Randomness

Even homeschooling families must be susceptible to those back-to-school germs.  We have one kid down with a tummy bug and two others who have had upset tummies and mysterious rashes.  It's the official kick-off of the season of cooties!  Can this be used as proof that homeschooled kids really do socialize with other kids?  Clearly we have been socializing lately.

We still don't know where we are moving.  My new mantra has become "Ain't no need to watch where I'm goin'; just need to know where I've been."  Maybe I stole that from Mater.  I have really been struggling with this big unknown in our lives.  After ten years of Army life I should be used to this part, but my type-A personality just cannot handle not being able to plan.

Seven is dangerously close to walking.  She's a pro at cruising and has taken her first shaky steps.  I am not ready to have a mobile toddler in the house again but I have already remembered that one mobile baby is a heck of lot easier than two mobile babies.

Ryan was kicked in the head a few days ago and ended up with a deep, gaping cut that ran down the back crease of his ear.  I could see the cartilage because the cut was so deep.  Yuck. Dermabond to the rescue! After his ear was glued back on (his words) he was fine.

All six of the bigger kids had an appointment with our fantastic dentist on Tuesday.  None of them had any cavities!  You have no idea how happy this makes me (and my checkbook.)

Also, I cried at the dentist's office.  Who does that?!  This girl, apparently.  Our dentist's first name is Laila and so my children affectionately call her Dr. Laila.  She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and Tuesday was her first day back at work after her surgery.  My kids had all made cards to bring to her and so there was a lot of crying and hugging.  She's a mom of twins and she also did Amelia's laser revision for her tongue tie.  We love her!  My kids actually love going to the dentist.

I think my house is either a) haunted (unlikely) or b) has been sabotaged by an irate worker.  We have skylights in the bathroom and kitchen that have thin sheets of plexiglass on the inside to let in lots of natural light.  Recently I came home to find the plexiglass pushed up inside the kitchen skylight.  And there, clear as day, are the letters "F U" written in caulk on the inside of the skylight wall.  One of my kids actually pointed it out to me.  Who did it?  And when?  It's a big mystery in our house right now.  Is it time to move yet?

I was incredibly disappointed to forfeit my college scholarship for this semester.  We still don't know when my grandfather's funeral will be held, so I couldn't take any classes with the possibility of being gone in the middle of the semester.

Why did it take me so long to discover the Lowes Build and Grow workshops?  I have seen the signs so many times but just never signed up.  Jason took Nathan and Ryan to one last weekend and they were thrilled.  They came home with work aprons, goggles, hammers, and a plane from the new Disney movie.  And it was free!

I recently received two erroneous vehicle registration suspension notices in the mail from two different states.  Then I had to call the DMV and explain why I have a Washington driver's license, Georgia tags and registration, and yet I live in Arizona.  Add this to the list of things they don't teach you about when you become a military wife.

Speaking of military life, maybe some of you can offer some advice.  What do you do when someone in your family needs ongoing medical/dental treatment but you have to move in the middle of it?  We have put off getting Amelia's cranial helmet because we don't know where we are moving and the treatment requires weekly or bi-weekly follow-up appointments.  Matthew also needs braces but I don't want to start treatment and have to pay again when we move.  We know we'll only be at our next duty station for about 2 years.  When I had braces in 2010 the orthodontists in my new state wanted to charge me the full ortho fee even though the orthodontist in the old state had already collected the full fee and didn't want to refund it.  You know we can't afford to pay twice for braces for every kid in our house!  Anyone have experience with this?

Reality

Adding a new baby into the mix has actually been so much easier than I could have imagined.  Of course, I'm pretty sure my perspective is a bit warped from having two sets of twins.  

Ameila is the easiest baby!  She's always happy and she loves to sleep.  I have never seen a baby sleep so much.  I've never had a baby that didn't nurse around the clock.  She's just very content.  I am so totally in love with her.

We have had "snow" twice this winter.  What counts for snow in southern Arizona is nothing compared to what New England is seeing right now.  But we'll take it.  As soon as the sun came up after I took this picture, the snow was gone.  Instant melting.

Breastfeeding was rough for the first 8 weeks because of Amelia's tongue tie.  (Working on a post about that!)  Since the laser surgery, things have been steadily improving.  I think we have finally turned the corner and she's nursing almost normally now.

We have also spent the last few months worrying about Matthew's arm.  He broke both bones in October, had surgery to reduce the fractures, and spent 6 weeks in a cast.  When the cast came off, his arm looked awful.  The x-rays showed that one of the bones had not healed properly.  At that point, the doctor here in town told us to wait a few more weeks and see if it straightened out.

Matthew spent another 6 weeks in a brace and his arm still looks bent.  That picture above is 3 months out from surgery.  The bump is where the bone is still sticking out.  We finally got a second opinion from a new doctor and the x-rays showed a 15 degree angulation.  He had a 65 degree angulation when he broke it.

When we returned to the second doctor for a follow-up visit, the x-ray showed that the bone is slowly straightening out so he won't need another surgery.  But he still favors his other arm and cries whenever he bumps the bad arm against something.  It's been no fun for him and I think his behavior has suffered as a result.  His ABA therapist thinks the arm bothering him is the source of some of his outbursts lately.  Meanwhile, it's Little League season and I'm terrified to let him play with his arm like that.

One amazing thing I've noticed lately is that Matthew has formed a very strong bond with Amelia.  He loves her and he actually expresses that toward her.  This is a big deal!  I was a little worried when Seven turned out to be a girl, but Matthew is great with her and he likes to hold her.  He really enjoys the fact that she has dark hair like him.  Seeing him with her makes my heart so happy.  I've never seen him like this before.

A few days after Amelia's birth, I received a package in the mail from my grandmother.  In it were two sweaters, a hat, and a pair of booties.  All pink.  I couldn't figure out how on earth my almost 87-year old grandmother was able to make them so quickly.  After all, we had just found out that Seven was a girl!  Then I saw the note from her explaining that the sweater set was mine when I was a baby.  She kept it for all these years and now Amelia is wearing it.

It also appears that we have our first thumb sucker.  You may remember that Leila and Sarah were both finger suckers and it was a tough habit to break.  None of the four boys sucked fingers and Matthew was the only one of my babies to take a pacifier but gave it up when he was a few months old.  I'm hoping this doesn't come back to bite me in the butt 4 years from now, but Amelia just loves that thumb.

(She always sucks the left thumb and covers her face or touches her hair with her right hand.)

We are in that rough time of the year with school right now.  It's almost spring and we are more than halfway through our school year, but it is a challenge to start planning for testing and our curriculum for the coming year.  We haven't been to our homeschool group meetings since before Amelia's birth because we can't fit all of the car seats in our van.  We're on a waiting list for our new van.  (Yes, a waiting list!)

My dad came to visit a couple of weeks ago and he brought my brother with him.  They are our first visitors since Amelia was born and it's the first time my dad has been to my house in years.  They only had two days with us, but it was great.  We went on a short hike in the canyon and Jason and I were able to take Amelia and sneak away for dinner by ourselves.  That never happens.  It was a lot of fun and also made me homesick.  We're more than halfway through our time here in Arizona and I'm excited to see where we go next.

For right now, this is reality in our house.  Same crazy, different day.  Always loud, always fun!

Building Bunk Beds Before Baby's Birth

Good news!  Matthew's bones looked good on the latest x-ray so he won't need a second surgery.  What a relief!  Now to survive another 4 weeks with his cast when he's already begging to ride his bike again...

Joshua had an awesome first flight on Friday!  He flew around town in this little plane.  He actually flew right up next to those beautiful mountains in the background and right over our house.  It was his first time flying without me and he really loved it.

And finally, I've pretty much finished the big boys' bedroom.  I still need some help with then last few details, so if you're the organizing/redecorating type, please tell me what you think.

BEFORE:

INSPIRATION:

AFTER:

The free plans for the bunk bed can be found here.  I ended up modifying the ladder at the last minute because the slanted ladder didn't fit, even though the measurements were the same as the plan.  I'm not totally in love with the ladder, but it does the trick.  I may switch it out later.

I added some small IKEA Bekvam shelves.  They're actually spice racks, but they're the perfect size for holding a few books.  My boys read in bed every night so this is the perfect spot to store their books and now there won't be books shoved under pillows.

The comforters came from Target and the cool robot sheets came from Company Kids.  (You might notice that I haven't filled and sanded my pocket holes on the ends yet... I was in a hurry to get the bed done before giving birth so that's something I'll go back and finish later.)

The bed construction was simple.  It was much faster than the girls' playhouse bed and the cost was under $300 for everything.  The fact that I was able to build it myself at 37/38 weeks pregnant goes to show that the construction was pretty simple.  (I did have Jason's help cutting the longer boards and my boys helped me sand the ends of the bed.  Otherwise, it was all me & Seven.)

I'm not sure what to do with the boys' dresser in the corner.  I intended to paint it but couldn't decide on a color.  Maybe I should refinish it with a new coat of stain?

Then there's this bookshelf, also built from Ana White's plans.  I intended to paint this as well but was stumped on color.  What do you think?  (And yes, Matthew is missing an "e" that I need to hang back up.)

On the other side of the room we have our train table and The Giant Laundry Bin, aka a big storage bucket. I never could find a hamper that could contain the messy clothes from my boys and stand up to the beating of them dragging it down the hall a few times each week.  So we recycled a big, plastic storage bin.  I miss having walk-in closets to hide it though.

Our last 2 houses had walk-in closets and so we had easily 3 times the storage space that we have now.  I opted to stick an old cubby shelf in one side of the boys' closet because we have an abundance of books that needed a home.

The other side of their closet holds their clothes but leaves no room for anything else.  We store shoes in our (tiny laundry room) and of course their clothes hamper sits out in the room.  I wish there was a way to create more space but this house is small and not made for a family of our size.  The big boys' bedroom is actually bigger than our master bedroom!

Next to the door I'm adding a small nightstand.  I started refinishing it with red paint but stopped because I still hadn't decided on the colors for the bookshelf and dresser.  Because we can't paint walls, I'd like to add some color, but don't want it to look too crazy.  Any ideas?

Getting rid of the two loft beds and consolidating to one big bunk bed has added a ton of floor space.  It's perfect for Matthew's break dancing, which he won't be doing for awhile now.

I'd like to get a new, striped rug but haven't had a chance to do it yet.  For now we're using the old rug because it matches.

I'd love to hear suggestions for finishing up this room and for keeping it organized...

Not Ready for November

Well, I guess it's time to get serious here.  Seven will be arriving sometime this month.  I'm not ready, but then I don't know that I'll ever be ready to drop everything and have a baby.

Last weekend we had our first sleepover experience.  Matthew had 2 friends spend the night for his birthday.  The boys that came over are brothers and are the youngest 2 kids out of 7 in their family, so I figured they'd be up for the craziness that comes with staying at our house.  Fortunately, having 2 more kids was no big deal and we all survived a house full of 8 kids ages 4-10, six of them boys, that were hyped up on birthday cake.  (You veteran parents that have had a dozen tweens sleeping over for birthday parties amaze me.  I don't know that I'll ever be ready for that.)

Tomorrow we have a big day planned.  Joshua is going on a flight with the Young Eagles and will get an awesome aerial view of our little town.  I'd never heard of this program before, but it sounds pretty amazing.  Kids 8-17 can fly (for free) with an experienced pilot so they can experience the thrill of flying.  Joshua has flown several times before, but never like this and never without me.  It should be exciting!

Matthew goes back to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow.  He had his cast put on last Friday but the x-ray last week showed that one of the bones had slipped out of place.  We're hoping that it hasn't moved any more since then.  The doctor said that kids' bones grow so quickly that it wasn't a big deal to leave the pieces out of alignment, as long as the pieces were touching.  If they shift more, Matthew will need surgery again.  So we're hoping for good news tomorrow!

We did some trunk-or-treating at our church last week and my crew was mostly dressed in Mario Bros. fashion.  Leila was Snow White, Matthew was a skeleton with a couple of broken bones, Sarah was Princess Peach, Joshua was Toad, and Nathan & Ryan were Mario & Luigi.

Matthew decided to change up his costume last night and went trick-or-treating as an injured soldier instead of the skeleton.  After the last couple of years of moving and deployment and everything else, I think I'm taking a break from making our own costumes.  Maybe next year...

This year I had a chance to decorate the bump.  I've never been this pregnant in October before, so this was fun.  I'll have to do some more henna next.  Since Seven isn't here yet to be dressed up, a jack-o-lantern belly will have to suffice.  If you don't want to see my big, basketball belly, look away now...

We can't wait to meet this pumpkin!

Ack!  I can't believe it's November!

Broken

Our Saturday started out like any other weekend.  Matthew and Joshua had a soccer game at 9am and I had a LLL meeting to lead after that.  We loaded all of the kids into the van and headed to the soccer field.

I was standing on the sideline watching my boys play soccer when Matthew fell a few minutes into the game.  He fell forward onto his stomach and the coaches ran over to help him up.  As he sat up and brushed the hair out of his eyes, I could see he was crying.  And then I saw his arm.

Matthew's right arm was hanging at a sickening angle.  I ran (and it was quite a sight, I'm sure) across the field and put his head in my lap.  Someone called 911.  I tried to distract Matthew from looking at his arm and tried to keep him calm.  I've seen broken bones before but the ones where the bones stick out sideways always make me a bit uneasy.

A short ambulance ride later and we were at the hospital.  Based on the way Matthew's arm looked, an orthopedist was paged.  Sure enough, the x-rays confirmed that he'd broken both bones in his forearm and would need surgery to reduce the fracture.

Matthew was not very happy...

...but he was able to smile briefly once he had some pain relief.

We spent the entire day in the hospital.  Matthew was upset when he realized his soccer season was over.  He was a little disappointed that his birthday plans would have to change too.  (His birthday is this Saturday.)   The realization that he won't be able to ride his bike for a few weeks was tough to accept.  Not being able to do handwriting or math was not quite such a disappointment, of course.

After the surgery, Matthew was bragging to the nurses in recovery that he was the first kid in his family to ride in ambulance.  And after a few quiet days at our house, he's already back to bossing his siblings around as usual.  Yep, 9-year old boys bounce back quickly!

However, mothers of 9-year old boys don't have such an  easy time.  Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones or maybe it's just that my baby is turning ten this week but I have had a tough time the last few days.  I was totally calm when Matthew got hurt and throughout our day at the hospital.  I'm definitely not a helicopter parent.  (I don't think moms of six children get to hover over their children, you know?)  But on Saturday night I couldn't sleep.  My usual pregnancy insomnia had been replaced with the upsetting images of Matthew falling, his tears on the field, and his awkwardly twisted arm.  I replayed it over and over in my mind, trying to figure out what I could have done to protect my boy from experiencing that pain.

And I can't protect him.  He's going to experience pain.  I know that.

Is it just me or does a tenth birthday feel like a milestone?  My baby is going to be one decade old.  The first ten years with him have been amazing but at some point in the next ten years he will start to like girls, stop wanting to crawl into my bed at night when he has a nightmare, start driving, graduate from high school, and will eventually go off to college and grow up.  And I'm not ready for that!

In my mind, Matthew still looks like this...

While Matthew only suffered a broken arm this weekend, I think his mama has suffered a broken heart. My baby is growing up and these days are passing too quickly...

Shovel, Anyone?

I woke up this morning to discover that the weatherman was correct. We are being buried under another pile of snow! I think we're supposed to get around 8 inches by tonight.

Being the incredibly prepared, organized person that I am, I went grocery shopping and got gas yesterday. I was so proud of myself when I exited the grocery store after a marathon 3-hour shopping trip. (Note to self: don't wait until the kids are eating raisins and an orange for lunch before you go to the store!) I beat the crowds, as evidenced by the fact that I was able to purchase both bread and milk. Around here, if the forecast calls for snow you can bet there will be no bread or milk in any store in town.

I returned from my excursion and unloaded all 6 children and 16 grocery bags from the van. And then it hit me. I didn't buy a snow shovel. Crap!

We had a snow shovel but Jason broke it during the huge snowstorm we had when he was home for Christmas. Now I'll just have to remain holed up in my house until the neighbors start to worry.
Yesterday I was having trouble getting my blog posts to publish so I gave up. What I had planned to write was that Ryan's lip is healing quite nicely. He's got a weird lump there inside his lower lip and a nice cut on the outside too. I'm sure this lovely injury will not be his last.

Want to see what Ryan's cut looks like?
No? You didn't want to see? Sorry!

It looks much better today than it did a few days ago.
Since today is a snow day and any plans we had are now buried under a pile of snow, we're just taking it easy. It's a snow day and it's a slow day.
Because of my incredible planning, I bought a dozen sugary, sweet donuts yesterday. It's a very special treat for the kids and so I was able to coax some good behavior out of everyone last night.

"Matthew, stop bothering Joshua or I'm eating your donut."

"Leila, if you whine I will have to eat your donut."

"That donut is mine if you don't stop teasing!"

Yes, go ahead and judge me. I threatened to eat their donuts. And I did eat somebody's donut too. (Any guess as to who lost a donut?)
I'm not paying the price for our not-so-healthy breakfast treat. Everyone has a sudden desire to sprint in circles around the room. And I can't send them outside today. I guess my little plan backfired!

Even the babies got in on the action. What a mess! It was pretty cute to watch them devour their first junk food though.

"What mama? It's not organic?"

We're going to watch a movie now and wait for a phone call. Jason was able to call briefly yesterday but the connection was terrible. he's had to buy a calling plan because they don't have free phones or internet there. Hopefully his laptop will arrive today so we can chat on Skype. So now I just wait for the phone to ring.

Can I borrow a shovel?