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

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.

Let’s start at the very beginning… December 28, 2009

I was a little inspired by the Sound of Music last night, thus my title.  We were just excited to see a family on t.v. with numbers like ours.  Makes us feel a little bit normal.  Today, I’d like to introduce you to my first, sweet blessing, known here as S1.  She is seven years old, and she is the lovliest little girl!  She is definitely a good bit of my mother-in-law.  She appreciates the girly things, which I am not known for.  I loved dresses as a little girl, and I had my CPK collection, a doll house, and Strawberry Shortcake, but I wasn’t what you would call fru-fru.  Our oldest loves fashion.  She’s a graceful ballerina who appreciates beauty in all things.  She likes to dress fancy, not cute, and the girl has a new love of hats.  She loves her long hair, but she doesn’t ever let me fix it.  Music moves her soul, and she has been in love with Jesus since she was able to say His name.  She is the greatest helper in our large family, without complaint, but she doesn’t do that great managing her own stuff.  She’s a pack rat (she’ll tell you that), and she’s a dreamer.  She can never find her shoes, she always forgets to brush her teeth, and she’s very frustrating to teach.  I know these dreamer traits will serve her well one day, and we try to encourage them, but there are days that they drive me insane!  She is one of the most creative children I know, and she has an appreciation for art, loving to draw since she was 3 yrs old.  She is completely capable of taking care of her siblings, and while some of you may think we require or expect that of her, we don’t.  She simply has that desire to love and take care of her siblings.  Yeah, they get on her nerves sometimes, but the majority of her day is spent loving on them.  Around here, she’s the one in charge, sure of herself, and willing to try just about anything.  She isn’t quite as confident outside our family.  She’s a little bashful in a room of people she doesn’t know too well.  She’s very hesitant and second guesses herself a bit.  But all these things, good or bad, make her who she is.  She is simply amazing to us, and we couldn’t have hand-picked a better first born child for a family like ours.  She’s an absolute treasure.

Is this the little girl I carried?

Our graceful ballerina

Meet S7 December 27, 2009

Meet S7

It’s been a little over two weeks since S7 came into our lives, if you don’t count the nine months prior that he was growing in the womb!  The kids are still just as in love with him as the first day he came home, if not more so, and he is beginning to be awake enough to notice them.  Nursing is going well, which hasn’t always been the case for me, and although we are going at it every two hours when awake and about three hours apart at night, I am just grateful we are having a successful go at it this time.  He had to do the bilirubin lights for jaundice in his first week, but they were delivered to the house and a visiting nurse came out each day to do his blood draw.  I don’t know his weight right now, but he is growing!  He is still sleeping quite a bit, but he does have moments where he stays awake.  The kids can’t get enough of holding him.  I’ve actually had to tell them “no” to their requests to hold him just to give him a little break!  I think that’s a good problem to have, though!

Since I’m off my blogging schedule, I think I’ll catch up over the next few days by introducing you to my kids.  I’m using little code names simply because I’ve read that it’s recommended in the blogging world if you have traffic from people other than folks you know.  So, enjoy getting to know my kids this next week.  I know I like them!

Waiting for S7 December 8, 2009

Well, I’ve been contracting for about 30-something hours now, pretty regular, but not real strong.  I have a stubborn cervix that doesn’t change easily, so I’m just waiting for this to change enough to justify calling the midwife.  I have an appointment tomorrow, so at least then I can see what’s going on, if anything has changed, and see if she will help me along (which she has already said she would do).  In the meantime, I thought I’d post about what it is like to do this for the seventh time.

• I still consult my “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” book, usually towards the end, but sometimes even in the beginning.
• I still get nervous.
• I still pray for water breaking so I will have a more certain “It’s time, honey” moment!
• I still miss my kids when I am in the hospital, and I have a feeling I’ll feel that way even more this time since the flu epidemics are keeping hospitals from allowing kids to visit.
• I wish I could have Superman with me the entire time I am in the hospital, but I want my other babies to have as normal a transition possible, so he always gets sent home to be with them.
• I am sometimes sad that people don’t celebrate number 7 with the same excitement as 1 or 2, but I kind of enjoy the quiet, uninterrupted rest time with my new one by my side.
• I don’t like to send the baby to the nursery, and I only do so when I have to for baths, stats, or circumcisions.
• I’m never ready at home with all the baby stuff.  I try to prepare, but it never really happens.
• Fortunately, in regards to the previous statement, the baby doesn’t really NEED all that stuff!  🙂
• I wish Superman had some sick/personal days left this year so he could stay home with us, like he has with all the others.  The move ate up his days this year.
• I prefer delivering in the spring.
• This is the first time we haven’t made sibling shirts.  Maybe after we get home…
• This is the first time I haven’t taken my zoloft during the pregnancy (it made me very nauseous), and it’s been HARD!!!
• I want my kids to be together during the time I am gone.  I don’t want them to be split up while I’m in the hospital.
• What is it about me delivering the week of our children’s musicals?  This is the third or fourth time that’s happened!

That certainly isn’t an all-inclusive list of thoughts on my mind as I sit and wait for my body to be a little more aggressive.  I just thought it would be nice to let others know (that is, if anyone actually reads my blog) that it isn’t like riding a bike.  Every birth, just like every child, is unique and different.  Maybe I’ll have some fun with this idea and publish a What to Expect book for one of these larger numbers and make fun of us crazy people having more than two babies.  Yes, that’s right, you three kid mommies aren’t normal anymore, either.  Read the articles.  They think you are weird, too!  🙂