i can not believe that we have been married 10 years. this post comes to you a bit late…but not a bit forgotten. november 27th was the day. in the early days, we talked about going to hawaii for our 10 year anniversary. we didn’t do that. somehow i think that puddin wouldn’t have appreciated having her food source removed from her to be gallivanting on a beach somewhere. i don’t think she really cared that it was our 10 year anniversary. we, instead went to see the blind side at a shady, but well priced movie theater and made the annual trip to target to get our ornament that signifies the year for us. we got a frame to hang on the tree and took a picture of ourselves holding up the number 10. however the frame is hanging…smack dab on the front of the tree without a picture in it because i have not had time to get it developed. but, that’s beside the point. i am very glad that on year one…when i was 8 months pregnant with colton, we started the anniversary ornament tradition. they are kept in a separate box and 2 years ago i wrote down on a piece of paper which ornament went with which year and why we chose that particular one so that we would remember. last year’s ornament was “hope” because we were really hoping to have a baby girl before the next christmas. this was a pretty tall order because i was not pregnant and we had been trying for like a year. well, you can imagine the tears when i pulled that ornament out this year and remembered why we got it as i looked at sweet annslee james being rocked in the rocking chair by granna. boy…was that a thank you so much Lord moment. about a week later, we were sitting at the dinner table and telling the kids the story of how daddy and mommy met in clemson at a superbowl party that the church put on every year. chase was particularly interested in this story and sat up and asked, “um mommy…when you met daddy…did you go up to him and say, “do you want to have kids together?” i laughed and thought, “that’d be a way to scare a guy off!!”

for family movie night, last friday night we watched our wedding video with the kids. they had never seen it. while watching the ceremony:

colton: i was just in you tummy then!
me: ummmm…no.

aiden: oh…i know where we were during your wedding!! we were at granna’s!

because of my lack of time these days, i am going to do a 2 blogs in 1 tonight. first off…would be a post titled “oh holy night…part 2”. last week, chad had to work late every night. he had papers due for school and stayed at the office working on them every night. i am still adjusting to juggling things myself. if everything goes as planned, it’s no problem. tiring…but no problem. this particular night…things did not go as planned. i needed to give annslee a bath, so i made the kids dinner, and while they were eating got her bath ready in her tub by the kitchen sink. i took her clothes and diaper off and while i was getting her into the bathtub, she decided to pee all down the front of my shirt. i called for colt to go get me a clean shirt as i stepped in the puddle on the floor. i used my peed on shirt to mop up the floor and threw on the clean one. after her bath, i was in the rocking chair feeding her as the kids finished up dinner. i asked colt to rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher for me. he was doing that while aiden was crying because i was trying to make her eat her dinner from the chair. that’s when chase carried his full glass of orange juice from the table and tripped…spilling it all over the kitchen floor, the walls and into the living room carpet. he started crying…making that 2 out of 4 that were crying. i knew if i stopped feeding annslee that she would start screaming herself…so i chose to just sit there…totally out of control as the oj soaked into the carpet pad…never to be properly cleaned. that made me want to cry. then i did what was only logical. i got mad at chad. 🙂

the second post would be titled “the mrs.” yesterday, i went to both boy’s christmas parties at school. only they are not called christmas parties anymore because that might offend somebody. they are now “winter parties”. only i think that is stupid and call them christmas parties anyways. i mean, who are we fooling? they are at christmas time and they are doing christmas activities. santa was even there. seriously? winter party???? at chase’s, a little boy came up to me and asked if he could come over to our house to play. i said “sure…we will have to do that sometime.” then he ran off and told chase that he was coming to our house to play which got chase all excited too. then the little boy came over to me again and said, “when can i come over mrs………ummmmm……mrs. chase?

so, puddin has decided that she is not going to sleep at nights. she made this call about when chad’s mom and grandmother came in from iowa for a nice, holiday visit the weekend before thanksgiving. it would start at the 9 or 10:00 feeding and last till 4 am and sometimes until 8am. at first she would scream and holler, but now she just is not asleep unless you keep putting the pappy back in her mouth every time it decides to pop out. i’m beginning to think that the pappy is conspiring against me. these are the thoughts that seem realistic in the middle of a sleepless night. 2 nights ago, i tried the bouncy seat, the swing, the ever popular hold her all night so at least one of us is sleeping, the walk around and bounce, the snuggle in bed tactic, and finally the baby einstein video so that i could get 30 minutes…….all to no avail. our bedroom looked like the circus. at 4:30, i woke up chad. when i woke up to get the boys ready for school and aiden breakfast, she was sweetly sleeping. when she started this, i thought…this is my fourth baby. i’ve trained all my babies to be great sleepers. i’ve been responsible for getting them all on great schedules from the beginning. i’ve prided myself in NEVER…EVER waking chad up to help me in the middle of the night. i’ve been in charge and in total control of their sleep patterns. i can do it again. now i’m asking myself, how can such a small person have such control???? and, how can i become used to being up all night where i will greet the other puddins as they skip down the stairs in the morning sweetly requesting breakfast just as i’ve gotten her to sleep? (well…it is probably more accurate to say that she, herself has decided to go to sleep.) anyhow, chad and i are trying to split the night because…let’s face it…she is going to do what she wants and we are totally at the mercy of the conspiring pappy.

now, i’ve used every free minute of the tired time that i have to help other family members get their christmas shopping done. you know the calls. the “do you have any ideas for the kids?” calls. i’ve had 6 of them right off the top of my head…plus actually going to the stores 3 different times to help pick things out for them to get them. it is great that everyone wants to get them something that they all want, but now it’s 18 days till christmas, all the stuff on their lists have been taken, and i have yet to come up with anything to get them from chad and i. plus, when the “i don’t know” answer doesn’t fly, i come up with something off the top of my head and under pressure and now i can’t remember what i’ve told people. when did christmas presents for kids become so hard. a doll for suzy, a toy car for tommy…etc. shouldn’t it be a little easier? this is about when i decided that they have way too much as it is and that next year we are scaling waaaayyy back. i remember coming to the same conclusion this time last year. i may sound a little bah humbugish…and for that i am sorry. i never said you would get anything but direct honesty here. and next year, i’m doing my shopping BEFORE i help everyone else do theirs!

there is little time for the ole’ blog these days. holiday season at the elementary school is quite the affair. the sweet 4 year old sissy is having…shall we say…”adjustment issues.” and the cutie pie little sissy is what my mom calls “colicky“…which sounds old school to me, however i think she is right. apparently i was colicky when i was a baby…which i would like to apologize to my probably still tired and frazzled parents at this point. and let’s be honest…if i do get a little break, the last thing on my mind is blogging. she is actually laying under her little hanging animal toys right now and is not crying, so i thought i would give a little catch up.

colton: he came home from school the other day and said he knew the “F” word. i closed my eyes, held my breath and asked him what the “F” word was…hoping he would say “fart.” no such luck. he does, in fact know the “F” word, due to one of the boys in his class saying it and another girl spelling it. it looks like 3rd grade is the end of innocence and we will need to be having some candid conversations that i am not entirely ready for shortly before he starts hearing it on the playground.

chase: had a teacher conference where his praises were sung, thankfully. i did have to explain to his teacher that his two take home reader book reports were done, and that we didn’t send them back in his folder, not because he wasn’t ready for the next ones…but that i wasn’t. i still hate homework.

aiden: just to prove that i’m not lying about the “adjustment issues”…the other day, while i was feeding annslee, she came to me and told me that she was spitting up. needing a little attention maybe??

annslee: eating, pooping, fussing, sometimes sleeping if we are all jumping through the right hoops that day, growing (9 pounds now), looking super cute, and slowly learning that not being held can be ok sometimes.

chad and i: tired…but very blessed.

i told my mom that i would just skip my birthday this year. however, i still want the presents. it was yesterday and i think it un-necessary to discuss my age. yuck. we sort of celebrated by chad and i taking chase and aiden to target. my mom is out of town and my dad offered to bring an ice cream cake down and watch annslee for us to go get the rug from target that my parents got me. i also wanted to pick up a few clothing items that would work now and hopefully later too. we decided that leaving all 4 kids with my dad was not very nice, so we divided and conquered. i thought the easiest combination for him would be colton and annslee. so, chase and aiden “got” to go with us. i don’t know what made me think that a good birthday activity would be to try on jeans, but let me just say…it is not. bad decision. i did end up with 2 button down sweater vests and 2 white t-shirts to go with them. and…when the clothing for the body is just not working out…move on to the shoe/hat/purse department to make yourself feel better. i got 2 pairs of shoes for my skinny again feet and a hat for the winter. thankfully, chad agreed to the shoes/hat purchase due to fear of another “post jeans try on” performance. the rug for the living room also worked out swimmingly. i think i should stay away from any clothing from the waist down that does not involve stretchy…very stretchy material. and, any full length mirrors for a while. i’ll just stick to admiring my feet in their new shoes for now.

tonight, chad took the boys to the star wars concert in houston. it consists of a symphony playing the music from star wars to large screens showing scenes from all of the movies. and also a display of a lot of the costumes that were worn in the filming of the movies. chase was most excited about seeing chewbacca. i’m glad they got to go…and i’m more glad chad remembered to take the gel in his pocket. i’m at home with the girls, where we will be enjoying some quiet girl time. although aiden did just ask, “when are my boys gonna get home. i want em really bad.” i guess watching annslee eat and poop and sleep is not as fun for her as we made it sound when she watched them leave for their boy fun tonight. poor big sister who is experiencing not being the baby and only girl anymore. i think she is feeling a little left out.

this past week, at a glance. (it should be self explanatory why i have not had a chance to blog and post the cutest ever pictures of our 4 loves.)

sunday night: mom comes to stay with us to help in the mornings getting the kids off to school and in the evenings getting dinner and the kids in bed.
monday morning: took annslee to the doctor for a jaundice check.
monday afternoon: took annslee to the hospital lab for blood draw to test billi levels per dr.’s request
monday night: started annslee on the billi blanket at home for jaundice
tuesday morning: took annslee back to hospital lab for re-check
tuesday afternoon: dr. called and told me to keep her on the billi blanket except for when she eats.
wednesday morning: hospital again for re-check
wednesday afternoon: dr. called and said to keep her on it through thursday evening and then take her off for the night and re-check on friday morning.
wednesday afternoon (post nurse call): i have a postpartum, lack of sleep induced, irratioinal, emotional breakdown and mom and ms. ann come to my rescue.
thursday afternoon: chase comes home from school with cough and fever
thursday evening: per dr.’s orders, i leave with annslee to stay at my parent’s until chase is 24 hrs fever free
friday morning: chad takes chase to dr. and i take annslee to hospital for billi check (this is what i call the picket fence defensive play)
friday afternoon: say chase does not have the flu, but another bad respiratory virus and annslee’s billiruben levels are coming down and she can stay off the billiblanket.
friday afternoon: colton comes home from school with 102 fever and aiden has the sniffles
friday night: i go to store and get supplies/food/medicines for chad and drop them off. notice chad making himself hot tea and make a mental note that that was not a good sign
saturday: chad begins coughing and feeling bad. colton running 103.
saturday night: stuff (furniture) that we inherited from grandparent’s house moved into our house at 11 pm.
sunday: chase better, chad and colton still sick, aiden on the fence. i start having pain in lower abdomen where i can’t even stand up straight. wonder what is wrong…but in complete denial that it could be anything serious. realize possible uterine infection and promise to call dr/ in the morning.
monday: chase and colton and aiden home from school to ensure 24 hours fever free and chad says he’s feeling better. i line up a house cleaner to come tuesday morning to clean/sterilize the huse and annslee and i plan to come home tuesday afternoon. call my dr. and they say it is probably due to lifting her carseat around every day last week and strained. wait and see approach.
monday night at 9:45: chad calls and he, colton and aiden running fever. i call house cleaner and cancel and tell her i will call to re-schedule. praying that uterus will feel better tomorrow and that kids and chad will start feeling better.
tuesday: chase back at school; colton at home but feeling way better; chad feels like total crap; aiden still mild and basically fever free. deep breaths and praying for His protection and that our family can be all together soon. annslee misses her brothers and sister. i miss my husband and other 3 loves.

so, my regular doctor’s appointments are on thursdays, and that is also when i change weeks. however, yesterday i had to go in for a nurse visit to get the B12 shot due to being anemic…(which just gives my mom and dad the ability to give me a big “i told you so” on my need to consume red meat…which i haven’t done in 16 years.) because of us almost going into the hospital this past saturday night (woke up in the the middle of a hard contraction at 1:19 am and then they were every 5 minutes until around 4:45) they decided to “check” out the situation. i was somewhat in shock when she said, “ummm…you’re dilated to 3 and 60% and the baby’s head is right here coming through the cervix…you won’t have to push at all. i’m not even sure you’ll make the appointment on thursday.”

excuse me???? did you say 3? did you say it’s going to happen so fast that the next time i start contracting, we need to “get there”? did you say something about sitting on towels? did you say that by this time next week, we would have a baby?

i don’t feel so bad about resting now. it’s called preparation.