lanes to get behind the car or truck advertised to have “get-up-and-go”.

Let me tell you why you always end up further behind when you do that…

That mom in the minivan… The one with all of the fish stickers on the back of her car, and the carseats in the back… The one talking on her cell phone… The one you think will be slow… She’s gonna be haulin’!

You see, Mr. Camry/Accord/Focus/Tundra/Jeep/F150/Camero/whomever else it may concern, what you aren’t noticing, is that it’s 4:30 in the afternoon, that her minivan is piled high with groceries, that she has one child screaming their head off, and one that is so sound asleep that she’s wondering if the child has slipped into a sugar coma from the wonderful find at the store (double stuffed MINT oreos!!!), because a wonderful lady named Beth sent her down the cookie aisle.

Because she has 4 preschoolers in the car, and it’s 4:30 in the afternoon, AND she has all of those groceries, you can pretty safely assume that she’s a stay at home mom. At the very least, she has to put groceries away and hopefully get dinner on the table before her husband gets home. But, like I said, that’s at the very least.

This particular minivan though, is the sole vehicle of the family, so this particular stay at home mom has to get the 4 preschoolers out of the car, unload frozen and refrigerated foods, then load everyone back up in 15 minutes (at least 4 minutes of which, will be trying to wake sugar coma child), so that she can go pick up her husband.

This particular stay-at-home mom is talking on her cell phone to tell her sister about the wonderful cookie find, while contemplating whether to chance being a bit late picking up her husband while dropping food off, or to be a bit early picking him up and having three dozen ice-cream sandwiches melt because she bought too much stuff to fit into her insulated bags.

After deciding to try to put the cold things away, she then is mapping out the best way to get all of the refrigerated/frozen stuff into the house and put away in the fewest number of trips.

All the while she’s making goofy faces in the mirror to try to keep the non-screaming, non-comatose children awake, because they have not napped.

You see, Mr. Camry/Accord/Focus/Tundra/Jeep/F150/Camero/whomever else it may concern, she has all of that on her mind when that light turns green. Speed limits mean nothing to her at that point in time.

Meanwhile that vehicle with the get-up-and-go? That driver has decided to save that power for emergency use only.

So when you see Mini-van Mom off in the distance ahead of you, as you desperately try to change lanes to get around the car you thought would be faster, please pardon the giggling you hear. She’s only seen you and your friends a few too many times, and still thinks it’s funny that you think you can pass her.

When given the choice, I’ll pick driving behind Mini-van Mom anyday!

Sincerely,

The Botzy Blogger

P.S. Passing doesn’t work when her husband drives on Sunday either. He’s probably late for church.

 

I thought I’d list some favorite mom lines, either from my mom, or things I’ve found myself saying… more than once.

“I brought you into this world, I can take you right back out!” ~ My mom

“Is something on fire?  Are you bleeding?  Then I don’t want to hear about it” ~Me

“I’m in the bathroom for crying out loud!!!  Can it wait for 5 seconds?!?!?!?” ~My mom.  Which was passed on and revised to…

“Prince Charming (or Dexter, or Little Miss Feisty), I’m in the bathroom!  What does that mean???” ~Me (the correct answer is “I need to wait patiently for you to come out”)

(to her mom) “I can’t believe you gave them dessert, even though I told you they weren’t allowed to have any!” (to her daughter) “Ummm…….Corin…….about those cookies…….I gave the cookies to them BEFORE dinner!!!!” ~My mom

“If you don’t laugh at yourself, you’ll end up crying (and then your eyes will get all puffy and your nose will get all stuffy and then you won’t be able to breathe!!)” ~ My mom

“You’re crying because you want to clean your room?  Then when I tell you to go do it, you cry because you don’t want to?  What do you want from me???” ~Me

“Beep beep beep beep we want our milkshakes!” ~My mom’s made up song for one of our traditional, after library stops.

“For the third time, no!  Wait.  What was the question?” ~Me

“No, they do not teach basic health and nutrition in public schools. They teach you to love your gay friend and to experiment to discover your own sexual bent, but they do not teach you to eat enough bananas.” ~My mom after listening to me rant about the cluelessness of some people when it comes to basic health and nutrition (the topic began with potassium and muscle cramps).

“Nastynastynasty!  Don’t lick that!!!” ~Me

“They’re just building up their immune system!” ~Either of us after hearing something gross that one of our children did.

“If you have to ask if it’s too early for a Pepsi, then the answer is ‘no’” My mom

“You’re little addicts!” ~Me (my children tend to think they need medicines LONG after the illness has passed)

“What’s for dinner?  I dunno.  Let’s see where daddy will take us!” ~Me

“You girls!” ~My mom (hmmmmmm… she still says that one pretty often )

“Of course it’s healthy for breakfast!  It’s got…” (followed by desperately listing anything nutritious sounding in what you’re eating, including the fact that chocolate comes from the cocoa BEAN and has CORN syrup, and hey… you eat syrup on pancakes, so corn syrup gets double bonus points! ) ~My mom, then passed on to me

“I shouldn’t have said that.  Do NOT repeat it!” ~Like mother, like daughter

“Do you want apple, strawberry, or cherry pie for breakfast?” ~Me

“You can do it, you can do it, you can do it, you can!” ~My mom (while chanting and doing a little dance)

“Take some tylenol and go back to bed” ~My mom (half asleep) in answer to anyone that wakes her up in the middle of the night, whether they have muscle aches, are coughing, or had a bad dream

“You look like you need some chocolate” ~Me

“Eat the soup, you like soup!  Last time you ate it all gone and asked for more!” ~Me (but apparently not convincingly enough )

 

A quote

(while I don’t agree with the authors stances on various issues, I did think this quote was good)

“The adjuration to be “normal” seems shockingly repellent to me; I see neither hope nor comfort in sinking to that low level. I think it is ignorance that makes people think of abnormality only with horror and allows them to remain undismayed at the proximity of “normal” to average and mediocre. For surely anyone who achieves anything is, essentially, abnormal.”  ~Dr. Karl Menninger