About All I Can Say Is.....

B*L*A*H.

Let me start off by saying that life is wonderful and the kiddos are wonderful. Life with seven children isn't any different than life with six. Max is an awesome baby, so wonderful and snuggly.

I've decided that I hate the general public. If one more person asks how we 'handle' seven children or assume that I am overwhelmed with seven children, I will kick them square in the teeth. Sure, it's a lot of work. No, I don't get a lot of time to myself, but I missed the part of me complaining about anything like that.

Christmas was awesome. We celebrated with a white Christmas this year, which doesn't happen very often, so it was special and beautiful.

So here is the blah part. I go back to work on Monday. I am a little torn over it. I miss my friends and being out of the house, but I will miss my kids dearly. It's a good thing I am only working part time.

And, since everybody is so interested and concerned, I thought I would be the first to let everyone know that for the time being, no more babies. I have 50 pounds to lose (two pregnancies worth of weight). Yes, that is about the only reason. I am not sure what the future holds, but for now, we will enjoy every aspect of the seven fabulous children.

Tis The Season....

It gets crazier and crazier every year!

Meet Max

It's been a while. Life is always busy.

Max arrived on November 7, 2010 at 5:28pm after just a two hour labor and delivery. It was a really strange handful of events that happened right around his birth.

Three days before his induction date, I went in for a routine visit and ultrasound. We found that Max was breech. I was so upset. I'm not against csections, but I had 6 deliveries without one stitch anywhere, so this news was a bit difficult for me to process. I was a bit stressed. My ob agreed to try a version on the baby's induction date and if the version worked, start the induction after that. If the version didn't work, we would go ahead with the csection. I prepared myself for the section.

On Sunday the 7th, we arrived at the hospital at 2:30pm. One of the residents came in to do a quick ultrasound to check his position. To our surprise, Max was head down! The nurse came in and put on monitors and fifteen minutes later, she runs back in the room and says, "did you know that you are contracting every three minutes?". To which i responded, "No, I had no idea". She checked to see if I was dilated and an even bigger surprise was that i was dilated to five. The nurse was shocked that I was walking around 5cm dilated and contracting q3 min and had no idea. I didn't have any pain. That all happened at 3:30pm, Max was born tow hours later.

Maxwell Joseph

11/7/10

1728

7lbs 12oz, 20 inches

And he is an angel. Another wonderful, beautiful addition to our family.

Not Enough Time...

...To get everything ready for Seven.

Seven will be here the day after Jack's 10th birthday. So that gives me this weekend to get everything set ready for his arrival.

Dan's mother is coming into town over Halloween weekend, and the following weekend is Jack's birthday, so those two weekends are out.

Reality is, there isn't that much to get ready for. I washed his clothes and the girls helped us set up the new bassinet. The only things left to do are get the new car seat installed and put together and pack my bag.

The kids are super excited. The girls ask everyday when he is coming. The big boys said they are going to babysit and teach him how to play baseball.

It's just so hard to believe that in a few short weeks, there will be FIVE boys in our house. How awesome is that?!

Emotional Distress...

Sometimes, I have the worst job in the world. A job that is sometimes so stressful, it keeps me awake at night and gives me anxiety.

I work on a Women's Health floor at a hospital. We care for women of all ages and stages in their lives. We care for mostly c-section mom's, hysterectomy's, all kinds of repair work. If a procedure can be preformed on a woman, we get it.

We also care for mom's who have suffered IUFD (late term). You never get used to it. And really, there's no way to cope with it. These are good people ready to welcome a new baby into their families. Sometimes, there are reasons for the losses-cord accidents or genetic issues. But sometimes, there isn't a reason for the loss at all. It's devastating beyond words.

They come in spurts. We are in the middle of one right now. We have seen twelve in the past two weeks. That is a lot.

I can't care for these patients right now for obvious reasons, but I know they are there. Counting my own baby's kicks makes me anxious. Sometimes, I'm convinced that I will lose my own son. I can't sleep, it's hard to function throughout the day. Because of this, I haven't really done a thing to get ready for his arrival.

I have a list of things to buy for him. I look at it every day, telling myself that I will get it all accomplished a week before his arrival. Reality is, I probably won't get everything ready until the day before my induction date. That is about my comfort zone right now.

I am just feeling as if I can't get attached until he is hopefully here safe and sound.

Makes you sick, doesn't it?

Finally!

Lucky #7 finally has a name!!

...But I will never tell (unless you are family and in that case, you already know!)

Lucky Number Seven...

Is never going to be named. We have been through.....oh.......nine thousand names and nothing really interests us.

I have a thing about names for children. I hate the fact that people are taking great boys names and putting them on girls. I HATE frilly names for boys that are only cute until a child is five (this includes many names for girls).

So, we have a list of about twenty five names and I'm just kind of hoping that one of them will hit me one day as, 'the one'.

It's Been A While...

...But life has been busy.

There are, after all, six children who keep us very, very busy.

The end of the school year was wonderful. The big boys did so well. We found out quickly that the preschool that we moved Libby to was not the best choice, therefore, we decided to send her back to the preschool where we have spent oh so many years.

The summer went by quickly and was filled with enrichment programs and summer camp for the big boys, and summer camp for the little girls. This was Anne's first 'school like' experience, and she loved it. She did so well and we were so proud of her.

Evan turned one mid July. This twenty-five pound one year old keeps us busy. He started walking just right at his first birthday and his little chub legs haven't stopped since. We bought him his first pair of walking shoes. He loves to flirt with people. He's a ham. And he's cute as hell. A dangerous combination!

School started back on 8/17. The kids are having a ball! They love their school and being with their friends. This has been a very busy, but exciting time of year. we suddenly have a fourth, third, and first grader, along with 2 preschoolers! whew! Where are the years going??

Libby starting dancing classes that same week also. After a year of her BEGGING us to take lessons, I broke down and signed her up. She looks forward to dancing that I get just as excited as she does.

This fall will once again bring many changes for our family. We are expecting another baby at the very end of November. He does not have a name yet, though Libby thinks that 'gurgle' would be a great name and Will threw 'Ralph' in there too. Naming lucky #7 has brought many challenges. We are hoping to have a name for him by the time he arrives. OMG, we will have 2 babies just 16 months apart. This will be interesting.....

Change of Seasons

Spring is here, and so is Little League Baseball.

The big boys are so excited! Jack is on a pretty competitive team this year, so his games will be super fun to watch.

This will be Sam's first year also playing for a Bridgeton team. Sam is naturally a good player, so I know he will love it.

Will is going to be playing for St. John Bosco. As little as he is, he can swing a bat hard. And he's a fast runner. Will is so excited to play baseball that he can hardly stand himself. It's really cute.


Dan took Jack and Sam to an NCAA basketball game this past weekend. I'm not sure who out of the three had the most fun. The boys had a blast. I'm so happy they were able to go. Getting tickets around here for that event was just about impossible, so I'm happy they had the opportunity to go.

Exciting times for our family! We are expecting 2 new babies just within the next month or so. SO, SO exciting!!

WAY TO GO

+3OBAMA.

I think you suck so bad that I could vomit in my own mouth right now.

Talk about destroying a country and he's managed to destroy ours in just a little over a years time...

What an asshole.

I don't know how anyone can think this change is "good".

St. John Bosco

2010 St. Cletus tournament champs!!

Spring Break...

...Was for all the kids this past week.

Last year, it rained every day during spring break. It wasn't easy.

This year, the weather was beautiful. The kids went to the Zoo with my mother, we took the kids to Creve Coeur Park, we took the kids out to dinner with my parents and Katie and Zach to Riggazi's. It's been a busy week, and the kids really enjoyed their time off.

The basketball season has (finally) ended (except for one last championship tournament game for Jack tonight). Little League Baseball just started. This is a fun season and the boys just love every minute of it.

There are only about 10 weeks left of the school year. Amazing how quickly the year has flown by. The kids have had a great year. Libby and Anne will be back at Ladue Early Childhood this fall, which totally excites me. The preschool change back in January didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

The kids are getting big and growing up. It's amazing to watch.

For The First Time...

...I had a team of ten last night at work. Four of the patients were new mom's.

It's fun to have new mom's on a team. The family members are there...it's a happy, fun atmosphere. Whenever I would see a new squishy baby, I would get the 'baby itch'.

After listening to all of that crying that those four babies dished out last night, it was the first time in nine years that all I could think to myself was, "thank god these babies aren't mine".

Now, that's one hell of a revelation.

Seventeen Months Later...

...And my uterus absolutely hates me. I have having such terrible lower abdominal pain. I'm not sure if there is enough Advil in the Western hemisphere for this. I'd even take a walking epidural at this point.

It really, really sucks being a female. Men just don't know how lucky they are.

*sigh*

Another Day Passes By...

Evan is not 8 months yet, he is already crawling all over the place (crawling since

6.5 months), has four teeth, and for the past almost two weeks can pull himself up on just about anything. I have this strange feeling that he will be walking by 10.5 months. In fact, I would put money on it.

Really, You Are Surprised?

So I'm not surprised that a 12,000 pound Killer Whale killed a trainer. It has happened twice before with this same whale, and Sea World played with fire and had a bomb explode in their face.

I love sea life. I've been obsessed with sharks since I was seven years old. I have seen every Shark Week since the Discovery Channel started playing them. I have them all on DVD. I could ramble off any fact you could ever want to know about them. I think it's kind of cool when sharks invade "our" beaches. These are some of the oldest animals on the planet, the original killing machine-King of the Ocean. They absolutely fascinate me to no end.

Whales aren't much different. These big, powerful animals are amazing. They are wild animals, not meant for captivity. They are not meant to do stupid tricks for people watch. Sure, they are smart as hell and can be "taught", but should they be? They are driven by their animal instinct, never to be kept as "pets".

Let's think about Sea World for a minute. I'm sure they take great care of their animals. I'm sure the animals receive state of the art medical care and are fed one heck of a meal. But, let's be honest with one another, how would you like to be a 12,000lb animal swimming in an over sized swimming pool with people blowing whistles in your face just so that if you do a trick, they throw a fish or two at you. People clapping and yelling at you. People banging on glass windows at you. Sounds a little stressful, don't you think? Poor whales, that kind of life isn't much of a life at all.

Getting back to my original point...

So everyone is SHOCKED this happened?!

Not me. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. Let's just say that if there was a great white swimming in a pool and I was told it was "trained and gentle", I sure as hell wouldn't put even a toe in that water. I'm not stupid. Jaws could never be trained. Mr. Free Willy isn't much different.

They way in which that trainer was killed was TEXTBOOK on how a Killer Whale would hunt a seal close to the beach.

Like I said, animal instinct.

I'd also like to know where PETA is in all of this. How could they possibly think that the captivity of such an animal is "okay". Clearly, Sea World has it's priorities a little unorganized as they have a whale who has now killed 3 people and left one of their own trainers dead.

Call me insensitive, but you can't blame a WILD animal with normal animal instincts for the death of a human.

WAY TO GO, Sea World. I hope the trainer's family sues the crap out of you for wrongful death.

Think About It...

"People see debt as a gift and children as a burden. Not us. We see debt as a burden, and children as a blessing".

-Jim Bob Duggar

We can all learn a valuable lesson from this statement.

I Just Don't Know Anymore...

To go into nursing or not.

SLU has a PA program that I am super excited about. But gosh, talk about being $100,000 in debt when that's all over. AND Missouri (as of now) doesn't really use PA's and I'm not in the mood to work in Illinois (corrupt, bankrupt state...hence Obama).

I've been looking into Surgical Tech stuff. That is only a two year program and super easy, but I don't know if I want to settle.

The PCA position that I do now is terrible. We are under-paid, over-worked, and very much unappreciated. We do everything that the nurses "don't have time to do", aka don't WANT to do. We carry teams of up to twelve patients. The nurses only carry teams of (no more than) five.

We see a lot of things that most people don't even know happens in a hospital. We have a sick (no pun intended) sense of humor, we make fun of patients and their families just to lighten the mood of a bad situation. We don't know your name, nor do we really care, only your room number. We can be rude to patients if they won't get off their cell phone when we walk in their room to do our jobs. We really, really dislike it when husbands stay over night. Your wife is a big girl, so go home. No, I don't have any idea how you can get more Toradol or Percocet to take home with you. *Rolling eyes*. We can sniff out a drug seeker or pain killer abuser a mile away.


See, all of it has made me a bit insensitive. Actually, a lot insensitive. For the most part, I have gotten used to not bringing the job home with me.

Some images stick with you for a long, long time.

I've Said It Before...

Some parents are so obnoxious when it comes to their children. Really, get a freaking life. Like a hobby outside the home. Seriously.

Why Didn't They Listen?

"(Barak Obama) is not a man who sees America like you and I see America. Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this."
-Sarah Palin

The Duggar's

I love them. I think they are such a wonderful family. I admire them in a lot of different ways. In ways that many of you would not be able to understand.

While I do hear people judge them on the number of children they have, I often wonder why. Kudos to them for raising children who are loving, caring and know the true meaning of family. I think the Duggar's always stay true to who they are and what they believe and I think that takes a lot of courage.

To any of you who judge the Duggar's, maybe you should take a look at your own parenting.

Seriously?!

Do you know what I get super tired of? And I know it's ignorant for me to say, but I loathe when other mom's complain how tired they are, how their kids drive them crazy, how they think everything they do is better than how everyone else does things. How they only cook organic ass food (which mind you there is NO scientific data that proves that crap is better than other food), god forbid you feed your infant formula, that their kids are smarter than every other kid on the planet.

Do you want me to be all happy for you because you cleaned your house and did laundry and made dinner? Seriously?!! That's what you are suppose to do, so you won't get any gold stars from me.

Putting your kid on a pedestal just sets them up for some big time failure and in need for some serious therapy.

I think people like that are truly miserable and are just trying to cover it up.

I'm just saying...

Dark(er) Days

So, I'm not even going to beat around the bush.

I am freaking exhausted. Almost to the point where I can barely function.

Have I ever mentioned that Evan, as cute and squishy as he is, has only slept through the night like twice since he was born? And yes, he just turned six months old.

And, I'm not talking like he only wakes up once during the night. We are talking getting up two or three times. On nights like tonight, when I don't get home from work until a little after 2330, he will get up around 0130, 0300 and then again around 0430. I start my day with the other kids around 0615.

Needless to say, I get very little sleep. It is catching up with me now. Tonight at work I had a patient almost bleed out on me and I missed the warning signs. I'm just not like that, I never miss those things. You would have thought that a bp of 88/46 would have caught my attention.

The pedi thinks that Evan has colic. Babies usually outgrow that by four months, so I don't buy that. The thing is, he's a great baby until around 1600. Around that time, he kind of turns into a devil child. Satan himself, hell on earth. Crying, fussing, you name it, he dishes it out.

Did you hear that? It is 0051 and he's up. He's up a little early tonight. Good thing I have tomorrow off....

Four Brothers

Happy Brithday Will

He turned six years old today. Actually, this morning at 10:37am. He was my shortest labor and delivery at just 1 hour, 37 minutes. We brought him home from the hospital on a bitterly cold January day, he was almost too small for his car seat (we had to wrap him in a few blankets to make sure he fit securely).

He was also our smallest baby at 5lbs, 10oz. The baby that was so small and wonderful. I could carry him around all day.

He has changed so much in the past year. He started kindergarten this past fall. He's come out of his shell, realizing that he doesn't need his older brother's the show him the way. He has many friends, he loves school.

He's funny as hell. Will has a sense of humor that is beyond his years. He makes us laugh uncontrollably.

He is a sweet natured child. He is protective of his siblings.

He is still physically small, though his personality is 10 times his size.

He's an awesome kiddo. We just can't get enough of him.

Where Did The Past Six Months Go?

Evan fell asleep on Sam before we left for school yesterday morning. Brotherly love is a serious thing around our house! Evan turned six months today and I just found him in the living room on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. Traditionally, all of our kids were early walkers-all walking well before twelve months, so I have a feeling Evan will be the same way!

Back To 'Normal'

I'm not going to lie. I gained a ton of weight when I was pregnant with Evan. My baby weight has never just fallen off of me, I'm not that lucky of a person. I have to really work at it. I love junk food, it's for sure my downfall.

I can't even bare to admit how much I weighed the day we had Evan. The thought makes me want to throw up in my mouth. I am that average person who gains weight over nine months and takes me nine months to lose it.

I've lost 50, and to get back to the weight I was the day I found out I was pregnant with Evan, I still have 12lbs to go, but, it's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Now that I am thinking about it, what does it mean when people say, "OMG, you've had six kids? You don't look like you've had six kids!"?

I've been dwelling on that for a while now. How am I suppose to look? Am I suppose to look like a tired, over weight mother of six who doesn't take care of herself?

I think that is part of the problem with society. I have heard people say, "I know I'm over weight, but I've had two kids". I've decided that's not really a good excuse. The good lord knows it's almost impossible for me to resist that mac & cheese I make the kids for lunch sometimes, so don't get me wrong. I just think our society in general is lazy.

The perfect exercise routine is getting outside and playing with your children. That is all I am able to do. Would I totally LOVE to take a yoga class? You bet, but, that doesn't really fit into the schedule. I will however, always make time to get my hair cut or get out by myself for a little 'me' time.

Let's be honest with one another, I enjoying looking good. Not only for myself, but for the husband. I don't know any husband that wants to be seen with a wife that looks like shit (and this goes both ways, boys!). Okay, that is the rant for the day.



Went to Dan's Home Depot this afternoon to have lunch with him. I mentioned in the post below that we were going to start a little home reconstruction. It's a little overwhelming now that I've not only seen this prices on some of this stuff, but then did (as quick of) math that I could in my head and almost had a panic attack. It's not like I thought these projects would be cheap, but it's all the 'hidden costs' involved that virtually double the price of everything. New carpet in the house is going to cost (just about) $1300-and that's just the lower level.

If we add our breakfast room, the flooring (10" ceramic tile) will cost $1600, but that includes instillation, so that's bonus (?).

I hate these kinds of house projects. I kind of left Home Depot feeling as if it would be cheaper just to tear the damn house down and start all over.

One thing at a time, so I'm not sure how this is all going to work out yet, but we have found that everything always works out the way it should.

Dream Big and Setting the Standards High

Dan and I have been talking a lot about the house over the past year or so. We love this house. We bought it four years ago. We love our community. We love our school district.

The house, though, after bringing three babies home here, seems to be getting smaller by the day. We can't all eat dinner together because of the size of our kitchen, and the table isn't as big as it used to be either, lol! We added a fourth bedroom two summers ago.

So we've decided to (attempt) to add another bedroom, add onto the lower level family room that we cut in half to add the fourth bedroom , and turn our already existing three season sun porch into breakfast room. It's big thinking right now, but, if we want to stay in this community that we've grown to love so much, it's the only option. it will throw our house value over the norm, but we will be here for a while, so we figure it's a good long term investment.

This little project goes along also with the windows that are going to be replaced in the spring and the new carpet that will be going down soon (I found this awesome dark charcoal color that *I think* will hide a bit more dirt than the light tan we are dealing with now). We will also be replacing the kitchen cabinets at some point. I found cabinets online at Ikea that I am totally in love with, so Dan and I were thinking about driving to one of the Chicago Ikea's during spring break in March.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to go back to school to do. Nursing, nursing, nursing. Well, I have been thinking of other things and it's exciting and nerve racking all at the same time. Getting my ducks in a row now, my time is coming!

Today Was....*Deep Breath*

It was good, actually.

We were reminded today by an unlikely source that we really are good parents, so that was pretty awesome.

Libby had her first day at the new preschool. She really enjoyed herself. I was happy because she was happy, but I wasn't as thrilled. We will see. If she continues to like it, then I will like it. Idk, this change has been harder than I ever really expected it to be.

We spent the day running around and now, I'm enjoying a beer and a movie with the husband and watching the snow fall outside. So relaxing.

Back to work tomorrow for 3 shifts in a row. Good times.

Makes You Wonder...

If what people tell you is really what they think, or, if they just say shit to make you feel better for that split second.

So, whatever.

Grow A Set, Will Ya?

Time to take control.

And don't forget to breathe.