Sledding...with almost no accidents~my MOTY award is on its way

We took the kids sledding today to a hill I passed every year growing up in the summer, and occassionally in the winter, when driving to my parents summer cottage in Humarock. In the winter I would pine as we drove past watching the kids sled. It looked like so much fun.

This year I thought was a good one to bring all of the kids and it was. They all loved it and we made it through without any serious incidents, except for one that I caused.

Audrey was FLYING down the hill. These kids were going fast and it's a pretty significant hill. She is such a daredevil and has absolutely no fear. She was heading for trees and rocks, which were off to the side. The rest of the hill is pretty wide open and unobstructed, which also makes it such a great place to go. Of course, my kid heads for the side of the mountain where she can get maimed.

I was at the bottom of the hill and, in my fear, jumped in front of her and stopped her with my leg and foot. I thought nothing of it at first until I realized she looked like she was in awful pain yet couldn't cry. I had completely knocked the wind out of her. She began gasping for breath and I waived for my hubby to head down the hill to help me decide if we she have her looked at.

Good thing she didn't. Patrick fought us and went back up the hill to tell his father that I said they could have one more run down. He ignored my frantic waving and took the advice of the 10 year old. Oy...by the time this all played out she had gotten her breath and wanted to go back up the hill~although not before blaming me for hurting her. This is her heading back up:




Sean smashed his face in snow trying to stop himself on a fast trip down. He is scraped and red from the snow but, otherwise unhurt. He doesn't look too bad for someone who landed face down in snow:

Here I am after finally gathering up all the kiddos for a picture before we left:

They're all in one piece and happy. I would call that a successful outing!

ODing on Zac Brown

I don't think I can get enough of the new cd! Not sure how many times I can replay Knee Deep before I ruin the cd or my kids destroy it on me! Zac Brown and Buffett are a great combination! Hey, it's payback for having to listen to Big Time Rush!

Where I Begin to See the Light

Tonight I was reading the blog post of a blogger (http://www.piningfornordstrom.com/ ) I enjoy. She is very honest in her posts but also, unlike me, very funny. She puts a humorous spin on almost everything. In addition to enjoying her humor she, like me, has five kids. I also enjoy her blog because I feel I can relate to many of the things she writes about. Her latest post talks about her chaotic days with her five kids and how sometimes she feels like she can't handle it all. Although my kiddos are all fairly small still, she brought me back to those days, which are becoming fewer (thankfully).

The last five years (really the last 10) has been a time of fog filled, harried and chaotic days. Patrick never slept until he was about 8 years old. From when we brought him home he would cry right as I bent over to put him down in his cradle. He also would never take a bottle. The kid was a boob man! One with lactose intolerance to boot. As a result there wasn't much I could eat and my weight dropped to less than what I was in high school. A weight so low that my brothers commented that I was too thin and that they were worried about me.

Sean came along just short of two years later. He was a FABULOUS sleeper~that is until Patrick's night terrors started waking him at night (the story of the night terrors are an entire blog post in itself). When those began I would have to bring both boys into my bed at night to get any semblance of sleep.

Then wanting another baby very badly, and much before Sean turned two, I was pregnant again when he was a year. This pregnancy was going along wonderfully until I had a miscarriage at 14 weeks. In addition to the sleep deprivation and exhaustion from working part time and caring for an infant and a toddler, I soon plunged into a deep, anxiety ridden depression. This time was by far the worst time of my life. It lasted for 6+ months and I don't know how I ever made it through~nor how my husband and kids did (also a post for another day). In addition to the depression I got pregnant during this time. Fortunately I received great treatment and was on the mend before the baby was born.

Caroline was an easy baby, except for the sleep. She was more like Patrick than Sean in the sleep department. Not too long after she was born we had three in the bed with us. I can barely remember those nights because of the sleep deprivation.

When she was six months old we decided to move. For some crazy reason I thought I could take on a fixer upper. I had a "vision" I told my husband. He didn't see it. I hurried to renovate the house so that the "vision" I spoke of could be seen and my husband wouldn't hate me for insisting on buying this house. The vision took almost 8 months~this for only the kitchen and two bathrooms. The contractor put us on the backburner for larger projects and made my life miserable! By the time the house was done I was pregnant with the twins and the others were 1, 3 & 5.

The twins sucked the absolute life out of me. I was blue, lethargic, exhausted, had magnified sciatic nerve pain on both sides of my back and ate like a horse. I suffered a root canal and pneumonia during my prenancy with them as well. I slept every day and nearly all weekend when the hubby was home. We got NOTHING done on the house during this time. My poor boys sat locked in my bedroom in front of the tv that summer for hours while I slept.

The babies came at 39 weeks (yeah, I didn't even get bedrest or an early end to it all). They were WONDERFUL sleepers until almost their 2nd birthday. Shortly before they began climbing out of their cribs and into my bed. They have been with us ever since.

My weight after four pregnancies is another issue entirely. At the end of having all of these kids I was 44 pounds heavier than I had ever been in my life. I had trouble breathing at time and felt sluggish.

At times I still have four (sometimes five) kids in bed with me. Even with everything we've been through~we've made it and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am enjoying them all more each day~with a twinge of sadness that they have gotten so big so fast. BUT things are easier. My house which has been a disgusting mess for the last five years is getting organized, I'm purging what is not needed, I am back to myself. Myself used to be an organized, type a personality. I am glad to be on that track again (not nutty though~lol)! I am back to work and enjoying it. I am able to have coherent conversations with people without looking and sounding like I am going to fall asleep during a conversation! I can look them in the eye and actually understand what they are talking about. AND I am losing weight! I feel and look better than I have in a long time! It is nice to be at this place and have five healthy, happy kids.

Although I don't think she needs my sympathy because of her great sense of humor, I do feel for the other blogger because I recall the days of losing keys, missing appointments because I couldn't get it all together, walking around like a zombie and just hibernating in my house because I just didn't want to deal with anything more than I had on my plate at home (ok, she may not be as out of sorts as I am so I speak for myself only). Those days are nearing an end~with a bit of saddness~and a lot of excitement. I am enjoying my kids more and I hope they are enjoying me!