My Random Thoughts & Dirty Laundry

Happy 11 months Quinn!

2012-01-17T14:26:00.002-05:00

This won't be my most in debth monthly post because I am computerless. This means I am typing all of this from my itty bitty new phone keyboard.

My ~~sweet, precious and innocent~~ baby girl, this month you have really been through some changes. You have developed an attitude~ a major one! You flip out when someone takes something from you or when we grab you when you're crawling into danger. You don't sleep as well and aren't as calm. You are prematurely acting like a sassy toddler. When someone kisses you or tries to get in your personal space you hit them. When you see a bed or blanket you think it is an open invitation to dive head first into it. You love to dance and clap to music. You've learned to climb stairs and are fearless; just today I caught you by the head as you were falling backwards down the stairs. We do have a baby gate to keep you safe but you caught on to the fact that toddlers don't close baby gates very well and you always nees to 'check' to see. You are super clingy and think I {and Daddy} hung the moon. I can't do dishes around you anymore unless I am willing to accept the 'help' from you. You love eating still and your favs are mixed veggies {carrots, peas, corn, green beans} and blueberries {cut into 4 tiny pieces of course}, strawberries and lemons. We gave you Cheerios for the first time last night. I am getting ready for your first birthday party and some special pictures. I love you my little wild child and really enjoy seeing you turn into the little spitfire I always wanted from a daughter.

Love,
Mommy

She's back!

2012-01-03T23:31:00.002-05:00

Quinn only slept in P's room for one night...since then she's been waking and I don't have the heart not to get to her right away. I have a terrible terrible case of mastitis and I want to express as much milk as I can to get rid of this thing. I am so sick my (super fantastic) MIL is coming to help me with the kids tomorrow and my fever won't go away with 4 Advil. Riley isn't going to school and I am not going to make it back to our first Bible study.

New tooth and new room?

2011-12-31T11:58:00.002-05:00

Quinn's 2nd tooth popped through last night. Her bottom left. She has been such a cranky butt at night and waking ever since she learned to stand and see that mommy is beside her (and since her first tooth) so last night she woke up 3 times before I even went to bed. I nursed her and then put her in the crib to sleep- FYI the crib is upstairs in Payton's room and Payton was at Grammy's house- it was the perfect night to give it a try. This morning she woke up at 10:30AM bright eyed and busy tailed and jumping up and down playing....I wonder if she needs her own space. I told Kevin this is only a trial run because I didn't want her out of our room until she was at least a year BUT if she isn't sleeping good- and we're talking about my 12-14 hour sleeper from 3 months-10 months to waking every 2-3 hours...I just don't think she is happy since it is out of character for her to wake. If we were talking about Payton at this age- it WAS in his character and didn't effect him since he woke every 1-3 hours since birth but with her I am not so sure. For the record I am not letting her cry, I just wonder if she is ready for her own space- if she isn't I'll gladly put her back in her pack in play beside me.

Going crazy with the homemade soaps and detergents!

2011-12-30T18:07:00.003-05:00

One of my goals in 2012 (I don't like calling it a resolution) is to be more self reliant and less reliant on government and store bought products in general. I know I can't stop buying raw materials at the store BUT I can buy things like washing soda, borax, etc that can make me 10 gallons of laundry detergent without going back and back and back to the store and paying more and more and more taxes, wasting time and paying 5-10 times more for a product that is full of carcinogenics and chemicals when I can make homemade and organic.

I started with making laundry soap. I used a recipe I found on Pinterest.

1 gallon of water (boil)
1 cold gallon of water
1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda
1 bar of Ivory bar soap (graded with a cheese grader)
I also added some lavender tea tree oil- which was not on the "recipe"

*I found all of these products at my local Kroger*

I boiled one gallon of water, added the bar of soap, the borax and the washing soda. After the soap was dissolved, I added in the 2nd cold gallon of water. I let it sit and that was it. I emptied it back into some liquid detergent containers. I fill up the cup per load. It cost $7 (bar soap was in a 3 pack, borax and washing soda was a big box) to have the stuff on hand, and I can make 6 gallons without buying more soap but even when I run out of bar soap, I can just go back for that. I am no math wiz but it is far far cheaper than Tide, Gain or any of the other "nice" brands. Next time I am going to try with organic lavender soap and make powdered detergent.

Today I learned about making homemade hand soap! I was running low on some that we've had for almost a year- I believe it was slightly less than 1/2 gallon- and I saw them at Kroger today for $6. I bought a bar of organic lavender bar soap ($4) and some liquid glycerin ($2), so I have $6 in materials to make ORGANIC hand soap...and DOUBLE the amount at that...it is going to make a gallon. Here is what I did:

1 bar of soap- graded with a cheese grader
1 gallon of water boiling
2 tbs of liquid glycerin

I boiled the water, added the soap shavings, let it dissolve and added the glycerin. Then it sits for 10 hours (which it is sitting now). If it is clumpy use a hand mixer to smooth it- add water if needed. I have a big gallon set aside ready and waiting for it. You could use a non organic bar of soap and make it even a lot cheaper but even with organic soap you get at least a 50% savings.

I should have taken pictures!

Debunking (from personal experience) a circumcision myth

2011-12-23T23:17:00.008-05:00

I know you've heard it...probably a zillion times, it is a cover up for ignorance and people not wanting to look into medical facts. Well, there are two of my favorite excuses I'd like to share that make me laugh. 1st excuse is that the mother lets the father choose because he "has that equipment"--sorry ladies, he does NOT have that equipment if he is circumcised, in fact you have your foreskin and Daddy doesn't...therefore you have more natural equipment than he does. Daddy is missing 20,000 nerve endings and has absolutely no clue what it feels like to be intact. This is an excuse. He has no clue what he is missing and sure his sex life is great- but no one can say how it would be if he was intact--I can only speculate.

The other excuse that is so silly is that parents want Daddy and son to look alike. I know, I was "one of those" moms too 7 years ago, I defended my choices to the end and when I ran out of good ammo, I blamed it on 1. I let Kevin choose (talk about throwing Special K under the bus) and 2.It is important for our son to look like his dad ...I see now it is a totally immature way of thinking.

Everyone who knows this intactivist knows that God was so gracious he gave us another boy and this time Kevin and I both did tons of homework and both couldn't even believe what we saw, thought and how our hearts and minds were changed forever. Kevin actually decided before me that we'd leave all future sons intact. Then came some guilt, regret and sadness from our former choices...that is a whole different post and when you know better you do better and ignorance is bliss right? So, with Payton society had me worried that they had to look alike and the intactivist community quickly reminded me that their hair color would perhaps be a different color (OMGOODNESS IT IS), and their eye color would not necessarily be the same (OH NO PAYTON NEEDS CONTACTS!), one penis would (hopefully haha) be bigger than the other...oh great, so they come out needing an enlargement AND a circumcision just so they can look alike?! This mindset brought on a new perspective. Do they plan on having a contest? Why can't Daddy just explain that he had surgery on HIS because at the time his parents thought that was best and now new information is out and we know it isn't best. I was still a teensy bit worried because we not only had a Daddy to explain but his older brother wouldn't look like him in that department and really I was more concerned about telling Riley what he was missing than how Payton was "different"

So the story goes like this.

Payton was born, and Riley never asked. We thought we'd explain when/if it ever happened that we didn't know better, he had surgery, we were sorry and we hoped he wouldn't do it to his son..

He never asked...for 3 years!

He only discovered it when Payton became retractable and was so proud he couldn't wait to show everyone (sorry son).

Riley thought something was wrong and asked. I told him just like we'd rehearsed that when he was a baby we thought it was the best decision, he had surgery and when we had Payton all the recommendations and guidelines have changed and the doctor recommended we didn't do it anymore. He said "ok" and bounced off, he was so not interested in the conversation he could hardly hear me out...and I was thinking to myself 'kid, let me finish, I've been waiting THREE long years to get this off my chest' and he wasn't phased. The only question he asked me was does circumcision hurt and I told him of course it did.

Then here is the best part of the story (with Special K's permission). Special K came home from work Tuesday a little late, dinner was fixed and sitting on the table and we were all waiting for him to walk in the door. He comes in and immediately says "I need to pee, I will be right back" Payton jumps up from the table and races off behind him screaming "ME COMING WHICH YOU, DADDY!!!!!!!" he was so excited to see Special K I thought to myself 'he can deal with that.........' so a few minutes later Payton comes dashing back into the kitchen to proudly announce "DADDY HAS A BONE IN HIS GOOBA LIKE MINE!" (FYI Payton named the head/retractable part a bone all on his own heehee) We all crack up, great dinner conversation, right?! I out of curiosity asked him "Does your goober look like daddy's?" he said "yup!" and that was it...

I can assure he does not feel weird, awkward, or like an outcast. I promise our men don't have flashing contest where they compare and contrast. I promise they don't care what each others penis looks like and it does not ruin a second of their day.

I know in school he'll be in good company with the now 50% circumcision rate/50% intact rate.

I know it isn't any harder to keep clean. Actually newborn care on a circumcised penis is harder. You have to make sure to keep clean the open flesh wound from getting feces and urine on it. Intact, you just wash it like a finger, never retracting.

I know that it isn't just a little snip. The head of the penis is fused/stuck together with the foreskin that is going to get cut much like your finger nail is stuck/fused to the bed of your finger. So in order to perform a circumcision they have to stick am object in the prepuce, and break the adhesion all around the head and the foreskin, and then cut. The cutting sounds minor compared to breaking the adhesion.

I know that in the Bible in the New Testament Paul says KJV "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." Galations 5:2 There are many many many other verses about circumcision on the New Testament but this basically means that Jesus died on the cross to free us of our sins and we no longer need to earn our way to heaven because that is literally impossible. It means that all of the old laws in the Old Testament have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. We aren't Jewish and we don't need to circumcise in the name of faith, we can all enter Heaven as we are. Here is a good link to more about what is in the Bible about circumcision along with some amazing scripture:

What the Bible Really Says About Routine Infant Circumcision

Biblical Circumcision Information

Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you be circumcised, Christ will be of no advantage to you. – Galatians 5:2

And even those who advocate circumcision don’t really keep the whole law. They only want you to be circumcised so they can brag about it and claim you as their disciples. – Gal 6:13

For there are many who rebel against right teaching; they engage in useless talk and deceive people. This is especially true of those who insist on circumcision for salvation. They must be silenced. By their wrong teaching, they have already turned whole families away from the truth. Such teachers only want your money. – Titus 1:10-11

Watch out for those wicked men – dangerous dogs, I call them – who say you must be circumcised. Beware of the evil doers. Beware of the mutilation. For it isn’t the cutting of our bodies that makes us children of God; it is worshiping him with our spirits. – Phil 3:2-3

And I testify again to every male who receives circumcision, that he is in debt to keep the whole Law. You who do so have been severed from Christ...you have fallen from grace. - Gal 5:3

"As God has called each man, in this manner let him walk. And thus I command in all the churches. Was any man called in the circumcision [Old Covenant]? Let him not try to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in the uncircumcision [New Covenant in Christ]? Let him not be circumcised! Circumcision is nothing. And uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let each man remain in that condition in which he was called. - 1 Cor. 7:17

And some men came and were teaching the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.' But Paul and Barnabas together had great dissension and disputing with these men. . . Then Peter stood up and said to them 'Why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? - Acts 15:1-2, 7, 10

But if I still proclaim circumcision. . . then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.- Gal 5:11

I wish that those who are pushing you to do so would mutilate themselves! - Gal 5:121

But reject profane and old wive's fables, and exercise yourself towards godliness. Tim 4:7
Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." Acts 15:10

I know as a mother I can not hand my child over to have him strapped down to a cold, hard circumstraint and given pain medications alone that could kill him. 117 boys died last year from circumcision and 1/10 had a complication.

Intact or Circumcised: A Significant Difference in the Adult Penis

I know the US has one of the highest AIDS rates...and one of the highest circumcision rates, and even if the claim that you have less risk of STDs were true #1 if you have sex with someone with an STD- you'll get it circumcised or intact. #2 Wear a condom or more preferably wait until you are married. #3 false security!

I know it doesn't look better. I also know that it looks the exact same when it's retractable and erect circumcised or intact. I actually have a friend with an intact husband and she didn't know it until after their first child was born, his mother told her. To her when they had intercourse it looked the same. He thought it was normal to be intact, and she had no clue he was, so it wasn't discussed.

I know it is a cosmetic surgery, with no benefits and real risk. I also know that it isn't your organ on your body and I don't believe it is even "every parents choice"...most choices like vaccinating, breastfeeding/formula, what color they wear, hair, daycare or home care, religion, public/private/homeschool..thoshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife are all parental rights but I think it is a human rights violation to hack off 1/2 of a perfectly healthy little boys skin right after they're born because you want them to look like you.

When my babies are born they are born beautiful, healthy, perfect, with no birth defects and no alterations needed. What a wonderful way to express love to your new little bundle than leaving them whole.

Circumcision videos:
Neonatal circumcision
plastibell circumcision
Gomco Clamp circumcision
Infant Circumcision

Skyler's birth story

2011-12-23T13:15:00.005-05:00

I found this today on one of my message boards. It is Skyler's birth story She was born April 1, 2006 and the story was written on April 20, 2007

Skyler was totally unplanned. Our marriage was not where it should have been. When we found out Kevin was devistated and I knew that it was not good timing, but God put it in my heart to desire another baby. He was preparing me to want and accept her.

I for some reason, really enjoyed her pregnancy, unlike Riley's who I wanted to be over and meet him too soon. I loved being pregnant with her, I loved my belly, my body, I worked on my marriage, it was great.

I went in because I was bleeding at about 6 weeks and they did an U/S and told me that the baby was measuring only 4 weeks, and I knew that it wasn't possible because I'd had a BFP for TWO weeks, so they told me that she was prob not developing anymore and I might misscarry. I also was checked and had low progesterone. To my surprise the little bean got stronger and hung on, when all hope was lost. I found out when I was 24 weeks pregnant that I had diabetes, and I thought my life was over, it actually ended up being awesome because I never gained so much weight like I did with Riley, I still got to eat 6 times a day and I was on a diet.

I was 33 weeks and it was a Friday, March 31st and Kevin's mom had been over all day playing with Riley and I had BAD leg cramp, in the middle of the day, I know those are common when sleeping. The cramp never went away, all day and we went to eat that night and it still never went away. On the way home Kevin was pressuring me to get it looked at. I called the OB and she told me to hurry to the ER that it could be a blood clot. We went to an urgent care that was thankfully closed, then we went to the ER who immediatley sent us to triage. In triage they hooked me up to a fetal monitor, and she was doing great, but I was having contractions that I could not feel. They took me to do an u/s of my leg, and it was fine. They told Kevin to go get the car since we parked at the ER and the nurse came in to tell me I could go, took one last look at the monitor and asked me if she could check me since I was ctxing, I told her yes, she FREAKED out when she felt me and I was 6cm dialated and 80% effaced, my OB ran in, and lots of other nurses came in. They gave me 1 shot for her lungs and told me that 12 hours later they'd give me another, normally they wait 24 hours but they didn't think she would wait. They gave me trabutiline (sp?) and mag, and I was totally fine at first, and my labor kept progressing so the OB asked me if I was okay with her upping the does, she did that 2x's and by the 2nd time I couldn't hardly open my eyes. I made it through the night so the medicine for her lungs worked, but by the next morning they couldn't wait and I felt horrible with the large doses of drugs. The OB asked me if I was ready and I said I would only be ready if they were willing to take me off of the medications so that I could be clear minded for my birth. I was not scared at all, I knew she was comming and there was nothing I could do, so I chose to be excited. I got into the OR and I was a little nervous about my spinal, and I expressed my concerns and told them about how I felt with Riley and they assured me that the spinal was different from the epi, and that it could do the same thing but not necessairaly. The spinal was a million times better, I breathed great, I was totally there and in the moment, I talked...it was the best I'd felt in 2 days.

Finally she came, and she did make a little crying noise, I was so relieved when I heard her. The nurse brought her to me and Kevin, I kissed her and rubbed her for a few minutes and then they started working on her.

She had some problems from being early but nothing big. She was in the NICU for 14 days.

Last belly pictures and all drugged up

first time nursing

This was in our transitional room at the hospital before we could take her home, it looked like a hotel room.

On our way home from the hospital

Recipe of the week {crockpot taco soup}

2011-12-22T18:01:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the weird coloring on the pics, I can only work so many miracles on my kitchen lights.

3-4 boneless chicken breast
1 bag of frozen corn
1 can of black beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of Rotel
1 large chopped onion
29 ounces of tomato sauce (not pizza or spaghetti and FYI the recipe called for two 29 ounce cans of tomato sauce)
3 cups of water
1 1/2 packet of taco seasoning

turn on low in crock pot for 6 hours

shred chicken, place back in

serve with tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream!

I'd say this serves 10-12

Baby booty

2011-12-19T22:21:00.004-05:00

Isn't this precious? Only when you're 10 months old is a chunky, roley, dimple baby bum is this adorable.

Dear Payton,

2011-12-15T13:32:00.005-05:00

No, it isn't your birthday, it isn't a special occasion or a milestone. I don't have an adorable picture, a cute story or something to tell that will melt your heart. I want to know what is up with your obsession with playing in the potty?! What gives? Every day you are scrubbing the seat with the tooth brushes, overflowing the toilets, sticking toys in the potty, throwing entire rolls of toilet paper down and flushing multiple times, plunging the potty yourself and when you're not engaging in potty activities you tackle the sink and squirt all the tooth paste in the sink, put toilet paper in the sink, play in the water...WHY!? I thought we had a talk about this YESTERDAY and you said 'me nev-a gonna do dat again'...I had your word, man! I am so glad your father is a plumber, this is probably your saving grace! I survived your brother Riley's toddlerhood just fine with no gray hairs...I am not so sure I am going to be so lucky with you, you little stink butt, Dennis the Menace. My first natural instinct was to beat you (yup, I don't even believe in that) so in stead I sent your butt straight to bed...whew, that was hard not to flip out! I am happy to report I held it together and didn't do anything I'd regret though. I hope you don't mind when I spoil the crap out of your kids and laugh when they're as naughty as you are, I can't wait to be a grandparent and see your payback :)

Love you naughty stink butt!

xoxo

Mommy

happy 10 months my precious Quinn!

2011-12-15T12:34:00.003-05:00

I have not blogged it feels like in forever. Today is a special day- even if I did wake up with a raging breast infection. When I went to bed last night my whole body was hurting and I just thought I might be over-tired which is rare for me. All night long my shoulders hurt and I couldn't get comfy, so I woke up this morning still feeling bad, I thought this cold I had a few days ago (that I thought was on the mend) must be kicking my butt, so I took 4 Advil- which I hardly take meds ever. It kicked right in and when Quinn woke up to nurse at 10AM I quickly saw the evidence of a breast infection, I get these shooting bright red lines all the way up to my neck and they're everywhere, and it hurts more to nurse but surprisingly I don't have a fever that I know of unless the Advil is masking it. So, I am not going to take an antibiotic for it unless one develops. I feel 100 times better since taking Advil.

Okay now that the personal update is out of the way I can get back to my sweet baby girl.

Dear Quinn,

Today you are 10 months old. You continue to amaze me every day, I love watching you grow and explore around you. Today I was watching you sit in the floor opening and closing your fat little dimpled fingers just because you figured out how to make them do what you want them to do and it made me so happy just to see you being you. You are crawling like a rock star now and when we're coming after you to save you from doing something naughty you kick it up and crawl even faster to get away from us. Yesterday I noticed my bedroom door was open which I leave closed because that is where our cat box is- so I noticed you in the hall trying to crawl in there, I got up to get you and you took off and zoomed in there. When you eat things out of the carpet and we pull them out you have a real attitude about it and let everyone know you're mad. When your brother (Payton) takes toys from you, you show off you attitude now too. You love pulling up to standing positions. You can wave, clap, shake your head 'no-no', we say "how big is Quinnie?" and you raise your chubby little arms and we say in a high pitched voice "sooooo big!!!" and you love it! You imitate sounds, growls and laughs. You can say a few words on command (dada, and bye-bye, and hey). You are learning how to eat really well now and don't seem picky. Last night you had black eyed peas, the night before it was corn. You still generally only eat 1 meal a day and really we just give you the veggie or fruit that we serve. I have only made pureed home made baby food once for you since we decided to do baby-led-weaning which is where the baby almost skips purees. You have had some oatmeal and love it with a little cinnamon in it. You still nurse about every 1-3 hours. In 10 more days we will celebrate your first Christmas, I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I have bought you 4 Blueberry diapers, a playtable to pull up on with lights and sounds and a glow worm so far. I am headed to Target tomorrow night to get you some of the realistic looking toys- the keys, remote control, and cell phone. You aren't huge into toys so we thought things that look like you're being naughty will be more in line with your likes. You have been waking to night nurse once a night and I don't mind at all. I actually love taking the opportunity to love, snuggle and kiss on your precious sleeping little body in the dark and quiet room. You love your siblings so much but Payton is starting to get on your nerves by acting very wild and rambunctious in your face and he never stops touching your face, trying to drag you by your feet or holding you. Skyler is like a 2nd mommy and as of now you two seem to have the strongest bond. Skyler is 5 years older than you and it is amazing to see you two together. She is so sweet, patient, kind, loving, protecting..she will run fetch me things for you without batting an eye, I can trust her so much with you. I can't wait to see you girls grow and change and see you as adult best friends like my sister(s) and I are- which are both older than me (Janet 5 years and Jennifer 7 years). So far your mommy is still your favorite over anyone, which I love because I know that one day soon it won't be me. Daddy and Skyler are a tie for second and everyone else you seem to like equally, you appear to really recognize and know certain people and not others (like the church nursery you cry) I have been trying to make home videos of you because of how fast you are changing, I hope that when you're older you can read this and watch those and see how precious and valuable you are and how much you are loved. I love you to the core of my inner most being miss Quinn Mackenzie, just seeing you smile brightens my day.

Here is a current picture of you taken Dec 3rd I believe when I had my Christmas mini sessions at our house

Quinn's first tooth!

2011-12-02T11:40:00.002-05:00

9 months and 16 days old on December 1st, 2011 my sweet little Quinn no longer has a toothless grin. I screamed last night when I found it- yup screamed! She just cracked up like she was proud of herself. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. When the tooth comes through enough to be visible I'll snap a pic :)

Funk!

2011-11-30T17:28:00.003-05:00

I have neglected my blog lately, I constantly think of things I want to write about or would like to tell the world or just get out...and my internal dialogue stays just that. I have been in a writing funk and been going through some things and I just don't feel much like writing. I am going to write about what I am feeling and sorry to be a little cryptic (and I hate cryptic FB updates), but I've always said my blog is for myself not others so here goes.

Today at Bible study I was reminded that I have a Godly perspective on life. I think this was a gift God has given to me because if I open up about it and hear others perspective- I see that mine is truly unique and I stand out in a crowd. Good and bad I guess...the good news is I am not sensitive, I don't get my feelings hurt, I don't have bad or negative internal dialogue, I don't blame God for my mistakes and for every little thing that does not go my way. I am not insecure, and don't hate myself...I don't call myself names like 'fat, stupid, ugly, worthless, unforgivable', I don't think I am entitled to things, I am not selfish and I am happy with my "stuff" that I have about 90% (or more) of the time. I always have faith in God even when times are good, bad, and ugly. I am always happy, always positive, I can always find the good even in a bad situation.

The bad news is I am sort of alone in my feelings, sure I can inspire people- yup, I've heard that a lot that I am an inspiration and I inspire people but I don't "feel" it. I guess I take my glass 1/2 full life for granite. No one else can relate...maybe my mom a little, and my best friend, Brianna too.

It is also bad because I am not sure I have "normal" emotions because I don't react like others in their situations. Right now I am going through what should be an emotional situation...and I just don't feel like I "should" and I know how others would...I am not sure if it is normal or not to trust in God's plan and have an absurd peace about things that should/could/are devastating. Crazy, right? Something bad happened...and I am not devastated like I should be- my only worry is that I am weird...I should be counting my blessings and thanking God for my reactions. I just hope it is realistic. That's all. Maybe one day I'll talk about "it". For now, I may not be writing much.

Thankful

2011-11-21T15:19:00.005-05:00

As Thanksgiving approaches this year I've been looking around at all the things I am thankful for. On Facebook, I've joined all the others in naming one thing each day I am thankful for- you know... each kid had a day, my parents, my amazing husband, best friend, siblings, my Keurig, my Tahoe, my house, my camera, homeschooling, being a stay-at-home-mom. All the things that one would typically be thankful for. I have no kids today (except Quinn) and I am sitting around cleaning up after them and it's bringing things into a different perspective for me. I am so thankful for toys all over the house- because it means I have happy, healthy, messy kids who are blessed to have toys in the first place, I am so thankful for my huge pile of laundry that I normally hate doing- because that means we're blessed with clothes on our back, and it means that I have so many special people in my life that I am able to care for. I am thankful for hand prints on my mirrors- that means all my babies have 10 fingers, I am thankful for the shoes lining the stairs waiting to go into their rooms because that means each one of our babies has 2 legs. I was thankful to clean my dirty kitchen table because that means we eat family meals around our table that is big enough to fit our whole family. I am thankful for all the toys in our yard- we look like rednecks but the kids have so much fun. Sometimes I am even thankful for my oh-so-small house because that means my family is always close to one another and no matter where I am, I can hear my babies. Today I am finding the beauty in ordinary household chores that normally I do without putting any thought into them. I am so thankful and crazy in love with our little family.

Happy 7th Birthday to my Ry!

2011-11-16T01:38:00.004-05:00

Yup, you heard right, my Riley turned 7 years old on Friday, I am officially a mom to a 7 year old. He is so mature. He is so child-like. He is so normal in ways and he is so unique. He is so challenging but he has built so much character. He is so loving. He is so boyish and loves his bike, football, video games and being outdoors. He is so intelligent and can read so well between lines. He is still a cuddle bug when he wants to and on his time. He is still an insecure little boy and needs his parents occasionally but I am really seeing him test the waters himself. He values our opinion but does not necessarily have the same one. He is an individual. He is my helper. He is responsible. He will always hold a special place in my heart, he is my little guy who made me a mom. We've laughed and cried together, I've made so many mistakes and learned through him. I've learned what it is to live a self centered life and a family centered life- it all started with him. He is exactly how God made him. On his birthday this year Special K took him to breakfast before school, and I made him rainbow cupcakes to take to school. We had a house full of 10 kids that Friday evening and we had a blast celebrating his big day. We made sure to tell him the story of his birth, we showed him some home movies of the day he was born- he was embarrassed to see Special K changing his first diaper *ever* and to see his Nana giving him his first bath. We told him the story of how he met Conner- one of his favorite stories (and Con's fav part is how he was a lot bigger than Riley). I made him his favorite food- Dorito Casserole, corn and green beans for dinner and we stayed up well into the night. It was a pretty awesome 7th birthday (and mom anniversary) if I have to say so myself. He did let me take a pic of him, I have had several clients this weekend, so I am behind on editing personal pictures, but I will get that up soon.

Funny tidbits

2011-11-16T01:33:00.002-05:00

Today Skyler told me that she couldn't wait for her daddy to help her pick out her husband one day- I laughed at how random it was but was beaming with pride inside that she values her daddy enough to help her do this- I pray we can raise all of our children to allow us to help pick out their spouse.

Payton went potty today and started calling me a few minutes later, I ran in there and he had Special K's hair gel out and all over his hands and said "Me need to show you some-ting" he holds out his hands covered in hair gel and said "me didn't do dat"

and that is what he needed to show me.

He also got some raisins today and put them into a cup of water (like a ton of them) and looked over at me and said the same thing "me didn't do dat"

When we ask him "Payton, what is the truth? Are you telling a lie?" he makes a very sheepish face and says "me did dat"

So naughty and cute and even a little innocent how he indirectly tells on himself and will admit lies already.

Riley lately, he's another post...

Happy 9 months Quinn!

2011-11-16T01:20:00.003-05:00

It's about that time again to reflect on this month and the specifics of what my rapidly growing little lady is doing. Miss Quinn, you are becoming such a stinker and crawling the traditional way more so than the army crawl, sometimes you even crawl up on your feet (rather than your knees) to get things. You like to stand up on everything now, the kitchen benches, the stairs, the dishwasher, the sofa; we've even had to put up a baby gate last night. You still aren't eating much solids but I did introduce a very exciting food to you this month- oatmeal. I made the non instant kind (whatever you call that) and I put a pinch of cinnamon and brown sugar and you really seemed to like it. Your throwing up seems better, you still have your moment but even your Nana noticed that you are getting better. Today I put your hair up in a little "pebbles" as my mom used to call it (and I told Sky that was what it was called) for the first time. We all clapped and said yay and you seemed happy about it. You are still as sweet as pie, and as easy going as every. You have your days where you want me to hold you and that's okay because I love to hold you and you're growing too fast, and then there are days when I just want to hold you and you dive down from my arms. Last night I didn't even want to put you to bed because I just wanted to rock you and hold you so I brought you into our room and laid down in bed with you just to snuggle and kiss on your sweet face. I got some of Skyler's old clothes from the basement and I can't wait for you to wear her old shoes, sleepers and onesies, I got rid of all Skyler's "big girl" looking clothes for you because I only want you to look like a baby for as long as you are a baby. I am so thankful that I was faithful to God when I found out I might loose my life carrying you. He told me that we would both be safe if I took a leap of faith...and we were and every day I look into your eyes and you are so much better than I even imagined you. It is hard for me to wrap my head around how much I love you and 10 months ago I had never even seen your beautiful face yet. I love you more than there are stars in the sky my precious daughter.

Love,
Mommy

Dairy Farm with the little people

2011-11-10T20:48:00.008-05:00

Wednesday we went on our first field trip with Riley's class. We all went from Special K to Quinn and all of us in between. We obviously had to drive and couldn't take the bus but Riley was going to die if he couldn't ride that buss with his class so we went to the school that morning and dropped him off and followed the bus.

We got there and went on a hayride, and on the hayride we saw a pretty adorable Collie dog herding sheep and then we saw him herding some cows too. We learned about the winter crops, and how they irrigate them, the history of the farm, we went to the barn where they keep the calves (separated from their mama which was sort of sad), chickens, pigs, goats. We saw a cow getting milked and learned all about how they do it. The kids got to stick their fingers in the thing that milks them. When we got done we ate and the kids went jumping on this pillow thing it was like 20 times bigger than an inflatable jumping thing. The kids were great and we had a blast!

Recipe of the week {jerk chicken nachos}

2011-11-05T20:30:00.005-04:00

There is a Pampered Chef recipe that inspired me to make this one floating around- google it for comparison if you want.

2 tbs of jerk chicken season
2 cups of cheese (1 cup jack cheese, 1 cup sharp cheddar)
3 cups chicken
2 tsp fresh cilantro
a small onion
1/2 red bell pepper
lime
chips

I layered some chips on my large Pampered Chef bar pan (it is like a big cookie sheet stoneware).

I precooked the chicken (in my deep covered Pampered Chef baker stoneware in the microwave for 18 minutes). I shredded the chicken and tossed 1 tbs of my jerk chicken rub in with it- sat aside.

I cut up and put in a large mixing bowl; the onion, bell pepper, shredded the cheese, added the cilantro, and I cut the lime in 1/2 and squeezed 1/2 in the cheese mixture bowl I added the rest of the jerk seasoning and mixed that all around.

I layered the seasoned chicken over the chips, then I layered the cheese mixture. I cooked on 425 for like 15-20 minutes until cheese was melted. It was an amazing hit for the whole family!

We served with sour cream, corn, and black beans.

Our black bean recipe is pretty amazing too. I got 2 cans of seasoned Bush's Best, added 1 can of mild Rotel chilis, chili powder, garlic, onions (or onion powder), a little salt and a little chicken broth, a splash of vinegar and 2 tbs of fresh lime juice- these were almost as delish as dinner.

Both Kevin and Riley made sort of a taco salad and mixed everything together.

Here is a pic of the meal before and after the oven- looks pretty similar.

Supa P!

2011-11-03T01:30:00.006-04:00

This is my running, jumping, climbing, sneaky, naughty, mischievous, no impulse control, funny, fun loving, sensitive, caring, mommy's boy (okay so I lied a little he's a HUGE Daddy's boy) smashing the pumpkins while I did dishes...I am just as naughty as him for grabbing a camera and pretending to to see him for a while.

Tricks

2011-11-02T23:03:00.004-04:00

My little baby girl is doing so many new tricks that I don't want to wait until her 9 month post to talk about them. She has learned to clap her hands, and it's about the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Any time we say "yay" she starts clapping her chubby, dimpley little hands so slowly to make sure they're hitting right, she is always eager to show off. She is waving bye-bye now. She is also sitting by herself. She started crawling maybe 6 weeks ago, and propping herself into the sitting position and we've found her more and more in the sitting position (even sitting up in bed now) for longer and longer amounts of time, so I guess it's official. She is also pulling up on things. Sometimes just to her knees and sometimes all the way to her feet. She is standing up on the sofa, the stairs, and the kitchen stairs. Her balance is still pretty off and she falls easily but it never stops her from trying.

Here is my adorable baby clapping for the camera.

Oh and check out this adorable outtake - do you see that her cheeks are so big you can't see around them to her lips!

My little pumpkin {8 months old}

2011-10-28T22:48:00.002-04:00

My precious baby has not had her pictures formally taken since about 6 months old, I thought it was time tonight, an hour before bed time. We're going to do some more tomorrow.

Recipe of the week {pumpkin trifle bowl}

2011-10-26T11:27:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the excessive blog post this week about cooking. Something about fall and winter and cooking just kicks off my season. I have probably mentioned this before but I dislike cold weather so I look for things indoors to do that keep me occupied (as if my 4 Little People and adult ~~child~~ husband aren't good enough at that). I love cooking and turning a whole bunch of awesome ingredients into something delish!

My mom made this recipe up. So the credit goes to her, Nana.

Ingredients:

* 1 18oz box of Dunkin Heinz spice cake mix
~with this you'll need 1/3 c vegetable oil, 3 eggs, 1 1/3 c water
* 2 tsp cinnamon
* 3 small boxes of instant pudding- we used 2 cheesecake flavor and 1 vanilla made with 3 cups of (almond) milk
* 1 (15oz can) of pumpkin
* 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar (mine was packed and overflowing)
* 1/4 tsp of nutmeg
* 8oz of cool whip topping.

Preheat the oven to 350, I made the cake as per directions + added 1 tsp of cinnamon to it (you can never have too much cinnamon, right?). Cook the cake for 30 minutes or so in a 9x13 pan.

then I dumped the pudding, milk, 1 tsp cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, can of pumpkin all together in a mixing bowl and mixed. I let it sit while the cake cooled.

Slice up the cake into squares, add a layer of cake to your trifle bowl, then a layer of the pudding/pumpkin mixture, then a layer of cool whip, then another layer of cake, mixture, cool whip- sprinkle a little extra cinnamon or nutmeg on top for garnishment.

This.is.so.good! Did I mention I don't like pumpkin pie?!

Recipe of the week {veggie pizza}

2011-10-25T20:19:00.006-04:00

This recipe was a HUGE success with me. I went to my friends Pampered Chef party a few weeks ago and she made this and it was love at first bite. I wanted to *try* it so I wouldn't hurt her feelings because it was loaded with veggies that I won't get within 10 feet of them. As I was slicing things up and customizing to my own taste today I was so proud!

I am going to give you my version and at the end I'll tell you what I did different so you can choose now you want it, but I'm warning you mine was 100 times better than the Pampered Chef recipe, I gave my mom a slice today and she went straight to the store after tasting to get the stuff to make her own.

1 Pillsbury pizza roll out crust in a large greased cookie sheet- I used the large stoneware baker from Pampered Chef (which I am now in LOVE with)

6 cloves of garlic- minced

2 tbs veggie oil (you can substitute with EVOO)

2 cups of mozzarella cheese

2 cups sharp cheddar

1 cup parmesan

2 tbs Mrs Dash original seasoning

1 cup of mushrooms (you can slice them or mince them if you don't like their texture)

1 medium zucchini (make in very very thin round slices- like a pepparoni)

2 vine tomatoes (again slice these very thin and round- no need to core)

1 medium onion (slice these in thin "rings")

1/2 a large red bell pepper (I minced these)

Preheat oven to 400. Roll out the crust onto your large greased cookie sheet- roll out to edges. Mix the minced garlic with the veggie oil, and brush on the crust. Bake for 7 minutes on 400.

While that is baking mix all your cheeses up, and add 1tbs of the seasoning to the cheese.

When the crust has baked 7 minutes remove from oven (it won't be done yet- that's ok) add 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Then add in a single layer (I was told it had to be a specific order) the onions, zucchini, tomato, mushrooms, bell peppers, then sprinkle with the cheese mixture, and top with the remainder of the spices. Pop in oven for 20-25 minutes until done. I like my cheese to be crispy and my veggies to be very done especially since I don't like veggies.

It was so garlicy, seasony, cheesy, and bready I seriously have no clue what a zucchini or mushrooms even taste like because I sure couldn't tell by this pizza. It didn't even need a sauce! The roasted tomatoes created the perfect sauce.

The ingredients I love in this pizza were- onion, cheese, bread, garlic, and bell peppers.

The ingredients I hated were- zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes

All mixed together this was seriously hands down one of the best things ever. I am still in total shock.

Happy 80th Birthday Pepaw!

2011-10-24T11:32:00.007-04:00

If you are a long time reader you probably remember the health issues we had with my grandad a few years ago. For those of you who need a brush up- he all of the sudden stopped walking good, and started "acting his age" and he kept going down hill, he fell and he was paralyzed from the neck down. We all thought we were going to loose him. The hospital he was at dropped him (from the x-ray table to the floor during transfer) and made matters much worse. He had major neck surgery we didn't know if he would live through, and he pulled through with flying colors. He then went to rehab/a nursing home- which most elders never make it out of. We brought him home last May (I believe) and he has improved from using a walker to walk, to using a cane. When he left rehab we were told that he was maxed out on improvements and he was doing great but he came home and proven everyone wrong. We celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday. We bought him a "memory book" starting with when I had Riley, I captured photos of him in rehab and him currently with all his kids, grandkids, all the special places and things he likes to do. He loved it. We also took family pictures and Christmas card photos too. Here are a few pictures of our day.

This is our Pepaw

These are 3 of my best friends in the entire world

This is my sister Jennifer and her 5 kids

Check it out, a family photo of my own little family :)

This is my family. My mom, dad, brother and sisters.

Largest Measles Outbreak in 15 years!

2011-10-22T14:56:00.005-04:00

(anything in bold is a clickable link, I am not sure how to underline)

A friend on Facebook posted this article:

Largest Measles Outbreak in 15 Years

If you read it you can tell right from the start it is biased, and has some wonky numbers. The article (and I quote) says:

"Within the infected pool, 86 percent were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination statuses."

Okay at first I didn't catch it but as I re-read it a few times I realized how manipulative these words are. Maybe you caught it right away BUT it says 86% of people were unvaccinated or they don't know if they were vaccinated, yes, go back and read it it says basically that 86% of the people who got sick with measles in this particular outbreak had an unknown vaccine status (because they "were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status"). Isn't that silly? So, right off the bat after I figured this out I was skeptical because well, I have done a lot of research on the effectiveness of vaccines and read a lot of medical journals about outbreaks that occur among the vaccinated communities. So, really weather or not these people were vaccinated is pretty much unknown other than the 13% that was too young to get the vaccine.

Being the nosy mom who likes to periodically brush up on my vaccine research pulled out the CDC's Pink Book on Measles on Measles and started reading about it from the very people who endorse vaccines, I learned that measles is deadly 0.2% of the time. It isn't a deadly disease. 60% of the 0.2% people who die from it die from pneumonia, a secondary infection (also gathered from the CDC's Pink Book on Measles). I also read that the 0.2% of people who are dying from it are newborns, elders or immune compromised people.

I posted my findings and called out the article, for some reason feeling the need to defend my choices. Then someone gets on there and tells me that they have a cousin who is immune compromised and unable to be vaccinated and she is equally passionate and she is "...furious another parent could inadvertently kill him. Absolutely furious." So the particular lady who said this was not the original poster of the link but a mutual friend of both of ours, again I am controlling my controversialness (at least there on Facebook, not on my blog) and I didn't say a word back, and I deleted her off my Facebook. I have decided not to be friends or have anything to do with someone who is "absolutely furious" that I am trying to "inadvertently kill" her nephew. When I respond publically my heart and mind brew anger, hatred, rage, I don't change minds I only argue with someone who will never see eye to eye with me or me with them...I have to let it go. The best way to let it go is verbalize my thoughts and explain my reasoning. I don't want anyone to suffer especially children, but I am not going to sacrifice my children who God gave me them to love and protect for the greater good of a few. This is how this lady and I are very different, she is adamantly not a Christian and her views, beliefs and such are vastly different have have gotten in the way of a friendship on other occasions. On the package insert of this Merck MMR package insert it says that death is an adverse effect of this vaccination when the death rate of the disease (we're talking measles for the moment) is 0% + life long immunity, the vaccine requires boosters and promises no life long immunity. Not to mention all the other very scary and "rare" according to them adverse effects. I remember when Riley got Guillian Barre Syndrome and no one wanted to blame it for the vaccine, no one took ownership and no one even investigated the obvious and when anyone brought it up they acted like we were crazy, when I read on the package insert of the MMR it clearly stated that you could get Guillian Barre Syndrome. If you look at the VAERS database you can easily see that this was a common vaccine reaction, I also learned that 7 years ago the doctor has to report your case if you the parent/advocate pushed for it to be reported, this is why no one will take ownership because no one wants to report it and admit they are dangerous. I didn't even know what a VAERS database was 7 years ago honestly. Our son's case is no where to be found on the VAERS database, but I have recently learned that I can report it myself and I still can today. I wonder how many other children lost their lives or almost lost them and they aren't even reported. You can look at the CDC vaccine ingredients here. You can do an individual study of each ingredient to find out what it is, what happens when it is mixed, how much is safe, why it is in the vaccine, etc. When deciding not to vaccinate I didn't want to stick with mumbo-jumbo crap I read online, after all that is someone who is pro-vaccines favorite line of defense. I wanted real, true and correct facts from the people who endorse vaccines.

All in all, I don't want my Little People to get sick- I don't like it when they get a cough, cold, or a stomach virus. I hate the flu, chicken pox and measles. However I know that when they get sick it helps to build their immune system, and I am not saying I am totally fearless and not afraid of diseases but I am confident in 1 thing, I am far far far more fearful of the vaccines than I am the diseases and I am at 10000000% peace with our decision. I just wish that others would advocate for freedom of choices, decisions, freedom to parent rather than impose their secular world view on me. If I were in a position of being a mom with an immune compromised child I would take extra precaution to protect them, pray for them, turn them over to God and I still wouldn't vaccinate my other, healthy kids and I wouldn't expect my neighbors, family or friends to necessarily vaccinate either. What is right for my family isn't always going to be right for someone else. My children are a gift from God to protect them, not harm them. I am not going to inject them with something that can kill them when they have a slim chance of ever getting the disease, and a 0.2% chance of dying from the disease if they actually get it. It just does not seem logical for my family- especially when we have a history of adverse effects in our immediate and extended family. I won't tell you that you shouldn't vaccinate-but I don't want to hear the load of crap that I am killing someone elses kid by protecting mine, if you believe this than so be it...I'd do it a million times over for my precious gifts from God.

What is a real man?

2011-10-22T13:53:00.004-04:00

Lately my controversial and easy to aggravate, and the need to defend my choices has rose up in me again several times. Breastfeeding, vaccines, politics, you name it. I am normally at peace with my decisions and about the choices and free will of others but lately I am not as at peace with OTHER people's choices.

I really enjoy learning about politics, I feel like it is my job, privilege and duty as an American. With this knowledge also comes frustration, misunderstanding, and sometimes even anger when people don't see eye to eye on things. I have learned that our opinion is often stemmed from our perception of life and how we were raised. I always respect and love others, but sometimes when I believe (or they believe about me) that our ideas are fundamentally wrong to the core and it is hard to be accepting, loving, and well..act like a Christian.

I wanted to address what I believe a real man is; this was started as a political issue but I have been thinking about it more and more as a moral and Christian issue rather than anything to do with politics. I had a woman tell me on Facebook about what a "real black man" and a "brother" mean from a "real black woman" she called herself. Her perspective of a "brother" was a man that stuck up for his "brother" (Because Herman Cain has apparently not stuck up for Obama) so he apparently isn't a "real black man". I held my tongue and I didn't even get into it with this lady, a former friend because I have tried my very very very best not to be controversial even though I have to admit, it comes second nature to me...I am trying to use that for good. As hard as it was not to argue, I deleted my post and I deleted her from my friends. I guess if that is how this woman perceives a real man (as someone who always takes up for a "brother" regardless of beliefs), I can see why she likes, voted for and supports Obama and after hearing her perspective I have a better understanding. All politics aside, let me tell you what a real man is. I guess I should start out by saying I know first hand what a "real man" is because I was raised by one, and He was too. My granddad is a real man, my dad is a real man and now my husband is a real man, Kevin and I are raising real men. 24.7 million kids in the United States live fatherless (almost 37% of kids). 4 out out of 10 marriages end in divorce (this is a huge reason why I will not be a photographer on "the biggest day of someones life). 1 out of 6 children is a step child. 4 our of every 10 couples that live together have a child together- they also have a divorce rate that is 50% higher than the 4 out of 10 divorce rate. Children who live apart from their fathers are more likely to be poor, experience educational, health, emotional and psychological problems, be victims of child abuse, and engage in criminal behavior. Close to 60% of black kids, 32% of hispanic kids, and 21% of all white kids are living in a home with an absent father. A real man is a husband for life, and a real man is a dad until the day he dies, and more important a real man is a Christian and teaches his children to love God first and love others (after all these were the most 2 important Commandments in the Bible). So, in my opinion a real man ask himself 'what would Jesus do' and wouldn't look at skin color, wouldn't take up for someone because they are a "brother" if he does not agree with what they believe in, a real man stands up for what is right even in a crowd of people who are against him, a real man isn't afraid to be different. The Bible tells us we're to be a light in the darkness and we should not conform to the ways of the world). I am perfectly aware of what a "real man" is to me. My Father in Heaven was a "real man" who died for me, (He died for Anna. I love making it personal to me.) He saved my sins, He loves me when I am wrong, He does not take up for me because I earned it but because it was a free gift, my Father provides me with an eternal home in heaven, He wasn't a rule follower, He didn't force people to come to him, He was poor, hardworking, patient, He led by example, He told me to pray for my enemies, He loved people- saving them, feeding them, healing them, and He was certainly not a politician. These are the "real man" characteristics that the men in my life, the men I vote for and the men I choose to hear preach all have. We (aside from Jesus himself) have all sinned though and fallen short of the glory of God. I sure love my real men in my life and I am so blessed to have a true and correct perspective of them.

General updates

2011-10-15T10:57:00.003-04:00

This blog has been so neglected these past 2 months or so. No great pictures, no deep thoughts...nothing to inspire me this month. Let me see about updating what is going on.

We took a trip to Michigan (Oct 5-9th), and I visited my best friend in the entire universe and worked while I was there. I took my precious girls with me (the easy kids, to be honest LOL). I photographed 5 families (I'll post some). The weather up north was amazing, I hear that was rare for October in MI but the weather combines with the fall foliage made for a perfect vacation with some awesome people. The boys stayed with both sets of grandparents. It was actually Payton's first time spending the night outside of our home, I can't believe he was over 3 his first time but he did great. He spent the night with Grammy and PawPaw. Riley stayed with Nana and Pop so they could get him to school. He then spent the weekend with Grammy, so he had a little of both grandparents. Grammy and Special K took them apple picking and to the apple festival- a large craft show in the North Georgia mountains. I really missed going BUT I am so glad they could still go and have fun. I certainly did. We visited some local restaurants and ate great food and we went to a cyder mill, and I got to see some pretty beautiful locations for photos.

Riley- I just had Riley's first teacher conference of the year. He is doing well academically. His grades are:

Bible: 93
English: 97
Handwriting: S
Math: 98
Physical Ed: S
Reading Comprehension: 90
Reading Oral: 81
Science: 99
Spelling: 99

His teacher and I both feel like he can do better in reading oral because he reads really good when he wants to and with a group of kids, the problem is when he is 1 on 1 with the teacher- now when he is home he is reading very well 1 on 1 so I think he could do much better. This is our goal for the next 6 weeks is to bring it up, we're working on it at home- no more reading to Riley- Riley has to now read to us. I can't believe my oldest baby is old enough to read to me every day. His behavior in school is pretty bad. I don't know what to do about it or how to think about it...or how I failed...or if I even have. I just think that is Riley and he is a 27 year old trapped in a 7 year old body and he is frustrated being a child. If you knew him you'd probably agree. This by all means does not or should not excuse him. He is being disrespectful to adults which we don't tolerate, he is picking on little girls and making them cry, he is destructive- breaking classroom supplies, he is talking out of turn and just being difficult to manage. At home when he gets a note in his agenda he isn't allowed to play wii- he normally has 1 hour a day on wii if he earns it at school- he could care less about this punishment even though initially he gets really upset about it, but he gets over it and is bad again the next day. We've tried taking away outdoor time and snack time and even implemented the "if you have a bad day at school you have a bad day at home" and taking everything away that is a privilege. Still no improvement. So the teacher has decided to isolate him in the room since he is so disruptive and I believe that will help him to not talk to others as much, so we'll see. Every night he loves to play UNO and we do it together as an entire family, Kevin has been riding bikes with him and playing pitch with him, we've given him adult-like chores to keep him busy at home...we're trying to give him responsibility, choices and 1-on-1 time so that he isn't seeking negative attention. We won't give up on him and will keep praying for him and guiding him as well as we can.

Skyler- She is doing great in school. It's nice to see her "get" things. She has improved in handwriting, she understands math concepts that I wasn't sure she'd "get" and she is loving homeschooling. She tells everyone her mommy is her teacher. I would like to see her oral reading improved (like Riley), she retains what she hears so her reading comprehension is good but she has not made a ton of progress in the reading department since starting kindergarten, I still wonder if kids learn this at different ages, stages and paces. I am not worried because she can still read a lot of words, but I was hoping it would just click like it did for Riley- but she is 5 and he is almost 7 so I guess I need to stop comparing them. She is sweet, cheery, kind and thoughtful. She gets along well with everyone. She forms strong bonds with the people she loves, and she is pretty bonded to her brothers who she "doesn't like".

Payton- Is a wild, uncensored crazy boy. He never stops running, jumping, climbing, and getting into things. He loves to break things and be destructive. He loves to cut things in "school" and he loves our home made play-doh. He loves action figures and super heroes even though he isn't really sure who they are. His new favorite thing to do is aggravate Skyler he likes to "follow" her which annoys her to no end. He smiles a tiny sly smile when he does it because he gets great pleasure in annoying her. He is obsessed with chewing gum. Anytime he sees Pop & Nana, Grammy & PawPaw, or Janet & Raymond he says "You have gum?" and he swallows it in about 5 minutes and ask for more. He likes the idea of doing school but has the attention span of a 3 year old boy. So, he'll engage in coloring for about 3 minutes tops, then ask for scissors and cut up his paper, and then he'll ask for more paper to cut (which is good for fine motor development I guess). I let him to a lot of geo-boards, the pipe cleaner/strainer, and play-doh while I do school with Skyler...I let him do every craft we do (which is like 2 per week) and I even have a few workbooks I occasionally do with him. If I had to guess now I think I could school him at home and I don't see where the money is going to come from to send him to school- so unless God has other plans for us I think we'll start homeschooling him next year for 4 year old preschool.

Quinn- I updated about her in my last post below. She is 8 months, doing great, healthy as a horse, happy as can be. She has never had 1 bottle, never had one disposable diaper, and never had even 1 vaccine.

Tonight we're going to a corn maze with my whole family. My parents, my 2 sisters all all of our kids. It is going to be a blast but it'll be too dark for pics.

Happy 8 months my precious Quinn Mackenzie!

2011-10-15T10:36:00.002-04:00

Dear Quinnie,

How did 8 months already go by? It seems like just yesterday I wrote a post about you being 7 months. Even in this month you've grown and changed so much. You are pretty great at crawling, picking lint out of the carpet and getting in to things. You love your bath time and are crawling all over the place. You still don't sit great but you have decided to sit yourself up in a leaned over position, all on your own when you're crawling. You love playing with your Sophie the giraffe teether toy- that is your organic chew toy. This month you took your first trip on a plane and you were a doll both coming and going. You are still throwing up all the time, I believe that is the only thing I won't miss about your babyhood- everything else I wish I could bottle up. You have been out of the bassinet portion of the pack n plan since I wrote your 7 month post. Since we started foods at 7 months, you have tried avocados, bananas, rice, green peas, black eyed peas, and apples. I even gave you grapes in one of those mesh feeders (that you can have foods safely without choking) and we have not found anything that you love. The closest thing we came to finding something you love is a lemon- daddy gave you one last night at the Mexican restaurant. You are such a joy and a blessing, and you add just the right variety of spice to our family. I love everything about you.

Love,
Mommy

PS- I know I have not been very good about pictures since you turned 6 months but I have a few 8 months picture ideas in the making. Here are some snapshots of you this month.

Flag Football

2011-10-03T21:07:00.005-04:00

Today we went a little early on this beautiful fall day to watch Riley play his favorite sport- football. We didn't know it, but today was the last day of his practice. I am so glad I was there, and my dad (AKA Pop) was there and he brought his camera and caught this pretty awesome action shot.

Riley is the one with the ball!

Now we wait until the spring when he plays soccer.

GeoBoards!

2011-10-02T00:39:00.004-04:00

We have been busy this week making crafts and doing art. I hope my kids learn through hands on things, because that is my favorite way to teach. I am not really sure about their "learning" style yet so we're just doing it all and having a blast. I went online to buy a geoboard for a center time- to do shapes, letters, patterns, copy games or just to kill time. Or Payton can do it while I am schooling Skyler. I remember loving a geoboard when I was a kid. I went to Amazon to look them up and they were in sets of 10 for well over $100 for the nice 10x10 ones. Kevin took one look and laughed and told me he could make one (so I got to looking on Pinterest) and sure enough, the next day he came home with a (smooth splinter free) board that was about 48 inches long by 12 inches high. He made (actually isn't done with them all but has the stuff for) 4 geoboards! He already had the paint, and bought the rubber bands and flat head nails. He spend under $10 to make 4 12x12 boards! It has been excellent entertainment for the kids. I have found lots of activities and copy pages to go along with these too. Fun!

Home made play-doh!

2011-10-02T00:22:00.005-04:00

This is the first time in my whole (nearly) 7 years of being a mom to make play-doh. I have not made it since I was under 5 in church. I used to love the smell of home made play-doh.

I used 2 cups of flour
1/2 cup salt
2 cups water
4 tsp cream of tarter
2 tbs of vegetable oil

I mixed, and cooked on medium until it turned into a ball. I let it cool, and we added food coloring.

It smelled just like I remembered when I was 5, and it was so soft and squishy. Next time we're going to add glitter, vanilla extract and cinnamon to some of them!

(dont look at the coloring of this photo- it was overcast outdoor and my kitchen lights are Y-E-L-L-O-W)

6th annual fair trip!

2011-10-01T11:01:00.005-04:00

On September 26th (this is a bit late) we went to our yearly family fair trip. It was Conner's "birthday party" and the whole family and lots of friends were there to celebrate his special day. I believe the kids still think that the fair comes around FOR Conner. They talk about this night all.year.long. It met their expectations. The Little People stayed up too late, ate too much sweets, rode so many rides, and had a great night! This year they got to ride some of the bigger rides like the Pirate Ship (the big swinging ship), the swings, the lady bug ride, the Superman, bumper cars and a few others. Uncle Mike always lets them play games and this year he let them get in the bubble balls and run in the water in the bubbles, that was so fun! I fear that it might be the last year they like some of the baby rides. It's going to break my heart when the move on to all big kid rides.

This is the always matching, Nana & Pop

Maybe the last "baby" ride the kids will ever ride, I had to take pictures! They rode others too but the pics didn't always turn out so great, it was very overcast.

Special K said she was the biggest baby at the fair

This was Stinker Bell's favorite ride. I bet she's ridden it 10 times this week (we've been 3 times this week).

Conner showing off how he is 7 now, he is officially older than Riley (for a few weeks) and he LOVES it!

This is what happens when I try and get a family picture, everyone else at the fair walks away with a pic they're happy with...and, this is ours....

Doesn't the birthday boy look so happy?

Move Over Martha...

2011-09-24T12:11:00.004-04:00

Martha Stewart that is. Literally, we bought some Martha Stewart crackle paint and it sucked. We ruined one of our free windows by using it.

So, here is our latest project (we learned about on Pinterest).

Kevin got this old, wooden window from a customer (for free!). We distressed it by priming it, painting with brown acrylic paint, then we painted with Elmers school glue (yup, unbelievable right?!). When the glue was tacky we painted the off-white color, and it crackled as it dried. I got scrapping paper from Michael's, and I got metallic photo prints (they're sort of old fashioned looking up close). I bought the book bag hooks from Home Depot and voila- it's amazing isn't it?!

Happy 7 months Quinn!

2011-09-24T10:47:00.004-04:00

I know I am about 9 days late writing about this. I have thought about writing this every day for the past 9 days. The mommy guilt got so strong today I decided it was a perfect day.

Oh, dear Quinn,

My sweet, sweet baby. I can't believe you are 7 months old. I love seeing you grow and change and explore your world around you. I love how happy and content you are but at the same time it breaks my heart at the rapid pace you are growing. It is truly so bittersweet. Daddy and I were looking at a newborn photo of you just yesterday right beside a current one and we couldn't believe the changes. You had a head full of brown hair, it looked like a mop. Now you have short, cotton hair that is blonde, it almost looks like you are bald in photos because it is so light but it is actually pretty thick. I never want to forget a moment or a day with you and you're only growing up one day at a time. You are still sleeping in a pack-in-play bassinet and you're getting too big and I fear that before you're 8 months we'll move you to the bottom of the pack-n-play and I won't be able to roll over (as easily) and look at you, touch you, and pray over your little sleeping body. You are learning to "talk" and you mostly do it when you are mad or upset. Your first word, second and third all came at once. I believe it was "mama" first. Now you say "dada" most frequently and even "nono" which sometimes sounds like "nana". You started scooting to get toys earlier this week, and yesterday you were army crawling all over the floor (You started crawling before you know how to sit!). We've had to baby proof the house and make sure no stray shoes, food or lent is on the carpet because you'll help yourself to it. We bought a new rug (actually 2 shaggy ones to put together) so that you wouldn't have to crawl on yucky carpet and so that you wouldn't puke in the real carpet. I didn't think you'd army crawl first, I thought you would craw the traditional way first because you love getting on your knees and rocking. On your 7 month "birthday" we gave you food for the first time. I gave you plain brown (cooked) rice with no butter or salt. I didn't puree it, I just put it on your tray of the high chair. You loved slapping it, and messing it around the tray and pushing it off too. You managed to get a few bites in your mouth and I helped you get a few pieces in there off a spoon. Since then you've tried avocado and last night a banana. You don't appear to love any of them, but we're doing solids so slowly it does not matter in the first year, it is all just for practice and we're going with your cues. Your siblings are so crazy about you and everyone wants to help with you. Even the wild and rambunctious 3 year old of the house (Payton) is insane about you. He comes close to you and you start swinging at him, hitting him, and pulling his hair. He just laughs and says "Quinnie hit me, mommy!", he gets in your face and makes silly sounds and noises and you just light up when one of your siblings gives you attention. Riley and Skyler are getting old enough to hold you "standing up", and when you're 5 and 6 this is a huge milestone. They both know they *have* to ask first and I have to supervise but they're both great with you. I am the luckiest mom on earth, and I feel like God has blessed our family with so much love and so many blessings, my heart is full to the brim with all of my children. I love you Quinn Mackenzie, I am crazy about you, I could kiss your face off, eat your baby toes and dimpled fingers.

Love,
Mommy

Oh Dear Blog,

2011-09-21T22:55:00.003-04:00

I have not tended to this blog like I've wanted to. I've been too busy living life to record it. I am also guilty of finding out about Pinterest, and if you know what that is you'll understand and if you don't know what it is, don't go signing up for it. This is a warning. I am not a crafty person, and I don't come up with unique ideas all on my own. I've been seeing/hearing about a site called Pinterest on Facebook. I never looked into it or had the desire to join until a friend (Thanks a lot Jenny!) mentioned lesson plans, I believe she is a "real" teacher (but heck so am I now) so I asked her if there was good stuff for homeschooling and for the "invite" since this is apparently an elite club that you can only join with an invite. Since joining I have started browsing other peoples genius ideas. Kevin and I have never been so crafty. He's been telling his customers about Pinterest. Since then we've made or are in the process of making about 10 different things like food and DIY projects as well as homeschool stuff that I am doing daily with Skyler and Payton too. I am trying to do less and less of the textbook materials- since we could literally do about 10 pages a day and still not have "school" for more than 2 hours a day. I am trying to do 1 text book page front and back per subject (she has phonics, math, and a science/social studies combo), and then I am doing a handwriting practice with her of some sort. Then I am reading and having her read in her phonics books or early readers and now we've added in adorable crafts too. Yesterday I made her do a mini book report. She picked out a book to read, and we read it and she learned about "illustrators" and she illustrated the book cover. She loved doing that and was so proud of herself and her book cover actually resembled the "real" one. I can't wait to do that with her again, I am going to make this a weekly thing and then turn it into "real" book reports as we progress. Here are some photos of what we've been doing/working on this week.

DIY humming bird feeder

2011-09-17T11:28:00.003-04:00

After Kevin and I left the craft festival last Sunday we've been feeling crafty (well HE has). We went to get a humming bird feeder and we couldn't find any so we came home and started researching and we talked to the people here who own a local bird watching store.

Kevin made this with an old wine bottle, thin wire, beads, a cork, copper tube and I am not sure what the little thing on the tip is (I'll ask and get back to you).

The nectar is 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. We boiled the water and then mixed in the sugar, let it cool and added a drop or two of food coloring since they're attracted to red.

Worked like a charm, I've seen 5 or 6 today alone on our first day of having it.

Lump on Quinn's head

2011-09-07T23:45:00.004-04:00

About 2 weeks ago before our FLA vacation I noticed a small lump on on Quinn's left eye. Really it is above her eye, around her brow area and temple. I wanted to make sure it wasn't a bruise, bump or bug bite. It is very hard (like bone), it does not move at all, it does not give when you mash it, and I thought it was getting bigger, but I'm not sure if I am just paranoid. I thought it was a cyst. I called today our peds office and they wanted to see me right away. When I went in to the peds office the doc thinks it is just the bone. He said he could x-ray it but if it was his child he wouldn't expose her to unnecessary radiation if he didn't have to. I followed his suggestion and left happy about him not being concerned. He did tell us if it was growing to come back ASAP and if at any time I changed my mind I could get an x-ray. When I got home I decided to look back at all the photos of Quinn to see if I could see the lump. I found it easily in the FLA pictures taken last Friday (Sep 2nd). My mother-in-law took this pic

I could see it in almost all the recent FLA pictures of her. Even the out of focus photos. However, when I looked back on recent photos of her I thought I might have seen it but wasn't sure. So for one thing it wasn't as obvious or that may mean it is growing. I am just not sure. I am really second guessing not getting her x-rays. I wish parenting came with a manual sometimes.

Sweet Sky

2011-09-07T23:40:00.003-04:00

I'm sure I've had this blog title before.

Tonight in the car on the way home from Awana, we were talking to Riley about telling lies (like we do daily) and in school he is learning that God sees your sin and it makes him sad and disappointed when you sin. So, Skyler chimed up in the car when I reminded Riley that God sees sin and did he know that, Skyler chimed in "Yes, Riley God still loves you the same always, but he is a little bitta sad" Skyler always says "little bitta" and I think that is my favorite thing she's saying these days.

Beach trip!

2011-09-04T14:24:00.015-04:00

I'm blogging from the beach. We're actually in tropical storm Lee. We're making the best of a bad situation. We've been here with Grammy, Pawpaw, and the kids great grandma, MaMaw. Janet, Raymond and Conner rode down too on Friday (Ry and Sky were so board without him). We got here on Thursday, and we went to the beach (after stuffing our face with Krispy Kreme) bright and early Friday, and we were in and out from the beach all day Friday. We grilled out in between showers for dinner. Saturday early AM we went to the pool and stayed for several hours to get the kiddos energy out in case the tropical storm came. Thankfully we went because it did come!

We made a big breakfast on Saturday and The Little People played in the rain all day long. They had a huge blast playing football, soccer, pitch and sliding in the we grass. Payton rode his little bike in the rain. We went to dinner at one of our favorite places on Grammy's birthday (Saturday)to the Crab Trap. We had cake and ice cream. Skyler played with frogs all evening when we got home, she found one that just sat on her and wouldn't jump away, she was in heaven. We woke up on Sunday morning and went to our favorite place to get breakfast and we ate breakfast on the water at Harbor docks. We came back and did some more pool time, a little beach time and a little playing in the rain. We made home made spaghetti and meat balls for dinner. Kevin and I packed up so we can get out of here when we wake up.

Happy school days!

2011-08-29T22:30:00.004-04:00

Right now Sky's school is still really fun for her. I am learning to slow down and just accept that a homeschoolers day isn't all day long, or anywhere close to it. After breezing trough the unit accidentally, I realized there were only 6 units in the entire year. So, now my plan is to do 2 worksheets (front and back) per book. This is 12 sheets of work a day if you count front and back, but some are so easy like circle the things that sound like "sock" or draw a line to match the seeds in this apple to the correct amount...then the sheet is done. Today at the bottom of her book it actually gave me this idea. Thankfully I saved some stuff from her school last year. She is done learning about the numbers 1-5 and this is the chapter review, so I took an empty egg carton and wrote numbers 1-5 in every place in random order. I asked her to count Cheerios and put the correct number of Cheerios in the slots. Tomorrow I'm going to do the same activity with tally marks in the bottom rather than real numbers, or you could use the words all written out. It took longer than the 2 seconds a worksheet takes and she could pretty much to it herself.

Last week we checked out Stone Soup from our library- a favorite from when I was a kid! We then cooked stone soup for dinner that evening and the next day (Sat) we woke up and colored pots, food, and veggies, cut them out and pasted them on construction paper. We then hung them up. Skyler was So proud of her Stone Soup!

Not only are we having happy school days at HOME, but Riley is having plenty of them too. He has been learning so much, and I am seeing light bulbs come on. It is an awesome feeling to feel frustrated one year when they can't remember letters (remember he was behind going into kindergarten but caught up fast) and now he is reading to me every night. He is so smart. His writing is improving this year, he is reading some instructions on his own, and I am learning that I really like his Saxon math curriculum. He is reading to me in his Bob Jones reader every night. He is supposed to read 15 minutes a night and in that time I usually read a short story, he reads me several stories from his "reader" and we started our first chapter book. It's a series called The Magic Treehouse. We're reading the 1st one called Dinosaurs in the Dark. I was spying on the kids in the library and asked another little girl (who was homeschooled and looked Riley's age) about the book and she showed me where they were. He is memorizing his memory verse within 2-3 days of hearing it, and this week he has his first awana verse to remember- and I just showed it to him today (John 3:16) and he already knew it from last year, I was so proud when he fully remembered it. He also learned his weekly one already that is to be recited on Friday...he just got it today! I am glad it is sort of an easy one because he'll be missing school on Friday because we're going to the beach! Riley had his first (flag) football practice tonight. He loved it and is so excited, he's been wearing his cleats all over the house. I didn't know they'd still be practicing when I got there and I got to watch a bit- I would have brought my camera if I'd have known...I guess next Mon we'll still be at the beach, so the Monday after that I hope I can remember.

I'm going to bed early because I have to wake early because a guy from AT&T is coming tomorrow to install internet and new cable for me. I probably won't have time to blog again until I'm home from our mini vacation. Don't miss me.

There is nothing like a NAP!

2011-08-29T13:54:00.004-04:00

I love me some nap time. I look forward to the whining to end, the fighting to temporarily stop and to get some things done uninterrupted. What I love even more is the very very very rare occasion that I can get them all 3 (while Riley is at school) to nap at the same time. Sometimes I think it is a good idea to take a nap myself when this happens. It's never as good of an idea as it sounds. Trust me!

First I put Quinn down for a nap, followed by Payton, and I told Skyler she could have "quiet time" cleaning her room or if she wanted she could nap too. The house got Quiet, I pulled the blinds down, and laid on the sofa at about 1, I set my alarm to 3PM in case I died in my sleep and had a 2 hour nap. I'm not sure just who was I kidding. I was out in about 5 minutes. About 15 minutes later my doorbell rings in my silent house and makes me jump and my heart start beating fast again, darn. I hate it when that happens. I didn't even check to see who it was because I was so angry.

I fell back asleep, this time it took me a bit longer since I was already sleeping the 1st time. I noticed something on the sofa smelled a little like pee. I put my hand between my face and the pillow. All better. I drift off again for about 10 more minutes. My sister called me. Then she called me again, AND AGAIN. I answered on the 3rd time in case something was wrong. Nope, nothing was wrong in case you were wondering. I decided to just lay down and see if maybe I could accidentally fall asleep or if I wanted to get up. Then my phone rang again, my best friend Brianna. I decided to get up (about 38 minutes after laying down) and eat a big bowl of ice cream instead of a nap. Thank goodness I bowed out when I did because by 2:05 my little Quinn woke up talking to herself.

The little Happy Napper song is dancing in my head about right now! I'm about to go for some caffeine instead!

Passion has became a way of life.

2011-08-27T09:38:00.002-04:00

Different seasons of my life I have various things I am passionate about. The ones that hit the strongest were natural parenting. I honestly cannot tell you how many bookmarks, medical studies, articles, etc that I had book marked on babywearing, cloth diapering, breastfeeding, no CIO, vaccines, no circumcisions, homemade baby food, potty learning, etc. I felt so passionately about some of those things, and don't get me wrong I still do but now I have to dig up the passion, it has become a way of life for us.

I was putting my diapers into the wash yesterday and thinking to myself that it just seems like the other day when I washed them. I started thinking about how many diapers I use a day and mind you Quinn sleeps 12 hours at night, so if she's awake less than 12 hours (because of naps) and I change her every 2 hours that is 6 diaper changes in 24 hours. That does not seem like too much but Payton wears 2 diapers a day- he is potty learned but wears a diaper at nap time and night time, so that makes my total 8 diapers a day. Skyler even wears one at night because she has incontinence, oh there is a 9th. So, lets just say about 10 a day since they're is always some accident with a baby, or she poops as soon as you change her or something. I saw somewhere in San Francisco Bay area that the average cost of 1 diaper was $0.25 so lets say here in GA it is $0.20 for the STORE BRAND DIAPER. I am saving $60 a month ($2,160 per year) on diapers! It is no longer a passion of mine, I couldn't imagine living any other way! I rarely even think about it. Quinn has never had a paper diaper touch her sweet bum.

Same goes with breastfeeding, I am in the midst of doing it so at the moment my passion is flared up a bit, but I think it's love more than passion anyway. I love being able to provide the most perfect food that in no way despite tons of efforts to come anywhere near being duplicated. I have encountered my share of issues (oversupply, reflux, mastitis, an abacess, terrible pain lasting 4-6 months with each child, thrush, preemies). My little girl is 6 months 12 days and has never had a bottle, and she's never had a drop of anything except my milk. I am 100% responsible for her thriving so well. I love it when I reflect on it, but I rarely just sit around thinking about it. It's just a way of life and I wouldn't do it any other way.

Our sweet girl has never had an injection (and neither have any of my children for the last 4 1/2 years). I could argue with a brick wall about it, but really I could care less to convince people, win them over, and even plea my case. I know I am doing what is best for my Little People. They are healthy, safe and loved. All of my research that I've done is from the CDC, EPA, VAERS, medical journals, and manufactures of vaccines. This, again isn't a passion, it is the only way for us.

I used to look for affirmation by other likeminded moms. The ones who were not likeminded I tried to plea my case so that I could convince them how amazing AP parenting is. I worried about being judged by mainstream moms, I no longer fit in with my former friends. Now I am so secure in my decisions it is a way of life for all of us. My kids are spoiled, my heart is full and we love meeting our kids needs. They're only little for a second, it isn't hard. I couldn't do it any other way.

Routines and rituals...

2011-08-22T23:49:00.004-04:00

I am not a scheduler, I don't like or have routines or rituals and when I decide to get one I focus and get anal about it (like couponing, dieting-which when I say dieting 5 lbs tops, laundry schedules, household chores/cooking routines, etc) by nature I don't just get into a pattern.

I feel like life is moving by so fast and I have something going on every single day, I feel like I am sitting on the edge of my seat and at any moment I might forget something important. I can tell that I am not going to be the mom that has sports 5-6 nights a week, I just will not do it. I am a homebody so things that make me leave make me feel so behind in my work, my house feels neglected, our pantry is neglected, laundry is neglected, our nap schedule we have at home is neglected, it just isn't a pretty picture if I leave the home literally more than 1-2 time a week during the day time hours.

Every single day now I have a baby to nurse/care for, a 3 year old to care for, a 5 year old to homeschool, a 6 year old I have to pick up from school, every single day I have 2-3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, a hungry bunch I am making 11 meals a day (and we're about to introduce solids to the little lady!). Riley's teacher has given him "30 minutes" (for a normal student) of homework a night. This is a lot more work for us than 30 minutes. Our kids absolutely cannot live without playing outside every.single.day for at least the very minimum of an hour. I'm giving the Little People chores to ease the pain for me and they clear their place after eating every meal now, take up their own laundry upstairs, Riley does the animal chores, Skyler puts away Quinn's clean diapers for me. Riley is starting flag foot ball at school- thankfully it's directly after school and he'll already be there and no games they just play once a week, I've started a women's Bible Study on Wednesday morning, and then Wednesday evening we have Awana, every Friday Kevin has a softball game, every Sunday we attend church (and every other Sunday we keep nursery). I need to start hitting up the library once a week, Skyler is really excited about that. I have to do bills and reconcile my check book weekly, grocery shop weekly and so many weekly household chores it isn't even funny, so I am ready to fall in to a routine and ritual. I said it! The only bad thing is once I do it, I hyperfocus on it and become a micro-organizer. I'm getting that way about Sky's school- I am going to get some binders tomorrow. I am getting a cork board to organize my schedules. I absolutely love this crazy life but I'm a sap and wish I had a few minutes to take it all in. Sometimes "stuff" gets in our way, and I never want that to happen to me since I have an amazing ability to appreciate life and all that is in it/has been given to me. So, if I feel like I can't smell the roses, I can and will do something about it.

Apparently in the state of GA I have to report to the state. I am keeping track of days she attends "school" (180 days of at least 4 1/2 hours a day). She also has to be tested starting in 3rd grade every 3 years- the test results do not have to be reported to the state, they are for my own records or to be kept for 3 years in case I get audited. I am much more relaxed knowing the pressure to preform up to state standards and putting ages on what they should learn/when, etc are pretty vague. Not that I think our state had good educational standards, because they do not BUT because I thought they may be harder on homeschooled children/parents, but they aren't harsh at all. I guess it's a pain to report attendance to them, but it helps me keep track too.

Tomorrow I have a friend coming over for coffee (thankfully she's a good enough friend to where I am going to tackle Mt Laundry while she is here), then off to get Ry, Wed in addition to school/homeschool, Bible Study and Awana my mother-in-law is coming to visit the kids, Thurs I have been invited to lunch with a friend (which I'm undecided if I'll attend), and Friday we have a family thing going on...I am fried thinking about the week ahead and always find myself wishing I wasn't so booked, today was pretty great not to have anything going on, I diligently worked all day and still didn't scratch the surface. I hope to enjoy more of the simple boring days that are becoming few and far between!

Speaking of breastfeeding buddies...

2011-08-18T00:26:00.005-04:00

Here are some more.

These are my nursing (cloth diapering & AP) mama friends and I nursing at the GA Aquarium yesterday :)

We all had a blast and 3 mamas and between us we have 10 kids and I believe we all want at least one more kid. I guess our hands are full, but so are our hearts!

I met these two lovely ladies online a little over a year ago, and we're all from different places. We decided to have a family meet up. The first night we had a "camp out" at Stone Mountain and then the next day we went to the GA Aquarium. I am so sad it is over and hope that it won't be long until we're all able to hang out again.

Breastfeeding Buddies

2011-08-17T23:18:00.004-04:00

This is my beautiful and oh so amazing best Friend Brianna, nursing Rex (22 months) and Quinnie (6 mo) and myself. This is when Brianna and family came from MI to spend a week with us. We went to my favorite place ever, our family lake to spend the night and this is where we found this pretty flower field, we thought would be perfect for this photo. We have always taken breastfeeding photos together. We've always had nurslings at the same time even if they're very different ages (actually Payton was nursing when Rex was born and our last nursing pics were of us nursing the boys)

and our next one may be with Quinn nursing and her new baby (that is not yet conceived for the record). I have a nursing album on my FB fan page of breastfeeding photos, but have been inspired by the beautiful field, being with my amazing best friend/family, our adorable nurslings, awesome new actions I received and some other crunchy photographers taking beautiful and inspiring breastfeeding photos. So, I came out from behind the camera. I now love this pic and will cherish it forever.

Awana

2011-08-17T23:01:00.002-04:00

Tonight was our first night at Awana. The kids all had a blast! We left on time, we were pumped and ready to go, ate dinner, and no one was apprehensive. I thought it was a "meet the teacher" or orientation and we'd go right home. Well, it was orientation for the parents and the kids got hauled off by their teachers and had a blast. They played games, did crafts, had a "bounce house" (what my Little People call them), had snacks, etc. It looked like so much fun. There were tons and tons of volunteers, I could tell how much they loved the children, it reminded me of a VBS, but they'll get to do it once a week. They have a calendar and a schedule of fun activities. I am so glad I found this for my Little People, I love that they get to grow up with other kids who are going to know and love God.

While the kids were acting wild we sat in the boring orientation and Angie and I played with Quinn and passed her back in fourth. The lady passing out programs didn't want to pass one to me, I thought it was because she thought Angie and I were a couple, but apparently I didn't look old enough to have a kid (let alone 4 of them- and Angie was holding Quinn at the time). Quinn got fussy about 1/2 way through it. I took her to the car and instructed Angie to get me if any of The Little People needed me. Well, she came to the car to tell me that the director was frantically looking for Skyler's mom because Skyler was not wearing any panties *gasp* in the bounce house, with s DRESS on. The people were freaking out that I'd blame them..haha. I know her so well, I said 'hang on, I have about 3 pairs in my car, she always does this and most of the time I catch her while buckling her but Riley did it today for her. She already got in trouble once today for trying to go to Riley's school like that'.

When I went to her she wasn't embarrassed at all. She could care less. She didn't know why I was in between freaking out and cracking up.

Skyler's first day of kindergarten homeschool!

2011-08-15T13:23:00.003-04:00

Dear Skyler,

Today is your first day of school. I am so happy that I could be right beside you for the entire experience from waking you up and hearing you say "good morning, Teacher!" to me and helping you write your name, reading instructions, helping you cut and seeing how happy you were to do your work. You told me that you wanted to "sell my work" so you're saving your work, I'm thinking Daddy might buy it :) I am so glad I didn't have to drop you off for someone else to teach you, thinking about you all day and wondering how your day went...instead I can be there with you. I hope and pray that I am a successful homeschool teacher. I know you are a smart little girl and learn so easy, I think you'll make my job a lot easier. I can't wait to watch you learn and grow and to be the one who helps you learn. I love you little lady and I am so proud of my big kindergartner!

Love,

Mommy

Happy 6 months Quinn!

2011-08-15T12:59:00.005-04:00

Dear Quinn,

Today you are 6 months. Every time you are a new age I feel like that is my favorite age, but I can't imagine how I could love you more tomorrow than I already do today. I love the itty bitty sleepy newborn stage but I especially love how you light up when you see me, in a crowd full of people you fix your gaze on me (and sometimes Daddy) you smile before your eyes even open in the morning, your daddy and I fight to wake you up in the mornings and we walk in there saying "good morning" before we even see your eyes open we see a smile on your face. If you happen to wake before we wake you (about 11AM) you will play in your bed, talk to yourself, and grab your toes. Grabbing your toes is one of my favorite things you do now. I really wanted to get a picture of this but you were uncooperative. Babies are supposed to be "harder" to care for than big kids, but in our family this isn't the case. All the other kids (and even us as parents) have good and bad days. You always have great days and never bad. You're never cranky unless you are tired- and then we lay you down and you're fine. It is time to introduce solid foods to you soon, but I am really dragging my feet because that is going to be such a huge milestone and I can't be in denial that you're growing up anymore. I am not sure if I want to even offer pureed foods (of course homemade)like an avocado, or if I want to do baby-led-solids and give you something like brown rice. I think you'd do fine with either. I love your new hair that is coming in. Your thick brown hair you had at birth is long gone. You now have white looking hair, and it's not as thick, but you can see at the roots where there is tons of fuzz coming in. You aren't bald by any stretch but your hair is so light it is hard to even see in a picture. I read 2 long children's books to your sister today and you sat in my lap and you watched every page and acted so interested. I hope this means you like books as much as I did when I was little. When you wake up from your nap I am going to smother your face in kisses, you smile so big when I kiss you. I love you, my beautiful baby girl. Happy 6 months Quinn Mackenzie, it seems like you were born yesterday.

Your stats: 25 inches long and 15 lbs and are in the 10-25% for weight and height.

Busy Busy Busy!

2011-08-13T22:38:00.003-04:00

My best friend, Brianna and her family came to visit Georgia last Thursday on Aug. 4th, which was also Payton's 3rd birthday. It was a good distraction for me because I sit around on their birthday and get all super mushy, sentimental and downright hormonal. Having my best gal pal here was an amazing distraction! They stayed until this Thursday and left after lunch. We spent the night at the lake, ate a crap ton of bad for you food, grilled out, played outside, took lots of pictures, had a girls night and a guys golfing trip...we're going to miss them so much!

We called the lake trip "Payton's party" and he loved it. Kevin fished with him for HOURS. He called his fishing pole a "fishing-go" it was adorable and we all called the poles a fishing-go, and we made sure to call bathing suits "baby suits" like Payton says too.

Riley also started his first day of 1st grade- and has now completed his first week of first grade. It has been going well and we're signing him up for flag football at his school, he is thrilled!

Skyler is spending the night with Nana and then tomorrow we're going "camping" at a hotel with a pool. We have a lot of fun things planned this week, Skyler is also starting kindergarten and I am starting my journey to homeschool....I know we did it last year but this is 5 year kindergarten and it seems intimidating to me already! I have decided to go with Bob Jones curriculum. I got the whole kit but I still need a science and social studies. We're going to sign her up for ballet, go to the library weekly, we already enrolled them all in Awana, we go to church every Sunday and Wednesday (starting this week) for a Bible study and we play in the neighborhood nightly with close to 20 kids at times. So, I think we've gotten the social interaction part down.

Quinn is going to be 6 months old on Monday and I'm thinking about solids. We'll see. I took her pictures on Thursday. I got one I like. It wasn't what I had envisioned for the shoot but, she is a doll anyway.

Towards the end of the week, I hope to have another update with pictures of Skyler's school, Riley in uniform, and our mini camping trip.

Random updates

2011-07-29T13:58:00.005-04:00

Riley is so excited about school, that he wore his new school uniform to bed last night. When he woke up he asked me if he could change into a short sleeve school uniform because he was hot- and he's been wearing that all day. He even keeps his shirt tucked in.

Kevin is getting him a UGA book bag today. He will be so excited.

Payton is feeling much better. He has returned to being his mischievous self. He saw me doing the dishes and ran over as fast as he could to say "need help, need help, mommy?!" and he actually ate today, a peanut butter and honey sandwich...I loaded it in peanut butter and honey so he could have some calories since he has not ate in a few days. Yesterday he slept off and on all day in between crying, 105 fevers, moaning and even threw up again so I knew when he told me "NO!" about nap time today he was better. When I was putting away diapers I walked back in the living room to find his peanut buttery self kissing Quinn, so I hope he isn't contagious and I hope she does not have a peanut allergy. His room is all cleaned up too (waiting for Bri and her family) and Kevin asked him yesterday "who cleaned your room, Payton?" and he looked up from playing and said "me" so matter of factly like DUH. Today when I put him down for a nap I wanted to see if he would re-say that same thing so I asked him "Payton, who cleaned up your room?" and he very matter of factly this time said "Da-eey"...go figure everyone but the real person who cleaned it got credit!

I ordered some stuff today for a photo shoot for Quinn, seems like I am always doing that, right? It's going to be so stinking adorable, I don't know if I can handle all the cuteness. She is really going to have to cooperate for this picture. We got her Jumparoo down from the basement and she loves it and is such a pro. She gets right in and starts laughing and jumping away. We put her bouncy seat away since she is rolling like a pro now. Her swing won't be out much longer either. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is so sweet it is just flying by. I have so much fun caring for a baby that is this pleasant and happy.

Sassy Sky has been grumpy and mouthy this week. She even knocked my computer off the sofa today- she was sitting beside it (which is a HUGE no-no). She has been pouting when she does not get her way. Yesterday she wanted a cape that our neighbor had and when we told her no she ran and laid in the grass to pout. This isn't like her...she's acting like a GIRL. It's probably my fault because I have not given her a nap.

I sold $124 of clothes the first day of the consignment sale, I can't wait to see what else sells by tonight. That totally covers the cost of the new things I bought. I've been so excited and motivated I've been getting ready for the spring consignment sale already. This time I have some clothes, shoes and toys already ready to go.

One more week until Brianna and her family get here. We're so excited. I've already been cleaning the upstairs in preparation. I need to start planning meals, we love eating Mexican together, Chick Fil-A, and cooking. We love making big elaborate meals. We don't have much planned but we love watching Teen Mom together (our guilty pleasure) and sitting outdoors watching the kids play in the evenings. I can't wait, I know this week (and next) is going to fly by!

Getting ready for school

2011-07-28T13:35:00.005-04:00

This year was my first year participating in the consignment sale as a seller. This was my 3rd visit to the massive All 4 Kids sale. I wasn't that prepared, I decided maybe 3 weeks before the sale I decided that I wanted to do it on a whim, I got together $286 worth of inventory- which the seller makes 70% commission, and you obviously don't sell everything (I am donating the rest). The sale started today-Saturday.

Yesterday was the pre-sale and I had a pass to go shopping before the public. It was pretty awesome!

I spent $130. I got 40 items (that is on average $3.35 an item). I went in thinking I was only going to buy GAP, The Children's Place, OshKosh, Carters, Old Navy and maybe Gymboree. I did just that. I got Riley 3 pairs of uniform shorts and 3 pairs of uniform pants for $20! I didn't need a thing but it was fun to shop!

I also went to Riley's school to the used uniform sale (with logos already on them, they normally cost $3 for a logo and $12.50 a shirt). I got 1 more pair of shorts, a chapel dress shirt for Wednesday, a long sleeve sweater, 4 short sleeve shirts, and 4 long sleeve shirts. I am thinking I want/need a few more but that is a great and cheap start. Nothing there was over $6 and they already have logos *score*.

We have some supplies but not everything, we still need a new back pack, a new lunch box. I still have to buy Skyler's curriculum. I am getting 95% sure of a curriculum- Bob Jones I believe. Ideally, I wanted to individually choose each subject but it is to overwhelming to me to do that my first year, I don't know what I want, need, or like, I am not sure how Skyler will do...so this is a trial and error year for us and I am going to go with all the same and hopefully branch off next year unless we love Bob Jones.

Skating!

2011-07-27T23:00:00.003-04:00

Riley is pretty involved at the kids church program that our church offers and today they had pizza at the church and all went to Sparkles (skating rink). It was Riley and Conner's first time skating. They had these PVC things with wheels attached to help them. Janet (my sister) was there with the boys and called me and told me I had to see them and that they had "walkers" to skate with. That is exactly what they look like.

The boys skating habits reflected their personality. Conner started out slow and with the "walker" and then he went 90-to-nothing falling right and left, and getting right back up, the poor little guy got beat up, but he thought he could do it...Riley on the other hand is more cautious and scared, he is more reserved. He used the safety of his "walker" the whole time, and every time Conner fell, Riley was there to help him up.

Now our sweet boys are having a spend the night party at aunt Janet's house.

104.7

2011-07-27T11:24:00.007-04:00

My little Sweet P woke up with a 104.7 fever with no symptoms. I gave him a dose of Advil at 10:45 and now he is feeling a little better at 11:30 and eating dry cereal and drinking water/juice. :(

1:00 update~ poor little guy is feeling bad again and his fever is already 103.7, so I had to give him Tylenol in addition to Advil...I hope this knocks it out for him. He is back in the same shape he was in earlier, he's laying on the sofa sucking his thumb and shaking away.

1:55 update~ Oh, great, he took a nap (around 1:15), woke up at about 1:35 and drank a little 1/2 water mixed with 1/2 juice. He threw it all up (prop his Tylenol too)...we might be going to a minute clinic. He just stopped crying and fell asleep sitting straight up. I am guessing strep. Kevin is getting off work (bad mom can't handle throw up, and does not want Quinn to get sick so one of us cares for baby and the other cares for the sick child).

Recipe of the week {chicken pot pie}

2011-07-21T16:50:00.009-04:00

This is one of the best foods I've ever put in my mouth. It can spank any homemade recipe I've ever had.

1 1/2 lbs chicken or 3 large (drained) cans of Tyson's all white meat chicken
12 ounces of chicken stock
2 blocks of cream cheese
Pillsbury pie crust
2 12oz bags of frozen veggie steamers (with corn, green beans, peas, and carrots)
2 packets of Good Season Italian Dressing mix
1/2 pack of ranch seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
lavender
First I followed the instructions on the veggie steamers and I microwaved them and put them in a large microwavable mixing bowl. I opened the cans of chicken, drained them, broke into tiny pieces, dumped in the mixing bowl. I softened the cream cheese in the microwave and dumped it into the mixing bowl. I then added the seasoning, salt, pepper, broth.

I microwaved it about 10 minutes until it was all hot. I divided it into 2 pie plates. I put the Pillsbury pie crust on top of the pies (we don't like a bottom crust) and I popped it into the oven for 15 minutes on 450.

A semi-homemade, huge success with the kids, hardly any clean up, no accessories needed, loaded with veggies, done in 30 minutes. Give it a try your taste buds will go crazy!

Nice Family Grocery Trip

2011-07-21T09:48:00.005-04:00

Well, that is what I was thinking in my mind when Kevin called to tell me he'd be home early and I hadn't been to the grocery store- a nice trip as a family. It has to be easier than my weekly trips when I take 4 all by myself, right? No. I was dead wrong. It started out with fighting over which cart (I call it a buggy because I am a redneck) we push, and then after they begged for the car cart- only Payton wanted to ride in it. I wore Quinn on the mei tai and let me say from the beginning she was an absolute angel. Then a begging for a cookie started, so that's a great idea it'll take at least 5 minutes for them to eat. As we're standing in the deli I noticed I'm missing a coupon and after it took me 3 hours to prepare for this trip I wanted to have a tantrum like a kid, I got myself together. We went through produce and the bread isle pretty uneventful. Riley started running. Skyler started jumping. Payton kept escaping the car. Riley started doinf cart weals, Skyler runs into every stranger and started dancing, then skipping. Payton is grabbing things off the shelf and only wants to "help". I can see that Kevin's blood was starting to boil, he was loosing his composure and is starting to act like one of the kids. He is growling, and gritting his teeth and stuff. Riley and Skyler start getting into a fist fight when Skyler bumps into Riley. Skyler's feet almost get ran over at least once every 60 seconds by the cart- you have to be very aware of her at all times because she never looks where she walks. Now I have to get on to Kevin for getting on to the kids. I told him that I will deal with them. I started to get stressed because Kevin is so stressed, and I calmly (through gritted teeth) said "okay I am holding up numbers on my finger- and each time I hold up a finger that is a minute of 'time out' when we get home". So Riley was at 3, and Skyler was at 2. Then the tattle tale-ing started. The stares from strangers started- I couldn't tell if they wanted to spank the kids or they felt sympathy for us...or thought we were insane. The kids started asking "why" about their time outs, and if they could "earn" time off. We tried to get them to get into the cart and had a huge crying tantrum. Payton is escaping by the second now and has poked holes in the meat. This makes me forget like 1/2 of what I need- BUT Kroger is having a "Mega Sale" where you buy 10 specific items and get $5 off- so I cannot forget anything and I have to get very specific amounts to add up to my 20 items. We went back and fourth in that store 3 times looking for and forgetting things. I warned Kevin not to be stressed if it was close to a $200 cart- I had to warn him in advance or his eyes bug out of his head at the register. As we were checking out the kids start crying that they're starving and need some candy. More tattling. Their tummy hurts, they're grabbing things right and left. We just keep saying no and checked out. Our total before coupons/sales was $170 and by the end it was only $100, thankfully. We got out to the car and realized that we have no room in the car for the groceries. Our back is filled to the max. Riley's car seat was sitting in our spare seat that we normally have folded down and use it as an isle. Payton escaped into the parking lot. We got him back and Kevin decided to move Riley's car seat. Riley pitched a massive almost 7 year old tantrum because he wants to sit by Quinn, jumps up and down, screams and cried as loudly as possible. Skyler walked right into the car door about as hard as she can, she's screaming at the top of her lungs. I noticed Payton is eating something- uh oh he stole some candy. Some nasty chocolate truffles with peanuts all in it. He starts screaming because I take away his stolen candy. Riley recomposed himself enough to loudly say "MOMMY, there is someone I can go give it to". We made the isle back in the Tahoe, loaded the kids and the groceries, and we were only minutes from home. Kevin looks like he is about to go crazy and I just started cracking up. We made it but I would much rather do this shopping trip alone from now on.

Just a day in the life of a Grey

2011-07-20T23:19:00.007-04:00

Tonight we went to Kroger as a family. It started out a hectic day and ended with a bang (a literal bang, actually).

I was planning on waking up, and making my grocery list before Quinn even woke up- well I slept later than I thought (until 9:30) once I got up I realized that we had absolutely nothing to eat...I thought of asking the neighbors, and I thought of giving the Little People ice cream but then I remembered Payton is possibly allergic to dairy (which we rarely ever consume) and I started frantically going through my pantry- after all Payton will be banging on his door momentarily.

Ah ha...we have bread! We have sugar and cinnamon. Cinnamon toast! So, I calmly with a plan sit down to my computer with my coffee, planning on glancing at Facebook for just a minute and then making my list. Then the little people wake up, and we make cinnamon toast, they want to help. Fine with me, I love cooking and I love it even more when my little people help me.

Whew, we made it through breakfast with hardly any food. I was praying I could get it all done before snack time or especially lunch time (my Little People eat 5 times a day or so). I surf on FB a little longer than I thought. Kids wanted to color. Payton plays with a glue stick and gets it everywhere. Oops. Baby wakes up. Nurse the baby while I do a little online shopping. Play with Quinn, wash diapers, wash dishes. Nurse her again, oh crap she is sleepy ALREADY?! Nurse again, and she falls asleep...now I know I am screwed at this point because I cannot wake a sleeping baby to go grocery shopping that would be a huge mistake. So, I lay her down and go look in the pantry- we have no more bread, no chips, no meat, no frozen food, no canned goods, no fresh fruit, no veggies, no left overs, no cheese, cereal, cereal bars, peanut butter....no.nothing. Oh wait, we have saltines..Y.i.k.e.s. Okay, under the old pile of newspaper, I find 1 box of mac & cheese- what a life saver that I didn't clean out the bottom of that pantry. I had no butter or milk to go in it- so, I had to borrow my neighbor's butter who is out of town in FLA and I poured a little breastmilk in that processed, preservative filled crap- and I felt a little better about serving it with breastmilk in it. I had literally no accessories whatsoever...and normally I serve 3-4 things for lunch and at least 50% or more things I serve are good for you..oops. The kids didn't even seem to notice, and once we finished lunch without anyone noticing we had nothing I smiled a little inside and prayed they wouldn't want a snack. I made my grocery list. I am all ready to FINALLY go grocery shopping. Quinn wakes up. I nursed her again, changed her. Payton jumped off a barstool and lands on a toy dump truck. He wouldn't stop crying. He never gets hurt, pain never phases him, and I see no visible "booboo". He is limping. Hysterical. Sleepy. I called Kevin and the pediatrician. They tell me to come in now they have x-ray machines in office. So by this time the bottom falls out of the sky. I mean it is pouring.down.rain. Thunder, lightning, flooding and the whole shebang. I strap the Little People in their seats (Payton still hysterical) and the most massive bolt of lightning makes me jump out of my skin. I jump in the car as fast as I can. I forgot Payton's shoes, the dog in the house, and to lock the doors. Oops. I feel better knowing I can use Payton's injury as an excuse rather than negligence. Did I mention I had to be there in 5 minutes and I was at least 15 minutes away? Oh, I left the grocery list that took me 3 hours to complete (remember I extreme coupon) at home...with the dog...in the house...So I drive like a grandma to the pediatricians office because I am wearing Kevin's contacts so I can't see great, especially in this hurricane.

We get to the pediatricians office about 10 minutes late. They were waiting on us since we were the last people to be seen before they close. Payton is acting like a nut and seeing his reaction is assuring me it has to be something. They x-ray him and it's nothing. Yup, nothing. He told me in the x-ray room after the pictures "it all betta, it not hurt no more. Dis (pointing to the x-ray machine) made me betta" I wanted to say "seriously?! I knew this would happen...why did I even bother?!" but I was glad it wasn't broken but what a wasted trip. What a paranoid mother I am.

Did I mention we didn't even have Riley today? Okay, so we get gas because the empty light has been on since leaving the house with a credit card (because Special K has the debit card)...and I treat myself to Starbucks because, whew, what a day. We go get Riley from a friends house, wait for Special K to get home and we all go to the grocery store together. I can't even go into this trip with you or I'll be blogging the rest of the night, part II will be tomorrow.

This is just an example of an ordinary day in our lives. I can't wait for tomorrow. I have to catch up from being gone on Tuesday all day at the movies and Jump for Joeys and in preparation for being gone on Friday. Whew, I'm exhausted typing this all out. Part II of a day in the life of a Grey: The grocery store addition will be tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday {my "helper"}

2011-07-20T10:56:00.002-04:00

Photo Challenge {props}

2011-07-18T13:09:00.011-04:00

I am entering a photo challenge on I heart faces. The theme is props. This is my daughter Skyler. This picture captures her exact personality better than any picture I believe I've ever taken of her. She is so carefree, always happy, super easy going, she loves life, laughing, her glass is always full, she absolutely loves the outdoors, getting dirty, bugs and bows.

Iheartfaces

Breakfast in bed

2011-07-15T13:11:00.006-04:00

This is what my sister texted me this morning (Conner & Riley are having a "spend the night party"), you gotta' love that tacky tray. The boys woke up at 10:30 and Janet served them breakfast in bed (Con had grits, milk, and a banana, Ry had cereal, juice and a banana), all while watching Ice Age. Riley was totally impressed because he's never had that before. Apparently Conner made sure to let him know that his mom does this for him all the time. Riley and Conner are being spoiled rotten over there, I am thinking Riley is never going to want to come home.

Summer Nights

2011-07-15T10:51:00.005-04:00

This is how my kiddos get to spend every night in the summer. Outdoors, barefoot, no shirts (or super hero costumes) riding bikes, playing with friends, getting in the baby pool, eating pop sickles, running races, playing basketball, and getting dirty. When I was a kid I would have killed for neighborhood friends and now I wouldn't trade it for 5 acres and a farm!

Happy 5 months Quinn!

2011-07-15T10:17:00.003-04:00

Seems like yesterday I was writing the post titled "Happy 5 weeks Quinn" and now it's 5 months. It feels like I don't even have a baby in the house because babies are supposed to be hard work, right? Well, she isn't. She is only a pure joy (and believe me I can call an apple an apple...I've had high maintenance babies before). When I go and get her in the mornings at 11, usually she's already awake playing with her hands, sucking her thumb or smiling sweetly at her bed. I say "good morning" to her and she just starts grinning and looking for me. Every single morning she wakes up this happy and content. If she isn't already awake, I still say "good morning" and her eyes pop open with a smile. Quinn is rolling from her tummy to back and back to tummy. She learned both of these tricks on the same day- I believe it was July 8th and 9th she mastered these two accomplishments. Sometimes on her changing table I sit her up and let her balance, she does the whole lean forward thing and is strong enough to sit but her balance isn't perfect yet. She spent her first night in her bassinet portion of her pack-n-play last night. She had been sleeping in the co-sleeper which is a 3 sided little bed that butts up to my bed, but I'm afraid with her rolling now she might roll in between the crack of my bed and hers, so I put her in the bassinet part of the pack in play until she learns to sit or pull up. It was sad not being able to open my eyes and glance at her without moving, now I had to lean up to see her (which it's still butted up against my bed). I checked on her about 5 times after I fell asleep last night. I was obviously more distraught about it than she was- it's 10:21AM the next morning and she's still sleeping soundly. Milestones are always harder for the mama than the baby! She still throws up every second and I actually am looking forward to seeing her outgrow that stage. We won't be starting solids yet. We'll be waiting until at least 6 months, it makes me sad to think that even a month from now we might try...we'll see. She has found her hands and loves playing with them, she loves reaching for stuff so slow and wobbly. She has started playing with her toes when we change her diapers; I am going to try and get a pic of this for her 5 month pics, I don't have anything extravagant planned since last month I did the owls and butterflies. The 6 month pic ideas I have something special planned but have to be patient and wait until she's the "right" age. Okay it is time to be a mom for the rest of the day and get of this computer.

Me Supa Man!

2011-07-13T22:53:00.005-04:00

Payton has been wearing his new (to him) "Supa Man" costume all day and the moment he puts the cape on he transforms into the part, and becomes very serious. He put this right on and said "Conna (aka Conner) give me dis. Me Supa Man." Then he climbed on his highchair for a few photos and when I told him to get down he said "me sca-ud" (scared), of course "Supa Man" gets scared and needs his mommy to help him down from high places. Duh. *happy sigh* I just love my little man and love being his mom.

Chore List

2011-07-13T00:33:00.004-04:00

Monday: Scrub bathrooms, grocery list, bills
Tuesday: Mop floors, grocery shopping
Wednesday: Clean upstairs (and dentist appt today)
Thursday: Put away all laundry
Friday: Organize something

Daily chores include: dishes, washing/drying laundry, vacuuming, sweeping, picking up, cleaning counter tops, overseeing Riley's animal chores...and I need to come up with a chore for Skyler although she does help with the baby any time I need her to and can dress/undress her like a pro and entertain her when I am in a messy situation.

I need to stay offline more and spend more time with the kids during the day, my "work" is carrying over into our personal lives and it's starting to make me feel like I'm too involved at home in what I'm doing. From now on I'm not dealing with clients (unless they call) on FB and I am not editing photos during the day (unless I am at a deadline and have to), but I'm not going to make a habit of it. I am a stay-at-home-mom and I want to keep it that way, if I wanted a full time job, I'd get one.

Okay so much for the rambling but if I vocalize my thoughts and write it out I can hold myself accountable easier. Starting tomorrow on a Wednesday I am doing my chore schedule. YAY!

Summer photo special!

2011-07-12T11:00:00.003-04:00

Okay I guess I should mention here since I have had several people coming from my blog rather than FB, so in case you want/need some pictures get ready, I have a killer deal and I'm not totally full yet, although I am getting close so HURRY!

I'll copy and paste from my fan page:

I must admit, I like selling digital images a lot more than I anticipated. It started out as something easy to cut out me being a middle man after giving birth and now I never thought I'd say this- I love it. I am also loving all these summer sessions, beautiful weather and being outdoors, so I am officially extending my summer special to include the rest of the summer.

I am offering you a flat rate fee of $175 for your photo shoot, a CD of your edited images (expect 15+ poses), and a copyright release for you to print anywhere, on your copyright release I will make suggestions/recommendations on printing companies. On the CD I will include two files, one for you to print and a smaller special one for you to use online with a logo. I generally take 100+ photos a session to ensure that every pose has the perfect shot. I will be willing to drive up to 15 mile radius of Dallas, GA and after that it will be $3 per extra mile. Payment is due at time of photo shoot. A CD of your images will be mailed to you within 2 weeks of your session.

This price includes engagement photos, family, children, seniors and babies. This prices includes sessions up to 5 people- after that it will be an additional $15 per person. This is not the price for birth photos, newborn photos, and I am not photographing weddings at the moment.

If you are willing to do your session on a week day evening I will give you a $15 discount making your total session cost $160. These spots are very limited so please contact me for details and availability.

If you are a 2012 senior, I have another special going on right now for you. $150 for a session if you book before July 31st.

Please contact me here on Facebook.

Summer weekends

2011-07-12T10:20:00.011-04:00

This weekend was super busy and we didn't even get a chance to do everything we wanted. Friday night Special K got off work early because I had a cake smash with an adorable 1 year old, we all went. Then to some friends house with all the little people in tow. Here is the adorable little man turning 1:

Saturday I had a photo shoot, the client lived super far away from me and couldn't find our location, so I wanted and waited until it got too late- Special K had to work also, so I went to pick up the kids all 4 of them and I went off to find the clients- I found them 20 minutes or more from the session location they were looking for. I felt terrible for them because they had 3 kids and it turned into an all day event. It was HOT outside too. Our initial session was supposed to be at 10Am and we didn't start the shoot until about 2PM. It went very well though and the girls are beautiful and well worth the wait! The mama was so impressed she's booked her youngest first birthday photos and Christmas photos!

Sunday we had nursery at church, we loved snuggling all the little babies. I have to admit it is a little weird to feed a baby a bottle, and change a sposie though! Quinn loves it and one day when she's old enough to go to the nursery she will be used to it. Then we attended the 2nd church service, then we ran home to eat lunch, and make some hot wing dip for my friend's little boy's birthday party. Here is the birthday boy:

After that we went swimming at another friends house with Raymond, Janet, and Conner. The kids had a blast and they're all swimming so much better, and Payton thinks he can swim, but that is a whole different story.

Monday started with me baby sitting the birthday boy (Parker, the little guy with the blue back ground) and then we went to VBS. We have VBS Mon-Wed and the kids love it. Payton calls it "school" and he said he kicked "only" one kid (holding up his 1 finger) he said "because he punched me"...nice I don't believe for one minute that Payton wasn't the instigator. I told him he should tell his teacher but I'm pretty sure he wont and he'll "handle" it himself in his own way *sigh*. I am trying to email the VBS coordinator to volunteer to photograph the little ones at VBS, so I may have that tonight or tomorrow. I should have thought about it sooner! I just hope Special K gets off in time to watch Quinn but she still loves her Moby if I have to bring her. We're headed out with kids and coupons in tow to Publix for some great deals on groceries.

Recipe of the week {baked ribs}

2011-07-07T13:53:00.005-04:00

Lately I have not been as domestic as I previously was before Quinn was born. I am getting back into couponing and have made a great effort for the past 2 weeks- and plan to again this weekend. I have not cooked as much either even though I love cooking.

I've been wanting to try my hand at ribs- and they were on sale at $1.99/lb so if you know me I researched how to prepare the meat which was harder than I thought. I read an 8 page summary on about.com if you're interested.

Anyhoo, after the preparation I got a huge piece of tin foil and laid the meat on it. I sprinkled smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and a dry steak rub (I think I used McCormick Montreal steak seasoning). I poured apple cider vinegar all over it too. Cover/seal with foil. I baked in the oven on 350 for 3 hours. 30 minutes before it was done I took it out and painted it with Sweet Baby Rays (which was also on sale this week). I popped back in the oven and the BBQ sauce sort of caramelized on it.

We took it out and put our own BBQ sauce on it.

Another idea is to throw it on the grill a few minutes before it is done to give it that charcoal/grilled flavor. Special K wasn't home in time or else I was planning on doing this.

We served with home made mashed potatoes (also on sale $2.99/5 lb bag) I used about 2 lbs of potatoes, pealed and boiled for 30 minutes. I then put them in a mixing bowl with some ranch seasoning (the packets), a stick of butter, 16 ounces of sour cream, cheddar cheese, and a little bit of chicken stock. I then used my hand mixer to make them creamy.

We also served with green beans. It was all so delish!

Kevin took a photo of it on his phone, I'm getting him to email it to me now so that I can post one. This is going into our rotation of food ASAP!

Sometimes I like to be dirty

2011-07-07T12:32:00.005-04:00

This isn't a post title for the kids, or something funny they said or a cute picture of them liking to be dirty. It's not perverted. This is about me and sometimes I actually prefer to skip a shower and I am just fine being dirty. I know that is just gross, isn't it? BUT if you lived in my house and walked in my shoes, I am pretty sure your own cleanliness comes after the kids teeth being brushed, them looking and smelling nice, even laundry and dishes come second to me being clean. Heck, yesterday I scrubbed my toilets but didn't have time to shower.

Hypothetically, I do love showering and being clean but it is actually a lot of work trying to do something like that.

I normally have at least 1 other child in the shower with me (which that in itself is a huge drama and debate complete with tears over WHO gets to shower with Mommy). An infant, a toddler, or Skyler (I don't shower with Riley and have not for quite some time for the record) so that in itself isn't relaxing. I have to share the shower head, and fight for warm water, I also have to fight with rinsing out hair, worrying about getting it in eyes, getting out freezing because I have to dry my children before myself and "MOMMY, I don't want to get out, I want to play when we're done" etc.

So, sometimes I do something really bad.

I try and shower alone, while Kevin is at work.

Not during nap time.

Okay, I said it and I feel better. It sounds like a great idea, however it isn't.

This morning in particular it was about 10:00 AM, Quinn was sleeping and so was Skyler. Payton and Riley had just woken up and were eating breakfast and watching a TV show. They'll never miss me, and only 2 kids are awake. Sounds pretty safe, right? For just a few minutes. So, I go through the whole ritual of telling Riley not to answer my phone no matter what. Don't answer the door to ANYONE ("yes, Riley even Angie and Daddy...Daddy has a key if he needs to come in"), and you better believe if I ever, even once forget to say these things he will do one of the two. So I get in, wash my hair, shave my arm pits and here comes Skyler into my room....and I'm thinking 'oh great another is awake, I better hurry'. She wanted to tell me that Riley wants to go outdoors to get his Nintendo DS out of the car and she is hungry. I tell her to get a cereal bar, I'll be out in a minute to get you some grapes and Riley isn't allowed of the house while I am in the shower. I tell her to go out because Quinn is going to wake and not to come back in. Okay, so now that is over I conditioner my hair. Sky comes back in to tell me Payton has gotten gum out of my purse (huge no-no around my house both getting into my purse and chewing gum indoors). At this point I was thinking 'to hell with shaving!' After I reminded Skyler she was going to wake Quinn up and to go out she told me that Quinn was already awake too...and needed to tell me that she was looking at her toes and happy and playing. Okay, again I tell her to get out and hide my purse. I still have not washed my body. About 5 seconds later Payton bust through the door like a tornado and announces very happily and so proud, "Me got GUM! Me want to take a shower". I throw Kevin under the bus "You can take a shower with Daddy". I don't know if I should roll my eyes at the 2 year old, laugh because it's my own fault for not hiding my purse AND for attempting this insane act of showering, or just admit defeat and get out without bathing or shaving. So, I did just that. I got out, dried off with a little pink baby towel, you know the last clean one in my home. I have shaved pits and clean hair...I'll have a rain check when Kevin gets home on the bath part.

I normally get brave once a month or so when I forget the trauma it has caused everyone.

So if you see a mama, and she has dirty hair and the most adorable, clean kids ever...don't look at her with pitty for being grungy- she probably does not even want to shower. If you ever hear a mom talking to another mom and it goes something like this "I GOT TO TAKE A SHOWER TODAY!!!!" like it is some huge accomplishment, well it is...maybe you should congratulate her, or even tell her you are jealous. If you're too groomed and clean, I'm just not sure what kind of a parent you are or what your house looks like :)

Little Owl

2011-07-02T12:11:00.003-04:00

I know I am having quite the obsession with owls lately. I've been planning this photo shoot forever, initially I was quite upset with the way they turned out BUT as I was editing I decided there was a few that I really liked. I'll probably only buy 1 anyway, I have way too many pictures in this house.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-30T00:54:00.004-04:00

So it is 56 minutes past Wednesday but I haven't gone to bed yet...

4 months 2 weeks old

Favorite Florida photos

2011-06-24T10:18:00.005-04:00

I don't really have a story to tell, or anything clever to talk about our trip. It was relaxing- even with 4 kids. They all slept great, no accidents, illnesses, or family drama. This year was extra special because our extended family was all there- they usually are but this year was a larger crowd of 40 family members and friends. I wish I'd have taken a group shot but everyone straggled in on their own days and left at different times. We were lucky enough to be there the whole 10 days. We cooked in the condo and didn't do much recreational things- I did take Riley and Skyler to play mini golf, we indulged in Krispy Kreme with the hot light on, and a seafood dinner for Father's Day. It's hard to choose which pics are my favorite so I'll keep them to a minimum.

Home made bread is easy!

2011-06-24T08:56:00.004-04:00

There are tons of unique recipes that you can Google. I got my base recipe from a very good friend and since then I've stopped measuring and we've both tweaked things to our liking and it's still amazing. I always have people telling me "oh that must be hard" and "I wish I had time", "but I don't have a bread maker" and things like that, you don't have to be SuperMom to make homemade bread (well...it does help your SuperMom status if you do) and no one will know how insanely easy it is. Throw out all your preconceptions!

I encourage you to find a good recipe for you and your family and mine might be one of the more complicated ones. I am a whole wheat freak so ours is 100% whole wheat, it is a dense bread and not as light and fluffy as store bought or white bread.

I use

4 cups of milk/water (room temp, so I zap in the microwave), I dissolved 2 packets of yeast in it (but next time I might try 1 1/2 packets of yeast) and I also used almond milk not cows.

Then I added about 6 cups of 100% whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of Quaker oats, 1/2 cup flax seed, 1 cup of honey, 2 tbs salt (next time I am using 3), 2 tbs butter (or you could use EVOO), and I forgot an egg but next time I'd throw in 1-2 eggs.

I mixed up and kneaded it for like 15 minutes, adding more flour as needed when the bread gets sticky, I rolled back up into a dough ball and let it rise in a mixing bowl covered with a towel for at least an hour (yesterday I left so it really rose for about 4 hours) then I shaped into 2 individual loaves, added to 2 greased loaf pans put a towel back over and let it rise another hour. I cooked on 350 for about 20 minutes.

It was so good we ate grilled cheese on home made bread for dinner the night I made the loaves.

For an extra special bonus you can make home made butter- and it is easy peasy !Get some heavy whipping cream (lightly pasteurized is best), put it in a glass jar and start shaking! When the cream begins to separate you know you're getting close, use a strainer to strain the buttermilk from the fat- drink the butter milk and add salt to the butter (or else it won't have any flavor)- it'll be soft at first but will harden as it cools in the fridge. It's really good!

It was so delish we made grilled cheese on our home made bread for dinner!

Here is a pic from 2010 that I took after making bread- since then I've been letting it rise longer so the loaves are "taller"

Dear Little People,

2011-06-23T10:45:00.005-04:00

It is summer and I am trying to find things in the home to keep you busy so I can work here as a homemaker, your mother, and a photographer. I want you to have a totally fun summer and I don't want your little brains to go to mush either. I am sorry if I didn't take you to the pool every day because I have a baby, I hope our pool in the driveway that we frequent is enough. I hope that our 10 day beach vacation was awesome and you have the memories forever and if you can't remember I hope you can see the beautiful pictures and I portrayed what am amazing time we had with you. I am sorry if we can't go to "jumpy places" all the time, but running behind a 2 year old that's busy going behind the inflatables trying to unplug them and going out the emergency exits isn't fun. Instead Daddy and I plan on taking you camping this year- possibly at the beach, taking you outdoors every day to play with your neighborhood friends. I am sorry if I let you watch too much TV, and eat too much junk food- I hope I can balance that out with an endless supply of fresh fruits available to you at all times. I love you little people so much it hurts sometimes and the feelings I had when I gazed at you as newborns and got teary eyed has not gone away when I sit and think about how crazy in love I am with you. I wish you Little People would slow down just a little bit because one day you'll not want to kiss my mouth and tell me "I'll never wet you go" (Payton), and one day you won't want your daddy to carry you to bed, Skyler and one day you won't ask me 'Mommy, are you proud of me?", Riley. You probably won't even call me "Mommy" forever. Until that day I'm going to love every minute of it and try my best to be the motivated and loving mom that you each deserve. I know some people stop having children because they want to afford things but your Daddy and I know the true meaning of life- it is relationships and family and we know that even if you "miss out" on something you'll be gaining something so much more valuable with each other and we try to never let you "miss out" on the luxurious items that smaller families have anyway, but you never know.

Yesterday was bread making, you all had a blast and today I think I'm going to let you shaving cream the table. I don't know if you all will remember this when you're all grown up but I took a picture for you so that you could see.

Photo Challenge {lets hear it for the boys...}

2011-06-20T15:14:00.015-04:00

This is a photo challenge for I heart faces called 'lets hear it for the boys'. This is my son, Riley and my nephew Conner and "uncle" Mike. The kids wouldn't stop playing with him and when we got on to the boys for hanging on him, Mike said something like this 'they're only going to do this to me for a few more years and then they won't pay me any attention (he actually said they'll be giving him the bird), they are only little once and they grow up too fast and I'll have these memories forever, let them hang on me, it's really alright.' It made me stop, think and cherish the moment.

http://www.iheartfaces.com/2011/06/fathers-day-photo-challenge/

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Now this is sort of random and maybe unbelievable but how do I make my I heart faces button link to their site/post? Is there anyone that can leave me a comment and help? I am challenged and have tried everything *sigh*

3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days old

2011-06-08T13:59:00.005-04:00

That is how old my girl is. My sweet baby girl is inching away from infancy by the second and oh so close to 4 months old, but in my house we have a rule that no one can be called older than their age before they actually are that age, so she's 3 months and that is that (until next week). It seems like I wrote a blog with the same title for Payton just yesterday and now he is 2 years 10 months old. Quinn is so happy all the time and has so much personality. Today all the kids were sitting at the table eating fish sticks, Quinn in her Bumbo on the table watching her siblings, so happy, I was doing the dishes and I just looked over at her all slumped over and had the sudden urge to hold her while I did dishes one handed. I kissed her chubby cheeks and thanked God that I was her mother and able and privileged to do dishes one handed because I had a wonderful, precious baby...a gift from Him in my other hand. I didn't care that she was content, I know many people in this world would die for that same privilege and I'm not going to take a single second for granite.

Quinn is very predictable now and goes to bed between 9-9:30 every single night- even if she naps shortly before, her little internal clock says it's bed time and she is ready. She nurses and then I lay her down sometimes awake sometimes sleeping and she pops that thumb in her mouth (she is thumb-ba-dextrous and uses both thumbs) sleeps 12-14 hours at least 6 nights a week and maybe once per week she wakes up in the morning hours and her thumb just isn't enough. I nurse her and she's back to her marathon sleep. When she wakes in the morning she's all smiles and will even play, kick, and coo in her bed by herself. She stays awake only for 1-2 hours before she is ready for her nap. Then back to a marathon nap...wash.rinse.repeat. She loves her Bumbo, being held and worn, loves her little bar she lays under with toys, she enjoys being outdoors and watching her crazy siblings. She hardly sits in her swing or bouncy chair because we don't put her down much and when we do it's for such a short time. She is such a breeze of a baby, the kind most people are envious of, but I have to admit the grass is always greener because I am sometimes sad she does not need me to go to sleep, and she does not comfort nurse a lot, and she does not "miss me" when I leave her alone. I think by now I've really been able to see that no two babies are alike! I hate her growing up so fast but love seeing her discover the world around her, I love her smiles and "coos" and she's been laughing now. Being a mom is so bittersweet.

Stay tuned for pictures, we're going on vacation tomorrow!

Hoot Hoot!

2011-06-07T09:25:00.004-04:00

Isn't this baby girl a doll?? I've been waiting to put the right baby in a owl hat and birds nest, and I found her!

"Me love you giant!"

2011-06-04T22:43:00.005-04:00

That is what Payton told me today on the sofa with his arms stretched wide out to show me just how "giant" he loved me. It melted my heart. This kid is SUCH a stinker. He is so rotten because he is so funny it is really hard to get mad at him. I really strive to capture the mischievous little man I have. He is ALL boy. He is SO wild. He is constantly jumping off the couch landing on 2 feet, climbing on furniture, helping himself to the fridge, swimming naked in the baby pool, letting the dog out, dumping baby lotion all over the upstairs, he loves to play ball in the house- basketball, baseball and foot ball. My photos on my fire place are always knocked over because Payton throws balls up there so much and at any given time you can find a bat (or two) up there that we've taken from him because he hit someone or something with it, I'm surprised our TV works and our baby has survived him (*knock on wood*). He loves using our garden hose to go "fishing" in our baby pool. He goes 90 miles per hour all day long and crashes wherever he lands for a nap. Sucking his thumb of course. He is SO lovable and he gets what I can only describe as "love eyes" where he blinks his huge blue eyes and says "me love you" or "love you much" (in a growling voice of course), and he'll want to kiss whatever he is closest too, my feet, legs, face, mouth, arm, whatever he is buy when the mood strikes. He speaks in 3rd person and always calls himself "me" or "Pat-ton". I have never had a kid do this so I think it is the most adorable thing ever. He still isn't as well of a communicator as Skyler and Riley were and he will use 3-4 words in what would normally be a 6-8 word sentence and he speaks really slow and pronounces each word he does say pretty well. He is a lover of mud, choo-choos, balls, "dinahors", guitars and play-doh. When he plays his guitar he rolls his eyes, grits his teeth, jumps around in circles and all out jams. This little guy is 2 years 10 months and totally has me wrapped. I never knew how much I could love 4 little people all so much, and so different. When I went from 1-2 kids I always wondered how I could/would love them equally and even felt like I'd have to divide my love, I never know that in reality your heart and love multiplies.

Fun photo shoot!

2011-06-01T22:51:00.006-04:00

I had an especially awesome client- this is the lady who delivered ALL of my precious babies. I could never think of something to offer her that would measure up to what she gave me so I offered to take her daughters pictures, she only had one pose request- one of all of us.

We spent most of our shoot walking and chatting, but her little girl was such an adorable little thing, she was so smart and fun..and up for anything, here are a few to share- I took a lot more but for some reason all of her close ups ended up being my favorites.

That is her on the very left, then me, her daughter, and my sister ~~assistant~~...not the best photo of me...I hate being in front of the camera.

"I hope the world dosen't end today"

2011-06-01T12:17:00.005-04:00

That is a quote from my Riley. I try and explain to him how amazing Heaven is going to be and how whenever God decides to take us will be perfect timing but Riley loves today and does not want him to come before FLA...and I sort of agree with that! We're leaving in 7 days! YAY!

Skyler is trying to stop saying "color-fur" for the word colorful, and is correcting herself. It got on my nerves when she said it and when I heard her correct herself today it made me a little sad. I don't usually correct mispronunciations but that one irritated me and I'm not sure why. She still adds an "e" sound to the ending of words, she told me and Kevin that she loves duckleys and turtleys. Here is a picture of her "colot-fur" plane that she keeps talking about and trying to grow up too fast and correcting herself each time she mispronounces it.

Quinn slept 12 hours last night or even a little more without nursing or needing mommy. Her independence is sort of sad even though I like sleeping, Payton was the other extreme and night nursed every 2 hours (on average) until he was night weaned at 18 months (totally weaned himself at 26 months). I'm trying to nurse her a LOT during the day to keep a healthy supply. She is also wanting to be put down for naps rather than rocked. She likes being worn to sleep also. This makes me sad but she is such a sweet and easy baby, it is nice. I really still don't feel like I have a "larger" family since she's so easy I feel like I still "have it all together".

We blew bubbles and played in our neighborhood pool (you'd laugh if you saw it) this morning. At one point we had 8 kids in it.

I have not been feeling as domestic lately though and just like going with the flow. So, my extreme couponing has nearly stopped and I'm so disappointed in myself for not getting papers like I should, every Sunday for the past 3 weeks I've been thinking about it and forgetting. I have been getting what is on sale but not matching with a coupon so I'm only saving 25-35% rather than 50% or more off my bill. I have not been cooking as much either or making my homemade bread- I am really wanting to start all of this back. In return for being lazy here- my house has never been cleaner (not the upstairs in the slightest) but my laundry is most of the time always caught up, dishes always washed, floors and bathrooms always cleaned and scrubbed, counters and tables always washed and I am feeling better about the house looking nice. I have been working too, I jumped back in feet first and I feel so much calmer about working than I used to, I never get nervous, I'm always happy with the outcome, and my clients are awesome. I don't have too much work and I am not begging for it either, it's really nice. I'm seriously considering extending the May/June special ($175 for a shoot, CD with at least 15 edited pictures/different poses, and copyright release) until the fall and then revamping another digital package.

This is my adorable niece Lyla that I photographed yesterday, isn't she a doll?!

I have another little boy I am photographing today, the painting theme I did with Payton I offered as a mini session for clients- 10 edited photos of a kiddo painting (and I can customize for a girl with girl banner/paint), a CD and copyright release for only $85! I think it is a great deal for someone and for me too, it was so much fun doing that session with Payton and I have decided that my own adorable kids are great for getting myself business. I love having 4 kids!

It's fun 2 be TWO!

2011-05-31T12:08:00.004-04:00

Wordless Wednesday {dreamland}

2011-05-25T14:46:00.004-04:00

This is a photo I entered in to a contest. Title had to be "dreamland".

Happy Summer!

2011-05-23T10:46:00.003-04:00

Today is Riley's first day of summer break! I am very nervous about it.

That wasn't so bad after all

2011-05-23T10:39:00.005-04:00

My photo shoots this weekend both went great. The families were both super sweet and the locations- I've never been to either but both were beautiful. It made it easier for me to get back to work. Kevin and the kids came along and the kiddos loved going to a park 2 days in a row and Quinn did great with daddy!

Here are a few favorite images. This is the E family that I saw on Saturday.

This is the family and their boxers that I saw on Sunday.

Quinn is 3 months old!

2011-05-18T21:53:00.004-04:00

Quinn was 3 months old on my birthday (for the record, I'm old and I turned 27 on May 15th) but more importantly Quinn became 3 months.

I am telling you this is the sweetest baby ever. She is so happy and she loves to talk and smile. She wakes up in a good mood. She goes to sleep easy. She is always happy and is getting to where she even lets me put her down occasionally in her swing or bouncy seat as long as she can see us. She still nurses great, sleeps great and loves being worn in the Moby wrap. She is so good and easy it makes time fly by faster than when I had my "high maintenance" baby, no names *ahhhhemm Payton* I remember feeling like I wasn't sure if I wanted another baby even though I knew in my heart I did...and now with Quinn I can't wait for #5 because we're SO close to becoming a whole family! I am totally enjoying being a family of 6 though and certainly want to enjoy squeezing all of the baby out of Miss Quinn before I even dream of another but the though entertains me now when last time I've been known to shutter at the thought of obligation I had. No two babies of mine have been anything alike that is for sure!

Confessions and pictures!

2011-05-18T21:18:00.005-04:00

Before the adorable photos, I have a confession...Skyler gets her pictures made more than the boys (and Quinn is yet to be determined).

I am sorry, a sincere apology to my boys whom I love more than my words can express. Reasons being are...they won't let me. Riley literally just won't let me. He won't smile, when I tell him I am going to photograph him or ask his permission he cries, runs away, makes silly faces, ask me when we're done, complains etc. I can get the occasional good one when we're having a family moment/get together and then I force (by threat) or bribe him with something over the top. I even have tried the guilt trip by telling him when he grows up I am going to have lots of pictures of his siblings, and none of him and he tells me he does not care. I tell him Mommy will be sad if she has no pictures of her handsome man on her walls. Somehow if Conner is around he'll let me take pictures of both of them if I tell him "they're for facebook" because you know that makes them "cool" or something. Here is my adorable random photo of Riley:

I wish I could say I had a cute random one of Sweet P that same day but no. Payton is too wild. Simple as that. He is still bribe-able (you like my made up word?) though. He never stops moving, and he'll try and let me but it just isn't possible, maybe it is me. I had some cute ones of him at the lake a few weeks ago and the cute ones with him and Chloe. Here is the best one I got of him at the lake with no face showing. He and Skyler were catching miniature frogs.

Skyler gets SUPER excited when I mention taking her pictures. She loves shopping for new clothes, the "big giant bow" she picks out, the nails that I paint, and props that we bring...she is all about taking pictures. She tells me how she wants to pose and just does it. There is little to no complaining for up to 2 hours.

I didn't feel guilty until I realized that I was taking her 5 year pictures and I hadn't taken Riley's 6 year pictures or Payton's 2 year old pictures this year- Oh, well now that I think of it I *was* on bedrest. Now I am feeling a lot less guilty.

Here is my little Stinker Bell- she is loosing her baby look, but still acts very sweet and innocent. Her actual birthday was April 1st. Sorry for the overload I don't normally post so many but she was so happy this day and had so much fun.

My marriage

2011-05-11T21:40:00.001-04:00

With a title like this I suppose I will get a lot of nosy lurkers...I know I'd jump all over this.

My 9 year wedding anniversary is coming up next Tuesday and I got some sad family news tonight about a relationship falling apart so I've been reflecting on them and my own marriage all day/night.

What is love? It seems so simple to explain but really I don't think it is. I have heard so many marriages falling apart because they're no longer in love. No other reason, just that. Well, were you in love before? How do you fall out of love? Can you fall out of love with your kids? Your mom? How can you fall out of love with your spouse? I think I get it and maybe I do, maybe I just need to get some thoughts out. I am not claiming to know the answers, I just want to verbalize my feelings.

I got married when I was 18 years old- 2 days after my 18th birthday. I met Kevin 6 months before we ran to the alter. We got engaged 2 weeks after meeting. I wanted to get married my whole life to whoever I was with at age 18- I was rebelious and stubborn and I wanted to live life as an adult and couldn't wait to "grow up". Was that love? I wanted love and the fairy tale feeling, I thought I had that with Kevin after all..my "dreams" were coming true. My favorite movie in middle school just may have been the "new" version of Romeo & Juliette with Leo DiCaprio. I loved reading romantic books, listening to love songs, Dawson's Creek was my favorite show. I can honestly say my expectations of my fantasy love were very crazy, hormonal, and fictional. Who knew you had to work at love? Who knew you could be too tired for sex? Who knew you'd start finding things about your Romeo that you absolutely hated? Is that love? Who knew you could/would lose that love feeling? Oh, yea...Special K and I know how that feels- both of us. I thought love was a feeling, I lost the feeling. Maturity has taught me not to always rely solely on my fickle feelings.

First of all when we made our vows we promised to stay married through the usual things like in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, etc, etc but when I was at the alter I was thinking my love can get you through poorness, sickness and my love can concur anything. I personally don't believe in divorce (and really can't stand to "fail" at anything) except under very rare circumstances. I actually took my vows before God seriously, I know crazy, right? Divorce.is.not.an.option.period. Why can't other people take vows this seriously? If I "fall out of love" I'll have to deal with it and figure how to fall back in love. I don't always expect to "feel" in love. I don't expect that out of Special K. I believe love is an action not a feeling. Our feelings follow our actions. Also how we perceive things can be dramatically skewed by our feelings rather than reality. What does it mean when we fall out of love? We may have a nice home, kids, a nice car, job, we can pay our bills...life is picture perfect, the All American Dream but you're not happy and "in love" so you want to separate/breakup/divorce whatever you call it. Really, I believe that 99% of the time- if you were ever in love you can be again AND you really are in love, you just don't know it..and I believe people don't really know what love is. I believe a few things all combined can equate to love (now showing love is different all together read The 5 Languages of Love- 5 star review from me, and 2 thumbs up). You can grow to love someone. You can choose to love someone- isn't that what being a Christian is all about? I can learn to respect someone and choose to love someone after the "feelings" are gone. The feelings come from the choices that we make. According to Jesus Christ himself in Matthew 22:37-40 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Love is a COMMAND. This sounds like a choice to me (if you follow the commandments). The Bible also tells us to love our enemy, do you think this feeling comes naturally or is it a choice? Faith without work is dead, what about love without work? Is it too dead? What if I work on love or to fall back in love and honor my vows? Is it even possible? In life people change, emotions change, circumstances change. Nothing stays the same, so you have to expect this change when going into a marriage right? If you want a long lasting marriage you need to make a commitment to loving even when/if the feelings fade (because you can and will get them back). You need to make sure you have the virtues of love in the Bible in 1 Corinthians "4 Love is patient and kind (a choice). Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude (a choice). It does not demand its own way (see a pattern? A choice). It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged (are you kidding me, another CHOICE?). 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Italicized words are my own emphasis. Love isn't a giddy feeling, butterflies and fireworks. Love isn't fair weather relationships, it is about weathering the storm together no.matter.what.

So, my marriage isn't always picture perfect, romantic nights by the fire, and fantasy feelings...it is real, it is mature, it is until death till we part and it is far better than I could have imagined. I wish more people could and would fight to save the true meaning of love and hope that is one thing I can teach my kids.

Booked up

2011-05-10T22:59:00.001-04:00

I decided to work some and opened myself up to book clients. I have mixed feelings about it, I love creating beautiful images and happy customers but just feel a bit off for working like I am not ready and I want to be selfish and keep my talent to myself and my babies. Kevin and Quinn will be going with me though so I can still exclusively breastfeed her without ever giving bottles and guess I should count my blessings. I am booked, and even overbooked all of May and June. I've been using my broken lens with a huge "A" shaped crack in it and you cannot tell at all (well tell me if you can) I guess I've used that for 2 months or so? That really brought back some of my motivation. Without that lens my motivation to ever work was almost gone. I can't and won't use it on clients though. I sure wish I had $600 laying around to replace it and then working would be so much more fun. I am nervous, excited, and even dreading it a little bit. I used to get this feeling when I first started charging for my services.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T23:41:00.007-04:00

This morning Special K brought me cake pops and Starbucks. It was the perfect way to start an amazing day. We then went to church, I got my friend, Sydney from high school to go with us. I believe this is the first time she's ever been to church with me. Special K and I got our Quinn dedicated, most of our family was there to watch. We dedicated Quinn's life to Jesus Christ, to raise her in church, and we dedicated ourselves to teach her to know God. We then went to one of my favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse with Special K's mom and mine too. We then went to the waterfall nearby our house. I took lots of pictures. When we got home we played outside again and then I took more pictures of Quinn who will be 3 months old next Sunday. I came in and put my lady to bed, Special K put the others to bed and we ate take out from Waffle House and I edited a few from the photos tonight. More to come when I get waterfall photos edited!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Little People Updates!

2011-05-02T17:07:00.001-04:00

Payton has decided to potty train himself. He is 2 years and 9 months. He think there is an actual potty "train" that you get to ride and he's ready to get aboard! Today is day 5 and he never has accidents *knock on wood*. He is going through a very polite phase where he is constantly saying please, thank you, I love you, and giving hugs and kisses. We're enjoying it so much. He still has a lot of innocence left because he is very mischievous but always tells on his self, goes to the same place to "hide" when he's naughty and when we ask him "Payton, what are you hiding behind your back??" he smiles really big, and shows us what he isn't allowed to have. Have I mentioned that I love 2 year olds...they are so stinking cute!

Quinn is sleeping so good at night. She is going 7-8 hour stretches and I am enjoying my (very unexpected) sleep so much! Some days she is wonderful and happy all day and others she's a cranky pants. I think she has a touch of painful reflux- she definitely pukes a lot but I don't think it's bad enough to medicate her. She is getting very smiley and loves interaction with others.

Riley is doing better in school, behavior wise but it is pretty hit or miss. He has mixed emotions about the summer. He gets bored so easily but he is ready to stay up late. He has school pictures the other day and he told him teacher that he would not be getting his made because his mommy was a photographer and would me taking them (YES, glad I can remind him of this). That made a mama proud!

Skyler is still the easiest and most pleasant kid ever to be around. She is not showing the same kind of interest in school as she was so I have changed my mind about doing the year round school for now. I am going to a homeschool show thing where I can look at all the different curriculums and even buy some (even used) when I decide what we want. We're doing a "field trip" this Thursday to go strawberry picking with some other homeschooled kids. She did something really funny this weekend. First of all, we have at least 20 kids in our neighborhood and this might be a conservative estimate. They all have tons of riding toys, we live in a cul-de-sac with a dead end running down hill off of it so the law of gravity makes the toys ALL go down hill. We seriously have like 50 riding toys...it is pretty redneck if you ask me but it isn't where anyone can see them and it isn't in anyones yard and we live in a cul-de-sac anyway. We do have one couple in the neighborhood without kids, and they very obviously don't like us (I am going to add a picture later) their yard is full of signs saying STAY OFF GRASS, BEWARE OF DOG, PRIVATE PROPERTY, etc well, shortly after the signs appeared "someone" called the police about the toys and an old car that was down at the dead end. Everyone except these people are like family so we KNOW who did it. My neighbors and I have been all making an effort to keep the kids off their yard, toys out of their yard etc and the other day the lady was out washing her car and Skyler (who has the most high pitched and innocent "chipmunk" voice) came right up to her and said "My mommy said you were going to call the police on me if I played in your grass. Can I play in this grass" (pointing to the grass that connects our two yards). The lady told her she could play on that grass only. She evidently felt bad, or some kind of strange emotion because she came and called Kevin over to her later and told her she wouldn't call the police. well, duh, you already did.

Our weekend

2011-05-02T09:14:00.005-04:00

We had an awesome weekend at home this weekend. Special K was off work- I think he has worked the last 6 weekends in a row and was off this weekend and is working next weekend. On Friday Grammy, my sister, Janet and her husband Raymond took the kids to see Rio. That was an adorable movie, I give it 5 stars. We all went to the ball park to watch Special K play ball, the kids brought their own bats, and gloves and played too. We made it home about 11 PM and all the kids (we had Conner too) were passed out in the car except Quinn. Conner and Riley had a spend the night party- well they didn't know they were and we were not planning on it but they were asleep and it was late so I made Janet let me keep him as long as we brought him home early. Special K got the kiddos donuts and then we got ready and took Conner back- we played at their house outside until 3:30 or so and drove home- all the kids except Quinn were passed out in the car again (can you see a trend?). We came home and played outside again with our neighbors here.

We went in and gave the little boys a bath. Then it was bedtime. Next morning was time for the little girlies bath and then church- service was amazing and Quinn was good and awake the whole time. She kept smiling at the lady behind me the whole time. We decided to go straight home after so we could get ready for a yard sale. We put all the kids down for "naps" - and I say it like that because we knew that at least 1/2 of them wouldn't sleep at all. I got ready for the yard sale and worked up a great hunger for Mexican. We went to Mexican and home to play outside.

I love boring and uneventful weekends!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-27T12:35:00.004-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-13T22:36:00.006-04:00

Sleepy baby

2011-04-11T23:28:00.002-04:00

Today while we were playing outside I decided to take a few pictures of my sleepy 7 week old.

A little update on her: She is 11 lbs as of a few days ago and getting easier and easier and more predictable. She is sleeping pretty well at night and is happier and happier being awake. I am totally head over heals in love with this pretty lady!

You should probably be potty trained if.....

2011-04-09T16:23:00.004-04:00

you tell your mom you pooped, fetch and pick out your own diaper, climb on your own changing table and your long legs hang off

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Sky

2011-04-01T09:04:00.007-04:00

Dear SkyKate,

Happy birthday to my favorite 5 year old in the world. I love you to the sky. I tell you every day that I named you Sky because I looked at you when you were born and thought 'I love this baby to the Sky'. I have had so much fun being your mom and watching you become a big girl and develop your truly unique personality. I hope that you never outgrow the strong little person that you are today. I love cleaning your room up after you and seeing your "Squishies" lined up, or your mini Beanie Babies in your doll house, or toys hiding under your furniture to keep them away from your brothers. Today you are so in to bugs. I asked you last night which bug was your favorite and if you like "snellies" or lady bugs better and you told me "I love all sweet bugs" and you couldn't choose. The thought of you growing up and not loving bugs this much makes me so sad to think about so I try and cherish every day. I am not only sad on your birthday I am so excited to see who you are going to become and every year I get to spend with you is always a privilege. You're old enough to understand that your birthday is on a "holiday" and you are so excited that you were born on April Fools Day.

I remember April Fools Day 2006 like it was yesterday. I had a cramp in my leg- which isn't normally alarming but it happened March 30th and lasted until the night of March 31st. Grammy was over and Daddy, Grammy, Riley and I went to Johnny's BBQ and afterward Daddy convinced me to at least call my OB and ask. My OB was concerned about a possible blood clot and wanted me to be seen at an ER or Urgent Care. We went by an Urgent Care and thankfully they were locking their doors as I was walking up. So, we had to go to the ER. Grammy stayed home with Riley. On the way Daddy told me he had a funny feeling I wouldn't be going home. The ER didn't want anything to do with someone who was 33 weeks pregnant so they made me to go triage to get checked out and I was all clear for not having a blood clot but having some contractions on the monitor (it was standard they monitored me) and they told Daddy to go around and get the car while they got my discharge papers but the nurse asked if she could check me "real quick before I let you leave" so I obliged, her eyes got huge and I saw panic in her eyes when she gasped and told me I was 6 cm dilated and in labor. She ran out and was back within minutes with about 5 other people, my OB happened to already be at the hospital and they started an IV and medicine to stop labor. We got a steroid shot for your lungs and were waiting on a second that I was due to get 24 hours later but you were impatient and ready to come into this world. I had you the next afternoon. You were born an angel and you still are. You have always been a wonderful baby and so easy, you never went through the terrible 2's, you always ate good, slept good, and have always been the happiest and my most easy child (yes even now you are still the easiest- easier than the oldest, a toddler or a newborn). You are so pleasant to be around and are my little sunshine. You are so smart, loving, trusting, innocent, obedient, happy, caring, thoughtful, compassionate and easy going. Your Daddy and I sometimes let you stay up later than the rest of the kids because you are just so good and quiet and are happy doing anything or nothing at all, you are so easy to love and spoil. You are one amazing little person with a big personality and I love every single thing about you and your glass half full personality, you are so special to me and everyone who meets you falls in love. I am thankful every day that God gave me such a perfect little gift to our family, you add so much spice to our lives and I cannot imagine life without you. I love seeing life through your adorable little eyes and love living life along side of you, my sweet SkyKate. I love you, Sweet Girl more than you will ever know and more than any words I can ever express. I hope your 5th year of life is full of love, kisses, hugs, dirt, bugs, playing outdoors, tiny toys and so much more.

Happy 5 weeks Quinn!

2011-03-22T18:35:00.004-04:00

Miss Quinn,

You are 5 weeks old today and this is the first time I got a picture of you with your eyes wide open.

Comments

2011-03-18T22:21:00.001-04:00

I have had lots of people tell me they can't comment. I tried to fix it...if you see this message please let me know either here as a comment or on Facebook, email or whatever. I really appreciate it. Thanks!

Answered prayers

2011-03-18T21:51:00.003-04:00

1 John 5:14-15 NIV

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

I don't believe this means that God will say yes to whatever I ask and give me whatever I want. It means that I can ask anything of my God and he will listen to me and answer me. The answer might not be what I want or what I am asking but growing up my mom always told us that God answers in 3 ways: 1. Yes 2. No 3. Wait. That is it, pretty simple. I hate hearing people say God didn't answer their prayer, or hear them. If God isn't hearing maybe you were not sincere and maybe he was listening and the answer is "no" or "wait". Sometimes I need to remind myself of this.

Lately I've had a lot of "yes" prayers. Special K was out of work 2 days this week, I've been praying that he'd have time with his family and make up for it on the days he works, this week God's answer was a loud and clear "yes" prayer- Kevin will have a wonderful paycheck and still was able to have plenty of quality family time.

Another prayer answered this week, this is a miracle prayer and unspoken- sorry to be so cryptic but God and I both know what this one was, it was for a very special little person in our lives and God gave another loud and clear "yes" prayer.

I've been waiting to call it but I think it is safe now. Quinn does not have the flu. She was full blown 10000% directly exposed and somehow missed out. I am shocked, amazed and even feel guilty for doubting how powerful my God is. Why did I expect anything less of him? After all this is the God that knows how many hairs are on my head, he is the same God that placed the stars in the sky, and saved my life. He promised me long ago that there was no need to worry because Quinn and I would be okay. Sometimes I like to place God in a little box and when things seem impossible I don't even ask for the impossible. My amazing pastor has really brought to light to me how God is the same always. He was the same at the beginning of time, 2,000 years ago, and today. He is still in the answering prayer business. I have seen some things happen that absolutely shouldn't have happened happen through prayer.

Mark 11:24 NIV
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Sometimes Special K wants to know why his prayers aren't answered...I have to remind him that they may be answered as a "no" or I sometimes wonder if he has audacious faith? Or even faith of a mustard seed? Perhaps this is why people never experience "yes" prayers?

Matthew 17:20 NIV
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

I wish everyone could experience the level of faith I have. It is amazing, I hope by sharing it inspires someone to dig deeper and find that kind of faith.

Happy 1 month!

2011-03-17T13:03:00.004-04:00

Better late than never...She was 1 month on March 15th.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-16T13:47:00.003-04:00

Well we survived last night

2011-03-11T16:14:00.002-05:00

We took the baby in because she didn't eat for nearly 12 hours. I wanted to at least make sure she didn't have the flu, ear infection, throat infection etc.

Well, you'd think that since she is our 4th child we would be used to weird things happening and more in tune with our baby but all Miss Quinn had wrong with her was a very stuffy nose (which she had no grunting, buggers, runny nose etc) and a red throat. So she is refusing to eat because she has a cold or something. Better to over-react than have something bad happen to her. Miss Cranky Pants decided to nurse before we left- they wouldn't let us leave without 1 good nursing.

Nursed her at midnight, 4AM, 6AM, 7AM, 8:30AM, 11AM, 1-2PM (very short/fussy nursings though except the 1-2 nursing)...and now it is 4:20PM and I'm about to go wake her up. She has still not wanted to nurse and done the weird latch, scream, root, scream thing...but we've given her saline nose spray to clear her nose and I'm trying to hold her upright to nurse. She is having minimal pee/poop diapers but the (sweet) doc told us that usually when their nose is plugged they nurse enough to keep hydrated and not much else.

I'm taking it really slow with her and nursing her skin to skin and giving myself an hour to do it (unless she gets really frustrated). So far I think she is getting more today because she is less fussy than yesterday, really not fussy at all as long as I hold her.

For now I am content with these answers but if Monday rolls around and she is still acting like this I am going to get worried all over again.