Cool and rainy

Today's temperatures are not exactly ideal for soccer practice. Good thing we will have to miss as it is our last night of church activities for the kids classes. What a year it's been. It seemed to go by fast due to a late start. We had a rocky beginning with the director part, but figured it out and I think the year went pretty well. Daisy and I had a good time with the first graders. I love that age. We plan to bring Baby Girl there to see the kids tonight. I don't think we will stay for the entire class time. We will see. Bluestar was kind enough to make us a dinner tonight. It will be great not to have to cook. What a day we had! It was my first morning to get everyone out the door on my own. Thankfully, Miss D from next door offered to take Four to preschool. So sweet. They came home with lunch too! Daisy brought over books for me to sign. We are going to give one to each kid in our class tonight. They are the children's copy of "Heaven is for real." The night will be a party for everyone and should be fun. Six has been talking about bringing Baby Girl all weekend. It should be fun. With our discovery of Netflix, Four has grown to love "Cake Boss." We haven't had cable for many years. We got N a Roku and now we get Neflix on our TV. Needless to say, it will be sad the day we run out of "Cake Boss" episodes. She knows all the bakers by name and remembers things about them from various episodes. Zinnia picked up waffles and eggs for us today. Normally, I make eggs every morning for the kids. It's just a habit I started when Eight was in kindergarten. The school day is so long. It's awhile for first graders to eat lunch and I wanted to be sure they weren't starving before lunch. The past few weeks, I have not been able to produce eggs every morning. I've had to turn to waffles and cereal. It took them a little while to agree and get used to cereal. They enjoyed picking out cereal on sale at the store. It was handy to have a giant box in the freezer, waffles ready when we need them. I've got a list for the store this week, it's pretty small. I scheduled an appointment with Lavender to get my hair cut and highlighted. I've never had someone do it before. It takes around 2 hours. I hope it goes well with the baby. We will see. So much is coming up in the month of May. I'm looking forward to doing something for myself. I've got two cold sores today. Not good. It's hard to balance the baby, sleep and the other kids. It's a work in progress. She will sleep better, hopefully sooner than later. We will continue to get on the right track. Daisy was so helpful today. She striped the beds in Four's room, cleaned my microwave and got the dust off of my TV. She insisted on doing some jobs for me. What I really want is for N to get the filter in the shop vac and get the grass out of our van. It's terrible and drives me crazy every time I get in the van. Plus, it's been a week! Boys are hope, moods are positive and spirits are high! Should be a wonderful night!

Ready for bed?

The sound of rollerblading

"Time to get your roller skating on!" "I can go, I just can't move." This is what I hear coming from the basement. We found roller blades today at the Walleye Festival for the boys. We rolled up the rugs in the basement and they are down there practicing. Sister has a echo microphone and is playing the roll of announcer. They all have teams and nick names. What a group. Hard to believe I waited so long to introduce roller blades to my group. It was a huge part of my life in my early years. I used to roller blade all over town, it was my only transportation for a long time. I used roller blades instead of a car throughout high school and college. I still remember my first pair, black with neon laces! We've had two ok days so far. N went back to work last night at 3. We made it through supper and bedtime. Eight stayed up a little with me while I chatted with Mum. He's such a good boy. I was glad the other two fell asleep so fast, they usually do. I haven't been to keen on them playing outside lately. It's just hard to have the baby in the house and them outside. Everyone needs supervision. My compromise was to clear the basement. They were entertained for hours this afternoon. Four really wanted to get Littlest Pet Shop during the garage sales. I was sad she didn't find any yesterday. As luck would have it, our neighbor was selling her entire collection! Imagine, just what she wanted right next door. She picked a house and a bag with furniture. We then selected a few bags of characters. In the end, she was so pleased. Six had come home with N yesterday toting along ZuZu pets. I was less than thrilled. They didn't even entertain him last night. I imagine they will be short lived and gone for next years sale. Sad we will have to put up with them for the year. Oh well, perhaps he will surprise me. I think part of it was the need for new batteries in some. Eight too was disappointed. We didn't get to explore like we used to. Today, finding the roller blades cleared all sorry feelings for him. Also, spending the morning with N didn't hurt either. The Methodist church was selling tacos and tamales. Oh my did they remind us of San Antonio. We used to eat tacos all of the time. Our neighbor's family used to make the best tamales. It was a great lunch before N headed to work. He did try fishing last night at midnight, verruckt if you ask me. Especially since it was cold, fishing at midnight! At least he slept in today. I hope he got enough rest. Well, Baby Girl is up and so is my time. Ta ta for now!

Friday night and N is back to work

I'm flying solo tonight for the first time with four kids. It was great to have N home for so long. The kids enjoyed their time with him. I know he enjoyed the slower pace. It will be tough to go back to busy, busy. He took all three kids to Four's field trip today. It was at a farm and petting zoo of some sorts. They were there slightly longer than planned and had a great time. Of course when they came home, all they had on their minds were garage sales. We went to a few, but I am afraid I did too much walking. I carried her car seat into the car once too. Not the best plan. Just when I feel great, something like that reminds me I gave birth less than two weeks ago. I felt so good and healed after, I have to pace myself better. Baby Girl was up quite a bit last night. I am at a loss how to turn this around. She seems to sleep all day. She's awake and wanting to explore, right when I am exhausted. I don't know how to keep up. I try to wake her up during the day, but she won't stay awake. Speaking of, there is a squeak from the bassinet. The Walleye Festival wasn't quite like the others in the past. I knew it wouldn't be. There were quite a few houses I looked for to go to, only to discover they were not having a sale this year. I had gotten some great books from two houses near the school last year, but no luck today. I didn't get anything for myself this year. The kids found various treasures. Some I wasn't exactly thrilled with, but oh well. Pick and choose my battles. If it keeps them entertained all weekend in the basement, I guess I am thankful. I think Six spent the most money. I didn't find any clothing items for Four like I'd hoped. I found a few thing for Baby Girl. I got some more Swaddle Me's from the Halo company. We have two, one from our hospital and one from Baby Orchid. The one I found today looks just like Baby Orchid's. I will wash it up and add it to our baby stuff. I wasn't sold on them until we used one. I really do love it. She seems to sleep better, not that it made a difference last night. I don't know if it was the temperature or what. I'm still trying to figure it out. Perhaps she needed the warmer fleece Swaddle Me instead of the lighter one. I also found two sleep sacks for when she is bigger. They enable her to sleep safe without a blanket. I wanted to find a jumper and exer-saucer, but also had no luck. My options were limited. I went to 3 houses this morning while the group was on the field trip. Couldn't do more than three houses. Just when I was on my way home, I ran into Ivy. Turns out she has the two items I was looking for and can use! So excited. Another year of Walleye Festival complete. Back to normal this weekend. I'm not sure about church on Sunday yet. Not sure I'm ready to fly solo with the group. We'll see. One more week at home I think may be in order.

Walleye Festival

Tomorrow marks our fourth Walleye Festival in our little Michigan town. It's opening weekend for fishing walleye on the river. It's 150 + garage sales throughout town. It's a good time to find treasures. We have a small list of things to look for, but I fear we won't be as on top of our game as we have been in the past. To start with, it's cold and windy. Not a place for a new baby. We went to a couple of places today, but I sat in the car. She slept the entire time. We managed to find a basketball hoop for the boys. They were so excited when they came home. They could spy it from up our street! I hope to find a jumperoo for Baby Girl. I saw a couple today, but they were missing parts. Hopefully we can find one tomorrow. I have doubts because some streets are too full to drive down. We would have to walk and that won't work with the baby. Plus, Four has a field trip to the petting zoo in the morning. N is going to take her and the boys. No early garage sales for us that way. We could go in the afternoon, but I think we'll have to check out some neighborhoods that aren't as congested. Next year will be a different story. We did find a jogging stroller yesterday. It's not the same quality as our other jogging stroller, but this way it's not something my parents have to haul here for us anymore. Today we put our stroller in the van for the first time. I admit, I am disappointed how big it is and how much room it takes up in back of the van. Oh well. We'll see how comfortable we get with it. N says I am the stroller collector. We've had quite a few strollers over the years. The jogging strollers seem to be worth their money, not so much the other kind. Our new one is ok, but a bit large and I'm not sure how much we will use it. It came with the car seat and was $100 off, a great deal. Hopefully we put it to good use this summer. I know we will make great use of the jogging stroller though. Soccer tonight and I've got supper in the oven. Should be a great weekend!

New baby life

We've had a few hiccups with Baby Girl, but they are all getting worked out. First, she didn't poop for a week. Success on Tuesday solved that issue. She had such terrible gas the following day, she was very crabby. After a visit to Zinnia's, Mr. D discovered she had thrush. Another call to the Dr. and she had meds waiting for us at the pharmacy. She slept most of the day, wasn't awake much. This is new to me. I've never had a baby that would possibly sleep through her feeding. I've had to wake her up to eat. We'll see how long it lasts. I want to try to get some great pictures, but she's been asleep so much. Kids have one more day of school this week, then our first weekend alone. We were going to have help, but due to a family emergency, that was canceled. We'll see how we do. N goes back to work Friday night. I am sure it will be fine, but we will not leave the house. We left the house today to take Four to preschool. Baby Girl cried almost the entire drive. Just when I thought she was a fan of the car, we have two trips with screaming and tears. Good thing we don't go too far. I managed to make it to the store. I didn't want to take the baby out, but needed a few things N couldn't pick out for me. It was nice to get out. We were back home before we knew it. I was exhausted. Baby Girl didn't get out of the car seat. She slept the entire time Four was at preschool. I had mixed feelings about going to the store when she was only one week old. I really wanted to keep her home for as long as I could before exposing her to the elements. It was a big step for me. I feel like I need to be transitioned back into life again after delivering a baby. It's traumatic on your body. Then to get home and meet all the infants demands with little sleep and any other issues that come up make this a challenging time. Not to mention the repercussions of delivery on your own body, these alone take awhile to deal with. I'm trying to take it one day at a time, but it's hard when the simple things can seem so challenging. I felt rushed today, I just wanted to get things done and get home. I was disappointed how long it all took. We ran out to Zinnia's with some garage sale items. After finding the thrush, I felt slightly overwhelmed. Many people were at her garage sale and I felt the need to hide the baby in the house. I didn't want a bunch of people wanting to touch her. No one did, but when I saw so many people coming, that is how I felt. Plus, she was ready to eat and I needed to call the Dr office and figure out the thrush thing. Then I needed to figure out when the meds would be ready at the pharmacy. Would I have to go with four kids to pick it up? N took the day to himself. I was disappointed he did, but also glad. He's been great this past week and should enjoy some of his time off with an activity of his choice. Too often I rule his days off with errands and tasks we need to accomplish. Well, shes squawking and ready for the next thing. We'll see how the rest of my night goes.

One Week Old

Today we celebrate one week of Baby Girl being in our family! We did take her to the Dr. yesterday. We have seen plenty of wet diapers, but no stools. The Dr. checked her out and said everything sounded normal. We picked up some suppositories and waited last night for results. Nothing all night. This morning N gave her the second round and success! I am so thankful to have that figured out. She wasn't uncomfortable or irritable from being in that condition. We all gave her a bath this morning before the boys were off to school. Everyone was happy, it was a great morning. We had more visitors on Sunday. Daisy and Verbena stopped by during soccer. Daisy brought Baby Girl some clothes and a swimming suit! It is adorable and our first. Can't wait for her to be big enough to wear it. We love to swim in this family. Today, I have quite a bit of laundry to do after our morning. Hoping to organize the house and keep it together.