Winter WASTELAND!

It's a new year.  And we're all getting cabin fever!  It's around 12 degrees outside, frozen snow and slippery ice everywhere.  This is supposed to be the sunny south!  We don't know how to act around snow down here!  We get an average of, what, 2 inches of snow a year?  And nearly 7 inches in less than 24 hours... that is what we got on the night of January 9th.  And it's still here!  It won't go away.  We're all frozen and scared to drive (resulting in the aforementioned cabin fever).  Ahhhh!

Other news?  Well, we're all still living with my mother.  Hopefully not for much longer, but I know I've said that before.  It's been nearly a year now and we haven't tried to slit each others throats in the night... so far, so good?  [Kidding, mom!  :) ] Phil's been looking into a few other job possibilities and housing opportunities.

The last few months of 2010 flew by for us.  What a hectic few months.  I spent all of my free time crocheting Christmas gifts in order to cut back on holiday spending.  Ended up having a wonderful Christmas (even though we are always short on cash) thanks to wonderful family and friends (that sounds rather selfish... I know we would have had a wonderful Christmas without any gifts... I was just stressing about not being able to give any)! I'll add some pictures eventually, but they're all on facebook.

What does the new year bring for us?  Hopefully, a new job for Phil, a new house for us, kids a year older (us too, for that matter!)... and all sorts of new (mis)adventures!

Happy New Year to all and to all a GOODNIGHT!

Too Much to Say, So Little (free) Time!

Here I sit, at my dinky laptop, at 12:54 in the morning.  I've been working on going to bed earlier lately.  Have had too little energy, and too short of a temper.  Definitely, more sleep is in order.  But I always find myself loath to relinquish the tranquility of the early hours.

I have five young children, and I love having five children.  But even loving mommies need a few minutes of serenity.  By bedtime, I am beyond ready for a few minutes (at least!) of this.  It's not that my children are especially rambunctious, either.  Sure, they have their moments, but overall they are sweet, well-behaved rascals.  But it's hard to relax when you have so many who need a mother's attention.  Whether it's a seven year old, asking how to spell "idiosyncrasy" (kidding, he's never asked me how to spell that...yet), or a five year old wanting eye-liner on (yeah, right!), or a three year old wanting to tell me about last years boo-boo's, or a two year old wanting to know "wut dat?" is several times in a row, or a 7 month old wanting to be held after an attempt at standing FAIL.  Whew.  Yeah, not much relaxation going on during the waking hours. Yes, most of them take naps still, but they hardly coincide.  All that to say... THIS is why I'm usually up at this hour.

You'd think that when my quiet time finally arrives, I'd know what to do with it.  I guess mostly, there are just too many things I want/need to do at once.  For now I'm going to work on finishing this crochet project that is taking much more time to make than it should.

Thoughts For Today

I love to write, but most of the time I just don't know what to write about.  And I'm not sure why.  It's not like I don't have lots to write about...  I just don't have the time or energy to write about anything that has anything to do with anything besides my children. 

Wow.  Just wow.  I have five children. I have had five children in less than seven years.  I have FIVE children.  It blows my mind all the time. 

You know what scares me?  Having these five children that will someday be five teenagers (yes, I'll have five teenagers at the same time... !!).  Teenagers...  Yikes.

Parenting is tough, period.  Parenting five children, ages 7 years - 6 months is...  more than tough.  Somedays I have to remind myself to breathe.  Not that I don't love my job... I do for sure.  It's just exhausting.  And not only are the daily requirements of a mom (especially with more than one child) exhausting, but the worry, the unknown future...  it's most definitely exhausting too.  Actually it's exhausting me right now.  :D

It's hard, but I try to split up my time so that there is some one-on-one time with each of them, every day.  Obviously, Silas gets plenty of my attention, but the others?  I think I do a pretty good job, but what if I don't?  It's so important at this age.  At any age.  Sometimes I will catch myself answering one of their questions without having really heard what they were asking.  At that point I completely stop what I'm doing and focus on the child in question.  It really makes me feel like a lousy mom...  but when you have four (Silas isn't talking much yet) little people who ask questions nonstop every day, it can be so hard.

What do you do to spend one-on-one time with your kids?  We read together, talk together, play together, learn together or go for a walk together etc.  Philip likes me to do math games or puzzles with him.  Lucie likes to talk with me.  Eden likes me to play toys with her or read a book to her.  Ella likes me to goof off with her, be silly with her.  Silas... well, he's pretty much fine with anything at this point.  :)

Picture Post

Recent pics of the kids.

Philip Jr

Lucie

Eden

Ella

Silas

Wha-Wha-What Did She Say?!

Lucie likes to sing "the name song".  Does it all the time... [Lucie, Lucie bo-bucie, banana-fana fo fucie, me my mo mucie, Lucie] and when she finishes with all the names she can think of, she starts with other random things.

I recently heard her singing this one:  kitchen.

Tried not to laugh.  :)

Summing Up

What's going on in our life?  Well, lots.  Lots of ups and downs so far this year.

Phil lost his job in October of last year, and then we lost our house this year (on the day Silas was born).  We moved in with my mom in January so we could try to sell our house while it was still "ours".  Didn't work out.  But thank God we have my mother, or we'd be homeless.  We've been here for almost 8 months, and while it's crowded, it's been a blessing.  I am an ungrateful wretch, oftentimes complaining about our situation...  It's horrible of me.  God has blessed us so much.  Not just anyone would be willing to take 7 people in and let them overrun their 3 bedroom apartment.  (Love you, mom)

Meanwhile, since losing his job, Phil's still been teaching guitar lessons at a few different places.  He also just got a morning job (his students are in the evenings), so we're hoping to soon be able to get our own place again.  Phil has also been working on recording his first album with a good friend.  I can't wait til it's done so we can share it with you all.  It's been tight all year, but it makes me so happy to see my husband happy.  He was pretty miserable in the desk job he had before and was hardly able to ever play his guitar.  Now, he can play all the time.  Teaching, recording, playing gigs... it's wonderful.

Me and the kids?  Well, Philip just turned seven years old.  Still a little in shock that I have a son that old.  Seven?!  He's such a smart boy - loves to read, loves playing his guitar with his daddy, loves learning.  He's already got the multiplication concept down.  He can add three digit numbers too.  He's my pride and joy.  He's a big helper with the younger kids.  He and Lucie and Eden play so well together and he's always willing to play with or entertain Ella and Silas if I need him to.  He likes to make his own sandwiches, his own eggs, he likes to vacuum.  Such a good helper.

Lucie is five now and quite the drama queen.  Always wants to wear dresses, and would like to change dresses 3-4 times a day if I would let her.  But at least she's always ready to help with the laundry.  She's almost reading now and loves doing simple math problems.  She is such a girly-girl though.  Loves to have her nails done or wear lipgloss or high (not really) heels.  She is always singing and making up songs.  She's my sweetheart (with a bit of a stubborn attitude lately though... runs in the family).

Eden is my rascal.  She's beautiful and so much trouble.  Always egging Ella on, or bugging the bigger two.  She's three and is all over the place.  Always getting hurt, always running into things.  She really is a rascal.  She also loves to wear dresses.  We're stuck with the potty training right now.  She did really well for a while and I thought it was over... but nope.  I've always waited and let them learn in their own time, but it sure is hard having three in diapers.  Eden is also very much a girly-girl.  Always trying to find matching hats, or matching fingernail polish to go with her outfits.  So cute.

Ella is my bella.  She's the sweetest thing, but she won't let you know that!  She is talking up a storm, but also won't let you know that.  She turned two in June.  She is a total daddy's girl.  I *LOVE* seeing Phil and Ella interact.  They are so cute together.  Ella is very into copying right now.  (what two year old isn't?) She's always repeating things she hears or sees.

Silas is such a cute chunker.  He's almost six months old now!  He has been almost crawling for a few weeks now.  He is all over the place.  It's so much fun to watch him go after something he wants.  And it's so hard to keep small things off the floor with four other young ones around!  Silas weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz at birth.  At 3 months, he weighed 15 lbs!  I'm not sure what he weighs now, but he's a big thick boy!  In a few weeks (or maybe months... haven't decided for sure) I'll start making baby food for him.  He is obviously growing just fine without any for now though... but that leads to...

Me.  I'm not doing too well.  I have some fairly serious health problems, some of which can be very painful.  I don't even know exactly what all is wrong with me as we don't have insurance and can't afford a doctor visit.  But I can't eat much, which is not so good for Silas who is still ebf.  He's been fussier than normal lately and always hungry... and I'm a little worried.  I've been trying to eat what I can and do all sorts of other things to help my supply, but it's been hard.  I really need to be well.  I am not giving up breastfeeding yet... but not sure what else to do.

I guess that about sums up what's been going on with us lately.  :)

Too Many Random Thoughts.

I really need to blog more often.  I'm going to try to focus on one random thought at a time.  Yeah, right.  Here goes.

Effectual parenting has really been on my mind lately.  It's something I think about frequently, what with having five kids and all.  It's really hard to find a common ground with anyone when it comes to parenting.  Even if two parents have similar beliefs, their parenting styles may be completely different.  Even Phil and I don't always agree on the way to handle a situation (which is the main reason it's been on my mind more than normal).  I've been doing some reading online and here are some of my thoughts. 

As a parent, it is important to establish your leadership.  YOU are in charge, and that's just the way it is.  Ok, so the parent is the boss, but it's the same at any job - yes, the boss has authority, but also lots of responsibilities.  Rasing kids is a huge responsibility.  Don't ever take it lightly. 

Also as a parent, you have a right to be obeyed.  You must enforce this right, be affectionately assertive and accept the responsibility of raising your children.  "Discipline" has become a bad word.  But contrary to popular belief, the word "discipline" does not mean punishment.  Discipline may certainly involve punishment, but it has a much more important meaning.  Discipline really means confident, effective leadership.  It means teaching and learning.  It means parenting.  I stole the following from another blog, with his permission: Teach your children to aquire - by personal example, directed practice and verbal explanation - the great virtues of sound judgment, a sense of responsibility, personal courage, self-control and magnanimity.

I'm  out of time for right now, so I'll come back to this later.