Memorable Moments

I feel like a big part of my life is helping other people not feel like total failures as a parent. I mean with 5 kids I am bound to screw up occasionally and well, so are my kids, here is a long list of ways I am making you feel like an awesome parent.

Let's start with last week. We had a baseball game and a soccer game to attend and being a one- car family that means a lot of planning and toting everyone along. We lucked out that the games were being played at the same park, but there is a bit of distance between them, which comes into play here real soon. Luke's game was first so all 7 of were in attendance, and Jack was talking about this and that when he suddenly remembered he was banned from electronics for 1 month, it had already been 2 weeks, so the fact that it just randomly dawned on him is not even something I can understand. In his anger he stormed off without a word. We watched him walk past the baseball field, past the playground, and near the pond. We let him go, if he wanted to be angry and let off some steam so be it. Then about 15 minutes later it was time for part of the crew to head on over to Jack's soccer game. Pete went down by the playground and pond to get Jack, but he wasn't there. Pete asked a guy who was fishing with his kids if he had seen a little boy, and the response was no. There is a big hill and some little trail type areas nearby so Thomas and I went and searched that area, screaming his name, but nothing. Around this time I had to grab Luke from his game, and Pete was going to drive around to the other side of the park to see if Jack just decided to walk to his soccer game without telling us. As Luke and I made our way we met Pete who had decided to walk to the soccer fields since, if something had happened to Jack he would be retracing Jack's path, turns out Jack was at his soccer game. Later when we told him we needed to discuss what happened he said, " What happened? What did I do?"

Jack stories are the best so here is another. We went to Henderson last week, and the first night there Jack was being a bit much. He has this tendency, so one way to help him and everyone around him, is to send him someplace alone to read. He didn't like that he was being pulled away, but I put him in a bedroom gave him a book and told him he needed to take a break for a little while. About 10 or 20 minutes later my sister went in to say goodbye to him and discovered the window open and the screen on the bed. My son had escaped. Mary and Daniel looked outside to discover that he didn't go far, just next to our van, we brought him inside and once he was walking away from me I noticed that his back had blood all over it. I called for him and it turns out that in his escape he managed to fall on this piece of plastic, breaking the plastic, and scratching up his back pretty badly. I will say I did not scream. I even repeatedly kept telling him that I wasn't screaming, probably in an effort to not scream. I guess I can say hopefully he learned climbing out windows is not ok, and if you do you might get hurt. Better to learn this lesson at 9 versus 16- I hope.

Once back home Meg had this dress up outfit that needed some sequins or something glued back on. I could only find super glue and she wanted it done right away and without thinking I started to do it while she was wearing the dress. Nope. Bad, horrible idea. She began screaming. I immediately yanked that dress away from her chest but it was done, it had burned her. Now she has a small burn on her chest. Oh she sobbed and sobbed for an hour. She fell asleep in my arms sobbing and kept waking up crying. It was the most horrible thing. It looks so much better now, and doesn't bother her at all, but I feel immense guilt every time I see it.

Meg decided she needed a haircut. She took the scissors and just started cutting. Nice. We haven't fixed it yet, so she has been wearing a ponytail. It isn't horrible and it can be fixed without looking ridiculous, so that is good news.

In Henderson we went to the Handy Fest and there were bounce houses and slides that I let the kids go on. Thomas slid down a slide with his arm under him and he got a little burn. I didn't think much of it because it looked like a rug burn and not a big deal. I gave him a band-aid, mostly just to appease him, and sent him on his way. This weekend I noticed that he had this huge scab that covered most of his elbow. What?! We went to the zoo and the very last thing we did was ride the carousel. When they got off I noticed a large-ish amount of blood coming from Thomas' elbow. I had tissues so we put those on it, and then a nice mom who was standing nearby gave us a band-aid. So we fixed it pretty quickly. It turns out that Thomas' arm snagged on this phone holster Pete decided to wear today (since it was Father's Day Pete decided to dress like a dorky dad-haha ), and it ripped that scab right off. Tonight we changed the bandage and it looks a lot worse than it did before. It is gross. Thomas did get a small ice cream out of it though.

Then there is Robert who is just a handful all of the time. He took off his diaper to poop on the floor, he found my make-up and put it everywhere, he takes all the pots and pans out of the drawers at least 10 times a day, he eats off the dirty spoons in the dishwasher, he throws all his food on the floor, he draws on the wall, he chases the cat, he moves the step stool to the sink in order to grab toothbrushes and put them in the toilet, and really just about anything he shouldn't do he does. He is the 5th kid he should be easy-just saying.

That's been my summer so far-- hope yours is memorable too.

because this is what happens when you try to get them all to be in one picture

Did He?

My darling Robert is a bit of a handful. He has the potential to rank up there with Jack, and well, that is saying something. He can climb on top of and in/out of most everything. He is naked all the time, pants are no match for this nudist. He refuses to wear shoes. If anyone closes a door or goes outside he will scream and cry and bang on the door until you open it or let him outside. If he is playing with toys and another kid comes over and seems interested, he will grab whatever he is playing with and just start screaming in the other kid's face. So far this has worked for him, and other kids don't mess with his stuff. He is on the go constantly, turn around and he is gone, when you say no he just ignores you, and boy he makes me tired.

This leads to sleep- you would think that due to all of this expenditure of energy he would sleep wonderfully, but this would be wrong. He sleeps in a pack-and-play in my room. He nurses to fall asleep and in the middle of the night he wakes up to nurse himself back to sleep. He is usually in my bed when 5:30am comes around, at which time he thinks the day has officially begun. He lets me know by climbing on my face and putting his knee in my throat. He doesn't know how calm himself down or fall to sleep on his own, and finally I/We/Pete decided it had to stop!! This was further reinforced when the same day the doctor said Robert really needs to learn how to fall asleep without nursing; I mean he is 15 months old!!  I wasn't going to let him cry it out in our room so we moved Meg down here and put Robert upstairs. We have used some form or other of crying it out with all our children, but I hate hearing the crying. Something biological or evolutionary makes me more sensitive to it than other people in our house. Last night I put him to bed, nothing. I watch an hour or so of tv, nothing. I wake up this morning, slightly before 7, and nothing? So confused. Surely not. It can't have gone from horrible to wonderful in one night. This doesn't happen. I go upstairs to check on him, and he is stirring and waking up, so I get him. Then at breakfast once everyone is up I say, "So did he wake up at all last night? I never heard him." At this point the whole room starts laughing. They all tell me he cried ALL night long!! Pete had to get our big loud fan, turn it on high, and put it  right by the stairs to try and drown out the noise. The boys, who sleep across the hall, said Robert's crying kept waking them up all night long. While little ol' me slept through the night for the first time in like 2 years. In the end Pete thought Robert maybe slept 2 hours total. I have had to leave the house before while sleep training because the crying and not being allowed to comfort has driven me crazy, but to sleep through it?! Never would I ever imagine. The thing is Pete was banking on my hearing loss to help me get through it, and he was right. I hate it when he is right. Never before have we lived in a place where I slept any real distance from the kids. Here I sleep downstairs and they sleep upstairs. Pete has told me before I wasn't hearing things upstairs, like once a night Meg usually wakes up screaming but falls back asleep after 20 minutes, I just didn't believe him or thought he was exaggerating. Nope. Not at all.

So here is to hearing loss and maybe my baby learning to sleep through the night-maybe. Hopefully, he sleeps more tonight, either way, I guess I will be sleeping better.