Ask and you shall receive...

on the way to work today I realized I was going to buy a milk crate to put my stuff in for the day to transport it to where I needed to be for the day. I had an oh crap moment before I got there and yet again forgot to bring one. I walked into the office and there was one on the table with a note that said,"Susan all the staff got one of these as a gift, I didn't think you got one yet." Thanks for throwing me the bone God!

Words of Julia

So I got a call from the school system wondering if I would be interested in working about 10 hours per week next fall in the same school I was in last fall. Well the country roads are icky in the winter and the speed limit is tough and scored me two speeding tickets in three months but, all and all still a great opportunity so I said I would consider it. Well my future boss told me that the information she gave me could change once she talked to the other OT's. I prayed about it and asked Julia what she thought of it and she said "only if it is in my school mom" I told her it wouldn't be and she said, "then no you can't." Ten minutes later my boss calls yep it is at Julia's school across the street from our house, YAHOO! It is meant to be. Steven is confident he can rearrange his work schedule to be at home with the kids and me I get to be with some adults. I will be working with kindergarten and first grade, my favorite, you are still cool at that age. Plus they are paying me very generously!

now onto kids:
Julia: thinks she is a princess and everything she touches is hers. Lois got a new toothbrush and Julia threw hers away thinking it was ment for her.

Jacob: is eighter really naughty or really good, lying is starting to become an art with him.

Lois: Turned three today and is going on a date with Steven and I to celebrate.

Simon: learning to dance, tries to run away when we are outside, UGH!

Emma: is the boss of the house telling people to "TOP" stop what they are doing because she thinks she is in charge and pushes Simon around.

Andrew: Growing like a weed he started cooing today for Jacob and I

Pictures are here

Drugged

Of course everyone knows that drugs will make you do things you normally wouldn't do well here is some more evidence. Our sweet little Emma is still not walking however scales many things that aren't meant to be climbed. Tonight she was given cough syrup with codeine because of a bad cough and while under the influence she walked all around the living room like second nature. This is the second time this has happened and probably like before she will forget the progress she made in the morning. Her not walking is proven to be an anxiety issue so maybe I should get her some anti-anxiety medication. Well she will just need to stay away from all substances later on in life because of her hang loose tendencies while under the influence.

He is here

I slept restless last night and woke up with contractions every 3-5 min apart at 6:00 a.m. now keep in mind I have been having daily contractions since the beginning of March so I was waiting for them to tapper off. I gave the kids breakfast, fixed there hair and folded some laundry. During that time I did call labor and deliver and told them I may be coming in, called my mom who was planning on coming in around 9:00 and asked her to come an hour earlier just because I may not make it that long. I was not convinced I was having a baby until they put the name band on me. It was 3 hours of very intense contractions then at 1:42 Andrew Michael came to this world weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz and measuring 20.75 inches. Everything went well. No c-section and a very healthy boy who lets you know when he is hungry and already likes to snuggle. No joke I have tried to lay him down a few times and he cries instantly. Well kids more over because there is a baby on the block who loves his mama.

Hanging in there

Well I am still pregnant but have support all around. Daily I have contractions that are at times intense then tapper off after a couple of hours. The support I get is humorous, Julia telling me, "go in mom" like if I go to the hospital they will not let me leave until I have a baby and Jacob and Julia both telling me to walk around to "get into labor." Once I told Julia I didn't have the energy to walk around so she took it upon herself to bolt laps around the house and came back and asked me if I was in labor.

Stay tuned I will hatch sooner or later.

Still Pregnant

Yes, I am still pregnant at 37 weeks today I am frustrated that they stopped labor twice now this baby won't come out. Just a lot of contractions that pick up to be as close as 5 min apart and then tapper off. UGH! These contractions have been going on for 3 weeks now. Oh well just another reminder I am not in control and in all reality I really would rather be pregnant and uncomfortable than have a baby in the NICU.

So on a lighter side last night after I was asleep I am awakened by Lois who is naked and wants help getting jammies back on, this is good she has stripped before and not asked for help and wet the bed, now I ask her were her diaper is and she said, "it hurting my butt" so I get a new one on and get her jammies back on and send her on her way. This morning twice she complained about her butt hurting and I take her to the bathroom to see if she poops. No poop. Then she asks for some butt cream and I think oh she is sore. I pull her pants down to find two small specks of blue toothpaste on her butt. No wonder why she was complaining. Then I say Lois did you put toothpaste on your butt? "yeah last night" mystery pain solved. Poor girl but she will never do that again.

Ready or Not

Well earlier than I anticipated we may have a baby. For the second time yesterday I went in to have contractions stopped. After tomorrow they will just let me go. The downside or is it an upside since I was in the hospital last night by the time I was discharged interstate was closed we tried taking the back roads but quickly realized that was not wise. Luckily my husband scored us a healthy discount at a local hotel who is one of his customers. So now we are both hanging out stranded again for another night. Interestingly enough a few items that I wished I had right now I thought about packing but said, "nah I won't need them" should have taken that gut feeling a little more seriously. However I did wish to spend more time with him and I guess we should be careful what we wish for. So currently we both have laptops and watching TV as I am continuing to have contractions however I am taking it easy until tomorrow then it is free game at the early age of 36 weeks gestation. I will keep you posted as things develop but keep in mind I will be a busy mother of SIX!

Maintance Mode

Knock on wood we are still healthy, we have stopped sanitizing the pews at church now that we think we are safe. I just wonder if our immune systems were just bogged down they could never fully recover. Well just in time because it is about a month away until we bring home baby. So the count down begins with an endless amount of time spent in the basement locating clothes and organizing the existing clothes we are on our way of being ready. As some of you know Catholics pray to saints for a little extra help in what area of speciality that saint is know for. Well St. Anthony is know for finding missing things and we gave him a workout. There were a half a dozen things I was looking for and I found them all in a half hour. Things like a car seat cover and Julia just walked up to me and handed it to me. Needless to say I was amazed. In a couple more weeks I will have another ultrasound to see the size of this baby and to see the density of my c-section scar then we will know more about when this bun will be done.

This last week Simon started walking, finally! Now Emma is getting more brave and struggles with he bro stealing the show. Peer pressure can be a good thing.

Right now my mom has Julia and Steven has Lois and Jacob "going for a drive" to scope out a new town they may be hooking up with Internet access. I am besides myself as to what to do. Simon and Emma are definitely enjoying the quiet time they are playing with vigor and alone.

Wahoo!

We have had many wahoos! in our life recently. Steven has recovered very well from surgery. We are ALL healthy. First time since September, I am not kidding. Plus I am growing a very healthy baby boy. At 30 weeks I was measuring 35 weeks. I was freaking out, I did have one ultrasound and it showed only one baby right? Well the Dr. thought he was reassuring me and said it may be how you are carrying or it could be extra fluid. So history told me to go with the less desirable option because he down played the possibility of me having twins. I got home and googled excessive amniotic fluid. Best case scenario was me being diabetic well that was quickly out of the running the next was cleft palate, nerotubal defects (family history there), hydrocepaly and downs syndrome. All right enough said as an OT I was doomed and gloomed. I felt like I had been dodging a bullet thus far with all 5 kids being healthy at birth that I was finally in for it. So I prayed and lost sleep as any neurotic pregnant women would. Last week I had an UT showing one huge baby. Almost 5 pounds at 32 weeks. Well that scored me an induction when that time comes. That time will be sometime after St. Patrick's day so now it is just count down. WAHOO! Our lives are great.

another bump in road

Well we are all healthy still, wahoo however Steven is having hernia surgery today which translates into no lifting over 10 pounds for at least 3 weeks. While it is no fun to watch someone you love in pain. I am going to have to step it up even more. I have some troops coming in for back up for bedtime routine and occasional baths. Hopefully things go smoothly and he can take care of himself.

Ahhh!

Do I dare say we are healthy, the babies are teething so they have some runny noses but all is fairly well. Just in time for Steven to have hernia repair sugery next week. Tomarrow is my last day as on OT in the school system, well for now. It would be really nice to have a position in the school system. God will decide if that is in His plan not mine. So now it is back to diapers and refereeing. I do miss being at home but getting out is nice too. I have been blessed with a wonderful nanny that made this all possible.

Now on to the next adventure, baby number 6. I have been putting the thought off but due at the beginning of April and an ever growing tummy it is hard to ignore. So in my "spare" time I will prepare the house and myself. It just means with baby number 6 I become even more helpless and further away from independence. I will need to rely on those around me more. I am very apprehensive of who will watch the ruggers as I deliver this child however my sister said, "remember if you have a planned c-section I am coming up there" well I didn't want to hold her to her comment but, I guess I have more options than my neurotic mind allows me to view.

Well all 5 kids have been tucked in and asleep for over an hour. Wahoo now if only I could bend over and clean up all those toys. I surrender, bed it is.

Thank you!

I am feeling better, I just had a shower without coughing up half a lung. I am just fatiuged and need to rest after doing anything. I do mean anything. Put clothes on two kids requires laying down. So that will take some time my body has been through the wringer. So thank you for your prayers. I keep counting my blessings because it could have been worse, I could have not had my nanny scheduled and had to scrambled to find help and that would have been Steven and my mom.

By the way my nanny hasn't hit the blog yet, wow she is a gift from God she is wonderful. Handles things so well takes the kids on outings to Chuck E Cheese and Dino land. Plus is great at discipline. Few times I have seen her frazzled and that took Simon smearing poop all over the bathroom, the kids dumping my purse, and to top it off... dumping a five pound bag of flour all over the living room and playing in it. A fine dust wall to wall. On a couple dozen toys and three very naughty children. She is wonderful and has taken care of me and my kids very well. As I was sick she without asking or being asked brought me food and water in bed and every time I came downstairs she would ask what I was doing and how come I wasn't in bed. The antibiotics and her are the main reason why I recovered so quickly. Oh I know the prayers were a factor too.

Ment to be?

Well last week out of stupidity I canceled my OB apt or was it. Tonight I saw my regular doctor (for an OB apt.) and since I have been feeling worse only with less of a fever, only around 100. it was a blessing because I found out I have pneumonia. Please pray that I get better quickly if not I will be in the hospital Friday. Thanks!

Paging Dr. House

I know my last post has only had to do with being sick well lets just keep up that theme. We have continued to be sick. Julia with round 5 of pink eye prompted a visit to the opthamologist resulting in knowledge of an infection in the eye lid, no more pink eye but eye hygiene for 4-6 weeks twice a day, UGH!

As for me had a fever starting Saturday night and peeked yesterday at 104.2, I called the hospital and had them page the on call doctor who happened to be my doctor, he said it was strange because I had no other real symptoms and reassured me I was not cooking a baby. With the weather being so crappy I couldn't get in until this afternoon today. After an almost 3 hour visit I left with an antibiotic. On the way into the clinic I prayed that I would be served with a competent gal. The only appointment available in the whole system was a PA who did occupational health, I figured it was better than the walk-in. It was when I got there I felt like a patient of Dr. House off the show House. A half hour of questions, what I thought were unrelated. Sleep, appetite, fluid intake. Well crap, crap and crap. After her bringing in a colleague and running many tests and being prodded in every (almost every) orifice they came to the conclusion that it was a sinus infection and bladder infection. In pregnancy UTI's don't always show symptoms. Since it was causing such a high fever I am glad I can't feel it, ouch! Well this may be an answer to prayers because all last week I was having lots of abdominal cramping and pain. I was thinking bed rest time this baby is working its way out, maybe not it was probably the bladder infection. Thanks God I will take that over bed rest. So extra prayers would be nice to ensure I won't have to do bed rest and everything will be fine. Oh the moral of the story is last Wednesday I had an appointment, OB, they always take urine, I canceled it because Steven had plans of finishing a shelf in the basement with a friend, an opportunity then it turned out he couldn't then he was going to clean for me, well not so much either. Stupid move on my part it could have prevented all this. My Nanny Amanda was very frustrated for my stupidity.

Well when it isn't so late I will post more on the kids here is a quick update:
Julia: little helper stepping up to challenges
Jake: Very helpful or very naughty can charm his mommy
Lois: Potty trained when she wants to, she is either screaming or gleaming
Simon: Climbing on everything, can push chairs to reach the sink, silverware drawer and food but, not walking.
Emma: becoming Lois' buddy, not walking, very sweet and rolls with the chaos of the house.

Well we all continue to be sick with colds, pink eye and Simon now has chicken pox. Simon has about 50 pox on his face, including eye lids, nostrils, ears and more. Poor guy. Thank goodness for Benadryl and Tylenol.

This past week I trained with an OT in the school system, I will be covering her maternity leave when she has her twin boys. I actually remembered stuff from school and excited to be doing it. It is a whole new area I have no experience in but, feel comfortable with it. Plus there is an OT at the school across the street from me who has been an OT for longer than I have been alive. She would be retiring this year however she has a lot of her retirement in the stock market. We all know where that went, down the tubes. So she is going to wait at least another year. Fine by me in another year I will have two kids in school and one in preschool. The coordinator of the services said to me, "I hope you keep us in mind when that position opens up." Heck yeah! What a sweet gig, nice hours, nice pay and no driving. I can hear the school bell from my house. Oh do I need to mention summers off and holiday vacation.

Ta ta for now!

Afraid to Wake up

Well I am afraid to wake up tomarrow and see what is in store. Monday Julia went to the doctor with pink eye. Tuesday Emma was vommiting with high fever. Today Emma has Chicken Pox. UGH!

Just when I thought life is more managable and I am less pukey.

I did it!

I don't know if I was brave or stupid but last Friday I took all the kids shopping by myself to Sam's and Wal-Mart. I didn't beat the kids they were all good. I would have beat the next person that had a comment, "do you run a daycare?" or "You have your hands full" The check out lady at Sam's asked me if I needed help going to my car, twice! I finally said, "I do amazing things everyday that people don't think I can." SO in other words Buzz off thanks for being helpful but, I can do it myself.

I pretty much have Lois potty trained. There was only a few accidents and she was grossed out by the pee on the floor and that was the last of it. Now she fights wearing a pull up to bed she said they are icky.

Simon has learned how to crawl up stairs and has done it when nobody was looking. Thanks Guardian Angel for that one.

That's all for now, I am going to put ruggers to bed. As I hear Polly Pockets being dumped out, nice.

Wage of Staying at Home

It is well known that being a stay at home mom does not have a good salary but the benefits rock. Well yesterday Julia walked towards me gleaming and handed me some change and said, "Mom since you don't work here is some of your own money to buy something of your own and not for all of us kids." I reassured her that Steven shared his earnings very well however she insisted so all day I carried around the change.

A Lot New?

Well since it has been almost two months, I figured I should update everyone.

Simon is just about crawling he has made it a few inches on all fours today and Emma will be a few weeks behind him.

Jacob is growing out of his naughty behavior, well I am seeing more angelic little boy. Although he did spit at Julia tonight.

Julia will be going to pre-school and holy cow can she dish out some sas. Some of the lines echo of me though, so we both need to work on that.

Lois is hanging out in the middle becoming more obsessed with princesses and dresses. Oh bother I was hoping for a tom boy.

Steven is working even more, he keeps upping the ante. Hey you thought I worked too much before watch this... Just kidding it bothers him as much as it does.

And for me I am accepting that God just does not want me to work, I was considering working and boom I am pregnant. Yep number six is on the way. Overnight I went from clicking along in my routine to puking feeling tired and questioning how much TV is OK for the kids to watch.

Well that is all for now. I guess I am going to have to update 5 ruggers to 6 is enough or maybe just 6 ruggers.