The picture that was lost and now is found ;)

Scrolling through pictures looking for something and I ran across this picture. One I took specifically for the blog but never posted b/c I'm a slacker like that.

This year I was super organized  and made cute little signs for the kids to hold in their annual 1st day of school pictures.   However, I also have decided that I'm iffy on whether I want to keep sharing pictures of the kids publicly as they get older.  Ugh, the worries of adoption.   I'm not saying I won't share pictures but I'm torn right now and so instead of seeing my normal couch photo, you get their feet. LOL   It's something, yes?

It's hard to believe that we are a quarter of the way through the school year already. Next week is our Fall Break which also means it's Parent/Teacher Conferences.  It's a time of year that I dread. We all know that one of the four will get rave reviews from her teacher, the other three are a toss up.

The One with the catch-all

Dear bloggy friends,

I have been neglecting you something awful.  Do I have excuses? Sure tons!! But like I tell my kids, excuses don't make things better. Just say you're sorry.  And so - I'm sorry.

I'm trying to figure out some sort of schedule so I will have a certain topic to post every day (or at least several days a week).  Not that I'm so conceited to think you guys actually read here often, but I started this blog as a way to remember all the ups and downs, the little things that pass by so quickly and then the kids are grown and away.  If anyone has any ideas - feel free to shout them out!

For now, a major catch up :

Let's just go down the list -

Drama Queen- is back in school and still living with her cousin.  Next semester she'll either be moving back home and commuting or more likely getting her own place. She enjoys her freedom but also seems to get a little homesick from time to time.She comes home probably twice a week on average. :) It's hard basically living alone when you come from a large family. Just the general chaos is soothing sometimes!  But all in all, she's good! Classes are going well and she's happy!

Attitude King - is a senior in high school this year. We are slowly bypassing the teenage boy stage where the only communication consists of grunts and eye rolls. He actually comes home from school and tells us what he did that day.  PROGRESS!  He's starting to get excited about college and we have 2 college visits planned this month!  Ahhh!!  Just when you finally start getting the kid back and he's ready to move away! lol! 

Southern Darlin -  is a 6th grader this year!  In our school system, our elementary goes until 6th grade, then you go to the middle school for 7-8 and the huge high school after that.  So this is the last year that she gets to stay in the same school with all her younger siblings. In fact, it's the LAST year that all four will be in the same school ever again! Ahhh ! So anyway, things are starting to get a little tougher for Southern Darlin.. She has switched from having math in a small group setting back to the regular classroom - which means homework every.single.night.  Ohh the horrors!  She is finally starting to learn the ins and outs of friendship and a bully (who she swore was a friend but was really a controlling brat) finally moved away leaving her with the ability to actually make more friends who are actually nice to her! Yay!  In her eyes, the most exciting thing so far about 6th grade is that they get to use iPads! lol!  They are supposed to eventually be able to bring them home, but honestly to me- that's just too much responsibility and I don't think she needs the extra screen time anyway. I mean this is the kid who loses her jacket on a weekly basis and breaks a water bottle (how?!) monthly.  Yeah, no.  So she's not thrilled that I told her the iPads were for school use only. lol.  Oops, mean mom strikes again!   She's a tad bit worried about 7th grade already. I keep telling her it's an entire year away!! Worry later!  But big worries - #1. She will have to ride the bus (I currently drive the group to school but middle school starts way earlier and it's just not going to happen) #2. No recess!!   So far those are the main worries. lol.

Spoiled Princess - is now in 5th grade! I still remember her first day of kindergarten; I don't know how they grow up so darn fast! She is my straight A student with tons of friends and no school worries. I worry a little that she's going to become too popular and become the mean girl but I've been firmly nipping any signs of that in the bud! lol!  She got the brand new teacher at school this year but is totally in love with her :)  Lots of new friends.  Life is good for her :)   All of the kids have been in swim lessons all summer but Spoiled Princess floats about like a cement brick! lol This kid struggles so hard to get this figured out. lol.  DH says it's because she doesn't have much fat, just all muscle and us fatties just float easier. lol But of the 4 she certainly tries the hardest!!

Fishing Pole - is now in 4th grade. He's creeping up there! He's struggling bit with paying attention and behaving but overall is having a good year. His grades are decent, of course he gets a C on his midterm and is immediately worried that they will hold him back!  lol.  Southern Darlin' had an F and could care less. lol.  I explained to him that he needed to always do his best but a C would not have them hold him back and again it's way too early to even be worrying about stuff like that! lol!  Other than that, the boy has been a medical stress point for me.  We saw genetics for both little boys over the summer. Genetics feels that they both possibly have ARND (alcohol related neurodevelopmental deficient) but also with all of Fishing Pole's many different medical issues they want to do chromosomal testing.  So now we wait months and months to get insurance approval to get the testing done.  If anything comes back ++ on him, then we'll check Dimples too.  Next came a routine EKG to check things after we finally convinced the psych dr to put him on a stimulant to help his ADHD instead of the crap stuff he had him on that did nothing.  Of course the EKG came back wonky and we had to stop the meds :(  wait a while do another EKG - which came back fine - and restart meds.  So now we wait for enough time to pass and do yet another EKG.  Fun times I tell ya!   Oh but that's not all, then the boy has been having severe leg pains and weakness. Dr appt = bloodwork = neg. for any arthritis type factors so now we sit and wait for a PT eval..  I'm honestly wondering if it's just not another sign of his Dystautonomia coming through?    Life is always busy and crazy with this kid!

Dimples - is now in 2nd grade! He's finally gained a little weight and grown so he doesn't look like quite the munchkin in the class. lol.  This year his IEP is finally in place. He doesn't have a 1on1 para but another student in the classroom does and they share.  This year has been hard for him. He's having a lot of anxiety and is more restlessness/distractability.  It's that fine line - the para who has known him for a few years is thrilled that they finally can see some of his personality coming thru which we definitely don't want to squash by raising meds too high, but he's also a distraction in class and having a hard time focusing. Some days it's great and he gets all his work done with no extra help, other days he gets nothing done.  This year he has also become more socially aware - in that he says no one is his friend and/or plays with him.  Yet he also hasn't really figured out how to play with others well.  It's heartbreaking to hear several times a day that he has no friends but I'm at a loss on how to help right now.  We've tried steering him towards the girls (who love him) because girls are more nurturing and forgiving than boys.  Let's be honest, boys at this age can be little brats. lol.  Medical wise, he is doing well.  We have a sleep study coming up b/c the boy is having issues sleeping. His sleep meds used to help but don't seem to be working quite as well any longer.   He also has some weird puking spells (middle of the night) and is fine the next day, along with random low grade temperatures that are driving me insane.  I need to start making a chart so I can see if I can find a pattern. Lol.  


Daddy Chaos & I  are doing well. We've been working on remodeling the dining room.  New paint *gasp* which has brightened the house significantly! My entire house was basically one color when we bought it and I finally got sick of it. lol.  New flooring is in the dining room, we plan on putting it into the living room as well once DH recovers from the dining room installation! lol!   I'm still doing final touches - I need to find new drapes and an area rug but then I'll post a picture! :)   I would LOVE to redo the kitchen but that project is just above and beyond my ambitions for quite some time. lol!  I know our limits :)    


In other news, my niece moved in with us in June right after my great nephew was born. O.M.G. we are all so in love with the newest member to the family!  Baby fest in the house every day!  Sadly, she just moved out a week ago so we went from playing with the baby daily to not seeing him but maybe once a week. It's an adjustment for us all! lol   He'll be 4months old this week, just another example of how quickly time flies by!  Baby D is the cutest, squishiest little boy you've ever met!  I'm not the slightest bit biased :) LOL

If you don't read the review blog and need some  (or know someone that needs some) proofreading, head over here and check me out!  I'm branching out and hoping to add a few more clients to my list! *Note- don't ever look at my writing and judge from there! lol. I'm actually a pretty good proofreader (shameless plug) but I never proofread my blog writing because otherwise I'd never publish anything! LOL! :)

Take care all!  

It's been 7 hours and 15 days....

Quick, did anyone get the song reference?  I hope so because now I can't get it out of my flippin head!  Argh!  Sinead, please no more singing in my head!  Apparently, I'm showing my age today! lol!  Okay, it's really been quite longer since I've posted but it was catchy.   We'll just say it's been a while.  We've passed thru Christmas, New Years, and two birthdays.  Drama Queen turned 19 and moved back home (she's switching to a college closer to home and commuting this semester).  Southern Darlin' turned 11 and this was the big birthday. This was the year that she has officially been with us for more birthdays than not.   Some days it still seems crazy to me that she hasn't spent her entire life here.  She has wormed her way right into the family and it's not until questions about when she was a baby arise that I have to remind myself that we didn't meet her until she was 5.

Once again, I got to play mean mom.  I scheduled both girls for oral surgery over Christmas break.  What?? They were off school, why not?   Drama Queen got all four wisdom teeth out (the day before her bday... ooops) and she is super lucky and ended up with a nice case of dry socket as well.  Bonus!!  I was given access to her cell phone and given instructions to video tape her when she came out all goofy.  Sadly, she woke up and was fine.  I was just a tiny bit disappointed.  Southern Darlin', on the other hand, was enough laughter to make up for it.  She had 4 baby teeth pulled plus 3 exposures (where they cut into the gums, hook little brackets & chains onto the teeth that have decided to go completely sideways instead of down and hook the chains onto her braces).  Apparently she was not cooperative with the sedation.  She sat there just fine but would not go to sleep. Of course once they got her knocked out, she didn't want to wake up.  lol.  The dr came out and said he gave her enough meds to knock me & Daddy Chaos out.  Eeek!  That girl was all over the place.  Crying because she was scared (which was super sad), then wanting to sit up and just flopping all over.  She had double vision which she thought was quite hilarious and kept giving commentary. Blackmail, my friends, I have blackmail..

Thankfully both girls are healed up from oral surgery and we can finally *hopefully* move forward with Southern Darlin's braces.
 
We are all trying to adjust to being back in school.  We were supposed to start back last week from Christmas break and went for 1.5days but had delays & snow days (which technically were because it was cold as can be and no one goes to school in such --- temps).. Another closure yesterday but we finally went back today.  All these delays and closures are playing havoc on Dimples and his need to know what's going to happen next.   He did fine for Christmas break because we were able to count down how many days of no school.  Sudden changes in the schedule make for an unhappy kiddo.  Well that and the fact that he doesn't particularly care for school.  lol.  I keep hoping that one of these days he'll decide it's not half bad, but I am not holding my breath.. If you hate school in 1st grade, I don't see how it's going to get any better.. lol.

The Birthday Tree- seems appropriate for a Season of Birthdays...

December began the Season of Birthdays.  2 in Dec, 2 in Jan, 2 in March (4 if we count my BIL & niece)..  Life is busy and hectic this time of year.  And costly.  Life is definitely costly during the Season of Birthdays.  Along with birthdays come annual well checks.  Dimples & Southern Darlin' go to the dr every three months to get a med check (height, weight, blood pressure) so it's nice to see a little growth there.  What surprised me this year was that Southern Darlin' has finally left Spoiled Princess in the dust!  For years and years, Spoiled Princess was the bigger of the two despite being a year younger.  This year Southern Darlin' has finally taken the lead at 4'10.5" & 80lbs!  Woot ! Woot!  Spoiled Princess is 4'9" & 74lbs.  No wonder all the sweat pants/ yoga pants (Soft pants as Dimples calls them ) won't fit around her waist and just fall off.  Even more amazing is that Dimples grew 1 inch & gained 1 lb in the past 3 months!!  If you recall, this is the kid that has been tiny forever. He's not a whopping 39lbs & 3'9" tall.  Yeah, he's still a bit of a munchkin for a 6yo but hey, he's finally grown into 5T pants & size 4/5 shirts (not 4T!!!).  It's the little things, people.

I could write on and on about the IEP madness that is about to make me pull my hair out, or the thoughts of another surrogacy and random email I received, or Fishing Pole and his increasing anxiety issues which directly turn into behavioral issues..  But I think this is enough playing catch up for now.

Until another day...

The Giant Catch-All Post in which I madly attempt to condense 3 months into one post...

O.M.G.   I haven't written a blog post here since MAY..

Yeah, so life got a little busy..  Let's play catch up in as condensed version as I can manage.  Wish me luck...

June -

School ended which meant many things.  We had to say goodbye to Dimples' kindergarten teacher.  She was one that went above and beyond and you could tell truly cared for the kids.  The big kids said goodbye to another high school..  Most importantly - Drama Queen graduated, which meant a PARTY!  Ahh!! I have a high school graduate.  I'm clearly not old enough for this yet !

The kid cannot keep her hands off the giant tummy! :)

July - 

All of July was pretty much a blur.  I'm sure that things happened but for me, I spent the entire time on bedrest getting bigger and bigger..  And then, of course,  THIS happened.

August - 

August was a rough month for me.  The twins had been born and I spent the next two weeks basically back on bedrest recovering from the blood loss.  The week after the twins came began the great Move Out adventure.

I talked over the winter of this big opportunity that Attitude King had but never really went into detail.  I'm not sure if I didn't want to jinx him or if I didn't want to admit that he was actually going to leave home two full years ahead of schedule.  I think probably the latter.  So the big 'reveal' is that Attitude King was accepted into a residential Academy for the gifted & talented.  So he had to move two hours away and now lives there sharing a room with a roommate.  It's on a college campus and while it has it's own classes, the kids are also able to take college courses if they wish.  The academy's classes are all advanced - college level. By the time he is done with his final two years of high school, he should be able to start college as a Sophomore or Junior due to the credits ect that he will get.  Big Stuff.    I will say that when the opportunity came up, I was NOT supportive.  Daddy Chaos was the one that took him for the initial meeting to see the school and find out more.  He was the one that pushed me out of my comfort zone and reminded me that if Attitude King wanted to do this, we should be supportive and that we can't hold him back simply because we aren't ready to let him go.   Damn Daddy Chaos and his logical mind. *sigh*

So the week after the twins were born,  it was time to move Attitude King (Henceforth known as College Boy) into his new 'home'.  I think I did amazingly well with all the hormones coursing through me.   I held off until the very end before I started the water works.  Go me !

A few days later- it was time to move Drama Queen (henceforth known as College Girl) into her dorms to start her great college adventure.  She was much easier for me to let go of.  We had went to her college 3-4 times for visits, we've been talking and planning this for what seems like forever.  She is 18 and graduated from high school- it's a natural progression of things.  I've had years to prepare for his moment.  So when we parted, it wasn't with tears but pride.. My girl is going to do great things!   So what if she moved half the house in with her..

This tub is filled and Daddy is following with another cart..ha!!

A few days later, I was reminded why I had an easier time letting go of Drama Queen vs Attitude King..  DQ texts me daily - sometimes something as silly as a picture of her mini fridge after she stocked it with snacks, or the view from her room the first morning she woke up.  She TALKS to me and communicates things so I am more comfortable having her away from home.  AK, on the other hand, never texts first. He only responds if I text him and then it is normally with a one word response. "Ok."   Typical male. Not the best for Momma though.  It is like pulling nails to get any real response from him and not being able to corner him in a room and see how he is really doing, it's been a rough transition.

A mere 2 days after moving Drama Queen to college, the littles started school!  I told you that August was a rough month!!

 The annual 1st-day-of-school-couch picture is getting smaller.  Instead of cramming all 6 kids on the couch together, I ended up having to order the Big Kids to send me selfies for their first day of school. *sigh*  There might have been tears making that request.

 This year- we have a 1st grader, 3rd grader, 4th grader, 5th grader, Junior in high school & Freshman in College !!   They grow up way too fast :-(

I think that has us pretty much caught up.   School has been going well for all of the kids so far.  I think all except Dimples is enjoying it :)   Dimples, well he never really cares for school and getting into a new routine will take a little while.

Is it Whiskey or Bourbon for a sore throat?

Do you know how you can tell that the school season is officially under way?   It's very easy, really..

The first bout of colds.   Ick.   All those germs festering in the schools.  Kids don't wash their hands well.

Barely 2 weeks into school and we have already been struck by the cootie bugs.

First it was Spoiled Princess -- her throat hurt.  Now her head AND her throat hurts.

Then it was Southern Darlin--  she is sure she is sick but can't possibly tell me what hurts.  I went thru her entire body and list of symptoms and the only thing she could agree to was that she was tired (what else is new?).. But still she insists that something is off and she must be sick.

Next it was Fishing Pole -- who woke up and declared his throat was sore, he can't talk and therefore he should stay home from school because there is no way he can answer the teacher if he is called upon.  

Good try kiddo.

Finally there is me-  I have caught their sore throat.  Nothing , to me, is worse than a sore throat.  I would rather have pretty much any other symptom. It just drives me crazy.

No one is happy when I tell them that there really isn't a good med. for sore throats. :(

At least Dimples has survived it so far.  Or he just hasn't told me that he feels like poop- which is probably the more true option.

I guess we will have a class on handwashing today.. lol.

The Quiet is smothering...

Sorry to leave everyone hanging from the last post.   At this point, due to some legal hangups, things are not 100% definite.. So I can't spill my guts yet..  In the meantime, rather than leave you completely hanging (and yes, to tease you just a little bit longer)...I will say that -

1.) No adoption  is pending
2.) No foreign exchange student is coming.

Good guesses but my house is full enough for once ! :)


Onto other news..  School has been in session for about 2 wks now.  Amazingly everything is going better than expected!

 It's hard to believe this is Drama Queen's last year here at home.. Next year she'll be off at college somewhere and things will be just a little be emptier.   Attitude King seems to be enjoying his classes- he's pretty close mouthed right now about it.  I figure he's waiting to see how they turn out. It's hard to decide if you like a class based on 2 wks. lol.  

Both little girls like their teachers and classes!  Spoiled Princess has been having a lot of headaches (she has a history of anxiety & migraines) , so I'm not sure if it's stress or something else.  Southern Darlin' has reported to falling asleep in class (joy!) and has decided herself that she should take a nap after homework each nite. lol.

The little boys were my biggest worry but so far it seems okay.  Fishing Pole has made a friend!!!  That's beyond amazing!  His one friend from last year is in another class but he has made a new one "R"!  I'm beyond thrilled for him.  So far, no notes or phone calls from school about behavior.  YAY!   Dimples- is doing okay.  His teacher reports that he's very very quiet (I can't imagine) and from what we've told her about him, she wonders if it's just the honeymoon period or he's scared to death. lol.  He comes home and cries at nite that he doesn't want to go back.  We've recently started meds for ADHD and he's becoming a bit more paranoid... Still working on the right med dosage & also working with him to talk to his teacher when things are bothering him (ie. kids talking to him, looking at him, laughing near him. ).   We are getting into a routine and I am hoping that he'll settle in.  Breaks my heart.

As for me- my first year in almost 18yrs without any kid at home with me ALL DAY LONG.  So far I've kept busy running around with friends and basically staying away from the oh-so-quiet house.  I think I've adjusted okay and am going to :gasp: stay at home this week.   I need a new routine to fill my day that doesn't include kids.   It's weird, that's for sure!

Back to school #giveaway !

Brought to you by, Fruit of a Loom, Walmart, and Taking Time for Mommy!
A friend of mine is hosting this and I thought you guys would like it too!   With school starting up this week, we did A Lot of back to school shopping!  Other than the kids ginormous list, back to school time is when we always buy new undies & socks. Don't ask me why we wait til now, but it just seems like the time to do it!  Thinking back, it doesn't make sense with all the other expenses but I guess everyone else does it too because this is the time of year when the packages always have FREE pairs!  Plus are on sale!! 
Take a minute to enter the giveaway below and maybe you'll win some back to school cash! 

Fruit of a Loom, Walmart, and Taking Time for Mommy are offering a lucky person a $75 Gift certificate to Walmart to get there Back to School Needs! Fill out the form below to enter! a Rafflecopter giveaway --