Halfway to 7.

When I started this blog, I was about 12 weeks pregnant with her.  Now she is 6 1/2 today.  Can't even believe it.

PSA

If you're trying to make homemade salsa, a little jalapeno goes a long way.  If you accidentally use too much jalapeño and take a big bite and your mouth, eyes, nose, lips and tongue is on fire, do not I repeat do NOT put ice on it.  Bad, bad, idea.  DO eat yogurt directly out of the container.  Do eat bread.  Do drink milk.  Do NOT put ice on your lips.

Hours later if your eye itches, do NOT rub it.  If you do, run to your fridge and pour yourself a glass of milk and pour directly into eye.

I would like to thank Dorothy and Nicole C for googling this information for me when I couldn't see.  Hypothetically speaking of course.

I'm going to Starbucks now.

Playtime

The kids like to sample all different playgrounds after school in the morning.  Lots of time we pack a lunch and we are enjoying this beautiful weather.  M found a giant disgusting beetle, JP and L made a new friend and S had a good time swinging.  Life is good.

Quick takes.

1.  Leo had his first steps annual evaluation a few weeks ago and blew. them. away.  They couldn't believe the words he was saying, his sentence structure, the fact that he knows his letters and numbers, etc etc etc.  They ended up saying he is above average in every area except articulation.  We can work on that.  Pray for us as we decide the next step for him as he ages out of first steps in Dec.

2.  We just finished week 3 of first grade.  M is doing great.  It's such a blessing that she loves school.  She asks to do more and more every day.  I'm really amazed at how much she learns outside of our sit down school time.  And if she thinks anything is "school" she is all over it.  Baking bread, painting, etc.  The boys were REALLY into painting this week.  Btw I need some ideas to keep them busy during school.  Hooligans.

3.  Sarah crawls and sits up now.  It's like a full time job to keep the floor clean.  At least she takes 2 awesome naps ;)

4.  Ken built a fire pit in the backyard!  We have had a blast with "campfires" as Jp calls them and/or "fireworks" as L calls them :)  He thought the fire was going to be loud!  haha poor boy.

5.  So I am loving photography and editing my pics in lightroom as most of you see on fb.  LOVE it.  I try to learn a little more every day.  Hopefully I can keep improving.

6.  I downloaded the Lose it app this week and I'm already frustrated with it.  It's kinda hard to figure out the calories of stuff I make.  Like a serving of Brussels sprouts with bacon, olive oil, s&p?  It ain't in there.  Roasted chicken breast with skin?  They have every single possible chicken breast you can buy in a package on there but what if you roast the dang chicken yourself?  You're outta luck.  So I'm estimating a lot and not sure if that's gonna work or not.  But I'm down 2 lbs the first week so that's good I guess.  I'd really like to lose around 20.

(no chubby pic for this one)

7.  We went to the fair twice in the past few weeks.  The kids all rode their first fair rides and LOVED it.  We saw lots of fun animals and ate some delicious fair food.  Hence the reason for number 6 ;)

8 months!

Sarah went from barely rolling to crawling everywhere this month. We had to put up a gate, we have to keep the floor vacuumed and keep all the little toys away. Jp crawled at 7 months but M and L not til 9-10 months. Her brothers and sisters just love her and still fight over who gets to play with her and talk to her. She is an awesome napper and a terrible sleeper at night. Last night up every 2 hours! Luckily I like coffee. 

First day of first grade!

M was so excited about starting first grade we went ahead and started this past Monday. I had everything ready to go so I figured we'd try the balanced schedule that a lot of schools are following around here. The first 3 days have been great! We are loosely following Mother of Divine Grace again with some additions. We started Miquon math orange book, we are continuing with modg poetry, religion and art, Getty dubay handwriting, story of the world for history (ancient times), Kids Nature book (and various encyclopedias) for science, then all kinds of literature including Aesop's fables, fairy tales, and classics like Robin Hood, Secret Garden etc. I'm really excited about this year and so is she! Jp is doing reading lessons and so far so good! 

What JP wore Wednesday

Summer days

Sometimes it gets really frustrating around here.  It seems like I'm constantly breaking up fights, listening to tattling or whining, cleaning up messes, doing laundry, and it NEVER ENDS.  There is always more to do.  I get one meal done and served and cleaned up and it's time for the next meal.  Someone always needs something from me.  Someone is always making noise.

Then sometimes I get a glimpse of a peaceful loving family.  Kids who play nicely together and make up elaborate games in the backyard.  Kids who love each other so much.  Leo who adores his big sister and wants to do everything with her - including their new favorite chore; collecting the trash.  A big brother making his baby sister laugh and laugh.  I know these are sweet days that won't last forever.  Days when all my kids are little, days when my kids fight over who gets to sit in my lap and hug me.  Days when we don't have all kinds of scheduled activities and can pretty much do what we want every day.  Days when I can bring the kids to the candy store, spend $1 and make their day.

I remember once putting my kids in the car at the grocery store, and an older lady came up to me and said, "I would give all the money I have just to spend one day with my kids again these ages."  My friend's dying grandmother was talking about when her grown children were toddlers - that was what was on her mind in her last days.

So Im enjoying these last few weeks of the summer of 2013.  These days will never come again and I will miss them when they are gone.

7 months

Is it just me or does 7 months sound really old??  It's closer to one than birth!  Sarah is such an awesome baby.  We've been going a lot of places with my friend who is a nanny for a family, and she says Sarah is the most "portable" baby she's ever met... meaning, we can take her anywhere and we barely know she is there!  I wrap her a lot on my back and she just hangs out, taking everything in, hardly making any noise.  There's been a few times we've gone somewhere for several hours and M or JP didn't even know she was with us!  (They're a little oblivious but still!)
I take back everything I said about her being a good sleeper though.  She goes to bed around 7:30-8 and then usually gets up around 12, 3 and 6 to eat.  Luckily she is an awesome napper, takes 2 really good naps, about 2-3 hours.
Lately she has really started liking playing with toys on the floor.  She can roll and pivot herself around but cannot sit up on her own yet.  We started solid food and she has had bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes and a bite of watermelon.

She adores her big siblings and just lights up when she sees them.  They all fight over who gets to talk to her and play with her... good and bad!  Mom stayed with all 4 kids when we went out for a few hours on our anniversary.  I tried to pump throughout the day and leave her a bottle but I only got 1.5 oz.  I fed her and put her to bed right before I left and she never went to sleep.  Mom got her up after she put the other kids to bed, she sucked down the bottle no problem, and played on the floor til we got home.  Maybe I should try to pump a little more ;)

She's finally getting a little hair!  And it's very light.  I just love her so much.

Same outfit

6 years ago and today. Poor M. My photography skills and camera were sorely lacking back then.

11 years

4 kids, 2 houses, 3 cats, 3 hermit crabs, 1/3 of my life. I wouldn't change a thing :)

John Paul isms of the week.

At Great Wolf Lodge with godfather Patrick aka Paddy. We go over to the snack bar for lunch.

Jp: Mommy is daddy here?

Me: no, daddy's at work.

Jp, loud enough for everyone sitting eating lunch to hear: No, I mean my other daddy I just met today!

Me: That's PADDY!

At vbs when I picked him up after volunteering for the day.

Jp: Mommy, in your classroom do you let people pet Sarah?

First solid food

I mashed up a banana ;)

Happy Half Birthday!

Sarah Gianna is 6 months today!  I can't believe it.  It seems like she's been here forever but also that she just got here, if that makes any sense at all.  I looked back over Madeleine's and John Paul's 6 month posts and they were both sitting up on their own!  Sarah is nowhere close, although I know she could get it any day now.  In fact yesterday was the first time she rolled across the floor.  Let me say for the record I do not mind one bit that she isn't crazy mobile yet.  :)

Sarah is either tied with Leo for the best sleeper so for or THE best sleeper so far.  She is a fantastic napper, takes 2 two hour naps a day.  Whenever she is tired, I just put her in her bed with her paci and turn on her mobile and give her her special silky blanket and she puts herself right to sleep.  She goes to bed for the night around 7:30 or 8 and sometimes wakes up around 4 to eat, but sometimes makes it to 6 or 7.  She is so sweet and easy going.  She only likes her mommy though! (Has that in common with M and JP and L at 6 months!)  I love to wear her in wraps and wrap her every day.  She can see over my shoulder and I can get things done and have hands free for the other kids.  Lately she has started to enjoy hanging out on the floor with her siblings and some toys.  Everything she reaches goes straight in her mouth.

She is the first kid I haven't fed any solid food by now.  She doesn't seem very interested yet but I'm sure I will give her something here soon.  She is definitely not wasting away!  She is a champion nurser and is pretty quick about it too!

She absolutely loves her siblings.  They can always make her smile.  They all love her so much and fight over who gets to talk to her/ watch her/ play with her/ give her toys.  Madeleine thinks everything she does is hilarious (especially grabbing people's hands and trying to eat them!)  

She was a fantastic traveler last weekend.  I found myself looking back several times to make sure she was in the car!  She was so quiet and slept through both nights of our trip.  I remember being scared to take Madeleine anywhere at this age and get her out of her routine, but times is changed over here.  Tomorrow we are going on a one day road trip - just me and the kids.  I'm not worried about her one single bit.  

We are so blessed to have this beautiful sweet baby girl.  I heard that once you have 3 kids, adding more is no big deal.  So far that seems to be the case.  Ask me about that again when she starts crawling and getting into everything!

Family reunion 2013

Pretty much everyone who reads this is also my fb friend so I won't post many pics, just a few stories.

So we headed down to Mammoth Cave Kentucky on Friday to get together with most of mom's (7) siblings and several of their kids and their kids.  Ken decided he didn't want to stay in the park with everyone else (small room with 2 beds and 4 kids didn't sound that much fun) so he got us a suite in the Marriott in Bowling Green about 30 minutes away.  It's a good thing too because Leo would have woken everyone up if we weren't able to keep him separate.  Who knew HE was gonna be the difficult one on the trip?  I guess I should've had some suspicions.  I asked for 2 cribs and we had a bed in one room and a pull out couch in the other.  We put Sarah to bed in one of the pack n plays in the bedroom, then when she was asleep we put John Paul in the bed and instructed him to BE QUIET and if Sarah woke up he was in BIG TROUBLE.  (He did fabulous both nights with this set up - we totally wore him out!)  THEN..... we tried to put Leo in the pack n play in the little kitchenette where he could see us.  Wow that was not happening.  He freaked out so much he almost made himself throw up.  He was, for some reason, genuinely terrified to sleep in there.  Then we pulled the couch into a bed and tried to get him to lay down.  He would not. stop. talking.  I have never heard anything like it.  The kid who takes a 2 hour nap and is asleep by 8 every night wouldn't go to sleep both nights until after 11:30 when he crashed.  He was pretty cute with his talking though.
"Piwwow!  Right DERE."  "Hi Mommy!"  "Nice Mommy."  "Hi Daddy!"  "BIG bed!"  etc etc etc

And here's how he slept. With me.

His feet are on my pillow.  

Madeleine was in heaven.  She got to stay with Grandma and Papa and she caught frogs, caterpillars, inch worms and bugs to her heart's content.  We saw deer, wild turkeys, and all kinds of birds.  We went on trails, in a cave, saw waterfalls, played frisbee and catch with lots of cousins, and had a great picnic.  These are some of my favorite memories growing up and I hope the kids have that too.

2 pairs of little boy underwear got thrown in the dumpster.  

They had a great time taking a bath in a hotel.  

We went on an awesome hike on Sunday with Uncle B and Aunt F, and we couldn't have done it without them for sure :)

Leo kept saying, "Want Bob!  Shoulders!"  And he loved it up there.

And on the way home we stopped at this beautiful little church in Louisville just in time for 5:15 mass.  Leo was a hellion as usual and at one point ran out in the aisle and started running toward the altar.  Ken had taken John Paul to the bathroom and I had Sarah in the sling so I had to get out and chase him.  There were two sweet older ladies behind us who kept smiling at their antics, and at the end of mass they said they love seeing families like us, and we are so blessed.  That is for sure.

Best homeschooling book ever.

Last year I had the good fortune to meet Rebecca from Shoved to Them blog.  We had both donated something for an auction for an orphan, and we started talking and hit it off.  I told her I was about to start homeschooling my kindergartener, and she helped me through the entire process.  She helped me with exactly what curriculum to pick, by listening to what Madeleine's interests were.  She likes science?  Get this book.  I'm terrified to teach math?  Get this program that teaches how to think mathematically.  (And bonus, I get to start over with kindergarten math and learn to think that way too!)   She was exactly what I needed at the time and I truly believe God placed her in my life for a reason.  Later on, she said she was going to write a book on homeschooling and asked me to read each chapter as she completed it.  It was to be a question and answer book too and I also got to ask her each question I had about each topic she was writing about.  The book was the best book on homeschooling I've ever read.  I would recommend anyone starting out or anyone thinking about it or even anyone who knows someone who homeschools to read it.

It came out on amazon this week.  This morning it was number 3 on the bestseller list.  I'm so proud of her!  Now go buy the book!!

Summer

Yesterday we went for a walk around our downtown and stopped into a little antique shop.  The kids were fascinated that all the things in there were once special to someone else.  All the dishes were used by other families, all the little baby clothes and shoes were worn by other babies, the dolls belonged to other little girls, the cars were played with by other little boys.  I didn't have much money but I picked out an old book that had stories for children.  When we got home, I put Sarah to bed upstairs and when I came down, M had found this perfect shady spot in the yard and was reading it to her brothers.  So I brought their lunch out there, and they had a picnic.

Sometimes I feel like they are missing out on things, like things we can't afford (M wants to take gymnastics, I think all kids need to be in swimming lessons, etc) but then days like this I think they are having a pretty great childhood.

New Header?

It only took me like 2 hours to figure out how to do that, and the poor 4th child isn't even in it.  Oh well!  It was time for a change.

I want to get back to blogging more.  I feel like facebook has taken over and I don't want that to happen.  This has been my online baby book for almost 7 years and I don't want to slack off for the poor 3rd and 4th child.  But it's 11pm now so this isn't going to be that exciting, but here's a few things that happened this week.

Madeleine asked why we weren't doing school anymore after a 5 day break.  Um.... it's summer vacation Honey.  Mama needs a break.  She said she was ready to start first grade so I bought her a first grade workbook from costco and she is doing several pages a day.  For fun.

John Paul is somewhat motivated to learn how to read, especially now that we came home from the library with a stack of superhero easy reader books.  (The boy is obsessed.)  So he has actually got the reading lesson book (Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons) voluntarily and asked for a lesson every single day this week.  Sometimes twice a day.  Well, OK!

Leo is in undies full time but he still doesn't understand that you don't go number 2 in your pants.  He demonstrated this lack of understanding at the children's museum yesterday.  I amaze myself what I can do with a baby strapped to my back.  He is also talking up a STORM, saying 4-5 word sentences, and is becoming more and more understandable (to people other than me and his speech therapist) by the day.  He is listening in on the reading lessons too.  He also knows every single letter and he can count to at least 14.  That one might be smart.

Sarah is pretty much the best baby who ever lived.  When she's tired I lay her down in her crib, turn on her mobile, pop in her giraffe paci and she goes to sleep.  She wakes up in such a happy mood.  She takes 2 good naps a day, sometimes 3, and goes to bed by 8 each night.  She can go days without ever crying.  She weighs about 16 1/2 lbs, is quite a good roller, and loves to hang out in mommy's wraps.  She is the smiliest baby EVER.  My friend calls her the invisible baby whenever we go places with her because she just looks all around, smiles, sleeps when she wants to, but never cries or fusses.  (unlike one of her brothers, who makes up for that in a BIG way.)

We still don't have a stove.  Did you know you can make hard cooked eggs in a veggie steamer?  Yes you can.  It hasn't really been that bad so far.  Ken loves to grill and we've used the crock pot and tomorrow I might bust out the old dusty waffle maker just for fun.

I am loving taking pictures.  Now my kids are so used to it they usually don't give me big cheesy grins anymore, so I've gotten some pretty great shots!  I'm taking a class in a few weeks and I love to read about and try different techniques.  An acquaintance saw a few of my pics on Facebook and asked if I'd take pictures of her son for his 2nd birthday.  I did and she LOVED em.  She wants me to take pics for her again and said several of her friends were asking who took the pics.  She also gave me an awesome compliment.  She said that every time she looks at previous professional pictures they've had taken, she doesn't have any good memories attached to the pictures.  Instead she remembers trying to get everyone dressed and out the door, and it being a big hassle.  But when she looks at my pics, she remembers gleeful bubbles and yogurt raisins and her son being relaxed and happy.  I thought that was so great.  And she ordered some really big prints of some of my pictures.  So glad I could do that for her!

It had a good run.

Our 1968 stove that is. The other night, ken and I were sitting in the family room after the kids went to bed and we heard a loud POP and then flames and smoke started shooting out of the front of our stove. Ken quickly put out the fire with the extinguisher and turned off the breaker and I called 911. She instructed us to get the kids out of the house.  5 fire trucks and a policeman showed up in about 3 minutes, complete with sirens at 9:30 at night. They checked out the stove and said we were safe to go to sleep. The kids got fire hats and got to see the truck. Soooo glad this happened while we were awake and everyone is safe.

Now we are having some issues (stove is not a standard size so we either special order a 27 inch drop in stove or we get a standard and rip out cabinets.) meanwhile I'm using the crockpot, steamer, grill etc. 

if anyone has any ideas for breakfast, lunch or dinner with no stove or oven, let me know!

No pictures in this post you'll be happy to know.

First of all, Madeleine is DONE with kindergarten!!!  I'll post more on that later but I'm so proud of her (and me!) and so excited that WE DID IT!!!!  This year has been amazing and I'm looking forward to first grade.

But right now I wanted to share a little story of a boy who is about 90% potty trained.  This is a story about the 10%.  You've been warned.

So Leo usually does perfect at home.  He's been in big boy undies for about 3 weeks now and knows the drill.  He kind of freaks out about "going" in public though.  He hates automatic flush.  He's scared of going when we are out and has to REALLY have to go before it happens.  Then, he HAS to stand up which usually means he either stands on my feet or I have to hold him up with one hand and aim with the other.  This usually happens with a baby on my back.   There's a mental picture for you.

So last night, we went to hear Ken's band play at a Mexican restaurant.  We were sitting outside, and I noticed Leo had to "go."  So I took him inside and as soon as he gets in the bathroom he starts yelling, "Stand up!  Stand up!"  So I was able to hold him up and he went.  A little while later, the same scenario.  He stood up, I aimed, only..............

It wasn't pee.

Let's just say, for the rest of the night, there was a tiny pair of Mickey Mouse undies in the trash can and a little boy going commando.