I'm Old

I have been super tired lately.

*Baby Bird has been sleeping less-than-stellar.
*J has been out of town and/or on watch, so I have had few breaks from the kids.  And when he's not home, I don't sleep as well anyway.
*My hip has been giving more trouble than usual (most likely compounded by carrying a peanut-girl on it).
*The hip problem leads to stiffness in the morning and stiffness if I sit too long.
*Mt Etna has decided to smoke and not just spit steam, so my sinuses are achy
*My pinky finger is a little tingly right now from typing.
*I might be dying.  Or, at the very least, losing spare parts right and left as part of my imminent demise.
*On top of that, I'm about to turn 37.  I really don't care how old I am in theory.  But really, each year, I know I get older.
*And, I found some more gray hairs recently.

I have bulleted my complaints so that you can feel the appropriate amount of sympathy for me on each point.

Most days, when Birdie goes down for her afternoon nap and I have separated the older kids for alone time, or sent them out-doors, I hide up on the top floor and sew.
Some days, I don't feel like it at all.  
Some days, I am super excited on whatever project I'm working on.
Some days, I don't make it to the top floor beyond doing a load of laundry or two.

Today, despite my old age maladies, I finished the older girls dresses.  I have left a mess on the table top, but the dresses are done.  I reserve the right to make one more dress or some shorts for our upcoming trip in August.  But for now, their wardrobes are ready for warmer days and sunshine!  I also am prepared for warmer days.  I have dreams of swinging in my porch swing (mentally, since we left it in Jacksonville) and maybe catching a cat nap or two.

I have posted pictures of the dresses on my crafty blog, if you are so inclined to look.  If not, that's cool.  Just make sure you say a little prayer that I'll make it another day, it's kinda iffy right now, I think my big toe just fell off :)

Mrs. Lynde

"Folks that has brought up children know that there's no hard and fast method in the world that'll suit every child.  But them as never have think it's all as plain and easy as Rule of Three- just set your three terms down so fashion, and the sum'll work out correct.  But flesh and blood don't come under the head of arithmetic..."

~ Mrs. Rachel Lynde, Anne of Green Gables

L.M. Montgomery

Raising kids is hard.  We often, laughingly say, we are "off, like a herd of turtles".  It really should't even be a herd of turtles, it should be a quora of turtles.  But no one can ever remember that, so herd is what we use.  I'm not sure what a real herd of turtles looks like, but in my mind, it is a bunch of  moving creatures going to twenty different directions and thirty different speeds.  Usually we aren't as slow as turtles, quite the opposite.  Maybe a should say,  we are "off like a bunch of bunnies being chased by a fox", that may be more appropriate.  And if you have ever had the pleasure of seeing my kids empty out of the van, you will understand my phrasing.  

When my oldest was a toddler and it was just him, we had this magnet that we stuck on the van.  I had painted a blue dinosaur on it and it said "The Circle of Safety".  When I unloaded him, he was told to put his hand on the dinosaur while I got whatever else I needed. If he was touching the dino, he was not running into the parking lot. 

And then, there were triplets.

When I started teaching my oldest, he just "got" math.  It wasn't hard (except for ordinal numbers, but skittles fixed that) for him to understand.  He didn't always want to do the worksheets, but that was no biggie.  He knew what was going on.  

And then, the girls were school age.

Showing the kids how to stir a bowl of cookie dough.   Simple.

And then, I had two left handed kids.

I have six kids.  Six personalities. Six different tastes in clothing.  Six different food preferences.  Six different responses to schooling.  Six ways to discipline.  Six was to think and act and do.  

I often complain about intricacies and the difficulties.  Then there are times I sit back and enjoy the uniqueness.  Right now they are having an epic battle.  I have broken up about 10 fights and am ready to send them all to their rooms.  But. In the middle of the battle, Baby Bird decided to head up the stairs.  She made it up one step before one of the soldiers stopped her game to play with Birdie to follow her upstairs and pound on the tiger xylophone.

In the battle, a boy and a girl disagreed as to the rules (which they make up as they go along which is part of the problem).  The other two boys united with the third boy.  Not fair to the lone girl, but they united.  

We are about to eat breakfast and they will sit at the table and eat together and probably argue and make plans and laugh and make too much noise.  But their little individual pieces make up our unit. It drives me crazy 99% of the time, but without it I think I would be lost.  

Raising kids is definitely not arithmetic.  It's like trying to read ancient text before the Rosetta Stone was found.  It's hard. 

I am taking heart that it is a season.  A really, really long season.  A season that rains and suns, is wet and dry, cold and warm.  A season, I am told, that I will miss.  A season that is difficult, but worth the effort. I pray I don't miss the golden moments of the days and the rainbows hiding just around the corner.  I pray I see the differences and grin.  I pray I can train these rascals in God honoring ways and that, one day, I can look back with a genuine smile and praise Him for helping me muddle through it.

The Valley of the Temples, Trip 1

Jay Bird works long hours here.  And he has 12 hour watches randomly scattered throughout the month.  Most of his watches are from 8 at night until 8 in the morning.  This means that while we are up doing school and playing, he is counting sheep and sawing logs.  Add in an out of town trip here and there and he stays pretty busy.  Occasionally, he has a whole day off, and we have no plans.  One glorious day just happened (in fact, he had three whole days in a row off), and we decided to check out one of the spots we (if it's any good) plan on taking anyone who comes to visit.

After a leisurely breakfast and little stop on base to run two small errands, we headed out on our 2ish hour trip west to the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento.  Agrigento was home to the Greeks (and others) in the 6th century BC.  There are several ancient ruins to explore.  You can not actually go into the temples, but you can get super close.  And since we showed up early, in February, on a weekday, it was blessedly quiet.  It cost us 4 euro to park and 20 euro to get in (because kids under 18 are free, woot woot).


We took a picture of the map when we first arrived.  Everyone counted that we would see five temples or ruins.  As we prepared to leave, we could only think of two, maybe three ruins that we had seen.  Apparently, we only walked through about half of the things available.  And we were there almost four hours and walked miles... which is a lot for those of us with short legs :)

This is the the Temple of Juno (Hera).  The tree in the background is a newly blossoming Almond tree and it smelt heavenly.  We didn't know it when we went, but in the next few weeks, the grounds, which are covered in Almond trees will be in full bloom!!!

Pretty Girl walked up to this tree while I tried to take a picture.  I let her stay :)

We found this fairly new walk path.  The plants that are being trained over the trellis are jasmine.  We found a few blossoms on them, and it too smelt heavenly.  It will be dizzying once the trellis is covered!

We walked down this dirt path towards the Roman Quarter.  Looking back you can see the Temple of Concordia.

I was completely unprepared to see these mosaics.  I have only seen these type things in text books.  I  spent quite a bit of time trying to get the kids to appreciate the amount of time and work that went into laying mosaic floor like this.  They were not impressed, but I was in awe.

A shepherd was herding his sheep (and a few goat) through a field near the Roman Quarter.  If you click on the picture and look behind the center Almond trees, you can see the Temple of Concordia again.  

Everyone was tired of walking.  But we saw the Temple of Concordia before heading home.  Next visit, we will be better prepared, and we will go earlier in the day so we can see it all!

I am so glad that we got to go on a little adventure this week.  It will have to serve us well as we slide back into our more normal (and less exciting) week!

If you'd like to read more about the Valley of the Temples

Mind. Blown.

I do not watch "shooter" movies.  I do not even enter the room with my head up if my husband is playing a video game that might involve shooting. Why?  I rarely dream, so I can't say I have nightmares, but I do have a very active imagination when I go to bed, or if I wake up in the middle of the night. And during those quiet times, I tend to casually remember blood and guts and... stuff.

My only exception to this rule is the Lego video games, which I can totally handle, because characters "dying" with little lego arms and legs laying about, is not scary (it's actually pretty true to real life in this house).

So if a show J and I are watching happens to have guts and gore, I close my eyes.  To be truthful, I wasn't watching anyway because I'm usually sewing or knitting or working on a puzzle.  I find actual movie watching kinda boring.

Unfortunately, I really like thriller type movies/shows.  I like there to be a problem and a solution and enjoy the roller coaster ride along the way.  This is most likely because I am a scaredy cat in real life.  I have to live vicariously through these characters from the safety of my couch.

Often with this type genre, there tends to be a lot of shooting of the "bad guy", which, I don't watch, but listen to.   So, I know I have seen (heard) shows and movies before that take place in some Middle Eastern Country (I am picturing Jack Bauer in my head).  It's dusty and hot.  There are questionable people loitering in the streets.  And there is always, always, a truck (probably a Toyota) driving down the street.  There is a man in the bed of this truck with his big (illegal in the US) gun.  There is an equally scary man  hanging out the passenger window (without a seat belt on, I'm sure).  While the truck drives by, policing the streets (or whatever it is they are supposed be doing), a (state-of-the-art) sound system spews something.  I assumed it was propaganda or warning ("stay inside or we shoot").  It really just sounds like the teacher on the other end of the phone on Charlie Brown.

In August we transplanted to Sicily.  And in September we moved into our home for the next few years.  We don't live in a super big town, but it's still fairly large.  And, quite obviously, things are done differently here than in the US.  So.  Imagine my surprise one day as I was doing something in my bedroom to hear this strange sound.  The sound of a (not-so-state-of-the-art) speaker blasting up the hill from our home.  In that same (masculine) Charlie Brown teacher voice. I guess I might be more brave  than I figured because I walked outside on my balcony to check it out.

There was only one vehicle rolling down the hill towards the house.  It was dusty, but may have been red. It had a tent-like cover on the back. I thought that maybe a "bad guy" was lurking back there.  There was no passenger, but I could see a rather short driver.  The volume increased on the sound system.  The truck slowly inched past my house and I was going to see what sort of men patrol our streets.  I was curious.   A little nervous.  Mostly curious.

The truck rolled past, speakers blaring.  I turned back inside and laughed at myself.  My mind had been blown. Never again will I watch/hear that sound again in one of those action shows and think fear and intimidation.  Never.  I will always remember this almost daily occurrence of the vegetable and fruit man driving by waiting on people to run out with their euros to purchase artichoke and carrots. Artichoke. And carrots. Well, I guess that's not as exciting, but much safer.  Maybe next summer, he'll start selling gelato too.

Laundry and Clothes

From the time we had more than 4 kids, we always had a laundry room/space/whole-in-the-wall right off or near the kitchen.  It was not difficult to start a load of laundry and tend to those loads while making breakfast or snack, or lunch, or another snack, or dinner.  1-2 loads of laundry a day did not seem too bad to me.

A few years ago (when I only had 5 kids to wash clothes for), a friend told me about her plans to decrease her laundry loads.  So, despite my light loads (pun intended), I was totally interested.  At heart I'm a minimalist.  And less laundry means less stuff to make laundry.

Her plan was simple - each child gets xxx clothes and that was it.  No more trips to Target that involved buying 2 t-shirts because they were cute.  In our house, that meant the kids all had 7 pairs of shorts and 6 shirts and a nice church shirt, and the girls had a nice church dress.  Socks, and underwear, of course.  No full-to-the-brim drawers. Less laundry!

But fall came and I bought clearance stuff for the next summer.  And winter came and I bought layers that were never worn ("I'm not cold, Mama").  Hand-me-downs that I had planned on using didn't fit.  Time went by and we were back up in clothing volume.  I had not followed through with my less-clothing-for-less-laundry plan.  And now, with my business closed due to our move and a fabric buying habit that has forgotten I only have my kids to sew for,  the lack of age appropriate clothing in our US store, and the ignorance as to wear to buy locally sold clothes, I am reinstating the clothing ban.

For now, I know the big girls have some things from last summer, but most of it was tight or short or stained, so anything I find that still fits is a bonus.  I found that the girls wear either jammies or dresses 90% of the time (oh the conveniences of being homeschooled). So this year, I am making them 6 dresses each, one of which will be nicer.  Two sets of jammies, and a new swim suit. The baby gets 7 outfits, and 3 sets of jammies, her swimsuit from last year still fits I believe.

I really think we have enough for the boys to each have 6 pairs of shorts, 6 shirts and 2 nice shirts and a nice pair of shorts or slacks, a pair of swim trunks and rash guard.

As for shoes.  Everyone has a pair of tennis shoes.  The girls get a pair of sandals for the summer.  Some kids have flip flops and I think those that don't, will get a pair for pool trips.  And, that's about it.

That's the plan anyway. I'll let you know if my summer dreams actually take affect.

Happy Dance

Weeks ago, I logged onto Blogger with the intention of starting up this blog again (because my fans requested it).  I got logged on just fine, but something terrible happened.  Everything was in Italian.  That happens a lot, but for the life of me, I could not find the button to switch it to English (because everything was in Italian).  Usually, I push through and guess what is going on, but that day, I closed the screen planning to "try again tomorrow".

After walking in circles around the house today (for exercise, because that's how normal people do it), I decided today is "tomorrow"... and I found the button.  Oh happy dance!  I can understand what is written on the screen!

Happy Dance.

Happy Dance.

Happy Dance.

I must explain something here.  It is a mental happy dance.

1) I have not had coffee yet

2) It's 7:01am

3) I don't really dance.  And when I do it looks like that weird dance in one of the Charlie Brown movies where everyone just stands in place hopping up and down and their head falls to the side

4) The kids look at me like an alien when I do dance

5) I have very, very poor left foot/right foot coordination

6) I have a big chest (it's all relative... before you going judging the girls).  Big chested people don't dance, or run, or jog, or walk fast, unless there is strong mesh holding you in.  Or someone just got seriously hurt (the kind of hurt that you will accept as a valid reason for knocking on the bathroom door right after you sat down to tinkle).

That being said. Happy Dance.

Re-Book Review (again)

I am so glad I have taken the summer off for book reviews and blogging in general.  For the second time, the gracious people at Bethany House have had to contact me because I have missing blog reviews.  I write the review in blogger and then edit it for an Amazon review, so I know it was here at some point. But drat, they keep dissappearing!  So, long story short, here is my re-post of Death by the Book!!!

I received Murder by the Book by Julianna Dearing for free (!) so that I could review it. When I first started to read this, I didn't realize that it is the second book in a series (The Drew Farthering Mystery series).  Interestingly enough, I have the first book in my Amazon "saved" basket :)

So, generally, when I read books from a series and miss the first one (or two), several things may happen 1) I am totally confused or 2) I want to read the first book (and don't because now I know what happens later) or 3) I'm not confused and may or may not want to read the first book. I am happy to report that I was not confused. Mostly. I was obviously confused enough to wonder if I had missed a book... but most of the holes were filled in as I read. I guess what clued me in is that I sort of felt like I walked into a group of people, who obviously new each other and each others histories, and I didn't. If a third book is written and I read it, I don't think I'll feel that way, so I got to know the characters fairly well!

Moving on! In case you couldn't tell from the title... this is a mystery novel set in the early part of the 20th century (took me a while to figure that one out too) in England. The main character (Drew Farthering) is a rich young man, the master of a large estate, who, with the help of his girlfriend (whom he is waiting for a "yes" to his proposal from) and friend, aide the police in solving several serial murder cases. Insert comment here about how he intermingled with upper and lower society with ease... and thanks to Downtown Abbey, I'm not sure it was all believable! He is, of course, successful, but the person who "did it" is not who I expected, until the end, when it's painfully obvious :) If I were to rank this book on a scale of 1 to 5... I'd probably give it a 3. I'm not inclined to go back and read book 1, I wouldn't pass up book 3. But, since I was left a little confused and it took me a while to get into the story, I have to knock a star or two off!

Book Review

Since I was just notified by Bethany House that one of my reviews was missing, it reminded me that I have another book review to put in!  I decided to take the summer off with my book reviews, since Daddy just got home and we are taking school off, I just didn't want to add anything else to my plate.  But, in the shuffle of J getting home, I totally forgot to review my last-book-before-a-break.

So, I read Stuck Together by Mary Connealy, free to me from Bethany House so I could review it. This is Book 3 in the Trouble in Texas series.  When I saw the book as an option, for some reason, I thought it was part of the Kincaide Bride series... which I have previously reviewed.  It's not.  Don't get confused.  So, after I started reading and realized that I didn't recognize the characters, I chucked my Kincaide family and hunkered down to read.  Just now I looked up this series... turns out I have read the first book... so, I guess I'm a dork :)

Well, the series name, "Trouble in Texas" should give you a clue as the setting... Texas :)  Mid 1800's (just after the Civil War), small town.  The main character, Tina (not sure that is a period name, but since I wasn't around then, we'll let it slide), is the local pastor's sister, a spit-fire, determined to shut down the local saloon, and not get wrapped up in any relationship with the local sheriff.  Of course, that doesn't work.  Vince, the local sheriff,long ago, left his peculiar family in order to build a more normal life for himself.  Unfortunately, his no-good father tracks him down and leaves his something-wrong-in-the-head-mother and newly-found-out-half-sister under his care.

So, there is your set up... sheriff, unique family, spit-fire lady, and, did I fail to mention, some indians and ranch hands who get in a kerfuffle along with some mysterious rum-runner.  Well, with that combination, you are bound to get an entertaining book ;)  I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even if the characters didn't really seem to fit my mental version of how a civil war era people would act.  I even took the book on the treadmill and read out there (which is also another reason why I have forgotten to post, I finished the book out there and left it on the saw table)!  I definitely recommend the read... and don't worry if you didn't read the first two... it's okay!

Re-Book Review

So, I was contacted by Bethany House about a review I posted in March... which has gone missing.  I'm not sure if I deleted it, or if it got lost; but, I do know I wrote it because I found my Amazon review :)  And I always type up my reviews for the blog and then amend it for Amazon type ratings... 

The bad side about this is that I feel awful that it got lost.  The good side is that I've been reflecting on and off about this book since I read it way back during the winter time ;)  Surprisingly, I remember quite a bit about the book, which is amazing, because it feels like my Mama brain takes things through the eye sockets and promptly looses it out the ears.  

So, without further ado... here is my original review for Wildwood Creek by Lisa Wingate!

Last week, I finished Wildwood Creek by Lisa Wingate. I received this book for free so I could review it :)

This is one of those books that hops from past to present. This doesn't usually bother me, but for some reason, I was really confused for the first few chapters. I didn't realize this when I started the book, despite reading the back cover. When I got through the first chapter, I was thinking to myself, "Oh dear, that was hard to muddle through," (which is why I only give the book four stars) but as I eased into the book, I did get hooked. In fact, I was so into my book that I read it on the treadmill (I usually stick to Kindle books there so that I don't risk falling off)! What hooked me was Ms. Wingate managed to wrap all my favorite genres into one book... historical, romance, and mystery. I don't want to share the plot of the book, but, just know that if you like any of those genres yourself, you will probably enjoy this book ;) Happy reading!!!

Book Review

A few weeks ago, I received and read, Undetected by Dee Henderson.  I got this book in the mail for free from Bethany House just so I could review it :)

First off, a few months ago... or a year ago, I'm not sure, I read another book by Dee Henderson (Unspoken).  I enjoyed it, which is why I requested to review Undetected.  Both books have a strong, smart female character who aides and is aided by a strong, smart male character.  There's a problem (or multiple problems) to be solved and they both do it together, the female character usually struggles with her place in the world (to some extent) and the male, who is super sensitive to the feelings of women, guides her and eventually woos her.  I got about half way through this book before I realized that the main male character is the brother of the previous book.  Since brother number 3 is unattached, I fully expect another book!

Overall, if I would rate this book at 4 stars.  Let me start by saying, I enjoyed it.  I would recommend it.  I would probably read it again.  What really bothered me about this book was the man.  So, as I pondered what about this male figure bothered me I came up with a few ideas. 1) Strong, Christian male character in the Navy.  I married a Navy man, I know Christian's exist in the Navy, and they tend to gravitate towards one another as friends.  But this book has 3!  Three men, who are honorable and good.  Not to knock good guys, but all three in the Navy?  I guess, what I'm trying to say is that they seemed kind of cookie cutter.  2) Mature man.  Mature men are great.  However, and I say this in love because I am totally a hair up in the bun kinda girl, but this male lead- I guess I can tell you his name is Mark :)   I don't know, I just kind of wished he take down his hair and play a little.  Yes, Ms. Henderson has him throw a BBQ and act all relaxed, but it didn't seem real to me.  3) Super sensitive.  I understand Mark is a widower and therefore has more knowledge of the inner workings of a woman's mind (I say this with a snort, because I don't even understand the workings of woman's mind)... but, it was almost too sappy for me.  He was so patient and understanding and calm... and... So, what I decided was that the problem was probably not with the character at all, and I decided that it was probably more closely linked to the fact that this man (Mark) is not my type.  I can take sensitive, I can take mature, and well, I definitely take the Christian man.  But, I also decided, I need a man who cracks a smile and gets impatient and breaks his arm playing basketball (I love you J)... I need my man. I then decided I should stop comparing my sailor and this sailor, to love my man and just enjoy the book!

Motherhood Part II

I'm supposed to be going to bed.  I've had a long day... and tomorrow will be our second annual birthday trip to the beach, which means it will be a long day... so I decided to sneak to the computer before kissing the kids one last time and throw out a link to my "how we ended up with triplets" story and realized that I had never written it down.  How did I not do that?  And then, I found it... stuck deep in the draft pile (technically, not deep, it's the only one in the draft pile.... but since I felt that I was going to have to re-write it, it felt deep)!  Yes, saved!  Nope... I forgot about the nifty autosave and that draft is exactly what I just typed (hangs head in shame, or embarrassment, or just mystification over my... oh, I don't know).

So, if you read my Motherhood Part I, I left you woefully hanging, promising to tell you about Part II, and then just left it at that... for TWO years.  I'm sorry.  I'm not even sure I can remember what happened but I'll try!

Okay, so we had TW... Woo Hoo, Party!  We decided that we wanted to "try" again right away because it took us five years to have him.  When the little guy was six months I stopped nursing him and headed back to the fertility clinic on base (it was a little more involved than that, but you get the picture).  My first appointment was right before Christmas, on a Friday, and I decided that I needed a little umbrella stroller to take to the appointment to put TW in... so, in my infinite wisdom, I stopped at Toys R Us to pick one up.  Oh My Goodness.  I was so not 15 minutes early to my appointment... I don't recommend Toys R Us on a Friday, a week before Christmas!  Anyway, I really don't remember anything else about that appointment, except TW had on a green shirt and I bought him a light up, musical rattle.

Since we'd been through the fertility ringer, we didn't have much to do this go around.  A couple weeks of meds and we hopped right into the hormone pills.  I won't belabor the point (mostly because the scars have faded and I'm not sure what all happened).  I'm not even sure how many tries it took (one, two?), but we succeeded in a pregnancy!  It lasted about 10 weeks (I thought 14, hmm, now that I type that, it's all coming back to me... anywho).  I had surgery.  We left TW with some friends overnight since I had to be at the hospital super early.  I missed my little man.

We started right away again (I did wait the required few months though).  We got pregnant again.  I found out right around Valentine's Day... and J had, by this time been accepted in the Naval STA-21 program... so he was leaving for Rhode Island, we had just "sold" our house and I was planning on heading to Iowa with TW as soon as we closed.  All of my early check ups went fine.  Then I got to my 12 week check up, the day before I was signing the closing paperwork, also the day before I was leaving Virginia Beach, westward bound.  I had to drop TW off at the base childcare place and he cried (miserably).  An hour later, and I was sobbing myself.  Left in a room to cry after my baby had no heartbeat, listening to someone else's baby being monitored next door... thump, thump, thump, thump.  It was bittersweet.  Long story, short, or perhaps as long as it needs to be, I opted to try an oral medication which stimulates uterine contractions, thus causing my body to miscarry what it didn't want to miscarry.  I picked up my meds, signed house selling paperwork and headed out the next day.  The next two nights we stayed with two different sets of friends, both pregnant with their firsts!

We got into Iowa on April 3, in the middle of a snowstorm.  We planned on staying with J's mom and step dad until we found somewhere to live.  My MIL was out of town, so I warned my FIL (so many acronyms) I was taking medicine, just in case.  Nothing major happened (well, beyond what was supposed to happen).  A few days later, I flew "home" to Alaska to visit my parents for a month.  Once we were there a few days, I just felt like something wasn't right.  I was correct, and had surgery in Juneau.  Since it had been a week since I had taken the meds, I also ended up with an infection and on antibiotics.  I cried a lot.

Fast forwarding... We ended up with a great office in Des Moines... Dr Cooper :)  He took me off oral meds (because, apparently, I had surpassed the recommended dosages) and put me on the good stuff... that's right, the nice, expensive shots!  And, of course, the first round did not work (and I had thought I was saving money by having them shipped to me, only to find that half the stuff I couldn't use... argh).  But, the second round worked ;)  Lot's of blood draws later, we had our first ultrasound (7 weeks 2 days).  I was convinced it was twins because I felt bigger.  And I was right... we saw two little blips... the nurse went blip A, blip B, blip A, blip B... and J said, what's that other blip?  Yep... blip C... TRIPLETS!  He says his first thought was to count seats in the van.  I just wanted to see all three blips at once (which she finally got) as proof.

We survived the shock!  At 12 weeks we told everyone we were pregnant (and my stinkin' mom... sorry mom, had to go and ask me if it was just one and I couldn't lie, and then she had to ask if it was just two, and I couldn't lie... sheesh).  At 14 weeks, we found out the sexes, headed to Baby's R Us (it was past Christmas, we were good) and got 1 boy outfit and 2 girl outfits.  Then we went to J's moms work and J's dads house to make our "little" announcement.  They were surprised, to say the least!

So, I spent the next few months on the couch for the most part.  I wore out very quickly.  I went shopping for groceries at 16 weeks with J, and just collapsed on the bench back by the automotive section of Wal-Mart (not sure why were back there, but I remember the smell of tires)... and just cried, I was so tired, and I hadn't even made it through the store yet.  J took over grocery shopping, with very specific lists,written by me :)  Each month we headed to Des Moines for a check up and each visit I wondered if everyone would be okay, and they were!

June arrived.  We toured the hospital and NICU. And then, one Sunday I had x (I don't remember, I think it may have been 9) number of contractions in an hour, and it had hit the "call the office" number. So I called and as a precaution, they had us go in to be monitored for an hour or so and get the preterm labor test done (it was negative).  TW loved it, we let him watch cartoons the whole time :)  I had a doctors appointment the following Thursday, they checked me and everything was fine.  Then the next Thursday, we had another appointment.  We talked and they ultrasounded the babies and were about to send us on our merry way when I asked if they were going to "check" me again.

"No" they said "would you like us too?".

"Why yes, I'm mentally prepared for it" (and I had shaved my legs).

They checked, and guess what, I was 3 cm.  Okay then... you head over to the hospital for some steroid shots.  You'll have to stay overnight.

So, we trudged over.  J's mom came and saw me.  J went home and got me some hospital supplies and the laptop so I could go to my online nurtrition class.  It started at 8.  At 7:30, the nice doctor decided I needed to be on some magnesium sulfate (apparently my contractions were doing more than I thought).  I went to class having hot flashes.  It was aweful.  I decided then that I refuse to go through menopause... and I'm sticking to it!  At some point during (or after) class, the nurse came in carrying "that box".  The box that I had taken home to practice (on a dummy) with during my CNA classes.  The catheter box.  To be fair, it really wasn't that bad, but when I saw that box, I knew it couldn't be good... I was now on strict bed rest.  After they put that tube in me they gave me an ambien (an evil sleeping pill) to "help me sleep".

I woke up in the  middle night leaking... and called the nurse, telling them in some drug induced stupor, that my catheter was leaking.  It wasn't.  One of the waters had broken.  I called J, who didn't answer, so I called his sister, who had gone up to stay with TW while J went to math the next morning.  She woke J up and he came down right away (well, he had a 45 minute drive, but he came quickly).  And I called my mom... her version of our conversation and my version are very different (I told you those sleeping pills are evil).  I don't really remember much of what happened, but there is a picture of J in scrubs that I apparently took.  I do remember them showing me screaming, crying Mr. E, and then barely showing me the girls... and I remember being wheeled up to their nursery to see them... but I don't remember much after that for a while.  In case you were wondering, it was Mr. E's water that broke... he was on bottom, under the girls, so I just tell people he was tired of being picked on, got fed up, and just kicked until he broke his holding tank :)

I ended up being pretty miserable for a few days and a tiny bit scared (more likely very scared) when I had a reverberating amp in my head and a terrible headache anytime I wasn't lying down.  A possible side affect of the spinal anesthetic.  One possible fix (besides waiting it out) was caffeine.  I had to order Dt. Mt. Dew from food service :)  I was so hopped up on caffeine after not drinking much for 31 weeks!  Anyway, they did a spinal patch on me (drew purple blood from my arm and inserted it into my spine)... and I was good a few days later!

Then we did our every other day trips to see the babies.  Well, sort of, I went one day, J went the next.  On the weekends, we stayed with J's mom and I spent most of Saturday with the kiddos.  After 28 days, Mr. E came home, and the girls came the very next day.  Nobody had any problems.  Well... Berry did have low blood sugar one day and they gave her some sugar water... we joked at the time that they were setting her up to always wanting sweets... it's soooo true :)  And B had to have her tummy x-rayed for some reason or another.  But, nothing major happened, and everyone came home and stayed home and stayed healthy.  We were truly blessed!  And, if you know me, you know our story still did not end there!  And, hopefully, I'll fill you in on Smaug in August instead of waiting for 2 years!

So, without further ado... Happy Birthday to my FIVE year old triplets!!! xoxo

P.S.  iPhoto and I are not getting along right now, so this is a picture-less post.  Sorry :(

Sorry Grammy

I know, I know... my goal to post weekly while J was gone has totally not happened :)  My secondary goal of posting once a month also fell by the wayside.  So, my third goal is to post whenever I remember to download the camera, sit down at the computer and do it... so far, I have been 100% successful!!!  And now, since I unloaded the cold grocery sacks and am avoiding all the other stuff, I decided now was as a good a time as any!

The boys built a book stack (the Eiffel Tower to be precise)...

Though, she has not seen The Sound of Music, Berry was doing her best imitation. (Yes there is a naked boy in the corner, but, technically, he has underwear on).

I bought (accidentally, of course, because I only went in for alfalfa) a rain chain... apparently I was off a little bit when hanging it, despite throwing cups of water on the roof to get it just right (yes that is my child in the rain).  When it rains lightly, the water does go down the chain (don't worry, there were four other kids out there too).  Hmm, now that I think of it... it rarely rains lightly, it's Florida.  Rats... I'll put "rain chain move" on the Honey-Do list.

TW celebrated his 8th birthday (yes, his face is swollen, he decorated it with blackberry juice and other "stuff" one day and his skin didn't like it).  

A few friends came over to help us celebrate!

And eat cool "tye dye" cake!

Our friends have the most awesome van (of which I am immensely jealous), so we car pooled with them to berry pick.  Look! All of our kids fit... with one seat to spare (which is where I sat)!  And the leg room and space under the seats... you'd be jealous too!

See... blueberries!

We celebrated geography and science co-op with an end of the year thingy.  Since I taught the preschool geography class... I set up our table :)

E was really interested in looking at the lapbooks we made (because, apparently, he didn't remember what we had worked on allllll year) (okay, really, he did, he was showing me every single thing we had done and asking me if I remembered) (I did).

TW got The Dangerous Book for Boys as a birthday gift... so we grew some crystals. It's boring dissolving salt.

The other day, TW was asked to write his own tall tale. He gave me a blank stare.  So, I read a billion stories about Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, and we YouTubed some old cartoons.  That night, we set up an indoor "campfire" (because I didn't want to sit outside with the bugs) and he was supposed to read us his tall tale (which he lost), and the kids ate oven s'mores (can't roast a marshmallow over a lemon pound cake candle) (well, you probably could... I'm sure they would have tried).

In Other News:  Daddy is almost home :D  Happy Dance :D

Thieves Oil

We had two more cousins (and their parents, of course) come visit us earlier this week.  They lovingly brought us a Nebraskan cold!  So, I broke out my Thieves oil... okay, technically, it's been out because I just used it last week!  When I first started using therapeutic grade oils a year ago (really, a year already?), I jumped in as a distributor with Young Living Oils with both feet, but I wasn't really sure how to swim beyond the good 'ole doggy paddle.  How was I supposed to use the stuff?  The generic oils I had were for cleaners and one bottle of a Thieves-like oil that I'd barely touched.  Well, since Thieves is now one of my "Top Three" (along with peppermint and lavender) oils to have, I have decided to post a little bit about Thieves and the ways I have personally used it.  There are soooooo many different things to do with it, I'm sticking with what I've done because I'm still learning, and you, my Dear Friend, are probably learning with me.  

So to start, what on earth is Thieves Oil?

Let me cheat, and stick in a picture :)

I know it's tiny, I'm just too lazy to type everything out, when it is conveniently stuck on one "piece of paper" ;)  

I'll let you zoom in at your leisure and jump right to the juicy part ... how I have used it in my house!!!

* Rubbed on the feet

At the first sign of illness (sniffles, fever, headache, abnormal crankiness, Smaug coming to sleep in my bed, etc.)... everyone gets a dose of oil on their feet.  Sometimes right away, sometimes when I remember, but always just before bed.  Easy Peasy, I usually put a squirt of carrier oil (I have a Young Living carrier oil, but you could use a dab of olive oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, whatever you have) in my hand, followed by a drop of Thieves oil.  Then I rub the mixture together in my hand and apply it to the feet of the sicky!  I usually top this off with socks so that there is no tracking of oil in the house :)  If I plan on doing all the kids feet... I get out a shallow glass bowl and add a couple squirts of carrier oil plus about a drop of Thieves per person.  Tonight, because I have some sniffly kids, I made a vapor-rub-esque mixture of coconut oil, Thieves, peppermint, eucalyptus, and RC!  I rubbed this on their feet and chests and made them hang out in one spot while the oil absorbed... too hot for socks!

*Diffused in the Air

Right after I joined Young Living I ordered a diffuser (now, the bigger distributor kits come with one... jealous!).  It's basically a humidifier, but you can add oil to it, and it doesn't get all bacteria gunky, and mine glows :)  So, when we are feeling poorly, or germs may be in the air, or I feel like it, I fill my diffuser up, add about 8 drops of Thieves oil and turn it on.  I have also added peppermint and eucalyptus (and less Thieves) to the diffuser if noses or sinuses are stuffy.  The van even has a plug in thingy diffuser that currently has Thieves in it :)  Having this in the air has not bothered my head, unlike some of my beloved candles!

*Carpet/Floor cleaner

Before I bought the actual Thieves cleaner, I used to stick a few drops of Thieves oil in my carpet cleaner... literally, about 5 drops, plus plain water.  The store-bought carpet cleaner 1) foamed up crazily (and yes, I added it last) and 2) kind of gave me a headache.  I used to mop my floors with water, vinegar, and about 5 drops of Thieves in this squirt bottle do-hicky (the technical name).  Now, I make my fake Pine-Sol... supposedly flies don't like it when you're house is piney... I might have to mop more often for this to be affective, but I'm sticking to my plan.

*Thieves Products

Here is a picture of some of the pre-made Thieves products:

Thieves Cleaner:  Young Living just had a sale (February?) on their household cleaner, so I bought some.  I about gagged when I saw the cost (okay, granted, I've been cleaning with vinegar and water, so to pay more than $4, and for a much smaller bottle, it's a shocker).  But, I have filled my cleaning spray bottle once since I got the cleaner, (and really, because it's concentrated, I think I used 1 oz), and I have used only half of my cleaner bottle, and I've been cleaning everything with it :)  In other words, a little goes a long way.  At this rate, I will easily make it a year before I have to order again.  And, best of all... TW (my oldest son) is no longer complaining  about the vinegar smell (which I had gotten used to).  I have, so far, cleaned bathroom counters, kitchen counters, bathroom mirrors (you are supposed to use a smaller dilution for mirrors, but I'm lazy), bathroom floors by hand, walls, tables, my iPad (don't worry, there is a screen protector, and I sprayed a cloth first), and I've sprayed a bit on my dust rag to dust.  Everything gets as clean as I would expect and smells so good.  When I get around it, I'm planning on following the directions for degreasing my kitchen cupboards, and for cleaning my stinky carpets, again.

Dentarome Plus Toothpaste (not pictured): I ordered toothpaste about a year ago.  I was using a natural toothpaste before then.  I still have about half a tube of Dentarome left because I kept bouncing back and forth between the two (hmm, peppermint or Thieves...) until the peppermint was gone.  Now, I am Thieves only, I have had two cavity free check ups in the past year (and one spot they have been watching for the past 3 visits, so year and a half)!  Woo hoo, go me.   It's a bit sweet, and a bit spicy... it's not as foamy, so I can walk around the house more easily while brushing, so that's good :)

Funny story (and a warning), so I read that Thieves could help a cold sore, and I had this annoying one that my upper lip kept rubbing on.  Thieves is considered a "hot" oil... meaning, that if you put it on bare skin, it may burn.  Now, since I usually put it on feet (and my hands) and chests, with a carrier oil already, it's no biggie.  But, for some reason, I was not thinking... put a drop on a cotton ball and stuck in my mouth... ohhh buddy, I'm telling you... my gum was on fire!!!  I highly recommend adding that bit of olive or coconut oil with the Thieves.  After that, I decided I would use the Thieves toothpaste solely for a few days (I still had peppermint then)... the cold sore did go away!

*Internally:  Last Wednesday (yes, I remember the day, it was a chiropractor day), I woke up with a stuffyish nose and drainage (this time of year, I always have drainage, but this was extra), and starting-to-get sore throat.  I had read about people putting drops of Thieves in a vegetable capsule, but I didn't have any.  I did however, have some apple cider tea bags.  So I brewed a cup added one drop of Thieves and nursed that drink (it was hot) the entire way to the chiropractors.  I also rubbed Thieves on my feet and chest (without a carrier oil), along with peppermint and eucalyptus (with a carrier oil) on my temples, forehead, and back of my neck.  The chiropractor told me that my lymph nodes were swollen.  He adjusted my neck, and thought I smelt nice during one of my other adjustments that requires an almost-hug.  Side benefit of being sick and slathered in oils... people think you smell nice, even if you haven't showered :)

Okay, I think that about exhausts the ways I have actually used Thieves oil.  Next up:  foaming hand wash!  I have all the supplies.  I'm just waiting for one of my bottles of soap to run out (I'm half tempted to leave a bottle in the kids bathroom and ignore anyone running water in there, it will be gone in 5 minutes).  So, both bottles are down to about 1/4 full.  I told you our relatives came into town earlier this week... with colds... The wife felt she was using so much soap taking care of herself and her sickies, that she bought me a replacement bottle *bangs head against wall* Well, at least I'm ready for when I run out of the store bought stuff... whenever that happens!

Please, feel free to ask me questions... if I don't know the answer, I'll find out (learned that in the Navy, I did) :)

My Sister Visits

Dear Mom and Grammy,

As you know, Sister and her boys came for a visit.  We went to the beach one day, but I didn't pull my brand new camera out for fear of sand!

T1 was sick and then it poured.

One morning, it dawned bright and blue... so we went to the feed store and then decided to go to a nearby park/historic area... little knowing that it was their annual re-enactment weekend!!!  The men were adding logs to their trench because the ground was so soggy.  They seemed awful worried that one of the kids would fall in the hole... obviously they have not met our (or at least my) kids!

So, we went to the women's side of camp.  They had cooler stuff (to me anyway)... the men were staging a battle later in the day, so I suppose that would have been cool!

We spent quite a bit of time watching this women spin her wool into yarn!

Everyone took turns playing the hoop and stick game (called Graces)... it took a few tries to "get it"... but they had fun!

Sister and I enjoyed a presentation on women's clothing... these guys were slightly less enthusiastic... but survived.

We decided to go the zoo the following day.  Everyone picked an animal they wanted to see.  We wrote them all down in a neat list... and then dropped the list into the giraffes pen... good thing we had good memories (and I had taken a picture of our list) :)

Pretty Girl: birds (she refused to say cheese)

Mr. E: zebras

Sister: elephants

T2: alligators

"We" posed with the metal alligator :)

Smaug: giraffes

Berry: monkeys

T1: flamingoes

TW: kamodo dragon (look behind his head to the left)

Me: the new tigers (on the ground in a cage to the right... please disregard the peace sign, it was super crowded and one kid was cranky and one had to go potty, so we rushed)

And, as requested, Mom, a group photo...

But, this one is better :)

In Other New: We are officially half way through Daddy's deployment... and still alive!!!!

Jump For Joy

Be excited friends and family... very excited.  I used my gift certificate from my awesome husband to buy (most of) a new camera; since somebody (who shall remain unnamed) broke my old camera :(  So, Grammy, I have not been ignoring you, I just haven't taken the time to figure out how to download pictures from my phone to the computer, and they aren't as good as my new point and shoot anyway!

Since a lot has happened since my last post (including a very short visit from Daddy), I'm just going to stick to the house projects that we have done.  "We" really means "I", but I figured I should have some humility *wink*.  

First picture is of Smaug, we are headed out to feed the animals for the night.  Please notice our brand new dirt.  During January, we had the privilege of spending a lot of time with our plumber... replacing our well pump, and then the dozer tank to our septic system (he got an education when a natural spring popped up right where we didn't want it), and then crazy ants (they exist, google it) cutting off power to our new pump (again, another lesson... J says, he should be paying us for all the schooling he has been getting)!  Anyway, we will be adding more dirt in later, and maybe some grass seeds, but for now, it's just dirt.

Isn't Smaug cute?  We have been having a few warm days (after an abnormally cold Florida winter)... however, Smaug still thinks that he should wear "Me Hat" when we got out to take care of the critters.  Right after I took this pictures he stopped, said "Me Boots", turned around and headed back in for the things.  When he came back out, he had on TW's right boot and Mr. E's right boot... his are missing (apparently).

I just liked this scene when I walked up on it :)

This is Suzy Q, I call her Suze or Black-Eyed Susan.  Sorry Grammy, she came with that name :)  She is our new milking goat... her mama was a Nubian and her papa was a Saanen.  She is very loving and gentle, even if she has a tendency to kick once she runs out of food (I try to make sure she is well stocked come milking time).  All the kids enjoy trying to milk her, but the kiddo in the photo is the best at it ;)

Since I was outside, I took a picture of this crew.  The white chicken in the forefront is Rooster Sam... he was given to us.  He likes the ladies.  He does not crow very often.  He likes the ladies. He likes to peck toes. He likes the ladies.  He belongs to TW.

Since we had so much rain in January and it was so abnormally cold, I discovered that we needed another wall in the goats stall, to act as an insulator and to keep the straw a bit drier.  So, I built a partial wall.  I want a half door put in "and stuff", so before I ripped down another piece of wall board, I decided to wait for J's return.   There were some arguments with the already-there-wall and the screwdriver during the assembly process. In the end, I decided to follow J's philosophy... when in doubt, add more screws!

We also, built our very first garden boxes... they are enclosed in the pool area.  Wouldn't you know it, right after we planted the lettuce, someone left the chicken gate open (yes, they can fly over the gate, but when it's closed, they seem to respect the barrier), and both pool gates open.  The silly Chick Chick's came in (four of them, wearing all black, clucking Mission Impossible theme music) and ate the leaves.  I realized quickly that I needed to build covers...  So far, we have some bibb lettuce, a lot of onions, some potatoes and some carrots.  We picked up supplies for more boxes today.  For the record, I have a brown thumb... so we will see how this goes.

Way back in early January, I painted the dining room, painted the molding, replaced all the electrical outlets and put up a chair rail (which, shhh, is about 1 inch lower than where my chairs hit... I did measure!).  J will scrape the ceilings, replace the lighting and then paint the ceilings next winter (or whenever).

The first picture is more the right color... this picture makes it look neon :)

Oh, and we got our new baby chicks.  We lost a lot pretty quickly.  The hatchery thinks they might have gotten a chill during shipping.  I was paranoid after they mentioned "chill" and brought the chickens inside in a big tub.  Smaug, over loved a chick one morning, it passed on within 5 minutes (sad face).  We headed to the feed store shortly thereafter and picked up this rabbit hutch (No, TW, we are not getting a rabbit)...  We have not lost a chick since... but my house has the aroma of stinky old dog, stinky old dog pee (I need to find wherever that accident was and attack it), and chicken poo.  Sorry Sister, when you visit, just plug your nose!

Well, I think that about covers it.  Maybe now that I have a camera, I will be more faithful in the blogging!

P.S.  My editor is out of the country (literally), so please accept my grammar/homonym/tense/spelling, etc. errors as another sign of my vast humility... plus, we are only up to third grade grammar, I'm still learning :)

In Other News:  TW has had a low fever today, so we watched two movies while I worked on my newest project.  And now S has curled up on the floor beside me and is snoring... hmm, I wonder if he has "it" too!