From A's and B's to C's maybe D's

I started thinking as Dominic hit Kindergarten last year that now, we're in a whole new level of schooling. With Dominic and his obstacles (the ADHD and PDD~NOS) I have had this fear for awhile that he's not going to succeed as well as his sister with school. I was so happy when the school told me last April at his IEP meeting that they would have him in the classroom with a Para sitting with him rather than take him out daily for Special Ed. I think having Dave at that IEP meeting helped me control the tears. I felt so blessed at that moment the school is going to help us muddle through this mess rather than make us figure it out ourselves.

The other day the kids brought home their 2nd quarter report cards. Alex, honor roll again, 2 B+'s from being all A's. Dominic, mostly S's with 2 S-. No E's at all. :( I know he's trying hard. If he didn't have someone sitting there with him during the day, I could see his grades even lower. It is a bit hard for me to see him struggling compared to Alex our little whiz but all I care is that he's doing decent with what he's up against. Sadly he knows that he's behind, I think his teacher brings it up to his attention to push him even harder.

So you can imagine how happy he was to show me this to me yesterday with a snack sized Twix candy bar attached to it. His first 100% on a spelling test. He was proud, but momma was even more proud!

Stomach Flu

We've had the joy of dealing with stomach flu this week! Hooray! (insert rolling eyes) It all started Sunday evening when Mia started crying in her crib. Went in to discover she had puked all over herself. The puke was bad, but seeing how terrified she was was worse. I felt so bad for her since in her 2 years of life, she's never puked. We changed her and the sheets and it happened again. After the 2nd, then the 3rd time, I knew we were dealing with stomach flu and started whining to him how I was going to be the one to deal with 5 kids plus myself getting this crud. I have no stomach for throw up and it sets me off as soon as i catch a whiff or see it.

Monday was better for Mia but then the squirts started which she STILL has. Then Dominic was hit on Tuesday, no puking surprisingly but bad squirts. Then yesterday Damien. I had this sneeking suspicion he'd be next because he's always been one of the first to come down with whatever illness is in the house. I decided for breakfast instead of milk, I'd give him dry cereal and applejuice instead of milk. Good idea because 2 hours later the school called to tell me he puked all over himself and he hadn't got his class pictures done. I had to race to town with new clothes for his picture, hope he'd smile since he'd be feeling crappy, and tow 2 other little ones along. We did great though, I sure hope he smiled since I waited outside the door. On the way home he puked in my van and then stupid me gave him chocolate milk which he went down for a nap and puked it up all over himself while sleeping.

Then it happened last night. My stomach started gurgling and feeling like a brick was sitting in there. I've got the crap too although I must have a milder case of it because I'm doing fine other than this annoying tummy gurgle.

Damien poor guy, he's doing better as you can see in this picture but he's sorta back and forth. I wonder honestly how many strains of the stomach flu are in the world. We get this atleast once, sometimes twice a year. It stinks, it's too much laundry. N0 parent should have to suffer through it! It hasn't struck Daddy, Alex, and Sophia yet, hopefully they'll be spared!

For Sale

Ok my Wii fit is making mii mad. After doing the weigh in 3 times in the past week I am still considered obese and I have a fat mii. This is just wrong and can't be possible. I don't think I look or feel obese. How is it that I am truely offended by a piece of plastic. Wii fit is definitely not a friend. What friend asks your children if I'm looking any skinnier?

So I'm not really diggin it as much as what I thought primarily because I can't possibly be obese! How is this!?!?! Oh and Dave's obese as well. The only motivation I have on there currently is beating my daughter's high scores since she is consistantly calling me fat now.

Things Do Happen For A Reason, That's God!

I wouldn't say I'm still shaking this morning, more or less just in awe over what happened in the middle of the night. I normally sleep well through the night, however this morning I felt God telling me to wake up. It was more like "WAKE UP!!!" I sat straight up in bed and looked over at my clock. It said 4:30 am! I sat there for a few seconds, looked over at Dave snoring and sleeping like a log, then laid back down. I could hear Sophia's little feet moving in bed like normal when she repositions herself and then it happened again. This time it was "GET UP!" I am so sleep deprived I would normally just go back to sleep but I knew I needed to get out of that bed because I was being told to. I walked casually over to Sophia and looked in on her. Imagine my surprise when all I saw was her body laying there and no head. Somehow our little 3 month old had taken her blanket and pulled it all the way over top of her head. She was fighting like mad, arms extended straight out, bowed back and sort of a silently grunting I believe from fear because this blanket was over her head. The blanket covered no other part of her body but her neck and her whole head. I don't understand other than grabbing it over and over or getting her fingers caught in the crochet how she could have pulled the blanket so far and that was the only thing it covered.

I took it quickly off of her and she started breathing normally again. I waited there with her until she started dozing off. I wanted so much to wake Dave right then and tell him however I waited until 6:10 this morning. lol As soon as my alarm went off and he started getting up for the day I told him. After discovering a few weeks back that we are on two spiritually different levels than what I originally thought, I am making every effort for him to see that things don't just happen by chance or luck....it's God.

Here's Sophia this morning with her killer blanket.

Laundry...Doing Whatever It Takes!

I must say lately....I just suck at getting the laundry all done. Never used to be that way until Sophie came along. The constant breastfeeding, keeping Mia out of trouble, and small naps where neither are asleep at the same time make it so hard to get any of it done during the day. We are constantly doing loads and tossing them on the pool table. We don't see the green slate felt top very often.

The worst part for me is the whites. Socks. I can't stand pairing. Let's do math.

7 people X 7 days in a week = 49 pairs of socks.

49 pairs x 2 socks in a pair = 98 socks to be paired.

So the other day when Amie (my cousin) suggested paying .10 per pair of socks paired I thought it was worth a shot! So when Alex and Dom came home I asked and she jumped on it. The kid has like $250 in her piggy bank, I think she's saving for a car. lol One full basket of socks she made $3.50. We joked because if I was to pay myself (we were racing) I would have gotten $3.20. This seems to be a pretty good arrangement as we don't really do allowance too much around here. And she's all for it. Most importantly, I am not ashamed! lol

To Feed A Larger Family, When One Just Isn't Enough

Call us strange but Dave and I really get a kick out of watching our family grow and seeing how much they eat. It's amazing to us how much we go through compared to when it was just 2 or 3 of us. Everyone knows eating at home is cheaper than going out but things do start to add up especially when you are buying more fruits,veggies, and meats. Because our kids are so small we encourage them to eat as much as they can since they are nearly skin and bones. The way they eat though I don't see how they stay that way!

These are several things now that we're noticing that we can easily go through with 4 or 6 of us eating. I'm sure there's more but this is off the top of my head.

A loaf of bread (sandwiches or toast I can use a loaf for 1 meal)
Canned cinnamon rolls (my kids can clean out almost 2 cans, I may get 1 or 2 leftover on a school morning)
Bacon (we go through two 12oz packages very easily)
Canned Biscuits (like the rolls, usually make one but the kids would love two)
A box of cereal (I kid you not, one morning 1 box, usually a 12-15 oz)
Deluxe Kraft Mac n Cheese (I buy the expensive stuff, they'll eat it all and want more)
Toaster Strudels (now this one cracks me up. 6 toaster strudels in a pack, we get none)
Tortillas (if I'm making cheese enchiladas for the kids, I'd better buy 2 packages)
Bananas (I try to buy bunch of 8 or so because one meal a whole bunch is gone. Mia and Dom will eat 2 each)
Chicken Noodle Soup (a lot of canned stuff, I've started buying those big family size cans, that helps. lol)



It'll be even more interesting to see how this raises as they grow older, Sophie is eating table or when we add another one to the bunch. ;) Any foods you've noticed your troop gobble up in a meal?

Obama's Balls

The other day we spent nearly all day watching history as Obama became president. That evening we were flipping channels and all the news channels were live feeds of the Inaugural Balls that President Obama was attending. Alex came in the front room sat down and said, "Barack Obama has too many balls. I guess he has like 10!" Dave and I looked at each other smiling and just burst out laughing. We are such dirty minded parents.

Little Girl, Big Baby.

This month I have not been able to supply Sophia with all the milk she needs. First, she cleaned out 15 bottles worth of pumped milk in the freezer. Now I'm giving her about 4-8 oz of formula a day just to get her by. I have her on me or pump all the time but it's not enough obviously! Yesterday I pumped early am and then had her on me all day until we went to church at 7:30. I gave her formula at church, 8 oz in 1 hour. Then she drank 4 oz breastmilk before bed at 10. She's drinking a ton. That's 12 oz she had in 3 hours and she's 3 months, 1 week old.

This is definitely a problem as in 3 hours I only have an output of maybe 4-5 oz. There's no way I could do 12!! She is a hefty baby, I'm guessing atleast 14 maybe 15 lbs now. At her 2 month visit she was at the 88%ile. She may be thriving a bit too much!

SO I went ahead and took Reglan last night another this morning. This is the script I had from Mia to build my milk back up after my pancreatitis ordeal. I've never tried Fenugreek and gatorade that I hear so much about but think I'm going to have to try it. I think now that she's over 3 months I'm going to try cereal a few times a day with her as well and see if that slows her down some!! I really hoped I could feed her longer than I did with Damien. I kept with it till he was almost 4 months old.

Size comparison Mia and Sophia. Sophia's tummy is just about as wide as Mia's!!

Hair Down and Nerdy

And there ya go. lol

Stereotypical Beliefs Of A Large Family

You know, I should have a bumper sticker made saying Hi! I'm Mom to 5 and I'm broke as a joke! People would just read thinking 'yep she is' but then look at my van and wonder how I could afford my brand new van? Then probably assume I pay for it with my welfare check.

I ran into this stereotype this past week. Asked "Are you guys doing ok?" Yes we are! No we're not on welfare but thanks for thinking it! (insert rolling eyes here) In this picture I'm holding 10 free cheeseburger cards from McDonalds and 3 free kid's meal cards from Applebees, minus 3 Applebees cards I used the other day. I have been making off great every time I've taken the kids recently to the Dentist or Doctor when someone asks how many kids I have. I'm thinking maybe this is actually a perk! Yes! Assume I'm broke! Also if my insurance wasn't covering therapy I was also told just to "pay what I could" and that would do. Wow! Sweet man but again, I'm not broke!

What mom of many hasn't ran into common assumptions. I tell ya my list could go on forever.

"Are these all yours?" Man I love running into old friends from high school who haven't caught up with us on myspace or facebook. No they aren't all mine, my husband left me for someone else for a few years then came back with kids!?!? Geesh!

"What's he think of all of them?" I will never forget when the Schwans Man asked me this when we were expecting #5. I stood there stupidly looking at him like "did he really just ask that?!" Sadly this has been asked more times than I can count. I guess the belief is that some women trick men into having a ton of kids. I think men (although sometimes not REAL smart) are smart enough to know that sex can sometimes = baby. Call me stupid but I just think they are smart enough to know that. And just to make it clear, I have always made it clear to my dh when I have baby fever and he's always been there to say if it happens it happens!

(Redneck Kansas voice here) "What are ya, Catholic?" Someone for the 100th time asked me this the other day, not in a redneck voice though. lol Does it honestly matter what denomination you really are? I think the next time asked I'm just going to say "Ugh! No, I'm not religious at all just quiverfull." Use my awesome gift of sarcasm and see if they can figure that one out. "Do You Know What Causes That?" The freaks out there that ask this question should really come over at 9 pm when I'm passed out on the couch for good for the night.

So in 2 weeks I'll be taking Dominic back to the Dr and really am curious if he's going to handout more free McDonald coupons for all of our kids. You know Sophia at 3 months old is loving cheeseburgers. lol

Eye Exams Were Long Overdue

The past two weeks I've taken myself, Alex and Dom in for eye exams. We've had eye insurance forever but it's just one of those things I've put off for no good reason. We discovered at the appointments that I needed a stronger script so I got some new glasses, Alex is near sided like mommy so she got glasses, and Dominic with his eye that crosses is far sided however his right eye is swollen so he can't do a script until we get it back to normal to finish his exam. He will also need therapy to correct his eye so that the left doesn't have to work so hard. I felt bad when the Dr asked how long his eye had been crossing and I said about a year. Bad Mommy!! So we have another appointment in 2 weeks with Dominic.

Anyways these are my new glasses and I like them but I wonder if they are a bit too much for my face. Dave says if I wear my hair up I look like a cute dork, but if i wear my hair down with them, it looks bad. I think the biggest thing is my old ones didn't have that bottom rim on the glass so it wasn't so obvious I had glasses on. So I guess I wear my hair up everyday?! Or maybe just wear my old glasses on the days I wear my hair down? (insert shaking my head right here)

He also says it's all my fault the kids have bad eyes, his are perfectly fine. Do you ever get that? Anything wrong with a kid and it's the other parent's fault. So far the kids have taken my bad eyes and sarcasm but he says they have his great looks and math skills.

Kaelynn

The past week has been a bit chaotic for my poor sister. It started Tuesday when Kaelynn came home from school complaining of her hip hurting. By Tuesday evening she could barely walk. Wednesday she went to the Dr and they ran a few blood tests, Thursday she went back for an MRI and Xrays after discovering infection was taking over and Friday the infection rate was so high they put her in the hospital. Today the other numbers they are running are showing other numbers on the rise (i have no idea what they are) so they transferred her from the hospital here to Children's Mercy in Kansas City. They have no clue what's going on at this point. We went to the hospital before they left for KC. She is just peacefully sleeping as they have her a bit sedated with Morphine drips and some strong antibiotics. It looks like if they don't have answers sometime tonight we'll probably be going up there tomorrow. It's a 3.5 hour drive with 5 kids. lol! This will really be testing out my van's capability of keeping kids busy. We only have 3 channels on Sirius Satellite TV so I'm thinking maybe we'll take the Xbox or Playstation.

Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers that we figure out this mess soon. Kaelynn is in a great deal and with no answers it's very frustrating.

Amazed

My Pastor's wife asked me what was going on after seeing my sad status on Facebook the other day and I laid it on her what I had learned. She said she knew something was going on because Sunday we sat directly in the pew infront of her and for some reason she felt she needed to pray for us. Then she said after the service she told her husband (Pastor) that for some reason she knew we needed prayer but she didn't know why and she said he told her he'd been feeling that way too. Ok we have like 1500 people in our congregation so to me this is just another sign of God. For them both to be thinking we need prayer out of everyone is just amazing to me. This is God's way to clue others in I guess! Anyways I am going to just take her advice and pray, and leave this between God and Dave. I am not going to press or nag at all. I know he will come around someday.

Here We Go Again :(

Since having Sophia we've kind of withdrew ourselves from a few activities but are trying to get back into everything, especially with church. We haven't helped with Awana since having her but we are back to going on Wednesdays, we just listen to our Pastor while the kids are having fun in the nursery and Awana. Sophie stays with us. lol

Our church had been preparing to do the whole Starting Point program (by Andy Stanley) and was asking everyone to think of enrolling. Since Dave sounded interested when I asked him about it we went ahead and signed up for it. There's like 7 of us in our group so pretty small and the host's wife is in our playgroup so that's nice that I already knew someone. We had our first meeting on Sunday on Chapter 1. We started with introductions and a question you would ask God. Mine was Why do you need to prune us?!?! Dave didn't have anything. Host wanted to ask Will we have more kids!? But as the night went on and we started answering questions from the first chapter, I realized I am so far out of touch with Dave, I don't know what the heck is going on anymore. I realize that going into this over a year and a half ago with me he wasn't really a believer but he's the one that pushed me that I should go back and he'd come with me. He wasn't raised in a church like I was, he had no spiritual upbringing as a child. I guess I should have looked over the material alittle better about what this was before jumping into it. His answers threw me so far through a loop. I am just sick about the whole deal. My chest hurts I ache from this whole deal. I keep crying when he's not around. I don't know what to do.

A brief "brutally honest" (as he said) summary of the night would be God has played no role in his life. He doubts God's existance because of his beliefs on Evolution and awful things that happen to people. His example? Our miscarriage. He just can't see how God could do that to a person. He has never felt God's existence or presence ever in his life.

If your a Christian, you can see why this is killing me. A year and a half! I feel completely sad that I had no idea that's how he's felt and that I hadn't tried to say or point out anything to help him understand, believe, know our heavenly father. We sit there at chuch twice a week and I never knew. He's never said anything at home to make me believe he didn't. I had to butt in when he brought up our miscarriage. First I didn't want him to breakdown, the pain 5 years later is still that great, but I took over saying that was where that pruning comes in that I as a Christian hate so much. lol The growth from that experience was that our relationship grew in ways you can't explain unless you've had a loss that great. The connection I felt to him after that was massive and for him to tell me over and over and cry that he wanted to try again for another baby??? THAT friends was a miracle and only one great God performs those! And then I did get pregnant again, with Damien, our miracle.

So now what do I do? I'm so lost. I am sure he wants to believe and I just need to get him there.

Guess Who's 3 Months!

Believe it or not, it's came already! Sophia has hit 3 months! She looks about the same as when we brought her home, just alot bigger! Yay breastmilk! lol Her big thing right now is cooing at everyone and big smiles. Giggling when you touch her tickle spots on her sides and on her collar bone. Looking at these pictures you can tell she's a happy girl. And thankfully the growths in her mouth have disappeared for her pretty smiles. Thank You God for that miracle! We are still having her room in with us but she is ready to transfer into Mia's room. I haven't nightfed her forever. I think she started sleeping through on a regular basis at like 4 weeks. My boobs didn't like it at first but have adjusted to fit her needs I guess. lol Overall she's a great baby and we all love her to death!

She's 2!

Miss Mia's birthday is today. She is 2! Yesterday for fun I got out some old videos of Alex at right at 23-24 mths old. Wow. They look just a smidge different but acted the same way except I know Alex wasn't a bully like Mia is. lol When Alex came home I said you need to watch this so we watched again and she laughed and I laughed with her. I told her she had to be the only child that we would help line up couch cushions on the floor for her to jump onto. lol Her speech was just so awesome for that age, makes me worry about Mia some. I hoped with her we wouldn't be going down this road for a 3rd time but we may. I just can't believe what a different child Alex is now from how crazy and full of energy she was back then. Mia seemed a bit confused, laughing but almost like she wondered if that was her on the TV. Today I will be making a cake for our little girl. Her birthday party will be at the end of the month when we do her joint party with Dominic.


Now at 2 you can really see what kind of little girl she's going to be. Mia's love for horses is getting stronger. She loves My Little Ponies, Dora and Diego are going on the backburner. lol She likes Hotwheels and Dinosaurs. Wonder why? lol! Her favorite foods are bananas, strawberry applesauce, mac n cheese, toaster strudels, and cinnamon toast. Her favorite thing to say is "oh man" and "holy cow!" She hates socks but loves hats. Her favorite thing to do when she throws a fit is to fall down and act hurt and see what our reaction is even if it's 10 times in a row. She loves to be "kickeled" (tickled) She'll point to any body part you tell her to, even her boobies and butt. She loves to pinch mommy's nose so I'll talk like nasally Spongebob. She will run off in parking lots unless you hold her hand and jump on your back to ride you as a horse if you lay on the floor. She's a crazy, spunky little child.

I hope for a few year old changes with Mia. She really needs to give up the binkie. Hopefully potty training will be something she wants to do rather than a joke.

I hope she realizes that hitting like her brothers is not lady like. That biting is not that friendly either. That writing on the walls, appliances, and other objects is bad! I hope she continues to grace us all with her pretty smiles, hugs and comedy acts throughout the day.

A New First

Even with 5 kids, an experienced Mom can have a "first." I officially have a thumb sucker. It started pretty regularly a month ago. I didn't want it to be this way (although it's freakin cute!) but I guess I have no choice because Sophie doesn't seem like she's going to change her ways. Now I see pros and cons to this. Let's count them.

Pros

1. She soothes herself all the time when she's upset. Really doesn't need mommy all the time!
2. The child has been sleeping through the night since she was about 3-4 weeks old but now she'll suck her thumb and sleep nearly 12 hours without waking! It's kinda nice early in the morning!

Cons

1. Can't take it away from her when she is older.
2. Everyone I know that has had a thumb sucker or was one still does it. I know 2 adult friends that suck their thumbs. They immediatetly take it out of their mouth when they see you staring at them. lol

A bit of a tie there . lol So has anyone else had a thumbsucker. What should I expect with this? Do they give it up easily or will it drag on? She's not even 3 months old yet and she's already picking and choosing what she wants to do. I don't think I get a choice in this matter!

He's STILL home!

WELL this whole mess with Dominic has gotten a bit crazy. Come to find out that tummy aches and headaches were most likely from doses of Lortab every 4 hours and Mommy couldn't put 2 and 2 together. (sigh) After figuring this out after a full week of Lortab the ENT office had me toss it and they put him on Prednisone since he had a cough and still wasn't feeling 100%. So Tuesday came around and I was for sure he'd go back but he woke at 6 am pooping and it was a ton. Figured I'd just take him later. By 10 am it was full fledge diarrhea. Apparently he caught a stomach bug is what the Dr's office thinks is going on and they put him on Prevacid. It went on all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday. By Wednesday night he couldn't walk his bum hurt so bad. It was awful!! Against their advice, Wednesday I finally gave him 1 bubblegum Pepto and later 1 Imodium AD. He had been going every 20 minutes and I'm not lying. It broke my heart seeing him because I was helping him with his bum and he cringed once saying "please don't wipe me hard like Grandma did." And PS: she used a baby wipe!!! My Grandmother watched him so I could run to the store for some food and goodies for him since he was couch bound for 2 days. So tomorrow is Friday, his throat seems to not bother him at all, I didn't see any diarrhea in the toilet (I asked him to let me look at it each time) and I think he may go back.

Tomorrow HAS to be the day

It's been a very busy week since my last post. Today was the first day back after Christmas break for the kids. Dominic stayed home with us but Damien and Alex headed back for the day. He is still not 100% so I kept him home. I had no idea this surgery took kids out of commission for this long. The first 3 days he acted as if nothing happened and then it just went downhill from there. I'll spare you all the details but there's been tons of coughing, flim, crying, and attitude. Oh along with waking up 2 times each night to administer Loratab on time every 4 hours. During this whole adventure I decided I'd get alittle attitude as well with Damien. I told him no more diapers as of Friday morning when he woke up and he could just poop and pee himself for all I cared. (we don't do pull-ups here) Four days later he's had just 2 accidents. Pretty impressive, eh? I even sent him to school today in Spongebob undies. Yeah I was tired of being nice so just like the other 2 with a little tough love and "you will sit there all day" approach he decided it was time to be a big boy. So that was that.

We had a big weekend at church along with service we joined a small group. We are doing the Starting Point program if anyone has heard of it. It'll be interesting to see how this goes. lol We're always so busy with the kids we've never done a small group in the past but I decided we needed to try. To kick it off the church had a chili get together last night so everyone could meet who was in their group. Our host is new at this so there's only 7 of us so far. It took me 4 hours to find someone to watch our kids last night so I decided we have got to find a teenage sitter who wants cash. lol We did eventually get my aunt over. I tried paying her but she's a nice aunt and said no way. I felt bad about it but she was persistant.

So that's about all that's new around here. I was very sad when the 31st rolled around because I had just discovered in the last month you could buy MP3's on Amazon with Pepsi points and then they ended their promotion. I got 5 songs. See how behind times I am?

Hopefully tomorrow Dominic will be getting back to school and things get back to normal around here. He's been acting really good today so I think I'm going to try sending him. In a way I think he's milking this whole thing. ;)