Christmas is over!

Her favorite gift- she has been wanting an "Ipot" for a long time...she calls all mp3 players "ipots"

He loves daddy's guitar so we got him his own- he was thrilled.
Car from Aunt Lindsay and Uncle David, it's so cute and he loves it.

YAY! That is always a relief to me. I get to put the house back to normal and stop worrying about gifts and Tyler pulling all the balls off the tree.

We had our Christmas celebration a little different this year, John was gone until Christmas night, so Santa came about 8pm lol, Uncle Jacob took her to the gas station and when she got back Santa had come and gone. She was a little suspicious and asked John if he did it but in the end I guess she believed us. We had Christmas dinner, not my best cooking by far, and then did gifts. The kids loved everything, Tyler had a good first Christmas and Madison said it was the awesome Christmas ever.

New pics!

He is a walker now! Just a couple days after my last post, he just decided from now on he prefers to walk. And in that same few days, he got a new bottom tooth, that makes 7!








All my moms grandkids and great grandma's great grandkids! Next year at this time there will one more!

Change? What change?

Our 5 minute attempt at a family pic, John hates it. So, it's not great...it's the only decent one we got.She just lost both her teeth!!
No nap...ALL DAY! He refused to sleep, and cry instead. Finally, around 6pm he crashed after a snack.
Tyler has 6 teeth now and started walking around 10 months but still only does it very short distances, like between the couch and table and once from the living room to the stove. So it will be soon that he is walking everywhere.

Well, what hasn't changed in the last few months? I can't believe I have not posted since September! Life has been chaotic to say the least and I have been saying I am going to update soon, for a long time now. Finally,here we go...as most of you know...the biggest changes have been...
1. I am now homeschooling Madison.
2. I don't have the other 4 kids anymore, they went to live with their nanny.
3. I am pregnant.

YIKES! Yep, I am pregnant. Not planned, not happy about it, but nothing I can do about it. Or nothing I am willing to do about it. I am trying to be happy about it, but it's hard. I was sick at first but still not near as bad as with Madison and Tyler. I am 11 weeks now and feeling much better. I am worried about how I will handle it. Tyler is still so young, 11 month! And he is SUCH a momma's boy. He is very attached to me and it's frustrating sometimes. I think there is going to be a lot of jealousy there. Madison and I both think this baby is a girl. I am seeing a midwife, and will be having a home birth. No, I am not crazy...that is what my body was made to do so just shut up about it if you have a problem with it. We are pretty overwhelmed with the thought of another baby but we know we just have to make the best out of it. I know once the baby is here, I wouldn't have it any other way. And after the first year or two, things will get much easier but I am not looking forward to having an 18 month old and a newborn and homeschooling Madison. I am not sure if she will be going back to school next year or not. She does not want to, she gets upset any time I mention it. Homeschool is going well though, she loves to learn. It's nice being able to just do things on our own time, when we are both in the mood and stop when it gets frustrating. If nothing else, it was nice to do this year, not sure how long I will do it.

Tyler is about to be ONE!!! Oh my gosh, where has the year gone??? We will be having him a birthday party soon a few weeks early probably, bc I do not think John will be here for that or Christmas, so we will pretend Christmas came a little early as well. Madison will not mind getting gifts early at all. I am sad he won't be here, but just gotta deal.

We have had a hell of a few months between John being gone, family drama, me being sick and pregnant, my back messing up, Madison breaking her arm right as school started and then Tyler breaking his and dealing with CPS,it has just been one crappy thing after another. I am looking forward to the new year, a fresh start, a positive outlook and just making the best out of things. Through this all, John and I have proved we are strong and support each other 100%. I pray this year will be better for us!

I have been a terrible photographer/mom as far as taking pics goes. I don't really have a ton to update lik you would think in 3-4 months. With being sick, I barely picked up my camera and things have just been crazy. I am itching to start shooting more though so hopefully things will pick up and I will feel good for a while through the second trimester until I am miserable again in the third.

Mini-Update

The Gangs All Here"THROW 'EM IN A PAN" Tyler loves pat-a-cake
My handsome little guy
Lauren
James
Shanna
Cj
My Madison
Everything is going well. The kids are all loving their activities. They all love school, and Madison is the only one that gives me a hard time about getting up. And when she is grumpy, she ruins everyone's mood. You know how some people's moods are more contagious than others, hers is one of the worst. I am sick but getting better, it stinks being sick with so much today. Too bad there are not substitute moms you can call in. It wouldn't work anyway, I swear Tyler could smell me in my bedroom hiding under the covers.

Lindsey and I took the girls, Lauren, Madison, Leighanna and Brooke to see Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler last week and they LOVED it. Madison gets so star struck. Lauren said it was the best night of her life :) She did put on a pretty good show.

Madison had to have her arm checked because she was having a lot more pain but they said everything looks okay. She cried so bad when they redid her cast and freaked out a little about seeing the pin in her arm. She is very scared now about them taking the pin out. I feel so bad for her. She should get it off in 2-3 weeks. We go Monday for another checkup.

I guess that's it for now. By the way, if anyone loves doing laundry please come to my house between the hours of 1 and 4 today. Thanks. :)

School Has Started, Chaos Has Only Begun

Madison her first week of school

Another day her first week
Why did I think that I was getting a break when school started? Am I crazy? All I did was push 90% of everything I have to do to a few measly hours in the evening. Granted, it sure is nice to have only 2 at home during the day. And I really couldn't ask for a better behaved 3 yr old out of Shanna and as far as babies go, Tyler is a good one. But there is still bills to pay, house to clean, laundry to do, errands to run, kids to feed, and 2 kids to care for. So the school hours are a bit easier than a normal summer day of 6 energetic kids. But the evenings...now that is a whole different story. When school starts so do all the other activities. Lauren, James and CJ are in Karate. Madison was, but her dr said she didn't need to this semester because of her arm. Lauren goes on Tuesdays and the boys on Thursdays. Madison goes to ballet on Wednesday and CJ goes to boy scouts of Mondays. We just found out this week that James was too young this year for cub scouts, gotta be in first grade. He was a little disappointed but I guess he is alright with it. So we have something going on Mon-Thur. Then there is also homework to squeeze in, dinner for me to cook, a little play time before dinner ,then baths and bed time. Then I clean up from dinner, sign folders, make lunch and put snacks and water bottles in bags. All while stopping here and there to feed Tyler. And most of that all needs to happen for 5 kids by 7:30 if I want them to fall asleep by 8:30, otherwise they will stay up too late and give me hell about getting up. Which Madison does no matter how early she goes to bed. And boy do they hate going to bed when it is still light outside and getting up when it's still dark.

The kids all love school, they just don't act like it in the mornings. It's hard for me too because at 6 am the last thing I want to be doing is having a crying baby follow me around the house (why did I want him to learn to crawl anyways???) and argue with Madison about why she has to go to school in the dark, and get 3 other kids ready for school. Then Shanna, Tyler and I walk them down the road to the stop sign. I breathe a sigh of relief when they step on that bus, so glad that the chaos is over until 3:45 p.m.

Kayla was approved to watch the kids on Friday so that was wonderful news, I got a nice long break, especially being a 3 day weekend. I am loving the peace, or what peace comes with only 2 kids. Madisons friend is staying over and that does come with some drama, but 3 is still half as easy as 6!

Madison had to have surgery on her arm Friday. They did have to put one pin in her arm. It went like this...

Beforehand they give them medicine to make them calm and sometimes they just go to sleep and others become very drunk like. Madison was so drunk like, it was hilarious. I have 4 videos of her on my phone. There was another girl in there who silently set on her moms lap for 30 minutes until taken back. Madison was as if totally wasted in 5 minutes. It was EXACTLY like being so drunk that you cant walk or speak or stop laughing. She was sprawled out on the floor bc she was too all over the place with her arms and legs for me to hold her but she couldn't walk. She kept saying "let me up, let me up, I can walk, I'm serious".. She would try to get up and lift her head just a little and fall back and hit her head on the floor. She talked like the stereotype drunk person, when asked my name she said brrrandEEEEEEEEEE with really high pitched e's lol.

Afterwards was not so great. they took her and she was put to sleep, surgery took an hour, they said 30-45 min so i was getting worried. But everything went okay other than needing a pin. It's sticking out of her arm but we cant see it because of the cast. When she woke up, they brought her too me but she was so disoriented she couldn't speak, she just cried really bad and crying owwwwwww and yelling in pain and refused to take medicine, she just let it fall out of her mouth. She cried "maaaamaaaa" and it broke my heart, it was so hard to see her in so much pain. I was really worried thinking she was gonna be in this much pain all day, but she wasn't. She went back to sleep after her IV pain meds kicked in and woke up much better. It took her a few hours to be herself again, but by the time we got home at 4 she was back to normal. She was a little bit of a Mommy's girl all night, sweet and clingy but today she is 100% herself. The cast has not slowed her down at all, I have to make her stop running, climbing, ect. She wants to do everything just as hard and fast.

Tyler looks awful, he has a cold sore and some other sores/bug bites/booboo's on him that make him look like I have abused the crap out of him. I swear I haven't. I must admit that I have wanted too put him outside a few times though. The past week every night has been horrible. The past month or two has been horrible, but the past week way worse. He wouldn't sleep more than 30 minutes to one hour at a time every single night. Seriously, I saw every single hour on the clock nearly. Finally, last night I prayed to God and begged for a decent nights sleep. He slept better than he has in a month. He only woke at 1:30 and again at 5:30 but went right back to sleep until 8. He hasn't slept past 6:30 since school started two weeks ago, so it was SO nice! I don't know what is going on with him but if it's those darn teeth....I wish I had something witty to say here that I could do to them but really what can I do but wait it out. I hate teething!!! Poor guy is probably as miserable as I am, he cant help it.

Shanna's shoot, I am a little out of practice. It feels like so long since I really tried to take good pictures.


Madison and Karley after the circus yesterday. They had a blast, but man the Tyler circus has nothing on Barnum and Bailey!

Did school already make her grow up, in just two weeks? She looks so much older!





Madison, having a zombie moment from her loony medsShe was so loony, it was the funniest thing. Ever.
This was pre-loony medicine. Tyler's shirt is soaked from his supposedly but lies spill proof sippy cup.
Also, pre-meds. Showing off her arm that she says is just fine.
And my little abused buy