She’s ready for Him February 9, 2010

Our sweet firstborn daughter has made the biggest decision of her life.  She is ready for Christian baptism.  Honestly, I have felt this decision was made by her even before she could say Jesus.  Picasso has always loved Jesus.  She once wanted a Jesus-themed birthday party.  She has loved Him all her life.  She is now just two months shy of turning eight years old.  She has been asking about baptism for the past couple of months, here and there, but we have been talking about it a bit more in the past few weeks.  The conversation about a week ago went a bit like this…

Me:  So, are you ready to consider being baptized?  (Remember, we’ve had a dialogue going on about his over the past few months.)

Picasso:  But Jesus already lives in my heart.

Me:  Yes, but the Bible tells us that He wants us to follow that decision in Christian baptism, telling others of our love for him.

Picasso:  I just don’t want to be baptized yet.

Me:  Why not? (she makes a face)  Do you not want to get up in front of everyone? (she is terrible shy outside of this family)

Picasso:  (Shakes her head)  No, I don’t want to do that yet.

Me:  That’s okay.  Just keep praying about it, and you will know when you are ready.

I really felt like God would give her the confidence she needed to get up in front of the church when it was time.  I didn’t know she would find that from Him so quickly.  She looks at me two nights ago and almost whispers to me, “Mommy, I’m ready to be baptised.”  I wanted to jump up, shout for joy, and squeeze my sweet little girl, but I held back a bit and calmly asked, “What changed your mind?”  She went on to tell me that our children’s minister said some things that morning in worship hour that made her think.  Since our children’s minister likes to talk to them before they walk down before the church, and since she is one of my very best friends, I sent her an email letting her know what was going on.  She’ll be talking to Picasso tomorrow evening.  I’m so excited that she has made this decision to live life for her precious Jesus!

On a side note, Mary Lou piped in to say that she was also ready.  Now, she is five, so I am a little hesitant.  However, she has also loved Jesus with all her heart, and she doesn’t hesitate about much that she wants to do.  She’s learned way more than I did about God at that age, and she has always acted about a year ahead of her true age.  Part of that is the two older sisters, but the other part is simply her personality.  Our children’s minister will also be talking to her this week to see what she thinks.  When I asked her if she understood what being baptized means, she said that it means “My sins are all washed away and Jesus lives in my heart as my forever friend.”  Even if she doesn’t move forth with Christian baptism just yet, living with this frame of mind is a great start!

As for Cowgirl, she didn’t hesitate to say, “I’m not ready to be baptized yet!”  Don’t worry sweet girl, we’ll get there.

Fix-it Friday February 6, 2010

I didn’t post a fix-it Friday because I didn’t really have time to concentrate on what to type.  I know you can create posts on any ol’ day and schedule them for the given day, but I’m doing good to catch and keep up.  Getting ahead of the game is out of the question right now!  What was I distracted with, you ask?  Besides the obvious, our mini-van cut out on me in mid-turn in downtown Atlanta.  The one from the chaos clip.  So we’ll be figuring out how to fix that over the next few days.  I know you love me anyway, even though I can’t keep to my schedule.  And those of you that really know me know that just having a schedule is an accomplishment for me!

I know a girl who loves horses February 6, 2010

Today was Cowgirl’s first horse riding lesson.  She’s been counting down the days, and it has been raining and cold for THREE WHOLE DAYS!  I asked her instructor if we could just come by and see the stables anyway, so she wouldn’t be grossly disappointed, and she agreed.  She also let Cowgirl ride a bit, which was a wonderful surprise to both Cowgirl and me.  I don’t know if you remember from a previous post, or from just knowing us, but CG has an autism spectrum disorder.  One of the tendencies of kids like her is called perseveration, which basically is like obsession, only with a much less negative connotation.  Horses have been a perseveration for CG over the past two years.  I couldn’t identify the origin, but she has always loved some type of animal.  It started with whales, and belugas to be specific.  Then is was butterflies (which I realize aren’t animals, but they are a living creature).  We spent one day going to six different stores to find a bathing suit with butterflies on it because her grandmother had kept her bathing suit to wash, and no other suit would do.  She loved Diego at age three because he was an animal rescuer.  I even made her a bathing suit that year out of a boy’s Diego suit and a color coordinating girl’s suit because she didn’t understand gender marketing!  It became horses when she was about four, and that love has only grown stronger over the last two years.  Fortunately for us, a few friends led us to her instructor for horse riding lessons.  Of course, before really knowing her, CG is her very best friend, and it isn’t freaking out our instructor.  She seems to be cool with CG’s obsessive love.  I am so thankful.  Today was one of those days I stood and watched my baby girl with tears in my eyes.  When we received her diagnosis four years ago, I didn’t even know if she would ever say “I love you.”  She has said that and so much more.  Horses are commonly used in therapy for many children with different types of special needs.  I can’t wait to see what this experience will do for her.  If it does nothing and she just loves it, then that’s fine too.

Chaos Clip February 4, 2010

Today was a circus day.  It was a day where more than one person’s help was needed to get our day accomplished.  The middle two boys went home with my mom after school, and a friend took the girls for the afternoon so I could take Earnhart to his eye appointment.  Let me back up a moment and fill you in.  Disorganization costs you, and this time it cost us $85.00 and a trip to the eye doctor.  We had an appointment scheduled for Earnhart.  He has amblyopia, which left untreated can result in lazy eye, so he has glasses.  Last year, he actually required more than just a corrective lens and he was written a prescription for his lenses (is that the plural form of lens?  I don’t feel like looking it up).  Superman We forgot to move the appointment from the 2009 calendar to the 2010 calendar, so when the appointment came, it also went, without us remembering it.  I called to reschedule as soon as I realized this, and the earliest date available for our doctor in the office closer to us was mid-March.  Uh, are you serious?!?!  So we tried the office on the north side of Atlanta and found the same time frame for our doctor.  They did, however, have an earlier appointment available with another doctor.  Okay, we’ll take it.

Today was that day.  Circus plan activated and off we go.  Well, my mom called me on my way up to the appointment to vent about a tough day.  I listen while I drive, but for some reason I think I need to go I-75 instead of I-85 at the split.  No biggie.  I’ll turn around at the next exit, EXCEPT that the on ramp back to southbound was backed up due to an accident.  So, I go through town to try and find another access ramp to I-85.  I take a right to head towards the exit, and the van cuts off mid-turn.  Just past the intersection on a busy Atlanta street, with Earnhart and Tipper in the back.  GLORIOUS!  I call Superman and let him know, so he heads up to meet me, and in the meantime, I flag down an Atlanta police woman who drives by, looking all too thrilled that I bothered her (she did sweeten up after seeing my two cute boys).  She calls a tow truck (because I can’t do anything with the van to get it going) and offers to take me and the boys to the precinct to wait for Superman.  The problem is that his cell phone is dead and I couldn’t call him to tell him that was the plan.  Fortunately for me, he arrived just in time, right as I was signing the slip with the $85 charge to tow my van to my house.  Earnhart loved sitting in the back of the police car, but alas, it was time to head home and stop interfering in the Atlanta afternoon traffic.  The tow truck guy, Kelvin, actually knew the area where we lived because his aunt used to live over here, and he currently resides in the city we moved from six months ago.  Very friendly.  I told Superman that I feel like God has sent angels to me in crisis situations to help take my mind off of the crazy hysteria that would settle in if I thought too long and hard about my situation.  I failed to mention that I was already frustrated about my turn around and the fact it was going to make me late, and I was yelling speaking to Superman about being tired of never getting anywhere on time.  How about I just don’t show up at all?  Pretty mad, but Kelvin helped me forget it, or at least not be as mad about it.  And he can drive a mean tow truck.  He backed our van, attached to his tow truck (not the bed kind), up our 57 degree-steep driveway, when Superman and I aren’t brave enough to do that driving our vehicles ourselves!   Thank you, God, for Kelvin, and the annoyed police officer who couldn’t help but smile at my sons, for Superman putting on his cape (or 12-passenger van) and flying to my rescue, and for allowing me to get lost so that I was on a city street instead of the interstate when my van decided to misbehave.

Wordless Wednesday February 4, 2010

Manage-it Monday February 1, 2010

How do we manage bedtime with seven kids?  We try to have a regular routine, but we waver from it sometimes.  We Superman bathes the boys around 7:00 or 7:30.  This is usually the immediate step after dinner.  It keeps them from getting too riled up after they have had some quiet time (or at least our version of quiet).  If they do play any before bath, it has to be in their bedroom, where they are more contained.  The bigger house has been nice, and we love it when it is clean, but clean, open space is apparently an invitation to our boys for wild running around the house!  Once bathtime is finished, the boys go to their room with Superman to put on pajamas.  Earnhart has eczema, so he has a long cream and lotion routine to calm his skin.  They come in to give me kisses goodnight, sometimes taking a sneaky detour, but for the most part, the bedtime routine is pretty, well, routine at this point.  They lay down on Smiley’s bed, the bottom bunk of our cool IKEA bunk beds, and they tell stories.  They start “Once upon a time…” and end with “The End.”  Superman goes first, and then the two boys take their turns.  When Bulldozer finally starts conversing with us, I’m sure he’ll jump in, too!  What’s cute about this is the way Smiley first started telling his stories.  He would start with “Once upon a time…” and then completely lose it with giggles and smiles!  Now, he tells a story that includes everyone, a few monsters, and some cars or trains.  After stories, they sing a song or two, give kisses, and Superman leaves a noisemaker on to white noise and cracks the door.  Once they fall asleep, we close the door.  When they don’t fall asleep, and someone unnamed, yet incredibly cute, gets out of bed and protests at the door or from the hallway, we simply ignore him.  If he comes into the living room, we carry him back to his bed, over and over, if necessary.  This, however, has become a rare occasion, and has more to do with being overtired, having too full of a day, or experiencing a major change in routine.  Smiley doesn’t do this too much anymore, but he is a light sleeper and is usually the one that winds up in our bed in the middle of the night.  He and Earnhart are also teeth-grinders, which I can’t stand.  When that happens, I HAVE to leave the room!

Now that the girls are bigger, bedtime is a bit easier with them.  They take care of their baths or showers, depending on the time frame, and get pajamas on.  They usually hang out with us in the living room for a bit and then go down to their bedroom (a finished room in our basement).  They keep the light on and visit and talk while laying in their beds, and the light goes off at 9:00.  They usually talk a little longer to fall asleep, but they are usually out in this order: Mary Lou, Cowgirl, and then Picasso.  Picasso is a night owl, and she usually makes a few trips up the stairs with an issue or complaint, but I really think it’s just to get a few minutes alone with us where our attention is completely on her.  She has never complained about sharing us with so many, but her love language is time, and she loves getting that all to herself from anyone, especially her mom and dad.

That is how we manage bedtime.  Please understand that this works for us for now.  We have experienced many changes in sleeping patterns, habits, and physical arrangements.  With a new baby, I’m sure some of this could change.  We roll with it, and we feel like you have to do whatever you have to do to get sleep.  I’m not usually thrilled when a kid (or 3) wind up in the bed with us at night.  I love snuggling in the morning, but I don’t sleep well with them in the bed at night.  Some nights, I fight it, while other nights, I just swap beds with that kid.  When the guest bed is made up (who would want to be a guest here?), I crash there.  It’s the matresses my in-laws gave us our first Christmas after we married, and it’s my favorite bed!  Superman prefers the nice, big king sized bed over the full, but I like the little one best.  Most nights, I just sleep wherever I can.  Recliner- yep.  Couch- why not?  Bed- yes sir!

A Satisfactory Sunday January 31, 2010

Today was a wonderful day!  Not a highly unusual amount of chaos.  It was limited to the kids following Picasso down to the bottom of the driveway (which is just past a blind curve) and some chaos surrounding their playing with the gigi-ball, an oversized inflatable ball that they can actually climb into.  It was a gift from Superman’s aunt, who always seems to get the fun or wacky gifts!

This was a Christmas gift to them.  It was fun, but it took all of two minutes for one of those chambers to start losing air, not to mention the three that were already losing air after blowing it up out of the box.  It had a 150 lb weight limit, but it obviously was not tested with a family of six little wild ones!  It certainly was fun for the afternoon, and the kids could care less that some of the chambers are already busted, so I’m sure we’ll get plenty more fun out of it before having to throw it away.

Me and the older five went to church this morning, where we were hosting a service featuring the preschool that calls our church home.  This is our “school”.  Yes, we are a homeschooling family, but this year I was asked to teach a first grade homeschool co-op class at our preschool, so that is what I mean when I talk about the kids going to school and me going to work.  We had 94 kids there this morning, counting church and school kids!   The girls thought it was great that they were actually both!  I helped with two’s today in the classroom, so I didn’t see the entire service, but the immediate feedback seemed pretty positive.  I heard a lot of people simply amazed at the number of children in the building!  Superman still isn’t crazy about the idea of getting Tipper out, so he stayed home with the baby and Bulldozer, simply because I don’t have three hands and can’t run in three different directions when the boys decide to!

We also took a little family walk today, to try out our new stroller.  I had never seen one of these before, but I came across one while blog surfing the other day.  I think it was actually an ad or something, but either way, it grabbed my eye.  It’s a Joovy Big Caboose, a two seater with a platform and a little jump seat for a third passenger, which is great for Earnhart and Smiley because they don’t really like riding in the actual stroller anymore.  I looked it up on Craig’s list and found one for $200, which was about $180 less than the original price, but still too much for me to spend without the money set aside.  Lo and behold, my aunt and grandmother on my dad’s side gave us $100 as a baby gift.  I looked it up on Craig’s list again and found one for $175, less than half the original price.  It was gently used over a span of seven months.  The trays were still in the plastic!  And the fabric was spotless.  They obviously don’t use things with the vigor that we do!  It’s fantastic!  Wanna see?  (That weird thing on the front is the carseat attachment, which we took off with the push of a button so Smiley could ride in the front.)

Tipper stayed inside with Superman, I pushed Smiley and Bulldozer, and the four biggest rode their bikes.  I wish I had taken the camera.  Superman never thinks to take pictures.  It was the cutest thing, and it put the biggest smile on my face!  When we got back, I started cleaning out the bus while the kids played outside.  I filled an entire kitchen trash bag with trash out of the bus!  That’s going to change, or they’ll be cleaning out from under the seats next time.

All in all, we had a wonderful, chaos-free day!  It can happen!

Fix-it Friday January 29, 2010

This post is in regards to fixing the names on the blog for better clarification.  Just posting that chaos clip had me confused, and I’m the mom!  So, let me introduce my brood with more distinct names for your blog reading pleasure…

Picasso (formerly known as S1)- I chose this name because she is a little artist.  She has always loved to draw, but her artistic talent extends to her creative mind, her ballet dancing, and her fashion centered mind.

Cowgirl (S2)- This one is pretty obvious.  The girl LOVES horses, and she actually will be starting horse riding lessons next Saturday.  It’s the obvious name choice for her.

Mary Lou (S3)- This one is our gymnast.  So this is her obvious name choice.  Her other love is Dora, but she is likely to outgrow this love in the next year or two.  I didn’t want to call her Dora when I was blogging about her first training bra!

Earnhart (S4)- The boy loves cars, as they all do, but he can drive!  He maneuvers his bike and ride-on toys like my dad did when he drove a big rig.  It’s quite amazing to watch!

Smily (S5)- My dad nicknamed one of the boys smily when he was a baby, but I’m not sure if I’m remembering correctly which boy it was.  Either way, this boy smiles all the time, and when he cries, a simple kiss makes it all better and he is back to smiling again.  He smiles with his entire face, too.  You can’t help but smile when you see it!

Bulldozer (S6)- I may shorten this to ‘dozer’ for conveneince one day.  This boy has been a bulldozer since he could move!  He gets to what he wants, no matter what, or who, is in the way!  I can definitely see him playing football one day.

Tipper (S7)- I may change this as he develops a personality and I find something that fits him better, but for now we’ll use this.  Why Tipper?  He tipped the scales in the boys’ favor when he joined our family.  Plus, I think it sounds cute!

So there you have it.  I used my limited energy (it’s been a busy week) and fixed any confusion from all my little S’s.  Hope it helps.

Chaos clip January 29, 2010

I thought is would be fun to post little chaos clips.  What is that, you ask?  Well, when there has been a moment of sheer chaos that makes me either laugh or break down into tears, or maybe laugh until I cry or cry until I laugh, I thought I’d post it.  I also thought it would be a great chance for me to vent over the occurance without yelling at a child or the man who impregnated me with all of them!

Chaos clip #1- Inaugural edition (drum roll please…….)

I was nursing S7 in the chair while the kids were playing.  The girls were working on their calendars and the boys were playing hide and seek in a large suitcase.  One would count while the other hid in the suitcase.  S6 was wandering around the house with a stinky diaper, playing here and there.  The big boys start fighting over the suitcase.  I get up and deal with that.  I go back to nursing and the two younger girls go get clothes for themselves and their buddies.  S3 even got a pull-up for S5 and started to change him.  Oops, she didn’t check the current diaper for poop.  He pulls his feet out of his pants and diaper and leans back on the clean blankets I washed YESTERDAY!  Before then, they hadn’t been washed in over a month.  Thanks, S5.  I get up, put the baby in the swing and LOCK HIM IN, and go tend to the poop situation.  Rabbit drops, thank goodness.  In the meantime, S6 sticks his finger and thumb in his diaper.  Guess what.  He didn’t pull out a plum.  Yes, all of this in a span of about ten minutes.

It’s been a while… January 28, 2010

Yes, I have found myself a little too busy to blog these days.  Now that I don’t have a “perscription” to sit on my fanny and rest, I find it hard to make myself sit and blog.  There is so much I want to tell you, but there is so much calling me around here.  You know how it goes, too, if you have a newborn.  If they need you, you are there for them, and they don’t really work with schedules.  If they don’t, you are grabbing up every chance that they don’t to get things done or just rest.  I don’t want to just ramble on here, and the few opportunities I’ve had to blog, my mind was absolute mush.  So, this is my attempt to get back on schedule.  I’m going to give you a peek into our most recent chaos, as it comes in droves around here!

This past Friday, I took S7 to the doctor to have his congestion listened to.  The older sibs all had some sort of stuffiness or runny noses this week, and since they can’t seem to keep their hands off their sweet little brother, one of them shared their germs with him.  When he started having trouble keeping his feedings down, I thought it was time to visit the doctor.  She heard some crackling on one side of his chest and decided he needed to go to the children’s hospital to be checked out a little further.  The official diagnosis was bronchiolitis, which is basically a cold in a baby with bronchiales too small for the congestion to move through.  He had to have the assitance of oxygen to breath, and it took him the entire weekend to be able to breath undistressed without it.  Superman went home Sunday to pick up the kids, get them ready for school the next day, and get ready for work, and the bus has some overheating going on.  It was a crack in the radiator.  Pop came to the rescue and sealed it, which will hopefully be a good fix until we can replace it.  We get home on Monday and rest until the kids are delivered home from the grandparents’ houses.  The next day, I go to pick up the kids after meeting Superman for lunch, and I get a flat tire on the red van.  Did I mention that Superman got poked in eye at the dinner table Monday night?  S6 threw his hand up in the air while  in Daddy’s lap and poked him in the eye.  So, the flat tire is a huge inconvenience because the next day, Superman’s eye is so irritated that it is super sensitive to the sun, making it near impossible to drive.  I have to take him to get his eye checked out, which can’t be done at the local Lenscrafter’s without paying 129 bucks to do so.  They recommend he go see his PCP and get a referral for an opthamologist.  Well, my mom’s working that day, his mom’s on her way out of town for a funeral, and I have to pick of the kids soon, so no one can take him.  He ends up calling his grandparents and his Poppie takes him to both doctors and Waffle House for lunch.  In the meantime, I pick up the girls from school, while the boys go home with my mom.  I drop them off for a playdate, trade S7 for S5 and S6 at my mom’s house, and head over to the Babies Can’t Wait center for therapy.  We wrap up therapy, I pick up S4 and S7 from Grandma’s, the girls from their playdate, and head home in time to whip up a couple of boxes of mac and cheese before we leave for church.  Is that all?  I know I must have left something out.  This is our life.  Chaos is an understatement some days.

Wrapping up on a good note, however, I managed to schedule S2’s first horse riding lesson.  If you know us in real life, you know how much this girl obsesses over loves horses!  She has wanted to be a bona-fide cowgirl for quite some time now, and it is finally coming true!  Her first lesson is scheduled for February 6th, and I don’t know who is more excited- me or her!