Sam loves...

Addison from school because "she doesn't talk much. Only when Mrs. Hunter calls on her. But when she does talk, she has a beautiful voice." That kid is gonna be trouble and I mean SOON!

I survived 4 days alone...

with a 5 yo, 4 yo, 2.5 yo, and 7 week old! I may need to have t-shirts made that say just that! Ryan was in San Diego from Sunday at 4 am until Wed nite at 1 am. Major obstacles: getting the kids ready in the mornings (but my wonderful Tammy came and helped with that), karate lessons, gardening, and Sam getting diarrhea/projectile vomiting. But hey, I survived, I planted most of the veggie garden, I kept the house picked up, I cleaned out my closet, and I did Tons of laundry to completion....and most of all, I didn't kill ANY of the kids. So, rock on me! Rock on with yo motherin' self! ;-)

Edited to add:
That diarrhea/projectile vomiting incident turned into "Puke and Poopapalooza 2010" in our house. The three older kids ALL got it, and we endured 5-7 days of endless shifts on the cleanup crew. Finally, after a solid 5 nights of getting up and changing sheets because every night SOMEONE had thrown up or had diarrhea IN THEIR BEDS, Ryan was getting ready for work when Olivia started crying because she had more diarrhea IN HER BED. Ryan took her to the tub while I nursed Claire, and then Jack came running into our bedroom because Sam had thrown up ...wait for it...DOWN THE STAIRS. And you know what? My husband BAILED. He looked at me and said "I gotta go to work." I stood there with a newborn in my arms, surround by stench and funk and stinky kids and he said "If I stay, you're just gonna have one more person to clean up after. I gotta get outta here." And just like that he escaped! We survived though, and I like to think we are stronger for it. At least that's what we keep telling ourselves. *Shudder*

Sweet baby smells and sweet baby coos

Claire,
You continue to be such a sweet baby. I love to hold you and just stare at you. You are growing cuter by the minute, and now that you smile those huge gummy smiles, that make your dimples ridiculously deep and your eyes completely light up, I am powerless against your every wish! You coo at me and the kids, and find very few things to complain about...perhaps a diaper that has been soiled too long, an occasional desire to be held while you sleep, a car ride that you just don't want to be on, or hunger. Overall, you are just so pleasant. You smell like baby, and I could just soak you up all the time, knowing in my heart you will probably be my last baby. My last one month old, I say to myself as that month ends. My last two month old I am saying as that date approaches in 5 days. As I see you outgrowing the 0-3 month clothes, I will be so sad to part with them, knowing I won't need them again. My friend Jayne posted a link on Facebook last night, "The Gift of an Ordinary Day" by Katrina Kenison and it all rings true. It made me cry, but it also made me a better mother by reminding me that when mothering so many little ones, the days are long, but the years are fleeting. Sigh.

Kindergarten registration

Kindergarten registration for Jack was last week. I was a total stresscase about it, and totally went all Monica from "Friends" with the competitive spirit I tend towards. I drilled him with his phone number and address and date of birth, because as we all know, the kindergarten readiness test is SOOOOO important! He did a fabulous job, scored VERY high, and the teacher that tested him said he is absolutely a joy and totally ready for school. Way to go preschool teachers! and WAAAAAH, ma BAYBEEE is growing up!

Blame game

The boys were goofing off at bedtime the other night, and I went upstairs to reprimand them. I had already been up once, and told them NOT to get out of bed. When I opened their door, Sam was still laying in his bed, but with a stricken look on his face, and Jack was standing frozen next to Sam's bed, half smiling and half afraid of my wrath! Sam said right away "I stayed in my bed!" and Jack pointed at Sam and said, totally seriously, "But HE made it fun!"

My silly kids

We have been overtaken by tiny bugs. Terminix has come once, but the bugs will not go away! They are some kind of tiny shelled bug, and they appear at every doorway all day long. Yuck. No one in this house hates bugs like Jackson, and yestday after discovering some in the laundry room doorway, he wanted me to get rid of them. I was busy getting Claire and Olivia, both asleep, from the car into the house, and as I snapped a pic of Liv with my cell phone to text to Ryan, Jackson came to the doorway and said "What are you doing, Mom? It doesn't really seem like you're doing anything about this bug situation."
Good observation, and yet... ;-)

Angel baby

Oh my poor, sweet, child number four...there are no pics posted here yet, and no posts about your size, what you're doing, etc. The camcorder is rarely pulled out, and the camera (which was used daily with our first, despite the exorbitant cost of developing at Ritz, the two unemployed parents, and the fact that it was a film camera) is used only a few times a week. It's certainly not that we love you less, because that could never be true. You are beautiful, you are sweet, and we love you very, very much. It's just that there are so many kids now, and we are outnumbered and crazily busy! My day today was a race from getting ready this morning to taking the boys to school, taking Liv to ballet, running errands, picking the boys up from Lucky lunch after school, baking/decorating cupcakes for Jack's class party tomorrow, cleaning and finding a sitter for tomorrow morning while washing the karate uniforms, dashing to karate class, then off to the CFF fundraiser at Friendly's until we were home and I showered with the three older kiddos and had them in bed by 9:30. And that is not really so terribly busy of a day. Life is just that way right now, and I love it, despite being exhausted all the time.
Dear Claire, you were four weeks old yesterday. You are spending more time alert and have "smiled" at the kids, though I'm not entirely sure we have seen a genuine smile yet. You aren't fussy at all. Your Daddy has named you "Angel baby" because you have yet to keep us up at night. I don't think you have cried at all at night, and you are so pleasant 99% of the time. You are holding your head up so well, and your siblings continue to ADORE you, smothering you with kisses all the time. Even though it may seem at times that you are being shortchanged, just remember how many people you have to love you and look out for you, and you will know you are so very lucky.