Getting 6 kids to smile... how hard could it be??

Christmas is over and I'm still cleaning up the aftermath. Lego sets, Barbies, candy canes, Wii games, and more have taken over the house. Oh, and a dog. It's all a bit of a reorganization project.

Every year I try to take a picture of the kids to give to relatives around the holidays. This year, in addition to taking a picture of just my three kids, The Man's cousin and I decided to take a picture of all 6 of our kids to give out to that side of the family.

We've been meaning to do it for a couple of months but so much has happened that we never really got around to it until last weekend.

I believe we underestimated how difficult it would be to get a good picture of all 6 kids.

We got about 100 pictures between the two of us that were horrible, 6 very irritated children and 2 incredibly frustrated mothers by the end of the day. We ended up giving out this one.

And thanks to Candy for the idea for this picture. I wouldn't have thought of it had it not been for this post.

Smelly... but sweet

Friday night it was pretty late when I was washing dishes and heard a bark outside our kitchen window.

We don't have a dog and we've never had a dog so my first assumption was that one of our neighbor's dogs had gotten into the yard. Since their dogs aren't typically the nicest of dogs I nervously called to The Man to check it out.

He turned on our porch light to see the happiest little face out there just wagging his whole body and hoping for someone to feed him.

So I gave him a hot dog... and then I cooked him three eggs. Yes, I cooked him three eggs.

Saturday night the kids were at my mother in law's house and The Man and I decided to go to the drive in. We watched 2 1/2 movies (another story for another entry) and got home pretty late.

As we pulled in the driveway, the sweet little dog was sitting in the middle of our driveway seemingly waiting for us to get home.

So I gave him the butts of the banana bread and a hamburger bun.

Yesterday I bought some Kibbles N Bits and now he's happily eating it.

The kids have been playing with him all day.

Other than him being pretty smelly and without a collar of any sort, he appears to be somewhat taken care of (neutered) and very good with people. If we were able to keep him securely in the yard I'd put up signs but since I can't be sure he'd be here if his owner called I won't do that.

If he's still here on Friday we'll take him down to Animal Control and see if he's chipped. After I give him a bath.

**Edit**

After thinking about the poor 10 year old little boy that just might be looking for his dog right before Christmas I decided to pack up the kids and head down to the Animal Rescue League today to see if he's chipped. We've found that he's not chipped and also not neutered (they're just really small). So.... I filed a found dog report and if no one calls about him within 2 weeks we'll go ahead and get him chipped... as ours.

At this point we've let him in the house and he's sleeping peacefully at Bug's feet. Time for a bath. :)

Next year I'll be more prepared... really...

Last night while lying in bed and trying to go to sleep I had an epiphany. It's one that has hit me every year about this time since I had children. There are less than 2 weeks until Christmas and I am horribly unprepared.

It occurred to me, while attempting to drift off into a dreamy happy wonderland, that Bug has a "Holiday Around The World Project" that needs to be completed by Thursday requiring an essay, visual aids, and a dish from Scotland. Sure, we've known about it for over a week, but believe me, the majority of work will be completed within the next couple of days. I also have a scrapbook to complete, pictures of the kids to take, four more gifts to purchase, a cub scout meeting to attend, tons of stuff to wrap, and a multitude of other little things that need to be completed. All that on top of my regular workload.

I'm a little freaked out.

However, I will manage it all and on the morning of the 26th I'll be able to breathe. A little.

And then I'll clean up the mess.

Boys will be boys

My dad has a younger brother and so does The Man, so it's not as if I was unfamiliar with the fact that boys fight. I've heard the stories of black eyes and silly rivalries. But I come from a family of three girls, and though there was typical sibling rivalry and yelling and screaming and general nastiness, things typically did not come to blows.

So this is my first hands on experience. Bug and Goober are at one another's throats all day long. It never ends. They fight about toys, they fight about the computer, they fight about what seat they get to sit in at the dinner table.

When the fighting first began I would run into the room and try to settle the dispute and lecture about how we don't hit and make them hug and apologize. Now I just pretend I can't hear it and I hope no one gets a serious injury.

Because really, it never ends.

And it's really sad, actually, because Goober truly adores Bug. At school he had to write about what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving and he wrote that he was thankful for his brother. How sweet is that?

Bug, however, has spent a good portion of his therapy sessions explaining how having a little brother is the worst thing that has ever happened to him.

So until they work this out between themselves, I guess I'll just keep the first aid kit on hand.

Today is National Bug Day

Today I have a 9 year old. So much has changed in the past 9 years I can barely believe it. It seems like an eternity ago and yet it seems like it was yesterday.

When Bug was born I had no idea how much my life was about to change. I had no clue that I could love someone so completely and wholly in the first instant I saw them. I would have never imagined that I would willingly give my life over for another person without even a second thought.

But then Bug came along and nothing would ever be the same again.

Over the past 9 years I have grown to know this little person, this wonderful and unique boy, and he continues to amaze me.

He's my sweet child, my inquisitive child, the child that will surprise me with a hug and an "I love you, Mommy" for absolutely no reason. He has warmed the heart of every one of his family members and almost every other person he comes in contact with. I am so excited and proud to be his mom and to watch him grow into the amazing man he's sure to be.

Happy Birthday my little Bug!

She thought she was tired before

Yesterday was quite a day. After assuring T that she was indeed in labor since gas pains don't typically strike in regular 6 minute intervals, I packed the kids up and sent them off to school, came home and did a few last minute things and The Man and I headed off to the hospital.

Poor T hadn't eaten a thing since dinner the night before and food was off limits to her so she was practically starving by the time we got to the hospital. She was allowed hard candy so we stopped to get her some on our way.

When we arrived T was still smiling and happy so the doctor came in and put an end to that by breaking her waters. Before that whole procedure was even 100% complete, T got one of those contractions that strikes fear into a new mother's heart. The one that makes her absolutely sure that not getting an epidural would be a really really bad idea.

And thus the epidural was requested... and then T endured the next 10 contractions or so wondering where the heck that anesthesiologist was.

After the epidural T was once again smiling and happy and about five hours later it was time to push. And push she did! In just about 40 minutes we heard one of the best sounds anyone can ever hear.

And both mommy and baby are absolutely perfect and fantastic. :)

It's gonna be a long day!

My sister called me last night and asked if I'd abandoned my blog.

Oops.

As of right now, 8:04 AM on December 10, 2008, my best friend is still pregnant. Over the past week or so she's become increasingly uncomfortable, freaked out, irritable, etc. She's struggled to work, to shave her legs, to laugh without peeing. She's more than ready to get her body back.

Except I haven't told her that her body will not be hers for several more years. No use scaring the crap out of her at this point, is there?

The arrival of this little baby has been anxiously awaited by many people, myself definitely toward the top of the list. So you can imagine my excitement when at 6:30 this morning my phone rang and it was her.

In a scared voice she told me she was having pain, regular pain, and had been having this regular pain since 2 AM.

She's on her way to the hospital and I'm about to leave, too. Yippee!

She's sick of Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

It's my 300th post! Can y'all believe I've been rambling on for THREE HUNDRED posts?

I feel like I should do something momentous with this post. 300 things you don't know about me? Nah... I'm not that interesting.

Yesterday I got to spend a tiny bit of time with my best friend and soon-to-be mom of the baby I have been anxiously awaiting since before I had even written my 100th post. Her due date is the 11th so she's firmly into that state where she'll pretty much do anything in the universe to GET THAT KID OUT OF HER.

I have my cell phone with me at ALL times expecting the call at any time of the day that will have me rushing to the hospital which is a good 40 minutes away from my house. Yesterday when she called to let me know she'd be in the area I about lost my head because my cell phone went all fubar and wouldn't let me answer. After I yelled and screamed at the phone I finally got it to dial her (after it accidentally dialed two other people first) only to find out that she was not in labor.

I don't think she quite understands the magnitude of her actions when she calls at this point.

So she and I perused the baby section of Target for a bit while I assured her that special no-scratch mittens really weren't necessary and that little socks worked just as well. We then expressed our discontent that they only carried pink stuffed giraffes and no blue ones.

I'm betting she has the baby today. It's just a feeling I got yesterday. I'm probably totally wrong... but I can hope.

The vacation's over, y'all

The kids will be home around 11 this morning. Again, I have mixed feelings about this. Mostly I'm so excited they're coming home and I can't to see them! Then there's this little part of me that's all upset because I didn't get enough done...

I did get their rooms cleaned and I did get almost all of my Christmas shopping done and I even wrapped the kids gifts so they wouldn't find them.

But I still haven't caught up with the laundry (will I ever?) and somehow cleaning the kids rooms made the rest of the house messier. I think this is the first time that the kids rooms are the cleanest parts of the house.

Whatev... I can't wait to see my little people!

So, about the tree situation, I have attempted this fluffing y'all have been speaking of and it's not really helping the situation. :( So, I talked to my sister about the tree and how unhappy I was with it and she offered me her super gigantic beautiful artificial tree that she does not use anymore. So tomorrow when I go over there to pick up the kids I'm picking up the tree, too. Rock on!