in response to the question: were you guys really early for church?

Kids in van with Aunt Mags and mommy, Emily.

Followed closely by Aunt Em, Bradford, Aunt Sarah, and twinsville in the rental.

How about all those babes?!

Wish I could invest in some pew real estate.

From L to R
Top: Emily with Jack
Bottom: Reese, Sarah with Brooks, Maggie with Bo, Emily with Bradford, Ella, and Sadie

Yes, it was a 10:35 AM arrival time for a 10:40 AM service. I was even able to get Bo, Ella, and Jack into their classes before worship started.

Today

I feel like today just sort of happened. I mean, I lived every minute of it, but it's slipped through my fingers so quickly and I'm just a little shocked that it's 10:19 PM.

We enjoyed some late morning lounging with our morning drink of choice.

Celebrated Bradford and Emily's arrival with an impromptu infant photo shoot that yielded absolutely pricelessness.

Really, is this for real?

Ever wondered what bathtime is like with seven little ones. How about Mags pulling the double duty here?

We ended the night with our evening Bible time and catechism questions.

It's now 10:21, and the house is quiet other than the hum of the dishwasher. We've laughed hard, eaten well, and can't wait to get up and do it all again tomorrow.

Yesterday

I'm tired, but I thought I would send a quick recap of the past two days. So much fun it's hard not to archive it here for when my memory [inevitably] fails.

Ella knew Maggie's suitcase contained her flower girl dress, so she got right down to the business of trying it on and working the flower petals. She is out of her mind excited for this flower girl experience.

Ella also became the self declared welcome comittee for Brooks and Reese and showed them the the best ways to utilize the playmat.

She was also happy to shower Reese with kisses.



This is the same Reese that she decided should be called "Reesey, Piece of Pizza." She thinks it's pretty hysterical that Sarah calls Reese "pieces" so she had to get in on the action.

Bring it on

I'm sitting in the study with Sadie snuggled into my lap. She is that happy, post-bottle milk coma. It's time for her nap, but I'm waiting for Jack to settle down in the pack n' play before I bust in there to put Sadie down for a nap in the other pack n' play.

Em and precious little Bradford arrived moments ago.
The twins are rocking the nap snuggled into their crib.
Bo's enjoyed his video game time and Ella is up from her rest.

This is unbelievable!

I seriously wonder if there will be many hours of the day that someone is not eating or crying. I do anticipate a few quiet hours here and there, but it's a veritable circus of children, for sure!

Lots of pictures and stories to come..

Cousinpalooza '10

I can't believe I'm leaving in a few short minutes to pick up my sisters and the twinsies at the airport! I keep walking by the pictures on the fridge thinking they are coming here!

In the house we have two air mattresses, two pack n' plays, two cribs, and three beds with fresh sheets.
Between the car and the garage, I currently have SIX car seats.
And the den looks like this...

Bring on the cousin fun!

Here a seat, There a seat

Jack loves finding creative places to sit and play!

Sooo happy...

Accountability and Encouragement

I've been pretty motivated to shed the weight I gained during Sadie's pregnancy.

With my sister's wedding fast approaching, I'm working on getting my body into this

on the same day my baby is five months old.

Yikes! Something tells me that model is not rocking a post-partum bod. And lest you feel utterly sorry for me, I will be one of four bridesmaids to have had a baby in the past 7 months, so at least I'm not alone!

Unfortunately, the end of my pregnancy and this wedding preparation just happened to coincide with us discontinuing our gym membership. There are lots of reasons that this was the best decision, but it's forced me to be more creative with how I'm exercising these days.

Fortunately, the kids have really gotten into exercising with me. Along with their enthusiasm comes some serious accountability. Bo and Ella both ask me daily when we are going to work out.

One particular day Ella asked all through the morning, "when, when, when?" and I explained that Sadie's schedule was a little different that day so it would have to be in the afternoon. "Really, mom" she responded, "or are you just making excuses?"

But really, who wouldn't want to work out with this kind of entertainment?

Bo has gotten so into it that he often picks up the weights throughout the day and narrates his own mini session. He's even figured out how to double his weights for maximum effect.

And lest you think Jack is left out of the experience, he's just as into it as the other two!

Sorry for the video quality here. I took advantage of the moment to sieze the video and didn't want to ruin my chance at capturing the moment on film by turning on the light. I was also giving Sadie a bottle at the time, which puts a serious limitation on my ability to move quickly!

All of the excitement about working out is not without lots of encouragement. As we work our way through the video the kids are quick to tell me I'm doing a great job or that I'm really working hard. It's great motivation when things get a little sweaty.

The other night as I was putting Bo to bed, he reached up to feel my arms and said, "wow, mom, you really are getting tight and toned."

Ella also encouraged me by letting me know that I have a "rock in my bottom." It was her understanding of the instructor's explanation that there was a certain move that would give us a "rocking lower body."

After each workout, there are high fives for everyone and the kids each like to take a turn feeling my face to see if I've worked hard enough to be sweaty.

The good news is that it's working! I'm four pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight, which is the same weight I've been at the start of each of my pregnancies.

I remember when I hit that weight after Jack's birth. I was particularly proud of myself that morning as I headed into my body pump class at the gym. It was in that class that a friend casually commented that I was really starting to loose the weight and that I was looking pretty good.

"Thanks," I responded enthusiastically!

"So, what do you have like ten more pounds now that you want to lose?"

We'll just say I worked out pretty hard that day!

After that experience, I've modified my expectations slightly, and I'm now about 8 pounds away from my goal weight.

Eight pounds in eight weeks. That's doable, right? I think I'd better go do some crunches...

I can't believe I haven't made a paper chain yet!

In one week, pure chaos is going to descend on our house in the form of three sisters and three infants.

I am so pumped.

The only bummer is that Hannah, my youngest sister, can't make it :( But I guess someone has to go to college classes and rock the volleyball team at GA Southern!

Maggie is getting married in a few short weeks, but she's taking the week off from all the wedding plans and coming to hang out.

Can you tell that she is adored?

Maggie's coming, in part, to help my sister get these precious little things from point A to point B. I haven't seen these little ones since early September when they were itty bitties, and I am aching to see them and hear the belly laughs my sister's been talking about for a while now.

Oh. my. I could eat them up!

not really, but you know what I mean, right?

And in a stroke of pure amazingness, my sister-in-law, Emily, jumped on the travelpalooza bandwagon.

Remember Emily? The last time I saw her we were both pretty pregnant.

She had her first little one a mere five weeks ago. Ummm, yeah, I was pretty much not leaving the house when Bo was five weeks old, much less the state!

So now, we get to add sweet snuggly Bradford to the mix of all this cousin fun.

I could just bust with all this excitement! It promises to be interesting with SEVEN little ones five and under in the same house for the week. Providentially, Emily is renting a car so at least we can leave the house as a crowd if we're up for it.

Oh, the stories we will have. Love it!

it was bound to happen sooner or later

UPDATED:

I knew Bo was feeling better when he popped up from his restime to talk to me while I was giving Sadie her bottle:
"Mom, do you know how to view messages on Gigi's phone?"
"No, Bo, no I don't know."
"Oh, well don't worry, it's really easy. You just look at the menu and you choose the option to view now or view later. Okay? Now do you know?"

So we're officially back in business!

Bo started throwing up this morning, marking our first illness since November 2009.

I think staying in the house for nine weeks straight was the biggest factor in our health, but it was nice to have kids that weren't sick this winter.

You can flush that streak down the toilet!

Bo's in pretty good spirits considering that even the water and pedialyte are coming back up. He finally felt hungry enough to eat a piece of dry toast and applesauce. It's been ten minutes and it's still down, so I'm hoping we're through the worst of it!

warming up

One of the things I missed during our time at home in the weeks following Sadie's birth was running errands with my kids. I feel half crazy even writing those words, but I really enjoy having my kids with me during the day, even for the mundane things like grocery shopping.

The doctor cautioned us especially about keeping Sadie out of crowded stores during her first eight weeks, so I was doing my errands in the evenings after the kids are down.

This would likely be difficult except that there is one place that I shop on a regular basis, and it happens to be open 24 hours. I make a weekly trip for all our grocery, cosmetic, and household needs. I won't tell you my store of choice for fear that it might taint your view of my glamorous lifestyle, but it rhymes with small cart.

I have found that doing all of our shopping in one place and only making one trip really saves us money, saves me time, and keeps me sane.

Oh, and now I'm feeling a little guilty for not being completely truthful...I do buy our milk from a local dairy, so I guess technically that's two stores, but you get my drift.

Now, I love an occasional trip to target for things that only they carry or just to linger on the aisles, but that's certainly not a weekly or even monthly occurrence!

Anyhow, there's a point here, so I'd better just get to it!

I've not yet done my grocery trip with all the kids. It's worked better these past three weeks since Sadie's surgery for me to continue to do it solo in the evenings. Given the sheer amount of time it takes during the day to give Sadie bottles, I'm not sure when we will all begin doing the grocery shopping together again. That, and I'm still not sure how I will get all four children through the store. They don't make a cart big enough to seat four.

I've had a few little errands to run this week as we are sorting, cleaning, and staging the house to put it on the market in a few short weeks. I figured it was high time I got everyone loaded in the car and out the door for some errands. It's just not going to be possible for me to do all I need to do during the 43 minutes I have each evening between the big kids bed time and Sadie's last bottle of the night.

So this morning we did breakfast, baths, bottle, potty, and shoes, and we were out the door at 10:45. After two short stops, we were back in the driveway by noon...just in time for lunch, nap time, and another bottle for Sadie.

It was nice to get out of the house with all the kids. They listened and obeyed and we giggled our way through the morning. It feels a little like a warm up for when we actually all begin running all the errands together on a regular basis.

Sadie the baby doll [Ella's little one] got to come along as well, even though she was taking a nap when it was time for us to go. The good news is that she sleeps in her car seat, so it was pretty easy to get her into the car.

She was pretty whiny today, but Ella assured me she was sorry and reminded the other Sadie many times that whining is not how we should communicate.

Gotta love the fact that I got home and realized that the things I bought aren't really what I needed so everything will have to be returned. Guess we'll be running errands again soon!

Super Sadie

oh. my. 12 weeks.

FIVE

It really happened. He really turned five. We had a couple friends over Saturday for lunch and cake. Bo was insistent it be a "football" party, so he wore his favorite UGA t-shirt, we played football games, and we ate football shaped pizza and cupcakes.

He had a blast and he's still talking about it so I consider it a successful day!

Can't believe this little man is really FIVE!

I asked him how he liked the cake.

"It's just delicious!"

thoughts

rushed into the study after Sadie's bottle took longer than anticipated to try and get an address for a card that was supposed to go in the mail Saturday!

as I'm searching, I hear the mail truck and officially realized I've missed the chance to get the card in the mailbox today.

kids [who have been clingy, and whiny, and unkind for the better part of the morning] are happy to be in the study and have suddenly started playing happily.

don't want to disrupt all the fun so I'm taking advantage of the happy moments to download a few pictures and revisit the blog

this blog is starting to feel a little bit like a neglected houseplant...dry, needing more water, substance, and time than I seem to have these days

jack brings me a magnetic letter from the easel, "w, w, w" he says. "yes, buddy," it's a w."

Sadie is rebelling against the nap I had planned for her and I hear her begging to join her brother's and sister as we play

the marble run just took a tumble and needs to be restructured...it was one of Bo's birthday presents and it's been a big hit. love hearing Jack yell "round and round and round" as he watches the marbles navigate the twists and turns...off to help...marble tower restored...kids are happy and occupied once again

Sadie's decided she will go ahead and nap

time to check on my pictures and maybe get something else posted here...

Tomorrow

I've been a little nostalgic today.

As Bo has bounced around clapping his hands and announcing to anything and everyone that he will be five tomorrow, I just can't help but travel down memory lane.

Five years ago I got up early and cleaned the house top to bottom. This was my Saturday routine as I worked during the week, so I was up and at 'em scrubbing floors and wiping counters.

I went grocery shopping just before lunch and then came home and lingered without interruption in a hot shower.

I stared in amazement at my swollen belly, the spotless apartment, the baby bed, my packed hospital bags and wondered at it all.

I went shopping with a friend that afternoon and chatted, giggled, and lingered in the aisles of the store.

J and I got all fancied up and had a big dinner with some of the couples from the church we attended. We ate delicious food and laughed and laughed and laughed. At one point I was laughing so hard that the woman next to me begged me to stop for fear I would send myself into labor.

Oh, certainly not, I thought to myself, I'm only 38 weeks!

Sure enough, it was less than 24 hours before Bo was snuggled into my arms. An event so magnanimous that I am still trying to understand what it means and how it will affect my life.

Tomorrow my baby turns five. Sigh.

Simultaneous naps

Since the birth of Ella, I feel like my sanity from day to day hinges on having the kids take simultaneous naps. On any given day, the 45 minute "rest time" is the only kid free time I have until all the kids are tucked quietly into their beds. Before Sadie came along, I had a few hours in the evenings as well, but with our current schedule of pumping and bottles, it's 10 PM before all the kids are snoozing.

I had it worked out so that Sadie napped with the others, but I found that the day was much smoother with a few modifications to her schedule. Unfortunately, one of those changes meant that she now gets a bottle from 12:30-1 PM and my naptime was gone. I've been doing that for the better part of a week, and while it was working well, an afternoon of musical children and an evening of Sadie left little time for me.

So today I made a little shift in the schedule that resulted in all the children being down a little after 1 PM. I have 44 minutes to myself, and I'm so excited I could positively bust!

I just finished a cup of coffee and was actually able to drink the whole thing in one sitting without a single trip to the microwave for a reheat. And I spent a quiet time actually being quiet. Unbelievable. I noticed the date as I was journaling and couldn't help but think about the last two weeks.

Two weeks ago today, Sadie was chillin' like this...

A week ago, we were giggling like this...

And today, she's hanging loose with only one little scab to remind us of the events of the last two weeks...


It's hard to believe!

What's even harder to believe is that today was our original surgery date. I'm so overwhelmingly thankful that we're two weeks out already. I just can't believe how the time is flying!

an open letter to Aunt Maggie

Aunt Maggie,

We are so excited about your wedding, and we really like Justin. He is so smart that he can speak in Spanish and make the cool bug noises in our ears with his fingers.

Mom has been explaining to us what it will be like to be the ring bearer and flower girl. She seems to think that preparing us for the event will make things go smoothly!

I [Ella] have been working on the perfect strategy for the rose distribution. Do I have to use all the petals? Will they be rose petals? Will mommy really have a treat for me at the end of the aisle? These are all questions I would really like to have the answers to pretty soon.

I [Bo] am trying to remember that I don't have to run down the aisle. Am I really going to get to carry the rings? Will I really use a pillow? If so, there will have to be a string because it's really hard to balance them on a pillow. Also, I'm a little concerned about the size of the pillow. We've tried several different sizes and it turns out I'm pretty particular. I think I can be a little flexible if there really is a treat for me when I get to mommy.

Mommy hasn't broken the news to me [Jack] that I'm not in the wedding yet. I think I would be really good at running down the aisle too, but then you might end up holding me at the altar because I really like to be held. Actually, that's my nap time, so I don't think I will even be available.

We are both [Bo and Ella] excited that we get to come down the aisle before you and have special jobs. Since we've been spending a lot of time in the house, mommy decided to help us practice. She even got some video so you could let us know how we're doing.

We still need a little work, but we're hoping our technique will be perfect by April 24!

love,

Bo and Ella

p.s.-Thanks aunt Sarah for the practice kit with rose petals for me [Ella]. I really like it and I have now decided that every time Sadie cries it is because she is sad about not having her own rose petals. Don't worry though, I keep telling her that she can have some of them when she gets a little bigger and older.

Hard to believe

It's snowing again!

We were all looking forward to Bible study this morning, but it looks like we are headed for another day or two in the house.

I can honestly say that I don't really mind the prospect of a few more mornings snuggled in with the kids. This isn't exactly the type of weather that makles toting kids in and out of the car enjoyable.

As we were watching the snow fall, Bo exclaimed, "wow, the snow is coming down so fast. I think it's going to snow for forty days and forty nights!"

She seems pretty happy with the results.

I'd hoped to take some great shots of Sadie after our appointment today, but real life happened! After finally finishing her bottle, Sadie had a major blowout. She was so happy while I was changing her that I couldn't resist a few pictures. Poop stain, naked baby, and lots of smiles are certainly our reality right now!

Meow

It's hard to believe that by this time tomorrow Sadie's stents will be out of her nose and the steri-strips will be off of her lip. We're all pretty excited about heading into a new normal. Sadie has really handled everything well, but I know she will feel better when those glorified straws come out of her nose.

And Ella, Ella will be so excited to actually kiss Sadie on the face again. She's utilized tremendous restraint over the last ten days, but she is just dying to kiss all over her little sister.

At breakfast, the kids were asking what day it was so I told them it was Thursday.

Bo: "Ella, do you know what that means? That means tomorrow is Friday?"
Ella: "Yay! That is so exciting! [clapping her hands] That means Sadie gets her whiskers off!"



Indeed, little one, the whiskers come off tomorrow!

Another one bites the dust...

I feel it necessary to preface this with a disclaimer that there is no one in this home that currently owns an iphone. J and I both have bottom of the line phones that are pretty much just suitable for talking and texting.

Apparently, Marmee's iphone made a big impression during her visit for Sadie's birth!

Today at lunch, Ella announces, "yeah, I think I will need an iphone too so I can have cool ringtones!"

Oh, my!

I don't think so...

I had a moment of pause the other night when I actually sat down to look at my calendar and realized it's February. What? I think I'm still lost somewhere back in October of 2009.

February means that this little [or not so little any more] guy

turns FIVE in less than two weeks.

Yikes!

In an attempt to get the birthday wheels turning, I asked Bo if there was anything special he wanted for his birthday.

"Yeah mom, I would like an iphone with some cool new ringtones."

"Anything else you're hoping for, Bo?"

"How about a puppy?"

Could be a disappointing birthday for the Bo man...

My girl is back!

It's hard to believe that a week ago we were racing around to get Sadie's weight checked and preparing for surgery. I'm so thankful at this point that the surgery is behind us. Really, really thankful that we are done with surgeries for a while.

I felt like those first 48 hours were rough. I was lost in this fog of "what is going on here" and Sadie was in pain when she was awake.

Then began two days of syringe feedings, which no one really enjoyed. An hour and a half of battling with an infant who just had surgery to have her take 2 ounces was pretty discouraging. We weathered that and then moved back to the bottle.

I love these pics of Sadie having her first bottle post surgery.

I actually think that I look pretty relieved too. I knew that going back to the bottle wasn't going to make everything easy again, but I was hopeful Sadie would be able to relax and enjoy eating.



While Sadie did enjoy the first ounce or two of the bottle, it was almost always still a battle to get her to eat. I could tell that she was not in pain, but it was obvious she did not want to eat. The crazy thing was that I would struggle with her for 10, 20, 30 minutes and then she would start eating like nothing was wrong. Sometimes she latched on right away and then fought it later into the bottle. I can honestly say we tried everything we could think of to get her eating comfortably, but it was no use. We all finally just gave up and took a deep breath before starting the bottle.

When Gigi left yesterday, I was a little overwhelmed at the prospect of doing it all on my own.


We all looked happy as we headed out the door to take Gigi to the airport, but no one was happy about it!

I was used to feedings taking an hour or an hour and a half, but toss in struggling with Sadie as she screamed, and I wasn't all that excited about doing it on my own. The hard part is that as soon as I got her comfortably sucking away on the bottle, someone had to potty or eat or be disciplined for stepping on someone else's head.

What a pleasant surprise when we sat down to do Sadie's last bottle of the day and she immediately settled into eating. When we stopped to burp I took a deep breath anticipating a fight. What do you know? She jumped right back in to eating and took five ounces in about 45 minutes.

4:30 AM she drifted off after 3 happy ounces and settled right back into sleep.

8 AM she downed almost five ounces again in less than an hour and was just as happy and content as can be.

I know many of you have been praying specifically about our feedings, and I'm just so thankful at how God is answering those prayers. I'm just amazed at Sadie and how she has handled this whole experience. If she's really back to eating 4-5 ounces happily at each feeding then that is no small victory!
I know we are all continuing to adjust, but I'm really in awe of the journey so far.