Time to lose it! February 4, 2010

I’ve tried this whole “weight loss” thing several times… and I always tend to go for it for about a day and then lose interest.  This fourth baby has really made the poundage hard to shake. BUT I have decided that I just need to go for it.  The new found motivation has come from a combination of disgust and excitement.  I have been appalled at my weight since Mr. Q has joined us, but finally getting into a couple pairs of my old jeans has gotten me thinking, “Maybe I can do this again?”  As of right now, I’m on day 2… and it’s going well.  Heck, I even started working out today! WHAT?!  My goal is to drop 10 lbs by Valentines day. It would bring me back to the weight I was when I found out I was pregnant with Quinton.  Already this month I’ve got o.n.e. pound off, but the rest will come. Quinton’s baptism is on the 20th of February, and I really want to look back at the pictures and remember the day, not feel sad about the way I look in the pictures.  So, as a family we’re all eating healthier and trying to become more active.  I’m so excited for the kids to really get into this also and hopefully we can become one of those “healthy, active” families instead of a family of couch potatoes, so to speak.

Fingers crossed!

Where does it go? January 30, 2010

Just like that… 2010!  Can you remember the hoopla of Y2K?  It seems like an eternity ago already!  Jay and I were just starting out together.  We’d been living together for just a couple of months and were celebrating our first year of dating.  Sure we knew we were going to be together for good, well, I did anyway. Pretty sure he was feeling the same way…  Since then we have gotten engaged, married, bought a house, miscarried twice,  had four children, bought a mini van,  celebrated 8 years of marriage, one of us *hubby* has turned the big 3-0,  I’ve started a small photography business, and this spring Jay’s anniversary at work will come around… 10 years!  When I think of all that’s happened in the last decade, I think, “how did we ever find the time to accomplish THAT much?!”   But it seems like it all happened in the blink of an eye!  The next 10 years looks to be full of child raising… I think that pretty much sums it up because there will be no time left for anything else.

So here we are… 2010. 28 and 31 years old with a nearly 6 year old, a 4 year old, a 2 and a half year old, and a 3 month old.  This year we will begin life with 2 kids in school and 2 at home.

Ella is so incredibly anxious for school to start for her!  Coop I’m sure will be lost, but Quinton will be more fun by then and will hopefully become his new buddy while Ella is gone.   Miss Ella is our little Princess still… dancing around in tutus whenever she can get away with it.  I’m sure this summer when dresses are allowed more often, she’ll be wearing tutus on errand day and everything!  I wish there were a dance class close by that she could get into… That girl would LOVE it!

Quinton was in for his 2 month check up at the beginning of the month and he was 12 lbs 11 oz and 24 inches long.  He finally managed to get his thumb in his mouth on the 4th of January.  Oh you could see the excitement on his face!  This month he also had his first giggle on the 9th, his first trip to the Childrens Museum on the 17th *where we caught his giggles on camera for the first time, his first trip to Portage on the 22nd, and his first little bump on the head on the 23… Cousin Everett drove his little toy monster truck off the counter onto Quinton’s head.  Woopsy!   It’s been a busy month for the little man.  He’s really getting fun lately.  Smiles smiles smiles and his giggles are getting much more frequent.  We thought for sure he was about to roll over back to belly on the 23rd… but he gave up just a teeny bit too soon.

Avali has lost even more teeth… She’s got 4 baby teeth out now, and 3 of those holes are already being filled back in.  That girl is so ahead of the game when it comes to growing up! Sheesh girl!

Cooper is beginning the potty thing again… I told him one night a couple weeks ago that his pull ups were getting thrown away and since then he only gets them for bedtime. One per day and that’s it.  He’s doing surprisingly well.  Typically he’ll have one accident every couple of days.  *Of course he knows when it would be most inconvenient and plans it for then!  But we’re excited that he’s coming back into the potty trained boy we knew and loved this summer!

In other news, we had to get rid of Miss Lola this month also.  It was a tough, tough decision… and Ava is still distraught over the decision, but I think it was one we had to make.  She was just too much work for a family with this many small kids.  Not just the work, but all of her quirks and need for so much special attention.  She had been neglected when she was a pup until she was 7 months old when we got her, so she needed constant attention and approval.  She’s with a great family now that has two kids and a stay at home mom who is alone with her all day.  As of right now we’re considering a puppy for the kids… but not sure when that will come about.  Ava still cries at least once a week about her dog, so it breaks my heart and makes me weak for her requests!  I know in my heart that this was the best decision for Lola and that makes it easier.  We’ll find a good family dog that we can all enjoy, play with, and love… and one we won’t have to worry about nipping “Aunt Kate” either.

Off for a movie night… I’ll try to keep up this more frequent updating.  *More frequent than once every six months anyway!

The New Man December 13, 2009

Obviously it’s been a bit busy around here… but I’ll update now… nearly two months after our Baby Q joined us.  Quinton Drew was born on October 23, 2009 at 2:10pm. He was a HEALTHY 8 lbs 11.2 ounces and 19.5 inches long.  By the time he was a month he was 10 lbs 3 oz, and  at just 6 weeks he was already up to 11 lbs 11 ounces.  The man is a growing machine. He’s smiling and starting to coo, rolling over belly to back at just 2 weeks, holding his head up pretty much at birth… no concerns here!  You can read all about the amazing hippie birth here. It was an incredible experience and the perfect way to finish off our procreating years!

Anyway, so other than that… the excitement around here…. Well it’s business as usual with the Amazing A.C.E.  They’re all up to their usual shenanigans.  Ava is growing up so much lately.  She’s the one who likes to take charge around here. She tries to talk Ella and Coop into doing the right thing instead of getting themselves into trouble.  She’s doing great in school and is getting to the age where she does what she’s told, well most of the time anyway.  Her latest “sweeter than sweet” comment was the other day.  She was already in bed and had her hugs and kisses… when she got out of her bed again.  I asked her what she was doing and she said, “I have to blow my kisses.”  I asked her who she blows kisses to.  Her reply, ” God and Daddy and Jesus and Santa”  Um, could she be any sweeter?

Then there’s Miss Ella.  Oh that child!  She’s a sneaky little princess.  She’s got that sweet, quiet little doll thing going for her.  I’m pretty sure she knows just what she’s doing, but she can manage to make it look like it’s not her fault every time.  Luckily, we’re starting to wise up to that stuff!  Here most recent “sweeter than sweet” was on the way to Phillips last week. She told me she loved me, I returned the comment, then Cooper told me he loved me, and I returned it once again.  Then Ella said it, and Cooper did… repeat about a dozen times.  Finally I said, I love you both.  Ella’s reply, in her little squirrel voice, “Moooooommmm, are you happy?”  ”

“Yes, Ella, I’m happy”

And from Ella, “I’m happy too.  Know why I’m happy Mom?”

“Why are you happy Ells?”

I joke you not, this was her answer, “I’m happy cuz I like rainbows.”  As she’s looking out her window on a gray, snowy Wisconsin day.  ”I’m going to look for rainbows, Mom.”  And she looked out the window of the van, batting her eye lashes, looking for a rainbow…  Sidenote, we never did see one!

And Coop- man…. *sigh* Oh Dear, Coop-Man…

He’s a Devil!  The sweetest little devil, but he’s  a devil.  Just yesterday I found three unwrapped sticks of butter in the refrigerator with  teeth marks out of the ends of each one.  I believe it could be called a sugar free shame stick.  He tends to take after his sisters with the messes he’s been making recently.  He’s also gone from potty trained to somewhat trained now.  His favorite phrase right now is “Mommy, I wanna watch a mooobie.”  He’s all about Dora and Diego.  We’re lucky if we can get him to settle for anything else.  I hate to admit it, but he’s been getting a good dose of time outs.  We’re working on using words instead of SCREAMING for everything… It’s a slow process!

Baby calls…

Must.attempt.to.keep.up! September 21, 2009

Avali

And Avali has decided that, “Mom you can call the baby sister Lydia if you want to, but I’M calling her Sophie!” I guess it’s better than Mariposa like she was talking before! 5/11/09

Ava’s first concert 5/12/09  fieldtrip 5/15/09

Ava’s first filling 5/26/09

Ella

At the grocery store I was mocking Ella about her pronunciation of wall-er-melon and she said to me, “Mom you’re such a character!”  5/7/09

At preschool screening today with Ella, the teacher asks, “What do skunks do?” (With an upturned nose) and Ella replies without a single hesitation, “Fart green farts” Of course!! Not surprised AT ALL!!  5/13/09

When Ella was told that the baby was going to be a baby boy, she refused to hear of it.  No, it’s a baby sister.  I want a baby sister! 5/22/09

When Ella finally realized that we were serious and it really is a baby boy, she broke down in tears.  I wanted to pick a sister! Daddy got to pick a boy and I wanted to pick a girl  She thinks that since Daddy told her what it is, Daddy was the one that got to pick.  We turned the blame around though, and just explained the God is the one that gets to pick and he wants Cooper to have a brother! 5/23/09

Cooper

Coopie  peed on the potty for the first time on April 21st!  Yay big boy! 4/21/09

Coop was trying to get Ella’s attention, and she was not listening.  So he yelled for her, “ELLA!!!” and then with a sassy stance and some big attitude, “ELLA BROOKE!!!!”  It was quite amusing to say the least!

First night in a big boy bed 5/25/09

Just a quick note… September 21, 2009

There are just a couple of things that I have to pop on to share.  The kids are so full of funny stuff lately!  Last week at my ob appointment, Cooper took it upon himself to slap my ob on the butt!  (And then of course, stand there and giggle and do it again!)  Then today, Ava tells me, “Mom I want to go somewhere to look at a menu and order macaroni and cheese. You know who has the best macaroni and cheese?  You and Taco Bell! ”  I thought it was a pretty cute comment!  And from Ella today… Wow, she takes the cake with this one!

“Mom!  Look at that!”  She points to my belly button…  ”I see the baby’s wiener!  It’s comin’ out of your belly button!  It’s squishy when you poke it!”  OMG! I almost fell over laughing! WHAT a KID!!!

A day in the life… August 25, 2009

Yesterdays plan:

*bring Ava to orientation
*pick up her and a friends kid afterward
*wait for my new phone to come from ups
*go to get jays prescription filled
*stop at library so we can cross off one more thing on the end of summer list
*vacuum out the van
*go to the park if time
*pick up rissa’s boy to mow

Seems simple enough right?

What really happened
*bring ava to orientation
*teacher misunderstood and didn’t put either of the girls on the bus to come to the other school where I was waiting… but luckily we managed to get in contact with each other and the girls got put on the right bus enventually
*called in to get jays prescription refilled… no more refills… had to call the pharmacy twice and the clinic once to get a refill called in
*ups comes… no phone
*Round up the three and go to carwash, vacuum out the van… get back in and the battery is dead.
*wait for 10 minutes for someone to pull in to the driveway… still no one… had to call riss. Waited another 20 minutes for her to get there.
She hooks up the cables… but neither of us noticed that on my van they were connected to two positives.  Clearly this wasn’t a job for girls!

*cables melt

*cables also melt a hose in my van
*wait for the cables to cool of, peel off the melted plastic and after talking to a couple of dhs we figure out where to put the cables… not on two positives on my van!
*find out the hose the melted was a casing for some other wires. Luckily none of the wires were touched
*get battery tested at car place… it’s fine
*get to pharmacy… they only used one of our two insurances… wait longer
*get groceries… dumb ass cashier puts so much stuff in each bag that the bottoms are threatening to fall out of every bag… I rebag
*by now it’s 6:30… if I wait to get home for supper like planned it’ll be almost 7:30
*spend the extra money I didn’t want to on going out for supper
*kids are animals, they’ve been forced to sit and wait WAY to much already
*go to library
*coop says 3 times that he has to pee… we go each time… he refuses to go. “Can’t, poop poop broken, won’t work!”
*go back to play with toys *we had all of 10 minutes total to play at the library*
*comes back and tells me mommy poop potty
*go to bathroom
*poops himself
*clean up the boy
*go back to play
*comes back and tells me mommy poop potty
*go to bathroom
*poops himself again
*go to van and clean up again…
*8:30 get home
*BEDTIME for all the kids
*I send the girls upstairs to get ready for bed, tell them to crawl in to bed and wait.
*I get distracted… I know surprising right?
*Bring Coop upstairs and the girls are already sleeping
*”Mommy Guilt” sets in… didn’t even kiss the girls goodnight

*Go to bed, hoping for a better day tomorrow!

End of the Summer…. August 20, 2009

The end of the summer is QUICKLY approaching!  So one day last week, I asked the girls what they would like to do yet before summer ends.  I had nothing to do with what they suggested. It’s amazing, but THIS is the list them came up with!

* Go to the fair

* Swimming lessons (go swimming)

* Catch butterflies

* 4 wheeler ride

* go to lots of places

* Rest time- movies in mom’s room

* Look for animal foot prints

* Have a  movie night

* Pray to God

* Read books at the library

Can you believe this?  SO so cute!

so far we have checked off the fair, swimming, movie night…  I should really work on figuring out when we’re doing the rest of it! Ava starts school in about 10 days!  Four wheeler ride this weekend when Daddy’s home I think,  and animal foot prints… maybe at Grandma and Grandpa’s this weekend.

Crazy busy! July 27, 2009

So it’s been since APRIL since I’ve made a post!  Wow!  Things have been crazy, as usual!  Pregnancy is going well… See baby blog… http://myfinalbabybump.wordpress.com/ Kids are doing well, and growing like mad!

Cooper: Coop-Man is now two years old!  Last week he learned how to use the potty.  Actually, the day he turned 25 months was his first totally dry day.  So so proud of the little stinker!  He’s still in LOVE with his blankies and thumb.  It’s more of an obsession really.  He’s also moved into a big boy bed in the last month or so.  That is not going quite as well as the potty training, but it’s not terrible.  Just a couple weeks ago, the boy decided to climb up to the top part of the Mc Donalds play land… and refuse to get down.  I had to crawl my roundish pregnant self up there and get him back down! Stinker!   And the other morning when I got up before him, he went into my room and found Ella in my spot and proceeded to SCREAM at Ella,

“Ella WHERE is MOMMY?   AH_LAAAA Where is MOOOOOMMMMYYYY?”

Ellison:  Ella is still our little “Dirty Birdie.”  She is such a little princess, but how that child gets SO dirty is beyond me!  She is always always hanging upside down or climbing on things and hanging in weird positions.  Yesterday she actually fell off the bench while we were SITTING down to eat dinner.  I laughed… A LOT!  (And actually got “the look” from Jay for it.  Apparently he was trying to scold her, and he can’t do that if I’m laughing.  Whatever, it was funny stuff!  She’s also pretty good and some funny lines lately!

“Ava, I get to go with Daddy because I’m more beautiful than you!”

“When I grow up, I want to be a mom just like you!”

“Fishing, fishing, we’re going fishing today…”

“If you tickle my butt, then your finger will smell like butt.”  NO I am NOT joking! This really was said when Grandpa pinched her butt yesterday!

Avali: And of course, Miss Ava Girl…  Miss Ava is going back and forth between an amazing big girl and helper and the other extreme… more like a tantruming, dramatic, cry at the drop of a hat toddler.  It’s been… um a learning experience? I think we’re starting to get it figured out and how to stop it before the total break down begins.  She is also growing like crazy, now has FOUR loose teeth!   My first baby is going to lose teeth soon! Won’t be long now and she’ll be heading into kindergarten! When, oh when, did this happen?

And a recent line from Ava:

“Mom, I just want to go see God and where he died, and give him flowers.”   So I told her, we couldn’t because it was SO far away… and she said, “And there are no roads?”  Umm yes exactly Ava, no roads.  ”Then how did God get there?”  Ummm he rode a camel Ava?  ”Then we could ride horses to get there, right Mom?”  Probably not Ava… sorry!

Thanks to Got Music… April 6, 2009

So a friend of mine, http://gotmusic69.livejournal.com/ , is doing a challenge to live out of the pantry for a week.  I am planning on joining her in the challenge for a week. (Well until Thursday and then hopefully more when we come home on sunday.)  In addition, I am not going to be spending a dime out of our checking account this week for any expenses.  I started with $25 in cash, with one big NEED… duck food.  So today I spend $11.00 on duck food and don’t plan on buying anything else until thursday.

Yesterday we had

Breakfast:

cereal, juice, milk

Lunch:

tortillas, cheese, bananas, milk

Dinner:

bbqs, tater tots, corn

and today

Breakfast:

waffles with syrup, peanut butter, milk

Lunch:

bbqs, pineapple, noodles, milk

Dinner:

tomato soup, grilled cheese or egg salad sandwiches, green beans, milk

I’m really not sure what the plan is looking like tomorrow.  I guess some digging is in order to plan for tomorrow!

 

Thanks Jules!

Just for the record… March 5, 2009

We suck!!!  I can’t wait wait wait for spring to get these back down! Wow!

 

That’s all I have to say on this matter!