First day of school!

Today was a good day! The first day of 2nd grade for Katelyn and the first day of kindergarten for Connor. The bus was early so I didn't get all the pictures I would have liked but at least I got a couple.

Because the weather was so beautiful we decided to walk Connor to school. It was a nice walk. Pokey but nice!

Saying goodbye to Connor was tough! Tougher on me then him, I think. I had to choke back my tears.

A couple people have commented that it didn't seem so tough when I sent Katelyn off to school. I had some time to ponder this. It was hard sending her off to first grade but it was different for her. She had already been in the school for two years at that point so knew her way around. She is more out-going, Connor is shy. She knew a lot of kids that she would be in school with, whereas Connor doesn't know anyone. I think those were the biggest reasons I was a little less worried. However, it also is that I didn't blog at that point so no one really knew how tough it was :)

Seeing the bus come up the road was just wonderful! I was giddy with excitement to get my hands on these two monkeys for a big hug! And... They didn't disappoint, the hugs were huge and wonderful!

Connor didn't talk much about his day. I think he needs some time to process it a bit more and then he will talk a bit more about it. Katelyn said that 2nd grade is easier than first. I decided not to tell her that it was only the first day and she shouldn't get her hopes up!

Boy, I am relieved day one is over. I am soooo tired and so were they!

A change of posts..

My original plan was to blog about a "remote control for life" but sometimes plans change. You'll have to wait till another day for that post.
Plans changed because my stomach has just been in knots today and I needed to share about that instead. I have been actually feeling sick to my stomach and on the verge of tears a few times today. It's due to what is going to happen tomorrow...
Tomorrow is Connor's first day of kindergarten. His first day in the big school. His first day going to a place that I am not alowed to just walk into whenever I feel like it. His first day saying good bye to me outside and walking off without me. I can't seem to control the, "what-ifs" that are going through my mind.
What if no one talks to him and he is too shy to talk to someone else? What if he leaves the class to go to the bathroom and can't find his way back? What if no one sees him standing off to the side and he misses the bus? What if he starts chewing on his shirt (a terrible habit he has started) and someone teases him? What if he gets on the wrong bus? What if...??? Who will help him find his way? Who will hold his hand if/when he gets nervous about something?
Five years and almost three months ago he was placed in my arms for the first time. With his dark blue eyes and a head full of dark hair. I can still feel that moment. The knowledge that I would always take care of this baby boy.

It didn't take long before he decided to be a bit independent, but I was always behind him when he looked back.

Last year, I was still behind him for the most part. I was able to spend as long as he wanted me to at his school.

I know I have to let him go. I know that he will be fine. I know that no matter what happens during his day, he is resilient.

Unfortunately, knowing doesn't seem to be quite enough for today.

Keep your eyes posted tomorrow for a first day of school update!

Summer fun, two years ago...

I came across this today and smiled... I did this over two years ago. Wow, they have grown!!!

Man, I love these pictures!

Laid back...

I would definitely say that I am more laid back with each baby. Things I would never have done or given Katelyn have been given to each following baby a little sooner. Not things that are dangerous, of course.
For instance, Katelyn was at least two before she got her first taste of a lollipop. Ben on the other hand was only 6 1/2 months. It wasn't me exactly, Katelyn decided to give him a taste of her lollipop. (Note to self: Talk to Katelyn about giving Ben things without asking me first.) Well, Ben sure did like this new found taste!
We only let him have a few licks and yet he was still sticky and needed a bath. While he was in the bath, with Katelyn, Ben swallowed a bit of water and was coughing. Katelyn picked him up and said, "Don't worry, it goes down the same drain as breast milk." I was cracking up!

Katelyn went to a birthday party this afternoon and had a lot of fun. It was her friend, Nicole, from her class. It's funny, Nicole's mom and I went to school together and were friends too!
There was face painting, pizza making, snow cone making, hot tub swimming (heat turned down of course), and cake eating fun! Katelyn looked beautiful when I picked her up!

The pictures don't do her face painting justice but give you an idea. She was so giggly and I loved it!

More growing....

These monkeys just keep on growing! Katelyn is very excited to be able to stand on the swing now...

Yesterday when she was sitting on the rock today she looked so grown up to me. It must be the haircut!

This morning when I was putting the coffee pot on Maggie came bouncing in the kitchen talking fast and had a huge smile. She was telling me that, "Mamma, come look in the bathroom. I can turn the water on and reach when I'm on my feet!" Sure enough she can. Just the other day she either needed the stool or would open the cabinet and stand on the floor of the cabinet. My response was just as excited although part of me wanted to say, "That's great honey, but I don't want to see that because I would rather live in denial of the fact that you are growing, ok?"

P.S. Please don't pay attention to the mismatch jammies. In our house we would never actually wear mismatch jammies, that would just be a huge fashion mistake! (Can you sense the sarcasm?)

Busy day

Once upon a time I was a preschool teacher. I guess I still am one, just in a different capacity, right? Anyway... One thing that I was very aware of, and wanted to do different with my children, was how much in a rush so many parents were in. I vowed to myself that when I had my own children I would not always be in a rush. I wouldn't plan things that constantly put us in a rush. I wouldn't "over-book" our lives. I am a strong believer in down time, and lots of it, for children.
Happily, I can say that I have done very well accomplishing this with our family. Each child can only do one "thing" at a time. IE... Sports. It's not often that we are in a true rush to get somewhere. It takes planning, and it doesn't always work, but it's well worth it.
I will admit however that on occasion I have "over-booked" our day or week. Yesterday was prime example of this. We were busy from before 9am and didn't settle for the day until after 7pm. Although it was a "good-busy" day it was a "over-booked" day, and those don't usually end well.
We started by getting hair cuts for the boys at Dick the Barbers...

Chris has had his haircut by Dick for his whole life so naturally this is where we bring the boys. Connor had so much hair that he had his first haircut before he turned two months! He is an old pro. Dick even says he does better then his Dad, lol!
Ben had his first time in the chair today for a few random, long, crazy hairs! Not sure it can even be really called his first haircut. He did well though.

Then we headed to the diner next door for breakfast. This is the perfect place for the children to practice their "restaurant manners". Quick and yummy! We haven't been much lately but now that Ben can sit in the high chair we may go a little more often again.

Then we went across the street to the oval where the kids played on the bandstand and I fed Ben. I even got the kids to sit in the grass for a nice picture!

Next, we headed down to Auntie Neala's town for some time at the sprinkler park. That water was a bit cold! The kids liked it, but I wouldn't say they loved it. I would say that Katie and Katelyn enjoyed it the most.
After, we walked over to the park. It was a nice park and they all had fun there! Ben loved swinging! I wish I had a video camera to capture the giggles, they were priceless!

Katelyn, swinging around like a monkey, as always!
After the park we went to Neala's sister-in-laws house to have lunch and play with the tiny baby kittens. The kittens are only 4-5 weeks old! The original owners were not honest though and the kittens should have never been separated so young.

Continuing on... We headed to Connor's school for the ice-cream social and to meet his teacher as well as checking out his new classroom. The class looks great and I think Connor was happy to get to check it out.

He found lots of stuff in the class with his name on it. That meant a lot to him!

Next we headed to Katelyn's school to meet her teacher and check out her new classroom. There was an ice-cream social there also but we skipped that part there because we were running out of time and patience. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures! I was busy trying to contain the two middle monkeys and keeping Ben happy. Ben was done being carted around and was letting me know it. I was regretting having carted him around all day.

Finally though, was Maggie's open house at her school. Chris took the three older kids and Ben and I stayed at home. He had some much needed floor time and ate before crashing.

The good thing is that Chris knows how important pictures are to me so he took some at the open house so I wouldn't miss it. (Thanks Honey)

All in all it was a great day! A bit over-booked, but none-the-less, a good day!

Girls school haircuts....

After relaxing most of the day and enjoying the absolutely beautiful weather I decided to bring the girls for a haircut. They have both been asking and really needed one!

Katelyn went first and asked for really short hair. I secretly signalled to not cut it quite as short as Katelyn had requested. It is still shorter then I would have chosen, but it's her hair and it will grow back.

Next was Maggie's turn. She wanted hers, "just like Katelyn's, short.". Most of her curls are gone anyway but that meant they would all be gone.

Before....

During....

After...

I think they look beautiful!!!

Turn on your speakers!!!

Turn on your speakers everyone. I put some music on my blog for you all to listen to while you read. I chose songs that speak a lot about how I feel as a Mommy! Enjoy, I know I do!

A symbolic picture...

Don't worry, I haven't forgot about my blog. The kids and I went away for the week to Onset, MA. I have lots of pictures to share, of course! Not today though, as I am very tired.

I did want to share this picture that I just found on another blog.
I mentioned a while back that I lost two babies between Maggie and Ben. Some days I think of these losses constantly and others, not quite as much. Lately it has been more often. Maybe because I am coming up on the 2 year anniversary of my first loss. Maybe because I look at Ben and wonder what those babies that I lost would be like. I don't know, will probably never know, what makes me think of it more sometimes then others. I do know that it still causes heartache for me.
Anyway, I found this picture a little bit ago and, well, it's what I believe happened to my two lost babies...

Time...

Time really is relative. Don't you think? For instance, to a person running late for a doctor's appointment, stopping for one minute at a stop light seems to take forever. Waiting for your turn for the bathroom when you really "gottago" seems to take hours. On the contrary, hours spent at your wedding that took so long to plan, feel like minutes. Do you get what I'm saying?



My pregnancy with Ben seemed so long. There was a time that I didn't think we would ever get blessed with a fourth baby. 40 weeks of pregnancy at times seems to go on forever, and at other times flies by.

Even looking back, time can change how it feels. Does that sentence even make sense? An example.... When I was going through serious labor with Ben it lasted for about six hours. At the time, it seemed soooo long, and yet, when I look back, it went by so quickly. Pushing, lasted only ten minutes and yet, it took forever for Ben to make his final descent.

Some days around here go by S L O W.... Weeks go by quick... Months go by so fast... Years, every time I blink another one goes by.

Today is a big day. Ben is six months old! Half a year has gone by since this beautiful miracle joined our family. 27 weeks. 182 days. 4,368 hours (give or take a few). 262,080 minutes (again, give or take a few). This time has gone by with lightning speed!

It feels like just yesterday I laid my eyes on my baby for the very first time....


And now... He's 6 months old...
Starting to sit up on his own.

Making funny faces at Mommy...

Laying in the grass...

Checking out his toes...

Smiling, and making me the happiest Mom there has ever been.

Gone, already, are the days of laying still, wrapped up like a burrito. Luckily, it is still appropriate to take nakey pictures though!

Time sure is relative, and right now, time is going by way too fast. I know I can't stop my kids from growing, and really I wouldn't want to, but can I at least figure out a way to slow it down???

Tid-Bits...

A couple nights ago Ben awoke at about 5am for the third time that night. I hadn't slept well either so I was in quite a fog. I go over to his bed in the very dark room. I put my arms around his waist and lift him out. As I pull him close to me I realize that he is UP-SIDE-DOWN! Poor guy must have turned around in his bed and I didn't didn't realize it until I went to pull him into me. Can you imagine what he must have been thinking? He was WIDE awake after that!!!
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A few weeks ago Connor asks for peanuts. I pour some in a bowl and give them to him. A couple minutes later I see that he has left the table and didn't eat the peanuts.
Me: "Connor, you didn't eat the peanuts."
Him: "They didn't taste good."
Me: "Really, why?"
Him: "They taste like peanut butter."

HHHMMM, wonder why that is???
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Recently Maggie dropped some trash as she was leaving the kitchen so I asked her to come back and pick it up. She came back in quickly, picked it up, and put it on the table. I asked her to throw it in the trash. Her response, "I can't, it's waisting my time!"
Apparently she is a busy girl!

Messy then clean...

MMMM, guacamole!!! Not my favorite but so much better then that baby food Mommy keeps trying to feed me!

Plus, it's a beautiful color!

It even dyed my outfit a beautiful color!

The best part though, I got to take a bath when I was all done. Man, do I love a bath!

Now, if I could only get this silver shiny thing!

The club house

The kids have been working very hard with the two girls from next door to turn our woods into a "club house". We are talking hours of work every day! There is a living room, dining room, boys bathroom, girls bathroom (which I am hoping goes unused!) , and I'm sure much more that I am forgetting. Katelyn reminds me so much of me doing this "project". I have very fond memories of making club houses when I was little just like this!

A lot of the time I am out with the kids but sometimes I am in doing something like cleaning the kitchen or putting Ben for a nap. Between the Mom next door and I the kids are watched pretty well.... Except for a few minutes today apparently...

Here is part of the club house. I am pretty sure this is the kitchen.

Now look at the picture below. Can you see anything that would cause worry in a mom?

Here is a clue... Can you see the speck of blue high up in the tree?

I spotted this out of the corner of my eye when checking on the kids today. What is that? It's moving.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. IT'S. CONNOR.

Ok, buddy, I know you recently became confident enough to climb a tree but that is waaaay to high! Please come down (now that I took a minute to take some pictures) so that Mommy can breathe again! Somebody should really watch that kid!

Here is Christina, Katelyn, and Sierra taking a break from the hard work of building a club house!

Giddy...

I am giddy, extremely giddy, with excitement! Wanna know why? I'll tell you then...

Ben went to the ENT today to have his ears re-tested and to talk about a plan of action. Guess what?!?! Ben's ears look terrific! No pressure. No fluid. No infection. The doctor's exact words, "His ears look perfect!" OK, this is the best ear check, ever! Yes, EVER! I am so happy that his ear problems resolved themselves.

We don't need to go back unless something comes up, which the doctor reminded me is a very big possibility. But, for now, I am giddy, extremely giddy, with excitement!

Brotherly love...

A few kisses....
Plus, a little bit of slobber...

Equals, a whole lot of brotherly love!

Three...

Boy, three is a tough age! Maggie is such a sweet little girl with a great spunk about her. She is so fun-loving, kind, happy, smart, and so much more.
Lately however, it has been a struggle at times with this little girl. The temper-tantrums are happening a bit more then I would like to admit. Most of them are over ridiculous things! She really is a "three year old".
Part of her problem I believe is that she doesn't get as much sleep as she needs. She gets up earlier then I think she should. If she naps bed time is a nightmare! And, bedtime around these parts is 7pm so definitely on the early side.
Anyway.... I wanted to share the places I often find my little one during the day...
Soundly sleeping on the couch right before lunch...


Soundly sleeping under the dining room table after a tantrum tires her out...

Soundly sleeping back on the couch, in a different position...

She can be found sleeping many more places, which I haven't taken pictures of, such as her Dad's lap, the chair in the playroom, and the van.

I just hope that my sweet little girl sleeps in a little later and gives up the tantrums very soon!!! Boy, three is a tough age...

My helper...

I have never vacuumed so much in my life! We recently bought a new, handmade, rug for the living room. The one that was originally there was a 60+ year old oriental rug that was passed down from Chris' Nana and Grandpa. It is still in decent condition but had not been cleaned in a very long time. Spot cleaned yes, big cleaning no. It desperately needs to be cleaned. In order to do this the right way it has to be sent away to professionals.
So, I digress, we needed a new rug. I went and bought one that fits in great. The major down fall- it sheds! And, I have since learned, will shed for at least a year. Therefore, I am vacuuming the rug at least once a day and usually twice a day. Ben gets covered with little pieces of wool lint if I don't do it enough.
Luckily, Ben doesn't hate the vacuum like some of my other children did. He actually likes it and follows me around. I think he wants to help.


Luckily he has his own vacuum so he can help.