Today is going to be WONDERFUL! My mom and brother arrived here over the weekend and I get to keep them until Saturday! A full week! My brother is someone I rarely get to see, so this is a very big deal. Most times when Mom and I visit, it's only for a few days, and it's always hectic. This time I get to keep her for a week so we don't have to rush our visit. It's wonderful....
Except...
For the germs!!!
Damn it! Of course with a family this size and with so many kids traipsing in and out of the house like restless vagabonds, germs are inevitable. My brother isn`t taking it so well, he`s sore and miserable and I`m worried that it may be making him feel like he wishes he wouldn`t have come. I hope that`s not the case, but it`s hard to tell. I just hope that everyone starts to feel better in time to enjoy this gorgeous weather before Saturday comes to take my family away again.
On the brighter side, my Mom`s birthday is TODAY!!! Today is going to be wonderful! Daylon is busy in the kitchen making her pancakes. The sun is super warm and the air conditioning is at full tilt. Woo Hoo! Love this weather! We have a lovely little gift or two, a cake to make, and kick ass dinner to prepare for. I hope she has a blast today. I hope, I hope I hope...now to find those ever elusive decorations and try to get her to leave the house for a few while I set up her birthday extravaganza!!!!
Happy Birthday Mom!!!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Moving Right Along
Slowly I am noticing changes all around me. My apple tree in the back yard is cautiously sprouting fresh vibrant green little leaves. Children are loud and energetic in anticipation of the summer that is surely approaching. The days are longer and it's more and more difficult to convince the children that it's bedtime even when the sun is still happily lighting the sky.
My youngest is sitting up on her own, now has a sippy cup and is making terrible messes with her baby cookies. They grow so fast. I am trying to live in her moments as much as I can. While she is my sixth baby, I find that I am able to appreciate my time with her so much more than I remember doing with all of my others. This could be for a number of reasons; I am older now and realize that these moments simply don't last nearly long enough, I am nursing for the very first time and there is such a sense of accomplishment in that and I attribute that to her, she is my last, my very last baby. Once she has passed infancy I won't get to experience this again. That is a extremely sobering fact for me.
I have to now create a new stage of my life. One where I am home with my children even when maternity leave is over. For months I have been working towards opening a small bakery/coffee shop in the small town I live in. In this small town there is ZERO space for commercial growth. My only hope was to take over a grocery store that was considering closure. I have been squirreling away my money, testing recipes, making plans and getting my hopes up. Yesterday, the owner called and said that he had been approved for a loan he has been trying to get and is going to keep the store open.
~Damn~
My youngest is sitting up on her own, now has a sippy cup and is making terrible messes with her baby cookies. They grow so fast. I am trying to live in her moments as much as I can. While she is my sixth baby, I find that I am able to appreciate my time with her so much more than I remember doing with all of my others. This could be for a number of reasons; I am older now and realize that these moments simply don't last nearly long enough, I am nursing for the very first time and there is such a sense of accomplishment in that and I attribute that to her, she is my last, my very last baby. Once she has passed infancy I won't get to experience this again. That is a extremely sobering fact for me.
I have to now create a new stage of my life. One where I am home with my children even when maternity leave is over. For months I have been working towards opening a small bakery/coffee shop in the small town I live in. In this small town there is ZERO space for commercial growth. My only hope was to take over a grocery store that was considering closure. I have been squirreling away my money, testing recipes, making plans and getting my hopes up. Yesterday, the owner called and said that he had been approved for a loan he has been trying to get and is going to keep the store open.
~Damn~
While this is wonderful news for him and for the community should he succeed, I am feeling very let down. I am trying my best to move past it without dwelling on what could have been, but it's difficult. So for now I'll put my focus back into my home and my routine (or lack of) with my family. I am re-energized and ready to take on the budget, the menu, the discord between me and my oldest girl, and every item still requiring my attention. It's gonna be alot, but it should keep me busy until I come up with my next big grand scheme.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Freeze Frame!
Many of my days pass in a hectic blur of breakfast, laundry, spitty babies, lunch, diapers, dinner, dishes and bills. So much so that I rarely sit back and just appreciate how super cute my kids are. It's difficult to admire them while they shove old tooth brushes down the the drain and smack each other with barbies and empty wrapping paper tubes. But I digress.
Our family portraits arrived last night and can't stop looking at them!
Ooh I just wanna squish 'em! So cute, quiet and sitting still!!! I'm still amazed that it went so well.
Our family portraits arrived last night and can't stop looking at them!
Ooh I just wanna squish 'em! So cute, quiet and sitting still!!! I'm still amazed that it went so well.
They look so grown up...with the exception of the baby of course.
The oldest and my one and only boy!
My oldest girl.
My next oldest girl...
My third youngest girl...
My second youngest girl...
My last and teeny tiniest.
What a lucky mom! Such fantastic kids, and uber gorgeous. Can you tell my kids still aren't home? So easy to love 'em when they're gone!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Eye of the Storm
So if you are a mom you can relate. The eye of the storm is the proverbial bubble you retreat to when the chaos of family and home surround you. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a bubble, and not every bubble is the same.
If you are a new mom, and have one or two children your bubble may be less dense than a mother of say five or six, or even ten. I myself have six children, so my bubble is as dense as fruit cake. I am fortunate enough to be able to sit at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a mask of serenity plastered on my face while my children bicker, fight, yell, cry, beg, plead, bang, break, crash, mope, tattle and generally live their exciting little lives around me.
My mother isn't quite as lucky. You see over time the bubble weakens and dissipates. Like Nanny McPhee it is only there while you need it, and leaves when you don't. Poor mom! She's coming to visit us for May long weekend and all I can do is hope her bubble replenishes itself prior to the children getting over the initial good behavior that occurs when Gramma first gets here. If things go well, and timing cooperates, the bubble will be back in full force in time for dinner. Fingers crossed!
As lucky as I am to have my bubble, I am equally lucky to have a friend who also has six children and an impenetrable bubble. I can't imagine what it must look like to an outsider. When our families get together there are twelve little people of all ages creating all sorts of mischief, and my girlfriend and I sit quietly chatting and sipping our green tea lemonade in the midst of it all. We don't respond to every cry and argument, rather we sit and ignore most of the madness until we hear that one cry that is different from all the rest. Not the hungry cry, or the angry cry, or the jealous cry. No. The hurt cry. The one that permeates the bubble and lets mom know there's probably blood drawn or bone broken. That's when you'll meet "WONDERMOM".
Average coffee sipping mom by day, and WONDERMOM when danger calls. Wondermom is faster than a speeding bullet, and can MacGyver a bandage out of nearly anything on hand. Unwavering, unthinking and as close to calm as can be managed, Wondermom can stop the screaming and crying as she pulls her hurting child into her bubble and makes everything better. My mom can still do that for me, even a province away. Maybe the bubble doesn't weaken, or dissipate. Maybe, just maybe it stays with you and simply alters and reacts as it's needed. Oh boy I hope so.
If you are a new mom, and have one or two children your bubble may be less dense than a mother of say five or six, or even ten. I myself have six children, so my bubble is as dense as fruit cake. I am fortunate enough to be able to sit at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a mask of serenity plastered on my face while my children bicker, fight, yell, cry, beg, plead, bang, break, crash, mope, tattle and generally live their exciting little lives around me.
My mother isn't quite as lucky. You see over time the bubble weakens and dissipates. Like Nanny McPhee it is only there while you need it, and leaves when you don't. Poor mom! She's coming to visit us for May long weekend and all I can do is hope her bubble replenishes itself prior to the children getting over the initial good behavior that occurs when Gramma first gets here. If things go well, and timing cooperates, the bubble will be back in full force in time for dinner. Fingers crossed!
As lucky as I am to have my bubble, I am equally lucky to have a friend who also has six children and an impenetrable bubble. I can't imagine what it must look like to an outsider. When our families get together there are twelve little people of all ages creating all sorts of mischief, and my girlfriend and I sit quietly chatting and sipping our green tea lemonade in the midst of it all. We don't respond to every cry and argument, rather we sit and ignore most of the madness until we hear that one cry that is different from all the rest. Not the hungry cry, or the angry cry, or the jealous cry. No. The hurt cry. The one that permeates the bubble and lets mom know there's probably blood drawn or bone broken. That's when you'll meet "WONDERMOM".
Average coffee sipping mom by day, and WONDERMOM when danger calls. Wondermom is faster than a speeding bullet, and can MacGyver a bandage out of nearly anything on hand. Unwavering, unthinking and as close to calm as can be managed, Wondermom can stop the screaming and crying as she pulls her hurting child into her bubble and makes everything better. My mom can still do that for me, even a province away. Maybe the bubble doesn't weaken, or dissipate. Maybe, just maybe it stays with you and simply alters and reacts as it's needed. Oh boy I hope so.
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