I am spoiled!

So my husband is working like a dog to be able to fix our house up and get it looking decent. I am TIRED of the mess and want him to hurry the heck up! He started painting the living room and hall on the 13th it is now the 26th so 13 days later and it isnt done. I have been working on it all week in between naps(and no not my naps...dont I wish I could nap) and Annie's screaming fits and its still not done, now I am cleaning so my dd can have her bday party tomorrow and he is napping ARGHHHHHH!!! I am annoyed and I should be grateful this stuff is at least getting wored on but nope I am spoiled and want it done NOW~~~Ooo baby crying bbl to finish

There she is my newest neice...Lilah Marie!!

Lilah is here!!!

Lilah is here!!!!
I don't know many of the details but she was born last night February 23 at 8:45 and weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. I haven't seen her yet so I have no pics and that is all I have for details but hopefully I will get to meet her very soon or at least maybe my mom will call and share all the details!

first smiles

Here are some of Annie's 1st smiles! This child screams day and night lately...but this makes it soooo worth it~

still no baby for my sister:(

So Monday she went to her ob who told her she was 3 cm(she wasn't dilated at all less than a week before when they checked her), 80% effaced, bag of water bulging and they stripped her membranes, this was at 9 am. Her Dr told her to expect her water to break that day, now here it is Wednesday and NOTHING!!! ERRRRRR mean doctor getting our hopes up for nothing. They did however set her induction for Monday the 23rd(her due date) so at least I wont have to wait too long to meet my new niece.

dinner with the family

So last night after years of begging my family to initiate a regular family dinner, we started our traditional Sunday dinners with my family. We are going to do it potluck style so the burden isn't on one person. It was a nice time. For a while I did family dinners for Eric's side of the family but I had to always do all the work and provide all the food, which I didn't mind, and still eventually it tapered off and half the family moved away now we see them about once a month unless there is a birthday or Christmas(the only holiday we celebrate together). I was doing a bi-weekly breakfast for my family and that tapered off because my children get up early and cant wait until 10 or 11 for breakfast so now we have no regular family time with either side. I have begged and tried to make it happen on both sides and this past year I gave up completely. No one else ever wanted to do the work to plan it and cook for it and clean up after it so why should I? So when my brain injured brother mentioned get togethers, I again asked if we could try to plan something and it happened. We will see how long it lasts but for now I will enjoy it. Maybe my kids can remain close with some of their family. I really want family, immediate and extended, to be an important thing to my babies and I am hoping this will kindle that. The bonus is that my family is all super helpful so when we have get togethers everyone pitches in ...that whole large family mentality kicks in and we all know that everyone helps and nobody sits until everyone sits. That is my silly thing to be excited about today!

OH and on another note my sister who is due to have her baby, Lilah, one week from today, lost her mucous plug yesterday and was feeling crampy all day. So I am anxious to hear if anything comes of it. She is not planning on letting me know until Lilah is born and she is up for company so I could be an aunt already and not know it. If she didn't end up in the hospital last night I overheard her tell my Mom she has a doctor's appointment this morning so maybe my Mom will leak the details to me! Hooray for new babies!!! This will be my 3rd Niece I am so excited!

Valentines Day

So Valentines Day has come and gone and this year I actually got a gift well in a sense...my hubby painted my living room and ordered me new furniture...hooray! My couch has been falling apart for about a year now and is not going to make it for much longer so I have been wanting leather sofas, 2 of them so everyone has somewhere to sit, and he bought them for me!! I am so excited!! Oh and Valentines Day is the 11 year anniversary of the day that Eric proposed to me so here is a picture of us from 5 years ago!! hehehe we look like we were 10!

Annie's 1 month physical

Well Annie has grown she is up to 9 lbs 4 oz up from her birth weight of 8.3 and her discharge weight of 7.14!! She has also grown an inch and a half and is up to 21.5" YEAH!!! I was a little worried to be honest, since she usually only nurses for 10-15 minutes at a time but I guess she just figured out early that mommy doesn't have much time so she better be efficient! LOL So there it is...my youngest baby is growing and since I cant find a way to freeze time and keep her little I guess I will have to celebrate her growth!!

I have survived 1 month as a mother of 6.

WOW I have made it through the first month of Annie's life and the amazing part is I have not had any major issues. It for the most part has been a smooth transition. I was watching Private Practice with Eric last night and saw that poor mom with post partum psychosis and felt so so lucky to have managed this time so well. I don't usually have ppd but this has been the most stressful post delivery month I think I have had, with our financial life falling apart, my marriage hanging by less than a thread, only 1 car and 6 children to raise... but I did it. I have managed to laugh about all the craziness and find the humor in it all. For me, a typical type A personality, that is a lot! I am grateful to have my children and have our health and that is what I am clinging to. Now in a month from now when all the bills are paid(with the tax return) and the car is fixed hopefully I don't get hit with post traumatic stress, that is typically my MO.

the honesty of a 5 year old

Yesterday while I was in the midst of making dinner and getting everyone ready to head out the door to a basketball game, Annie started to cry(as usual, that is her fussy time) so I walked over to her swing to pick her up turning my back on the kitchen cabinets. As I was bent down unbuckling her and talking to her I heard my silverware drawer open slowly and close slowly. I turned to see my 5 year old, Emma, walking out of the kitchen so I yell "freeze(pause for dramatic effect) what do you have?" From behind her back she pulls out a medicine dropper. So I ask what are you doing with that, she says we want to play doctor with the dog. This is a common occurrence around here, they play animal doctor all the time and often use measuring spoons or medicine droppers to pretend to care for the animals and I had already heard them talking about how they were planning to play animal doctor. I then ask her, well why did you sneak the medicine cup? She replies without a thought..."well because I didn't think you would notice" How is that for honesty? Ultimately I took the medicine cup away for her sneakiness but I had to hold my laughter until she left the room.

So are you done?

Yesterday Emma, my 5 year old, was invited to a birthday party for one of her classmates at a local bowling alley. We went and I stayed out of the way with Jack and Annie, I packed a lunch for Jack and I since Emma would be having pizza with the party. All the little yuppy moms ate piece after piece of pizza and not one of them could offer Jack a piece which normally wouldn't annoy me, like I said I packed a lunch for he and I as not to be intrusive, but not one of those moms had anything nice to say about me, the crazy woman with the 6 children. They all pointed and whispered or even came up to me to tell me wow you are crazy or now you are done right? I am trying to find the humor in the onslaught of questions about when I will stop having children. From total strangers to family and close friends. So are you done yet? Did one of you get fixed? Or even the lecture about how we should now focus on raising the ones we have(because they clearly are stuck in suspended animation until I am done having babies). What the heck. Is there something I am not seeing? Am I doing something wrong. I love my children, I make the effort to raise them to be loving, well mannered, grateful and respectful people. I get no assistance from anyone. I have not borrowed money from anyone for several years now. My children all get well rounded life experiences with extra curricular activities that I myself cart them around to. I feed them balanced meals and teach them about healthy choices. What would it matter if I had 20 children. Why oh why do people think they get the right to control my uterus. The worst part of it all is we are done, my husband has decided he wants NO MORE so I am having to learn to accept that and all these rude people make that hard. Ok that is my rant for the day, now I go back to being grateful :P

Being grateful

My goal from this moment on is to learn to be grateful for what I have and to try to stop wishing for what I dont/cant have. I have a home, a husband that loves me and does a fantastic job providing for us, I have a child that I was unable to raise that still loves me and gets to be part of my life and even calls me mommy still, I have wonderful friends, and I have 6 beautiful children that love me unconditionally and are great little people. So why oh why do I always want more? More children, more money, a cleaner house, more helpful family members, a romantic husband, newer stuff(like pots and pans and a couch that isnt broken). I spend so much time being envious of my friends that have wonderful loving romantic husbands that do night feedings and back rubs. Or people I know that have mothers or sisters that will help them with their kids. I love my life and I chose to have 6 children. And yes lately life has been a little stressful, Eric hours cut WAY back, Erics van broken with no hope of being fixed until the taxes come in leaving me stuck at home with no car most of the time, a brand new baby. But I am vowing to myself to slow down and remember that my children wont be children forever and I need to take the time to enjoy them and make sure they know how grateful I am for each and every one of them. So here goes nothing!!!

OH MY!!! I have 6 children living in my house!

Last night I took all the kids to Madeline and Dottie's basketball game all by myself because Eric was at the elementary school signing Emma up for kindergarten(I cant believe she is old enough for Kindergarten :( but I digress) All of a sudden as we were walking back to the car with Emma, Dottie and Maddie holding hands, Donald pushing the stroller with Jack in it and me carrying Annie...it dawned on me, this huge epiphany... I am responsible to raise these SIX children. Its strange how 5 didn't seem like so many but now six wow. Now that thought should probably be frightening but instead it made me giggle 6 kids how ever did I get so lucky? Why did God entrust these wonderful little people to me? I thought about it for most of the evening. All those faces, all those personalities, all those needs, all those different likes and dislikes I pray that I am up to the task and can be the mother that these babies deserve. Luckily I do not intimidate easily and I am certain I can do this, I just need to learn to stop expecting perfection from myself and just give it my best. SO this is my journey...