The pretty one, True Adventurer, Hannah Montana, and an army man

Blessed

** Blogger is being a butt and won't let me post pictures right. Just so you know. Maybe I'll try to add them again later.

I am. I know it. Sometimes it doesn't make daily life any easier. I Thank God everytime I read about someone else's difficulties having a baby that what I have has come so easily for me. Did I ask for 6 children? Er, no! But would I trade a single one of them for having all of the bills paid? Er, hell no! I'll drive this mini-van straight to the poor house if I have to, but I'll be loving these children all the way.

Ok, enough of that.

Gosh I really have not been keeping y'all updated, have I? Work is great. I'm so glad to be in a job at a place that I want to go to everyday. I love my co-workers. Sometimes we get a few patients come through that are hard to take, or hard to get a long with, or hard to please, but they eventually drift off. Scott is doing great at home. He gets a little stressed, but he's not ready to give it up just yet (thank goodness!!).

Jamie - oh the joys of raising a teenager! It never ends. Her grades are in the toilet. As a result, she hasn't had her cell phone for several weeks now and it.is.the.end.of.the.world. She had 9000 texts last month. No, that is not too many zeroes. That is the actual number. She can't manage to finish any homework because she "doesn't have time" to do that and "all of my chores" but she can send 300 texts per day. And really, cleaning the kitchen after dinner, keeping your room at least hygienically clean and cleaning the bathroom just often enough to keep the alien fungus at bay is not really a whole lot to ask. I'm worried that I won't be able to motivate her enough to pass, yes PASS, the 9th grade. Much less have any sense of the future, college, etc. She wants to be a dermatologist but doesn't think passing 9th grade English is important?? God, give me strength.

Oh, and I almost forgot - I'm endebted to 6 Day Dental and Orthodontics for the next 2 years... Jamie has started the process of getting braces. Right now she has spacers, next week is a blah-blah inserted and then a mold taken, yada yada, followed 3 weeks later by initial.initial.initial which sounds something like something the enemy is shooting at you (RPG or some such??) but is actually an expander. I just drive her there and sign the checks. Anyway, I'll post pictures when she has something that looks like it should cost the $150 per month I'm paying.

Hunter - He alternately holds my heart and makes me want to scream. He'll be the first to run up and hug me when I get home and the next minute throw himself in the floor in a fit of fury because I tell him to put his toys away. Sheesh. So we struggle with doing as we are told at home and at school. We made a new rule that he has to get "green" for behavior ALL WEEK at school in order to play any video games on the weekends. I think that has happened once since. Except Dad gives me the big middle finger about my rules and pretty much lets him do whatever he wants. Thank you Dad. He just gets tired of the whining and says "Fine then!" and gives in.

Hannah - always my sweet pea! Though she is learning some bad habits from Hunter. She gets mad and walks off anytime you start to correct her. She got a fish tank for her b-day (thank you Didi; Daddy was NOT happy, LOL, but who's giving the finger now? I approved the gift hahahahaha!) so she bugs me daily and about getting it set up so she and DiDi can go pick out her fish.

The twins had their first ever birthday party this year. I will never do that again! It was awful! None of the girls showed up (except the cousins and 1 or 2 stragglers at the end) and several of the boys parents just dropped them off. So, guess which boys were the worst behaved? Of course the ones whose parents weren't there. GRRRR But the twins seemed to enjoy it and they got some fun gifts so I just count off those 2 hours in the tally of my life.

Babies!!

Cooper - we call him the True Adventurer (if you play any Lego Indiana Jones you know what that means). He can commando crawl (belly crawl using his elbows) and he is All.Over.the.Place. Seriously, he can not be contained. We build "castle walls" with pillows and laundry baskets to keep him in the family room but he just plows through or climbs over. It's pretty funny, except when you want to go to the bathroom and can't leave him alone for half a minute. We are working on getting baby gates to block off the entire room for him (long story, they are more expensive because we have long, oddly shaped openings so we're having to kinda save up for them or wait to get them as xmas gift) but right now he's got the run of the place.

Molly - we call her Chubs. Cooper started to lose some of that "fat baby" look when he started being so active, but Molly just keeps getting chubbier. She doesn't move much. She "dances" on her belly, and of course she rolls around, but thats about it. She can almost sit up though. She'll sit propped with one hand for a bit if you stay close by. Gosh, she's the prettiest little thing you ever saw. I entered all of the younger kids (Jamie is past the age-range) into Gap's model search, but we all agree Molly will be the one if any of them gets it.

Emily - still the princess. And the Peanut. Weighing in a grand total of 12 lbs (yes, STILL) she's like Mighty Mouse. At her last well-baby, she was still 12 lbs. So the pediatrician looked back over it and said that at her last visit, when she had supposedly made such a big jump in weight, she thinks that was an error. She thinks it must have been more like 10-11 lbs then and they wrote it down wrong. Still, she thinks she is on the same "curve" she has always been on and we are not to worry. She's still on the high calorie formula but she's just bitty bitty. She's almost as long as the other 2, just lighter. She can wear most of the same clothes as Molly, they are just big around the waist.

She just almost wants to crawl. She gets on her elbows and knees and rocks, rocks, rocks...crashes. Not there yet. And she thinks she is an only child (she always has, really). She wants to be held all the time. She wants to eat first, wants to be changed first, etc. Definitely the princess.

Is that everybody? Whew!

We're Alive

It's just really tough times for us. Don't much feel like talking. Love to you all.

I been working!

Whew! It stays busy around here. Work is great but I am exhausted. By the time everyone is down for the night, I am right behind them. That means there hasn't been time nor energy for stuff like blog updating. I think I've only taken pics of the kiddos once or twice during the past month; gotta learn Daddy how to pick up the camera and record those daily moments.

Daddy is finding caring for 6 kids a bit rough. No comment from me on his not taking advice on how to better handle things. I can sympathize, because I know it is difficult, but when I share strategies that worked during the weeks I was doing it, he ignores me, so...

The kids:

Hunter finally lost a tooth. I'd take a picture, but it doesn't look like much because the permanent tooth was already half-way in when it fell out.

Hannah had been bugging me about wanting short hair, so I cut it for her. It's really cute! She'll get it trimmed up before school starts, but I did a pretty good job. The only picture I have is on my cell phone; I'll have to take one soon.

Jamie spent her usual week at camp recently. Lots more older kids there this year; she was one of the youngest instead of one of the oldest. Lots of boys, too, apparently. Sheesh.

Babies: They are 5 months old now. They went to the pediatrician just last week. Now one of our concerns all along has been that Emily is still so tiny. We'd been weighing them at home and the last time, about 5 weeks ago, she hadn't even reached 10 lbs yet. Well last week she was over 12 lbs! Yeah, Em! The pedi said as long as she continues on an upward curve it was fine. Speaking of which, they all on the normal growth charts now, though Em is just 10% for weight. Cooper was 16 lbs and 21 inches, Molly 15 lbs and 24 inches. So they are close, but Coopy is more compact. Hence why Daddy calls him "boat anchor".

We got high chairs:

and a bumbo seat

and we can hold stuff

and we tried some cereal

with which we were not impressed.

And last but not least, we got a nephew/cousin. (L to R Bella, Lillie, Abby, Mom Angie with baby Jack)

So that's what we've been up to :)

I spy with my little eye

something that is red.
And it would be Me. (It is also the QOTD as the twins rolled their eyes when choosing me as the red Spyee.)
I took the kids swimming today and, duh, decided to get a little color. Instead I got A LOT of color, but it is all tomato red. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Why do I always forget that this will happen and it will be wretched??

Work is going great. I was really able to jump in there more than I expected to. I was very anxious about what I wouldn't feel comfortable with , what they might expect of me that I couldn't perform, that I would feel stupid, that they would regret hiring me. But the knowledge is mostly still there, with a few muddy areas. This coming week, we have a plethora of new patients coming in at "my" clinic so the road to independence is being built quickly.

Which reminds me, I don't think I previously explained that I will be the coordinator for one of the satellite clinics, which means I will be THE P.T. over there, with a tech and (I think) a PTA (physical therapist assistant) at least part time. Right now that clinic is only open half a day because they couldn't staff the whole day, but we are already looking at staying open part of a couple of afternoons to get all of these new ones in. We expect to be open full time by the first of September, but if it goes at this rate, it may be sooner. We are also expanding into the area next door to our current space, roughly doubling the space, adding new equipment, etc which means I get to make a wish list of all the therapy goodies I'd like to have.

Going back to work though has been rough on the bod. The first couple of evenings I was asleep on the couch by 8, then dragged myself to the shower and bed. By the end I was at least able to stay up til 10! I hurt all over though. My feet were killing me from standing all day, my forearms from all of the manual therapy I wasn't used to (mostly massage-type work), and my hips and thighs from the physical assessment I had to go through as a new hire (5 min. treadmill and 4 min. step tests, 2 min. of calf raises, and 2 min. of squatting -sheesh!!). This week I will be taking advantage of the 30 day trial fitness center membership that comes with the job. Gotta get in shape!

4 month baby update to come soon - I don't have access to the pictures right now and it just wouldn't be fun without pictures!!

I is a employee :)

As we speak, there is a contract upstairs printing that I just received via email. Yeah!

So, I talked about the great interview I'd had and how I was going to go through with a couple of others, despite being fairly certain about that job. Well, yesterday I visited that clinic and spent a few hours with the PT getting to know their program. It was great and I left very excited about working for them, called the Supervisor and asked when I might expect an offer. Long story, she wanted me to go another time to visit (the clinic had been VERY slow) when it was busy and then call her, though it still sounded like they wanted to hire me.

So today and I went ahead and went to this other interview, just to follow through with the appointment (this was the one who had been out because his wife had a baby, he'd finally called me). Now this is an only-game-in-town hospital in a rural county, so I honestly wasn't expecting much. I spent the first half hour saying nothing much besides "WOW!". They have a phenomenal program! I just can't even begin to relate all of the great things they have to offer, the ways they are growing, and the likability of the staff. I spent 4 hours with the director! I've never had an interview quite like it. I told him that I'd been ready to accept another position but that he had totally turned my head. I left with the understanding that he was sending out an offer letter and that I was ready to start on Monday. I had several hours of nail-biting (ack! what if he'd changed his mind!?!) until it finally arrived in my inbox.

I am nervous and excited. Nervous because it is a new place, new people, and different practice arena (I'll be doing outpatient orthopedics/sports medicine-like versus the pediatrics or hospital work that I've had experience in) and excited for all of the same reasons. I've been hoping to find a career "home" that I can and want to stay at for years to come and I hope, hope, hope that this is it.

Recent QOTDs

(Quote of the Day, that is)

All of the bigs are at their grandparents in Mississippi this week. Yesterday, their aunts took them to the water park, the twins first time to go, and Jamie's third just this summer! As per their report, a good time was had by all. Apparently though, Hunter had a run-in with another kiddo that resulted in his getting a goose egg on his forehead.

Hunter: I didn't like it one bit.
Mommy: What, the water park?
H: NO! Getting a Boo Boo!!

We packed church clothes for them with the understanding that they would be going today. This morning we talked to them and Hunter said they weren't going to church, then Hannah insisted they were.

Mommy to Hannah: But Hunter said you are not going to church.
Hannah: Well, I'll just have to talk to Hunter about that. (I can just picture her little hand-on-her-hip pose)

Recently we were watching A Wrinkle in Time, a not-real-great movie version of a favorite children's book. It's very science fiction-y and I spent a lot of the time trying to explain that they were travelling to make-believe planets, etc.
Hunter: That can't really happen, can it, Mommy?
Hannah (puts her hand to her mouth, leans across to him, and says conspiratorally): You never know what is in your future.

This is a really old one, but I have to record it, because we still refer to it often. This was a day when I was still in the hospital and DiDi was picking the twins up from school every day. They had a lot of coversations about what they might do or be when they grow up. Their was some reference to Hannah having a job/career.
Hannah: Well, I'm not going to live my life with just a husband and a weinee dog!

Golly, them kiddos just crack me up!!