hey lady!

so my youngest son is in speech therapy. he has a rather significant speech delay so he's been seeing a speech therapist for about nine months. he recently "graduated" to having to name the pictures he's shown as opposed to just repeating words. so at this his therapy yesterday she showed him a picture of a lady, as "L" sounds are hard for him. He replied "Mommy". she said that "yes, mommy is a lady, can you say lady?" he just kept saying "no, that's mommy!". is it his fault that at three he already knows that mommy is no lady? lol

i finally did it!

whew! i've been wanting to update my blog for a long time.. but who has the time? well i finally did it! you can now click on the links on the right sidebar for more pics and a description of that person! it was really fun for me to write our love story and the description of each child. i may have to read them occasionally to remind myself :)

a little behind...

i've realized i'm sorely overdue for some blog info updating! an example? that pic of my oldest daughter is from when she was SEVEN! she's eleven now :) i'm going to try to update the pics and whatnot this week. eventually i'd like to add that little feature where you can click on their pic for a description of them. if only my precious three year old could spend more than three minutes not flooding the bathroom, smearing himself in peanut butter or feeding his baby sister chocolate soy milk so i can get it done! we'll see how long it actually takes...

feast or famine?

is anyone else's life as a parent always feast or famine? as in, either we know where seven pacifiers are or we are guarding our last one like it's the crown jewel? or we have a bulk pack of diapers in the pantry, enough for ten babies, or we're down to making two last till tomorrow and praying the baby doesn't poop? and when you're in the construction trade, like we were for many years, finances are like that too. summer months mean lots of work, little of seeing daddy and lots of extra money. the winter is long, slow work and no money. but we get to see each other! can't i find a happy medium somewhere? just enough diapers till i go to the store next week? one pacifier in the mouth and a spare just in case? enough money to pay the bills and supply the occasional iced hazelnut latte all year long? is that too much to ask?

top ten ways you know that your husband has had too many children!

we've discussed before the many ways parenting changes us as women. but what about the dads? here are just a few ways to know he's had too many kids!

10. he wipes the baby's snotty nose on his shirt. his white, ralph lauren shirt.



9. after several sleepless nights with sick kids, he sees the baby do something cute and says "we should have another one!"



8. he doesn't even protest when the girls want to put make up on him. he just knows now not to let them use nail polish.




7. he's already thinking about the three weddings we'll have to pay for and comments that the "next one" will hopefully be a boy.



6. he thinks anyone with less children than us has it easy.



5. he's figured out how to fit three carseats in his truck.



4. he realizes he really needs a bigger truck... not for work but for children!



3. "date night" now consists of take out japanese food and watching shows online. and we love it.



2. he comes home from golf and missed the kids.



1. he now has SIX people that are super excited to see him come through the door at night!

my life in numbers...

i've been with theMr for 12 years...




i've been alive for 11,874 days...




i've breastfed for a total of 55 months in the last 11 years.. (so far!)




i have 100 nails to cut on bath night (and that's not including my own!)...




i was essentially an only child until i was 9 but i now have 4 brothers and 3 sisters...



i have 3 BFF's (i know, how lucky am i?)...



we have in our family's names: 11 A's, 4 E's & 7 I's! and that's just the first names of us and the kids!



i've been pregnant for 50 of the last 132 months!



you can add 4 of my children's weight together to equal mine... (well that's depressing!)...



this is my 280th blog post!

*none of these pics have anything to do with this post... just a shameless excuse to show you how cute my kids are!

pictures, pictures and more pictures...

this post is pure laziness! obviously since i haven't posted in forever i thought i should check in. but i just don't have anything to say. so much going on but i just can't get into all of it. so here's lots of pics. enjoy :)



the kids played dress up with miss esme...



she was not exactly a fan...





they were having a "baby model shoot" ha ha





in more wonderful news... my new little niece, pearl was born! she is beautiful and perfect and adorable. she cries all night and makes her mama tired and crazy but she is so sweet! i can hold her and smell her and get my baby fix and then go home!



this is miss esme in her new swing that her dad put up for her. she loves it and it gives me a place to put her when the kids are riding bikes, now that she's mobile and all!

maybe soon i'll make a real post. maybe.