Random Monday - March 30, 2015

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I've finally figured out a way to make the bedtime routine go smoother.  Bedtime has been an issue since Little Dude was born because he's so needy.  Granted, he has gotten much easier to care for, but he still requires a lot of attention.  I've always had the three older kids get ready for bed at the same time which involves going to the bathroom, getting a drink, and brushing their teeth.  As you can guess, sending three kids into the bathroom at the same time to brush their teeth is chaotic to say the least.  Last night, I had each of the kids pick out a book to look at while they sat on the floor next to me as I fed Little Dude.  Then, I had them take turns going into the bathroom to do their bedtime routine before returning to finish looking at their books.  When they were all done, I set Little Dude down for a minute to tuck them all into their beds and rub their backs.  SOOOOOO much easier!!  Now, if I can just figure out a way to keep Star from getting out of bed 874 times before she finally falls asleep... 

Have you heard of Target's subscription service?  I use my Target redcard to get free shipping and 5% off on all my orders from Target which means that I shop online there a lot.  I recently discovered that Target has subscriptions to just about any household item that gets used up (toilet paper, paper towels, feminine products, office supplies, etc), and that the subscription service covers diapers and wipes!  Plus, I save an additional 5% on all subscription items I order.  So now, I have diapers and wipes shipped to my house every month and even save money on them!  Disclaimer: This rave review was not sponsored in any way, shape, or form.  I just wanted to share something really cool with my readers :)

When people ask me what's wrong with Little Dude, I usually say that he's medically complex or special needs because it's too hard to explain his issues any other way since we don't have an actual diagnosis.  My sister, however, called him special edition the other day.  I like that way better than special needs :)

I recently opened an Instagram account for my boutique (@annaliesbabyboutique) and will be posting special deals, flash sales, Instagram-exclusive products, and giveaways over there!  My first giveaway is actually running now so make sure you head over there to enter.

Follow me on Instagram at @annaliesbabyboutique to enter my giveaway!

   
Due to being pregnant or having a small baby for the past 3 years straight, I kind of dropped out of the craft show circuit for a while.  This past Saturday, I was able to set up a table as a vendor at a craft show again!  Princess and my younger sister came along to help out.  My mother-in-law babysat Little Man and Star at her house, but couldn't watch Little Dude because they're remodeling their house, and his lungs can't handle the dust and paint smells, so I got to take him along as well.  It was a lot of fun, and I realized how much I'd missed doing craft shows.  Princess was very courteous and informative to everyone who stopped at our table.  She also took it upon herself to make sure that everyone had my business cards "because it's free."  She was adorable and definitely an entrepreneur in training!

Me and my two kiddos at the craft show

Princess manning the table

Yes, we even tube feed at craft shows!

Random Monday - Feb 16, 2015

I had planned to write this post yesterday, but decided it would be more fun to get the flu and be miserable all day instead.  Side note...that was a terrible plan.

Little Dude was not as happy about his new pseudo-personalized outfit as I was. #blogpseudonym #nothisrealname #supermommyornotlittledude #11monthsold #littledude

A photo posted by Hannah (@supermommyornot) on Feb 14, 2015 at 12:05pm PST

Star's bedtime and naptime ritual includes a "huh and a mah." She gives me a big hug (huh) and a kiss (mah) on each cheek. Then she leans back to look at my face, says, "uh-oh!" and, wipes her kisses off my face before laying down to go to sleep.

Tattling is not allowed in my house.  It's okay to tell on someone if they're hurting someone or breaking something.  So, when a child comes to me with that tattling look on their face and starts their sentence with, "So-and-so did...", I cut them off and ask them if someone is hurt.  If the answer to that is no, I ask if someone is breaking something.  Princess came to tattle on Little Man to me the other day so I asked her both questions.  Her first answer was no, but when I asked her if someone was breaking something, she replied, "Just the rules!"
Touche, my dear.

Little Man: Mommy, can I take my sweater to grandma's house?
Me: Sure, I guess.  Why do you need your sweater?
Little Man: In case I get sweaty, then I can put it on.

Watching traffic. #supermommyornotlittleman #4yearsold #supermommyornotstar #2yearsold #kidsinawindow

A photo posted by Hannah (@supermommyornot) on Feb 13, 2015 at 12:39pm PST

Last week was Tube Feeding Awareness Week.  There are so many myths and wrong beliefs about tube feeding that raising awareness is important so kids and adults who are tube fed don't feel ostracized or abnormal.  I shared Little Dude's tube feeding story on the blog and shared posts on Facebook and Instagram to help raise awareness.

Today marks the start of Feeding Tube Awareness week! Do you have a question about tube feeding or Little Dude? Feel free to ask! #feedingtubeawareness #supertubie #tubie #tubiemom #feedingtube #gtube #supermommyornotlittledude #iloveatubie

A photo posted by Hannah (@supermommyornot) on Feb 8, 2015 at 8:04am PST

Can we just take a second to talk about how a certain little guy is only 2 1/2 weeks away from turning ONE?!?!  I've always looked forward to my kiddos going into the toddler stage as it's so much fun (and work!), but it scares me a bit with Little Dude because I have to face the fact that he's slowly growing out of being a baby and that means that we will have new challenges soon.  So far, he's unable to eat any table foods without choking except for gluten-free puffs that I break in half for him, we don't know for sure if he has Celiac's Disease or not, we know he has food sensitivities, but not sure to what, and he is nowhere near ready to drink out of anything other than a bottle.  I'm excited and nervous to see what this next year brings for my sweet little boy.  We'll just take it one step at a time and I'll keep reminding myself that he won't be going off to college getting all of his nutrition from formula in a bottle.


Thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate each of my readers and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram!

Random Monday - December 29, 2014

I can't believe that this is my last Random Monday post for 2014!  2015 is just 2 days away and I'm getting my "Goals for 2015" post ready to publish. 

I finally added a Special Needs Parenting page to my blog which includes Little Dude's story, links to posts about him, links to posts I've written about special needs parenting, and links to other websites that I've really found helpful. 

On Christmas Eve night, I made crockpot beef stew for supper.  It was delicious and I certainly didn't mind eating leftovers for several days after that.  The two oldest kids had slightly different opinions though...Little Man would only eat it if he could cover his eyes and pretend it was something else like chocolate chip cookie ice cream cotton candy.  Princess happily ate it, but halfway through she made this comment: "It tastes like dirt but I'm still eating it!"

I spent 6 hours organizing and going through the kids' toys, games, and craft supplies on Saturday night.  Goodwill will be pleased with our generous donation, I think.  I'm planning to buy a lock for the closet where most of the toys are going to be stored from here on out.  #mommastiredofthemess

Hubby's grandma found this hat in her basement while cleaning it out.  It used to be Hubby's dad's hat when he was a baby.

What's something you've done this past week? 

Random Monday - November 17, 2014

Star has never been jealous of Little Dude despite how much time I've spent holding him.  However, I picked Little Man up the other day and she went nuts.  She kept tugging on my leg and yelling "Out, out!" which is her word for "up."  When I finally put him down and picked her up, she snuggled in and looked up at me with a smile, "My spot." she said with satisfaction.

Little Man: "Mommy, can we glue this feather to the front door?"
Me: "Um, why do you want to do that?"
Little Man: "So everyone would know we have a feather!"
I'm not gluing a synthetic blue feather to my front door. So everyone....WE HAVE A FEATHER. Just so you know.

Little Man was digging through the diaper bag and happened to find a *ahem* feminine product that I'd stashed in the deepest pocket.  Holding it up, he yelled across the house, "Mommy, what do you use this for?!?"
I'm not going to have that discussion with my four old son.  Just...no.

It's officially winter here.  We had our first snow and bought our first snowblower.  Personally, I think a shovel works just as well and is a lot cheaper...says the spouse who doesn't do any snow removal around here.

Little Man loved shoveling even though he basically just moved it in front of the garage door.

I'd forgotten how two year olds throw marathon tantrums.  An hour of screaming over the fact that I gave you the blue cup instead of the red one is really pretty ridiculous and it earns you a timeout in your bed.  Not that I'm talking about any one of my children in particular, of course.  Especially, the two year old.

Princess: "Look at those huge ice cubes hanging outside!"

If you don't read the MommyShorts blog or follow her on Instagram, you're missing out on some hilarious stuff.  To up the ante on the hilarity, her two year old now is gramming as well.  

Random Monday - November 3, 2014

If you haven't seen it yet, go read my review on "Their Name is Today" by Johann Christoph Arnold and enter to win a copy of the book for yourself.  But only if you have children.  Or grandchildren.  Or students.  Or nieces or nephews.  Or come in contact with children at all.

I have three of the four kids' winter clothes unpacked.  Little Man will just have to freeze in his short sleeved shirts until I get around to re-working his closet too.  Or he could just listen to his ever-so-smart Mommy and wear a sweatshirt instead of whining about how cold he is.

Speaking of switching out the kids' clothes, Little Dude outgrew his 3-6 month clothes and I had to get the 6-9 month clothes out for him.  I may or may not have cried a little while I was packing away his 3-6 month clothes because first of all, there's this and also because he didn't get to wear a lot of his clothes because they weren't G Tube friendly.  I know it's a small thing, but it still bothered me that he missed out on getting to wear some of the clothes passed down from his big brother because of his G Tube.

If you follow me on Instagram, I apologize for the repeat pictures.  But seriously, these kids are so cute, I don't think it'll kill you to look at them again :)

We don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, but we still let the kids dress up for school.  I saw a pizza costume at Target and knew that Little Man had to have it as he's insanely obsessed with pizza (he'd be thrilled if he could have it for all three meals and a snack everyday).  But the price tag made me back away shaking my head.  So instead, I headed over to Hobby Lobby and picked up some felt and made one for him.  It was super fast to sew up and turned out really cute.  He absolutely loves it and begs to wear it everywhere we go.
 

I have a weird sense of humor.  It's genetic.  My whole family is weird.  But even I know it was a little pathetic that I spent several days looking for Little Man's dress-up cowboy hat just so I could get this picture of Little Dude...

Folks, meet Walker Texas Ranger.  Hahahahahahaha!!!!  I slay myself...  *crickets chirping*  Okay, fine.  At least I thought it was funny.

Random Monday - Oct 20, 2014

I just love watching toddlers learn new things everyday.  It's seriously the cutest thing ever.  Well, most of the time anyway.  In the past week, Star has learned several new things...

• She learned how to climb out of her bed at night.  She comes out in the living room with a big grin on her face and announces, "No, nigh-nigh!"

• She learned how to open the storm door.  When the weather's nice, I leave the front door open and pull the storm door shut to let some fresh air in.  The storm door is incredibly hard to open, even for an adult.  But my 2 year old figured it out!

• She learned how to buckle the chest clip on her carseat and Little Dude's carseat.  So annoying when we're in a hurry to go somewhere, and I have to take a child back out of their carseat to unbuckle the chest clip before I can buckle them in properly. 

This morning I told Star that she's cute.  She looked at me with a frown on her face and said, "No no no no.  (Insert Little Dude's name here) doot."  So I guess he's cute and she's not.  Which, by the way, makes her even cuter.

Little Man told me this morning that he's never going to throw a fit or tantrum again.  He lied.

By some miracle, my two sisters and I were able to visit a coffee shop on Saturday sans kids.  That's right...NO KIDS.  My younger sister isn't married yet, but between the two of us older ones, we have eight kids, ages six and younger.  It was a heavenly few hours.  And then we had to go home.  But at least we got a little break! 

My younger sister is a bit of a coffeeholic. 

 

Random Monday - September 1, 2014

First of all, Happy Labor Day!!  We didn't have any plans today which was good since Princess woke up throwing up this morning (apparently, she didn't get the memo about not getting sick the day before the first day of school), and Little Dude hasn't been doing well lately.  His cough and wheezing have been getting worse over the last few days, and he's miserable and unable to relax for more than a few minutes at a time.  He cries if he can't see me and it breaks my heart because I can tell that something's not right with him right now.  I'm watching him closely and hoping he doesn't have to go in to the doctor before his three appointments next week.

I froze sweet corn from my in-law's farm on Saturday.  The two littlest munchkins "helped" me. 
 


My mom let me and my siblings get a library card after we'd read 10 books on our own.  I realized last week that I'd kind of dropped the ball on that one since Princess has been reading for a while now.  So while we were at the library for storyhour on Wednesday, she got her very own library card.  She insisted on carrying it home before giving to me to keep in my wallet for safekeeping.


I can't believe school starts tomorrow already!!  I'm hoping Princess feels better in the morning because it's no fun to have to miss the first day of school.  Little Man's preschool class doesn't begin until next week so at least we have a week to adjust to having Princess at school before throwing another one in the mix. 

Princess went with my mother-in-law on a trip this weekend to visit Hubby's grandma and sister.  She had a blast, especially since they got to go shopping.  On the way home from picking her up on Sunday, she sighed happily in the backseat and said, "It's good to get away from your family once in a while."  Word.

I asked Princess if she missed me while she was gone.  She thought for a few seconds before answering, "No, I don't think I missed you."  *sob*  Well, at least the other kids still love me, lol. 

I belong to a closed group on Facebook for parents of children with feeding disorders, GERD, feeding tubes, etc.  The group is a place for parents to ask questions, vent, and support each other as we care for our special needs children.  So, imagine the horror when it was discovered that a question and picture asked by one of the moms had been anonymously screen shotted and sent to a site where it had gone viral making fun of the "stupid" mother.  There are several things wrong with this.  First of all, the group is closed for a reason-because most people can't understand what it's truly like to have a child with a feeding disorder and parents need a safe place to ask questions from others who are walking the same path.  Secondly, it may seem like a "dumb" question to some, but honestly, when you're dealing with special needs, medically complex children, every little thing could possibly mean something big so parents tend to be extremely vigilant with noticing every change in their children.  And yes, there are rare skin conditions that can cause changes like that.  It's better to ask a seemingly silly or obvious question and be reassured that everything is okay than to wonder and worry.  This to me, looks more like a concerned, observant mother than a stupid one.      

Random Monday - August 24, 2014

Princess after stepping outside: "It's so hot out here, I feel like I'm going to die to death!"

 

My older sister is a Whovian and let my kids watch some Doctor Who episodes at her house a few weeks ago which turned Princess into a budding Whovian as well.  While out shopping last week, Princess saw a blue port-a-potty and got excited..."Mommy, look!  It's just like Doctor Who's house!" which then led to a conversation about how my sister's house is just like the Tardis as well because "it's little on the outside except that it's little on the inside too."  Ha!

 

Princess: "You're the best mommy ever today!"

Me: "Thank you!  What about yesterday?"

Princess *thinks for a minute*: "No, not so much yesterday."

Thanks for the honesty, sweetheart!

 

Want baby fever?  Watch this:

 You're welcome :)

 

I got a copy of "All-of-a-Kind Family" by Sydney Taylor from the library.  It was one of my favorite books as a child, and I'm excited to be able to read it to Princess.

I've been desperate to get back to crafting, but thanks to some flooding in the basement last month, the floor in my sewing room needs to be re-done (which we're pretty sure will cost money) which means that I can't unpack my sewing supplies for a while yet.  Plus, Little Dude doesn't give me much time to dedicate to that sort of thing.  Sooooo, I've come up with some crafting I can do without my sewing machine.  Stay tuned in the next few weeks for the big debut!

I'm trying to teach Little Dude to fall asleep on his own.  And by "on his own", I mean, without me fighting/rocking him for an hour and with the pacifier, blanket, vibrating singing elephant, sound machine, infant swing, and any other sleep aid I can throw at him.  Wish me luck. 

Random Monday - August 11, 2014

First of all, today is my dad's birthday!!!  I probably shouldn't say this but he's 55 years old today :)  Hello, Senior Discounts!

Vacation Bible School at our church starts tonight.  My sister is going to come over to my house each evening to watch our younger kids and I'll take the five older ones to VBS.  I'll be helping with the junior high class so will be staying the whole time.  The kids are super psyched about it, but Little Dude has been running fevers, throwing up, and not feeling good periodically the last few days and Princess is starting to complain about not feeling good too so we'll see how they're doing tonight before I decide for sure if they can go.  I'd hate for them to miss it, but you just can't control when they're going to get sick. 

We got our tubie pads from Gotz GPadz today!  I've been looking for some that are thin and don't have tight, rough stitching around the edges and opening in the middle.  These fit the bill plus the price and shipping time were great.  I got an assortment of 10 for Little Dude.  Since my (Whovian) sister has helped me so much with Little Dude since he came home from the hospital in May, I knew I had to get the Tardis ones for him in honor of her.   :)  

Little Dude modeling one of his new tubie pads.

Have a great week, everybody!

Random Monday - July 28, 2014

Princess told Little Man her favorite Bible verse the other day..."Children, obey your parents and your older sister."

Little Man walked by me, sniffing his nose loudly.  "Mommy, I'm snarfing!"

Princess told me that we should give Little Dude away because "he's just too cute and I can't handle how cute he is!!"

Princess and Little Man went outside to play one day, but were back inside within 10 minutes.  I asked Princess why they didn't stay out longer and she replied, "It's just too sweaty out there, Mom."

I've had Little Dude's 4 month update written for about 2 weeks now, but haven't published it yet because my camera cord quit working and I can't add his 4 month picture to the post.  Hopefully I'll get it figured out before it's time to post his 5 month update!

In the meantime, here's a picture I took with my tablet, posted to Facebook, and then stole off of Facebook for my blog.  Princess was making Little Dude smile.

Let me preface this next tidbit by saying that we live in a very small town so for those of you who live in a city and are a bit creeped out by what happened, just remember this is how we roll out here in the boonies  :)
I was outside in the front yard with all four of the kids.  Little Dude was sitting in his bouncy seat in the shade and the other three were "helping" me pull weeds from the landscaping.  A car with two older ladies drove by and then turned around and came back, stopping right in front of our house.  They rolled down the window and proceeded to gush over how absolutely adorable my kids were.  Yup, my kids are so cute that they not only stop traffic, they make it turn around and come back for a second look, lol.  

Star's new favorite word is no.  Or, to be more precise, "Nooo-ooooo."  For a glimpse of her favorite word in action, check out the latest video on my Instagram.
There may or may not also be a heart melting video of Little Dude learning how to laugh right before Star's video.

Random Monday - July 21, 2014

Princess gets word mixed up quite a bit.  My new favorite mix-up of hers is when she's trying to help calm Little Dude while I get something done.  "Mommy, I'll annoy him for you!"  It took me a few times to realize that she means she'll entertain him.

Someone posted this in a Facebook group for parents of little ones with feeding problems that I'm a member of and I thought it was too good not to share!

Star spent 5 minutes the other day swatting at my arm and yelling, "Shoo fly!"  I have a freckle on my arm...

Lofty goals from Little Man...
Little Man: When I grow up, I'm going to be 13! 

Princess: Mommy, when I'm a teenager, will you be old?

Star outdid herself on the "giving Mommy gray hairs" front last week.  I had to call poison control for her THREE times because she ate ant poison, mouse poison, and one of those little silica gel packets that come in shoeboxes.  Disclaimer: I have NO IDEA where she got the silica gel packet from as I haven't bought new shoes in several years, and I didn't think she could get behind the furniture to the ant poison or mouse poison.  You know how mice can fit through pencil sized holes?  I'm starting to think Star can too.

Little Man has a obstinate streak...for example: one night at supper, I said he had to eat 4 carrots. I emphasized FOUR, not one, two, or three as he tends to try to negotiate a lower number. He responded with, "Fine, then I'm going to eat five!" Okay, buddy, have it your way!

Little Man to Hubby when they met in the hallway: "excuse me, sir" 

A few weeks after we moved into our new house, the dryer broke.  Ever tried to do laundry for a family of six that includes four young children and a farmer without a dryer?  Yeah, fun times. (Side note: my mom went for years without a dryer and sometimes a washer and she cloth diapered!  No idea how she didn't go completely insane, lol)  I thought I'd be smart and get a clothesline because my clothes drying racks only fit 1 load of laundry-except that the clothesline is still sitting in the box.  Thankfully though, we'd been saving up money for expenses like that for the last few years and were able to get an amazing deal on a front loader, high efficiency, high capacity washer and dryer set.  Hubby and his dad hooked them up last night and I'm so psyched to be doing laundry again!

Random Monday on Wednesday

Yeah, I'm a little off :)  My mind is a jumble of thoughts and I can't seem to get anything straight so I'm turning this into one of my Random Mondays posts even if it is Wednesday today.

Little Man told me that he only eats on Wednesdays now.  That should save some money on the grocery bill, right?

Princess will be done with school next week and I'm really looking forward to it.  It'll be so nice to have her home and not have to get up early every morning (unless Little Dude or Star wake me up, of course).  Right now, I'm up until 12:30-1:30 am with Little Dude, then up around 3 am for up to an hour and a half to feed him again, and then up for the day at 6:30 to get Princess ready for school.  I've had three other newborns, but this is a level of exhaustion that I didn't know was possible.  I actually fell asleep while pushing the stroller to the post office last week and many times, I'm so tired that my legs just give out and I have to hang onto something so I won't fall.  Someone recently complained to me that she was tired because she has to get up for work at 7 am four days a week after staying up late the night before.  This same person also told me that she was too tired and crabby to have any sympathy for anyone-this as we're dealing with unknowns and constant medical issues with our high-needs baby.  I was already having one of those days where Little Dude was being very needy and I was stressing about medical bills and his medical problems and the way she said it pretty much sent me over the edge so I spent the next 45 minutes crying.  But that's fine.  I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking for understanding and support and it's become pretty clear in the last few months who can be supportive and who can't.  Thankfully, most of my friends and family have been amazing and have done more to support us in so many ways than I could've ever asked for.     

We're loving our new house.  My mother-in-law and sister-in-law unpacked a lot of boxes and rearranged furniture for me while I was staying in the hospital with Little Dude so when I came home it felt like a home instead of a house filled with boxes and furniture. 

My sister feeding Little Dude.  We've found that, as long as he isn't crying too much, the bouncy seat is a good place to feed him as it puts him in the right position and we don't have to balance him and the tube and syringe at the same time.  Plus, he loves the bouncing motion so that can calm him down if he gets restless.

Little Dude has good days and bad days.  On a good day, he won't cry as much, will nap better, and will take more formula by mouth versus by g-tube.  On a bad day, he'll cry all day and will refuse to eat anything by mouth.  But, at least there are a few good days now and that's what's getting me through this right now.  And as a bonus, we finally got him on our insurance!  There was a problem with some paperwork and all of his medical claims were being denied which was a bit stressful for us.

Finally caught a smile on camera!

We're still waiting for a diagnosis for Little Dude.  Some of the genetics testing that he's having done can take months to come back so we know it could be a while.  In the meantime, his main issue is not eating and with the g-tube, we know we can help him get enough food now so we're focusing on that instead of the unknown.  Last week, he was turning blue when he cried so I took him the ER where they did an extensive echo of his heart to be sure there wasn't something else going on besides the PFO heart murmur.  His heart checked out and his lungs also looked clear on the x-ray so we didn't have to be admitted to the hospital this time.  Little Dude has had problems breathing and has had a cough and constant wheezing since he caught a cold at 3 weeks old (which is what put him in the hospital the first time).  Those issues recently got worse and we've had to do nebtreatments to help him breath.  We'll be looking into that more next week when he has his next doctor's appointment.  

A dear friend of mine sent Little Dude a personalized hospital gown for if he has to go back to the hospital.  She's the founder of Gracie's Gowns, an organization that provides special personalized hospital gowns to children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses at no cost to the family.  It's a wonderful organization that blesses many families and if you are able to, I encourage you to support it by sponsoring a gown for a child. 

Little Dude with his gown from Gracie's Gowns

It's taken me almost 2 hours to write this post thanks to the many interruptions from the kiddos and since it's now time to feed Little Dude again, I better call it good enough, no matter how disjointed and poorly written it is  :)

Random Monday - March 24, 2014

Princess upon seeing me for the first time after I came home from the hospital: "Mommy, you're not fat anymore!  Now you're just half fat."
Ummmm, thanks?

I mentioned in Little Dude's birth story that my recovery from childbirth this time isn't going great.  That hasn't changed.  Last week, I started hemorrhaging and had to call my mom to come over and take care of the kids for me.  Thankfully, it stopped before it became a big issue, but it was still kind of scary to bleed that much so fast.

Here's the best part about my recovery being so slow this time around...we're moving!!  We currently live right outside of town in the small 2 bedroom basement apartment of a friend from church.  We outgrew this place quite a while ago, but it took us some time to find a house to buy in town.  We found one about a month and a half ago and are hoping to move either this weekend or next week sometime.  Ever tried packing for a move while recovering from childbirth, taking care of a fussy newborn, a rambunctious, mischievous toddler, a 3 year old and a 6 year old?  Yeah, it's not as easy as it sounds.  But, I am extremely thankful that we finally will be living in a place with enough space and enough rooms for all the kids to nap on the days when Hubby is at home sleeping to prepare for working a night shift.

On that note, I should probably close because I need to go pack a few more boxes while the baby's not crying!     

Random Monday - March 3, 2014

Princess has had her orthodontic appliance to correct her cross bite for 5 days now and is doing great with it!  No soreness except for the first day (and I think that was just because it was such a weird feeling for her to have something in her mouth), and she's been very good about leaving it in all day and all night.  She is a little hard to understand right now, but I'm thinking I should teach her some of Sid the Sloth's lines from Ice Age and have some fun with this.  You know, because I'm such an awesome mom :)

 
Our taxes are done!  We signed them today and are done until next year.  Yay!  I always dread it so much, but this year I didn't forget to bring anything important with to the CPA's office so it made things a little smoother.  Usually we wait until late March to do our taxes, but with Baby #4 arriving anyday now (take the hint, kid!) we figured we'd better get them done sooner rather than later.

Star hasn't been napping very well in the afternoon lately which I assumed meant that she was ready to give up her morning nap.  But on more than one occasion in the morning, she has come over to me crying and when I ask her if she wants to go night-night, she nods her head enthusiastically, her eyes light up, and she takes off towards her pack n' play, chattering happily all the way.  When I lay her down, she lays down, grabs her special blanket, kisses it, and smiles happily at me before falling asleep.  And then, of course, she refuses to take an afternoon nap and is super tired and cranky by suppertime.  But how do I say no to a toddler begging for a nap? 

Random Monday - Feb 17, 2014

Me: "Can you carry that bag all by yourself or is it too heavy for you?"
Little Man *proudly*: "I can do it.  I'm a heavy guy, Mommy!"

We have entered the (expensive) world of orthodontics with Princess.  She has a crossbite that misaligns her jaw and causes her to grind her teeth excessively and will lead to issues with headaches and TMJ as she gets older.  So she's getting an appliance that will correct this before all of her adult teeth come in and make it harder to fix.  Last Thursday, she had the impressions done for the appliance, and we'll go back this Thursday to have it fitted.  The poor thing had a terrible time with the impressions because she's like me with a strong gag reflex and a small mouth.  I had to distract her with a Disney Princess app on my little sister's smart phone to keep her from focusing on the huge metal thing in her mouth, but at least we got it done.

My 3 year old nephew fell out of bed on Valentine's Day and broke his shoulder.  He has to wear a sling for 6 weeks and it's going to be interesting as he's a very active little guy.  Little Man also fell out of bed last night (from the top bunk) and only ended up with a small scrape and bump on his head.  I appreciate the fact that he didn't try to top his cousin's injury.

Valentine's Day...I picked up an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for Hubby and gave that to him since he loves them so much (they're so stinkin' expensive that we rarely buy them).  I had bought the kids some cute character cups for their toothbrushes, but I couldn't remember where I put them so they didn't get them until today when Princess found them in a bag behind the couch and they helped themselves :)  I wasn't expecting anything from Hubby so I was completely surprised when he gave me a bag of dark chocolate and the sweetest card ever.  We didn't do much, but it was a good day nonetheless.   :)  


Princess drew a picture of me the other day.  Let's just say that it's not flattering... 

According to Princess's depiction, I'm bald, HUGE, and am having 13 babies, all girls, of course.  But at least I'm smiling, right?!?! 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for "The Marriage You Always Wanted" by Gary Chapman!  It ends on February 21st so there's not much time left to enter!

Random Monday - Feb 3, 2014

Best compliment ever...I think.
Princess: "Mama, you used to not be smart, but now you are kind of smart."
Me: "Um, thank you?"
Princess: "I'm just trying to be nice."

Princess to Little Man: "I learned a new sight word at school today.  It's 'what.'"
Little Man: "Well, I learned a new sight word too!  My sight word is 'hmmmmm.'"

It's been the week of no-sleep at our house.  Star and I both started coming down with a cold last Tuesday.  When Star gets a cold, she pretty much stops sleeping until she's 110% over it.  She prefers to sleep laying on my chest (which is really comfortable when you're 8 months pregnant) and wakes easily and often.  I have not slept for more than 3-4 hours a night for 6 days now and it's a bit of an understatement to say that it's starting to wear on me a little.  Little Man came down with the same cold a few days after us, but he's a tough little guy and doesn't let it bother him too much.  The worst part of him having a cold is that he's old enough to blow/wipe his own nose (frequently), but not old enough to figure out how not to go through a box of kleenex a day.

Last week, Hubby suggested that we throw a superbowl party at our place.  In my 8-months-pregnant, sleep-deprived state, I reared back in horror at the idea of cleaning the house and hosting a party.  Then, on Saturday night (yes, that would be the Saturday before Superbowl Sunday), he suggested it again and in my 8-months-pregnant, sleep-deprived state, I said, "Sure!  Let's do it!"  So at church in the morning, we asked Hubby's parents, his brother and his family, and a few friends of ours over to watch the Superbowl and eat pizza with us.  Then, we went home and cleaned like crazy.  Hubby even mopped the kitchen floor for me which was such a beautiful sight that it almost made me bawl like the emotional pregnant lady I am.  Thankfully, I'd been staying on top of my cleaning list the last week and so things weren't too bad (while fighting a nasty cold and taking care of 2 sick kids...can you say SUPERWOMAN?!?!).  We ended up having a total of 4 adults and 2 kids come over in the evening.  It ended up being a really fun, relaxing time since I did absolutely zero cooking for it and we just threw the food on the table and everyone helped themselves buffet style.
 
Since the baby and I will be sleeping in the living room until we get our own house (thanks to a very light-sleeping Star who still shares our room), I was thinking about getting the Tiny Love 3-in-1 Rocker Napper.  We have a cradle, but there's nowhere to put it in the living room and I want something I can set next to the couch while I sleep and that can be easily moved to a different location during the day.  I like that this can be used until 40 pounds as a rocker and the baby can lay flat to sleep in it.  Anyone had any experience with it?

   
    

Random Monday - Jan 20, 2014

Sunday morning church was...well, let's just say that I want a do-over.  During Sunday School, I had a sudden realization that I'd been asked to make and print up the bulletins for that morning's service.  Except that I'd completely forgotten and didn't do it.  So...no bulletins that morning because of me.  Then, my dad and my sister had asked me earlier that morning to sing back-up for their special music number they were doing during the church service.  We always have special music right after the offering at our church, but while the offering was being taken, I noticed that Star smelled...unpleasant and so as soon as the offering plate passed my pew, I got up to take her downstairs to change her diaper.  Imagine my little sister's chagrin when she saw me get up, ostensibly to come up to the front and sing with her and my dad, except that I turned and went the opposite direction, out of the sanctuary.  I was in the nursery downstairs just about to take Star's diaper off when my mother-in-law rushed in to tell me that they were waiting for me upstairs.  She took over the diaper change while I ran (okay, walked quickly) back upstairs to join my dad and sister up front.  Except that my fast walk got me out of breath and, well have you ever tried to sing without enough oxygen?

Oh, and I've been asked to make up the bulletins for next week's service as well.  Apparently, not doing your job well (or at all) doesn't get you out of it!        

For my kids' birthdays, I usually pick a theme, decorate, make a special cake, invite all the family over, etc.  I'm taking a slightly different route with Princess's 6th birthday this year, mainly because I just don't have the energy to plan and throw a big party.  On Saturday, I invited my parents, younger sister, and 2 brothers (who just happened to be in town that day to help someone move) over for supper.  We had Princess's favorite food, tacos, and cake and ice cream.  Low key, but fun.  One of my brothers even brought his 5 year old daughter with him so the cousins could play all day.  Next weekend, we'll celebrate with Hubby's side of the family in a similar fashion.  This Wednesday is Princess's actual birthday so she is going to pick out candy to take with to school that day to share with her class and we'll bring a cake (which I will buy at Sam's Club) to church that evening.

Star isn't even 16 months old and it's been obvious for several months that she already has a favorite color and, surprise, it's pink!  She has several different pacifiers in her pack n' play-orange, green, purple, and pink-and if I give her anything other than pink, she pulls it out of her mouth and tosses it aside before looking for one of the pink ones.  Only then will she lay down and go to sleep.


I'm so excited about the giveaways I have coming up here on the blog!  I plan to post the Powerocks portable charger giveaway tomorrow.  In February, I'll be sponsoring giveaways from Adelaide's Attic by Director Jewels (she also has a blog which you can find here) and Mialisia which is an awesome new jewelry company.  Make sure you tell your friends because the more entries I get, the more giveaways I will run in the future!       

Random Monday - Jan 13, 2014

Princess informed me that she was pretending to be a princess and Little Man was the prince.  "And you can be the servant, Mommy!"  No, Mommy was not impressed with that role.

January is turning out to be The Month of the Doctor in our house.  I started off the month with an ambulance ride and ER visit (BTW, thank you to all the concern and well wishes!).  Between my OB appointments, my appointment with my asthma and allergy specialist, multiple appointments with neurology for my Vocal Cord Dysfunction, a referral to GI for my severe acid reflux, and Star's 15 month well-child checkup, that adds ups to 1 Er visit and 8 doctor visits during the month of January.  Pardon my Minnesotan, but UFFDA!

There's a stomach bug going around this area right now and so far, two of my kiddos have fallen prey to it.  On Saturday night, I was getting ready for bed when I realized that Star had thrown up all over the pack n' play, her bedding, and herself before falling asleep.  I cleaned her up, threw a load of laundry in and went to bed.  She's been fine ever since with no more throwing up, fevers, etc.  Easy enough!

Except that then Little Man caught the bug on Sunday evening.  He was in the bathroom when he felt the urge to throw up, but instead of STAYING in the bathroom to throw up in the toilet, he walked down the carpeted hallway to the kitchen to tell me that he had to throw up.  Oh, and he threw up all the way from the bathroom until right outside of the kitchen linoleum.  He threw up several more times last night, thankfully in a bucket each time.  This morning, he seemed fine so I took him with me to my friend's house to babysit.  Not 15 minutes after we got there, he yelled out that he had to throw up.  I followed him into the bathroom where he aimed for the toilet and threw up.  He had great aim too, except that the toilet lid was down and so instead of throwing up IN the toilet, he threw up ON the toilet and all over the floor.  I called Hubby and he came to pick up Little Man and take him home instead of going to the farm like he normally would have after getting off work.  Being the awesome friend I am, I bleached my friend's whole bathroom before she got home and washed the towels I used to clean up the mess :)

How was your week?  Hope all of you have been staying healthy!

Random Monday - Jan 6, 2014

Hey, my first Random Monday post of 2014!  And, unfortunately, my first Random Monday post in a while.  I've been slacking off lately.

Yesterday at lunch, the ketchup bottle made an, ahem, rude noise when squeezed.  Without looking up from his plate or missing a beat and in complete seriousness, Little Man said, "That was me."

On Saturday, we braved the cold temps to drive several hours to my brother's house to celebrate our family Christmas.  It was a fun day and the kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins who they don't see very often.  We finally got to meet my brother's 4th baby and first son who was born in July.  Little Man was especially enthralled with the baby and when I called him over to introduce him to his new cousin who was sitting on my lap, he asked, "Is this the baby out of your tummy?"  Oh honey, if only it were that easy!  Later he wanted to know if we could "take that baby home with us."  He's going to be so awesome with his new baby brother or sister :)

Today, it's so cold here in Minnesota that the governor closed all the schools statewide.  Right now, we're showing a temperature of -15 F and -42 F windchills.  Since we're cooped up inside all day, I thought it was the perfect day to put together the kids' new cardboard playhouse they received as a gift from my mom on Saturday.  Princess got one of these for her birthday last year, and it was such a big hit and a perfect way to keep the kids from going stir crazy in the house all winter that I plan to make sure the kids get one every year to play with.  This one is from Hobby Lobby for $16.99, but you can also find a ton of cardboard playhouses that kids can color and play with on Amazon.  

Star's favorite way to get in and out of the house is headfirst through the window, despite the fact that there is a perfectly good door on either end of the house.

I love that mischievous little grin!

What's the weather like in your area today?

Random Monday-December 2, 2013

Little Man was mad at me for something this morning so he said the worst thing he could think of: "Mommy, I'm mad at you so I'm going to dust the living room!" And he went to get a rag and dusted the living room. I need to make him mad more often.

Last Wednesday, I made a pumpkin pie and put it in the oven while the kids were "taking naps".  The pie was done baking after they got up so Princess saw me take it out of the oven.  She was so amazed that a pie had somehow appeared in our oven that I just kind of rolled with it and ended up convincing her that if you put an empty pie tin in the oven, a pie will magically grow inside of it.  Kids are so much fun :)

We spent Thanksgiving at my in-laws.  I brought the turkey, green bean casserole, rolls, and pumpkin pie and my mother-in-law made the rest.  It was just us, my in-laws, and Hubby's grandma so it was a small gathering, but nice. 

I'm trying to get in the Christmas spirit, but it's just not happening.  Usually, I would be dying to decorate the house for Christmas, but this year, I'm seriously considering throwing up the stockings and a string of lights and calling it good enough.  I will officially be in my third trimester tomorrow and that made me realize that I will be having a baby in 3 months.  A baby that we literally have nowhere to put.  Because Star is such a light sleeper, I can't put her in the kids' bedroom with the older two so she's still sleeping in our room in a pack n' play.  Because she's such a light sleeper, she and the baby can't be in the same room either.  My sewing supplies for my businesses take up a lot of room, and so we're already packed in here like sardines.  I really thought we were going to have our own home by now, but there are only 2 options for us buy thanks to The Farm.  One of the options is $80,000 out of our price range and the other...let's just say that it's a very complicated situation.  This whole process has been painful, depressing, and hard on our family.            

Despite my "bah humbug" attitude, I am pretty much done with my Christmas shopping.  I just need to order photo books for the grandparents when I order my Christmas cards and then I'll be finished.  I usually try to get a picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits for our card, but seeing how I'm still waiting for the last thing to arrive in the mail so I can make their outfits, I don't think that's going to happen this year.  Our first Christmas celebration is in less than 2 weeks so I kind of need to order the cards and photo books...2 weeks ago to ensure delivery on time.  Maybe I should just size the Christmas outfits up so I can be ready in time next year :)