Daylight Savings Wild Weekend

I haven't blogged for a few days as it's been really really busy! I hate to say it, but I'm rushing around getting as much done as possible in the day so I can throw the kids to bed around 9 PM and go jump in the hot tub!

Thursday was insane as I had the hot tub delivered plus I had to run to Nickerson 3 times for Alexzandra. First at 8 AM they did their Halloween Parade so I went up there and recorded the kids on the camcorder then I took her outfit home so it wouldn't get ripped. Next I had the hot tub delivered at 11 and dealt with them till 1 and then I went back to the school at 2 PM to help with the Halloween party. Then that evening we drove BACK to Nickerson for her Daisey Girl Scout Meeting. The kids had a Halloween party themselves and us mom's talked about teachers. Her school has 3 Kindergarten classes and they all do different things. I like Alex's teacher but she doesn't give us Scholastic order forms monthly and that bugs me. One mom thinks her daughter gets 2nd class treatment and another thinks her teacher plays Jackyl and Hyde. LOL

On Saturday we took the kids to a few things in town for Halloween. One was something Sirloin Stockade was doing with the Fire Dept. The kids met Sparky the Dog (I'll have to post pics when I get them) and went through the fire house. Then at Dillons (the grocery store) they were doing a kids day. They got their pictures taken in Herbie the Luv Bug, got bags of candy, balloons, and decorated cookies so that was fun for them.

Sunday we took them to a trunk or treat at a church nearby and they loaded up on more candy and decorated pumpkins. Not like we need anymore I think we have about 10 or so pumpkins now! Everyone thought Damien was a cutie dressed as a Pea in a Pod. Tonight we have 4 things we are doing with the kids. I hope that takes up most of the time because I really don't want to go house to house. It was so hard last year with two. All Dominic wanted to do was go in everyone's house and check it out. We had to keep going in people's houses running after him to get him out. I can't even imagine what it'll be like walking 3 kids house to house in the years to come.

Oh yes and a funny note: Sunday, Dave and I were messing around play fighting and the kids were wrestling him as well when Alex screamed out "Dominic! Kick him in the ass!" Sad but Dave and I couldn't stop laughing (and crying)

Happy Birthday My Sweet Angel ~i~

It would have been a year ago today that you would have been born. Where has the year went! I remember finding out I was pregnant with you March 11, 2004. I was so so shocked. Your brother Dominic was only 12 mths old! You were unplanned but definitely not unwanted. I told your Daddy and his exact words were "we'll be ok we can do it." Your Daddy has always been the most supportive and loving person I've ever known. He's been the best Daddy ever to your brothers and sister. I wish you were here as well to experience his love but I'm sure you look down on us daily and see. I've thought so much of you lately. I try not to cry but it's so hard. Just thinking of the day I lost you will be an engraved nightmare in my head that plays over and over almost every day. That day your Auntie Jill was here to hold my hand as I bawled and lost you in the toilet. I was so terrified by the whole deal I wasn't really coherent to know what I was doing. I was supposed to save what I could so they could test for birth defects but instead I kept flushing the toilet because I couldn't bear to see what was in there. I ended up riding to the hospital in an ambulance just to get the sickening news on the ultrasound that indeed you were gone for good from my body but not from my heart. Daddy and I bawled together as I laid there on the gurney. They gave us time to be alone but I'm sure everyone in the other Emergency Rooms heard our grieving. Were you looking down on us then? Did you see I had to leave wearing Dr scrubs as my clothes were soaked in blood? That was the only comical part of the day I guess if you could even add anything funny.

I wonder so much of what you'd look like, how big you'd be, and what milestones you would have completed. Your little brother looks nothing like Dominic and Alexzandra! Everyone says Damien looks like me and I have wondered if you would have also. Just know that even though you aren't with us, we love you and think of you all the time. Don't forget I carried you till 12 weeks unaware that anything had went wrong. In those weeks we became so attached to you, looking at names, trying to figure out bedroom arrangements and just like that you were gone.

We love you very very very much and will never forget you.

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok yesterday was a really bad day. Today is a bit better and I'm on schedule today. Shew! That can really screw with you if you lose track of time.

Thursday: HOT TUB DELIVERY 11 AM!!!! Can you just tell by my title I'm so so so stoked! That means I'll be able to use it this weekend! He told me it'll take a few days to get the water temp up. I got off the phone and started jumping in place. LMAO Just like a little kid. :) Next year I promised after I paid it off Dave can get a new motorcyle. Wonder how he'll act.

Last night my dad and his wife came over for Dave's birthday. Damien suprised us all by rolling from his tummy to his back. He must have thought he was cool because he did it 5-6 times in a row kicking and laughing in the process. Also we've cleaned drawers again and have graduated completely now to 6-9 mth clothing. No more medium sleepers either. LARGE! He's just a long boy. My sister says he has the perfect baby body. Not too skinny and not too fat and not too long but not too short. LOL

Ok enough, I have to take this trash out. I've changed 4 crappy diapers today already and my trash is about to knock me out with the stench.

Overwhelmed

Today has been one of those days. Three babies crying on and off throughout the day is getting to me I believe. It's so hard when they all decide they want to eat or drink at the same time. I hate having to let Damien cry it out for a few minutes but if I've got a bowl of cereal in my hand because I'm feeding Kayla what else am I to do? Today I am so behind. I have so much paperwork to do for the food program and I can't even do it. I start then have to stop. My house stinks because of the all the poopy diapers I'm having to change. Lunch is usually 11:30 for the kids and today it was 12:15, nap time is usually 1 but today it was 1:30. I'm about to pull my hair out. No crying though......my hormones are back to normal.

I guess you could say my day started out horribly wrong at Midnight when our daughter woke us up screaming in the bathroom. I ran in there and found her trying to sit on the toilet with poop covering her hands, her butt, and her underwear. She gets constipated really bad, so bad that we have a Laxative prescription she's been taking since she was 2. I cleaned her up went to her room only to smell poop and find it all over her blankets, sheet, Dora pillow and headboard. I got that cleaned and even started her laundry. Then at 2:30 Dominic woke me up to tell me his room was dark and that he wanted a drink. And of course the third child can't be left out so he woke me up at 4:00 AM to eat. Dave's alarm woke me at 5 AM and then I tried to sleep again (if I even did) till 6 AM when my alarm went off and I got up.

Ok Mondays are usually bad but this is really bad. Today is Dave's 28th birthday though so we'll go out for dinner. Hopefully that won't turn into a disaster with 3 kids in tow.

Getting lost in the ol' Corn Maze

Well today we went to Gaddeart Farm Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch in Buhler with the kids and the other Daisy Girl Scouts. Only 5 out of the 12 of them came but they had a blast together. These girls are going to be tight knit as they get older which is good. That's part of the reason I wanted her to do it plus the fact it gets me out of the house and I get to hang out with adults instead of kids like I do all day at home! I bet we did the corn maze in a record time because well, we cheated (LOL!) and we didn't know that on the back of our maze form was a list of questions that we were supposed to find the answers to in the maze!!! They didn't explain that to us in the beginning! Oh well. Dominic was having a great time and being really good. I was afraid he'd run off and we'd be looking for hours for him but he didn't. After being there for a hour though he was getting really restless and we had to leave. He was screaming and crying in the very end I knew it was bound to happen when Dave picked him up and told him no more running around. Damien was the best ever and looked around while in the Snugli but never cried. He was hungry by the time we got to the car so I fed him 6 oz.

Pumpkin Patch

This week has been extremely busy. Not only was I watching an extra kiddo but I had a Food program meeting, Alex's dentist appt, and 2 pumpkin patches to go to. Sunday will be my first day this week that I don't have anything extra to do! I plan on being a bum Sunday.



I volunteered to help with taking Alexzandra's class to the Harvest Farm and Pumpkin Patch out by Turon this morning. It was alot of fun. I met all of her classmates and talked to them the whole trip. They were so sweet and seemed so grown up! They impressed me so much I think I'd like to be a Kindergarten teacher someday. It was funny how Alexzandra actually liked having me there where as in Preschool she wanted me as far away as possible. Everytime I told her I was coming to the school she'd get mad and tell me no but this time she didn't. Some of the things the kids did were a Pedal Tractor Track Race, go down a Hayloft Slide, ran through a hay maze, and fed and pet farm animals. I actually think this Patch beats all the others in the area.



Hold your hand flat when feeding farm animals










"How do you spell that? Z? Are you sure?"












Queen of the Mountain

"You are Not taking a picture of my fangs! I refuse!"


Well today was about the same with little N. Gonna take him sometime to get used to my house. I still can't believe how large this kid is! WOW! Overall the day was ok just alot of crying out of him. Hopefully he'll get used to our routine and schedule with napping and eating and start to like it abit more here. Right now he seems rather angry!! He doesn't like me to pick him up and kicks at me! LOL

David asked our dentist about Damien's 3 little canine teeth in the back and why he was getting them so early. Turns out boys jaws are built different than girls so they may show through for quite awhile it doesn't mean the teeth will come in first or right away. He said as long as they aren't hurting him than he's ok but if he starts having pain then we need to get him to the dr. I don't know what the dr would do except tell you to give him Tylenol or is the back teeth pain a bad sign? Who knows. The past two days I've been using a Parents Choice Infant feeding set and feeding Damien Rice Cereal with bananas! He's 3 1/2 mths old and I started my other two kids around this time with cereal too. This little thing is pretty neat. I make his cereal real thin, stick it in there, vaccum all the air out of it and then he sucks on the little sipper part. He loves it and screams when I take it out to wipe his face. I'm just feeding it to him for breakfast and bedtime snack. He ate it so fast tonight then was just fell asleep. I hope it keeps him in bed all night but I doubt. I can always hope though right? I usually get up twice a night now. Dominic always wants me to get him a drink and then Damien still wants fed around 4:30-5 AM. He'll sleep from 9 till he feels the need to eat. Still pretty good but I'd like it to be longer like 6 AM when I wake up! I hate going to bed after I feed him and waking up a hour later.

Tomorrow night will be so busy. I have 3 things to do in less than 2 hours. Pick up cookie dough, a parent teacher conference, and Daisy meeting. Friday I will be going with Alex's class to a pumpkin patch out of town. I'll be escorting 5 other kiddos. Will this be better for me or worse than daycare? I'm sure it'll be better.

Money Money Money

I hadn't blogged for a few days so I thought I would while I have a second here. This week is going to be a bit stressful as I'm watching this new little guy and trying to fit him into our schedule. It's a bit harder dealing with 3 babies now with naps and feeding time. So far the first day was pretty hard with naps but today is abit better as I put our kids downstairs in the family room. The 3 kids are seperated each in a bedroom but when one starts screaming the other wakes up. Ugh! Hopefully in a week the new guy we'll get the routine.

Not much else has been going on here. We still haven't gotten the hot tub but really it's been too hot out to need it yet! Today is supposed to be 90 degrees but next week could be in the 40's you just never know with Kansas weather!

I have found that Damien is teething in a rather messy way! We've been going through a few shirts a day, I really don't like doing the bib thing especially if they don't match an outfit. His gums aren't swollen yet, no fever, BUT he has 3 back teeth showing through his gums. I find this absolutely amazing as I've never had a kid with their Canine teeth showing before any others. I want to pry his mouth open and take pics but it'll be a 2 person job since they are back a bit! I run my fingers over them and it doesn't bother him at all. Pretty early to be seeing teeth I think.

Last night I went to Walmart to do some quick shopping after I put the kids to bed. I was only at Walmart for less than 30 minutes! That's a miracle! I think this was the first time I've ever thought "wow kids cost money!" I spent $40 on my kids/$10 on grocceries. Here's what I bought.

• Baby Lotion
• 16 oz Rice w/bananas
• Plain Rice Cereal
• BIG can of formula
• Dominic Socks
• Damien Socks
• Formula Dispenser
• Saltines
• 2% Milk
• Veggie Oil
• Two 12 pks pop
• 3 Yogurt cups
• 2 canned Cinnamon Roll pkgs

I buy mostly generic so it may seem like this should be more money. I still have to buy 2 packs of diapers by the end of the week for Dominic and Damien, I have to pay for Gymnastics today, and Friday I have to pay $8 for one field trip to the pumpkin pack, and Saturday I'll shell out $15 for us all to go to another pumpkin patch with her Daisy troop. This is in one week! Yikes! You'd think by now I'd realize that kids do cost money and to stop having them. I started doing some calculating for when I have 3 kids in grade school.

School Lunches for Alexzandra $2.00 ea X 20 days a month = $40 x 3Kids= $120.00 mthly Holy Moley! I guess I'll start saving now or just plan on making them lunches about 90% of the month. Not only was I thinking of school lunches but we will have Dominic and Damien in some sort of sport activity such as Tae Kwon Do or Karate. Alex's gymnastics are $26 a month. Her Daisy's are $5 a month. I expect having them involved in 1 sport will be near $90 a month + $120 in school lunches. LOL I guess I'll go get a real job then huh!?!? I am constantly worrying about money and the kids. We haven't even started their 529's yet! Has anyone else?? We do have about $200 on Upromise but we haven't turned it into a 529 because they want $50 a month when you do! What about braces? I wonder if my kids will have to get them eventually and what about broken limbs or trips to the orthopedic surgeon when they get hurt in sports!!! EEEK!! Now I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Finally the weekend!

This week seemed to take forever. Glad it's over though. I'll be watching my cousin's little boy starting Monday. I'll have 3 infants I'll be watching now. Damien (3Mths) Kayla (1oMths) Nicholas(12 Mths) This is only temporary but it's the least I could do to help her out. She just moved back from Ohio to be with her family again. I'm hoping when she gets settled we'll be able to have the kids all play together. She also has a daughter that's 3 but she'll be going to the daycare center she has chosen for the kids to go to. Unfortunately this place won't let a 1 yr old in unless they are walking. They want babies to walk to tables. Is that the most retarded thing you've ever heard?? Not all babies grow up and walk at 10 mths. What nerve. She called several places and this was the rule at all of them. I will be watching him till he learns to walk.

I never posted how my night was with Damien and Dominic in tow for Gymnastics. Let me just say that it sucked! Damien was great, couldn't ask for a better child but Dominic of course was the devil. He kept running off, turning off the lights on the girls while they were on the balancing beam (yeah real safe!) jumping off the stairs, etc. He wouldn't sit still at all. I was so ready to go. I had to women tell me "we've all been there before" Well thanks for telling me that, it's very nice of you but it's not helping my situation at the moment. One lady offered to help me carry Damien while I held Dominic during a screaming kick mommy in the cooch fit. Ugh! That was the longest hour ever!

Thursday was Daisy Scouts and I am posting some pics. I ordered Alex's Daisy Girl Scout attire off the Girl Scout site and off ebay so I hope to have her all primped next week. LOL They painted edible cookies, made pumpkin cats, played stuck in the mud, did the girl scout promise, and ate brownies and Capri Sun. In all it was a fun meeting. We'll be going to Gaddart Farms to do the corn maze next Saturday. I'll be sure to post pics.

Tonight after the daycare kids had cleared out, we went out to eat at Anchor Inn. I think I mentioned that was our favorite Mexican restraunt here. It's about as authentic as you can get here. I love their Sopa while Dave chows on Chilie Rellenos. He always gets those nasty sweet bread cookies for a take home treat. Yuck! I can't stand them. Anyways the kids were with us. We go out about once a month to eat in a restraunt with them and dread it most of the time. We do only buffet unless we're eating at like 3PM and we can get food fast somewhere like Applebees. Well Dominic was good for the most part. Only a few minor mishaps but he ate lots of tortilla, pepperoni, baconbits, ham, and grapes. He'll have LOVELY diapers for me to clean tomorrow. Damien just sat and watched us. He's the best. I hope he stays so sweet and kind. If he ends up like Dominic I don't know what I'll do.

New Damien Pics

"Mamma I am naked under here and will pee on your bed so you can stop taking pictures now."
One happy Little Guy!

Never a frown on his face...unless of course he thinks we're starving him. :)

Coming to a City Near You??

Last night Dave came home and told me that his boss questioned him about taking Management training for his job. If he was to become a "Branch Manager" as they call it, we'd have to move to another town, city or most likely state. He told me that he wouldn't do anything without my approval. So what do you do? He told me he had a million questions to ask before he did or said yes or no to his boss. I know if all the answers were right, Dave would jump on it but it'd be me questioning whether or not it's a good idea. I prefer living near my family and having that whole support system. I'm sure others can relate. Then you wonder if as a manager it'll work out. What if he was to get fired? What about the price of living elsewhere, Hutch is cheap. Would we have to pack up and move back home? How would we afford it? He's been bugging me to move from Hutchinson to Wichita for a year now since he works there and travels 45 minutes to work everyday and he's been ok with me saying no on that. If it's something he wants to do, I'll go for it for his sake but honestly I'm sure I'll be homesick and scared elsewhere.

Tuesday Rambles

I've finally posted a new video of Damien at 3 months old babbling away. I made the video short so it doesn't take forever to load. I know some of them I make take forever!

http://dsdidomenico.castpost.com/83542.html

So now on to other news. Today has been wild with the kids. Kelsey keeps bringing over some toy dinosaurs from home which causes all 3 kids to fight. I ended up taking them away again. Along with that it seems that Damien knows when I'm about to feed Kayla because he wakes up screaming that he's hungry as well. I usually have to let him scream as I try to hurry and finish feeding her. They had a hamburger and french fries for lunch which they gobbled down so that's good. Now it's nap time and I'm on break. Dominic is awake playing in his room. I tell him it's quiet time and he'll play in there for a few hours. Getting him to nap is a pain and half the time he won't he'll just play so I don't care as long as he's quiet so everyone else can sleep.

Alex brought home a field trip form last night which said they needed 4 parents to chapparone. It's a first come first serve basis so I sent the form back and said I would. Now we wait and see if her teacher says ok. This is one thing about daycare that peevs me is I can't do school activities with 5 extra kids tagging along during the day. If I get to go, I'll have Dave's aunt watch our kids and tell R and T I can't watch their kids that day. I want to be able to participate in the parties and field trips at the school. So then we get to the part about the school directory. In the directory under each teacher they have a room mothers section. I didn't even know how these women got to be room mothers and why wasn't I asked? I found out last night at that meeting that in enrollment they give you a paper asking you if you would like to on a form with an opt out for listing your contact info. I don't remember seeing this. I didn't even ask about it, the teacher there said that a parent's address and phone # was listed in the directory and shouldn't have been. Then they said there was an opt out box this parent should have signed on the same form asking about room mothers. That's nice to know! Oh well I'll make sure I'm a room mother next year. I thought that the room mothers were picked at the PTA meeting they had in September. Guess not because none of them were there. Doesn't make sense to me.

Well I'm almost completely done with pumping I think. It's been over 8 hours and I'm not sore so I'm going to hold off as long as possible today. This may be the last day he gets boob milk! I'm really not looking forward to feeding a bottle in the middle of the night but he's sleeping till 5 AM so maybe that'll be Dave's job when he's getting ready for work. (yeah right) One thing I forgot about formula fed babies is the poop appearance. We went from yellow seedy explosions to creamy pasty green. The formula diaper is much more easier and nicer to clean! Now as I write this my left boob is starting to pulse with engorged pain. I'm holding out though!

Does anyone ever get excited over stupid things that really don't mean much? I got my Ford Motor Credit bill today showing that we owe $15,400 on our minivan. This is the only vehicle we owe on and it's exciting to me to see the # keep dropping. We started at $23,000 back in Sept 2003 so to me that's quite a drop. We were planning on getting a SUV but that plans on the back burner now with the cost of gas. I think it's back to like $2.65 now. At that rate I think I'll stick to a minivan and get 20+ mpg. Our truck has sat for 2 months because as soon as you tap the gas you can see the gage move. It's a 2003 Dodge Ram if anyone wants to buy it. LOL

Tonight is gymanstics and guess what? Because I was wrong on the time of the PTA meeting originally, Dave has to work late tonight since he got off early last night. I will have in tow a fit throwing 2 yr old and a whining 3 month old as we try to sit and watch gymnastics. I'll tell later how it goes.

"We're here for the PTA Meeting. Did we miss it?"

That was the first thing I said when we walked into the library at 6:50 PM. The school calendar said 6 PM yet their newsletter said 7 and since the newsletter is written monthly I figured it was 7. I was right it was 7 but when 7 came around the same 12 people including us and the principal were the only ones there. Am I wrong here? I though PTA or PTO meant Parent/Teacher?? There was one teacher and she was one of the other kindergarten teachers who has 3 kids in the school. I thought parents are supposed to go to these things because they wanted to stay up to date and active in their school's activities. Hmmmm....guess not. This was the same thing that happened last year there with the preschool Head Start meetings. It was the same group of us girls every month. I'm glad I went last year though because now I know at least 10 or so parents. I met no one last night except for the 4 board members. I know the prinicpal and I knew 2 of the other parents.

Discussed was the addition of 2 more adjustable basketball goals for the kindergarteners, some nice lit up signage at the intersection for the school, the carnival in May, and the Halloween party coming up on the 27th. We talked some about the cookie dough fundraiser we just finished. I'm not going to say it was a waste of time because it wasn't but it was a bit disappointed. The president whom I know already said "I might fumble just alittle since usually it's just us 4 board memebers and the principal." How sad! The principal Mr George shook Dave's hand for being the first man to ever show up besides himself. Now that's messed up.

Growing Sprouts

It's now 10 AM and Dominic is still sleeping. Anyone have a guess to how my day is going to be later?? Oh well. He was up at 5 AM this morning thank goodness Dave was up already getting around for work. He took care of him for me. Only one child last night interupted my sleep and that was Damien as usual. I fed him only from 4-4:45! He didn't try to eat off me for 2 hours like the norm. The other night I had all 3 of them wake me up. That really really sucked. I was so tired the whole day.

Some updates around here.... Damien is almost officially weaned. We're breastfeeding his night feeding and I'm pumping at 2 PM and 10PM. I would like to be done with breastfeeding very soon BUT I hate stopping because of the engorged pain. Yesterday I was leaking everywhere...ugh! I hate this. I've got to do it though, it's just too hard to breastfeed with 4 other little kids bugging you the whole time and it takes too long. I'm always on the go around here. Along with that I'd like to know when Aunt Flo plans to visit I'm tired of not knowing, and I want my body back. Exactly a year ago this week he took my body from me making it all his. He is growing up so fast! I was holding his binkie last night and he grabbed it and was trying to put it in his mouth. I couldn't believe it. Alexzandra sings to him all the time and he just loves it. Dominic still doesn't interact with him too much. He'll come say hi to him for a quick second then run off and do his own thing.

Alexzandra did her cheerleading at the highschool football game on friday. She was really really good! Some of those girls looked as if they were forced out there but Alex did all the jumps and the movements like the highschool cheerleaders. I have a feeling she'll be a cheerleader when she gets in middle school. We also spent this weekend picking up money for cookie dough since Alex sold 17 tubs! Actually you know how it goes, the parents are the ones that sell it. I spent Sunday making Alexzandra her tie blanket. I've been putting it off forever but finally just said screw housework, I'll get this thing made! Now I've got to make my niece one for her birthday on October 28th.

I found a program called Wee Wigglers here in town that I'm putting Dominic in. It's 7 weeks long, cost $50 and is on Tuesdays starting in November. It's only for a hour long but I figure it'll give him some time to interact with other kids without me around and hopefully they won't kick him out of the class. LOL I pray he doesn't bust some kid's lip open or knock anyone unconcious. My grandmother will take him for me. This will be the start to see how he acts under someone elses's supervision.

Tonight we have a PTA meeting to go to, first one this year. Actually there was one in September but we missed it so we could take the kids to the fair to ride the rides cheap since it was $1 day. This month we aren't missing it. I went to every Head Start Preschool meeting last year, I can do it this year too. I want to be involved in her schooling, not some loser sideline parent who could care less what's going on at the school. I saw too much of that with her preschool where the parents didn't come to the meetings OR the parties we had for the kids. I want to meet other parents so when she says "can I go to so and so's house" I can feel comfortable about that. It's also another way for me to have an adult conversation. Being a SAHM you don't get much of that unless you talk on the phone all day.

One Step Closer

Dave trying to play with 3 kids at one time

Today we had our electrical work done! I'm so so happy! Now we just wait unpatiently for the hot tub to arrive. Who's coming over to party? LOL The guy who put it in was real nice and told me feel free to leave since I'd be without power for about 3-4 hours so I took the kids to get gas ($2.74 a gallon!!) Target (the best store on Earth) and McDonalds (fattening up for winter!) Dominic was actually quite good for the most part. He climbed up the clothes racks but as soon as I said the word "toys" he stood right with the basket and we checked up all the toy rows. Damien starts to fuss and again I forgot his binkie! I had to stick my finger in his mouth for the rest of the trip. He sure loves my finger but everyone else in the store was looking at me like I was some kinda perv. Gotta do whatcha gotta do! Dom picked out 2 new Thomas engines. Wasn't going to get him anything but when we got to the register and he gave them to the associate I told him to ring up the bigger one but not the other and put it in the sack and hopefully Dominic won't see that we were just getting one. He was eyeballing the clerk like where's my choo choo. Then the guy throws the receipt in the sack and starts to hand it to me. Dominic blurts out real loud "MY SACK" and takes it from the dude. We were both laughing. He didn't even look into the sack till we got in the van but didn't care that he only got one. Good thing because I didn't want to deal with him being a brat at McDonalds.

At McDonalds, Damien was screaming till I got the bottle in his mouth. He slurped it down in about 3 minutes and then was fine. Dominic ate pretty good for once but probably only because he had his new "choo choo." He could care less about his happy meal toy. We came home and the electrical was done and lights were on. It looks great!

Yesterday was a sad day. It was a year ago that our lab/rott mix Dusty had been hit by a car and then my mother called at 7:30 AM to tell me that because her dog couldn't breathe they put him to sleep. He was a 11 yr old Yorkie named Gizmo. He'd had so many health problems and they knew it wasn't much longer. He coughed so hard all the time it was really sad. I feel really bad for her and her husband right now. It is like losing a kid. I still tear up thinking of Dusty since he was my first "baby." I told her the grief will be there for awhile but it will get better and that he's not suffering anymore. What else can you say. I hate death.

In other news I'm starting to look into options for Dominic to possibly go to school and interact with other children. It's going to be hard for me to let him go since I've been home with him for 2 1/2 yrs now but he really needs to be somewhere without me or my family. I'm thinking Montisorri for now since they are very structured. Does that sound bad? I hate to think I'm throwing him in peewee bootcamp but he really does need it. He needs someone else to tell him things are wrong other than me because he just could care less if I tell him it's bad to hit or it's bad to take toys from others. Dave says I let him get away with murder around the house and baby him too much. I don't think I really do. I am afraid though if he does go somewhere that I'll start getting calls to come get him because of his rowdy behavior.

Last night we went swimming at the YMCA again. I'm loving this membership. Why didn't we do this ages ago?? The kids LOVE swimming all the time. Dave refuses to let me have Damien in their daycare so I have to find someone to watch him every time we go. I feel bad asking people and feel like I'm pawning him off so we can have fun without him. I don't know if he feels like Damien will get germs or not get cared for in the Y daycare but he will not budge on it. I want to use the Cardio room but I want to go with someone else. No one will get a membership and go with me. For now I'll just chase the kids around the pool.

3 Months Old WOW!

This year has been going super fast. It's so hard to imagine 3 months ago today I was introduced to our cute little Damien! The first thing I said after seeing him was he's huge and doesn't look anything like my other two kids! I never thought I'd ever have a 10 lb'er baby. His fat chubby cheeks were adorable and made him have these tiny beady eyes. Thankfully he's all evened out now though. He's long and has some rolls but isn't overly fat. Think he's got some of the Atkinson (dad's family) genes in him though. We couldn't ask for a better baby though. He rarely cries unless he's hungry or has some gas.

Some 3 month milestones are

• He's holding his head up really well, not much wobbling now!
• Laying on his tummy he'll lift his head up and turn it looking at different objects
• still breastfeeding but when bottlefed he'll eat 4-6 oz each bottle
• He watches me or anyone else walk around the house
• He's started using his Exersaucer which he really enjoys sitting up
• He giggles all the time. He thinks I'm pretty funny when changing his clothes or diaper
• He rolls side to side but not completely over just yet!
• Sleeping from 9:30 PM- 2:30 AM nursing and then sleeping till 9 AM
• Can put him in bed awake with his fish aquarium and he drifts asleep without fussing!

Bored Kids?? Buy Fish!

Well things around here have been actually relatively calm the past few days. While I was doing my food program paperwork last night I started looking at the previous months of doing daycare and my attendance. No wonder I don't complain about daycare as much anymore. For the first 5 months of the year I was watching Kayla, Kelsey, Corbin, Madison, Kaelynn, Lexi, and my 2 kids. I now only watch Kayla, Kesley, Lexi, Corbin and my 3 kids. Lexi and Alexzandra are in school all day so I don't have to worry about them much so I just have 5 during the day instead of 8 or so like I used to. There are still days where I want to just run to the basement in a corner and cry but I try to make the best of things. I just think of how lucky I am to get to stay home and watch every little milestone of the kids and that makes me feel better.

This week I bought some more fish for our tank. I used to have it in the basement because I was tired of the kids messing with the tank in the front room but I went ahead and brought it back upstairs and bought some newbie fish to go with the others that were left after Dominic killed 1/2 of them with the sulfur from matches. Yes...remember that?? Well looking in there I see my Black Beauty (a black Moor Goldfish) eating something like a freakin pirannah. I look real close and it's a Spaghetti O obviously must have been on the floor and Dominic thought it'd be tasty to the fish. Well the fish were delighted with this new found food because well, in Walmart I doubt they're fed Spaghetti O's.

We had a tragic loss at the house the other day. This crappy Kansas wind carried our blown up pumpkin down the road against my neighbor's barbwire fence and tore some nice sized gashes into him. Poor thing. Pumpkin ended up being buried in the polycart. (sigh)

I know alot of people are wondering about the hot tub fiasco so here's the update. I sent the loan paperwork to the bank so the company can get their money for the tub. Dave still isn't happy about finding it $500 cheaper at another place but I think me begging him to just forget he found it elsewhere is working. I called the place we bought it and said continue with the order since I found a "reasonable" electrical bid. We'll be having the electric box changed out on Thursday and the 220 put in for $800. My dad still has NO IDEA that we bought this thing. He's going to shit bricks when he finds out we did. He told me once that it'd be a waste of money, never be used. I highly doubt that! BUT I told him we'd spend around $3000 and well we ended up going high class spending $7000! I almost slipped at his house the other day. He wasn't in the room but I told my stepmom that we were putting a 220V Outlet outside. I haven't even told my mom how much the tub was although I'm sure she knows since when she found out we were getting one she tracked down the place we bought it and asked how much. When he comes to put the electrical in on thursday, I'll be without power for 4 hours. I'll have 3 kids, Dominic, Damien and Corbin. The boys will be bored without TV so I'll have to keep them entertained for quite sometime.

I think that's about it for now! So much for a short post.

New Pictures

Here's Alex saying "you take my picture too much but I'll try to smile"












This is Dominic sporting my new bra since my boobs are entirely way too big for a size C. I knew I was a complete moron thinking I could fit into it but maybe JUST MAYBE I'll shrink some after I stop breastfeeding.











Here's Damien with his big ol gut and boobs just like Daddy! He's the first baby I've had that's got some weight to him!














trying some cereal......







Wow! That's actually pretty good!









Thanks Momma!








And last we have...............................................................................

Molto Italiano piedini
Very Italian Legs LMAO!!!