Saturday Morning Car-Tunes

We didn't really watch cartoons this morning (who am I kidding, thanks to TiVo, we have a 24 hr. Sponge Bob channel), but we did all get in the car.  Ed wanted us all to go to get an adjustment at Dr. Tatsuno's office.  As if I have not spent enough time in dr's offices this week with all 4 kids.  But to humor him, I went along.  Since I promised myself to blog bad AND GOOD moments of having so many kids, I wanted to share a moment (just one moment, mind you) of joy I had in that office.  Ed left me in one examination room while he went to get put up on "blocks" in another room.  I had all the kids in there cuz the dr was giving them the once over.  I was just looking at all four of them like, dang, I have really sweet kids.  They're beautiful.  It was a nice moment. 
We also had our Biggest Loser weigh-in at lunch today.  It was AWESOME.  Ed and I (mostly ED) blew everyone away with a >7% loss for the month of August.  I think we will market the new tonsillectomy rapid weight-loss plan.  Fully covered by most insurance plans.

Diamond in the Rough

My sister Betsy has been a fan of the website Hungry Girl for a long time, and I'm just getting into it.  I saw this: PEACH PIE ICE CREAM!  I am so all over that--it will be my "diamond" in my rough afternoon at home with all 4 kids.  I think I will mozey on over to Save Mart later and get some.  It might blow my Biggest Loser weigh-in tomorrow.  Or I could just consider it dinner.  If I budget 500 calories for dinner, and there's 120 calories in a half cup of ice cream, I'll be able to pig out on about 2 cups of it, right?  AND, I will do my usual hide-what-I'm-eaing-from-the-kids routine.  SCHWING!

Six Months

In all of the excitement today, I barely realized that my baby is 6 months old today.  Happy Day, Archer!

Family Circus

When I was a kid, I didn't know what "Family Circus" meant, but now I know.  I think it should be illegal to have two different back-to-school obligations in one week.  I have spent the last 3 evenings doing stuff outside the house, and my house looks like a sty.
Anyway, the big adventure today was a post-op check-up for Claire.  I decided to take all four kids with me.  Why?  Well, let's see...I drop them off at 7:30 in the morning.  I had to ask my father-in-law to watch recovering Claire all day today (and as a bonus, can you please take her to her school at 11:45 so she can chat with her friends during lunch?  You can just sit there and talk to the teacher's aide that you don't know from Adam), and I had to ask my mom and sister to watch the three big ones so I could go to back to school night (no children, please) at my kids' school.  SO, you can see that my favors were all used up today.  My husband didn't really understand that when I told him that I had trouble remembering everything the doctor said because I was keeping little hands off the medical equipment.  His solution was, don't take all of them.  Gee, ok.  Gosh, why didn't I think of that?

This Is the Day that Never Ends (to the tune of This Is the Song that Never Ends)

Today has been one of those crazy running around days. Since my choice to be a working mother has morphed into a necessity to work, occasionally I have a day when there is a little bit “extra” work to do. This extra was voluntary today, but it was a real resumé-booster. I won’t bore you with THOSE details; instead I will bore you with others.
It began with a call from my sweet mom, who has been watching my recovering daughter all week. Actually it was my dad on the phone, but that’s irrelevant. My mom had been up all night ill, and wasn’t sure that she could watch 3 kids (plus the 4th after 2:00). I said, no problem, I can find another place for the infant and the 6 year old after 2:00. Luckily, my dad volunteered to pick up daughter and 4 year old at 7:00 AM. I left at 7:20, as usual, and took infant to Jeanie’s and 6 year old to school.
At work, I usually check my bank account balance, and I discovered that I have $1.73 in the bank, to last until Monday (no, I didn’t forget any zero’s). Ed needed gas, but he couldn’t get any, so I dropped him off at his classroom. At 2:00, when Bauer (6 year old) got out of school (Wednesdays only!), I decided it would be prudent to pick both him and the baby up and transport them to their next location, so that I wouldn’t have to do it as two separate trips. So I shot my boss an “I’m leaving real quick, but I will be back and stay late” email, not really getting permission………but anyway, I drove to the school, drove to Jeanie’s, drove home because I forgot formula, drove to Papa’s, and drove back to work. The running around isn’t over yet, either. I still have a meeting and AWANA to go…I’ll keep you posted. Like you care!

Dentist Love

Farmer had a dentist appointment this week. I couldn’t really remember the reason for the appointment, but that’s what happens when you have to keep track of 5 people’s appointments. And it’s not like we only go twice a year for cleanings—Oh no—we go at least two other times for fillings (each kid and parent). And then there’s referrals to orthodontists, oral surgeons, ENT’s, and whatever else. But I digress. Farmer’s last appointment (for a filling) went great. He went right in, let the dentist do her thing, and he came out with a smile, a sticker, and a pencil. This time, however, he went back, plopped into the chair, and wouldn’t open his mouth. I was distracted by the poopy diaper that I discovered as we entered the office, but I finally went back there to use both positive and negative reinforcement. I tried to call his Dad, who is usually able to talk him into anything just over the phone, but Dad was at football practice. The scene ended with Farmer screaming like a banshee (he will demo that for you anytime). I DO NOT put up with public fits, so I took him to the restroom. What happened in there is censored. But we came out, he sat in the chair, and…wouldn’t open his mouth. In fact, he was lying on his stomach. I said, do you want to go back to the restroom? He shook his head. I said, ONE… and he slowly turned on his back and opened his mouth. He was an angel after that. So, I was able to breast feed in the waiting room while Bauer played on the iPod.
The best part of the story happened when we got back in the van. Farmer says (out of the blue, but I think it had something to do with a piece of sugar free candy from the office) “Bauer is a good brother. I love you Bauer.” WHOA, this coming from a boy who purposely leaves Bauer out of his bedtime prayers on a routine basis. I was thrilled, and I told him so. Then we went to get a Wendy’s frosty. Who cares about fluoride anyway?

Quinoa Queen

Hey, I made quinoa for the first time last night. It was the bomb, very Indian flavored. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. Anywho, I had to boil the chicken first, and I simultaneously made mac n' cheese for my two middle boys, and a can of chicken noodle soup for my recovering daughter. She just had her tonsils out, and that's a story for another post.
This is one of those NOT so great moments of being a mother of four: one child not feeling great, two children fighting, one baby crying, two pots of boiling water, one bowl of cooling soup, and a shortage of patience. So I YELL for my daughter to come pick up the baby. I YELL and YELL. I YELL for my oldest son. No answers. Turns out they were both taking a deuce. Now, can I really get upset at that?

My Family

So I have 4 children. They are the best, but sometimes I wonder what I was thinking. I hope to choronicle here some of the best and worst things about having too many kids. Some of you might have 1 child, and consider that too many! For me, it was 2 kids, but oh well. I welcome any cool stories you might have about your ups and downs as well. I will blog more when I'm not working. Shame on me.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog.

That was easy.