March Mumblings

March has turned into one of those months that fly by.  I thought February was short, but I seem to have missed March.  So, here are some happenings in this month!

 

My Patrick is taking Latin I this year.  He had a certamen (quiz) game at the school at the beginning of the month.  The kids had to get a team together, give them a Latin name (it means something on fire?  I am a little rusty on my definitions), and compete.  I decided to come along and watch and I was so happy I did!  These 3 boys did amazing.  They came in 2nd place overall in the competition.  The boys were polite, worked well as a team, and just made my heart swell with pride.  It was a joy to watch them play, and I know they were disappointed to lose to a team they had beat earlier, but it was a joy to watch.

 

We also got some new goodies in my kitchen!  My ovens were not working, and I was just pushing through and learning to deal with the things that gave it character.  (though the double oven is not in this photo, I couldn't resist how stinkin cute Lucy is) Tommy and his brother, the electrician, squeezed a new double oven into the wall.  I say squeezed, because the space was designed for an oven 3" smaller than what we bought.  They had to cut walls, cabinets, and work it in to the space.  But, oh, it's WONDERFUL!  27" is REALLY small, even times 2 ovens, so it's a joy to know that I can fit LARGE pans, 2 side by side.  Oh, and the fact that it works?  No hot spots, no more 3 hours to cook a whole chicken?  Bliss, I tell you.

 

We also got a new dishwasher.  It's quieter and has way more space!  I feel so spoiled!!!  And, our appliances match!

 

 

We finally got a snowstorm!  I was prepared for this one: boots AND snowpants!  Usually I have to give mine to Emma, so we made sure we both had our own.  So I actually went outside!  Lucy and I had some fun sledding, though she was not a fan of the snow to walk in, so I happily pulled her along behind me.  We used to have a great sledding hill until our neighbors behind us put in a fence to keep their kids and dog in the yard.  So it's a little harder to enjoy, but we managed to have fun.  William even made a snowman, though I think it reminds me of a duck.

 

James got to spend the weekend with the class pet, Biscuit, and gets to be "Top Dog" this week.  He is just a bit excited. :)

Part of the weekend included a 5K at the school called Running with the Saints.  He had the best seat in the house, and loved his ride.  Lucy kept telling Tommy that everyone was faster than they were. 

 

Patrick was on a Confirmation retreat so he wasn't there, but these stinkers got to run!

 

And, I did not run either, as I was away.  AWAY!  My sisters and I (4 of the 5) got to go away for a weekend together.  We have never done this, and I have never left the 5 children.  It was a wonderful time, and all made possible by a sweet and generous friend who offered us a cabin to stay in.  My sister also turned 50 so we used that as our excuse.  We stayed up late talking into the nights, and just enjoyed the company and lack of interruptions.  We have 16 kids among us, so it was a big deal.

 

 

My sisters made the weekend so special, and walking down the memory lane.  Though some memories were new to me, as the youngest girl. 

 

 

Christmas preparations

 Close to Christmas, Emma got the flu and missed 2 days of school, as well as the breakfast with Santa.  We sent the "boys" and they enjoyed their time with him, as well as Grandma and Grandpa.

 James didn't quite understand about asking Santa for something, but he was more than happy to GIVE Santa one of the crafts he had made!  Love that generous little boy.

 The tree slowly went up, and the kids were great helpers this year, or maybe I was just more relaxed and didn't mind when they put 6 ornaments on one branch.  James was especially happy to help, as this year he is more aware of what is going on, and all is so new.  We only broke 2 ornaments this year!

I love putting up the tree, as it just makes the house feel ready for the holidays, and the kids react so well to the joys of the lights and memories that are in each box. I have to admit that I did not put up all the decorations.  We have a newborn, and it's just hard for me to start a project and leave it unfinished.  But I think we had the important things up: crèche, empty manger, tree and stockings.  Next year, right? 

"You're doing too much!"

"Sleep when the baby sleeps."
"Just stay upstairs in your room and feed/change the baby."
"Let someone else do the laundry/dishes/homework/clean up."
"Everything can wait."

I have heard every.single.one of these each time I have had a baby.  Sure, the first couple times (especially with a non-C-section delivery) it's easy to do.  There is less to do.  It seems like a lot, at the time, especially with the first and second, but it's easier to take it slow.  It's more exciting for others - friends and family, as it's the first kids, and there are more visitors, offers to babysit, or come over and help.  (Not trying to point fingers or blame, but it's true.)  But life continues, and more kids come, more laundry, more dishes, more diapers, and the kids get bigger and have bigger problems, and people still say the same things.   

But I just had my 5th.  My kids are older, more involved, and are bigger with bigger problems.  (Apparently, October is the wrong month to have a baby when you have kids in school, but especially middle school.  The projects!!!)  Not only the kids, but I have had some bigger problems.  I have been struggling with health issues for the last few months and I am done.  Done feeling bad, done sitting around in a messy house, done getting tired so fast, just done.  And to be honest, I am pretty sure the family is done too.  They don't want to deal with it anymore.  (One of my children asked me if this was my last baby, since I am always so sick while I am pregnant.  It made me cry, but I know I need to teach a lesson about sacrifice, suffering, being unselfish, etc.  I need to do that with this child, especially!)  I get it.  My husband, my kids, my in-laws, my family, the super generous friends in our community, it's an old story.  "Fuzzy needs prayers.  Needs help."  They all have given so much and sometimes it is hard to keep giving.

 

Yes, I did have MAJOR surgery (as my mother tells me).  I know.  I am only 3.5 weeks out, and my incision is only 85% healed. Tommy took almost 2 1/2 weeks off.  But it didn't feel like time to be spent doing nothing.  We had more stresses this time around, more doctors visits AFTER the baby was born.  (We had 2 kids with strep diagnosis the day that I came home from the hospital, or the day after, I don't remember)  The baby needed to get to the doctor, and I wanted to have the tube taken out, etc. etc.  I tried to take it easy when I could.  I don't feel bad, and my body is so happy to NOT be pregnant or have diabetes, my kidneys are happier and life just goes on.  It just didn't feel like I COULD be sitting and doing nothing - well, nothing including nursing, changing and holding the baby.  But I still hear it. You need to slow down.  You are doing too much.

But this week, I had to take 2 kids to the doctor.  James and William have strep (again for James).  I had to go to the doctor's office 2 days in a row, to the pharmacy 2 days in a row, and continue with pick up, homework, etc. It makes me so upset that my James has strep for the second time this month, so I feel that I am not doing enough!  I ran around the house with bleach, crying as I was cleaning, changing sheets and just feeling like I can't win.  How can I slow down when life isn't?  I have 5 (!) kids.  They all need me.  All need help, my husband needs help.  He could use a clone on some of his days when he has 4 meetings in one night, but they all are activities that are for my kids.  The kids need clean uniforms (oh, and those dark socks!  How many mornings have I heard them ask where they are?!) and to do homework.  We all need to eat (unfortunately, all.the.time.).  It's just not possible.  I don't know how I am going to do less. 

Now, to be honest, my house is a mess.  It's dirty, I saw some huge cobwebs up in a corner that I can't even get close to reaching but you can only see when the sun hits it juuust right.  I will say my bathrooms are clean, and we need to have some clean dishes when I forget to buy paper plates, so on that front I am slowing down, and we had 4 baskets of clean laundry to fold.  So it all depends on how you look at it.  But not driving?  Not possible.

Everyone has been amazing.  Uh-MAZING!  The meals, the love, the gifts, just keep coming.  We have had meals come even after the meal train was all done.  God has been so good to keep sending us His love through others!  It's been so great to feel all the love from our friends and community.  We are so blessed, and I feel that we may be wearing out our love and help. We do have to get back.  I know we do!  I am trying not to "do too much" but I am just 1 mom. 

And, I am sorely outnumbered!

Murphy's Law Strikes Again

I'm sure I have mentioned this before, but Murphy's Law and I seem to be quite close.  And, as per usual, this law seems to strike when my dear husband is.not.home. 

A weekend without my oldest boys (Tommy and Patrick) in the house usually isn't a big deal, as camping trip usually start Friday night and end Sunday morning.  Unless there is water dripping into your kitchen from a mysterious upstairs location, and it's a Saturday when most plumbers will charge extra.  But, I have amazing brothers-in-law and one came over and helped me find another leak, in my pantry.  It was quite wet in there, and I knew that whoever was going to do work in there, would need to have it cleaned out.  So, while I woke that morning with a little more energy and hopefulness to get some housework done (oh, you should see my house!  No, actually, you shouldn't.  It's dreadful.), my energy was spent cleaning out my pantry.  My wonderfully large, corner pantry for my gourmet kitchen.  Sigh.

I did not find a plumber, but a sweet friend of mine called in a friend, and he came (from Uraguay, who called me "Foossy") and we found the leak.  3 holes in the drywall later.  Upstairs, behind the shower in our room.  Hooray for an easy fix, and no holes in my kitchen, though some drywall will need to be fixed, and my Saturday was done.  The positive side is that I found some expired food, and I will have some more room in my pantry when it's time to put everything away.  Right now, it smells like wet drywall, and I need to put some more bleach.  Yech.

So, technically, all should be well by Sunday because Daddy will be home.  Not so lucky.  He had to go to Mass at 5:30.  At 6:25 I hear a thud, cries, and some terrific screams of "MOMMY!"  I knew, by Emma's screeches that it involved blood.  Yep, William slipped and hit the hardwood stairs with his lip.  I knew as soon as I saw it that he would need stitches.  I wasn't near my cell, so I tried to call Tommy from the house phone.  Called and called and called.  No answer.  Finally, after calming William down, and grateful that he told me to "Call 911, that will help!" I got him to hold some ice on it and text Tommy.  THEN he called me, and said that apparently our kids know his number too well and call just like I did.  (That involved a little lecture with SOME of our children)  And, since I didn't have a car or dinner, we all drove and dropped them off.  Poor William had 2 stitches in his lip, but was super brave.

 

So, while I wait to see if I am going to get a new shower and perhaps a light in my pantry, I am being a good nurse and trying to keep everything all together.  (and failing.  William has already taken out a stitch.  Sigh)

SNOW!

The east coast got an amazing Valentine's snowstorm which gave us about a foot of snow!  The kids were home for 5 days, including the already scheduled Monday off.

 This is our sliding door on our deck.  Lots of drifting snow!

 There is a road between those mailboxes.

 My sweet Emma was the first one to go out and shovel!

 We had some ice after the snow, so the top layer was frozen and made everything so stiff.  

The good news is that the kids do not have to make up any days yet for school.  Let's just see how it goes for the rest of winter.  We know what that groundhog said......

It's December!!

 Make your house fair as you are able!

Trim the hearth and set the table!

 And make Speculaas cookies!

 The only way to make them is with lots of cooling racks, courtesy of Pampered Chef, and Bing's White Christmas album.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In between replacing the sink and faucet, we had the annual Thanksgiving luncheon at the kids' school.  There was a record number of 900 RSVP's to the lunch!  That was parents, kids, siblings, and grandparents.

 The lunch is always delicious, and because we have 3 kids at the school, we stay for quite a long time (3 different lunches! We only eat once, though).  James enjoys the videos on my cell phone to pass the time, and to keep him in his seat.

 William had his first luncheon at the school with his grandparents!

 I don't have any camera proof, but the big kids were there too.  I did take pictures, but I think it decided it wasn't going to let me use them.  Maybe it's trying to tell me it needs to be retired, and I need a better camera.  ;)

 On our Thanksgiving day, we had a joyful time with all of our family!  We had family from Nebraska (Emma was in heaven because they have 5 girls!!) and almost all the family from here.  32!

 My pinterest inspired centerpiece.  I tried not to get too crazy.

 And, if you can believe it, we had seats for every.single.person.  At a table!  There were the middle kids, super fun.

 The little kids (and a grown up too).

 The grown-ups (somebody made me sit there because it was my house or something.  I would have been happy sitting with the...

 Big kids!! 

 And, here is the view from above.  I am super excited!  We are so blessed with my house being so flexible, and when we had celebrations here last year, we had no idea that it could be this great!

 The funniest part of the night was the number of superheros that were in my house.

 Every time I turned around, there was someone else in costume!

Tommy was the absolute best, because he made the turkey!  I didn't even have to try!  He is like his dad who always cooks for the big feasts.  Can you believe how lucky I am to have married someone this handsome, AND cooks?!

And, in case you were wondering, it was absolutely AWESOME doing dishes in my new sink!  I didn't even mind!