That's Our Boy :::sniff, sniff:::

Yep. That's our son...not one of our girls with a bad haircut. I believe Rick must truly wonder what in the world I do at home with our kids all day. He came home from work yesterday to find this scene in our kitchen. What Rick missed was the drama that happened before he walked in the door.

Zachary saw the girls fly to get dressed when I put on some music to listen to...so he followed. Oh the joys of having two older sisters to look up to. They immediately dressed up in a ballet costume and princess dress to dance to the music, so Zachary followed suit. I thought that buying him a Spiderman costume would help give him other options, but he isn't as keen on those options.

So......

He pulled out the beautiful Cinderella costume and after much anguish in trying to get it on, danced for a moment and then started screaming because (and yes, I'm serious) he couldn't find the matching SHOES!! on the one hand, I suppose I should be happy that he is trying to match something, but I wasn't exactly planning on raising a son who cares about accessories! :) Of course, it doesn't help much that our 9 month old also seems to have a huge obsession with shoes. Put him in a room full of toys and one flip-flop, sneaker or other shoe-like object and he will make a bee-line for the shoe and play with only that. On the bright side, I am thankful that at least the kids were racing to worship and dance. So, that should make it much better, right? :)

I'm beginning to believe Rick thinks that I do this on purpose. :::grins:::

And, going by this picture, Kaleb doesn't seem to have much of a chance either. Note to self: when the kids are too quiet - investigate. One would think that I would notice a quiet moment in my house - they are generally so rare, but my mind seems to slip away until I snap back to the present and then race to see what is really going on in my house....

Who Invented Teething Biscuits?

I'm sure that it wasn't a mom that was looking for an easy-to-clean-up, keep you child happy, no mess kinda lady. There is no way. Because anyone trying to keep an infant occupied so that they can possibly get two bitefuls of food into their mouth before the wailing starts knows that teething biscuits are not NEAT - nor do they contribute to cleanliness in any way, shape or form. While they do merit an occassional thumbs up for allowing a few moments of peace while your little one sucks and chews the thing to death, the slimy mess that accumulates on every uncovered orifice of their little body and quickly hardens into a paper mache like crust is not fun to deal with. Espcially since the mess doesn't appear quite as bad until it fully dries - it darkens as it dries and you find more and more everywhere. Crusty hair. Crusty fingers. And truly - have you ever tried to clean a moving target? Childen and washcloths generally don't mix. Somehow, someway they find a way to wiggle out of the way. :::sigh::: it's really rather sad what a mom is willing to put up with for a few moments of quiet...

Do You Hear That?

Do you? The clouds are opening...the angels singing...the blessed peace....and let's count them altogether...1,2,3,4,5...(let's count HIGHER!!)...6,7,8 - yes, I am typing correctly...8 hours of continuous, uninterrupted, pillow-hugging, dream-filled sleep. Sadly, my first thought upon waking up, realizing that I hadn't been woken up at some point during the night was because of that nice little bump Kaleb got on his head in the afternoon. At this point in his life (all 9 months of it) I'm still thinking in the back of my mind that he isn't capable of actually sleeping through the night, despite the fact that other friend's children are younger than he is and sleeping nice long stretches at night for their mommies (I know, I shouldn't compare...). My son apparently enjoys seeing me stumble into his room at odd times of the night, attempt to avoid the land mine of various toys scattered over the floor, actually find him in his crib amid the many extra toys, random pieces of clothing and misc other items that his brother has thrown into his crib and thinks it fun when I try to also change his diaper with my eyes closed. So, while I am thrilled that I did get sleep, today my mind is racing thinking "Can I perhaps clone yesterday's actions and have a repeat performance? What did he eat? What was his napping schedule? Did I do something different?" :::sigh::: You'd think after having three others that I would remember that they all do eventually sleep through the night, but apparently my brain cells are such that I can't remember that. I'm sure it has nothing to do with a lack of sleep.

Keeper of the M&M's

How exactly am I supposed to keep up with a 2 year old boy?

Nevermind potty train him.

Several weeks ago he just :::poof::: decided that he needed to use the potty. Took his diaper off and kept using it all by himself. That lasted 3 whole days - no accidents. nada. zilcho. Then apparently the novelty wore off and he wanted his diapers back.

But some days the underwear calls to him ... at least I can only assume that he hears a little voice from his Bob the Builder, Nemo, or various other underpants (should I call them underwear I will be corrected since I maybe once called them underpants and now they shall forever be called THAT!!!).

He is a big lover of the m&m that he gets should he pee in the potty and on the blessed occassion that a poop actually makes it into the potty (he generally saves that occurence for naptime and I am no fool to leave him in undies during naptime!!!) he will receive 2 m&m's.

Should I not be present when the potty is blessed, I will hear shouts across the house (because none of my children have mastered or attempt the art of an indoor voice) - I PEED IN THE POTTY. I NEED A M&M!! CAN I HAVE A GREEN ONE? MOM! MOM! MOM! (repeat endlessly).

So, I am the M&M keeper (and eater, because do you think I could seriously have 4 children in my house and NOT be driven to eat chocolate - and yes, steal it from my children? HELLO - it's chocolate!!).

So any hopes of truly losing the last of this baby weight are slim to none - slim, ha, that was funny!! As long as I am trying to bribe one of my children in some way, shape, or form. of course, the whole weight thing has nothing to do with me...or the fact that I keep "forgetting" about that ab lounger sitting in my living room - yeah, how's THAT working for you? Great, i'm sure if I would actually USE it! The 3 times that I did were great. I just keep forgetting :::grins:::

Although I'm sure that the weight is just flying off as I chase a half naked 2 year old around the house every day and attempt to keep him from sitting naked on my couch or from wandering outside in just his underpants...yes, he did that today too...looked ever so cute riding his trike in his nemo underpants - I'm sure the construction guys behind us are just LOVING being near us!!

And now my mind is wandering back to the m&m's....and wondering how many I can sneak before I have to buy another bag to restock the ones that I've pillaged out from under my son's nose...because the jar is emptying way too quickly for him to have earned that many...oops. :)

How did she get so smart?

I'm sitting here with Laurianna while she is finishing some school work (yes, it's August and yes, we are completing our 4th week of school - slave driver that I am)...I digress. As I'm watching her, I'm wondering how in the world that girl got so smart. Certainly not from sitting and watching me type emails on the computer or blogging...hmmm... I am amazed at how quickly she picks things up (and sadly how simple some of her schoolwork seems to her). :::sigh::: explain how this happens again? and following right on her heels is McKenna who is reading stories to me - despite the fact she thinks she can't do it. Not to be outdone, Zachary walks around the house asking for homework (yes, he's 2), reciting all the girls memory verses and singing at the top of his lungs any song (generally worship ones) that come to his little sponge of a mind that sucks everything up (that does include noticing that women have breasts and as such asking one of the ladies at Costco why she has breasts :::deep sigh::: yet again I digress.

So, how and where are my children picking all this stuff up? I do teach them things, but generally not all that I "feel" that I should. These are the moments that I wonder if I truly do put enough time into my children and pour enough of myself into them. I don't feel like I do enough truly...there's the HUGE selfish part of me that just keeps rearing it's ugly head...and so I wonder if I REALLY invested in them...would I be sending them off to Harvard next year....well, ok, maybe that's a jump - it would at least be JMU - I don't think we could afford Harvard's tuition. :::grins::: just makes you wonder a little bit. Now, I have no plans to become a drill sarge to my kids and attempt to pump them full of knowledge 15 hours of they day, but thinking about even 15 minutes...a few more kisses to them here...a few more hugs there....a tickle to hear that laugh....just a thought...

A "sum up" of our trip to New York

Oh....new york, new york....it's almost too fun to share it all. Let's sum up...

- Kaleb is not a good car napper we discovered. Longest nap in a 9 hour period was 20 minutes...followed by a 15, 10 and 5 minute nap - in 9 HOURS!!!

- Kaleb's strep seems to have cleared up, and apparently he is allergic to amoxicillin - hence the LOVELY rash on every inch of his little body (including the bottoms of his feet) and the subsequent waking up every hour the night before we discovered it

- Zachary loves medicine and can apparently open child safety caps. So, we found him munching on amoxicillin tablets because (and I quote) "I sick, so I need to take medicine" - four tablets later, a call to the pharmacy in Virginia, poison control - the best thing that your child can overdose on incidentally is amoxicillian. Lovely...

- hmmmm...oh, and lest I forget...McKenna came down with a lovely case of diarrhea about 40 minutes into our 10 hour trip home (mind you this should only be about 8 1/2 hours) and subsequently she had to go right after we passed on off ramp and then couldn't hold it at one point so we had a wee bit of a mess in the car and a very hysterical child who felt absolutely miserable for said mess, but however, did find it funny that she had to wear one of Zachary's diapers after

Me

so, I will attempt to blog in some way, shape or form

So, my friend Christin has been trying to get me to blog, do the myspace thing, and I am just getting around to trying this and see how it goes. Life in general is so crazy busy in our house I sometimes wonder how it all gets done (ok, seriously it doesn't, but I like to pretend in my little head that it does!). but, the family does manage to eat, groceries to show up in the fridge, and eventually the clothes do get clean ... for the most part, so I suppose that stuff is getting done.

Truly this might be fun, especially with the many crazy things that happen in our life here. There is always a funny story to tell, a deep ::::sigh:::: to share and many other understanding mothers who can totally relate to life as it happens in our house.

So, that said, I guess this officially counts as a first entry into blogging history. Don't expect my blogs to be deep and meaningful - just probably a crazy description of our day and hopefully something to make you laugh and either relate or hope that whatever happened at our house won't repeat itself at yours! :)