Sweet Kisses

We're walking in Wal-Mart the other day and something happened that has never happened before. I'm pushing Cooper in the cart and he takes one of his little hands and grabs my sweater and pulls me toward him. As we are almost nose to nose, he takes both his hands and puts them on either side of my face and squashes our noses togther. Then he opens his mouth as wide as he can and starts giggling so much his whole body shakes! It's then I realize that my little baby has just given me his first kiss! It's the best kind...all sloppy and toothy from his 7 little teeth. Wow. Being a mom is awesome!

Where have the chubby legs gone?

I wish I were talking about myself here, but alas I am not.

I am talking about my precious twins, Halle and Emma. They just turned 3 a few weeks ago and it seems like that was the magic day when the chub left their legs. I realized it tonight when they were running around in their short pj's.

Now I do give my children baths and I see their naked little legs all the time. But it was something about the shorts that made them look like little girl legs instead of baby girl legs. It made me cry.

I'm sad to see my babies growing up. I'm happy too. I know God has great plans for these cute, energetic, exciting, smart, full of life little ones. I just wish they could have chubby legs a little longer. I just love squeezing them. I love being their mom, and the mom to my other children as well.

Children truly are a gift from God. A gift that is too easily taken for granted. May I relish every moment with them...even when I want to pull my hair out. May I be reminded that youth is far too fleeting, and before I know it, they will be gone.

I love you my precious little ones. More than you can ever know.

Why do we have a gerbil?

I am tired today. I didn't sleep well last night. Many nights I don't sleep well because I am an extremely light sleeper. I think it must be the mom thing. I can hear the twins ever so quietly open their door in the middle of the night to come sneak into bed with us. I can hear Madison getting a drink of water. I can hear the cat purring in the living room. And I can hear the gerbil scratching at its cage trying to escape.

Now the gerbil was one of Marshall's birthday presents this past October when he turned 5. We got it because, well, I'm not sure why. He did the typical kid thing and was REALLY excited for about 3 weeks about it. Now it's like he doesn't know the thing exists. It had been in the living room, but the cat kept trying to attack it and actually did one time and we thought the thing was going to die...bloody eye and all. (But that's the subject of another blog.) We moved it into the boys room and shortly thereafter Cooper started waking up each night between 11 and midnight, which in turn would wake Marshall up and us and sometimes everyone. We had to find a solution to this problem.

We, well John really, realized that the gerbil was waking up Cooper. Did you know that they are nocturnal animals? You do now. And so do I...stupid things.

The gerbil now resides in the bathroom during the night so as not to wake up the Coop. It seems to be working, except now it keeps me awake...which is better I suppose than keeping Cooper awake.

Anyway, last night I kept hearing Pavarotti, the cat, scratching at the bathroom door. I was about to kill him. Finally I heard what sounded like scurrying across the floor and thought, no, it's not possible. How could that gerbil escape? Well, he had gotten out of his cage somehow...probably one of the twins had left one of the little caps off of the cage, they are STILL obsessed with it!

So at 2:45 a.m. I am on all fours in the bathroom trying to catch this small, white, bleeping animal. Did you know that gerbils are quite quick and they jump? Well, they do. I'm trying not to scream so as not to wake any of the children or John, I'm thoughtful like that, and the thought crosses my mind...should I just let Pavarotti get the thing and be done with it? Marshall would not care (when we thought he was going to die before he started jumping up and down and celebrating that he could get another gerbil...weird kid.). But after 15 grueling minutes I caught and recaged the varmit. Why do we even have a gerbil?

We had a successful night at the dinner table...again! Not as successful as the chocolate chip pancakes, but really, what can compete with that? I am very wary of "supper in a box" type foods, however, when I came across these Campbell's Supper Bakes that were buy one get one free at Publix, how could I resist? We are after all on a budget!

So it was with much trepidation I made the "Cheesy Chicken". Oh my word, it was SOOOO easy. You just mix hot water with the noodles, some butter, and the sauce mix, put your own UNCOOKED chicken on top, cover with foil, bake for 20 minutes (while the children are playing in the backyard with the hard-won Christmas puppy), then mix the noodles around, put the topping stuff on, bake for another 10 minutes, and lookey-loo...dinner!! Well, I did also bake some dinner rolls and throw some corn on their plates for good measure.

Now I am not trying to imply that it was the BEST food I've ever tasted in my life, far from it. But it was pretty good. And the kids ate it without complaint. All I got was "can I be done now?"...but that was when the plates were just about empty anyway. So for dessert we all had my hubby's favorite cookies, "Chips Ahoy"!

Now the wee ones are clean, the older ones are doing my cleaning of the living room, and I have a few precious "mommy moments" to myself! Hooray!!

Frizzy Hair

Why do I even bother drying my hair straight? I used to have straight hair. Well, that's not entirely true...I've always had a few small waves. But now, for some reason, baby #5 has made my hair curly. Not the pretty, oh I wish I had her curls, curly. Not the cool, Jennifer Anniston waves. No. My hair is frizzy curly.
My husband likes it when I let my hair go curly...and I do too for about 10 minutes. Then it's like it takes over my head and starts frizzing out. So I put it up in the "up-do", or pull it back in a pony tail, or most times I put it in the "half bun" thing where some of it is sticking out...just so I look cool!
I've been debating whether to cut my hair in a cute, short, bob where the frizz would be a lot more managable...but then I would be forced to actually do my hair every day. Because my hair is long, it's easy to get by without washing it every day cause I can just pull it back and go. And with 5 kids, that's usually what ends up happening.
But today I decided to actually take the 30-45 minutes it takes to dry my hair (did I mention my hair is REALLY thick too?!), and what is happening outside? It's raining...like I'm able to watch the weather and would know that it's going to be raining all day.
So I take my son to preschool and have to walk him in because (surprise) we are running late, hair gets wet.
I go to MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) every other Monday and had to get 3 other children out and walk in the rain, my hair gets wetter. Back in the car afterwards, wetter still.
I decide to go to Target and get the Coop some new shoes, it had stopped raining by now, so I'm safe on the way in. We take out time and get the new shoes for Cooper and new rain boots for the other 4 (they are on clearance...how can I resist?!). On the way out of Target, the twins get to try out their new boots, cause it's raining again. Hair now becoming quite frizzy.
Now it's time for me to go and get Madison from ballet. I'm early and we go in to watch...wetter still.
I forget to go and get Marshall so not only was he late getting to school, he's now late being picked up which means of course I have to walk in to get him...in the rain once again.
So by the time we get home I am looking like Bozo the Clown on a really bad day. Oh well. Last night I bought some more cute hair bands so that is what is keeping my hair "under control".

Dinner

Is it wrong to feed my children chocolate chip pancakes for dinner? I don't mean pancakes with a few chocolate chips thrown in here and there. I mean as I'm mixing up the batter and talking with Cooper in his high chair, I dump almost an entire bag of chocolate chips into the mix. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious, although I am an admitted chocoholic not seeking reform. But it was like eating chocolate with a little bit of pancake. The kids LOVED them and thought I was the best mom in the world and asked if they could have them every night. I have to say I am tempted. It was the first time in a long while that I haven't gotten the "Ewww...gross!" "Can I be all done?" "I'm not that hungry." "What is it?" "How many more bites do I have to take?" etc...

Why is it...

Why is it that my darling husband whom I love to pieces seems incapable of replacing the soap in the shower? Is it because he doesn't know from day to day whether I will enjoy the pleasure of a shower and takes the calculated risk that I will be unable to have one that day? Is it that he simply forgets? Is it laziness? It surely can't be that he thinks if I haven't had a shower in three days I'll simply be happy with warm water running over me can it?

But just to see if I could figure out if he's got it in for me to stay dirty, I tried a little experiment the other day. There was no soap...again...and I thought, okay, I can once again use the shampoo to wash my body. And I didn't replace the soap as I usually do...on purpose. I made it a point to take a shower the next day, just to see if my darling husband would have thought to replace it. Nope. So now I know HE didn't use soap. Well it's just a fantasy of mine to actually get a shower three days in a row, so I missed a day and forgot to check on the soap thing. But the next day (this is day four of my experiment for those of you who have lost track!) I did take a shower, and as I was turning on the water, I noticed...no soap AGAIN!! Thankfully it was before I stepped in so I was able to replace the soap. I can only go so long without soap after all.

But it occured to me, how long would he go without soap. I can only hope that just as I do, he uses shampoo to wash his dirty body...but it makes you wonder...

It's finally happened!!

Just when I thought my precious angel twins would go to college in pull-ups, it happened!! They are potty trained!! Well, almost. But they are wearing only "big girl panties" during the day and Halle had NO ACCIDENTS TODAY!!
She had previously shown zero interest in the big girl panties, and big girl potty, and the m&m rewards her sister was getting, and the big reward of a Dora the Explorer bike that had been promised when she achieved pull-up freedom! However, the turning point for her was when we were shopping at Macy's and Madison and Marshall got to go play at the "play place"...which is the place you can drop your 3-8 year old for 2 hours at a time while you shop...and Halle wanted to go in soooo bad she cried for about 15 minutes! After explaining that she had to be 3, which will be in 2 weeks time, and that she couldn't wear pull-ups she had to wear big girl panties, she was all about the potty.
Now Emma has seemingly reached a road-block. She had been all about the potty, but now is having a few accidents a day. But I refuse to break my resolve. No more pull-ups during the day. I can clean up a little pee on the floor. I can wrestle little legs out of poop-filled panties. For goodness sake, I can get the carpets cleaned professionally and I have a washer and dryer, right? I will not lose my resolve...especially when I am on the verge of only having one child in diapers...which has not happened in 6 years. Yes, 6 years people!! I have been changing the bodily functions of at least 2 human beings for the last SIX YEARS!! Most recently it has been 3 people due to Marshall and the twins, and then the twins and Cooper once Marshall potty trained himself, the little perfectionist that he is!!
So, can you see why I'm so overjoyed? Now, when is it too early to start with Coooper?!