From Our Family to Yours

Wow, hey it has been awhile. I thought I was going to be on this kick where I tried really hard to write more often, and I did, like twice, but then nothing. Sorry. Sometimes I feel like I have everything and nothing to write about all at the same time, and that makes it hard to siphon off what I want to say. I am not sure that I have it figured out now even so you might have to just bear with the ramblings of a crazy stay-at-home mom.

Plus, there is now the expectation of some type of Christmas card letter thrown in here too-AGGGHHH!!!!! Ok, I think I can I think can…

This time last year we were hoping and praying and begging on our hands and knees for a post-doc position for Pete, and that did not happen. We were left wounded in our faith and wondering just where we would end up because it could have been literally anywhere. Pete applied to jobs way out west, way up north, way down south, and out to the east. We ended up just a couple hours from Purdue in the suburbs of Chicago. Do you like it? This is obviously the question we get asked the most. Pete is definitely feeling at home here. He feels like he can relate to the energy and personality of Chicagoans. I like it- I do. I haven’t met anyone who wasn’t nice or helpful or kind. I had high hopes of one day getting closer to KY, not further away, so I am adjusting, but it hasn’t been a hard or depressing move, so that is great news all around. 

How are the kids doing? Second most asked question. They are doing well. I think. I hope. Knock on wood. Jack has always been Jack. He is a bit much and he continues to be. It has always been hard for him to make friends and this is still true. He plays with kids at recess, we have him involved in Tae Kwon Do and Boy Scouts, and so as much as we can help him find friends we have. My kids have never been huge let’s have people at our house kids, I think this is because there are so many of them that adding extra people is just too much. *Maybe it is too much for me. He has had some issues with discipline at school, but this school is nothing like I have experienced before. They have a social worker, an occupational therapist, a psychologist, differentiated learning specialists, speech therapists, and I feel like the list could go on. They have two recesses and PE every day. There is a standing desk in his classroom he can use, there are ball seats for kids who need those, there is so much ability and willingness to pull a kid out to help them- I can’t believe it. So Jack is getting help from a large support team who are willing to help him learn how to take care of himself and hopefully postpone any need to medicate him, plus give him tools he can use now and later in life.

Luke is in Kindergarten! He is being being pulled out as well for different things like— how to hold a pencil correctly?? (I guess there are studies connecting correctly holding a pencil  to better reading), speech, and extra help with letters. He likes school and the kids. He is different from Jack in that he really wants to hang out with friends more often. I need to work on that. I haven’t been the best at making that happen. He doesn’t have much to share at the end of the day. He says he forgets. He gets frustrated when I try to push beyond that. I try to make him tell me at least 3 things that happened- sometimes it is as simple as telling me he ate all his lunch because most of the time he can’t finish it all! He hasn’t been signed up for any extra stuff yet, but in January he will start with basketball. I am interested to see how that goes. At the moment he is looking forward to it.

Thomas decided he would go to pre-school or bust this year. So pre-school it was. His birthday is just a few days shy of the cut off here in IL, so he will be 2 years behind Luke in school instead of 1. (They are 17 months apart). We have talked about petitioning to have him go earlier because if ever a kid was ready our Thomas is, but I don’t think we will. There is no harm in waiting, and he can just do pre-school again with the same teacher that he loves so much and already knows. He has made a couple friends and just beams every time he walks out of the school. He is in heaven.

This leaves Meg and Robert. I guess this time last year Robert wasn’t born. It seems like he has been part of the family for so long now. Meg is starting to talk now, she definitely communicates her wants, needs, and dislikes. She is testing boundaries and can do everything herself. She loves cats, Daniel Tiger, and boots. She hates skirts and dresses and being told no. Robert is pulling up, cruising around, and is so close to standing without holding on to anything. Meg loves Robert and already you can tell they are gonna best best friends (maybe worst enemies too). For anyone keeping track they are 13 months apart.

We added a cat to our family. I don’t mind Quantum near as much as I thought I would. If we had to get a cat, and I guess we did according to everyone else, this was the right cat for us. Tigran, our golden, turned 11 and suddenly got much older. He hurt himself in KY over Thanksgiving and didn’t really recover- he got much worse actually. It has been very depressing to watch. He stays on the floor in our bedroom almost all day, he can’t climb up stairs or get onto the couch without either help or a lot of effort (so much so that he normally doesn’t try), he stopped eating for awhile, not even to steal food from the table!!, so we took him to the vet. He is on pain meds right now but they want to do an X-Ray at the beginning of the year. He was born at my in-laws house to their dog so we’ve had him for his whole life, and I hope he has a few good years left.

These are the basics of our year. There have been highs and lows. So it goes with life. We get by and manage, sometimes barely, but we do. We also laugh, tell stories, and love each other a lot, so I’d say overall we are doing well. I never have expectations about the New Year, I don’t do resolutions, and in keeping with that tradition I will just say- I hope 2016 goes well. I hope we are given all the tools and resources we need to manage and survive any difficulties or sorrows that come our way, and I hope we aren’t too busy focusing on the negative to miss out on all the positive.

This super cute sleeping baby is definitely a positive.

A plethora of adventure

I woke up today with a cat licking my face. I threw that cat at my husband and told him, probably pretty grumpily, to remove the cat. Shortly after I woke up again because a small baby began to crawl on me, hit me, and make lots of noise. I should have known then that this would be an eventful morning. One thing I noticed was the lack of other children. Usually, Meg just sort of appears in my room because once she starts crying the brothers get her out of bed, but today Meg is still in her bed crying but no brothers. I go up to get Meg, and peek in the boys’ room where they are all asleep. What?!!! This is like an early Christmas miracle. 

Jack is the first to come downstairs and he is complaining of these symptoms:

-headache

-sore eyes

-muscle weakness and aches

-he has a slight fever as well

Luke is next and he says

-headache

-slight fever

Nice. Great.Fabulous. We normally get flu shots, and we were still planning on getting flu shots, but we just hadn’t done it yet. Things have been busy.  Now they are sick and it sounds like the flu to me. Only Robert has had a flu shot. I don’t think this is a good thing.

On the bright side I received the new Adele cd last night, and it has been playing as the background to our day. Meg, Thomas, and I made cookies. They didn’t turn out too well, way flat. This may be because I left the butter out all night or just because my baking is totally hit or miss. Whatever. There were chocolate chips involved so everyone is happy.

At some point there was a yell of Yuck! Gross! Thomas was staring at the rug under our table. Turns out that our lovely mouser had once again been successful in his nightly hunts, but this time instead of a mouse there were mouse bits. I won’t go into more detail, but Yuck! and Gross! were apt exclamations.

Toilet time was next on the list of events. Thomas had some issues with the upstairs toilet not flushing properly and the water coming to the brim, so I spent time with the plunger. My life is so glamorous ya’ll. In the downstairs bathroom I was met with Robert in the middle of dog food and shredded up toilet paper. Nice. Sure. Whatever- I always bring my dog food with me when I am about to rip up some toilet paper.

Time for a diversion so let’s watch Rudolph. I put on my Bumble jammies to help set the tone and for a bit it works, besides the normal bickering about blankets, where to sit, and Meg always wanting to sit one everyone or stand directly in front of the tv. I never realized how short that movie is compared to well-movies. It was over too soon. Inner dilemma going on here— do I let them watch another movie or try to let them play together before I demand naps. I went with play together, which was stupid. The game was fight with each other. The other game was sneak the iPad and then tattle on each other about it and steal turns. So fun.

Somewhere in here I thought, oh this is a good time to pray my rosary. Not sure what my logic was,  perhaps it was something like - I can nurse Robert to sleep while I am doing it. Robert is teething, cranky, and at this point overly tired so he won’t just nurse. He is crying, bobbing his head all over the place, chewing on wires, falling backwards on the bed, and crying some more. Also, this is when all the iPad tattling began to happen. Do I keep praying or stop and maybe not get back to it? I decided to keep going-not sure I got a whole lot out of it.

Robert finally falls asleep, and I go check on Meg. She is playing with the Advent candles and wants juice. Ok. I pour her juice, but not out of the bottle since there was a glass in the fridge from last night that someone made but didn’t drink. She doesn’t know this and thinks I have pulled some sort of mean prank on her or something because she begins to scream and cry, and throw things. Oh yes, she is my daughter. She won’t even try the juice. This tantrum lasts about 5 minutes. Finally, she drinks the juice and is happy.

 Wow. Now I have a headache. It is time to force naps on everyone. The boys don’t really complain because they are tired and sick. Meg is trapped in her crib so yay. I come into the bedroom, and lo Robert decides that even though it has only been like 15 minutes he is going to wake up and crawl on me and cry and bop all around. He is bopping a lot— what is going on with this? Anyway, this means I have a small child kicking me as I write this. He is not asleep. He wants to chew on the zipper of my pajamas. It is only noon people. Noon. I still have the whole afternoon.

Brush your teeth son

Mornings are a crazy time for every family. There are so many parts that must be put together so that everyone can get where they need to be. Some mornings it seems people wake up screaming, crying, yelling, rushing, and returning to the house more than once in an effort to start the day. 

My oldest son operates on his own time. I tell him he needs to brush his teeth and this results in eye rolling or being told that he brushed his teeth last night, so why does he really need to brush them again? When I remind him that the last time he went to the dentist he had 6 cavities because of this mentality and he says, “But I don’t have 6 cavities anymore.” Yes, because I spent a couple hundred dollars having them filled, so forgive me if I won’t let you skip out on brushing them this morning. He walks into the bathroom and closes the door, which worries me after the conversation we just had. I go and check on him - turns out he has just been staring at himself in the mirror. Again, I remind him to brush those teeth. About a minute later he walks out, which is too soon to be done brushing teeth, and I never heard the water turn on. Hmm… I ask him if he brushed his teeth and he looks at me and says, “Oh no, I forgot.” I mean WHAT?! REALLY?! How do you just forget that? We had this whole pre-toothbrushing conversation that involved him getting annoyed with me, there was that whole hey open the door and brush your teeth episode that literally just happened, and you forgot. He gets so irritated with my constantly reminding him to do everything, but obviously I need to. 

He likes to use the whole ‘but I did that yesterday’ excuse when it comes to getting ready in the mornings and not just with his teeth. He isn’t sure why he needs to change his clothes everyday. I admit that I am not a strong advocate of daily baths, so there are more than a few nights when he goes to bed with his clothes on( all that he ever wears are athletic pants and a t-shirt) and then wakes up thinking he is already dressed for the day. When I tell him he can’t wear that outfit to school again he just doesn’t understand why. He looks down and says, “There are no stains on it.” True, but you wore it yesterday. “What are you telling me, I have to change my clothes EVERY day?” Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you. 

These are basic things I am trying to teach my son before he leaves my house- you need to brush your teeth and change your clothes everyday. I won’t even get started on the fact that sometimes he won’t change socks until I lose it. I am not sure I will be successful, so to my future daughter-in- law, I am sorry. I did try.

Pokemon Conversations

My 8-year-old son is into Pokemon. He has the cards, watches the show, has stuffed animals, and through osmosis I have a general idea of what this world is all about. I must say I have never understood the appeal of Japanese animation, even as child when these cartoons would come on tv I was baffled by the large Bambi eyes, the sweat drops which appeared on the forehead, the way the facial expressions were over-exaggerated, and I would quickly change the channel. I am now paying for this as a mother, now Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball-Z, and Digimon are almost always on multiple times a week. My son likes to draw the characters, read the guide books, and form battles in his head. It should be noted that my son is a talker and will talk and talk and talk even if you just walk away from him, he will continue to talk. So one day I am just minding my business in the kitchen when he comes in talking about Basic Pokemon like Gyarados, Bulbasaur, and Weedle, and I know this is important to him and a big part of his world so I look at him and listen, I nod my head while he is telling me about their energy types which in my head become Earth, Wind, and Fire. This leads me to start thinking about Earth, Wind, and Fire songs, and do I actually know any, are they good, maybe I should go and listen to one after this conversation is over. Oh crap, I am supposed to be listening to the conversation, I should ask a question so it seems like I am paying attention. So who do these guys evolve into? He needs to know I am interested in what he is interested in, plus I used a word from the lexicon- I am so awesome. Now he is talking about Venusaur and points and battles against Butterfree.I feel like this conversation has lasted long enough now because I don’t know if I can pretend to be this interested in Pokemon anymore. What if this means he thinks I want to play the game or watch the shows? Oh no, I don’t think I can keep this up. I am not that good of a liar. Hmm, how do I get out this without seeming like a totally horrible mother? What is he talking about now? He is talking about the top ten best basic Pokemon. *I should add that he likes lists and rankings so I should have known we would end up here. He is going to ask me what I think. I don’t know the names of ten basic Pokemon. Crap.He is looking at me now. 

Son: So mom who do you think the most powerful basic Pokemon is?

Me: So you want to know my favorite basic Pokemon? Um, well, uh, I really like (looking around the room and seeing a Pokemon stuffed animal on the ground ) Squirtle. 

Son:Yeah that is a good one. Why did you pick him?

Me: (Looking at the stuffed animal to get clues about what Squirtle does) He has a shell for protection like a turtle and he can squirt water. He has a good offense and defense.

Son:Yeah, I think you are right

If I were a character in Japanese anime right now I would have sweat drops and an exaggerated smile. I know I can’t fake this anymore. That was too close, so since I am ahead right now in the being interested in what my kid is interested in game,I better call it quits. 

Me:This has been a great conversation but I have some stuff I need to finish up here. (even though when you came in I was just flipping through a magazine) Why don’t you watch an episode of Pokemon or look through your book and come up with more battles?

Son: Sure and I can tell you about it later ok?

Me: Yeah that sounds great.

That was close. I wonder how much longer he is going to be interested in Pokemon? Can I keep faking it? Well, I am at least going to count today a parenting victory.

I have this hammer, now what?

This morning I felt like the walls were caving in. I felt all the emotions just flood me all at once. Our washing machine is broken, it has been broken for over a week now, and as a family of 7 this is no small thing. Currently it looks as though our house is sick and throwing up clothes. Everywhere you go, look, or walk- clothes. Some kind of dirty, some just plain filthy, and some kind of damp and ew, and sure maybe putting those in the dryer would be a good idea, because the dryer still works, but they are also dirty so I feel like why? The house has become progressively dirtier in all areas because of this. The laundry hampers filled up days ago so the clothes are living in piles in every single room, and what is the point of straightening up rooms when they will still be dirty because there are dirty nasty clothes all over the place? 

The pieces are easy enough to replace so we ordered them online and didn’t spend the extra $10 dollars or so for fast shipping because we don’t have an extra $10 for fast shipping, and they weren’t Amazon Prime eligible unless I wanted to put that $10 toward the base price, and I didn’t, so I didn’t. Then the pieces came and one piece I put in but the screws are stripped and I couldn’t make them tight enough. Fine, let’s move on to the other piece which would be even easier to replace, but I couldn’t even get the second screw out. I wanted to cry, to sob, to runaway and never come back because of laundry. Not having anymore clean underwear really does get to you. I used a rubber band over the screwdriver, I put a dab of superglue in it, I tried all of our screwdrivers, and in the end I just stripped them more. Seeing the pieces just sitting there and knowing if I could just get those screws out then I could wash clothes was heartbreaking. I could stop tripping on clothes, and I might have a clean dish towel. I got out the drill and nothing. So I grabbed the pliers and bent and broke the piece giving me trouble, the screw was still there but now I could get the pliers wedged underneath and just turn until it came out- and it did. Now, I still need to buy new screws because those aren’t going back in, but I won. In spite of all the hurdles, in spite of the anger, the overwhelming sensation of no control( as mirrored by the state of my house), and in spite of no clear vision on how to proceed, I did it.

My kid pooped in the tub, I spilled a full beer all over the floor when trying to straighten up a little bit, another kid basically told me I was ruining his life because I pointed out that his pants were too small, were actually his little brother’s, and he should put on his own pants, I haven’t had my car for 3 days(my husband has been using it) so I couldn’t get to the store to buy new screws or ask handymen what to do, Google’s ideas failed me, I have had 3+ kids sick at the same time( probably because germ clothes are just everywhere), and I felt like I was drowning.

 I wanted to have control of something-anything.  Now I could just stop. Leave it there. But the last few months I have been struggling, an unsettling feeling swelling inside, a shift in my normal self, and I don’t know what it is exactly or what it means, but I feel it must mean something. I wonder if my outside is currently mirroring my inside. I have a lot happening inside and it is tearing me up and just like with my washing machine, I can’t seem to fix it, find the right parts, I don’t see how it will get fixed, and it seems if I just had the right tool it would be so easy to fix, I just need an adjustment maybe to move an inch higher or something but instead of something that would fix that, I have been given a hammer. That is it, just a hammer, no instructions, no clues, no tips, just a hammer. Now I have been holding this hammer, I have sort of swung it in the air for practice, but it doesn’t feel right, and I just want someone else to come in and make it better, but I suppose I am in need of seeing I can do it on my own, there must be some personal growth lesson hiding in there, and one day I hope to see it, but now I feel so lost and like I know this change is happening or about to, but it hasn’t yet and it just frustrates me, and is not great for my anxiety. Some of it has to do with faith, some a sense of purpose and direction, and some of it is the desire to financially help my family, and at the root of it I am beginning to feel that they are all three connected but I don’t see how, I can’t see it, and I just have this stupid hammer. Anyone who has ever seen me angry knows I shouldn't hold a hammer when I am angry- it wouldn’t turn out well for the walls and dishes.

So in the meantime I will go to Ace and buy some screws, I will put my washing machine back together tonight, I will do the laundry, and maybe during the mind-numbingness that is folding clothes I will have some epiphany. I should probably pull out my rosary too because the last few mornings I keep seeing different statues of Momma Mary while going on walks, and perhaps she is trying to get my attention.

Fall Frolicking

We have been busy doing fall around here. After a totally boring and blah summer we are working to make up for it with an awesome fall. We started out in September by picking apples. We love to pick apples and returned to our lovely Indiana to do so. It was an apple orchard just outside Chicago, and it wasn't as great as our old apple picking spot, but it got the job done. However, next fall we will look for a different place. Maybe go more north?

We had been postponing signing Jack up for TaeKwonDo for various reasons, but after some behavior issues in school and then an email asking if we were still interested in the classes, I took it as a sign, and signed him up. He has been a bit nervous getting back into it, and the emphasis on certain aspects are different than what he is used to, but he is starting to get back into the swing of things.

We went to Lombard Fall Fest one weekend and it was a nice and fun diversion. They had a pumpkin patch, a decoration stand, games, pony rides, and a small petting zoo area. Each kid left with a pumpkin that they decorated. We came home and lined them up in a row-- our five little pumpkins.

Jack wanted to sign up for Boy Scouts. He wanted to last year, and we didn't really want to mess with it, but since he wanted to do it again this year, we figured ok we will see how he does. We signed him up and before he even had any meetings he had to sell popcorn and meet fundraising goals, so off we went to Ace Hardware and asked all kinds of people to buy popcorn. Jack was so nervous at first, but then he really got into it and did a great job. By the end of the day he and his co-seller sold to more people than anyone else had so far. Way to go Mr. J!

I decided that it had been far too long since I had hung out with my siblings, plus my dad had not met Robert yet, so I figured it was time to go back to Kentucky. Pete had to work so I did it all solo! We spent most of the car ride to Henderson listening to Adventures in Odyssey. Honestly, they did an amazing job, and so did I really. We went to a pumpkin farm and it was a blast! They had ladder golf, corn hole, a corn maze, tractor ride, john deere kiddie cars, slides, water pump duck race, corn kernel pit, and of course a pumpkin patch.

Then we came back to enjoy Spooktacular here in downtown Lombard. It was fun. The kids wore costumes, got some candy, played a few games, we had some delicious pizza by the slice, chicago mix popcorn, and free cotton candy.

Thomas has been complaining that we don't get out enough to play while the boys are at school, so each week I have tried to do one thing outside with Thomas and kids. We went to the playground one afternoon and Robert enjoyed his first swing ride. I got to push all three kids at once. Lucky me.

The next week we walked to downtown, which is just shy of a mile from our house, and then walked back a different way taking pictures of all the houses decorated for Halloween along the way. A lot more houses here decorate for Halloween than any other place I have lived. It is pretty fun, and the kids love it!  

Most recently we went downtown with cousin Tricia. We were able to ride the train with mixed feelings from the kids: Luke did not like it, Thomas thought it was awesome, Meg handled it well for awhile but then wanted to stand up and move around, and Jack thought it was interesting but liked it better once Pete showed him the map and how he could tell where we were based on it. We went to Maggie Daley Park and on the way we ran into people handing out Kefir smoothies so the boys loaded up and then even went back for more. Once at the park they were having a Halloween parade and giving out sour gummy worms so the kids loaded up on those too. They are gonna want to go back downtown every weekend if they think they will be handed free stuff every time. On our way back to the train we stopped by the bean and saw the giant head sculpture.

We have been having fun for sure, but it hasn't been all mother of the year over here. I have struggled with my ability to parent Jack. We don't always see eye to eye, we don't always agree on the best way to solve problems, and I become very frustrated when he ignores me and continues to act like a crazy man. He has been having issues in school and trying to find a way to help him is frustrating. It gets to the point where he and I both feel like I am only reprimanding him, which isn't very helpful to our relationship, and makes him ignore me more because if he can't make me happy why even try? Luke isn't a traditional learner and it takes a bit longer for him to process and retain the information, and he is the exact opposite of Jack in that he follows all the rules and doesn't make a scene at all, which makes it easy to overlook him and see that he needs more encouragement. During these moments I wish Luke had a little bit of that crazy Jack in him. Pete and I are discussing various ways to help Luke have a more successful school experience. Pete is going to take lead on it since he knows what he wants and won't back down or be easily swayed. Meg is now a big girl and a handful. She decided she doesn't need a booster seat at meal time, she doesn't want a sippy cup, and she has finally started talking or trying to talk. She has also decided to throw herself on the ground and cry, take off her pants in public, scream loudly in protest, refuse to move, or (when it comes to Pete) say please and smile real big to get her way. She knows how to manipulate each one of us in just the right way-- TROUBLE! Robert is still very good natured, he can crawl and pulls up all the time, but he can't get down so he is in that 'just fall down' stage so there are a lot of tears. He has also developed a bad habit of being unable to sleep at all at night unless nursed to sleep and sleeping right next to me the whole night. If he is asleep and I move him he screams and cries, if he manages to cry himself to sleep it is only a short lived sleep that results in more crying until he is in bed with me again. I can't be too mad though because it is the only time he ever gets upset-ever.


We are just trying our best here. Sometimes we have lots of fun, sometimes we are totally boring, and sometimes there is a lot of screaming and fighting. I guess that is what happens when you live in a house with 7 people and 2 pets.

That is not for kisses

Thomas turned 4!!! So now I get to tell people I have 5 kids ages:8,5,4,1,and 6 months. Haha-- imagine those faces-- imagine mine. Thomas has been so eager to go to preschool, and has talked of little else since we moved here. I didn't really want him to go this year because he won't be going to kindergarten next year and will have to do another year of pre-school, since I stay home with them it seems extravagant to send him to two years of pre-school. Plus, I thought he would really enjoy hanging out with me and being the oldest during the day. Nope. He wanted to be big like his brothers and go to school. So, we finally relented and Thomas started pre-school today. Twice a week/all day. Oh, the excitement when he was able to pack a lunch in his batman lunchbox, and he got to wear the backpack both Jack and Luke used in preschool. We were a bit rushed this morning because his school day starts an hour before his brothers, and the adjustment was hard for me to make. He was ready though, he slept in his clothes(a tank top because he is Thomas the Tank and tank tops are his favorite), he brushed his teeth no arguments, and he just waited for me to get it together. 

Back home in crazyland, Pete decided this morning, about 20 minutes before time to walk Jack and Luke to school, that he would cut their hair. They were already dressed for the day- a massive feat. I was just finishing up their lunches.  Luke's hair was done about 5 minutes before time to walk out the door. He calls Jack in now!!! I will say that he got it done, we ended up driving the kids to school instead of walking, and it was a very stressful way to start the day, probably because even though I woke up at 6:30am and it was 8:40am I still hadn't had my coffee. 

Last night I was lamenting the fact that Thomas would be gone all day, which I found odd because with Jack and Luke I was eager and excited for them to go school, learn, and make friends. Pete reminded me that for the first time in a long time I would have consistent days when all the kids still at home would actually be asleep for more than 1 hour. While this may be true here are a few things that happened before nap time.  Meg came over to me with her finger out cry/moaning so I kissed it. Nope. Parent advice- Don't ever just kiss a finger that your kid is holding out to you. NEVER DO IT!!! Poop finger. Yup, she gave me a poop finger, and I just blindly kissed it. No, Meg you don't kiss that. 

I gave Meg a Gatorade bottle this morning, a little later I couldn't find it, but there wasn't gatorade down her shirt so I just let it be and forgot about it. I walk in my room 20 minutes later and guess what? I found the gatorade bottle.

I guess I don't realize how much I rely on the older kids to help me parent. If Thomas were here that would not have gone down. 

I took some time this morning to empty the garbage, the recycling, pay bills, and fill out paperwork I received from Thomas' teacher this morning. Turns out that I put the paperwork in the recycling bin outside but kept a neat pile of all the stuff I meant to recycle. I had to go outside and dig through the recycling to find the forms. After I signed the forms I made a new pile so I would remember to put them in Thomas' folder. Nope. I was just a few second from throwing them in the garbage this time. What is wrong with me?? I realized it was now 10:30am and I hadn't had my coffee yet. I stopped right then and made my coffee. I think I will have two cups just to catch up.

So now I am sitting here realizing that the oldest kid in my house today is 19 months old. What in the world are we going to do all day? I have totally forgotten how to play with and entertain toddlers. Jack was the last child that I really entertained as a toddler, after that I sort of let the siblings take over that part. I worked on the feeding them, cleaning their messes, driving them to the store or library, and stuff of that nature. What am I going to do with her and Robert?  I tried to watch Dora with her and she got excited and said backpack, but then she was done. She got up and left the couch. So I decided maybe I should just turn on Veep and check out that show because I have heard it is good and Meg obviously doesn't want to use the tv right now. Can I finish my book because it is really good? Letting them learn to use their imagination and play without adult supervision is actually really good for them, so I am doing her a favor by ignoring her, right?

The thing with Meg is that she is too clever for her own good. She went into Pete's bag, found a smaller bag, unzipped it, took out the markers, and drew all over her arms and legs. She also has decided that she is a big fan of Coke- just like her mom- and she goes around the house looking for Coke cans and every time she finds one she checks to see if there is any left.

I think I need Thomas back in the house to help me out and give me stuff to do. I feel like today I might be both overwhelmed and bored- a parenting paradox.

Some Weigels go to school and some stay home

Back to school time! I am so excited! We moved and that was lovely, but we didn't really do anything once we moved. We didn't have money saved up so we didn't have money to spend, and moving costs money, so we just kept close to the house.  We went out (spent money to visit some attraction) once a month over the summer just to vary the routine but that was about all. This also meant no summer swim lessons, tennis lessons, or even taekwondo for Jack (other than trying out a few schools). I found that while over scheduling your kids is bad for them not scheduling them at all for 2 or 3 months is also bad-- take my word for it.

So a new school year has been much anticipated in our house. A chance to break up the monotony of the day, meet new friends, perhaps find things to get involved with, and a chance for dear old mom to once again become a lovely person; not the evil, yelling, overwhelmed, and edgy lady that my kids now think I have permanently become. It also gives me the chance to leave the house without all 5 kids, and perhaps I will stop hearing: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, she has five kids, how many kids do you have?, how do you do it?, that's a lot of kids, are they all yours?, do you have any twins in there?, must have Irish twins, and you are blessed. Every single time I went anywhere! I have never experienced so many people having so much to say about the number of kids I have. * I did go to the store this AM with just 3 and I still heard : You have your hands full, no kids in school. That is when you look forward to nap time, huh? 

Anyway, back to the first day of school. We live very close to the school so we walk. Actually a lot of people walk. The crossing guard knew right away we were new, asked where we lived (she knew the house because she lives just down the road), and introduced herself. Jack's teacher also knew where we lived because she walks the path by the pond and saw three boys playing outside and knew they would be attending the elementary. She also lives just down the road. So there is definitely that small town feel about it.

Luke is in kindergarten this year! The first 3 days were half days so hopefully he adjusts well to full days this week. He wasn't scared at all. When we asked him what his feelings about going to school were he simply said he couldn't wait to make friends. Here they keep all the kindergarteners together for the first two weeks, they test and observe them, and then they divide the kids into classrooms. I asked him about school and he liked making a handprint with paint, he liked the story the teacher read at story time, he liked the singing, but he didn't not like all the waiting that was involved. The first day Pete spiked Luke's hair and on the second day Luke wore a button up shirt and tie so this means Superman hair. I guess at recess a boy liked Luke's hair better spiked so he ran his fingers through it and messed it up. Luke was very upset and even took all of us to the exact spot on the playground where it happened. It didn't completely ruin recess though because he did end up playing Superhero tag with a few kids. He isn't super chatty. He gives a brief run down and then asks if we can stop talking about it.

Jack is in 3rd grade. I was worried for him the most because he was the one that had to switch schools, and that is always hard. So far though he really seems to like it. He said he likes it better than his old school. Everyone asked if it was his first day, but not in a mean way (so he says). Everyone was nice and even if you could tell you didn't have a lot in common no one was mean. He wore his St. Louis Cardinals jersey and the music teacher said: Oh, I see you aren't a Cubs fan. Well, I don't think we are going to let you back in the building after today. Jack liked that she was funny. He said a lot of people in the school are goofy and he likes that. His said at lunch there is a spot for gluten sensitive and nut allergy kids to sit and he liked that the school cared enough about the students to do that. He sits at a table with another boy that has become his friend, and on the first day they were talking about how other people can fill your basket and how do you do that? The teacher asked Jack about it and Jack said he wasn't a basket filler. So the teacher asked the class if Jack had filled anyone's basket that day. The boy he has befriended said- Jack filled my basket today because he found things I liked and then asked me about them. Jack was really excited about that.

 Thomas has had a really hard time. Where are my brothers, why can't I play with my brothers, why can't I go to school, when can I go to school?  We played a lot of board games, we've gone to a playground/playgroup, and just chilled at home watching tv, but I am not enough. He and Meg aren't at the same playing level right now so she is fun for like 10 minutes and then that is it. We are thinking about sending him to a 3-year-old preschool twice a week.

Meg entertains herself. She is definitely her own girl. She may also be a little bit crazy.

Robert is starting solids, scooting, and has begun waking up more often in the middle of the night. He is still chill most of the time.

How a non-cat person got a cat for their birthday

For my birthday we got a cat. I do not like cats. Growing up we had cats. They peed on everything. EVERYTHING!!! If a shirt, coat, sock, towel, or anything was left out or on the ground it would smell like pee from there on out. As a whinny and loud teenager I would moan and groan, scream and cry that these stupid cats were peeing all over my stuff. Why did everything have to smell like pee!! I was always told-- Just don't leave your stuff out or on the ground and the cats won't bother it. I was angry that it was on me, why not just get rid of the cats, get better cats, teach the cats not to pee on my stuff?? I vowed to never ever ever get a cat.

I am also allergic to cats. When they do the allergy scratch test, the cat area becomes the size of a golf ball. When I am around cats for any amount of time my eyes get red, itchy, swollen, my nose is a mess, and I sneeze all the time. This, of course, adds to my dislike of cats.

Once we had a cat named Panther. This cat was demonic. You would go into the backyard and there would be dead birds on the ground. Yes, more than one. Yes, this happened more than once. Now, I was still quite young when we had Panther, and one afternoon I stood on our front porch and looked down to see a dead rabbit. I yelled: Mom, Panther killed the Easter Bunny!

Another time, we had a different cat, and I forget if this cat was old or sick or what, but I went under my bed for some reason and there was a dead cat. Traumatic. Cats= traumatic memories for me.

So when on my birthday Jack started crying/freaking out because there was a mouse in the tv room, I said, with full confidence that no one would take me seriously, we should get a cat to get rid of the mice. All eyes turned to me and Pete said that we should because it would be the most humane way to get rid of mice, Jack said he always wanted more animals, Luke and Thomas also thought this was an awesome idea. Um, I didn't really want to be the jerk that said- haha just joking!! So I went along with it. It ended up that Jack and I (and Robert) went to the DuPage County Animal Shelter, on my birthday, and Jack picked out his top 2 kittens. One was already spoken for so that left the orange tabby. Jack got to play with him for like 20 minutes, and he fell in love. Jack loves all animals in a big way. Ever since he was, well basically ever since he could talk to us, he has indicated he wants to grow up and have a job involving animals. We were not allowed to bring him home that day because I didn't have any paperwork on me saying Tigran was up to date on his shots, which is a requirement, so we had to wait until they could get in touch with our West Lafayette vet.

It turns out that Pete has always wanted a cat. This was news to me. I have known Pete for many years, and his desire to have a cat was a secret. He told me it was his idea to get Kit, his parent's cat, and he was really excited that we finally got to have one too. WHAT?! He named it. Oh yes, he knew right away what this cat would be named---Quantum. Today we loaded up the car, bought litter boxes, cat food, a toy, and then set off to pick up our cat, Quantum. He is 12 weeks old. So far, he just sits in this box in the closet. Meg stands right in front of him and just screams over and over. Then she laughs and does it again. I think she is really excited. Tigran barks at him and then demands pets. The boys want to hold him and play with him, but Quantum just wants to chill in this box so they don't really understand. I wanted to get a picture of Jack holding him or something, but not yet. Quantum is a little overwhelmed by the loudness that comes with being a Weigel. So I will let you know how things go. Right now, we are family that just keeps getting bigger.

Really, one more month till school starts?!

I don't know how I feel about school not starting for another month. Part of me is glad for lazy mornings and no need to get dressed until whenever, but part of me longs for the kids to get the hell out of here. Individually, they are all awesome! Combined into a unit-- maybe not so much. We have limited money, space, means, stuff, and etc., so we have always consistently stressed sharing. It is one thing we do all the time. You share food, toys, drinks, clothes, and whatever else there is to share. It turns out this has not taught our children that sharing is a lovely wonderful trait, it has taught our children to get what they can when they can, I believe it has made them selfish. Hmm....sharing = selfish. If there is a sharing soda in the car, the take a drink and pass it rule turns into take a drink for 2 minutes or until my brother complains or mom and dad notice my drink has taken longer than the normal amount of time. This is the case with everything these days!!!! I am going insane. Also, one-upping is at an all time high. Really, I don't care if you can eat your hot dog faster, if your car is 'more awesomer', if you slept longer, stayed up later, have a better shirt, like the better super hero, or anything. I really just don't care!!!!! Another thing that has started is the whole - you are not my buddy- conversation. This started out last year as super cute- the brothers would spend a Saturday or weekday afternoon hanging out and there would be hugs and a brother saying- you are my buddy. It was cute. No, not anymore. Now I say-- we are  not doing buddies!!! No one is anyone's buddy, you got it?!!  It is a threat, a way to say I am mad at you, you can't play, you aren't wanted, they say-- You are NOT my buddy! Followed by tears and tattling. Poor Thomas is 3, and this age is now my least favorite. He whines day and night. Really, he walks into my room at 6:30 am and in a very whiny voice says- I am hungry, when are you going to make me cereal?! It doesn't stop until he goes to bed, and Thomas, so far, is the one child who needs very little sleep so even though I put him down at 7ish, he is still awake at 10 and coming down the stairs whining that he can't sleep for any number of reasons, one being- Mom, but I love you and just want to give you a hug and kiss because I need to. So, of course, when I tell him-No, No you have to go to sleep right now!!! - I become some mean mom who doesn't want to kiss her kid.

Meg is a mess all by herself. If you tell her no she cries. Period. It has gotten to the point where I hear  myself saying to the brothers--Don't tell her no. Just don't say no to her. Let her do it. Great parenting I know. The best way to raise your daughter is by never telling her no and letting her fits win. Man, she is just so loud, it is instant, and she throws herself on the floor. I don't have the energy to deal with her. If she wants that Hot Wheels Car then sorry brothers, you are giving it to her. She doesn't want to drink water or milk and when I say no and she sobs for 30 minutes, I say fine have your juice I don't care. She is stubborn, she may be more so than me, and that is saying something. I stuck to my guns two days in a row about the whole not just drinking juice stance, and she barely drank anything for two days, and barely peed too. What?!! Really?!! She is also a dare devil, wild, crazy, and has already hurt herself more than her brothers ever did. She has chipped both her front teeth, she has fallen off the patio chair and had her nose catch her, she climbs up and over everything. When she is tired she pulls her hair, slaps herself, and always manages to position herself in a place where she is tripped over and stepped on. If anyone has food she will cry until she gets it too. So, now I say - if you are getting food you either have to give some to Meg or get her some too. She is too much.

Rob is still good. Lovely baby. He just has crazy hair. We have decided the best way to dress him with his crazy hair is to put him in onesies with suspender or bow tie pictures. It seems to work.

That is life here, and what life here will be like for at least a month more.

Suburbs

Living in the suburbs is a new experience for me. I have heard of the suburbs and figured it couldn't be much different than living in a small town, which is what I have done most of my life. I will say that it is much like that and also different. I have posted on Facebook a lot of pictures of the pond that is basically part of our yard, the geese who come into our front yard to eat the leftovers from the mulberry tree, and the abundance of trees (and weeds) that are in our backyard. These glimpses make the city or anything associated with the city seem so far away. Yet, we are reminded of the city because every few minutes we see and hear airplanes (though you do get used to the sound, so you eventually tune it out, am I right UofL folks?) Often we will even see two overhead going in opposite directions. We live near O'Hare.

A new sound to me is that of a regular train whistle. I have lived in towns where there are railroad tracks and you get the occasional train, but here the Metra comes and goes on schedule all day. We hear the whistle while playing in our backyard, and to go most anywhere in town you drive by train. Thomas was very excited because one day there were a few John Deere cars being pulled. We also drive Pete to the train station and pick him up daily. He has stories about life on the train: conductors, tickets being punched, drinking being allowed, missing the train, taking the wrong train and ending up in places you never meant to be, Blackhawk fans, and enjoying not being stuck in traffic while being able to reliably get where you need to go. Right now, Jack's biggest wish is to ride the train.

Jack also has seen a new form of advertising floating above our backyard- the blimp. This was a blue DirectTv blimp that was right overhead but had already gone quite far by the time I could get a picture.

While driving in the suburbs you drive 10 minutes in any direction and you have driven into a new suburb but continue on or turn down a different road and you might find yourself back in your suburb. The names all jumble together Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard, Downer's Grove, and Oak Brook. All the same and yet different. I have only been to a few of these, and currently my favorite is Glen Ellyn- it just looks so quaint and picturesque. In Downer's Grove and Villa Park we have eaten at Portillos, which is now Pete's favorite food place outdoing Skyline and Qdoba. In Glen Ellyn we tried malts and ice cream at Oberweis- the best malt I have ever had. I heard they delivered milk still and they totally do- see Glen Ellyn is so Mayberry. We had pizza from a couple places, no deep dish pizza, but still delicious, but too expensive to be something that we do regularly. We went to the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, and Jack loves it there. He loves animals anyway, and wants to work in some capacity as a scientist with wildlife animals. There was a young man volunteering, and Jack has decided when he is old enough he will volunteer there as well.

Jack, Pete, and Uncle Danny went to a Cubs v Cardinals game at Wrigley Field.

Jack and company rooted for the Cardinals, and the Cubs fans jested and joked, but welcomed the new and young baseball fan. I heard it was an awesome experience for all 3, and I am glad they got to share it with one another.

When leaving the suburbs you get to drive into the city, and the city looks like this. We were very excited that we received our I-Pass and did not have to get all the way over and scrounge around for change.

Since we just moved and didn't want to overwhelm the kids with moving and lots of summer activities we have just been slowly driving around checking things out when we get the urge, and eating popsicles on the patio.

So far we like it here, and we haven't even made friends yet. I take that as a good sign. There are only a couple things we don't like: Mosquitos and allergies!!!  The mosquitos are HORRIBLE!!! They are everywhere. Poor Luke and Pete - all over their face, neck, ears, arms, legs, and back!! Allergies are bad for all of us, but Jack tends to get bloody noses, and since we have been here he has had one bloody nose episode almost daily. Luke says, despite this, he loves this town and wants to raise his own kids here. Jack says, he loves it but doesn't want to raise his kids here because there are too many bloody noses involved. Thomas says, once we have all the adventures there are to have here it will be time to move someplace new with new adventures.

Imported to Illinois

I just finished the cycle of getting all the kids down for nap/rest time, and as it goes, Meg woke up just as I breathed a deep sigh of relief at having a few minutes of quiet. No fighting, no yelling, no one-upping, no crying- just silence. My stubborn, strong-willed, loud daughter whom I am sure I will enjoy the pleasures of sharing many a shouting match with one day just sat in the chair opposite me in silence. In the quiet I opened the refrigerator, pulled out leftover nachos and chips, put them on the table, and we sat there not making any noise other than that of eating. At one point she dropped her nachos on the floor and looked at me like I would yell or even speak, but I didn't, I just picked it up and smiled, and she smiled back. It was lovely.

I am ever so anxious. I have many worries, but Pete says there isn't a whole lot I can do about it, and in time it will all work itself out. Of course, being me, I say- What if it doesn't? So without focusing on the stresses, here is a bit of our life in Illinois.

Our living room doesn't have a couch. It is pretty empty as you can tell. It does have a lovely large window though.

 Our couch is in the tv/kids room. This is totally fine because it is about the size of our whole downstairs at our last place, so we feel more comfortable sitting on top of each other.

 

One day we will have a couch in the living room, and we will be able to sit on it and enjoy this view, which is pretty awesome.

We decided, that in order to help the boys have a bit of fun in our new city, we would explore the Morton Arboretum, which is only like 10-15 minutes away. It turns out they were having a Cultural Festival that day so our time was accompanied by music, story-telling, and face painting. We spent the whole afternoon there and truly enjoyed it.

We have enjoyed our backyard. Having a backyard where the boys can run around without the police showing up to ask if I know that my boys are running around is a blessing. *Yes, the police showed up at our front door more than once in West Lafayette.

We found out that there is a really huge park area in town. It has the water park, basketball courts, tennis courts, frisbee golf, playground, baseball field, soccer field, dog park, and what Jack calls the cool rock with flags. While, I think we are all eager to make friends, none of us really wanted to just be surrounded by strangers, so we decided to go to the park quite early to avoid everyone. It was all ours and just as we were leaving the cars started pulling in. So perhaps, when we are ready to face the strangers we can go a bit later.

 

As I am writing this Meg is actually sitting in this location where she was sitting a few nights ago. I guess when there are no chairs, a toy box will do. 

Oh and since I have no pictures of Robbie on here I figure I should just throw one in. Not a great one- Sorry Robbie. He is really interested in his hands, he stares at them for minutes. He is just now starting to get interested in toys in front of him. He will grab at them and stare at them. He is still a super good baby. So chill and laid back.

 That is our life in Illinois so far. Just taking it one day at a time.