March 27, 2011--Spring Break

Today was officially the last day of spring break. Thank Goodness!! I love my kids and love spending time with them, but when its time for them to go back to school, I get really happy.

The kids were out of school from the 21st to the 25th. Now if you add in the weekends, that would be no school from 19th-27th. Do I even need to explain the joyous amounts of fun that can be held in that many days? However, we spent the entire time here at home...thrills. True insanity and chaos reigned and I was not the queen in control of it all, but a mere jester on the side being laughed at. *face palm*

There is one thing to be said about having six kids in the same house....CABIN FEVER!!!! Luckily the weather did allow us to go outside some and if the wind had not been blowing like crazy, it would have been great. Its hard to take the younger ones out when it feels like the wind is going to literally rip them out of your arms and carrying them off. Brenden HATES wind blowing on him, so it was a no-go on getting him outside any. We kept taking out outside breaks while he slept, but it almost never failed that the dang sun would hide behind the clouds, not giving us the full warming effect that we wanted. No direct sun+wind="brrrrrrrrr".

I would like to note that we DID get the garage looking pretty good. I still have toys out there to go through, but at least everything is not everywhere. Plus Augi's drum set has a nice big area to itself. Once the weather warms back up, it should only take a good weekend to get it all cleared out so we can get the car in there too.

My blog writing had to take a back burner when they were home. It should be noticed that I haven't written in the past few days. This would be due to the fact that the temp dropped once again, keeping them all in the house, giving me not anytime to myself. I am lucky right now because I sent them to bed....oh and the fact that Patrick is sleeping.

Now that school starts back tomorrow, we will not have anymore long breaks from school again until Summer. Summer will be nice as the baby will not be so immobile, it'll be warm outside, and we'll be able to take walks to the park. At least, this is what I hope, but knowing my luck, what probably won't happen..lol.

(pictures added later)

March 24, 2011--Heaven

Blonde jokes can't be serious can they?

Let me introduce you to my oldest child, my first born, my introduction into motherhood, Heaven. Heaven is a very book smart kid. She can write some of the most amazing stories, passes her tests with high flying colors, and is just a lil brainiac. She is also in our G/T program at this school. However, she is also one of the dumbest smart kids I know. I don't mean that in a bad way, I just mean she can be the TRUE definition of a blonde girl sometimes. She can be extremely ditsy some days, so much, you think the blonde jokes were written just for her. I will never understand how someone so intelligent can be so "blonde". I do say that with love.

I am very proud of this kid though and do not ever doubt it. She has been a great gift and a joy to have in my life. She has so much eagerness to learn, to improve, to just be the best at all she can. She gives me hope for the next generation.

I think one of my favorite things about her is that she has a voracious hunger for reading. She'll devour book after book in such a short time period and come out wanting more. It warms my heart to know that she loves reading as much as I do. She also has the same interest in storylines, which is great so that I can read what I buy her. I believe that we could "forget" her at a library overnight and she'd be as happy as a lark....well, as long as we left her a snack too. Its great that kids today can still enjoy immersing themselves into books and forgetting the world of electronics around them.

Heaven is also a great sister to her siblings. She helps me a great portion of the time with them. There are times she will whine when I ask her to do something, but she'll do it. They all seem to love her and the younger ones call her "Hiya". The only bad problem about them wanting to be around her is that they do tend to annoy her to death...lol.

The one thing about Heaven that ticks me off is her "11 going on 21" attitude. She knows it all as most kids do. She likes to roll her eyes a lot at me, like I am the dumb one. One day, she'll roll her eyes at me, and I'm going to knock those things out to watch them roll across the floor..lmao. Remember, I've said everything here with love..hehe.

March 23, 2011--Brenden

"Ties that have been severed can never be healed." HAHAHA. I find humor in that for some reason. Perhaps its because my tubes were severed, parts were cut out, and yet, they still healed themselves. Thanks to my body's super healing powers, I now have Brenden.

Brenden, so far, there isn't a lot to tell about him. He spends his days eating, sleeping, and pooping. Oh, with the occasional crying because no one bowing to his allmightyness. Haha. I try to be up his butt as much as I can, but with six kids, I do have to spread myself out among them. He seems to disagree with having to share me, but will just have to deal with it.

I am currently trying to sleep train the lil' guy to sleep on his own at night. Its working, but its also back firing on me. He is getting where he'll only cry for a little bit when you put him to bed and then he will sleep for hours. The only issue is if he gets woke up, its hard as heck to get him to sleep next to me. It especially sucks because I can't put him back in the crib since Patrick is in bed by then. So then I have to get up and pray the he falls asleep in my arms so I can get the pleasure of going back to bed myself.

He is awake right now, chewing on his shirt, trying to carry on a conversation with his hand. Its apparently not responding with the right answers because he's getting pretty ticked at it. Wait, now he's yelling at me, as I am once again, not up his butt. I think he's saying how dare I be on the computer when he is right there wanting to be held..lol. He can fuss all he wants right now, I just put him down before I started this, it won't kill him to entertain himself for another minute. Now if he puckers out that bottom lip into a sad face, well then, it'll all be over and I'll have to pick him up. His pucker is one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

You know, even though this little guy wasn't supposed to be in my life, I am glad he's here. He brings so much extra joy to our lives and makes it impossible to think of a life without him.

March 22, 2011--Six Kids

Children, they bring laughter, joy, love and worry to a mothers heart.

I am often asked "How do you do it?" in regard to having six kids. Often=multiple times daily. I've been referred to as "super mom" and "super woman" more times than I can count. It seems that everyone is curious/envious on how I handle it all and still manage to have my sanity. I usually reply with joking answers like "Two words--Jack Daniels" or "Duct Tape", but the truth is, its not as hard as people seem to think.

First time parents with their first child are often more stressed than a parent with many kids. When a parent has their first, their life all of a sudden changes. Their life routine takes a sudden 180 degree turn and they have to learn how to compensate for that change. They are trying to figure everything out from feedings to sleeping. Now lets throw a second child into the mix, now they've got to figure out how to manage their time as a parent with two kids, who often, have two very different schedules in the beginning. Add a third child, things are different, but you have a great understanding of how to adjust your life to function with having another baby around. It is at this point, adding more children really doesn't upset the balance of your life too much.

I think the hardest part about it all right now is the sleep issue. I tough it out because I know that they do EVENTUALLY start sleeping at normal times. The other issue is making sure they each have their own space to isolate themselves into they need it. It can be difficult to convince a 2yo to leave their 10yo brother alone because he just wants some silence. Now, there can be other challenges to figure out, but nothing to really stress over too much.

Things around here are chaotic from day to day, but the words "organized chaos" applies. I am lucky that while I do have a lot of kids, that my two oldest are 6 and 7 years older than my younger four. They come in handy to help keep things in motion...definitely two saving graces.

March 21, 2011--Isis

Evil comes in the form of little girls too.

Isis, my youngest girl and my drama queen. This child has the tantrum down to a science. She knows how to throw one heck of a fit. Of course, she never gets her way by doing this, but I guess it just makes her feel better knowing that she gave me another gray hair for the hour. There is not a day that goes by that she doesn't run to her room crying because she was told no...OH the horror. I'm not sure where she got it in her little head that she's supposed to get everything her way, because I sure as heck didn't suggest she was living at Burger King.

Isis starts K-grade at the school here this fall and I truly feel sorry for the teacher that pulls the lucky lotto there..lol. I actually think she'll be better there than she is here. She asks DAILY "When I go school?" because she wants to go play with all her friends. She insists that all children her size are her friends. She's going to be mighty disappointed when she learns that not every kid will want to play with her over dramatic butt. I just hope she doesn't expect to be Queen Isis there...may god help her if she does...she'll be lucky to have any friends.

She is not always a spoiled brat kid though. There are a lot of times where she can actually be really loving. She'll help with the baby, hug and kiss on her siblings, and there are a lot of times you can find her hiding up Heaven's butt..lol. She plays really well with the boys over half the time. She also will make sure no one is doing something they shouldn't be...unless its her doing it..lol.

She is definitely a girl who knows how to properly wear her halo on her horns..lol.

March 21, 2011--Sleep

Sleep, you never realize how wonderful it is until your not getting much.

I haven't had a decent nights sleep in 5 years. One full night of straight, glorious, uninterrupted sleep. For the past 5 years I've either been pregnant or had a baby, and for a few months, both. Currently I have a 4mth old who likes to wake up to eat at least once, an 18mth old who wakes up once/twice to scream, and an almost 3yo who wakes up to play. Oh the funness of it all.

Last night was no exception to my no sleep routine. First it Brenden, then Justice, then the dog, then Brenden again, then Wyatt, back to the dog, then August (he got up to pee), then Wyatt again, and then Justice. It was at this point I just said screw it and got up. That is how it is almost every single night. I feel like the boys plot out to tag team to keep me awake. The dog, well, she's a dog and can't let herself out to go pee.

I will tell you who did get sleep though, yup, thats right, Patrick. As a matter of fact, he's sleep asleep. He almost always gets a decent amount of straight sleep. Which is fine, my butt will be napping during the day while he's watching the hoodlums. Its not fair, not in the least. Maybe I should stomp around like toddler and pitch a fit. Oh wait, I do on mornings I've not slept at all..lol.

I will say there are some mornings when I've had maybe an hour of sleep that I am a complete B! What do you expect though? Am I really expected to be extremely happy and act like the house is a sea of sunshine and flowers? Umm..sorry, not happening. I will be grumpy, moody, and b-y all I want. Luckily right now I'm none of the above...earlier I was extremely grumpy, but I've cooled off since all the kids are up except Brenden.

*sigh* Is it naptime yet?

March 20, 2011-Blog time

Blog, whats a blog...Oh, this thing is a blog.

When I originally started this blog months ago, my plan was to write a little every day, no matter how random and to take a picture that day. However, as you can see, I only have a few blog posts. It seems every time I set down and start typing, I get interrupted and lose all focus. I have found it best to try to do this at night after the kids are in bed, but then Patrick has the computer. I guess I should try to do this on the iphone, but that just feels like it would take a long time to do.

Right now it is a little after 6am and two of the boys are up with me. Justice is watching Dora, playing with a car, while eating Coco Puffs and Brenden is beside me just laying in his seat STARING at me...lol. Its usually this time of the morning when I am resting after a treadmill run, or am just getting on the treadmill. Today though, I have to wait till Brenden is back to sleep to accomplish my morning Treadmill exercise. I really don't like being on it while he is awake just in case he starts crying. So I figured I'd take a few minutes today and write something. Of course, I'm still tired, so words are not pouring out of my fingers like they should be.

I need to invent some sort of mind reading machine that records your thoughts. Yes, I know we have all kinds of things that record your words and type them on your screen, but I don't even want to speak, I just want to think. At the rate my mind goes daily, I would be able to fill up the day with quite a few blog posts. Maybe call it Ithink and have it connected to the net. So every time you think of something, it posts it to the net like Twitter. Wait, not every time, that would be bad. The day would be filled with posts like "Look at those tits!" or "Damn, that guy has a nice sized package"..... As funny as that would be, I can see a lot of spouses having a bit of a cow and the divorce rate going up..lol.

Oh well, I guess I'm just going to have to keep doing this the normal way until a mind reading device comes along. Maybe I should just lock my kids in rooms for a few hours a day and just type. "No CPS, I don't abuse my kids....what they told you I lock them up....well, thats just so people online will know what I'm thinking...don't worry, I throw them scraps of food before I start"...LOL.

March 17, 2011-Random Thoughts-Getting Older

Time, it passes us by faster than we want. One day you are a young teen eager to get older and then you are an adult wishing to be younger. Who ever said "youth is wasted on the young" wasn't kidding. I didn't realize when I was younger that we really had it easy. We had no cares, no bills, no major responsibilities, and had all of our needs met by our caregivers. Now, I have to care about everything, I have bills coming in from everywhere, responsibilities out the wazoo, and I have to meet my own needs.

For a long time, and even still, I wanted to be a vampire. Vampires have two good things going for them, they never grow old, and they never die. Yes, the drinking blood is an icky downfall, but it was a price I would have gladly paid to be immortal. Getting old scares the crap out of me, although not as much as dying does. Old age because the thought of becoming an invalid does not appeal to me. Death, well, obviously the being dead part.

My dad once said that while your body ages, you don't feel like you are. That you only know you are getting older is because your body refuses to do what it did when you were younger. Its so true. I look in the mirror and can see myself aging every day. However, my mind and soul still feel young. I find it a cruel joke in a way, one I had to be really hard pressed to laugh at.

I am now a 32 year old mother of six kids and that is something I thought I'd never say. I wanted at the most three children...preferably two girls and a boy. Six kids, I mean really, who ever thinks about wanting that many kids. The only time having six kids ever crossed my mind was playing "The Game of Life" with my cousin Wendy and for some strange reason, I ALWAYS ended up with 6 kids. I remember thinking at the time "over my dead body"....funny, I'm not dead yet.

March 16, 2011-August

Who ever said "God will never give you more than you can handle" was apparently not given very much on their plate.

My son August is autistic. I should only have to stop at that sentence right there for you to know what we go through each and every day. I will go on to humor those of you who really have no clue.

They say every autistic child is different...that finding two exactly the same would be like finding two identical snowflakes on your window. Every person comes with their own set of "quirks" and challenges. They each have things that they can excel at and other things that they can't quite grasp the concept of. The spectrum range is so wide that while one maybe completely nonfuctional (1), another maybe just one step below a "normal" person (100). August is somewhere in the 65-70 range.

I love my son...I love every ounce of him. However, to say that there are days that he completely stresses me out would be an understatement. He has come along way in his 10 years of life. He was nonverbal English and pretty much had his own language. I truly wondered if he would ever actually talk to where we'd be able to understand him. Thankfully once he started school, between all his therapists, he can converse with us now...although, you do have to ask him to repeat a lot.

Things can be flowing smoothly with him one day and them BAM, you hit a wall the next. Things have to go the way he expects, so don't screw with his routine. God have mercy on you if you change his routine. Its these days that really, really make me wonder what God was thinking giving ME an autistic child. However, once the day is over, Augi has returned to his version of normal....it hits me... I was given him because while Augi lives in his own mental chaos, he fits in with my life of chaos. At the end of the day, he's still alive, happy, and I'm another day in on learning how to deal with something else.

I don't give up on him and will never give up on him. I care for him and love him.....its all he really needs in this life. He is a special kid and my life wouldn't be the same without him even with all his little quirks.

March 15, 2011-Justice

Children are amazing little humans. They grow so fast and absorb every bit of information you throw at them. They are also very manipulative. They know how to work you over and you don't even realize you've been had until its too late.

My son, Justice, is the most manipulative of my kids. He uses his cute cherubness to avoid getting into trouble and just getting his way. For example, he'll be doing something he KNOWS he's not supposed to be doing. I'll raise my voice to him, telling him to either go to his room or to sit down on the couch. He then makes this expression that would melt the coldest heart, opens his arms wide, say "Momma", then come running toward me giving some of the best hugs in the world. Now HOW can you get mad at that?!

Justice also has got the "pout" down to a perfection. When he's in so much trouble that the "hug" doesn't work, he works his puppy face. He lowers his head, puckers out that lip, sighs all pathetic like, and slowly makes his way to the couch. Its horrible how much that affects us..lol. We are such pushovers because when he does that, we have to hug him. We are pathetic that we left a 2yo have so much control over us.

My other children do not seem to have the power over us that their brother does (although Brenden's sad pucker face is enough to make the angels cry). I think its because Justice has a cherub face with golden curls that is so blindingly cute. We think that once his hair gets cut that he'll loose all his power...at least, we hope.