New Mom Haircut

Something had to give here - about 7" of hair! I thought I might start crying at the hairdresser but actually it felt great! I literally had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders as those extra inches were starting to feel more like postpartum dreadlocks.

I just hope I don't cry the first time I try to style it myself, or lets just hope I have time to style it. Just in case - the hairdresser made sure to keep it long enough to pull back in a pony tail. Now all I need is a little beauty rest.

I think Henry is still getting use to it becuase he keeps staring at me.

A Birthday Party for Mom

My mom's birthday is this week and I'm a bit stuck as to what I can do for her or what I could give her.

This picture is from her birthday party last year. Originally us girls thought to take her to lunch but she said "No way! What a waste of time, money and calories....do you know for the cost of lunch we could purchase a whole case of food". She proceeded to plan and organize her own party and scheduled appointments for us to go work at the welfare square cannery.

We had so much fun dry packing potato flakes and dried apples. I can't remember how many cases we filled but my mom purchased one for each of us and offered it as our party favor. I was especially impressed and inspired by the organization and efficiency of the whole facility and kept wishing I had visited there before we remodeled our kitchen.

So what do you do for someone so selfless and practical? She already has everything she needs (if not mutiples as she is still the habit of buying in bulk). Any ideas?

"If wasn't laughing I'd be crying"

This is Clara’s “after” picture from an episode that almost tipped me over the edge. She is wearing a Carter’s fleece zip up that our family sometimes calls a Teletubbie suit. This particular Teletubbie suit has been altered and I have now re-named it the “safe sleeper”. It was actually Paul’s mom who came up with the idea when I was dealing with all Maryanna’s taking off her dirty diapers in the crib issues. She suggested cutting off the footies, trimming the neck ribbing and zipping up the back as a solution. Clara is now the one who needs this bedtime/naptime uniform.

It would not have been so bad except I’m feeling a bit frazzled. Paul has been off on an adventure with the two older boys which means I’ve been on my own with the 4 younger ones, or in other words, the 4, 4 and under.

The challenge of this situation didn’t hit me until after I dropped them off at the airport and decided to go straight to the grocery store. So after a 10-minute car seat unbuckle and unload we were off on our own adventure. Little Henry (just barely 2 weeks old) was for the most part quiet in his car seat carrier - if only it didn’t take up so much of the basket space. Clara rode high – half standing in the child’s seat and constantly trying to climb out or bite through the food items just piled up around her – plastic wrappers, peels, and all. Maryanna enjoyed the freedom of not having to ride in the cart and especially loved swinging like a monkey from the handle. Peter was good in staying by my side but whinnying and crying the whole time about being thirsty and having to go to the bathroom. The poor little guy got knocked over 3 times by my cart as it was piled so high with groceries and babies that I could not see him over the top. It took a trip down the bulk food aisle to get us through this grueling errand. Even I was in need of a good treat and soon had a half eaten bag of “energy packed” trail mix spilling all over the inside of my purse.

So I decided maybe it was not a good idea to take this little band of babies out on my own. We celebrated the next day at home and called it “pajama day” because even mommy was still in her Jammies at 6 pm.

Clara’s participation in “pajama day” celebration ended earlier as she found a way to take it all off (including her dirty diaper) during her naptime. I had quite a mess to clean up and it would not have been so bad had I not done a similar clean up just the day before. Also the laundry was really starting to pile up! But I was able to chuckle a bit as I clipped her nails in order to clean up the finest details.

If only it didn’t happened again tonight! After a long night of interrupted sleep, a tiring day of bouncing a colicky baby, 2 other kids that refused to nap, another one who peed on the couch, and a very messy dinner I needed a break (and a shower)! So I settled the older 3 in bed 30 minutes early and began comfortably nursing the baby in quiet of my bed. Peter then steps in my room and casually states “do you know Clara has pooh in her hands and she is rubbing it on her arms, blankie, and crib”. This is the point where tears started welling up in my eyes. I thought to call Paul and just vent! But he was having too much fun and I didn’t want to make him feel guilty. I called my mom and just begged her, “honestly how did you do it? How did you not go totally insane”! She started chuckling and then gave me some practical advice such as “you need some rest” and “it may be time to potty train Clara”. I kept pursuing until she said, “if I didn’t laugh I would have cried”.

So after a good laugh with my mom on the phone I felt much better. I felt good enough to fold two loads of laundry in the bathroom while I watched Clara in the tub and was glad to have shared this little moment with both her and my mom.

Laughing is definately a great coping tool as it is impossible for us moms to anticipate what challenges will greet us in caring for our sweet children. That is half the fun and adventure. These challenges definately help us build our character and stamina as I suppose it will be needed as they all grow into teenagers.

What a great joy it is to have children....just when we think things are falling apart a smile, a hug, and laugh reminds of us of our greatest blessings and what really is most important.

Garage Sale Report

Tis' the season to dig through people's junk. That is exactly what my Mom and I did for a few hours this morning. We started out in the Avenues, which was fun because that is where she grew up, and then made our way down through Sugar House and across to Country Club.

Here's what I was looking for:
-Ride on toy for Clara
-Bundt cake pan
-Cake stand
-ice cream maker
-Good books
-Size 8-10 church pants
-Dresser for the girls' room
-Vintage fabric

Here's what I found:
-My Little Ponies $.25
-Beanie Babies $.50
-Popper toy $1.00
-Vintage glass juicer $1.00
-Ride on toy car for Clara $6.00 (this was my favorite purchase of the morning)
-Size 3 April Cornell dress $10.00 (more than I typically spend but its in excellent condition and will be so cute for fall)

I also got a call from Becca around 8:45 am - not pictured are the size small fuzzi bunz that she found for me at a yard sale in Highland - $2 each. It is great to be connected to the sister's garage sale network!

Kids at Play

Each enjoying their Saturday morning surprises.

Baby Burritos

The past couple of nights our little Henry has been busting out of his burrito. I'm really in need of some rest so I'm hoping these new aden and anais swaddling blankets do the trick tonight. I picked them up along with a few other essentials at our local lactation station and like them because they are soft, lightweight, and large enough for swaddling big babies.
All of my babies except one loved being swaddled and there is certainly no guessing which one refused to be contained even at such an early age. So here's hoping for a good night's (or at least 3 hour) sleep.

Tagged

I was tagged by Carly and since I don't have much to blog about today this should be fun. Just wish I could find a fun photo to attatch

3 Joys:

-Sitting on the couch (been doing that a lot lately now that I'm nursing) and watching and listening to the kids play. It cracks me up and is especially funny when they don't realize I'm watching.

-Starting, working on and finishing any creative project

-A clean house as this only enhances my other 2 joys

3 Fears:

-Swimming in the ocean at night (might be because my older brothers exposed me to JAWS I at a very young age)

-Rattle snakes (there have been several spotted way too close to our home)

-Getting another rash or having to be hospitalized for any reason other than having a baby

3 Goals:

-Get back into phase III clothes (currently still in phase I which means the same clothes I wore 5 months pregnant)

-Clean out all the weeds and start a garden before Summer hits

-Build and succesfully operate a solar oven (Just for some good homeschool fun with the boys)

3 Current Obessions/Collections:

-Japanese sewing books

-Garage Sales

-Pressure cooking (well I've been thinking about it a lot and looking out for good recipes)

3 Random Surprising Facts about me:

-I use to really enjoy correspondence with pen pals. When I was 12 I had pen pals from Nebraska and L.A., during the Gulf War I wrote letters of support to random soliders, and in high school I had two pen pals from Japan (they always sent me the coolest stickers!) and one pen pal from Lithuania. I always wished I could meet Rita from Lithuania as we became quite close over a span of 6 years. We then lost touch during college as we were both moving about quite a bit.

-When in China I ate fish eyeballs, cow lung, cow intestines, chicken feet, and duck head. I was quite adventurous and it was a way to show polietness and gratitude towards those offered such treats. I'm just glad I was not offered snake's blood, dog, cat, rat, or grubs as those were also local favorites.

-Paul and I went to school with each other since 1st grade and one year for Valentines' he gave me back the little looney tunes' Roadrunner card I gave him in 1st grade. The letters were crooked and backwards but said "To: Paul From: Alison". Also in our 3rd grade class we were asked to draw a picture of each fellow student on their birthday with an included messagee of why we thought they were special. Paul and I both saved our birthday books from that year and each have the pictures we drew of each other so long ago.

I tag my sisters even though I pretty much could fill out this tag for most of you - I just want to see if you can surprise me and whether you actually make it through to the end of my posts.