She did it again.

My stepsister called Friday night. The phone said private number but I told dh to answer it anyway. Sometimes my stepdad calls and he's listed like that. Remember she's getting married in December.

She's doing the invitations herself and saw stamps online with wedding verses/poems, etc. She knows I scrapbook so wanted to ask if I new a place locally to buy stamps. I told her what I knew and we chatted.

And behold ... what words come forth out of her mouth barely five minutes into the conversation??? What you ask, you don't know? "I'm the mother of three children."

Let me shout with my megaphone that the holy mother is on the phone. All bow down to saint mother who is crown of all because she's the mother of three , count 'em, three children -- all boys! Give the woman an award I tell ya. Ugh.

What's funny is she said this after she told me she had a child-free weekend. Gee, I wonder what a child-free weekend feels like? Let's stick her in a home with four kids seven days a week! I bet she gets one every other weekend! Must be nice and I really had to hold my tongue to not say anything LOL!

Okay, so I'm sorry to be so bitter but it just gets under my skin so. She's not the only one to have children and she didn't even raise but one really, the one that's biologically hers. Try four! I love my children dearly and this is nothing on them. Just her attitude and it's incessant. Every other sentence is I have three children. Yeah, so what's your point? Maybe I'll say that next time and see what she says.

Up and Running Again

Well, after two weeks, I think we're all back up and running. I don't feel 100% but so it goes. We took C to urgent care the other week when her finger got snipped with the nail clippers. I didn't think that thing would ever stop bleeding. She was fine LOL!

After Mia's stomach flu we returned to the trenches for potty training and it hasn't been pretty. I got pretty fed up yesterday when she pooped her panties, sat around in it for who knows how long, then dropped some on the carpet in her quest to pee on the potty. So she's sitting there on the little potty with her poopy pants around her ankles, poop smeared from waist to ankles and all over the potty asking for candy corns because she peed in the potty. Sigh. I'm not sure where to go at this point. She's asking for pull ups or plastic pants so she doesn't have to use the potty. It's not that she can't, she's just choosing not too and I'm getting tired of playing clean up crew.

Mia's gotten very precise with who's things are whose. I.e. when flipping TV channels, there are shows that are hers, Matthew's or Madison's. During the day, she will only watch shows that are hers. Same with other things we see; she'll give them labels as to whom they belong. She also says the word 'yes' a lot. Better than 'no.' LOL! But it's cute when you ask her a question and she comes out with a resounding 'YES' instead of 'yeah."

I'm beginning to wonder if Madison has some sort of learning disability. I need to get my thoughts together and make a talking point sheet for teacher conferences on the 22nd. I'm really quite troubled by what I'm seeing and I'm not sure if it's acting out from not being able to understand/handle the information or if she just completely has her own agenda. I took an adult ADD "quiz" the other day that someone posted on another website I visit frequently. I scored 75 I think and the scoring recommendations indicated I should seek help for anything over 70. Perhaps that's been my problem. The strange thing is I'm way beyond what type of person I was as a teen and early 20's. Maybe that's because back then I really didn't have that many things to juggle or take up my time. Or maybe I've changed?

Matthew is doing great in school but he claims it's boring. Not sure what to do with that. He doesn't like going to karate either. He complains about it a lot but seems to be doing well. We've been trying to do bedtime talks with him so he gets some attention. He's still getting stomach aches which bothers me. I'll be investigating that as well. His piano is being moved to during the school day in November which will be great for intramurals if they have them. He missed out on soccer for the fall season but they play indoors so I hope they have another session. I know he really wanted to do that.

Charlotte is growing by leaps and bounds. She plays with toys now, grabs her feet and rolls around when she chooses. I think she's a tad behind on the rolling because I didn't give her enough floor time. She doesn't talk as much as before but she still makes sounds, goos, smiles and such. I put up her crib yesterday afternoon, sniff sniff. We had a fairly interesting night. I think she ended up in my bed around 1-ish. It's not so bad except Mia still comes in and the fact that I fell asleep nursing Charlotte and woke up sometime later with her still attached. Not really wanting to go there! I hope she gets used to her crib. I got a cute polka-dotted sheet from Target I like. My dream bedding is by Caden Lane but it's $450 for a set so forgetabout it! I did buy the crib sheet for $30 when I went to check out the bedding. Why did I feel obligated just because it was a small shop and the woman was so very helpful? Now I have to take it back. What would possess me to spend $30 on a stinkin crib sheet? Even if it is stinkin cute LOL! But not that cute.

I think I covered all the kids. We closed the storage unit, put most everything away, sold it or gave it away, finished up the electricity. DH and M were supposed to do the floor and hook up the toilet this past Sunday only to find out that the crappy contractors didn't do the job properly. DH got some hardware to hopefully fix it otherwise we have to tear out the wall - AGAIN. What a so not worth it project. I could grouse about this for several more pages.

But I'll close for now with photos of the crib transformation and a group shot of the kids we're sending out west to a friend battling childhood cancer. Tata for now!

A Better Trade?

Before I begin, I went up at 9:30 to see if dh would like to run to McD's and get us special beverages, my treat. As if it's really my treat since I don't really work LOL! He was sound asleep and looked as if he had been so for quite a while. Back up the truck, jack! When is it MY turn? He spent 4 days in bed last week because he was sick. I don't get to do that. And now he goes to bed at 8:30? The least he could have done was let me know so I could have focused on the ever growing pile of dishes instead of the checkbook. Both are equally important, however, the children can't eat breakfast off a newly reconciled checking account statement. Ah well, I'm sure he'll love the mess when he gets up tomorrow and has to deal with it.

So going back to the trade thing. Typically, I balance the checkbook, juggle the money and pay the bills. It's become increasingly stressful to the point of practically causing me panic attacks. I can't stand it and I walk around with my stomach in knots ALL the time. I'm thinking I should have gone with dh and put the kids in public school this year. I'm probably cutting my life by a good decade with all the stress and worry I burden each day.

The aforementioned dishes are usually handled by dh because I simply can't stand them. I absolutely abhor repetitive tasks. Yes, this includes most housework but that's the way it goes. I'd rather clean the bathroom than do the dishes, yes it's true. So I clean the bathroom and dh does the dishes. I asked dh last night would he mind switching the dishes for the checkbook. I figured the 20+ minutes he spends on the dishes could be spent on the checkbook instead. Maybe he won't get so worked up about it as I do.

I don't plan to be completely hands off but I keep screwing it up. Plus maybe if I have to "report" to someone else I won't be a spendy. I have gotten better in the last couple of weeks and really think about my purchases. I need to especially reign in the fast food and groceries department. Then I need to figure how to squeeze in winter clothes for the children without going broke. We'll see what happens. Likely, I'll be spending the next month showing dh the ropes. Or at least my ropes. He's perfectly capable of balancing a checkbook and paying bills but I need to bring him up to speed. Should prove interesting.

Thank You

Okay so I lost the sure thing bet LOL! I bet my son that the Yankees would beat the Orioles Friday night. I logged on at 10p and it was 9 to 6 I think Yankees up and the 9th inning. I felt bad for potentially taking my son's $. Turns out I owe him! And he didn't let me forget it, either LOL!

At Sabbath School this week they were learning about being thankful. So, the teachers had each child pick someone to write a thank you card to. Both my children picked me. How humbling is that?

Madison wrote "thank you" in her first grade scrawl on the inside and drew some pictures. I need to ask her what they mean.

Matthew wrote some lovely things inside his. It says: thank you mommy for your helping with homework. showing me how to read and spell. you showed me how to pray. I Love you. you also helped me to eat, walk, jump to talk and love. Matthew.

I was moved to tears. Most days I feel like a horrible mother with little patience and not enough time or attention to bestow on my children. I'm short-tempered and quick to shout. Even through all that, my children are thankful for the things I do for them. Again, how humbling.

Week in Review

I see it's been a while, dear Diary (oops I mean blog). Haha! Life sure takes dramatic turns from time to time. I think of blog postings from witty sayings, astute observations on life and funny things my children do/say. But more often than not, they go in one side and out the other before I can even contemplate sitting down to write something. Such is life.

Last weekend I felt kind of stomach fluish and took it easy. DH had a yard sale that didn't do as well as we expected but was still fairly descent, especially after I sold the George Foreman grill. Wahoo! Sunday dh took the kids to family fun day with the Adventurer Club. I slept 1/2 the day and it felt WONDERFUL!

DH came home sick and didn't get out of bed or eat for four freakin days. I know how much he does around the house and with the kids. I know I'm lucky that my dh is involved. I know how much I appreciated it before he got sick but now I appreciate it even more. I thought I was going to have a breakdown, seriously. Taking care of four children plus a sick dh was a little much. Plus I wasn't really sleeping. No one else to get up with a crying baby but me, myself, and I. No one else to get everyone up and dressed, breakfast eaten, lunches packed, pick up kids, fix and clean up supper, homework, piano, baths, stories, bedtime, etc. etc. I'm so glad he's healthy again and not just for selfish reasons.

C ended up with conjunctivitis. I really liked the doctor who saw her at the night-time clinic but we were there for two freaking hours. C was ready to have a conniption because she couldn't lay down and go to sleep in her bed. I didn't feel well myself and was tired while we were left in the siberia of the exam room for 30-45 minutes. Gotta love those pixar movies - NOT! No good mags, etc. If I had known I would have brought a book or something. Anyhow she's better.

I've been freecycling the yard sale leftovers and almost everything is gone. Trying to sell the TV, van and sewing machine. I thought people would jump at a TV for $20. Perhaps not. I was shocked it didn't sell at the yardsale. In the past, stuff like that sold at the beginning. Oh yeah and the train table too. I had 3 people hot to trot and then never heard from them again. I guess I'll relist.

DH's company was sponsoring a fall event tonight. Yankees vs. the Orioles. I bet ds a dollar that the Yankees would win. Haha! He was like I guess I'll be paying you $1 LOL! I was supposed to go but didn't want to leave C that long or worry about pumping milk. Plus, I thought it would be GREAT for ds to do something special with dh. He was so excited. Apparently, he knows more about baseball than I thought.

So, then, I had to do something special for the girls. We went out to dinner in a real sit-down restaurant which is a treat. Madison didn't know that Bob Evans was cheating LOL! We got that same slow waiter we had at Father's Day but thankfully service was much better. Madison had to use the toilet twice which meant hauling everyone to the toilet. Mia spilled her drink on the floor. At least it was under the table but my shoes stuck to the floor and came off when we tried to leave LOL! I *really* wanted a hot fudge sundae but by the time dinner was over I was too tired to fool with it. This old man walked by and hit C's carrier with his cane. I didn't realize what he was up to and wanted to haul off and knock his block off. He was actually very sweet and was so impressed that she was kicking her legs and making the seat rock LOL! But if I had $1 for every time someone asks if it's a girl or boy sitting in a PINK carseat, I'd be rich I tell you. I know it used to be a nickle, but you know I have inflation to think of! The girls were fairly good but don't think I'll be doing that again for a looong while.

Oh, Madison came home from school Wed. after piano and informed me that she had a boyfriend named S and that they kissed. This could be a post by itself but dang she was awfully pleased with herself. She's only SIX! Going on 16 as her teacher said. I spoke to her teacher about it the next day. Perhaps they didn't even kiss but something that she made up but it needed to be dealt with. Oy vey! The next day she got in trouble for being in the bathroom stall with 2 other girls. Who knew what they were doing in there LOL! Girls will be girls.

Matthew cut out of karate early last night. Said he wasn't feeling well. Stopped to get medicine and was soooo impressed with the store. It was just a Giant but it was so splashy, neat and tidy. Even the fruits and veggies were in baskets by type. And it looked fresh too. The only disappointment was the donut section which was pretty much cleared out. He said his throat still hurts today so I hope he's not going to get what dh had. Dh did say he throat didn't hurt, though. They were taking ITBS tests at school all week and finished today with snacks and a movie. It was nice only dealing with one kid's homework for a bit. Madison needs so much assistance with hers and she never gets her work finished in class because she's too busy fooling around or taking too long to color the pictures. Then we have to finish it at home.

Oh, Mia's new favorite word is yes. Before when you'd ask her a question, she'd answer yeah. Now, it's yes but only if she means it of course. It just sounds so cute and decisive coming from her. You know how when a toddler learns the word NO they seem to find all sorts of times to use it. It's like they invent excuses or create scenarios just so they can use their new word. Well, that's what Mia's been doing. It's kind of fun because when I ask her questions now she'll actually think first before answering and I'm getting a lot of yes's instead of automatic no's just because.

Charlotte found her feet this week. She loves playing with them so now instead of seeing her laying flat and kicking her legs, you find her curled up playing with ther feet. It's too cute! I'll have to post a picture after the camera comes back. Also, her eyes turned brown. Several months ago, when you looked at them in the sunshine, they looked brownish but weren't really changed as of yet. But now, in any kind of light they are hazely-brown. Looks like they'll end up being a similiar color to mine. I prefer blue eyes for some reason but now it'll be interesting to see what her hair does. So out of four children, one has blue and the rest brown. Out of six people in the house, four are girls and two are boys. Out of six people in the family, two have blue eyes and four have brown. Out of six people in the house, two have brown/dark hair and four have blonde/light hair. Interesting, no?

I finally called back

And before I forget, I talked to my step-sister the other night LOL! I was going to call her Sunday evening but she beat me to it. Turns out she's getting married. Two days after my birthday. Ugh. Why in the heck someone chooses to get married at Christmas time I don't know. We don't have enough time to get done what needs doing and I don't really feel like buying a gift and going to a wedding for someone I don't really care for.

She was all happy happy lala of course. But I swear, she acts like queen mother. The first sentence out of her mouth was I'm getting married. Then she was like, well you know as the mother of three kids....

PULEEZE, FREAKING PULEEZE LET IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're talking to a woman with four children, two of which are under three. I don't want to hear you talk about being a mom of three when the youngest is 6. Plus they are only there part-time. So anyhow. I'm not queen mother by any means but I don't talk about it all the time to everyone in hearing distance. Anyway, so that drama is all done until December rolls around.

Weekend in Review

First, I'd like to say thanks for the comments. Love those! Athena, I love the pastel colors too. I should post a picture of the new flower print :D

Saturday night I talked dh into going out to dinner. That was great. We went to Olive Garden and it was yummy. Salad, bread sticks, bruchetta and ravioli. MMMMMM!

Sunday I planned to go to a baby shower but Mia woke up early and threw up so I sayed home. We got SO much accomplished. Most of the laundry was washed and dried, we organized some of the basement and the yard sale stuff, totally cleaned out Madison's room. She now has one basket of toys and her dollhouse stuff only in her room. That should help when it's time to clean up. She now has the cleanest, neatest room in the house LOL! DH started the same thing with Matthew but it didn't have the same results. We've been trying to encourage the kids to sell some of their toys to make room and earn some money.

By the same token, we have to guard the yard sale stuff so that it doesn't end up back in the play areas LOL! It felt good to get so much done. We had Taco's for dinner and that was good too.

Monday was a low day for me. I tried to tell dh how I've been feeling but he wasn't really tuned in. Oh well, maybe I'll try again another time. If I admit something is wrong then I'll have to do something about it. And that scares me more than just dealing. I decided to spend the day out of the house yesterday but that didn't go so well. My saving grace was the stroller was in the van I was driving when I got to the circle mall. But the line at TCP was too long so I didn't even finish all my errands there. Kind of a waste.

Went to the grocery and Mia had an explosive diaper. She said she pooped a minute or two before I was done shopping. I smelled something so I looked down and green was getting ready to ooze right out the top of her pull up. So we trotted over to the restroom where it took me ten minutes to clean her up. And then I didn't have a clean shirt so she gleefully told everyone we passed that she was naked LOL! Today she had another so I laid her down to change her and stuff just oozed everywhere. I was like a volcano oozing down the mountain. Yech. I guess it's better than changing 20 diapers of diarrhea a day but still. I'll be glad when this is over. And to top it off, Charlotte has the goopy eye.

I picked up the kids and then between 4-6 I had to unload and put up the groceries, help Matthew study for his plant test and do other work, supervise piano, help Madison with her homework. We never made it it to piano. Supervise Mia who gets into all things and keep after the baby. I think the baby slept through most of the evening so that was nice. I also had to cook up dinner. It was a lot and I couldn't figure out how to stagger myself.

It just always feels like I hear I need I need I need I need and it's overwhelming, I tell you. I think I would like to have someone take care of me for a change. I love my dh dearly and wouldn't change him for the world but he's not really a "caretaker" type of husband, iykwim. My scrapbook class is over so I kind of miss the emails but not the pressure to keep up with the class. Of course, my other extra obligations are less, i.e. storage organization, etc. but there's still tons of other stuff to do. Like fold and put away a week's worth of laundry for a family of six including stomach flu clean ups.

Oh, I had more to write but I can't think of what else right now. I'm trying to live auction, Craigslist and ebay some stuff before the yard sale. I'm not very good at gauging what will or will not sell on ebay so that's always a crap shoot. I sold one thing that so far has covered the fees so at least I'm not out any $ just time. I expect my dh's toys to go for something so at least we'll get those out as well. September is no-listing-fee month up to like $9.99 so that's been some savings. I just can't wait to get rid of this stuff. I put up an auction of a couple dozen items for $1 or less but no one's biting. I'm not sure if my stuff is that bad or people just expect name brands all the time. Or maybe it's me. My self-esteem is just that low LOL!