Belated Merry Christmas!

I feel as thought I've been neglecting my blog lately.  It's not that I don't have things to write about; it's just life is getting in the way.

Since Christmas break has begun, Cullen went down for a few days with some virus.  I felt so bad for him because he was just miserable.  He pulled through just in time for his cousins to come for Christmas. 

Andrew's brother, Paul, and his family came Christmas Eve and spent Christmas with us!  We were excited to have them come and spend this special day with us.  All my kids were super excited to get to see and play with their cousins.  Since we live in different states, these visits are few and far between.  We all had a good time, and they headed back to Louisiana the Friday after Christmas.

On Saturday, Andrew caught (what I believe) is the same virus Cullen had.  He was down and out for a few days.  He is still slowly recovering.  Adults don't seem to bounce back as quickly as kids.

I've been disinfecting the house for what feels like forever, and I am seriously over everyone being sick.  If one more person gets sick, I might just hop a flight to Arizona and visit Matt.  I'm done.

Here are a few pictures from before Christmas Eve Mass.  We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  And I will be back and writing more regularly again after the New Year.


As close as I got to getting everyone looking at the camera

All the cousins!

Because we had to do one goofy picture!

Andrew's brother's Family

Rock N Lights

Last Tuesday, Andrew and I took the kids to Rock N Lights.  It's a drive through lighting display at our local park.  We like to go during the week since a) I had a coupon (yes, I'm cheap) and b) it's not nearly as crowded as the weekends.

We packed all the children into the car and off we went.  Jackson and Cullen had a great time!  They loved sticking their heads out the window to get a better view.  Luckily for us it was a comfortable 62 degrees outside.  Sawyer liked to look, but he's two so he was just happy to be along for the ride.  Cassidy did not have a good time at all.  We were in line to enter when the screaming started.  And she screamed and screamed and screamed.  She would not stop.  I was ready to jump out the car and walk through the display just to get away from it.  I ended up having to climb into the back, unbuckle her, and she sat on my lap the entire time to see the lights.  She was completely fascinated and stopped screaming (yea!).

Since my hands were full, I lacked the ability to take a lot of pictures.  I was able to snap a few.  Another awesome lighting display put on by Round Rock Parks and Recreation.

Family Christmas Pictures

Normally, I just post the Christmas card, but I thought I would post the actual pictures this year.  I was so happy with how our family pictures turned out!  Here are the pictures and blurb from our Christmas card.

As the year comes to a close, we are blessed to have had such a wonderful year!  Jackson (5) started Kindergarten this fall.  He is loving school and learning lots.  He's reading well and played soccer this past season.  Cullen (4) is enjoying his preschool class.  He's taking gymnastics and learning to write.  Sawyer (2) started preschool this fall.  He's talking more and more these days.  He's learning to survive with his brothers which means lots of rough play.  Cassidy Marie joined us on March 8, 2014.  She is a blessing to this testosterone driven family!  She's crawling, cruising and seems to be on the path of walking early.  Andrew and I are loving our loud, large family!
We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cassidy is 9 months!

I cannot believe my baby girl is 9 months old!  The time has just flown by, and I do not like the way all my kids are growing up ridiculously fast.  It's not fair. 

Cassidy had her well check today, and she is growing beautifully!  She weighs 19lbs 12.5oz which puts her in the 75%, and she is 29inches tall which puts her in the 92%.  I have no idea where she gets this from because it isn't me.

She's been crawling since 6 months, but now she's pulling up and cruising a little.  If she keeps following her pattern, she'll be an early walker (NO!).  Seems my baby girl wants to keep up with her big brothers.  Andrew and I have found her several times climbing the stairs.  One time we found her upstairs.  She climbed the entire set of stairs all by herself.  Now, the baby gates are readily accessible to us.  Too bad we can't use them without the boys deciding it's a new fun obstacle game to climb/jump over.

Here are a few pictures of my little girl in her Santa hat.

A few staples in the head later....

Another trip to Urgent Care happened.

 

Cullen jumped off the kitchen counter he was sitting on.  He didn't quite make it far enough away, and his head hit the granite.  Granite versus Head.  Granite comes out the winner!

 

Andrew and I didn't realize he had cut his head open at first.  "Oh Shit!  He's bleeding!  He's bleeding!" was the first thing I heard.  I looked and saw a waterfall of blood coming out.  I know the head bleeds a lot, but I always forget how much until I have to deal with it.  I grabbed paper towels and slammed them to the back of his head.  He bled through those, so I had to get some more.  It took us a little while, but we finally got the bleeding to stop.  When I finally got a good look at the cut, I knew immediately he needed stitches.  I was hoping they would glue him back together, but it wasn't an option.

 

The Urgent Care place was right around the corner, so Cullen and I headed over.  The doctors and nurses were really nice, took us straight back, and starting getting things ready.  The doctor said she would have to staple it shut.  Luckily, you couldn't see bone, but you could see the start of the fatty later under the skin.  Poor Cullen had to be strapped down so they could numb it, clean it, then put 3 staples in his head.  He cried, but he really was so good.  I am very proud of how brave he was.  The worst part was he didn't like to be strapped down which I understood.

 

Cullen will get the staples removed on Saturday.  He hasn't had any problems and calls it his 'Master Boo-boo'.  I hope I do not get intimately acquainted with Urgent Care, but with my kids, I have a feeling it might happen.

 

 

School Drop Off/Pick Up should be an Olympic Sport

School drop off and pick up zones are the most deadly and lethal things out there.  It is crazy what some people do while in a school zone.  It's as though people lose all common sense when it comes to dropping off or picking up their children.  Only the elite can survive and not be the bane of teachers and administrators.

1)  The school has a drop off and pick up plan for a reason.  This is not some frilly piece of paper to get buried amongst everything else at the beginning of school.  Pick it up, study it, and please follow it!  They put this out so traffic flow will be smooth and easy for everyone.  Those people who do not follow it (let's for the sake of conversation call them morons).  Morons hold up the traffic line and piss everyone else off because they think they're special and can do whatever the hell they want.  Is it really so hard to go around and use the turn lane.  Is it?!  At our elementary school, the administrators have specifically told parents not to use the stop signed street across from the back entrance.  Come down the main street and turn into the school.  Can parents do that?  Nope.  They feel they should be allowed a three way stop to enter and feel it's shorter.  It's not.  It holds up the line, and then you jet across the traffic to ensure your spot essentially stopping in the middle and blocking the entire road.  Please stop!

2)  Your kid can walk the extra 30 feet to his building.  During drop off, you always have that one parent who doesn't want their kid to walk too far.  They will always be in the middle of the traffic line where the 5 cars in front and 5 cars behind let their kid out to go in the building.  This one special person doesn't let their kid out, drives up an addition 30 feet when traffic starts moving again, then lets their kid out which stops all those other people behind them who are done.  You and your kid are not that special.  He can walk the extra 30 feet.

3)  Do NOT honk, get out of your car, or have a 5 minute conversation with your child before you decide to pull out.  Get in, get out and go is the correct philosophy.

4)  Use a legal cross walk.  If the police and road crews blacked out the crosswalk you want to use, there's a reason.  It's not safe.  Go around and use one of the ones in the traffic plan (yes, follow the traffic plan!).  If you are going to cross in front of me and I don't see you because you are not in a legal crosswalk, do not get pissed when I almost hit you.  It's your own damn fault.

5)  Please be nice to the teachers and administrators.  They are trying to have everything run smoothly.  It's not their fault some moron parent can't follow directions.  Be nice to them!

6)  If it says no left turn 7am-4pm, do not turn left.  Take a right and stop cutting off others!

7)  If you are going to continuously cut off people everyday so you can get an extra car length in front of everyone else, please take the Christian Church sticker off the back of your car.  One, you're not doing your church any good by cutting people off then advertising you are a good Christian.  Two, it makes your car easily identifiable so I will take every opportunity to piss you off since I know you are going to pull this shit everyday!

Or if you're like Andrew and I, leave early every day to skip the drop off fiasco and leave late every day to miss all the craziness that is pick up.  I may be one of the last ones to pick up my kid, but at least I follow the traffic plan and don't cut anyone off.

Happy Thanksgiving!

At the moment, the jambalaya is done.  The apple pie is done.  The Chocolate Guinness Stout Cake is done.  The turkey is in the oven, and I only have one more side dish to cook.  I'm on a roll!

I'm so incredibly thankful for my family this year.  I have 4 incredible, kind, and caring children who are all healthy.  I have a husband whom I adore and supports me no matter what endeavors I choose.  He is an awesome Dad to all of our kids.  My parents who have moved back to Texas, love all their grandchildren, and are close enough to babysit (yes!).  We have a beautiful house and plenty of food to eat.  I am truly blessed at the moment.

Here are all the people I am grateful and thankful for, and I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

How kids lowered my standards

I've had a series of ridiculous events happen lately  Nothing bad, just stuff that happens and you sit back and ask 'did that just happen.'  Then you answer yourself with, why yes it did. I wasn't phased by these events at all.  It was barely a blip on my radar, but on a normal person's radar, it would have been a big deal.

Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about.

Last Saturday, I was walking into the kitchen after changing Cassidy's diaper.  I see Sawyer licking something off his hand.  I grab the kitchen towel and head over to clean him up.  I stop about 2 feet from him when I realize exactly what he was licking off his hand.  Poop.  My son was licking his own poop off his hand.  He had pooped in his diaper, stuck his hand down it, and in the process smeared it all over the back of his hand.  And you know the rest.  I grab his hand and call for Andrew saying he needs to change Sawyer's diaper.  All the while I'm thinking, that's really gross.  When Andrew walks around the corner, all I said was, "Your son is licking his own feces off his hand.  He needs a diaper change."  I handed him over and walked away.

When Andrew was finishing up changing him, I walked in to hand him Sawyer's pants.  I kept sniffing them trying to decide whether he actually got poop on them in the events leading up to the now infamous poop lick.  After about the third sniff, Andrew looks at me and says, "Emily, if you're sniffing it that much, I'll get him a new pair of pants."  I shrugged and said ok while dumping his pants in the laundry.

When Jackson wasn't quite 2 years old, I caught him eating dirt out of a potted plant on the back porch.  I grabbed my camera and took a picture then gave him some milk to rinse out his mouth.

I caught not one but two of my children eating out of the trashcan about a month ago.  They decided they were still hungry, so they wanted to finish their lunch from 3 hours ago.  Never mind, I had given them a snack they finished 5 minutes prior.

And don't get me started on the fighting, punching, and general wrestling, I put up with everyday.  My house can turn into a WWE wrestling ring .01 seconds flat.

I've just come to accept the fact stuff happens I have absolutely no control over.

I'm sure normal people would freak out and be completely grossed out by their child eating their own poop.  The fact is it barely phased me.  It was just a little blip on my radar.  And that is what made me realize, kids have lowered my standards for pretty much everything.

I would love to have a clean house all the time with no clutter.  In reality, I step on Legos, Matchbox car, and other random toys on a daily basis.

I would love for my bathrooms to stay clean and smell fresh, but I have two potty trained boys.  And boys are disgusting.

I'm weird about keeping clutter off the kitchen counters.  In my mind, stuff on the counters should be put away in their own place and not cluttering up the counter.  In reality, I can completely clear the counters off and in a matter of 2 hours, a pile of crap has landed back on them.  It annoys the holy hell out of me!  I just don't understand why people (big and small) cannot put their own stuff away!

So my already low standards have been lowered even more with children.  For now, I just go with the flow.  The kids will get older.  I'll stop stepping on Legos and cars, then wonder why my babies had to grow up so quickly.

Embrace the mess is what I say!

My Sanity - Update

After writing about all my trials and tribulations recently, I was overwhelmed by the amount of support I received.  I always wonder if anyone actually reads what I write or if people just click like because they see I've written something.

Thank you for all of you who read and responded to my blogs about me struggling and if I'm doing this whole parenting thing right.  To hear I am not the only one out there who has doubts about how they are raising their children helped a lot.  So thank you!

As for me, I am definitely coping with this crazy life.  Writing my feelings and expressing all my emotions helped get them off my chest.  I also went a little crazy in the gym working off stress.  I feel more in control of what's going on and how I'm able to respond to situations.  I'm taking a step back when kids irritate me or something goes horribly wrong instead of just reacting.  It's helped, both me and my children.

I think sometimes we all just need a different perspective.  To hear others have gone through this phase, and now that their children are older, they are starting to see the results of all the hard work they put in, made me feel better.  I may not see the results immediately (as I can hope and wish for but ultimately doesn't happen).  I now know the results will show a few years down the road.  My kids will benefit from me setting rules, limits, and instilling a strong moral compass.  They will learn when Andrew and I lead by example on how we expect them to behave, treat others, and be thankful.

With the Thanksgiving and Christmas season upon us, I'm being more proactive.  I'm taking small amounts of time for myself (when there is time).  My sanity is slowly coming back.  Hopefully it won't take a back seat with the holidays around the corner.

Donuts with Dad

Cullen and Sawyer's preschool had Donuts with Dad this morning.  Cullen was very excited Dad was taking them to school.  He even got dressed without issues (which is really not fair to me).  Quick picture before leaving.  It never fails that one child does not look at the camera.

 

My House of Errors

If someone were filming my life today, I think it would be a laugh out loud comedy of errors to anyone actually viewing it.  To me, not so much.  I really want to crawl back into bed and restart my day.

Let's begin at 4am when Cassidy decided to wake up.  She was wide awake, standing in her crib, and super happy to take on the world.  Unfortunately, it was 4am!  Andrew and I kept taking turns going upstairs and trying to get her back to sleep.  We rocked, cradled, held, rubbed Orajel on her gums, but she kept waking up and crying out.  Since she's standing in her crib now, she even fell over and hit her head on the crib rail which made the whole situation worse because then we were dealing with the hurt cry.  Finally after an hour and a half of getting up and down, she finally fell back asleep.

Picture proof of standing in crib

My alarm goes off (way to early), and I roll out of bed.  Jackson is not Mr. Sunshine and Happiness in the morning.  Andrew and I aren't morning people.  I can definitely function and get up way better than Andrew can.  Jackson takes after Andrew.  He doesn't want to get out of bed and get dressed.  I had to trudge upstairs 3 times this morning before he realized how pissed I was, stopped arguing about everything and anything, and do what I told him to do (aka putting clothes on and making his bed).  It's not like I'm asking anything difficult!

Fast forward another hour, Cassidy is awake again (why?!).  Sawyer is now awake and wanting out of his crib which means I better go get him before he decides to climb out of his crib (which he can do but chooses not to most mornings).  I'm trying my best to hold off putting him in a toddler bed for as long as I can because Andrew and I just do not want to deal with it.

Breakfast, Sawyer is screaming and crying about something.  What, I have no idea.  Cassidy is crying because she's hungry.  By this time, Cullen is my favorite child because he's just eating, drinking his milk, and generally being quiet.

Off to Sam's and Hobby Lobby we go, two hours later.  I gather all the kids and head out.  I'm putting my purchases in the back of the Explorer when I realize the stroller and fold up chairs are still in the back.  I carefully stack things as best as I can.

When I get home, Cassidy and Sawyer are blissfully asleep in the car.  I decided to let them both sleep since the silence was blissful.  I open the rear of the SUV, and the gigantic bottle of Tide I just purchased falls out, smashing into the side of my knee, hitting the driveway and bursting open.  I picked it up as fast as I could with my throbbing knee protesting any movement, but about a quarter of the bottle was on my driveway making a large blue, gooey mess.

After cleaning up my mess, I grab the kids and head inside thinking I really need coffee!  Cullen and Sawyer ask for a yogurt.

As I'm reheating my first cup, I hear a fire alarm beep.  Hell, no!  Yes.  After a few beeps, I tracked it down to the one in the master bedroom.  I have to get the bar stool out to reach the damn thing.  I pull it off the wall, and it continues to beep in my hand for the next couple minutes (which felt like hours!) while I'm trying to figure out how to unlock something to get the damn battery casing open.  I finally get it, yank the battery out, and the damn thing continues to beep at me.  I go in search of a new battery only to realize we having everything but a damn 9V battery.  I take the thing outside to the garage and throw it in there until a new battery can be attained.  All the while, Thibie is going insane with the beeping and is freaking the hell out!  Fun times.

After the kids finish their yogurts, Cullen asks if he can have some Halloween candy.  "Not until after lunch, then you can have a piece."

My house was alarmingly silent 60 seconds later.  I run upstairs and open Cullen's door.  Actually, I tried to open his door, but the little sneak locked it!  I'm banging on the door telling him to open up and not eat the Starburst I know he has in there.  About 10 seconds later, he opens the door.  I see a Starburst wrapper on his bed and one missing.  He openly admits to eating it (although denying it would have been fruitless, but I did appreciate his honesty).

Finally, I go to put Cassidy down for a nap early because she's exhausted.  She has rings under her eyes, she's rubbing her eyes, and just yawning up a storm.  Does she go down easily?  Hell, no!  She cries and stands up in her crib for 15 minutes before she finally succumbs to sleep.  I had to go in there and keep putting her down.

Now, it is almost 1pm, and my house is wonderfully quiet.  I'm going to savor this moment because I have no idea how long this will last.  I'm hoping by writing this all down my luck will change, and the rest of my day will be infinitely better.  I'm too friggin' tired to keep this up.

Sawyer turned 2!

Sawyer turned 2 years old yesterday!  Two birthdays so close together really makes me realize how quickly the kiddos are growing.  I can't believe I have another toddler.  I tried to document his day with pictures, by the afternoon got lost in a blur.  Still, I tried.

Sawyer woke up to his Mom with a camera saying Happy Birthday!

 

He had to show me how old he was over breakfast.

 

Then Sawyer had to let me know I didn't feed him enough since he stole the rest of Cullen's breakfast off the kitchen counter.

Off to preschool for cupcakes with his friends.

After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday over cookie cake!  This was the first year Sawyer was able to blow out his own candles.  He was so excited when he saw the candles in front of him.  His face is absolutely priceless!  He even blew out the candles all by himself.

Happy Birthday Sawyer!  We love you!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was an eventful day!  Jackson had a pumpkin investigation at school.  Cullen and Sawyer had their Halloween parties and trick or treating at preschool.  I took Cassidy to the Fall Fun Festival.  I felt like I ran around the majority of the day (probably because I did).  Andrew had to finish carving our pumpkins, and of course after dinner, all three boys went trick or treating.

This was the first year I have been able to take the kids trick or treating.  My dad was kind enough to stay at our house with Cassidy and hand out candy.  I was so excited to go with them!  Jackson, Cullen and Sawyer were troopers going house to house trick or treating.  I'm surprised Sawyer lasted the whole time with only the last few houses sitting on Andrew's shoulders.  Everyone was exhausted by the time we came home, but they had enough energy to eat a couple pieces of candy.  Of course, Andrew and I dug through their loot and pulled out a few pieces ourselves (hey at least I admit it!).

We hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!  Onto Thanksgiving!

 

Happy 4th Birthday Cullen!

Cullen turned 4 years old yesterday.  Seems like all my babies are slowly growing up!  It was a full day for everyone (as Wednesdays usually are around here).  I tried something different for Cullen's special day.  I decided to take pictures of him throughout the day to 'document' his 4th birthday.  After actually doing it, I've decided to keep it up for all the kids.  It will be a fun and special way to remember each birthday.

We started the morning off with Cullen's favorite, chocolate chip waffles.

Then off to preschool for a small cupcake celebration with his friends.

Jackson had an early release, so we picked him up.  Jackson and Cullen decided to play outside since we had cooler weather.  He's also slightly obsessed with his Jack 'o' Lantern.

Cullen had his gymnastics class.  He has crazy agility skills.

I had to coach Jackson's soccer practice, but when we came home, it was cookie cake time!

Happy Birthday Cullen!  We love you, son!