tie dye fun

my sister and i thought it would be fun to tie dye a bunch of shirts and a background sheet and do a photo shoot of all the grandkids... (my mom is really into tie dyed things...)

it was fun, but hard to do with the kids. they enjoyed putting the rubber bands on the shirts, but the dye is permanent and a mess, so we just let them pick the colors and we did the dying.

they all did a great job and the patterns were awesome :)
we did a few onesies....

i had such high hopes for this photo shoot.... but not all children were as excited as i was...
ava was into it! she's a little model!
little S was having a hard time...



peace man :)

growing too fast!!

from the mouth of babes...

S (9) and cousin C (8) were very interested in observing me give baby R a bath while he was screaming his sweet little head off. they were both watching from start to finish...C , especially, was wondering if he always cries like that and how i handle it, since she will be a famous singer someday and wants to write a song about it.

as i was drying him off...

S: "look, the tip of his *einie is turning white!"

C: "he must be really mad!"

S: "why is it doing that?"

me: "oh, well... when he is screaming all the blood rushes to different places and makes him change colors"

S: "look how red he is! his *einie is still changing colors!"

C: "maybe it's just like a mood ring."

so true, C. that will definitely make an interesting song...

summer must haves... so far

1. mcdonalds $1 drinks. i am addicted. i love to drive thru even when we get food from somewhere else.... i get the unsweetened tho.
2. philosophy baby grace lotion3. jimmy johns. the bread is to die for. turkey tom for me and 2 slim #1's for the kids, cut in half. 3x a week works for me...

4. soy creamer. delish. i prefer fresh and easy's organic soy creamer.5. love to flip thru this and dream of summers in cooler locations... antique fairs, lake cabins, lightening bugs... etc....
6. it's like i am using it again for the first time...

7. perfect solution to a crying baby... who now loves baths thanks to this....

i surrender

well, my strike didn't work out. as i suspected, it is not possible for me to be on strike. after a broken table (that i had just painted), broken closet doors, 2 bloody noses (due to picking, not assault), one bloody lip (due to assault), a broken dishwasher and 4 wild-eyed kids... i decided to surrender. turns out (my) kids really will act like wild monkeys when set free. i know it sounds like paul gets a bad rap in this whole thing, as he was in charge during this whole fiasco, but he was trying. the kids were fed, the kitchen and the basement had been cleaned. his technique just included a lot of free fun time and time to work it out themselves. in the end though, they really do need rules, consequences and basically mommy to run the show. as mean and no fun as i am, they do need me. most importantly, they need paul and i to work together as a team to do it right. they need us.

so, to start off monday with a fresh new start, we attended rosary club in the morning. then i drove their little tooshies (and my big tooshie) to confession. it was a cleansing experience. i felt better and motivated to tackle the day to day of summer, and the kids, well... i think they realized that they had better get it together or mommy will be driving them to confession every day if needed. we also had our first "being grounded" experience. no play dates, no tv/movies, no computer and no sweets for 2 days. just reading and writing. and an occasional meal or 2.

i am going to make a few charts and signs and junk like that.... blah blah blah... but i think we are starting to get things under control again.

although they may drive me bonkers sometimes... i do love them so.

strike. day 1.5

i am on strike. i don't condone this, as it is very hard to be on strike and it could be interpreted as giving up or quitting.... but i don't care. i got to a point where i felt like all i did all day was shout out orders and correct kids... while driving them, watching, and doing all things kids. the kids were in vbs last week. it was awesome. the kids loved it and miss it. however, i may have bit off more than i could handle this early in handling 5 children. it started at 8:30 and it was a real challenge to get everyone up, fed, in their color they were assigned to and out the door on time. i think we were there on time 2 days out of 5.

i was really looking forward to meeting some friends on friday for breakfast right after drop off. after i got out of the shower that morning (god forbid i actually take a shower) i expected everyone to be already fed from the breakfast i had set out and in the car waiting for me wearing the clothes i washed and laid out. instead i came out to everyone happily dancing around to the radio in their pajamas making a huge breakfast using every pot and pan in the kitchen. well let's just say things did not go as planned.

this made me so upset on so many levels. so i decided to go on strike. i decided to put away anything that i get out and do only things that pertain to me or baby R.

without going into too many details....

here are a few things i have already noticed as of day 2:

1. being on strike is a lot harder than i thought. the first day i woke up, rolled out of bed and before even making it into the kitchen, i made the bed, closed the door which was left wide open, flushed the toilet which was full of someone else's sweet surprise, changed the toilet paper roll, and put away the milk which was sitting out on the table. this whole "ignoring the mess" is going to take some practice...

2. the kids are fighting just as much as when i was trying to "handle" every situation the right way. it is surprising how many times they will actually work things out on their own. i think i even notice the nice things they do for one another more when i am not mad at the last thing they did.

3. the kids really don't care if the house is a mess. they do not care if their room gets out of control. they do not care if they have to put laundry away more than they need to, they will still put clean clothes in the dirty clothes basket.

4. when i am not suggesting outfits to wear... tap shoes and a winter sweater dress are worn to the performance for the last day of vacation bible school.

5. i am losing confidence in my strike because i don't think anyone even notices and i am afraid of the mess i am eventually going to have to clean up.

cutest love note ever....

if i do say so myself. one of my little angels wrote this for another one of my little angels and it made my heart melt.

i know 5 girls (including myself) who are pretty much head over heels for this little guy.

2 weeks in...

well, since all i have mostly been doing for the last 2 weeks is sitting around nursing, i have had more tv time (keeping up on my current events), surfing the net from my iphone, folding loads of blue (more exciting than i thought it would be, except that there are WAY more cute clothing options for girls than boys out there, i need to start my own line of cute SIMPLE baby boy outfits that don't have any animals or sporting equipment on them... what's up with that?) trying to find the perfect orange modern crib set... any suggestions? and looking for an awesome place to find reprints of vintage movie posters.

i did manage to find my new favorite brand of shoes.... gentle souls by kenneth cole. $192 at nordie's....

i got them for $29.99 at lc... did you expect anything else???

Paully got me this awesome necklace... i love it and it is oh so true. which i have had to remind myself a lot lately.

these peeps are pretty awesome. i saw them on another blog and got a little obsessed. i keep telling paul to put something together so we can do this. i just wish i had her voice. it's all about finding a type of music to match your sound.... i don't see what's so hard about that. get on that paully....

here is a pic of my sissy with the twinsies... well actually they don't look anything like twins... or even related. i think they both look like their daddies. they are acting like twins tho... they both lost their umbilical cords on the same day at the same time. awwwwwwwwwww.........

the king has arrived....

well... we did it. we finally welcomed our 5th baby... and a BOY at that... to our family.

it was quite the experience. i had always wanted to experience natural childbirth, so i was bound and determined to do it this time. paul and i studied for months, made a birth plan, read, read and read some more.... and i'll tell you what.. those books are pretty accurate. i couldn't believe this was my 5th pregnancy and i was reading this stuff for the first time.

after realizing this baby was not coming early, after watching my due date come and go, i went to the dr. on monday to try to move things along.... not too exciting. i said.. do it again! she looked at me like...

"ok crazy lady, now you're talkin!"

she tortured me a little more and then whispered...

"do you want me to break your water?"

i asked if i would have time to go home and get my bag. she said probably not. i said what the heck... go for it.

i was past my due date and a little delirious at this point. i was weak. also, this was not part of the birth plan. i DID NOT want to be induced. i knew i would not be able to labor in the hospital... i am too weak and the epidural would be right there if i wanted it.

anyway... she tried and guess what, the baby blocked that move. it put it's sweet little hand up so that she couldn't do it. not ready. we went home.
on wed. morning i woke up with mild contractions. i was apprehensive the whole time, not wanting to go to the hospital until that baby was practically coming out....so i tried to distract myself. we decided to go ahead and take the little girls to atrium. we walked around for a bit and the contractions were getting much stronger. in between contractions i was just fine, stopping to talk to friends, etc. etc. paul downloaded an iphone labor app. he was pretty pumped about that. we were able to chart contractions, make notes and charts. it ended up being very helpful.

after we picked up the girls, it was starting to get pretty intense. i just wanted to go home. we did stop at whole foods tho, just to push things a little more and i really wanted some pears. we were able to drop S off with my neighbor and my dear friend M came and picked up D.

so we were ready. it was around noon at this point. we tried all of the things on my list to pass the time. the idea was to stay relaxed. if i could pick the best tool, it would be the heated rice bags. those things were awesome. if it weren't for the immense sensations i was feeling, i would've thought i was at the spa. it was hard work but manageable. finally, when out of nowhere i began to lose it over being fearful of getting stuck in traffic, paul was able to gage my emotional signpost as probably nearing the transition phase. which means that baby was coming very soon!
the ride to the hospital was very trying. it was hard to maintain composure, especially feeling every bump in our 4 runner. we did not run into any traffic tho ;) it was 3:30 in the afternoon.

as we pulled up to the hospital, i was grabbing onto a blanket and got out of the car. the nurse could tell i was upset and asked if i was pregnant. i could not do any talking at this point. paul was able to explain everything and guide us briefly thru check in, where they couldn't even get a bracelet on me, and into triage. another nurse asked me to change into a gown and she would be right back. that didn't happen either. i couldn't move or do anything but focus on each contraction which were right on top of each other at this point.
finally another nurse was able to get a better gage on the situation and quickly but calmly got me onto a bed and wheeled me into a delivery room, while announcing to the other nurses to get the dr. ... 5th baby, dilated to an 8, this baby is coming!!!

i didn't have an i.v., baby monitors, hospital id, i still even had my dress on when the dr. came

in. she kindly removed my dress with no help from me. before you know it, thanks to paul for putting up the stirrups, i pushed that baby out and paul said...

"it's a BOY!!!"
it was 4:05. i was in shock. shock from what i had just done, shocked from the fact that it was a boy. shocked that we were blessed with 5 healthy babies, shocked that i was lying there completely naked. i could have been in a field somewhere, it was an out of body experience.
the girls came to see him just a few hours after he was born. they were over the moon. they brought me beautiful statues of mothers and babies, a stork with a baby boy, cards and other goodies (all from the dollar store) they were so excited about their purchases. noni took them there and let them pick out whatever they wanted.
i was so thankful for paul during this whole experience. he was a great coach. i think it felt good for him to feel so involved too. i was so thankful for all my friends and family who jumped right in to help with childcare, meals, gifts, visits to the hospital, i even had beautiful birthday cakes waiting for me when i got home. they kick you out after 24 hours now, which i think is a little early. but all in all it was an amazing experience and i am

thankful.




top favorite sayings while i was in labor (all in a matter of about 15 min.)

1. look at my hands! guys there's something wrong with my thumbs! look at them!

2. dr.: i am going to check you... me: why? what's the point? i don't need to push yet.

3. someone came in to draw blood. that was not going to happen, everyone told her to leave. she was bound and determined to get that blood sample from me. she finally made it thru the crowd of people around me and asked... i turned around and looked at her and said "where ?" in a not so nice voice.

4. i kept calling everyone guys. hey guys...

5. i asked paul in a really calm sweet voice to please get me some ice chips.

6. after the whole thing was over, i looked down and realized the situation and said

"i guess i am a little exposed." and then covered up my top with a teeny tiny white washcloth.

7. i started to get really hot. so everyone was kind enough to put cold washcloths on my neck and forehead. i said "please just pour water all over me. can someone please do that?" and i was serious.

8. at perhaps one little weak moment... "this sucks!!!"

recent randomness....

cramming it all in while i still can...

retro.
pouty mcgee....
pouty mcgaw.....
charlotte was excited to be at the vet... glad i missed the anal gland drainage....barf


always take time to stop and smell the roses...
rosie by the roses....