Pete defended and Tigran ran away

Pete has now defended his thesis and can be called Dr. Weigel. Yay!! It was a super long journey full of twists, turns, some u-turns even, and a lot of kids. Now we are moving on to a new chapter in our life. Just where we are moving is still up in the air. I am sure it will work itself out-- sometime, hopefully soon.

I did not attend his defense, but his parents and a couple of family friends did, and I heard that he did a great job. 

He wanted it, he asked for it, he got it- A large margarita to celebrate. A toast to my husband who is a fantastic fox. 

We went to Spring Fest aka Bug Bowl a couple days after he defended. Awesome family fun as usual.

This year we had the added bonus of sharing it with Granny and Pappy, and Pappy even spit a cricket 20 ft.!

jack's class drew bug pictures for the bug bowl, and he found his. 

In toddler Meg news : Today she threw a toothbrush, bath toys, mail, toothpaste, and a lot of toilet paper into the toilet. We are obviously not feeding her because almost everyday she goes in the garbage and comes back licking or trying to eat old yogurt containers or yogurt wrappers or anything really. She cries and throws a fit anytime you tell her no. Today she was taking the dishes out of the dishwasher and throwing them away when I told her no, and she got so mad at me she walked to our box of shoes(by the front door), flipped it over, and just stared at me, and when I didn't do anything she began to throw the shoes. I hid my face and laughed. She also has a super sweet side. She loves Robert. She can say Hi Robert and she does it quite often in this really sweet voice. When he cries she gets him his blanket and puts it on him. She hugs him a lot though this is often done by covering him with her whole body. She loves to hold him and sometimes she sings to him while holding him. It is so precious, but every time I try to video any of it she sees my phone and the new objective becomes : get mommy's phone.

We have this lovely neurotic dog who drives us crazy sometimes, but you know he is family so what are you gonna do? Well, Jack has this arrow that whistles and Tigran hates it. Over the weekend of Pete's defense Jack was playing with it, and Tigran ran out of the house so Pete's dad and I went after him- I ran which amused the boys because I don't run. We got him inside only to have him escape again, this time Pete went after him. Then today there was no whining for food or to be let outside, so I asked if the boys had already fed Tigran- No. Then I realized it wasn't just that I hadn't heard Tigran I hadn't seen him either. So I walk around the house and he is gone. I call Pete to check with him and nothing. I walk around the apartment complex, I ask a few people, I go back home and double check and no Tigran. I go back out with Thomas, and we walk around near this wooded area and no dog -dog. Pete comes home a little bit later and we try to figure out when we last saw him definitely and when he might have gotten away. Tigran really doesn't run off and he doesn't like to be away from us so the idea that he would just run away for no reason seemed crazy. We went through the events of last night and could only say for sure that he was there after dinner because he ate the leftovers off Meg's tray. I assumed I saw him before I went upstairs for the night, but that was not concrete, and since he doesn't really come upstairs that often any more I don't see him again until the morning. So when and how did he leave? Then I recalled Jack had been playing with that whistling arrow again and Tigran was real upset so I had Jack stop and come inside, but Tigran didn't runaway then. However, our best guess is that he was still upset about it a little bit later and when a door was next opened he took the opportunity to get as far from that noise as possible. Pete called and went to numerous places and no dog. Later in the afternoon, even though the Humane Society said they didn't have a golden come in Pete decided to go look for himself. Success!!!!!!!!!! They had him listed as an Irish Setter. They said the cops picked him up around 7pm a mile from our house. He was so scared they had to sit with him for 15 minutes to calm him down and that he had a rough night because he was scared of all the veteran jail bird dogs. Our Tigran isn't used to the hard knock life. He wasn't microchipped but he is now. Though, I think the whistling arrow is going to be put away for awhile or forever. We are glad he is back. We missed him so. 

Meg is a mess

My daughter is a stinker. I just wanted to throw that out there right away. She gets into all sorts of trouble. I look at her and see a 2.0 version of Jack. Jack was a very mischievous toddler, and I feel Meg will follow in his footsteps.

she was unsupervised for maybe 3 minutes

angry that her brother only gave her a bite of his cheese she decided to get her own food. It is a yogurt container from the garbage. She licked out whatever was left. Gross.

Decided to climb into dresser and throw out the clothes

always growling. not sure she will ever use actual words.

my chair not Robert's.

picture granny took- sums her up pretty well

not sure how she even got back there. absolutely no idea.

she climbs on the chairs all the time. She wants to hang out like her brothers and watch tv

This is just a small look inside life with Meg. She is always getting food out of the pantry, trying to open the refrigerator, we have a photo album and she found markers and colored on every single picture before we even noticed what she was doing, she take clothes out of everyone's dressers, no lower cabinet is safe, she screams when she is mad, and she cries these pitiful sobs the second you tell her no. She is a handful; way more than Luke and Thomas were. Life will never be dull with Meg.

Too many kids and I don't know what to do

So 5 is it-- the number of kids that is too many for me to handle. I am not able to just stay in bed and cuddle my sweet Robert. No, he is often left alone upstairs in bed while I deal with/parent/keep alive the other children. If not alone in bed then he is very often in the car because we have so many places to be. After I had Meg I basically stayed in bed with her for like 3 weeks. Not the case now.

Thursday I took Jack to school only to find out upon arrival that school was delayed for two hours due to fog. :(  Tigran had a vet appt. that morning as well because he keeps peeing in the house!!!  At first we thought it was because he was getting old but in the last 7 days he has peed in the house 3 times!!!! Pete dropped Tigran off at the vet because I am not able to control dog dog at the vet, and then he came home so I could take Jack back to school. Then we had a couple hours of not being in the car before the vet said I could pick up Tigran- whether or not he has a bladder infection is still unclear at this point, but they did give us antibiotics to use until we get the results of his urine culture. As soon as I got back with Tigran I had to turn around and take Luke to his doctor appointment. One hour back at home, and then time to pick Jack up from school. Plus, that evening Jack had Tae Kwon Do. Now he is in the higher belt rank class so he meets later, and the time is pretty inconvenient since I have other children I have to put in bed. Pete has been catching up on sleep this week so he is here, but not very helpful. I was able to leave the kids here with him while I dropped Jack off, but I had to drive back home to put them in bed before driving back to pick up Jack. Hopefully, when Pete is more able to help it won't be so crazy, and he can just take Jack. I was so tired that my big plans for watching tv in bed were not to be. After about 20 minutes I was asleep. Of course, this was the night little Robert decided that from 2:30-4:30 he would be awake and unable to fall back asleep.

Friday was also a lot of car. No delayed school today, and I did check my email before even getting out of bed. I was a little slow in getting up and this combined with Jack always being slow when getting ready for school =he was late. Sadly, he is late more often than I care to admit, but today is Friday and that means Mass as soon as they get to school, and this Friday his class was in charge of Mass which means they are supposed to be the first ones in the church. Oh, and to top it off I remembered half way to the school that I was supposed to pack his lunch but totally didn't. This meant a couple different things for me. I had to go to the store. We were out of basically everything. I had been waiting for the infant insert I ordered for my Ergo to arrive because I can't even imagine going grocery shopping with a baby and my not wearing that baby. I don't even know how I would do it; especially with Meg. Now I really had no choice if Jack was going to eat lunch. I decided Robert would have to go in the Ergo without the insert, and I would just have to constantly check on him to make sure he was ok. So that is what we did. Then home, unload groceries, pack lunch, drive it to the school, get back in time to make lunch for Luke, make sure he is ready for pre-school, take him to school, clean up a little so that I don't trip or so Meg stops tripping every time she walks anywhere, a small amount of down time, and then time to pick up Luke and Jack. Did you notice that no where in there did I mention sit in bed and snuggle a baby? Poor kid.

Today I decided that I needed a beer, but sadly I didn't even get to sit down to enjoy it. I had to drink my Stella while standing up and doing about a hundred things for all the kids. If I waited to drink it once the kids were in bed then it would be late and I would be in bed myself, so I had to squeeze it in. So 5 kids is too many. I don't get to just sit down, I get so tired that by the end of the day I just want to go to bed, I don't shower everyday and for me this is a big deal, I have always showered every day as part of my calming down time, even if I had to put a kid in there with me. I get done what I need to get done, eventually, and not much else. It is going to take some getting used to.

Ok pictures:

Meg growls, she growls all the time, now she even makes the growl face all the time. I had to share.

Jack is now a purple belt, which means he is in the higher level class.

It was nice enough to go outside the other day so Thomas asked that I take a picture of him running.

Guess I need some photos of Luke all by himself.

Group shot of the 4 youngest. See Meg even growled for this picture.

Sweet baby asleep. Pete said that Robert has already rolled front to back. I noticed this too but thought surely not. Now I am going to have to actually set up the pack and play for nap time.

Jack's birthday interview

Jack saw that I interviewed Luke for his birthday so he really wanted me to interview him for his birthday. Since I was a little busy on his birthday we had cake today and I interviewed him.

Who is your favorite person in the whole world? Daddy

What is your favorite color? red

What is your favorite TV show? Avengers Assemble

What is your favorite outfit? my mine craft shirt

What sport do you like best? basketball

What song do you love? Diary of a Mad Man

What is your favorite cereal? Apple Jacks or Fruit Loops

Who is your best friend? Jack K.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A scientist/herpetologist

What is your favorite book? Percy Jackson books

What are you really good at? TaeKwonDo

Where do you wish you could go on vacation? beach

What is your best memory? Yesterday when daddy and I were at the first communion retreat

What would you buy if you had $1000? An Xbox and a bunch of games

What vegetable do you hate the most? zucchini

If you had one wish what would it be? to do anything I want, like not brush my teeth but still have clean teeth or not have to eat veggies.

What is your favorite flavor ice cream? I really liked those Magnum Bars in Germany. They aren't the same as the ones here.

What do you hope to do before your next birthday? Earn my brown belt

I made one promise and I ignored it

So Jack had one rule, one promise I was supposed to keep---- DO NOT have the baby on his birthday.  I even scheduled my induction for the day after so there was no way I was having that baby on his birthday. Turns out I was wrong. Poor guy. He handled it quite well.

I never thought I would have the baby on his birthday. I had not been having contractions at all. I was grumpy, tired, and all that end of pregnancy stuff but no Braxton Hicks and no random contractions here or there. I woke up around 4am, which wasn't unusual, checked my email when boom contraction. Hmm. 5 minutes later boom. Coincidence? It kept happening- 5 minutes apart and 1 minute long. They hurt, I was uncomfortable, 35 minutes later they were still happening. I got up told Pete, brushed my teeth, and they began hurting so much I had to just stop and squat. I began shaking, I felt like I was going to vomit. Contractions in the past never really bothered me. They were uncomfortable, not pleasant, but nothing like this. I knew this was it, I was going to have the baby on Jack's birthday. I paged the doctor, Jack woke up from all my noise, so I first apologized, told him to get dressed, and then make sure dad was awake!!

I was in so much pain that I said just take me to the hospital now with all the kids and we will figure it all out later. The contractions were already moving into the 3 minutes apart range and lasting longer than one minute. So we get out to the car and you'll never guess-- it had snowed like 6 or 7 inches overnight. This baby had the worst timing. The roads were horrible, we had to go so slow, Pete could barely see, all the kids were in the car asking questions, and I was just in constant pain.

We pull up to the ER, Pete gets me a wheelchair, leaves the kids in the car, and takes me inside. I really thought the baby was just going to fall out of me right then. They kept asking me questions and I just wanted to yell- SHUT UP!!!!!! They came to take me upstairs and Pete went home with the kids. I figured just see where things stand and if we need to call someone we can. Pete's parents were on their way in from Kentucky. When I got upstairs it was 7am. She checked me and I was 7 centimeters. It was obvious my contractions were every couple minutes so they did what they could to quickly get me prepped for my epidural. In the past the epidural has always made me nervous, scared, and was the most painful part of the whole contractions part of labor. This time I wanted to be one of those crazy screaming ladies that cusses and demands the epidural now. I truly couldn't get it fast enough and was not at all concerned about the pain from the numbing shot or any ill effects that could be caused by it. I was just sad that it didn't work immediately.

Once I was numb enough to actual say words instead of grunts and glares my nurse and the doctor checked things out and it was around 8:45 or 9am. I was basically ready to go so he popped my water and told me I could start pushing anytime. The nurse stayed with me and after a couple pushes said she thought I still had one centimeter to go before pushing and didn't want me to push for another 30 minutes. This way I didn't irritate my cervix and cause swelling. Pete and I talked at that point and he wanted to hang out with Jack on his birthday and make it special for him and not have him feel like we were brushing him aside for a new kid. Plus, he couldn't make it to the hospital in 30 minutes anyway. So at 9:30 the nurse comes back she tells me to push, I push half of a push and she tells me to stop because the baby is right there and she needs the doctor. He comes in, and I push just through two contractions and baby is born. He weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. 21 inches long.

Since I was having a tubal ligation in a couple hours we just hung out in the delivery room. I still wasn't sure of his name because we liked a few different names and had decided not to settle on one until we saw him. Pete wasn't there, and I had no strong feelings, so he was just baby for the first couple hours of life. I learned right away he likes to suck or nurse just because. He didn't seem overly interested in eating but he kept nursing to fall asleep.

They took him to the nursery while I had my surgery. For my surgery they upped the epidural dosage, gave me some sedatives that didn't completely knock me out but had me falling in and out of sleep, and they put up a big sheet so I have no idea what happened. It took about 20-30 minutes then I was done. Never to have children again. It is sad and weird to think that part of my life is over when it is basically all I have been doing for the last 9 years- almost the whole time I have been married to Pete. I feel very confident in my decision but the finality of it, the inability to do what a woman's body is meant to do, is a loss. I mourn that part of womanhood being gone.

He has been a very good baby so far. He really likes to nurse in order to put himself to sleep, to help soothe himself, and to eat so I know already he will be very attached to me. Not a bad thing, but something that will make certain parts of my life harder, especially with a Moo Baby around.

I called Pete after my surgery and they had been celebrating Jack's birthday all day with gifts, doughnuts, movies, and naming the baby. They had seen the pictures I sent and all agreed to name him Robert Franklin. At Christmas Luke decided the baby's name would be Franklin Santa Baby Weigel. So we had been joking that was his name for awhile now. Then Joe and Matt got a dog and named him Franklin, and while Luke thought that was cool he still wanted our baby to be Franklin Santa Baby. Robert had been a name Pete picked out and liked a little while ago. He liked that it was German and I have people named Robert in my family so I agreed to it as a top pick, but still wanted to wait. So as soon as they saw the picture they agreed he was a Robert Franklin. Luke wants to call him Bobby. Pete wants to call him Robo Cop Baby. I think we may have to wait a bit longer to see what actually sticks. He may end up a Robert, after all Thomas is Thomas and refuses to go by anything else.

Everyone made it to the hospital that afternoon to see Robo Cop Baby.

He seemed like a big hit. Meg was a little overwhelmed so she just hung out with Daddy mostly. She is very mad at me and the last two times I have seen her she has turned her head away from me and won't look at me. Then she snuggles up to Pete. I have deeply offended her by having this baby. I guess it is lucky she has Pete.

Here are a couple pictures of what Robbie/Bobby likes best- being snuggled up right next to me sleeping.

Getting to know Luke a little better

Today Luke turned 5!!!  He is the quietest of the kids and doesn't share much so I thought I would take this opportunity to do a birthday interview.

Name: Luke

Age: 5

Favorite thing to do? : play toys (cars)

What do you want to do/be when you grow up? : Watch all the Superman Movies.

Well, if you had a job would it still be to watch Superman movies? What would you do?: After I finish watching all the Superman movies when I am big I want to help people.

What is you favorite food?: Cool Ranch Doritos

Who do you like to spend time with?: James (cousin)

What is something you do well?: Play Wii

What makes you laugh?: tickles

What is the best time of the day?: Sleep (night)

Who is your best friend?: Carina, Joe, and Vincent

What do you like to do with your family?:  play games like Memory

What do you love to learn about?: Letters so I can learn to read

Where do you like to go?: Granny and Pappy's house

What is your favorite book?: Bark, George and Big Hero 6 books

What do you wish?: That all the guys from Big Hero 6 were real and I could meet them

Now here are a few pictures from his birthday.

Valentine's Day with 4 young kids

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Broke and lots of kids doesn't really equal a lovely evening alone with hubby. Also, the fact that I am due in just a few weeks doesn't lend itself to romance. Pete asked if I hated Valentine's Day because for what seems like most of ours, I have been either very pregnant or recently had a baby. He said that all I ever want to do on Valentine's Day is go to bed early. Haha. That is true- maybe eat some candy and watch tv in bed first. Of course, you have to spend time with the kids and tell them they are awesome and you love them too, so Pete decided that we would all go to the Co-Rec on campus. The temperature was around 5 degrees or something, so he thought trying to get their energy out at the kid/family friendly pool area they have would be a great idea. It was a good idea, but um I am pregnant in winter and all but one of my pregnancies have been winter pregnancies so I just had my pre-pregnancy swimsuit. I guess luckily it is a bikini, but I don't know how lucky that was for the world at large to see. I tried it on and took pictures of myself in it just to make sure that I wasn't being completely obscene in wearing it.

It isn't something I really felt comfortable doing, but I guess it worked just fine. No one went running and screaming in the other direction. So there is a positive for you. The pool area they have is fun. It is about 4 feet deep, there are basketball hoops, a little waterfall, wave pool area that also has a volleyball net, and a hot tub. We brought floaties but they don't let the kids wear them. You have to have a life jacket or you can bring one of those puddle jumpers, which I really need to get. So they gave Thomas and Luke a life jacket. I will say that all my kids totally forgot how to swim. It was very stressful. I had to hold Meg, keep my eye on Jack who thought he could swim but keep flailing around and having to grab a wall because he couldn't remember anything about swimming at all, Thomas kept flipping over while wearing his life jacket so that he was face down in the water and couldn't correct himself this lead to tears and being very afraid of the pool, and Luke did all right but he didn't want to go too far without a parent right there otherwise he began to freak out. They all wanted to go in the hot tub but only 6 years-old and up can be in it so Thomas and Luke were upset that Jack and Daddy got to go in the hot tub. In the end the kids said they had a great time and want to go back, but I am not sure Mom and Dad are up for it any time soon.


By the time we were done it was dinner time, so the boys got Happy Meals as a Valentine's Day treat, and he ordered carry-out from Mountain Jack's. The kids ate their Happy Meals in the car while we drove to get our food. This way they could go to sleep as soon as we got home, and Pete and I could pretend we were on a date. In all the years we have lived here we have never been to Mountain Jacks or really even heard of it, but it was very good. Pete said it was packed inside. It doesn't look like it would be that great from the outside, but it was pretty delicious. I did drink some beer because how do you eat steak without beer or wine? Pete split a bottle of Leffe. Yum.

Then Pete left to grade papers, and I went upstairs to lay in bed and watch Netflix. That is how you do Valentine's Day when you have 4 kids 7 and under and you are uber-pregnant.


Now that I am in the last few weeks sleep is harder to get. I wake up because my head is congested or I am snoring or I have to use the bathroom or I really need water. I can't fall asleep as easily so I am up later. Boo. Then I am tired all day and grumpy. The kids either love this or hate this or both because I don't really play with them since I try to take a nap or two during the day if possible leaving them to sort of fend for themselves, but on the flip side this means they can usually sneak more tv or iPad time.

They did get to go outside and play recently. It was warmer but still kind of yuck.

Luke had rodeo day at school because they were learning the letter R. They had to bring in a horse on a stick to do races. They sent paper cut-outs that you could put on a broom stick so that is what we did. Only it wasn't just the broom stick it was the whole broom because the stick doesn't detach from the bristles. He didn't seem to mind.

Jack and Luke also had their Valentine's Day parties. Both boys were upset and wondered why mom and/or dad didn't help out at school very much this year. There are some moms who come all the time or just do extra stuff for the class or school, so why don't I (we)? I had to explain that these moms were 1. probably not super pregnant 2. probably had older kids so they didn't have to worry about what to do with all the extra kids/siblings 3. didn't have other kids 4. only had 1 younger kid at home so the parent could bring or drop that sibling off some place.  You just can't win. Pete has done the volunteering this year, and while not as much as we did last year, it is better than nothing. Pete walked with Luke's class to the public library, he reads to Jack's class once a month, and he will read to Luke's class in April. If there are parents with lots of kids all of whom are quite young and they are volunteering then cheerio for them. It is not something we are capable of doing. A nice does of parental guilt.

Let's see how much worse or better the guilt trips get as we wait for baby to be born. Luke's birthday is next week and Jack's the week after, so I am really hoping baby isn't born on one of their birthdays or cause me to be in the hospital during their birthday. They have both already said this is not something they would be ok with. We shall see.