Operation CrazyWoman: Day 2

Wow.  My first full day on my own while Ben was at work.  The day started off kind of rough.  Because Simon crashed on the couch last night, I didn't put him in his warm PJ's.  I assume this is why he kept waking up early this morning, crying a little, and drifting off back to sleep.  About 5:30 I went ahead and got him from the crib and brought him into my bed hoping that he'd warm up and stay asleep.  No such luck, since I'm not actually his mother.  5:50 a.m. found me sitting on the couch with Simon in the living room, and Connor coming out to join us.  By the time I got out of the shower at 6:10 Simon was crying (not to be comforted by me or Ben) and Maddox was awake.  Fortunately Simon's big sister, Nan, was willing to get up and give him a little TLC and it was just what he needed.

The nice part about everyone being up early is that we ate breakfast a little after 7:00 and the 4 older kids got to go on a bike ride and walk the dog before it got too hot.  Of course, "too hot" is a relative term, considering today was only going to be 90 degrees.  This is a lot better than than 100+ degree weather we've been having lately!

I am also learning again the principle of DELEGATION.  With 8 kids around, I don't have time to do everything myself, even if I wanted to.  And although I think I'm pretty good about assigning my kids chores, I am realizing that there is so much more that they could be doing.  Washing dishes, for example.  We're mostly hand-washing dishes between meals since there are so many of us, and Nan and Olivia did a great job on the breakfast dishes today!  I might have to do more of this.  Also, everyone is taking care of their own laundry and doing whatever else I am asking them to do.  What a great group of kids - my own included!

After some outdoor time this morning and playing for a little while, the kids started working on their journals.  Since this is such a special couple of weeks, I'm having the older 4 kids and Mallie make a journal for the time they are here.  Notice their cups of blue gel beads on the table with them?  Those are the ones they grew last night.

Can you see Connor in the back right corner trying to take off his diaper?  No, he's not dressed.  Sue me.

Once journal time was over, there was no avoiding it - time to go swimming again.  I swear these kids are part fish.  They would spend hours in the pool playing if I let them!  Unfortunately, Niel's kids are all so fair-skinned I'd probably be sending them home with skin cancer if I did.  However, they do already have some pale tan lines, despite the SPF 50 sunscreen they wear.

Ain't it cool in the pool?

Mallie is quite the poser any time there's a camera around!

Connor isn't quite tall enough yet, so he has to wear the life jacket.

Peace out, Wesley!

Nan was too busy adjusting her goggles to pose for the camera.

Nan & Olivia styling in their swim goggles...(I can't stand to wear the things, personally.)

Also, while I was taking pictures of the kids in the pool, Mallie wanted to send a message to her Mommy.  Isn't she just the most adorable girl ever??

While the kids were playing this morning, Simon went down for a four hour nap.  Yup.  You read it right.  I guess that boy really needed to catch up on his sleep!  Especially since he got up so early... When he got up he actually ate lunch.  This is a big deal because he hasn't been feeling good all weekend and hasn't had much of an appetite.  Once he started eating, I had to take a picture:

Proof that Simon eats

The rest of our day went by pretty uneventfully.  The kids watched their afternoon movie (it's becoming a tradition) and otherwise just played happily.

Olivia and Nan spent most of the afternoon drawing pictures.

Generally the kids played really well together.  The biggest fights happen between Simon and Maddox, though.  Generally Maddox just grabs whatever Simon is playing with and Simon screams.  Poor guys.  They're both "the baby".

And once again, our poser Mallie saw I had the camera out and asked for her picture to be taken with her baby doll.  We have got to get this thing some clothes - it's wrapped up in a scarf for a dress!

I thought the bedtimes tonight would be a piece of cake again.  Ben took the older kids to the library for the "Children Read to Dogs" night, and I had the younger kids here.  Simon went down at 7:00 or so, I read I story to Mallie (and Wesley and Connor) at 7:30 and put her down.  By 8:15 Simon was awake, so we got the other kids into bed and I took him with me for a quick run to Walmart.  Well, relatively quick.

It's now 10:30, I've finally finished this blog post, and Simon has been asleep about 30 minutes.  Here's to hoping I get a good night's sleep!

Operation CrazyWoman: Day 1

Well, we did it.  Niel and Julie have left for Dallas and their flight leaves for Peru in the morning.  It's too late to back out now, even if we wanted to.  Fortunately, I don't want to.  People may think I'm crazy, but I am really looking forward to having 8 kids under 12 at my house for the next 10 days.  Why?  Not sure, really.  Maybe because I'll have nothing to do but hang out with all the kids for the next 2 weeks.  I really want to try to journal this time for my extended family, so I guess I'll be blogging about it!

Wanna take bets on how long my sanity will last???

Day 1

Niel and Julie leave at lunchtime for Dallas.  Maddox won't go down for a nap until he falls asleep in the high chair out of sheer exhaustion.  There's just too many exciting things to see in our house right now, and he doesn't want to miss a minute!  Olivia, Kelsey, Nan, Wesley, and Mallie went swimming for a while this afternoon as you can see from the state of my back patio. 

Mallie was adorable.  She'd come to the sliding glass door crying about every 10 minutes to tell me she got water in her nose.  I'd ask, "Do you want to get out?"  And she'd stop crying and say, "No, I'm fine."  The first time she even said, "I'll be really good.  I love you so much!"  She'll be 4 in October but seems so much older to me.

Before dinner we started this cool little project that Julie brought.  There are these tiny beads for the kids to stick in water - they are a little bigger than the head of a pin.  After being in water for only 3 hours this is what they look like:

We had subs for dinner (cuz it's quick and easy) and birthday cake for Olivia (yay, she's 11).  Then it's divide and conquer.  Ben takes the 4 oldest kids to see Rio at the movie theater and I keep the little ones here.  Mallie spends a good bit of time playing in the bathtub with the mermaids.

Maddox spends the evening trying to eat every single piece of paper he can find on the floor or reach.  This is the stage of baby-hood where you realize that your house isn't nearly as baby-proof as you thought.  He is also started to get into places I never imagined he'd be.

After awhile I nurse Maddox and he falls asleep.  I put him into bed realizing that he's still in the onesie he wore for pajamas last night.  I never got him dressed today.  Meanwhile, Simon falls asleep sitting up on the loveseat watching Blues Clues with Connor.  Wish I had gotten a picture of that one!  Easiest bedtime ever so far, but the night is still young.  We can only hope.

Right now I'm actually sitting at home with 3 kids down to bed, Connor watching Diego for a few minutes, and Ben and the older 4 kids gone.  Could life get any better?

Well, I guess it could.  Dishes could do themselves.

Maddox

I guess I won't win the "Mother of the Year" award for how I've been bragging on Maddox!  I know I haven't really been keeping the blog updated on his progress very well.  However, I have been snapping the camera from time to time.  Here's a few pics to bring you up-to-date with his cuteness.

In this video Maddox has discovered his brother's "knock-knock".  Connor is still attached to these, though not as consistently as he used to be.  Therefore, he often leaves them lying around.  Maddox got a hold of it and discovered what fun they can be!

 

(By the way, the squawking you hear in the background is Connor blowing on one of our recorders.  I have a lot more sympathy for elementary school music teachers after trying to teach my kids to play the recorder!)

One of his favorite activities (other than eating the dog's food) is to crawl over to the toy box and pull himself up to standing.  Then he spends his time playing with whatever toys he can reach, doing squats, whatever strikes his fancy.

Mr. Man has also started pulling himself up in his crib when he wakes up.  And if any of you are worried about him falling out, never fear: I have lowered the crib mattress since this picture was taken.

Also, it should be noted just how much my two littlest men adore each other.  Connor is already trying to wrestle with Maddox I think.  At least, I think that's why Connor keeps trying to lay on him...

Either way, we have a very, very busy little boy on our hands!

Overwhelmed

Disclaimer:  I hesitated to write this post because there are some friends I have done things for this week that might feel like they were adding to my stress.  So let me say this right in the beginning - don't go there.  I promise that this isn't about you.

Sometimes I feel very, very overwhelmed.  This is one of those weeks, though I can't pinpoint one thing that is causing it.  In all honesty, I guess I feel like I'm being beaten to death by feathers.  In addition to some sick kids this week (why can't they be sick all at once and not take turns!?), there is a multitude of things that are hanging over my head that apparently only I can do and I can't GET to them during the day because they involve having a quiet period of time that I can work uninterrupted.  Yeah, right.  With a toddler and a baby?  Not happening.  They don't even sleep at the same times some days.

So what do I do about it?

To be honest, I don't really know.  Oh, I have lots of ideas.  And the more desperate I get the more radical they become.  Some of them will actually work.  For example, one of the things on my plate that doesn't need to be there is paying the bills and handling our money.  Ben could do that.  Granted, he may not run the fancy reports and do the fancy spreadsheets that I do, but that stuff isn't essential.  And if we just pay cash for most of our expenses, it's not really necessary anyway.  So I'm going to pass that on to him.  And I've already passed the girls' laundry on to them.  Maybe in some ways I'm just setting my expectations too high about how clean I should be able to keep my house.  But I sure do feel a lot more relaxed when my house has been cleaned.

Now I need the voice of experience.  I know some of you who read this blog have been here and can give me some good advice.  I really need some at this point.  I don't want to spend half of my life feeling like I have too much on my plate.  Yet I also want to have a respectable house and be able to do things for other people.  Is that even possible at this stage of my life?  What do you think?