Idiot Injury

I'm running (that's the plan anyway) my first 5K in 8 days. I've been trying to run on my treadmill 3 times a week. I have lost 15 pounds and my endurance is infinitely better. I ran a solid 15 minute interval 2 nights ago and didn't die! I actually made it through the first 12 of those 15 minutes easily. Then I walked 3 minutes and was supposed to run another 5 minutes then cool down. I ran the 5 plus another 2! I was feeling great! So yesterday on my day "off" (from running anyway), I was wearing these slip-on Birkenstock-wanna-be clogs to take big girl to the bus and run big boy to the end of our driveway to meet his ride for preschool. When his ride for preschool brought him back home just before lunch, I headed down our ridiculously steep driveway to help him out of the truck. I apparently kicked my stupid clog partially off my left foot. When I took my next step, I landed a couple of inches out of the shoe, the back of my arch landed on the pointy back of those shoes and it HURT! The rest of the afternoon I spent barefoot until it was time to get big girl from the bus and I put my running shoes on. My foot was still pretty tender and when I took my shoes off a little later, it really hurt to walk so I donned some squishy flip flops for the rest of the evening. When I woke up and hit the floor this morning, my foot made sure to remind me that it is injured. Ugh! I put on the squishiest (is that a word?) pair of flip flops I own (still not quite squishy enough for my taste) and began my day. As soon as the hubby got up I began whining at him. What a lame way to end up injured! I don't even have a funny or awesome story to go with it! Like I injured it kicking little girl in the face after she bit baby boy's finger so hard it bled on one side and he has a mark on his fingernail on the other side. Yes, she really did that and not only is she still alive, she is uninjured. I apparently possess more self control than I was aware of. At least in the don't-murder-your-children-when-they-act-like-psychopath-assholes department. I can't even blame it on stepping on a razor sharp Lego! Just about anything else would have provided me with a decent story.
Here is how the lamest conversation in history over the lamest injury in history will go:
Random person(RP) "So, why are you limping?"
Me: "I stepped on the back of my shoe while walking and bruised my arch."
RP "You stepped on the back of your shoe and your shoe bruised you?"
Me "Yes! My stupid built-for-comfort shoes bruised me! They're sharp!"
RP "Okay, you're a psycho and we're done here."
Now I have no more friends.
I may be exaggerating, but it is still the stupidest, lamest injury ever. And I blame big girl. If I hadn't been so fat while I was pregnant with her and my feet so swollen that I could only wear crocs and had to go buy these for work, this never would have happened. So thanks a lot big girl, you ruined my foot for a few days and dashed my hopes of running on the treadmill tonight. All I can say is I sure hope it's better by next weekend because I paid 40 bucks and I am running a damn race!
Below find the offending shoe and a pic of baby boy's mauled finger.

Review of "I Just Want to Pee Alone"

I have been following PIWTPITT (People I Want To Punch In The Throat) for a little over 3 months and I already want to stalk her until she relents and becomes my best friend. I swear we must have been separated at birth because I feel her talking to me in so many of her posts and she makes me laugh until I cry. So naturally as soon as her book was available, I bought it on Kindle. I'm so sad it's over, but I've now found these moms in the great blogosphere so I can stalk, ahem, keep up with them and their future moments of hilarity.
I can't pick a favorite story from the book because I loved every single one of them. A few of those stories sounded like my house and others like I'm certain my house will become as my small children grow up. These moms have the most vital tool for being a mommy-a sense of humor. I feel like I'm friends with all of them now that we've shared some stories and laughs. At the very least, we're all kindred spirits because we all know this one basic truth: motherhood can be a real b!+<£, but she sure is funny!
I Just Want to Pee Alone is a must-read for any mom with a sense of humor. I highly recommend it and promise you won't regret your decision.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0988408031?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

Insults from the hubby

I'm not sure how the conversation began but the hubby and I were talking the other night after all (wait for it) FOUR kids were asleep. That didn't last long by the way. Something was said about colorguard. I was on colorguard for a season and a half in high school. Now at my school, if you were a dancer and in an extracurricular, it was either colorguard or cheerleading. Once we got a dance team my senior year, it was a JOKE. In case you were wondering, cheerleading was the cool group and colorguard was not. Much like football vs band. Hubby was raised across the country where their dance team was actually fantastic, full of competition dancers and was popular, followed by cheerleading and at the bottom of the totem pole was what they called cattleguard. He claims it was a legitimate name. Maybe, but still mean and doesn't apply to the team I belonged to. In discussing it, he kept referring to my having been on cattleguard so I told him he was uninvited to our reunion this coming summer. He reminded me that I had said I would never go to one of my reunions and I told him it wasn't a whole school reunion, just a guard one. He started laughing and asked if we were serving steak. I couldn't help but laugh, then informed him if we weren't already abstinent, he would be cut off! We both howled for a few at our own hilarity and then the baby woke up.

Justified hubby stabbing by kid scissors

A couple of nights ago I was fixing a gourmet dinner (hey, I used the stovetop AND the oven) and big boy 4-year-old brings a piece of construction paper to me and asks if he can cut. He came home from school the previous week and showed me where he cut the sleeve of his shirt so I was a little hesitant. I went ahead and agreed, reminding him that we ONLY cut paper or we don't get to cut and if he cuts his clothes, he has to buy a new shirt with money from his piggy bank. Agreed.

Very shortly thereafter, little girl 2.5-year-old comes in and says "I cut?" I have a very hard time saying no to her unless it's something that is an obvious no like playing in traffic. I get a second set of kid scissors and a piece of paper and situate her at the little table 12 feet away from where the hubby is sitting on the couch with the baby. This is when the first problem occurs. I ASSume he is broken in enough as a parent of four that he will keep one eye on the cutting taking place while I put the finishing flourish (it's fancy, remember?) on dinner.

A few minutes later while cutting the kids' portions up for them, I hear the hubby exclaim to little girl, "You cut your hair?!" Are.You.Freaking.Kidding?! How does that even happen? Oh that's right, he was more concerned with the happenings on Facebook than his toddler with scissors. I can totally understand. He brings her around to the kitchen so I can assess the damage with a look on his face like I should be happy he brought her to me. Thank you, idiot, for not watching your child. Now let me stab you with her scissors to test their level of harmlessness that would cause you to not supervise her. I took her scissors while she jumped up and down and screamed at me about cutting. Yep, I'm totally the bad guy here. Damn you, hubby!

As I'm getting ready to take plates in to the kids, big boy brings me his cup asking for more milk and I see a funky spot in the top of his hair. I reach for it asking if he cut his hair and as he's saying yes, I see all the fine little pieces of his hair around the funky chunk. Nice...at least he needs a haircut anyway. By this time I REALLY want to stab my hubby but I decide my kids probably don't need to witness that.

After dinner as I'm clearing dishes, I take another look at big boy and see he's missing even more hair than I had originally noticed - he cut a chunk in the front of his hair too! Right on his cowlick making it less obvious. I look at my hubby and death glare him. Stab, stab, STAB!!! Thankfully, for the hubby, none of the hair is super noticeable and no injuries were sustained. Otherwise I may not have been able to contain my urge to demonstrate the "safety" of kid scissors. Those things are still really sharp, idiot! We both learned lessons that day. He that my violent tendencies lurk just beneath my calm exterior, and me that he is a total idiot who needs explicit instructions and probably a signed contract as well. I, the undersigned, will hereby watch my children under penalty of justified stabbing by my wife. Sounds good to me!

The carnage of The Great Hair Massacre can be seen above her left eye and his right eye.

Stop or you'll go blind

Remember those Mossimo shirts a bajillion years ago that said "stop or you'll go blind" in fuzzy letters? It took me a few years to understand why my mom wouldn't let me get the one with that particular saying. Mine wasn't nearly as catchy as I don't even remember what it said. Anywho, that popped into my head while thinking of picking up where I last left off - my weird eye. So the results of my scan are in and the numbers are "microns" bigger than they like to see them. Not a "huge" deal. Eye doc retook the scans they took last time and saw no changes which is good apparently. She then showed me two sets of scans taken six months apart from another patient of hers. With only dietary changes, this lady's maculas looked better. I'm a visual person so this made me a true believer in the power of diet. She said to continue with a diet high in spinach, broccoli, and berries and we would recheck in six months. So I'm not going blind just yet! I'm thankful I've gotten over being weirded out by the color of my green smoothies. That will help with my spinach and berry consumption. Not broccoli though. Only my hubby is weird enough that he can be ok chewing a smoothie. If you have to chew it, it's not smooth, and therefore cannot be dubbed a SMOOTHie!

I now have a 6 year old, a 4 year old, a 2.5 year old and a 4 month old. Time is flying! I'm not sure why but having a 6 year old is just crazy to me. It seems so much older than 5. It's like since she's now in kindergarten, 3/5 of the way to double digits, and 1/3 of the way to 18 and adulthood, I have to accept that she is truly growing up. There isn't a trace of baby left in that girl. The double party was a huge hit. My stepdad had a surprise up his sleeve - he rented the kids a bouncy house! It was a perfect day to enjoy outside and the kids had a blast. I only wish we had known with a little more notice and I would have invited a few more friends. They didn't care though. It was wonderful.

That day was to start out with baby boy's baptism. I had invited my grandparents because I knew they would like to be there for it, but they live over an hour away and our church starts at 9:30. Plus, they live on a farm so they have to feed all the critters first thing in the morning. My grandma assured me they would try but if the temperature was too cold, they wouldn't be able to because the water would be frozen. That morning my grandma called as soon as they got on the road - they were going to make it. My grandpa woke up super early and did all the chores in the dark. Now that's love. They were going to go to my mom's house and follow her to our church, 2 minutes on up the road. As we passed my mom's house on our way, I looked up at the driveway to see if my grandparents had made it there yet or not and I saw a surprise. My bro and his girl had come down! I was thrilled. I had sent them a Facebook message inviting them down but assured them we in no way expected them to come down and miss out on work. Neither one responded which I wondered about but it was such a great surprise. Baby boy got baptized and we officially joined the church we've been attending for a year and a half. Afterward we came back to Mom's house and turned it into party central. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful village for our family.

Times are Changing

Well, I did slightly better with this post...6 months instead of 8!  I got to go visit my sis and it was so much fun!  It was great getting to share a weekend of our pregnancies and spend some playtime with my little nephew man!

 

 

As much as I'm not enjoying pictures of myself right now, I'm glad we documented our "twin pregnancies".  I think I'm going to envy my sister's height for the rest of my life.  And her skinny genes.  The kiddos had a blast.

 

Lilly turned two even though I'm in denial about her growing up.

 

She is so funny.  I love the little personality that is emerging.  She is mischevious, goofy and so loving!  I am so blessed to be her mommy.

 

September also brought me a full time kiddo to watch.  The extra income is fabulous but having an extra kid is crazy!  He was 2 1/2 when I started watching him.  He's exactly 7 months older than Lilly.  He is what my sis-in-law and I like to call "dumb smart".  He can count, is potty trained and knows a lot of words.  However, he has a hard time answering simple questions, even if they are of the yes/no variety.  It is quite comical at times, but mostly just frustrating.  He will start whining and when I ask what is wrong, he just stares at me.  When I change tactics and ask if he's hungry, he still just stares.  It's kind of ridiculous.  There are days I'm not sure the extra income is worth it.

 

October was pretty uneventful.  We took the kiddos trick-or-treating and I hoped to send myself into labor but it didn't happen.  They got lots of candy, had a great time, and we still managed to get home and get them to bed at a decent hour since it was on a school night.  We're getting a lot better with the schedule though I was finding it pretty difficult at this point to wake up at 6am to get Maddy off to school and stay awake since my charge gets dropped off at 7am.  Ugh!  No sleep for prego mama.

 

November arrived and so did a couple babies!!!  Starting the first weekend of November, I could not sleep unless I was nearly completely upright.  I couldn't sleep on my side because my hips were hurting so badly and I couldn't sleep on my back since rolling onto my side to get out of bed caused my pubic bone to pop and me to scream.  I began sleeping on the couch, in the corner, upright.  I practically begged my doc to induce me and she said we would the day after my due date if we made it that far.  At my appointment 9 days before my due date my mom went with me because I couldn't stop crying...I was miserable.  I was dilated to a 4 and 50% effaced so she went ahead and stripped my membranes and said she'd be surprised if she didn't see me later that night or the following day.  She told me to go home and walk, walk, walk.  So I did.  Four miles.  My hips were DYING!  I'd had some really good and regular contractions the first 3 miles, but they petered out and I gave up after mile 4 shortly before my body would have given up on me.  There were no more contractions that evening or the following day and I was hacked off to say the least.  I found my peace and just decided I would focus on being induced the day after my due date.  Babies 2 and 3 were a day late after all.  That Monday, 3 days post appointment and 1 week until due date, my sister was being induced because she was miserable.  Jealous doesn't begin to describe it.  I talked to my MIL who was flying in to town Thursday and I was telling her how ready we were to see her and that I was just planning on having a baby the following Tuesday and we planned to go baby shopping that weekend.  45 minutes later I was changing my socks planning to go to the store and my water broke!  I began laughing uncontrolably because it's the strangest feeling ever and I was beyond happy to get to have my baby!  I called the hubby to have him come home from work, then my mom who was not amused (she was stressed enough having my sister in labor across the country).  My mom picked our oldest up from school and we all met up at the hospital.  I was at a 5 when we got to the hospital so they went ahead and gave me my epidural.  When my doc got there, she was getting ready to go into a meeting and told me when she got out, they would start me on pitocin and break my water?  Apparently I had a second bag of water and it's pretty common.  Who knew?  Fast forward and the highlights include: my epidural wore off right as it was time to push (awesome), my neice was born, 38 minutes later my Hayden was born! 8lbs., 3oz. 20in. long, a big head and a GIANT set of shoulders.

As crazy as it sounds, I didn't think transitioning to 4 kids would be difficult.  I felt like making the switch to 3 was easy and now I had 1 in school.  WRONG!  The hubby did make a good point though...since baby 3 had a birth defect, it's not like I had time or energy to pay attention.  Plus, I was still on an anti-depressant that had me feeling numb. 

 

December seemed to fly by.  We had so much fun visiting family and friends in Utah and the day after Christmas I got to meet Hayden's "twin cousin", my new neice!

 

Our time went by way too fast, but all the kids had so much fun together!  I'm so thankful we got so much good family time over Christmas break. 

 

January brought my *gulp* 30th birthday.  It wasn't so bad, but I do need to start making fitness a priority and get my weight off that I've been carrying around since my pregnancy with Lilly.  I need to take advantage of my current metabolism as it's only downhill from here.  I also have been having some scares with my vision.  9 days after my birthday I noticed a blurry patch in my peripheral vision in only my left eye.  After 3 days of denial, which fixes most things, I called annd made an eye appointment for the following Tuesday.  Over the weekend my vision worsened and turned into a whole bunch of blurry polka dots throughout my field of vision.  When trying to read, it seemed like the words were floating and waving like the surface of the water on a breezy day.  I was told that my scans showed maculas that looked like they belonged to a 65 year old.  YIKES!  I had a cellular level scan last week and should find out what they showed in 2 days.  My vision has improved a good bit but it's far from perfect.  The blurry  spots are still there, but they're not as big or severe.  I've been eating a diet heavy in spinach, broccoli and berries as well as taking lutein and bilberry supplements.  I'm praying hard that it's good news.  We had another milestone this month...Daegan is FULLY potty trained!!!  At long last!  When we returned from vacation, we had a weekend then the hubby was in Kansas City at a boat show for a solid week.  While he was gone, Daegan decided the potty was a good place for #2!  I guess I just needed to lay off and let him figure it out for himself.  Life is SOOOOO much better now!

 

February is always a big deal at our house.  Maddy will be 6 on Valentine's Day and Daegan will turn 4 two weeks later.  They're getting really excited.  We're having Hayden baptized next Sunday and having a combo birthday party later in the day.  This will probably be the last year we can do that before Maddy wants to do a party with her friends.  She mentioned it this year but it's not a huge deal just yet.  Should be fun!

 

Here's hoping I make another update before another 6 months has passed!

Wow time flies!

     For having done so well with my month of thankfulness last year, I have sure stunk at keeping up with anything at all this year!  What a year it has been...January brought me a precious new niece ON my birthday! February brought Maddy's 5th birthday and Daegan's 3rd. We left on Daegan's birthday to visit Gommy in Utah for a week and in the middle of the night after we left, a tornado hit our area HARD.  It pretty much jumped over the top of our house...we ended up needing a new roof, new garage door and a new trampoline.  So very glad we weren't home and it didn't hit us worse than it did.  Our trip to Utah was amazing...it was so wonderful catching up with friends and family.  Plus, we got to spend the weekend in Vegas (I had never been) and see my bro-in-law and my nephew! About the time we made it back home, we found out we were expecting baby number 4!! It was not at all planned, but I've always wanted four kids! From what I remember, April was pretty uneventful and May brought Maddy's preschool graduation. June flew by and July brought us some wonderful family time with Nick's family.  His sister who lives across the country, her 2 kiddos and her fiancé came here and spent a week at the end of which we got a new brother-in-law! The wedding was simple, beautiful, and I bawled my preggo eyes out.  It was such a blessing getting to see them and of course my mom-in-law!  I cried like a baby again when we had to say good-bye.
     Now comes August...I'm almost caught up!  Maddy started kindergarten, Daegan's started preschool, Daegan is nearly potty trained (finally), and Lilly will be two in two and a half weeks. It has been an emotional month sending my big kids to school, 6 months into pregnancy, and missing our family members who live across the country. My mom was facetiming with my sis and nephew in Vegas while my bro and his girl were visiting just over a week ago and I couldn't stop crying. I haven't seen my nephew since we were out there the first of March and haven't seen my sister since the middle of February. Plus, my sis is due with her baby #2 on the same day as me. It hit me hard how much we are unable to share being separated by half a country. My nephew has grown up so much and I won't see him until Christmas when we fly to Utah for 2 weeks and we'll spend a few days in Vegas. I couldn't stop thinking that it will have been 10 months since I've gotten to hug him by then, I'll never feel my niece kick nor will my sis feel her nephew, there will be no pics of us sisters being preggo together..,I completely lost it.  My mom then decided she should do something amazing...she booked a weekend to take me, Daegan and Lilly to Vegas and we leave in 11days!  At least she didn't have to buy a plane ticket for Lilly since we are flying out one week before she turns two.  I am beyond excited to get to see my sis and nephew and share a few days of our pregnancies. What are the odds that we would be due on the same day?  I would imagine they are pretty slim.  

Thankful 30

Day 30: I am thankful I have so much to be thankful for...so many blessings. 30 days and I really didn't have to give it much thought. I definitely need to start using my gratitude journal again. What a wonderful and simple way to infuse your life with joy! Even on horrible days there are things to be thankful for. I feel I am leaving this month a happier, more joyful person. Maybe I'm crazy but I think doing this for a month (almost...I started late) has helped me be more positive which has been a chain reaction. I've been more patient with the kids, I've been cooking more, I've started reorganizing the house having finished the kids' rooms and kitchen, and Nick and I are continuing to improve. It really is a wonderful life!

Thankful 29

Day 29: I am thankful for the little guy I watch, Brodee, and his family. If it weren't for having that bit of extra income here and there over the past 18 months, things would have been much more difficult financially. I've also found another best friend in his mommy. It's been nice having another friend my age; especially one who lives 5 minutes away. We haveenjoyed having their family over to our house for dinner and going over to theirs as well. It has also been good for Nick getting to know Brodee's daddy. Daegan and Maddy absolutely love Brodee and now that Lilly is bigger, she does too. Their family has become part of ours.

Thankful 28

Day 28: I am thankful for Maddy's preschool. She loves it so much and from what I can tell, they do an amazing job. She is always counting down the days until her next day of school and comes home nearly every day with a craft they have done. She's so creative and I love that they are learning through creativity rather than trying to squelch it already and just have them do workbook stuff. I know we made the best decision financially sending her to the 3 day a week preschool at the church rather than full time at the school, but I truly feel this program also fits Maddy better. I think she would have been bored going to preschool full time. There are plenty of years of full time school ahead of her. In less than 9 months I'll be sending her off to kindergarten.

Thankful 27

Day 27: I am thankful for the ability to be warm when it's cold outside. I am thankful for coats and blankets, fire and shelter. I greatly dislike being cold and am thankful we have made enough advances in our society that we don't have to struggle for warmth.

Thankful 26

Day 26: I am thankful for the ability to cook as well as bake. I know some people who can ONLY cook, some who can ONLY bake and some who cannot do either. It's so nice to be able to do both. I can see or hear about a recipe and be able to make it if I want to. I've also been doing so much cooking lately that I'm starting to come up with recipe ideas of my own...I never thought that would happen! I LOVE baking - a little too much I think. It's therapeutic for me. I've always loved baking cookies and cakes and this year I've expanded my bread repertoire. Now I'm starting to expand into the crockery cooking category. Half of the recipes on the menu for next week are crock pot ones. Apparently I'm ready to break ours in - I think we've used it once. Hopefully one day I will get a stand mixer. Then I can really bake up a storm!

Thankful 25

Day 25: I am thankful for Christmas spirit but I wish it were more prevalent all year long. It's so nice when people are cheerful and smiling, wishing complete strangers well. It seems like most everyone is more joyful around Christmas-as they should be. I wish we were all more aware of our salvation than just around Christmas and Easter. All the lights and decorations at Christmas are fabulous too. I don't know how you wouldn't be able to look at a magnificent light display and feel full of joy and wonder. I still feel like a little kid driving around looking at the lights. And now I have children of my own who also adore the lights. Nick put ours up on the house today and I can't wait for our big kids to see them. They're having a sleepover with GiGi and G-Dad. Lilly kept pointing at them making sweet little noises. How I love Christmas...the financial part is stressful now but the celebration of Jesus' birth, family getting together, wonderful food and beautiful decorations are incredible. Tidings of comfort and joy.

Thankful 24

Day 24: I am thankful for my entire dysfunctional family! ;) My immediate household of course: the hubby and my 3 babies, my mom and step-dad, my dad and step-mom, my grandparents (SO happy I still have them), my uncles and aunts, my cousins, my in-laws, nieces and nephews and all of my many adopted siblings. I have such a fabulous network of family and friends. My heart does ache today for my baby sis who had to spend it without her hubby and baby while she awaits her transfer. Thank God they get to be together for Christmas.

Thankful 23

Day 23: I am thankful for spending time with friends and family. Today I got to have a long overdue reunion with one of my besties that went through a divorce and became a recluse. It was amazing catching up and just enjoying each other's company. Plus, the kids all had a great time playing. Then I got to spend the evening with my little brother whom I don't see enough of. It's always so wonderful when he comes to town. I've had a very blessed day full of incredible people.

Thankful 22

Day 22: I am thankful that God always provides. There are months I'm not sure how we will make it financially yet we do. I have been at the end of my emotional rope numerous times and He gives me the strength to make it through. It is only through Him that we made it through all of Lilly's surgeries with our sanity intact, that Nick and I are still together, and that we have survived on one income for 19 months tomorrow. I believe this journey was given to us so we might know Him better. And we do...God is so good and ever faithful!

Thankful 21

Day 21: I am thankful for our vehicles. Yes, I can find things to complain about with both of them, but I am thankful we have two running vehicles. It's nice to have the freedom to go and do as we please and not have to depend on other people for rides. It's also great to have vehicles period. It makes everything so much easier. Getting supplies(diapers and groceries), moving, visiting friends and relatives...the list goes on and on. It is truly amazing all the ways technology has made our lives easier.

Thankful 20

Day 20: I am thankful for the hubby's job. It is so nice that he has a full-time year-round job with benefits. It's wonderful knowing he has a steady job.

Thankful 19

Day 19: I am thankful for answered prayers. I am so glad God answered my prayers and the hubby quit drinking 5 weeks ago. We are very much on the mend and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm glad we got to see a dear friend and his kiddos but it's sad they are no longer a single family, but two separate ones. For the most part the kids are being put first. I'm so glad it's not us.

Thankful 18

Day 18: I am thankful I got to spend almost every day for the last four weeks with my sweet baby nephew, Logan. What a gift to get that much fabulous auntie time. There were certainly challenging moments and days, but I wouldn't trade it for anything and wish it were longer.
I am also thankful for the rebuilding of my relationship with my dad. It has been tumultuous over the last 13 years, but we're going from the present and it's been wonderful. I'm so happy we are moving forward and my children get to have so many loving grandparents in their lives. What a blessing.