Quick Takes (vol. 26)

#1 - The last month has been crazy. Non stop sick, non stop shifting of people, and non stop irritants. This past week is the first week in awhile where I have felt positive about a lot of things in life. Not to say that life is all gloom and doom, but when your head hurts, you can barely swallow, you've got frustrating situations and people cropping up every day, it becomes really easy to be pessimistic.

While most of the pessimism-causing factors cannot be discussed here, I can share one particular aspect of it all. Monkey and Parrot are no longer with us but have been moved to a different situation. 34 days to pour into a child's life--I pray it was enough. Watching them leave was hard. Yes, life is simpler without three kids under the age of 5 running around in addition to 4 kids over the age of 5, but when you spend 24 hours a day loving, disciplining, nurturing, and caring for a child--you tend to get attached pretty quickly.

For the last few weeks we have, therefore, been back down to 5 girls (counting Blueberry). However, yesterday, we added a sixth child to our little family. Our newest addition is older--in fact only a few months younger than Mama Bear who is the oldest of all the girls. Haven't come up with a nickname for her yet--still feeling that one out. She will definitely provide a unique challenge--that much is for sure!

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#2 - Trips are coming together. We are formulating specific plans for a trip to England in the fall (yay!) where we will meet up with my parents as well as spend time with my British half. We have a potential trip in April to hang out with some friends in Eureka Springs (if we can pull that one together). And we are trying to figure out a good time for a trip down to Texas in the very near future. People we want to see, need to see, and simply must find a way to make it happen.

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#3 - In Blueberry news. Oh where to begin?! Well, for starters, I have to proudly announce that my clever little girl went potty in her little toilet today. Who knew I would care so much about that! But I do. We bought her a training potty last week as she has begun to show some signs that got us thinking she might be at a good point for starting potty training. For the last few days she's just sat on it, diaper on (generally when I've been going to the bathroom because she will not be stopped from coming with me). She showed her true genes by her immediately bringing a book in with her to read. And then today, I stuck her on it (sans diaper), and she went! And I was so pleased. So we'll see how it goes in the long run. But either way, that was happy.

And then a few hours later she introduced her baby doll to going potty. Of course baby doll wouldn't sit on the seat very well, so her legs wound up sticking through the hole in the seat, but Blueberry was determined to see her through the process.

She also continues on with her love of cleaning. There is an empty spray bottle in one of kitchen cupboards, and she will frequently get it out along with one of my kitchen towels and clean off the front of the fridge and the stove (one of the chores the older girls does in the cottage). Blue also loves to dust and will walk to the laundry room door, look up to where the duster is hung, and demand "dust! dust!" persistently until you hand her the duster and let her walk around dusting everything. Sometimes I think she does just as good a job as the girl whose actual chore it is.

In truth, she wants to do whatever we or the big girls are doing. When it is homework time, she will stand up on a chair at our huge dining room table and color away for quite awhile while they work on their homework. When it is time for chores, unless I've taken her away to get ready for bed, she is generally underfoot, wanting to help everyone. She mommy's her dolls, and as the cottage was recently given a toy kitchen, has been enjoying "cooking" food daily.

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#4 - Other Blueberry news--her word explosion continues. She is beginning to piece together sentence (albeit, sometimes half-spoken, half-signed sentences they are!). "Baby walk" (when pushing her baby doll in a stroller). "Lala 'nack", followed by frantic signing for "please". Her attempts at her name have come out as Lala and 'nack (snack) is one of her favorite words currently. Although "oof" (food) is also being used more frequently. Apparently she is slightly dyslexic with this whole backward food thing "oof" for food and "oosh" for shoes. She also loves "walk" (as she very much wants to go on frequent walks), "Bible" and "Book" are rather interchangeable. And in general she is just mimicking sounds of words constantly--unless it's a word that she apparently doesn't care to learn or be bothered with because then she just says garbled syllables of her own devise and expects you to be satisfied with that.

She will have whole conversations (or read entire books) of which we have no idea what she is actually saying, but she is quite a conversationalist when she wants to be. Of course when she sees anyone she doesn't know well, she'll freeze us, stare at them, not say word, and its hard to even coax a smile out of her. One of the women who works in the administrative office is currently attempting to bribe her favor with suckers. It appears to be working--slowly.

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#5 - I was pleased to get our taxes done yesterday (not pleased about the whole "taxes must be paid" thing; however, that's a totally different conversation) and get a refund check on its way to us. I was even more pleased to look at our budget and with a charming 20% discount being offered by the hospital, we realized that we can take care of yet another of our large bills this month. That's the second one we'll have paid off in the last six months. And then by the next six months we should get the third "smaller" one done. $15,000 in one year! If we continue to save and budget (which we plan on doing--after all, we're used to living under a tight budget and even with a little more wiggle room built in, we're trying to continue that careful living method), we foresee getting all my student loans and all Chris' student loans squared away in the few years which would leave us with the house to pay off--which could actually happen in a decent amount of time! All in all, a very encouraging status to be looking at. Both Chris and I have a dream--to be out of debt completely. And we want to do so as fast as we can. God willing, it's going to happen soon(ish).

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#6 - A few weeks ago we took a trip to Little Rock for the first time since we've moved here. Went to the local Whole Foods (yay for living near to one!) and even more exciting--went to the local Gluten Free (and soy free and a lot of dairy free) bakery! Yummy. Their bread is some of the best gluten free bread I have ever had. Totally indulged in a number of tasty treats--worth every delicious morsel. Fortunately they are an hour away, so it's not something we'll be indulging in that often. But I do foresee regular trips to the Dempsey Bakery when we are in Little Rock. Oh, and they serve lunch--so that's an added excuse :)

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#7 - And just because--two of my favorite pictures from Valentine's Day.

Daybook January 21

Outside my window...it is dark and cold. I can't really complain though as we've had really not that many truly cold days here at all, and even though I still groan on the days I wake up and it's 40 or less outside and not getting any warmer, those days are much farther apart.

I am thinking...of a dear friend and how much I miss her and wish I could be with her right now.

I am thankful for...doors that I can close.

From the learning rooms...[or in our case--the learning brain]...words continue to explode. Even words that we don't even know when she learned them all of the sudden just produce themselves. "Hot!" "Adie" (blanket or water--depends on what's indicating she wants). She is mastering the fine art of climbing chairs.

From the kitchen...comes not enough GF bread. Desperately need to make some.

I am wearing...jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Need to get ready for bed. Much more comfortable.

I am creating...nothing. At least that's what it feels like some days this week. Surviving is more like it--just existing. Not living.

I am going...to take a bath as soon as I can get my hyperactive Blueberry to go to sleep.

In my mailbox this week...not much, to be honest. Slow mail week.

I am reading.. . book three of the Night Angel trilogy. And my latest Living Without magazine.

I am hoping...for three relatively non-sick days off starting Monday. I need three normal days with no major stress, enough time to get my feathers unruffled, my daughter's nose cleared up, and some much-needed quality time with my husband.

I am hearing...Blueberry rustling around on the floor. "My ball!" Now she's reading to the dog. anyone getting the impression that she is far to awake for 9:10 at night, especially when she's usually been asleep for about 2 hours at this point. Oh, now she just stole my water bottle. I guess mine is better than hers. Of course. She is awake but obviously overly-tired, but sleep is definitely not coming easy to her tonight. So I blog, she colors, tortures the dog, throws the ball, and dances to the lullabies on Pandora (isn't the whole point of lullabies to put you to sleep?), while Mommy gets her thoughts out here because out they must come.

Around the house...things are a mess. This week has been interminable. I'm exhausted. I'm frustrated with various other adults who should be helpful to us are, frankly, aren't. I'm tired of questions. Tired of snotty noses. Tired in general. Tired of other people telling us how we should be handling situations when they go home at 4:30 and don't have to be the ones living the situations. I'm tired of not having clean clothes--and going through 2 or 3 outfits a day because mine are gross. The floor needs mopping. The chaos needs to be put away. And I need clean sheets on my bed.

One of my favorite things...having friends to talk to.

A few plans for the rest of the week:sitting and doing absolutely nothing. And finding a babysitter. I need a date with my husband--sans all children, including my own. Or I may lose my mind.

Here is picture (or more) for thought I am sharing...





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There Was a [Youngish!] Woman Who Lived in a Shoe...

My Mum asked me the other day if I felt like the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do....today the answer to that question is an unequivocal, "yes!" And the sad thing is that technically we only spent most of the day time dealing with three of the children, but it was enough.

It all began with us coming off of a lovely weekend that we spent with some friends who drove down here for the sole purpose of hanging out with us. We had much fun, played many games, but sadly spent a number of late nights consoling Blueberry who had a cold and was having a rough time sleeping. So we came on shift a little bit on the tired side.

Well, that was highly unfortunately as our Monkey also had a severe cold and cough. Very severe. The nursing staff finally decided to set up a doctor appointment with her today when we had to go and get her early from daycare Monday because of how poorly Monkey was feeling. (think coughing so hard she's been throwing up).

Well poor little two and a half year old Monkey has had a slew of doctor's appointments the last few weeks--many of which included shots, stabs, or sucking out of the ears (disgusting!). She was not thrilled to see another doctor and screamed her way through much of the visit--basically any time any nurse or doctor came near to her to do anything--weigh her, measure her, take her blood pressure, check her lungs, you name it.

Final results was that she has RSV--oh yay. A highly contagious disease, particularly for Blueberry. Of course Monkey can't go to daycare for the rest of the week, and she has to be isolated in her room from the rest of the cottage (you try explaining to a two year old the concept of isolation!) to try to minimize the possibility of passing it on. The primary problem with this is that she is (a) two and a half and very high needs and (b) my own kid is not to thrilled with mommy have to spend a lot of time caring for another "baby" and so they spent the day taking turns demanding mommy's attention and (c) I'm of course getting coughed, snotted, and vomited on all day long, so spending time with my own kid is tricky when I'm trying to not make her sick!

I foresee a lot of showers, hand washing (my poor, already dried out hands), and extra laundry in my short future.

Oh, and of course I still have 5 other children who need me as well--fortunately they are in preschool/school for most of the day. Otherwise I really don't know what I would do!

It is now almost time for 4 of them to come back from church service. The two babies are in bed, sleeping (thank you Lord for small mercies!) and I'm watching our oldest (Mama Bear) play Plants vs. Zombies (love that game!). She stayed home from service to help me by watching Blueberry while I got Monkey to bed. She's very good with Blueberry and revels in helping, so it worked out well--and frankly I would not have been able to handle the two by myself tonight.

Back to my shoe...I mean dinner. Hope your week is going less overwhelming than mine.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 25)

#1 - Happy 2012 to all! I hope your new years eve celebration was better than mine. Mine consisted of sending the girls to bed at 8:30 and crashing early myself. I'm getting old. I hate to admit it, but its the truth.

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#2 - I feel that my first post of 2012 should be full of wit and intelligence--deep thoughts, you know. So allow me to pontificate on Kung Fu Panda 2 which I finally saw for the first time and absolutely loved. Good story, draws you in with some great comedy--both verbal and physical. Finally a sequel that actually worked, with more to come apparently. I read somewhere they have a story arc of 6 total movies? That would be great if they'd pull it off.

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#3 - In cottage news, I'm exhausted. Well, recovering from exhaustion. We're in the middle of our three off days, and they didn't come a day too soon. We got two new children in the cottage--a 2.5 year old and a 4 year old (soon to be 5). For the sake of this blog, the little one I shall call Monkey (because she is a monkey and climbs on everything). The older girl I think I have settled on calling--Parrot. She is very intelligent, picks up on new ideas and concepts quickly, flits around the house quickly, and talks nonstop if you let her!

All in all, they are both beautiful little girls, bright, sweet, and desperately in need of some stable home life. Monkey is, well, two and a half in all respects. "Mine" is her favorite word, and she doesn't take "no" for an answer with much grace. Pretty well behaved though for the most part--fortunately. Picking her up has been a bit of a shock to the system as I'm used to teeny, tiny Blueberry. And fortunately she and Blueberry are getting along pretty well. A few "mine" squabbles here and there, but for the most part, they do well together.

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#4 - Christmas was nice. Busy, but nice. I finally really am beginning to feel at home here, and a large part of that is definitely due to the onslaught of guests who came over Christmas. Having friends and family around really helped me feel like this is still us--just a new location. I don't know if that makes sense, but there you have it.

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#5 - And while Christmas was nice--I'm definitely ready to get the decorations down. Hopefully can get that accomplished this upcoming shift. In between myriads of doctor appointments that Monkey and Parrot have (all the newbies on campus have a lot of appointments initially). I was just really settling down into our house, and I'm ready to finish that acclimation for ourselves. I'm surprised it's taken me this long, to be honest--but we're getting there in the end.

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#6 - Tonight was another big step to the acclimation process--at least it was for me. We found and explored the Asian market in town. Didn't even know there was one (had actually looked it up and hadn't found information on one) until I happened to meet a Thai lady and her daughter who were part of a church Christmas party for our kids here on campus. She told me about the market. I found green papaya and pretty much every other necessary ingredient to Thai food. Score! Such a relief.

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#7 - Talking about doctor's appointments, finally got Blueberry in for her 15 month appointment (ok, ok, a little late). A bit frustrated. She is perfectly healthy in all aspects except her weight, and that is still painfully slow to go up--to the point where they are calling it "failure to thrive". Which I find a little odd as in all other respects she is definitely thriving. She's developing normally in terms of motor skills and verbal skills, she sleeps well (did I mention that she's FINALLY sleeping 12 hours through the night on a consistent basis with no waking up? Yes, there has been much rejoicing at this development. Not to get myself to bed earlier to take full advantage of these full nights of sleep...), her eyes are clear, she's constantly active, and rarely sick.

In looking up what the phrase actually means, the only thing that matches their definition is just the fact that she is not putting on weight quickly. Of course their recommendations all included things like giving her Carnation and Pediasure--all of which have dairy in them. So we're having to try some other methods to get her to put some weight on a little faster than she is. So far (thank you Hillery), we're attempting the no liquids with her meals (or too close to a meal) trick, which does seem to be helping a little bit to get her to eat more. Tried making a shake the other day with coconut milk and fruit...we'll see if she gets into those--didn't drink much of it. I thought it tasted good, but sadly, I'm not the one needing to gain weight.

Part of my problem is how do you get an active 17 month old to eat more if she doesn't want to? We try to feed her healthy meals and snacks, and frankly, she eats quite a bit, just not a lot at one time. And she just doesn't put on weight. It makes me wonder if there's something else underlying all of this--inability to absorb food is one of the common things I've found mentioned, and which her doctor did mention. Problem is, she's not showing any of those symptoms either (other than the slow weight gain symptom).

Sigh. Very frustrating. And in truth, scary. I want the best for my kid, and the very phrase that she's not thriving is frightening. But at the same time, as I stated earlier, I'm having a hard time accepting that phrase when I look at the rest of her development.

We do our best and that's all we can do, I guess.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 24) - Pictures Style

My December Thus Far--In Picture Summary

My little helper....complete with temper tantrum-prelude face.

#1 -

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#2 - Had a birthday party first thing this month. Like my Hello Kitty cake?

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Decorating for Christmas with decorations you've not bought is interesting. One never knows what might be lurking in a box. Both good and bad.

#3 -

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There is a beautiful botanical garden in town covered in Christmas lights. Blueberry was charmed by the "duck"
#4 -

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#5 - Yes, that is my child in a cage. No, we did not put her there. It just happens to be one of her favorite places to play. Calista, fortunately, does not protest sharing her space.

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Blueberry at a band concert for one of her "big sisters". Little Miss Independence insisted on sitting on the bleacher steps a few seats away from us, and spent the whole concert munching on her marshmallow, clapping at the end of songs, and showing everybody her "pretty" in her hair.
#6 -

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We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year by all three of us getting sick. Fortunately we have a better celebration planned for later in the year; although, it would be nice to get a date night one of these days. Need to find a babysitter here.

Picture is thanks to my Mum who actually has scanned lots of old(er) pictures into her computer and is nice enough to share. One of these days I shall get our wedding photos scanned. Until then--here we go!
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