the sacrifices of motherhood

today is the opening of new moon. not only that, but our local theater is playing twilight at 10pm and new moon at midnight. will i be there? me? one of the biggest twilight fans in my area code? (self-appointed, of course) no. i will not. because there is no one in their right mind who wants to babysit five kids in the middle of the night. even though they're sleeping. i have to sacrifice seeing my favorite movies on the big screen together to be home with my sleeping children. i know, you are all feeling so sorry for me right now.

out of the mouths of babes!

i just have to share a few stories from the weekend. my kids never cease to crack me up! we had a conference this weekend at our church with a guest minister. on friday, i took the kids and went while theMr was working. we were sitting in the second row. after the sermon, the guest minister sat in front of us. my oldest son, who's seven, leans forward, taps him on the shoulder and says "you did a good job!". the minister smiled, thanked him and shook his hand. we both had a hard time keeping a straight face, he was so serious! then on sunday, i took the kids to regular church by myself since theMr wasn't feeling well. as you can imagine, getting everyone ready and there on time was a little hectic. as we sat down in our seats, i looked over to see that the princess not only had two different shoes on but they were both right shoes! I asked her why and she said she enjoys mixing and matching. fabulous...
and finally, the little guy. we've been potty training him for some time now. he is truly the most stubborn two year old you have ever met. seriously. so tonight, while i'm feeding the baby, i see him taking his underwear off. i tell him not to, which he ignores as he sees i'm nursing the baby, therefore not able to stop him. he then goes to where we keep diapers, gets one out, and holds it over himself in an attempt to pee in it. i yelled for him to stop and he did. he went to his potty chair and went there. if you are able to remove your clothes, go get yourself a diaper and pee in it, you are fully capable of not wearing diapers anymore.

so very tired...

we have my nephew over night. were heading off to an event at church tonight and they both wanted to wear hats :)



sleepy baby


her first "punkin"


who wouldn't love those cheeks?

too tired to write a coherent post but had to share a few pics.. such a sweet baby :) of course the quality isn't so good as these are all from my cell phone. who has time to find the camera? we're just trying to get through the day!

Indian summer...

it's not often we get a 70 degree weather day in november in the midwest! we took full advantage!

top ten things you forget each time you have a baby

oh ladies.... theMr sent me an email today telling me i'm slacking on my blog. so very sorry. this is the man that has to send me an email cause we don't have time to have a conversation! i'm too tired for a detailed post. it's been awhile since we've had a top ten though! without further ado...

top ten things you forget each time you have a baby!

10. your belly is still really big and nothing fits. not your old clothes and not your maternity clothes. sadly, after baby #4 i threw away all my "transition" clothes after i lost the weight, cause you know, i wasn't having anymore kids.

9. babies eat alot. and frequently. enough said.

8. babies poop alot. and frequently.

7. when you're nursing, you are still as hungry as you were when you were pregnant. only you're not pregnant so it is no longer acceptable to eat a hot fudge sundae every night before bed.

6. your husband becomes quite, um, amorous now that you're not pregnant. and you'd just trade your left leg for a nap. you do the math.

5. when people ask if there's anything they can do for you it is not appropriate to say "can you perform a vasectomy?"

4. when those same people ask if you want any more kids it is also not appropriate to say you're trying to get rid of the ones you already have.

3. on those days when you think you just can't take any more remember that "this too shall pass".

2. babies grow so fast, too fast entirely.

1. there is nothing sweeter, cuter, better smelling or more wonderful than having a new baby. no matter how tired you are.

pride cometh before a fall...

truer words have never been spoken... yesterday was theMr's first day back at work. i had been somewhat nervous as to how it would go. he works 12-9 so i was especially concerned with how bedtime would go with five children. then, to my surprise, the day went very smoothly! i was able to get all my normal things done, dinner made by a decent hour, homework completed and lunches packed and everyone in bed on time. i even baked cupcakes! after they were down i got the baby settled and took a relaxing, hot bath. i actually had the nerve to think to myself "five kids is no big deal, i can handle this!". well, there was my first mistake. during the night, the princess got sick. by morning, the three school age children were all sick. two with pink eye and one with "my-tummy-hurts-i-think-i'm-gonna-puke". so i was already starting the day with a few points against me. add to the three sick kids a terror of a two year old and a newborn and you have yourself a day of chaos. of course, we had to venture out to pick up prescriptions (thank goodness for a doctor who knows me well enough to not require us to have an appointment and will take my word for it that we have pink eye!). this little excursion consisted of a screaming baby (who was fed, changed and should have been fine but she hates her carseat!) and a toddler who thought it would be fun to pinch his sister the entire time. he's lucky he's in the very back seat of the van or he may have found me pinching him back. a friend was supposed to come over and bring dinner and see the baby but i cancelled because i honestly couldn't handle someone coming over at that point. not even for a free dinner. the real miracle is that by the time theMr got home the kids were in bed, the house was clean and there was dinner for him to eat. but i will never again think to myself "five kids is no big deal!". lesson learned.

update on themrs!

first of all, thank you to all of you who have commented or emailed asking how we're doing! it means so much to me to have support, even from "strangers"! we're doing as well as can be expected with baby #5! i'm at that point where it feels like all i do is nurse the baby and attempt to sleep :) although i'm very tired, i'm enjoying these days with my last baby. with others, i think i was anxious to get to the "easier" stage of more sleep and less feeding. but knowing this is my last, i'm trying to savor these moments that i know go by so quickly. i find myself holding her more than i should (that is, knowing i'll regret it next week when theMr is back at work and miss esme refuses to be put down:) but i just want to cherish those moments of holding a new baby on my chest while she sleeps. she's made it clear that she wants to sleep in mommy's arms or mommy's bed. normally i'm a stickler for not allowing the baby in the bed but i have to admit i've been lax with her. i see now how the youngest becomes spoiled! thankfully, all the kids adore her. they come home from school and fight over who gets to hold her. the princess has become the hand sanitizer nazi for us. anyone who comes in the door is informed immediately that they must sanitize their hands before touching the baby. it works out well as people tend to think it's cute coming from her. i've officially updated the blog to change my younger son's name to "the little guy" and add the baby. it only took me a week, not too bad, huh? hope you're all staying warm and enjoying this beautiful season. the leaves are in full change here and although it's cold, it's gorgeous. one of the benefits of the midwest is the spectacular fall. it amazes me every year. happy fall!