Mistakes in Motherhood

There are days when I struggle with motherhood. I mean REALLY struggle. Just today I was telling my husband how frustrated I am in my kids’ lack of responsibility with the animals. We have a horrible mean pitbull living next door ripping holes in my fence and it is just a matter of time before it gets through and kills or harms one of my dogs. So the rule is the dogs can be out for 2 minutes max until I can get the landscaping company to come out and replace my fence. So this morning I hear the dogs barking while I am nursing the baby. Ten minutes pass, still barking, 15 minutes. I finally hit the conference button on the phone and broadcast that the dogs are STILL outside.

Also, the cats. Christopher’s job is to feed the cats and clean the litter boxes daily. Yet if I don’t nag, it does not get done and then they seek out my towels. So now every time I think I have a “clean” towel, I discover it smells like cat urine. Nice. Also, when I am trying to feed Sophia, I have three cats underfoot circling around my ankles because their food bowl is empty.

Bobby called today and I vented, I vented good. I told him how frustrated I was at their total lack of responsibility, how Austin pulled out a progress report while we were walking out the door and asked me to sign it because it was due today and I refused because we would have been late if I had to stop everything and look it over before I sign it. I am just plain sick of it.

So I told my husband how I was half tempted to load up the three cats and two dogs in the van and take them to a kennel for the weekend and board them. How tempted I am to tell the kids that I got rid of the animals because I found them families that would take better care of them. How tempted I am to tell them that if they did not love the animals enough to feed them, water them, and provide them with a clean place to poop and pee that they will go elsewhere.

BUT that would be mean. I am not about to punish my pets, or my four year old because of something my teen & tween did. I am a mean mom, but at the same time I don’t want to teach them that lying and trickery is OK. I struggle with where the line in the sand is sometimes. I struggle daily with trying to be effective without being too mean or too nice. I struggle with making the punishment fit the crime. I struggle with too many chores vs. too little chores. I have very good kids, and I believe I have good kids because my husband and I have always worked together and tried to be consistent, we have always given them responsibility, and we have never spoiled them with toys or candy because they held their breath or stomped their feet at the store.

I think with our family spread out like it is right now we are all feeling the stress and I feel less effective because I don’t have my partner here to back me up. I think he feels helpless because he wants to help and he wants to put his foot up their butts, but from that many thousands of miles away, what can you say? “Just wait, in four months, you are going to be sorry!”? And I think the kids are struggling too, they miss their dad and it is hard to stay motivated when you are sad, I get that. I just wish they would see how overwhelmed I am carrying their load on top of my own. I need to heal this fracture, or I will crumble under the weight of it all.

I don’t think this weekend is going to be a fun one, I can tell you that! Hmmmm, I wonder if I can figure out how to set up the parental controls on the TV??

2 Comments | In: This is how I roll | tags: Add new tag, Austin, Bobby, Christopher, Confessions, Domestic Diva, Family, Fur Babies/Pets, Insanity, Lame-o, Matthew, Me, Parenting, Ranting, Sadness, Tirade. | #

A Thank-You letter to Cindy from Cindysporch.net

Dear Cindy,
I want to thank you for your email thread with the subject line “Spring Cleaning Challenge #3: The Kid’s Rooms”. You sufficiently helped me traumatize my children for life, and almost made my 12 year old son cry.

Let me back up a bit… I am a mother of four, two preteens, a preschooler, and a prima donna, I mean a baby. My sons are 12, 11, and 4, and my daughter is 9 months old. I also have three cats, and two dogs who are over 85 lbs. Things got even crazier this February when my husband left for a year in Iraq as a military contractor. I would like to say my house normally just looks “lived in”, but truth be told there are times when it looks like World War III was just fought and a nuclear disaster was contained in my 1800 square foot home.

Your email could not have been read at a better time. Today we had a surprise blizzard here in Colorado, and because it is spring break, I have been hearing how bored my children are, or have had to pull them out of their Gameboys just to get them to clear their dishes from the table. What a brilliant day to play the “Clean your room or mom will kill you” game!! So I excitedly posted the link to the the spreadsheet in my Facebook status and printed out a copy. My four year old took quite a delight in running up to the printer to grab the game sheet and I handed them to my oldest son. His displeasure was easy to read; his face was red, his answers were curt and he looked like he could start crying at any minute.

To prove to him what a wuss he was being, I printed out a second sheet and told him I was going to do the same to my room. I even took the four year old up to “help” me and instructed the 11 year old that if he stopped working that he would would be grounded until the end of time.

Truth be told, the four year old was a lot of help. He made an awesome little “gofer” and had no problems fitting under the bed to push out CDs and books that found themselves held hostage under the bed by rogue dust bunnies. The children needed no prompting to get back to work or stay busy. They did need some reminding that Yu-Gi-Oh cards do not belong under dressers and that “clean dresser tops” does not mean to pile the junk right back on them as soon as you have dusted the tops off, however I think they earned an A-!

I soon found the cleaning was contagious though, because soon it spread and I found myself “accidentally” cleaning my bathroom mirror, which was not part of your list. The virus kept mutating and soon I was accidentally putting away pill bottles and mouthwash, tooth paste and mousse. Hair clips and nail clippers soon seemed to crawl into their drawers to escape the wrath. Next thing I know I am thinking how wonderful my cucumber melon all purpose would make the room smell and the counter, sink and toilet soon sparkled.

Before I knew it, my cluttered bedroom soon resembled a spa-like sanctuary. I now have a peaceful place to retreat to at the end of the day, and won’t have to worry about books and CDs crawling out from under the bed while I am sleeping and tying me up like in Gulliver’s Travels.

THANK YOU for giving me my sanity back and helping me to find a small slice of peace again. I LOVE my gorgeous bedroom and bathroom, I am really hoping having my rooms clean will inspire me to break out the gallons of paint I have had sitting out in the garage for weeks now and finish my redecoration project I have been putting off since I bought this house back in 2004.

Heather

1 Comment | In: People, Places & Things, This is how I roll | tags: Add new tag, Austin, Christopher, Domestic Diva, Family, Fur Babies/Pets, House Stuff, Matthew, Me, Parenting, Sons, Sophia. | #

On Tuesday, my sweet baby Matthew turned FOUR! It is so hard to believe that he is already four, but on the same hand I can’t believe I have only known him four years because I just cannot imagine life without him, it seems like I have always known him. For his birthday dinner, he wanted to go to Olive Garden, which hit a sweet spot with me because that was the place I always went to for my own birthdays.

Sophie is sick with a fever and a cold. It started with a low grade fever on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning it was up to 103.5 and she had me up all night long. She is still a little warm today, but she does not seem so dependent on Motrin or Tylenol. I keep expecting to see teeth or chicken pox appearing, but so far neither one seems to be coming.

Matthew started preschool on Wednesday, so Sophie and I were able to rest while he was away. He goes 3 days a week for 6 hours a day and he LOVES it. I really struggled with the decision between a home daycare where they center around play-learning or an actual academic preschool. Both have up sides and down sides, but in the end I really liked the teacher, philosophy, price and convenience of the home based daycare near my home. He is only around two other kids who are 2 and 3 years younger than he is, but he does not seem to mind. I also like that he is exposed to less germs. I was hoping she would have another four-year-old or two, but he does not seem to mind at all.

Having only one child here for 18 hours a week clears up my schedule when Sophie naps to get much needed projects done. Part of my frustration was the clothing situation we are having. Matthew was pulling all his clothes out of his dressers to find one shirt, and when he and his brothers cleaned his room, those clean clothes ended up in the hampers and I had Mount Washmore climbing to scary heights. I felt overrun by laundry and was ready just to institute a burlap sack uniform policy. I decided the only reasonable thing to do was to move all his clothes into my room into Bobby’s dresser. However then I had to decide what to do with Bobby’s clothes. I ended up hanging up all his clothing, to include his jeans. It was actually sadder than I thought. I felt like I was “moving on”, when in reality he is just overseas, not gone.

With Matthew’s dresser now empty, I decided to use if for Sophia’s clothing and then I moved all her diapers off the top of his dresser and into her old dresser. The room looks a lot more orderly now. We will see in time how this arrangement works.

The older two kids have been busy this week with state standardized testing. Austin is done and Christopher has another week left, but I think they are both feeling pretty sick of those stupid tests.

I braved the post office this week when I mailed off a 17 lb box to Bobby, it took me 45 minutes of standing in line to get it mailed out, but I needed to take a helper and I knew that would mean going at a busy time of the day.

Today I am feeling like a drill sergeant, the kids have overrun the house with their toys and messes and enough was enough. It was time to take control of the situation and put them to work cleaning up toys, their bedrooms, and all their other little messes. I still have to go through the house and clean up all the little hot spots that they have gathered on tables and the kitchen could use a good scrub down. All the floors need attention from a vacuum or mop too.

Last night I had my first bad night since Bobby left. It was the first time I REALLY started missing him. I mean I miss him every day, but we also talk, email, and chat daily. It has been almost four days since we have talked, which is the longest we have gone without talking since he left in January for training or February to Iraq.

Matthew is also having a hard time, he went from only 2 or 3 accidents at night a month, or 4 or 5 or more accidents a night a week since he left. I forgot to bring it up with the doctor on Wednesday at his physical to rule out anything medical. I am also having other issues with Matthew and Christopher both that I won’t be bringing up on here to protect their privacy and keep from embarrassing them later in life.

I guess we all deal with changes differently, and we all have our good days and our bad days, all our trials and triumphs and in the end we will find our own ways to work through it all and be stronger for it.

4 Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Austin, Bobby, Christopher, Domestic Diva, Family, Health, Insanity, Matthew, Me, Milestones, Parenting, Ramblings, Ranting, School, Sleep Deprivation, Sophia, Updates. | #

Lately I seem to have days where everything all comes crashing down all at once, and usually it is at the worst time. Last night was that night.

It was 7:30 PM, we were starting the bedtime routine. Sophie had just porked down about 5 slices of mangoes, a few hash browns, and nursed. She was over tired and probably over-stuffed. I lay her down for the night and she is just not. happy. at. all.

Austin and Christopher were picking up their belongings before bed and I about lost it when I saw Christopher’s library book on the ground. We currently owe our library $25 for a book Isis mauled and I was NOT about to owe the school library also. So I tell him for the 238,028,102th time to “put your book away NOW!!” and turn my back to deal with Sophie, who now sounds like she is slowly being murdered in her crib.

Matthew was being a pill and decided he wanted to get out of bed and trash his room instead of going to bed. I punish him with certain death if he leaves the bed one more time, and turn my attention back to Austin and Christopher who appear to be doing their chores in either slow motion, or even in reverse motion. I am loading the dishwasher when I hear Christopher yelling at Matthew. Of course this reignites Sophie’s ticking time bomb and she starts wailing and I go up to see what the issue is.

Matthew has decided his toys are dirty, and along with Christopher’s library book, he has decided to give them all a shower. I think I either blacked out at this moment, or just could not see through all the red I was seeing, but somehow I managed to calmly instruct Matthew to get in bed and STAY there, get Christopher to put his book in my bathroom so I could dry it, tell Sophie to shut her pie hole and go to bed, and scare all the animals at least 50 FT from me at all times. I don’t know how I did it, but I did not see any bruises, broken glass (or bones) duct tape, rope, or a blow horn anywhere, but somehow all of the kids realized that mom could snap at any moment.

Christopher and Austin decide they can finish their chores in 2 minutes flat and I take the book into my bathroom and attack it with a blow dryer, while keeping an eye on Matthew’s room to make sure he does not sneak out and get into any more trouble.

Just when I got the book where I wanted it to where I could shut the door and let the dryer run on low heat for a few minutes, Austin decided to inform me that “Oh, by the way a pen exploded in my pocket at school, can I just put it in the wash with spray and wash??” “No dude, here is some hair spray, go use it and soap and wash and rinse it out.” “What about my cell phone, do I just spray it and rinse it off too?” “No dear, use a rag.”

It’s now 8:30 and my mind is GONE. My house smells like hair spray, the hum of the blow dryer in the back ground is about to drive me insane, and I need either a hot bath or a pint of Jack Daniels to put the day behind me. I wish I could say this was the only difficult part of the day, but Matthew has been very trying since Bobby left, and I find myself wanting to pull my hair out about 55 minutes of every hour that he is awake because of his shenanigans.

I quickly finish up my chores and fall into a hot bath and just when I can feel my muscles relax… the phone rings. Only Bobby calls me that late, so I fly out of bed and get to the phone right when he hangs up. I get online and shoot him off an email to tell him to call me in the next 20 minutes so I can say goodnight. Just then he logs on and tells me he is heading to work and to wait for him to get across the street so he can call me again. About 20 minutes later he calls and decides he cannot hear me well enough and tells me to get on Yahoo and we will chat. I tell him about my day and just get a series of one word replies about 5 minutes after I write up a long sentence.

It is now midnight and I am dead tired, and getting mad at his lack of replies. I tell him I will talk to him later and I am going to bed and he replies “Sorry, am working”. Ugh, you could not just say goodnight an hour earlier????

So this morning at around 6:15 am the phone rings… it is Bobby. I am exhausted and not feeling good at all. I tell him goodnight (it is night for him) and I will talk to him when he wakes up and that I am going to get another 30 minutes of sleep before I have to take Austin to school, then I am going to take it busy because I think I have an ear infection and I feel like I am on death’s doorstep. I get Austin off to school and crawl back into bed and just start to drift off to sleep (the two little ones are still sleeping), he calls again. I think I was polite when I told him to go to sleep already and leave me alone to suffer in peace. Of course now the babies are up and wanting attention.

I pull them both into my bed and nurse Sophie while Matthew nibbles on a snack and we all cuddle together and watch Go Diego Go. I fell back to sleep sometime during his cartoons and find him downstairs sitting on the counter finishing off a half a box of thin mints girl scout cookies. I can already tell that today is not going to be any better at all.

3 Comments | In: People, Places & Things, This is how I roll | tags: Austin, Bobby, Christopher, Health, Lame-o, Matthew, Me, Parenting, Ramblings, Ranting, Sleep Deprivation, Sophia. | #

It’s 4pm, 24 hours after I broke the news to the older kids that I quit, and that it was every man for himself. All but one load of laundry has been washed, the rest is put away, except for a basket of the little kids’ clothing.

Tonight I bit Austin’s head off at pickup, he did not get out to the car until 3:40, school releases at 3:15. Turns out the kid we take home had to stay after school, and they announced it on the intercom, but Austin was more worried about hearing his own name and not paying attention that his friend was called.

Anyways, we get home, I am in a foul mood because of waiting in the hot car, drama from the neighbors, working my ass off on laundry all day, and just general moodiness. Matthew was tired, Sophie was tired, I am tired and I just did not want to deal with anything more. I later apologized because I did not need to be as snappy as I was, but when I went downstairs to check on laundry, Austin was obviously upset. I asked him why he was crying and he said all day today he felt really bad for not helping when he was asked to. I also had a talk with Christopher, who was not as remorseful, but he said he did not like the idea of having to earn “privileges” (I was going to require that they do extra chores to earn “credits” to use much like change would at a laundromat).

Well tonight, they actually *asked* if they can work together to make dinner for the whole family as a peace offering. As soon as my jeans are in the dryer I will let them put their clothes in the hampers and I will combine their clothes with my 1/2 loads and start a few more loads tonight. I am hoping with some gentle reminding that we will make life easier on everyone if we work together, that we can keep up this rhythm and become a cohesive unit again.

This afternoon we all went in the back yard together and Austin helped me fix the fence and clean up, Chris cleaned up dog poop, and it was so nice to have my boys back.

1 Comment | In: This is how I roll | tags: Austin, Christopher, Family, Me, Parenting, Updates. | #

Those who are on my facebook have heard this story… and they may see it again when this feeds to my page, but here is the full story in full. My day started off a little rocky this morning (as demonstrated by my earlier rant), but this morning when I went downstairs to start some laundry I BLEW my stack.

See, Austin and Chris, who are almost 13 and 11, have chores. Their main chore is to feed the animals, but they are also required to help me with laundry and dishes. Most days, the most I will ask them to do is start a load before school, and fold it and put it away after school. I also am very strict about sorting (darks, whites, and reds) and I wash everything on cold, except whites. This weekend, with me being busy getting Bobby ready, I asked them to do the laundry, and did not have time to help; so I was planning on catching up this morning.

When I came downstairs, it was utter chaos. Mount washmore was overflowing. The three hampers were packed with a mixture of all colors and stacked up to twice their height… there were no less than 4 baskets with wet or damp clothing, all of which stunk like mildew and cat pee. My dryer was empty, my washer was full of stinky clothes, and all my light colored and white clothes had been bled on by the dark clothes. I easily had 10 loads (and I am talking HE/front loader loads, not top loader loads). I think they were just starting the washer, but then never putting the clothes in the dryer. I also had about a foot of wet clothes piled in front of the washer.

More than an hour later, but less than two hours later I finally had all the clothes sorted, a load in the dryer, another in the washer, and I am having to use double the soap, bac-out & vinegar in each and every load, with bleach in my light towels/rags & my 100% cotton whites. I have washed, 6 loads of laundry already today, and I still have about four left. I tossed all of Austin & Christopher’s dirty clothes back in their room, I was too mad to wash it… but here is the stunning part of it… Bobby has been gone 3 weeks, I wear my jeans twice before I put them in the dirty clothes, but we had 10 loads of clothes to their 1…. so it looks to me like the kids are picking out their own clothes and only washing it.

Needless to say, I was either going to send them to boot camp or shake them up a bit, so I went on strike. I told them they are on their own for everything I did for them in the past. They have to cook their own meals, wash their own dishes, wash their own laundry, etc. If they want to use my stove or my washer or dishes, they need to “pay” for it, not with money, but with “hassle time chores” as my sister calls them. Basically if I have to do your work, you better do something for me. So they got to clean Matthew’s room, tidy the house, hand wash pots & pans, etc.

Tonight for dinner they made themselves baked potatoes and leftover stew, and I ordered a pizza for Matthew and I. I am really hoping that they get how much I do for them soon. I don’t like them being in trouble, but I just cannot carry the weight of doing absolutely everything in this house. I can’t spread myself four ways picking up every crumb they drop, and expect to have time to do the important things like help with homework, take them to the park to play, have family game nights, etc.

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have only about 2 1/2 loads of laundry to start, one of which is my bed sheets, which I am dreading. They smell like Bobby, and I just cannot fathom washing his scent out of our bed. I have not cried about him leaving, but just the idea of washing our sheets makes my eyes well up with tears.

Oh, and as a cherry on top. Both kids have detention this week! Austin for being late to a bunch of classes “due to GI issues”, which sounds hokey to me. And Christopher because he “got a 4 out of 14 on an assignment”, which sounds even hokier to me. I think I have a couple phone calls to make tomorrow.

2 Comments | In: People, Places & Things, This is how I roll | tags: Austin, Bobby, Christopher, Domestic Diva, Family, House Stuff, Insanity, Me, Parenting, Ranting, Sons, Tirade. | #

I want to thank everyone who has been emailing, or calling, asking how the kids and I are holding up with the hubby away. We are on day 4 and things are finally starting to settle into a routine. I have been worried about Matthew; who, as we predicted, has been taking his daddy’s absence the hardest. We are trying to settle into a routine with a set bedtime and lots of cuddle time, but he’s been pretty lonesome for his daddy.

Sophie is sleeping in her own room (the office) full time now and that is going well, she will get up either once, or none at all at night and seems to be soothing herself to sleep much easier. She will cry for less than a minute and then either play with her toys until she falls asleep, or fall right to sleep. Last night she woke up twice, cried out a couple times, and then went right back to sleep before I had a chance to get her. I got her up at 7am to feed her before I took Austin to school and she was up for 90 minutes playing and cuddling before she decided she was ready for a morning nap.

Christopher has been a little more focused on security than usual. I reiterated that they do not open the door for anyone, including someone with flowers, a package, or claiming to be a repair person. We have had a number of break-in’s lately with the perpetrator claiming to work for the utility company. This morning, Christopher said he wanted to warn his classmates of the “scam”. On the plus side, I have spent less time reminding him to lock the door.

Austin has been very helpful, I think he’s taken to wanting to be the “man of the house”. He’s also really taken an interest in motors lately and asked if when we replace the broken motor to the garage door, if he can have it to take it apart. He’s also been helping a ton in the bedtime routine, making sure his brothers brush their teeth and helping Matthew pick out his pajamas. He’s also been great about reminding Christopher to hurry and get ready for school and to get his chores done.

I have been keeping busy with friends and normal household stuff. I have been going to be early, eating healthier, drinking less Coke, being more active. I told Bobby that we are bad influences on each other, because he too is drinking less Coke, cleaning more, and going to bed early.

1 Comment | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Austin, Bobby, Christopher, Domestic Diva, Family, Marriage, Matthew, Me, Sophia, Updates. | #

After Sophie’s appointment with the Dermatologist (he gave her an all clear), we drove up to Denver for our mini-vacation at the aquarium. It was amazing!! There was a tour guide there, an elderly gentleman, who was very sweet and helpful, you could tell he loved his job.

There was a snapping turtle that was gigantic, he was super cool and graceful:

They also had a “flash flood” area with reptiles and a display on what would happen if there was a flash flood (click on thumbnails for a larger view):

In the shark tank, the tour guide said it was the sea turtles that were the agressive ones, not the sharks, not the puffer, not the saw fish.

We also saw a large assortment of corals, and sea horses in the tropical area:

We also got to pet the rays, surprisingly they were super soft.

But my favorite exhibit was the tigers, yes, tigers at an aquarium.


One of these guys was so close he was fogging up the glass, another guy jumped off of a rock to get a toy and was nose to nose with Bobby and I, literally just a couple inches of glass stood between our faces touching, it was incredible!

For lunch we ate at the restaurant surrounded by a tank that was probably 20 feet tall and spanned the entire length of the restaurant.

We ended up exhausted and decided to head home early, skipping a second destination, so it was time to drive home.

Christopher was the only one who did not fall asleep on the drive home… Matthew eventually fell asleep, that is after a 30 minute cry-fest when he realized we were not taking him to the dentist. He cried again when we pulled into our driveway and not the parking lot of his dentist. Silly boy!!

2 Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Austin, Bobby, Christopher, Family, Fur Babies/Pets, Humor, Matthew, Me, Photography, Sophia. | #

Christopher is a smart cookie, I know that, but he is also a very trying child because he borderlines on obsessive, and is always spouting off useless facts. Remember Jerry Maguire? Did you know the human brain weighs 8 pounds?

Well, a few weeks back, Christopher’s teacher sent a permission slip to allow testing for the gifted program, of course we consented, but I expected similar results to last time he was testes… one very high score, and low scores in literature/composition. Today the results came back… 73rd percentile for verbal, which was not bad… but in quantitative and reasoning he scored 92nd and 91st respectively and has officially been identified as gifted and qualified to receive gifted services. HOLY SMOKES! I did not expect that! This makes me wonder how he did so poorly on the entrance test to the charter school we applied for (he did not get in), but then explains how his standardized testing (thanks NCLB*tongue in cheek*) was above average and advanced.

I am not sure yet how these results will affect his curriculum yet, but I will call in the morning and ask questions. I am now curious how these results compare to his last test.

3 Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Christopher, Family, School. | #

Sophie had her follow up derm appointment, she had the ANA antibodies too, so her official diagnosis is neonatal lupus. Her pediatrician checked her out on Friday and is referring her to a pediatric rheumatologist (arthritis dr, since Lupus (SLE) is a connective joint disease) and a pediatric cardiologist (heart doctor, neonatal lupus can cause heart problems). Her ped assured me that neonatal lupus will not stay with her past infant-hood, and she won’t have any issues when she becomes a mother.

I have an appointment with my primary care provider on Tuesday to discuss my own labs and see if she feels I need a referral for more testing.

Then on Thursday I needed to go back to my GYNs office… my IUD was coming out after only two weeks…my body was rejecting it. Crap, so much for 10 year birth control. She put another one in, but I already feel like it too is being rejected… if that happens I don’t know WHAT we will do since any other method that I tolerate is contraindicated with breastfeeding. Please oh PLEASE let my little copper friend stick around this time!

Also on Friday I asked Bobby to look up his tracking for his books that showed they were out for delivery here in town for the last 3 days. Turns out the books decided to take an unscheduled visit to Tennessee. Last reports say it is back here in the state and will hopefully arrive Monday or Tuesday so Bobby can have them for the classes that started last week.

Trick or treating was fun, I wish I had taken pictures, but the “shop from home” ToT challenge was a success. Matthew wore a Hawaiian shirt, floppy hat, sunglasses and a camera and was the cutest “tourist” ever, he got so much candy. Christopher was Harry Potter, and looked so cute, Austin was a reaper, and Sophie was a little pink bear thanks to a little snowsuit Aunt Angie sent her.

Christopher turned 11 yesterday too, I can’t believe 11 years ago I was a mama for the first time… He was such a good baby, he rarely complained about anything.

Miss Sophie was up until 3am last night, I am so tired!

No Comments | In: A lot about nothing | tags: A lot about nothing, Austin, Christopher, Family, Finances, Holidays, Insanity, Lame-o, Matthew, Me, Memories, Parenting, Pregnancy, Ramblings, Ranting, Sleep Deprivation, Sophia. | #