Our summer so far has been C R A Z Y!!!!!!

I think one of the worst things about summer break is the chaos that goes with it. I love having the kids home, I do not like NOT having a routine. Practices are sporadic, games all the time, running to 4-H meetings, all the other day summer activities, kids don't get to bed on time, we get up LATE which really drives me nuts. The kids all have love/hate relationships with each other.....no one listens to me!Even though it's been kinda nutty and I'm having a hard time keeping up, I'm trying to make it a good summer for them all. I know sometimes I say "no we can't do that" alot making the kids alittle mad.....

But there's truely not enough hours in the day to get everything they want to do and what I NEED to do done. But anyways here's a little bit of our summer so far! We started out with a bang. First week off we had Basketball Camp. Both boys went this year which was nice because Damien I think felt left out the previous years but this year he was old enough! Then Alex took 2 weeks away for 2 different church camps. During that time we started swimming lessons. Alex was came back at the end and helped me with the kids keeping them busy along with Grandma Betty.

On our off days I've been fitting in yearly well checks/baby checks. I figure summer is the best time to get all that out of the way. I feel like we should have a front parking place at the clinic with how much we are there.Our garden has been doing so/so. The weather this year is awful and even with constant watering we are not getting much so far. Just some cukes, Zuchinni, and lettuce. Usually we'd have so much more but when your grass is all dead and the ground is as hard as a rock it dampers the growth. Today was 110 and everything out there was completely wilted so tonight I will have to water like crazy.

This summer Damien has decided he REALLY enjoys taking pictures with my cell phone. He is constantly taking pictures of us all. Sometimes they turn out great.
Sometimes they don't turn out the greatest! lolWith 4th of July the girls knew we got to pull out the 4th TuTus. We went to the 4th of July parade and Sophia insisted on wearing hers. She really enjoys dressing up!

Sometimes she cracks us up with her attire. ;)I also have been taking advantage of all the free Home Depot and Lowes building clinics for the kids. We have done ALOT but I tell you what, they make happy kids and that is my main goal when I decide taking 7 kids out alone. Who cares if I go insane, as long as they are happy!!Gianna is growing up to be such a sweet little girl!
But don't let this picture fool you, she turns into a screaming terror from about 8-11 pm. Colic sucks to say the least. I wish there was some way around her fits but there isn't. She's nursing on and off for 3 hours before we get her to sleep which makes me extremely sore!

I've been trying to figure out who she looks like or will grow up looking like....Maybe Sophia???


Other than that, not much else to report. Hoping maybe we can start getting some bids just in case the interest rates are going to rise so we can expand our house. It is getting a bit tight and 1 bathroom won't work for 9 of us forever. So I'm praying we either fix our house with a home equity loan, win the lottery or they drop this 7 bedroom/4 bath down about $100K so we can afford it. :)

5 Months Old

How on Earth is this child 5 months old? I do think that she looks alot younger than what she really is. I think that's one of the amazing things about having her 6 weeks early is her aging along with everything is taking awhile which is great since she's our last baby! lol! We are really working on things though. I'd like to get her to lift her head better. She's lifting it but then it slams back down on the carpet. She has alot of head control when she is lifted upright though and can look around without her head going all over the place. Gianna really knows everyone in her family though. She LOVES staring at everyone, smiling and cooing. One of her favorite things to do is sort of play peekaboo while I'm breastfeeding her. She's starting to do some bubbles or rasberries now which is cute! She's rolling side to side but not quite over yet! She definitely is a huge blessing to our family. If I'm having a bad day all I need to do is sit with her. She will "talk" your ear off, smile and screech with the prettiest little grins and you will forget all about what you were having a hard time with. :)

6 years old!

I started this blog back when i was pregnant with Damien. It's hard to believe he is 6 years old. It was a really scary pregnancy as I had miscarried our 3rd baby, little does he know he was actually our 4th. We found out extra early through sono because I went to the ER with horrible pain after a positive pregnancy test to discover I had kidney stones. I had issues the past year and once I got pregnant it got really bad. They finally did pass and it was calcium stones but because of all that I got to see him grow from a 4 week, 5 week, and 6 week sono when he finally had a heartbeat. :) The pregnancy went great though and I was enormous. I ended up doing a 3 hour glucose with him but it came back fine. He was the one that gave me the varicose veins and all that extra weight feeling of shortness of breath. When he came out he was 9lbs 13 oz and 22 inches long. Quite a big boy! He's a skinny little fart now though.

His favorite things to do are play Mario Kart on Wii, he LOVES Hotwheels, and school! He was the smartest kid in his class last year which is crazy from having Dominic struggling so much with his Aspergers and ADHD. We do have issues with his speech and are still dealing with some Speech Apraxia but it doesn't hold him back. We are not as frustrated as we used to be!! lol! His favorite food is Pizza and he can eat about 4-5 pieces! He likes sports and loves animals. He's a great little guy and we are blessed to have him in our family!